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[Dunny]

i quite like em without the strips 

[Torquesport]

Work starts on the car tomorrow (weather permitting!).

[Ben_Mk3]

Well tonight me, mum and dad got my Astra round here so tomorrow (weather permitting) I'll get started on cleaning the whole car ready for wednesday when I hope to carry on working my way through the mot list with dad (again weather permitting)

Pics tomorrow either way!

[Ben_Mk3]

Well had quite a productive weekend in the end!

Got the car outside the house late last night and woke up this morning to find it still raining.... oh well! out with the jack and axel stands and got the back wheels off.
Tried something new with the arches and used wheel cleaner in the arches. Sprayed it on, left it a few mins then brushed it in with a wire brush then rinsed it all off with the hose, the dirt all just fell off  :o

After the arches were done, I got on with getting the roof strips of so I could clean the years of dirt from underneath them, followed by a good wash to remove all the salt etc from where it was parked out in the snow in December... much better now imo.

Whilst the rear wheels were off, I tried a tip dad found on Detailing World for removing tough tar from wheels and by god does it work! Got a cup and filled it half full with patio cleaner, brushed it on the wheels, really working it into the tar, then rinsed of with the hose and it all falls off.

Did the rear two wheels and the passenger rear one came up looking brand new but the rear drivers one still has a fair bit left on but only on the back of the spokes so the wheels look lovely and clean!
Did the same with the front wheels but only the fronts as I couldn't be bothered jacking the front up and getting the wheels off, but either way the wheels look a whole 100% better so happy with that.


Before:





Forgot pictures of the roof rails after, But I'm sure you all know what a roof rail looks when clean!

Jacked up:


And then it was all clean. Phone appears to have deleted half my pics but I'll upload new ones tomorrow of it clean and maybe polished

After I'd finished the exterior, I started on the inside :)

Before:


After:


Then I drained the coolant and removed both the coolant tank and washer fluid tank ready to be cleaned and filled with fresh new fluid:

Before


Then tried my GSi spoiler


But that needs to be resprayed and have the rest of the kit fitted before it goes on :)

Then on top of all that, I won a present for the car on ebay tonight by a £1 and will be arranging collection of that sometime soon, until then... mums the word

What ya think?

[charlie]

What I think is that with all these secrets it's becoming worst than M15 here!

Nice work so far though. Keep it up.

[Ben_Mk3]

Haha Charlie! All will be revealed soon enough I hope :)

Just been out and put the sticker dad bought me on the back, going to order an x16xel one to replace the front yellow ecotec one now :)

[Torquesport]

I know what he's bought and let's just say, he's jammier than a jam jar on national home-made jam day!

[Netwalker]

You have me intrigued now 

[Ben_Mk3]

Haha! Hopefully it'll it'll finish of part of the car... near enough anyway!

Right had another manic evening!
Got in from work, quick sit down then went and got changed then straight out on the car and managed to get my battery put back in, my dash under tray fitted, the top part of my inlet off, my cam cover off and then started cleaning them both also, not bad for a few hours work :)

So...

Tray fitted:


Before:


During


Apart:


Let the cleaning begin!

Before:


After:


Also started cleaning the top part of the inlet up but will carry that on tomorrow.

Taking it apart was a lot easier than I thought! Decided I'm going to re-do the cam cover silver, doesn't need to be perfect as you'll only see the edge and then I'm going to paint the top part of the inlet black :)

[Ben_Mk3]

Well spent another few hours on the car today and found a few other jobs to add to the list.

Got the OSR up on axle stands again as I planned on getting at least one of the brake hoses changed..... no, the ones I got are different, despite actually ordering the ones that matched my car *doh*. Never mind, thought I'd at least get them off anyway so I can see which ones I actually need... no. Hose wouldn't separate from the pipe so I had to undo the pipe from the drum and now need 2 new pipes as well!

So left that job whilst dad sorted my brake load sensing thing out, at least that's another job crossed of the list... shame I've had to add a few other its.

Whilst the car was up I decided to start cleaning my rear beam up for a lick of paint, covered in surface rust! At least that's ready for paint now....

So one last job to do, look at why my back box is blowing.... yup there's a hole in the back, not so much of a problem as I have my new back box to fit anyway! Was at this point dad saw why back box sits so low... the exhaust rubber had pretty much snapped and literally had a tiny bit of rubber holding it together before the back box would have shot through it, so now I need a new exhaust rubber! again not an expensive fix but still a job I wasn't anticipating on doing! :(

[vinny_69]

as you Said Ben they are only little things that need doing but very important in the long run, least you know its been replaced and wont need doing for a good few years yet.

hows the driving coming along bud?

[Oscar the grouch]

Nice to see that you progressing with the car 

One thing to remember when owning a car (no matter what it's age), always expect the unexpected. Components rust/ perish and wear out, seize up etc.....  but just wait until you do start using it on a regular basis. At least these items are relatively minor (I could name a few major items, believe me!). Ok, so the brake pipes are quite an involved job, but they are probably the original factory fit items.

As Panda says, it's better to get these things done now, at least then it is done and out the way.

[Ben_Mk3]

Panda - Yeah just annoying when you have a list of things to do then as you start working through them adding to them, just makes you feel as if the list isn't getting any shorter! Sorting them isn't a problem as I have the things to replace them anyway, just didn't wanna replace them before the MOT but now I'll need too.

Damo - Well it's all got to be painted underneath anyway so when the back box comes off, I'll give the whole area a good clean with the wire wheel on the drill and then underseal it all, it'll clean it up and hopefully look after it a bit as well, it's only surface rust at the end of the day!

Just weird how my car which is a year newer than dads, has a hell of a lot more rust underneath than dads.

[vinny_69]

the pinaple has been driven 

[Oscar the grouch]

There are many deciding factors as to why your car is "rustier" than your dad's. For example, if it has spent the majority of it's life in coastal areas, or the previous owners lack of maintenance.

As an example, my N reg Sport is in "immaculate condition" compared to an associates R reg LS Astra. His paint is faded, his rear driver's arch is starting to rust, the inner lip of the bonnet has rotted through and the front cross member has quite a bit of surface rust on it.

My Sport has solid arches (well, got a very slight blister starting to appear on the sill/ lower arch). I always keep the car clean and well polished, if the paint is damaged, I always treat it before the rust starts to "set in". I also make a point of washing the underside of the car (especially following winter). Although keeping the car clean is a boring task, it is in my opinion worth doing. Show your car some loving, and it will (hopefully) love you in return.... (by being a little nicer to your bank balance).