cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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After considering a mk4 Astra turbo for some time, (my previous car was a corsa 1.6) , i decided to be a bit different and build my own v6 mk4 instead.
Main reasons for choosing this conversion over just buying a turbo are ;
Quite simply I love the sound of a v6, probably one of Vauxhalls best sounding engines
Its quite a cheap and pretty simple conversion
A lovely smooth power band with no turbo lag and plenty of torque from low rpm
Reliability, no turbo to worry about too
The 3.0 comes with over 200bhp as standard
Want to be a bit different as there aren’t many mk4 v6s about
These engines respond quite well to some cheap..ish tuning mods (my aim is to get it close to 250bhp for less then £400)
6 cylinders are cooler then 4
There is plenty of support for lpg conversion kits for these engines. Alot of omega owners lpg convert them, which is something i want to do in the future
Did i mention the noise?
Come to think if it , makes me wonder why Vauxhall didn’t bring out a 3.0 or 3.2 v6 astra as the engine seems to suit the car really well. makes an all round nice car to drive day to day.
Anyway onto the car
Bought it around march 2011 from leeds, and had to have it delivered as it was bought as a non runner.
Here is what it looked like when it arrived, looking pretty sorry for itself as it needs a lot of work doing to it
Car was originally a x20xev ecotec sri, which has been rather poorly converted to a red top be previous owner.
Car also came with a set of standard wheels, 60mm lowering springs, angel eye head lights, irmscher grill and full irmscher kit so cant complain for the money, in fact by the time I had sold on the bits i didn't want i almost ended up with a free base car to start my project 
So planed modifications to the car :
Take out old engine and convert it to a 3 litre v6
Replace seats with some leather/alcantara sparcos as fronts don't work properly and are tatty
Swap irmscher kit for standard gsi kit or sri pro drive kit
Colour code bump strips and door handles
Fit hid conversion kit
Lower car on a set of coilovers with up rated springs .
Whiteline rear arb
Sort some bigger brakes
Fit a touch screen car p.c ( had one fitted to previous car)
Fit lpg kit
Flat wiper blades
Nice sound system install/fully sound deaden car
Other jobs include getting an mot/tax for it, generally tidying up the car and replacing all bushes etc
Here is the donor car with my 3 litre v6 engine in it
Hell of alot of car for only £650!!
Its a 3.0 mv6 manual Vauxhall omega, which is quite rare. Runs great and only needed an mot, seemed a bit of a shame to strip it as the only problem was a little bit of rust on rear doors ,even came with 3 months tax, factory fitted recaro heated seats front and back, xenon head lights, custom stainless cat back exhaust, climate control, list just goes on and on.
It wasn’t long before i had this beast out, Wasn’t too hard to remove actually, as there is loads of room in the omega engine bay. And you can just unplug the loom from the ecu in the engine bay as opposed to unplugging everything individually
I have never worked on these engines before , so with the engine sat there on my garage floor for a minute i was actually a little worried what id let myself in for
After stripping a couple of bits off the task ahead didn’t seem too bad
Once id stripped most of the ancillaries off it was time to clean and paint the engine block
Front of engine after a degrease/jetwash and wire brush
And rear
After a coat of gloss black hamerite
And the front
As the engine was going from a rwd car to a fwd a few parts had to be changed over to accomidate this, one of which being the sump and pick up pipe off a vectra v6 engine. I actually bought a ‘smokey’spare 2.6 vectra v6 engine off ebay for about £60 with most of the bits on i needed.
Couldn’t help but clean and paint the sump before it went on
After a degrease
And then went on a coat of vht silver, all ready to bolt up to the engine now
Regret using the vht paint to be honest as it never really dried properly and still feels a bit powdery to touch, still looks a lot better than before though
Got the cam belt changed why the engine was out the car too
I also fitted a flat type xe flywheel at this stage too but forgot to take pictures
Now that the engine is pretty much ready to go in, its time to give my dirty empty engine bay a bit of a clean
Some before pictures
and after its first going over with some engine degreaser and jetwash
Didn’t realise how much oil and grease was there until all this shiny bits appeared afterwards
Note the corsa xe conversion mount the previous owner has welded to the chassis leg, might come in handy that 
Painted the sub frame and touched up a few little rusty bits in the engine bay why i had the chance
Also took this opportunity to add some extra sound proofing to the fire wall. Just used some regular roof flashing tape from screw fix. Should help keep road and engine noise down a little bit more inside the car. Its also dampened alot of the whining noise from the power steering pump from inside the car too which is a bonus
Pretty much ready for the engine to go in now
[Edited on 10-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
[Edited on 10-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
[Edited on 11-10-2015 by cheekyalex]
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Before fitting the engine I wanted to have the exhaust ready to pretty much just bolt on once the engine was in place
As the original omega exhaust obviously wouldn’t fit in the slightest, i had to source a pair of exhaust manifolds and down pipes off a vectra to mate up to the rest of the exhaust.
