| Astra Dan's Mk2
History:
I had a 1985 5 door GTE that was a dog, and it blew up and rotted away. Whilst driving around in a borrowed Metro, I had a loan of £1k burning a hole in my pocket. I think I looked at nearly 10 1.3 5 door Astras, before choosing AKG on the second visit. It was close between AKG and a slightly newer G plate, facelift dark blue one with 78k miles and FSH. For some reason I preferred the pre-face lift F plate one in silver with 104k miles and again, FSH. The car (built at good old Elsmere Port) started out in 1988 as a company car for a security firm. This meant it had regular services, thankfully a habit kept up by it's next private owner, all I know it was a lady. Next owner was a young girl working her way through college, finally going to Uni in London. This resulted in the car doing less than 400 miles in the last two years of her ownership, so she decided to sell. I bought AKG for £925 (got £75 knocked off!) in September 1999.
AKG started life as a 1.3L. So it had a radio cassette (still fitted at time of purchase), remote control mirrors, a clock, auto-choke and, er, adjustable height front seat belts. It also had horrible wheel trims covering 13" wheels fitted with 155 tyres, which appeard to be un-balanced.
Less than 4 hours after I had bought it and washed the dust off, I fitted the 14" white GTE alloys off my dead car. Then for a while it wore the CD wheels from the car that gave up it's interior. Next up was some 14" SXi alloys which stayed for the next 5-6 years, which, with the bumpers, complete the SXi/ SRi look. I did try some Speeline Allessio 2s for about 3 hours, but the tyres rubbed so I took them off and sold them on (looked nice in the pics below). Finally, after major work to renew almost all the front suspension, it now wears 16" Cavalier Turbo rims.
Currently my wife (Sharon SR) uses the car daily for her 60 mile round trip to work, averaging about 1,000 a month. The car performs superbly and returns just under 40MPG. We have had quotes for a bare shell respray of around the £1k mark and we figure this is just what the car deserves. The event may mark it turning over to 200,000 miles!
Body:
1988 Mk2 Astra 1.3L 5 Door
GTE clear front indicators and smoked rear lights
Vauxhall headlight/ indicator protectors
CD front and rear bumpers, inc. front fogs and headlight washers
16" Cavalier Turbo Wheels with 195/45 tyres.
SRi rear lip spoiler
Black highlight in bumper/ rubbing strips
Chrome bonnet lifters
SRi twin horns
Replacement inner and outer rear arches and sills. The floor around the rear bush on the n/s front wishbone finally gave way in early 2008. The whole of this area has been replaced with 6mm steel.
Interior:
CD front and rear seats, rear headrests and door cards
SRi facelift clocks
Facelift switches (!)
SRi steering wheel
Electric windows
Electric mirrors
Electric sunroof
Ford central locking
Carlton map lights
VW programmable wiper relay
ICE:
Kenwwod MP3 head unit
Sony 6x9s in stealth rear shelf
Standard front speakers
Security:
Er, a Moss alarm controlling the central locking
Oh, and a new lockset after break-in
Engine:
Standard, 190k miles
New idle jet, carb stripped and cleaned. Auto-choke fully operational!
Head gasket finally needed replacing in November 2004. GM parts used throughout.
Exhaust:
Complete new (summer 2006) GM system from manifold back
SRi Oval pipe rear silencer
Suspension:
Eibach Springs all round.
New GM Shocks all round with new GM wishbones
Complete Astra Mk3 GSi rear beam
5 stud conversion using Vectra CV Joints and Cavalier V6 front and rear hubs
Brakes:
Vectra 288mm front discs and calipers with GM pads
Cavalier V6 269mm rear disc setup
Future:
Possible MPi or 1.4 16v conversion
Electric power steering | 
