My Daily Driver, and some waffle.

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My Daily Driver, and some waffle.

TomSaintJames

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Joined
Apr 11, 2011
Messages
25
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5
Location
Yeovil
This is my dialy driver, a 1.4 mk2 astra. I've always wanted one ever since I was 12 when my mum had one, mine is much nicer than hers was though! hehe. I like this engine, it's got lots of torque for it's size, and when you wind it up the 2nd barrel/choke opens in the carb and it's quite nippy!

I bought it off of ebay for £120 two years ago, and have done quite a bit to it, i'm trying to get it back to original, sparkling condition. Well as much as that is possible for a daily driver.

The most recent work I have done is a complete brake overhaul, new clutch and mechanism and I've had most of the exterior plastics off for painting satin black (forgot the door handles, boot handle, fuel filler cap and door mouldings though! These will be done in the next few days, and will put the door mouldings back on that I took off) Whilst the bumpers were off I painted underneath with hammerite, did the inner arches too whilst I was at it - mk2 astras are notorious for rusting here!

It had done 48000 miles when I bought it, and now has done 83000, still runs well, but as with all the 1.3/1.4 mk2's, the carb (peirberg 2E3) was far too complicated, and suffers from autochoke issues and unresponsiveness. So the plan is to either get it refurbed (£200 :eek:) or source a new one, but not found a new one yet, and have many other more important things to spend that and less on!

The body work is awful when you look closely, there are loads of small and bigger scratches, dents and two spots of rust. So in the summer, after I have sorted the Panda, I will get the filler out and primer whilst saving for a respray. I've already had the bonnet and front wings resprayed, as the astra had new pattern parts of these last summer. Already got a chip in the bonnet by the badge that is rusting!

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How it looked when I got it;
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My beloved BX that is now in citroen heaven. This was a 1.4 TGE, top of the range for a 1.4. The suspension was brilliant, the most comfortable car ever. It had the standard rubbish single choke carb (34), it was jerky and thirsty, 32 mpg on the motorway for a 1.4! So I got a citroen AX GT carb and manifold, a twin choke solex carb (32/34), should have boosted power from 70 (standard BX) to 85 bhp (standard AX GT). I WILL have another one of these, and not in the too distant future, well maybe 4/5 years.
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My second car - I wished I never sold this, was the most fun car i've had. Not reliable though. Would like another one of these for winter usage, with a C20XE redtop head, and maybe a turbo too but would need to strengthen some bits like conrods etc because of the long stroke of the fronteras X22XE engine, and get an intercooler and all the associated business.
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Thats all for now folks :slayer:
 
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