Slight problem being i could only source a set of manifolds off a vectra, and the downpipe was off a v6 calibra. Which meant the down pipe was a slightly different fit and only had one lambda sensor hole
As I am going to be replacing the whole exhaust system for a 6 branch stainless steel tubular set up after xmas, i didn’t mind putting up with a bit of a bodged exhaust just to get the car on the road for now
Welded up the original lambda hole and welded in new ones for each cylinder bank as needed.
I also welded up secondary air injection and egr holes up on the exhaust manifolds too.
So now it was engine fitting time, had no joy getting the clutch to line up to the splines on the gearbox first attempt. So took the engine completely out, and re checked the clutch was centered fine with a borrowed clutch alignment tool.
Unfortunately for me by this time my extra pair of hands had decided he had had enough of helping his mate try and fit an engine that ‘shouldn’t even be there’. He was also unhappy with his hourly rate of £0 an hour so decided to go on strike and buggered off home. This meant i had to fit the engine on my own, hence lack of pictures during the fitting stage.
In she went
Once fitted in i got the manifold and downpipe bolted up( couldn’t resist a quick paint with some silver vht before they went on)
As i couldn’t use a power steering delete bracket with the mount I’m using, i just looped the pipes from the power steering pump to the fluid reservoir you can see cable tied to the gearbox
I decided to make my own engine mount utilising the bolt holes where the air con pump used to be. I could have used an off the shelf v6 corsa conversion mount if i had a power steering pump/mount of a v6 calibre or cavalier. As i couldn’t get hold of one at the time i had to make my own mount up, taking into consideration the aux belt to run through with no problems too.
Pretty tight but it all works fine, can still change the aux belt no problem once all bolted in place too
Once happy with its fitment i gave it a quick spray in gloss black to help keep it protected/disguise my shitty welding.
Looks a funny shape but does the job
As the rest of the mk4 engine mounts are on the gear box this was the only extra mount needed.
There is actually less room then i thought there would be here, Its fine now but might have to put the fan on the other side of the radiator when i put my tubular manifolds on.
Cheeky underneath pic
Wiring it up wasn’t too difficult, however as ive used the omega engine loom I’ve had to keep the ecu in the engine bay
My plan was to replace the engine loom, and most of the ancillaries off a 2.5 vectra but couldn’t find all the parts I needed at the right price or quick enough. So have just used most of the omega stuff for now and bodged up an induction set up to make it all work too. Its pretty ugly and not very efficient but does the job for now until i sort something better
Out came the welder again
Was actually a fun little project as i have never fabricated anything from scratch before. All i had to work with was some thin sheet steel for repairing body panels, angle grinder, mig welder with a dodgy wire feed, and a hammer
Not much room to play with at all
Managed to get it all to fit in somehow
Painted my inlet contraption satin black and got it all fitted
Still need to tidy up allot of the wiring. The reason there is an extra abs unit just left handing in my engine bay was to try and find out why my speedo wasn’t working. As i had a spare abs unit it was easier to just plug this in rather than swap the hub/speed sensor over. Turns out it was the abs ecu unit too.
Fitting the throttle cable was a doddle as the previous owner had already installed a cable for the xe conversion.
So that’s everything pretty much sorted in the engine bay for now. After a quick test drive i was more than happy with how everything was running in that department for now. First thing i noticed was how much quicker it revs up with the lighter flywheel, makes a world of difference.
Next job on the list is to get it booked in for its mot.
