xe'd mk2 astra van

[GSI Rob]

Alright peeps

welcome to my project.

i recently purchased a mk2 astra van for peanuts imo. with gte body kit a few nice touches and all in all not a bad colour finish either.

well i went to view the van and tbh it was pretty rough snapped wheel bolt resulted to the wheel coming of at speed and crumpling the wing and drivers door. all the smooth panels and badboy bonnet were showing signs of eglect etc. any ways the engine was running (just) and thought fook it i can make this in to one lovely machine thats fairly rapid. So i parted with my cash and got the thing trailered home.

Pics when i went to view the car






The van arrived home and it was time to jumo on it straight away removing all the crap and sourcing parts to make good

off came the dented wings



as well as the bumber which was only held on with three screws


and of course the bonnet and trim, doing this had reveled some cosmetic problems but that would be sorted at a later date.

next thing was to make a few subtble changes to her.

first was to five stud the old girl



i put new spax inserts in and new 30mm drop springs whilst fitting 288 ebc turbo discs and green stuff pads at the front.

Next was the rear ends turn. jacked her up and romved the old beam to replace with mk3 astra estate to five stud the rears, upon jacking up this is where all the problems lied. the rear chassie leg was rusted to buggery with the suspension cup falling the floor all the fuel tank is rusted along the the sills and feul pump carrier. GUTTED after all the blood sweat and tears trying to get the front together for an easy swap at the rear i was left feeling pretty distraught.

well after about two months of what shall i do with the thing and my old an wingin at me for his garage back i spoke to paul Calkin coachworxs in romford and he has the pleasurble task of repair the old girl starting with welding bodywork and full respray.

I will up date with pics as we go along but this is the stroy so far.

keep watching for further up dates.

i promise this thing will be wicked once done. What do you think??

Cheers
Rob

[GSI Rob]

some more before photos









Ther interior and alloys are for sale

Alloys £50 Kebed but ok
Interior £50 good just dusty

collection only

[Drizz]

Nice one rob!

[Vanweez]

Sweet van dude, i do like the old skool ones they are smart as

[A2!]

Can't wait to see this on the road mate! Good on you for fixing her up!

[snowman1]

i can see this is going to be a wicked project, good luck with it all mate

[Jonny Martin]

I really really like the sound of this project, keep it updated dude!

[GSI Rob]

cheers peeps gunna get to work on her today strip all the interior out carpets seats headlinging etc then start to source some new interior bit but they seem to be rare as rocking horse doo doo.

Also got my old exhaust manifold back of spinbitch a 4-2-1 oversized fre flowing bas boy so that should realise a few horses, also going to purchase some nice cams of autosprint in birmingham port and polish the head, and inlet manifold. all jobs to be done over the next 10-12 weeks bring on 2008 for the shows

[Jack]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice, I like it.

Don't see many mk2 vans, that looks like it will be nice with some TLC. Are you keeping it the same colour?

[GSI Rob]

yeah keeping it the same colour, it nice and bright and has a nice little metalic glint when the sun hits it. it a very similar colour to the cavalier baby blue. but a darker shade then the calibra.

I Think its called ice Blue irrc

[deanospeed]

hi rob its good to see people taking interest in modin vans, ive just finished my mk2 astravan and if all goes well i should be at trax in september, ive sprayed it dodge viper blue so you cant miss it, good luck with your project. deanospeed.

[GSI Rob]

cheers Deano

What you running engine wise got any pics at all. would like to see some others for insperation etc.

[GSI Rob]

well heres some pics before it goes away to made pretty

cant wait to see it finished in all its glory. and im loving the look of the turbo rims

[Drizz]

Turbo rims kick arse!

[elgan]

i like the nexia doors. nice subtle touch

[Drizz]

OH yeah never noticed that!

[Tom Williams]

They aren't nexia doors surely, those are vectra door handles.

I think the rear would look better with the plate in the bumper or the grab handle on the bootlid

[Drizz]

Yeah but Mk2s had handles built in so you couldnt swap them for vectra ones....

[Tom Williams]

there you go 3 door daewoo nexia

handle sits above the door, and yes the mk2 had built in door handles which means one original owner has cut in cavalier/vectra door sections to mount cavalier/vectra door handles

[deanospeed]

PICTURE OF VAN

[Drizz]

What you mean tom? Handle above the door? They look like the ones on the van to me?

[deanospeed]

Finished In Dodge Viper Blue

[elgan]

his van would have 5 door daewoo nexia front doors.

the door line at the bottom of the window is flat on a mk2 astra and angled up into the mirror on the nexia

im not normally this sad, was 50:50 on reshelling a 16v gte into a 3dr nexia shell before

[Drizz]

Im sure the Mk2 van had 3dr front doors and the Mk3s had 5dr fronts...

[GSI Rob]

you see i thought the same but the three door gte doors dont fit so they would have to be from a five door. but what i dont know but i like them with the handles etc.

well tonight the van gets taken away for the work to be done ill get some more photos of it as it leave under the cover of darkness lol.

out of interest would a mk3 estate/van feul tank fir my van? i know it has a larger capcity and mine is pretty rotton aswell. answrs on a post card please.