Re-shell

[Drizz]

Indeed, not the word id use

[Spinbitch]

NO, you may refer to me as Lord Co-Pang-Yang!!!

[Drizz]

nutter. How often you out as per last night chap? Sorry to hijack, MSN will do chris..

[Spinbitch]

Most nights fella, going to Rileys tonight so be around town.

[kevseymour]

Ok, so as part of my front end rebuild, i'm thinking of having my engine bay tidied and cleaned up a bit.
It did look like this before the crash

Now, i'm not into stainless steel covers for stuff - in fact the less stainless steel and chrome in there the better - i can't be bothered to keep it clean.

What i was thinking was a colour coded rocker cover (obviously) and spark plug cover, and new fluid bottle, as those 1's look manky.

What should i do about the exhaust sheild (bearing in mind what i've just said about stainless steel/chrome)
I also want to tidy up the wiring if that's going to be possible, possibly get some of that thick braided hose to group stuff together.
Basically it looks a mess and i want it sorted - anyone got any other ideas, or an idea of costs for what i've said already?
I'd imagine bottles to be cheap, and the braided hose to, but what about sorting out the cables, is that likely to take forever and cost a butt load in re-wiring?

[MarkW]

Well, for your wiring, I'd just try and keep things "together" and use some of that split tubing, cheap and effective.

With regard to the heatshield, for the price, I don't think you can beat the stainless ones, but I think theres a guy on ebay that does different ones? not sure though.

[kevseymour]

your probably right there.

Well, i just got back from Braintree - took 'Pineapple' off Daves hands, also releaved him of a GSi bonnet for the repairs.

And as luck would have it, AndyMk3Astra is breaking his car - smooth wings for £30 the pair - i'll have some of that!

A good day!

[kevseymour]

Just agreed to buy some 17" Irmy softstars too - 5 Stud!

What do i need for the 5 stud conversion Dan? (and do you have any of it spare?)

Added a battery bag to the list for the engine bay tidy.

[A2!]

I thought you were skint lol

[kevseymour]

i haven't paid for any of it yet!

Pay day is closer than collection day tho, so all should be fine!

[Drizz]

You need turbo/V6 front legs and Cav V6 rear hubs. Oh and a GSi handbrake cable if you have drums at the mo.... Dont have any spare buddy sorry.

[kevseymour]

oky doky, cheers for the info.

It's not a major concern yet anyway, obviously, but hopefully it an be part of the rebuild process.

[MarkW]

Sounds all good Kev.

[kevseymour]

Below are photos of the damage the recovery monkeys did to my car, for some reason they decided my electric, heated mirrors shouldn't be attached in the proper way to the car, this obviously has broken the clips that hold them on, and has scratched the doors where they've been swaying in the wind. They also managed to put a massive dent in my ULTRA RARE rear bumper. Not Happy.




As i have various forms of proof that these things happened whilst the car was in their care, I'll be writing a letter asking for them to foot the bill to repair these things. If they don't I'll take them to Small claims court.
And I've just realized they haven't given me my front towing eye cover back.

[MarkW]

Oh FFS, go get 'em, just because it has had a knock on the front, does NOT mean it's a scrapper, why can't they treat it with respect.

[Paul]

Doesn't look bad, should repair easy.

Paul

[Drizz]

Thankfully the recovery chap is blocking me in that shot lmao.
As said once the bent bits off it wont look as bad. Rear bumper looks like a towbar has been backed into it. Should repair OK, if not i have a couple in stock lmao

[Spinbitch]

At first i thought you we're the guy in the high-viz jacket! lmao
At least its repairable fella, and make sure you get that letter off to them pronto, get some cash off the w**kers for the damage they did.
Let me know if you need a hand with the work and if i'm free i'll pop down and do what i can.

[kevseymour]

Well, just phoned in my loan application, find out monday - £3k should cover it (and some!)

what's left over will be going on my CC debt!

[Spinbitch]

Good lad!

[Drizz]

OK well todays progress pics. Hope you dont mind Kev...

Removed most broken bits:






Bits dumped:



Bits saved:

[kevseymour]

Don't waste time do you!

is that why i've not got a logon at photobucket?

[Drizz]

yes took the liberty of signing one up for you lol
Need a whole front panel (slam panel with light surrounds), air con fan mounting, rads, bottom arms (both bent) swap subframe just to be sure too. Have one in stock
Will need more of a good look another day...

[kevseymour]

Provided i get the funding sorted (will hopefully have that tied up by the end of next week), this is what i want to come away with when all is finished:

Bodywork / Chassis

• All necessary body work repairs
• GSi front bumper without splitter and bottom lip smoothed off, fogs tinted
• Ph1 tinted headlights (HIDs) / indicators
• GSi grille – unsure whether to smooth it or not (hopefully only temporary, will be looking for a replacement original grille)
• Smooth front wings
• Wing mirror bases clolour coded
• Vectra B colour coded rub strips (smoked side repeater included)
• Vectra B delocked & colour coded door handles
• Rear towing eye painted & fitted (at last!)
• 17” Irmscher Softstars – yes they do only come in 5 stud
• 308mm front brakes, calipers to be fully re-conditioned / painted
• Koni top adjustable shocks / springs
• Powder coated front legs – what colour?
• Colour coded strut braces front & rear – does the hatch rear brace fit the saloon?

Engine

• Replacement of all damaged parts, plus:
  • New CTS, Lambda sensors & thermostat
  • Cambelt
  • Water pump
  • Clutch
  • CV boots
  • Air conditioning up and running

Any more recommendations for things to change while the engine is out?

• Cosmetic improvements
  • Cam cover colour coded
  • Rocker cover colour coded
  • Spark plug cover colour coded
  • Rad. fan housing colour coded
  • New washer fluid bottle
  • New brake fluid reservoir & servo cleaned up or replaced
  • New coolant tank
  • Exhaust manifold heat shield
  • Polished bolts where it’s worth it (rocker cover + wing bolts)
  • Polished slam spring
  • Polished bonnet spring / pin

• Performance manifold, sports cat, SS cat back exhaust with 4” Oval
• Induction kit – is it worth it and are engine bay temps going to be a problem?

Interior / ICE

• Fit MOMO steering wheel
• Red LED conversion
• New dials & fit carbon dial surround
• Fibreglass parcel shelf build for my 5” Subs (Focal 13 KS) and 5.25” components
• Alpine EQ / Time alignment box of tricks

Obviously some of these things are more important that others - but it seems i've been given an opportunity here (yes, that is the sound of an eternal optimist!) and i've always wanted to do these things (well, not the crashing/repairing bit) - so i might aswell get on and do it!

Let me know your thoughts, if i've used some incorrect terminology please correct me, it's the only way i'll learn!

[MarkW]

Rocker cover bolts in stainless are cheap on Ebay, look for Kelsport, same goes for shiny bits TBH, they are plentiful on there.

If you want an induction kit, heatsoak will only be a problem if you don't shield it, you can get a heatshield from somewhere like ESP, and it will be stainless, so therefore fitting in with underbonnet "bling"

Get Evil to price up your LED's, if you want them done, get Drizz to give them to me andd I'll get them to Ian (Evil).

Colouring your rocker cover/cambelt/fan housing etc. is straightforward enough, just depends on what colour you want, if you want it to match the car then spray, if you want a solid colour (red/black etc.) then powdercoating.

As far as the list of bits goes, use your vauxhall tradeclub (or Dan's)

And paint your suspension legs black, MUCH easier to keep clean.