[Edited on 10-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Failed its mot on the emissions being through the roof, corroded brake pipe(from front of car to rear) and the handbrake wasn’t working properly
So in went a cat converter
I also noticed the air flow meter was left unplugged when i got home from the mot station.so obviously plugged that back in
Main culprit for the poor handbrake was a very old and tired hand brake cable. So on went a new one
As the exhaust had to be taken off to weld a cat converter in anyway it wasn’t too hard to fit.
I also decided to replace the old bosch callipers for some Lucas ones.
Old dirty rusty ones
Lucas ones being panted gloss black before being fitted
Forgot to get close up pictures of these fitted, will get some in the near future
Fitted the new brake pipes too but forgot to get pictures
After a quick re test the car now had a full mot and was taxed the same day.
Here is how it looked after a quick wash
Wasn't happy with the ride height as the exhaust was catching on speed bumps. So have fitted a set of standard shocks and springs off a 1.4 astra for now just to save my exhaust.
The above pictures are of it lowered 60mm
Here is how its looking on standard shocks and springs, in desperate need of some colour coded bump strips and door handles
[Edited on 10-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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So after a couple of hundred miles of driving with the windows down and stereo turned off i started to notice a leaky exhaust manifold
Only when i took the exhaust off i noticed i had used the wrong gasket to start with
Pretty obvious where the exhaust gasses where escaping
And my new gasket ready to go on
As i had to take the radiator etc off to get access to the exhaust manifold.I decided to take out my engine mount and stiffen it up a bit with some tiger seal
This has helped reduce engine movement a little bit. So pretty pleased with the result considering it didn’t really cost me anything or take long to do.
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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After fitting my new exhaust gasket the car ran much better, and sounded alot better. My fuel consumption went up too as the leak was throwing my lamba sensor readings out.
However the smile was soon wiped off my face when my coil pack started to give up
No suprise really considering its condition
Spot the new one
Only took about 10 minutes to swap over
Now fitted the car is running on all 6 cylinders and has put the smile back on my face 
Now the car is running sweet it’s time to focus on some cosmetic jobs
Wasn’t happy with the ‘eyebrows’ that where on the car when I bought it. So went about removing them, then polishing up and getting rid of any cloudiness/ scratches on my headlight lenses whilst I was at it.
Easy enough to remove
Unfortunately for me it looks like they were held on with some tiger seal or similar. So after scraping what I could off the lenses I then had to rub them down with some 1500 wet and dry, then polish them up using some cutting compound and the rotary buffer.
Turned out better then i thought they would. Happy with the results it would be rude not to fit a hid kit
Before
Cheeky comparision shot
I’ve unplugged the halo rings too as I’m not a big fan of them. Think they look quite smart like this
Some interior stuff
I’ve decided some extra soundproofing is in order as I plan to fit a good quality sound system in the future, I also like the benefit of getting rid of road/wind noise and exhaust noise inside the car too.
I’ve got a large roll of dynamat equivalent stuff but not enough to do the whole car, and it’s pretty expensive. So have got some more roof flashing tape to the whole of the interior, then Im going to go over it with the thicker stuff in the more important places (doors, behind speakers etc)
Where not messing around here people, no nonsense stuff here.
Will get more pics of the rest of the interior when it’s done
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Next job on the list was to get rid of the broken front seats and fit my nice Sparcos. I had to chop up the old sub frames and re weld them to take the new seats, took a while to get the right height but got it sorted in the end.
They are black leather and black alcantara although the leather looks more grey on pictures.
Little side view
[Edited on 09-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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This is now left me with a bit of a dilemma with what to do with the rear seats. Not sure whether to fit a set of black full leather gsi recaro rear seats, or have my original ones re trimmed in alcantara/ leather or fake leather depending on cost ?
Feel free to send some ideas my way in my feedback thread
I have now removed the full irmshcer kit and sold it on, as i am fitting a gsi kit in near future.
Here is a pic of how it looks now next to my brothers sri turbo. Ive fitted my colour coded bumps strips and have the door handles ready to go on too.
Been a while since i updated this , so though i would try and bring it more up to date as ive done quite a few little bits and pieces over the last few months.
during the winter i decided to paint some bits underneath to tidy them up a bit.
Before
After
Why I was under the car decided to paint the chassis legs and any other bits the under seal had been scraped away just to help keep it protected over the winter
Few hundred miles later and i had could hear a grinding noise getting louder and louder, then a burning smell and smoke under the bonnet.
Turned out the power steering pump bodge job hadn’t worked as well as i hoped and it had been running without getting any power steering fluid to keep it lubricated.
As i already had a vectra pump in that is a slightly different design (can be unbolted and taken apart). I got a bit creative and dismantled it, then took out the fins inside and filled it with grease, before bolting it back together.
Bit of a pointless pic of new said power steering pump bolted to engine mount before being re fitted
Have done over 5000 miles since, so can hopefully say problem solved there, got the benefit of a tidier engine bay now too.
Next up was to tidy the interior up a bit by fitting a new centre console.
I went for ‘piano black’ which is just standard gloss black. Done all the work myself too 
As you can see in the pictures someone has butchered the dashboard in the past by fitting a hands free kit  I plan to just replace the whole dashboard but as its such a big job I’m in no hurry.
Little reflection shot of the ashtray.
Only problem with having such a flawless finish on gloss black is it seems to attract dust rather alot
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corsa-torque
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Registered: 15th Mar 11
User status: Offline
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Nice build there fella, will keep my eyes peeled for updates
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Corsa_Sport21
Member
Registered: 13th Apr 08
Location: Leven, Fife. Drives : 205 GTi
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Nice. Im sure ive seen this project thread somewhere else a while back.
What's your plans to get 250bhp for £400 though??
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Thanks for the comments
I actually done this conversion 2 years ago, and have done a project thread on an astra fourm ,which is where you have probably seen it.
hoping to make the tubular manifold myself corsa_sport21, using some headers ive picked up off a v6 ford probe for just £60 .(should be the biggest improvement)
other mods include 3.8 bar fpr off the 2.6 engine, cold air feed and gas flowed heads and full 2.5 inch system.
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Corsa_Sport21
Member
Registered: 13th Apr 08
Location: Leven, Fife. Drives : 205 GTi
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Good on you doing the headers yourself, its something these V6's need and not many have accomplished it.
Im doubtful of the power claims though with that little work. When MSD (Vectra GSi fame) offered up the ST3000 tuning package, there was a lot more work involved than what you are planning, and the power figures were less than 250bhp. Wild cams, reprogrammed management with raised rev limiter, extensive headwork etc etc.
[Edited on 10-02-2014 by Corsa_Sport21]
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ArdenblueDan
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Registered: 23rd Aug 12
Location: Basildon
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Looks great dude
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Next i acquired a pair of Astra coupe side skirts and a Gsi rear bumper which needed a bit of work. Someone had cut it for a dual exhaust in the past.
Gave the car a detailing before fitting the side skirts
clay bar
Didnt get any pictures of all the age related scratches before. Was quite a few so decided it would be best to wet sand and buff pretty much the whole car
Drivers side door after being worked on
working on rear quarter panel
Then got the side skirts repainted and fitted.
Then colour coded door handles
[Edited on 10-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
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Jed D
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Registered: 15th Mar 11
Location: Durham
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any future plans for the engine mate, coming along well. not too sure about the air intake bit coming out the tb's though but good show 
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Its got a 2.5 in it now until i can source a another 3.0 or 3.2. Blew the original engine up which i will post on the next update. Its a couple of years old this project thread but its taking a while to copy over from another site, as i am having to re upload all the pictures. should have the whole thing up to date in the next few few days.
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Not long after this i had a few sensor problems causing it to eventually not start up. However in a moment of madness instead of just buying a new sensor, i decided to buy a whole engine, which also happened to come with a vectra estate bolted to it.
I was planning on replacing the ecu ,rocker covers and inlet etc for a vectra set up anyway to tidy up the engine bay, so this worked out cheaper in the long run.
Vectra was a good runner with just over 100k on the clock, was another ebay bargain as had no mot.
Possibly the ugliest car i have ever owned
Some bits removed
Painted the rocker covers silver before fitting them
Messy Engine bay ready to be tidied up
stripped all the inlet off and ecu etc
One shiny new metal rocker cover on with new gaskets too
Both shiny new rocker covers on
And finally all the vectra stuff now fitted in, with ecu relocated under scuttle panel to make it a lot tidier.
Now here is where it all went down hill, the eagle readers will notice i have missed out a hose clip on the header tank. Unfortunately for me i didn't realize this until i was on the m6 toll approaching the pay booth. Literally just as i pulled up the engine completely died as had ran dry of water .
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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As 3.0 v6 engines are not so easy to come by in a hurry, and i still had a perfectly good 2.5 v6 from the vectra i decided to fit the 2.5 until i can find a decent 3.0 or 3.2.
Out with the broken 3.0 v6
3.0 v6 in the back ground and 2.5 in the foreground , ready to fit the 3 liter G cams from old engine, and 3 liter lower inlet divider too
Cheeky flywheel comparison shot, on the left is the c20xe flat type , on the right is x25xe flywheel. The difference is HUGE, engine revs up so much quicker with lighter flywheel, completely transforms how it drives.
After fitting the 2.5 engine with the 3 liter cams etc, there wasn't much difference between the 2. The 3.0 did have a bit more lower down torque, but when the g cams kick in with the rev happy 2.5 it definitely still puts a grin on your face, i personally think the 2.5 sounds marginally better too
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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With the car now back on the road i put some attention towards sorting out some cosmetic bits.
Quick test fit of the gsi rear bumper
Plan is to smooth out the exhaust cut outs, and smooth over the number plate light (With leds fitted in boot strip)
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Also picked up a front gsi replica bumper that needed a bit of work.
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Gave the car a quick clean
Rear bumper is covered in tiger seal from where the irmscher splitter was stuck on
The front bumper has seen better days too so looking forward to replacing it
Little reflection shot of the roof.
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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Front bumper after being primed. As its a replica, i have bonded some bolts on the inside of the bumper near the original mounting holes (using fiberglass). And plan to drill a couple of holes that can be accessed through the arch to bolt it in place. should help make fitment easier in the long run and give a much better fit, will be pretty secure too.
Front and rear bumper primed ready for colour. I have smoothed out the number plate hole too but cant be seen in this picture.
[Edited on 11-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
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cheekyalex
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Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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I then had a bit of bad luck. Driving along the motorway a set of ladders fell off a van in front of me and hit the car. I didn't see them until the last second as they got dragged along by a lorry in front, then flicked up towards the car.
It was defiantly one of those brown pants moments that left me feeling pretty grateful to be alive, as they very easily could have come through though the windshield if i was just a couple of feet further behind, or driving slightly slower. (swerving out the way wasn't an option as there where cars either side, and it was raining too so would have lost control)
[Edited on 17-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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The car drove fine to where i was going, however when i went to start it up nothing was happening. I suspected it was the starter motor or wiring had took a knock when i drove over the ladders , but as it was a cold winter and was feeling pretty lazy. I didn't fancy getting under the car to start fixing things so i just bought a cheap run around to use over the winter.(came up at a price too good to turn down)
My friend had just got a new car and was looking to get rid of his old 1.4 ford focus. Just had loads of money spent on it to get it through its mot ,and only had around 60k on the clock.
Apart from the small big fook off dent on the drivers side (from car parking mishap) , and a few other small issues the car was a very good runner and just needed a good polish to get it looking sweet.
Gave it a quick wash
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CORSA NUT
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Registered: 3rd Aug 01
Location: Wirral
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Been looking into getting a 2.5 GSI mate is there anything specific to look out for?
Also I'll be selling my 02 1.8 SRI fairly cheap if your interested?
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cheekyalex
Member
Registered: 5th Jan 06
Location: liverpool
User status: Offline
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You looking at getting a 2.5 vectra, or a ready converted astra?
Then in the spring time i got rid of the dent, gave the whole car a going over with the buffer and done a few other little bits. fitted some tinted indicators to bring it a bit up to date too and sold it on.
Here is how it looked when i sold it
Was very pleased how it turned out in the end. The old dent repair wasn't 100% perfect but still turned out very good. For a 10 year old car you really couldn't complain.
Was quite surprised how fun the focus was to drive, handles great around the bends but the gutless 1.4 engine that struggled to even get past 70mph was pretty painful to live with.
So didn't take long to get back under the bonnet of the Astra to get it going again. couple of hours, and a new starter motor later and got to hear that lovely v6 roaring away. A week later the focus was gone and i was grinning from ear to ear in my Astra again .
[Edited on 11-02-2014 by cheekyalex]
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