New Car: Vauxhall Astra Mk4 Sri, Been modding already, lowered on FK Coils. Options

[Dano2k0]

hey dano, its a while since the last post here.. just wanted to hear your updates.. any vids?

today i purchased a 1999 2.0 SRi (in silver) as a first car (my practical test is in 1month).. for £2k.. i must be mad but im sure ill pass my test

anyway, it has the full body irmischer kit, lacking the grill, which im probably going to buy for it (the 'irmischer' tagged one i think might be nicer than the 'i' one..)

i was wondering what kind of mods i could start with and how much theyd cost.

eg. the front angel lights and back tinted lights.. xenon high brightness bulbs (you have these right?)

is there a way to get more bhp/torque, while achieving the same/better fuel economy?

where is the best place to buy spares? brakers yards? online spares sites?
ive got so many questions but i shall limit myself to these!

thanks for an interesting thread and i hope to hear your reply!!

Hello mate,

Sorry about the delay in replying, hopefully your still around!

Videos, still haven't done any yet lol (Sorry Bucko, know you wanted some) I will however make the effort to get some videos for you all soon, ive just been very busy and the lack of time hasn't let me get out and attempt to take any videos, give me a couple of weeks and hopefully i'll have something to show

Mod wise, ive done a few odds and ends, not documented most of it though, i swapped the rear lights again and sold those ones off, i bought the real Irmscher smoked lights, i personally think they are the best lights on the market. I have also got some proper samco hose and a small filter for the breather off the back of the rocker cover, though it could still do with an oil catch tank, which i'll invent in soon.

Ive also bought a Pro drive front bumper which come on the SRi-Turbo as standard, it needs abit of work and painting up though, also got a pro drive rear skirt aswell.

Ontop of that, i'm looking into getting a set of Morette headlights, though they are now discontinued and VERY hard to get a set of, but ive got a possible deal coming through in the near future, so i'm very happy about that.

On top of the above, ive also got a pretty much complete headlight washer jet system which i need to fit, i quite fancied it for some reason, i actually think the GSI washer jets in the front bumper look pretty cool. Also aquired a new set of door handles which i'll colour code and fit when i get abit of time aswell.

Your car sounds like it could be pretty nice, any pics? The Irmscher kitted Astras usually look pretty nice. I don't know how old you are, but for a first car, insurance could be very expensive for you.

I take it your engine is the X20XEV, all in all not a bad engine, there are MANY mods you could do, some will keep your fuel economy simillar, while others if your not too carefull could end up taking your MPG down some.. Mainly, it all depends on your style of driving, if you become one with a heavy right foot, you'll soon find you use some fuel compaired to if you drive steady most of the time.

Spares etc, breakers yards often have some stuff in, all depends what your after, eBay people break cars on there and theres usually alot of spares on there so often worth having a look around, sometimes some nice items show up on there. I also hang around on another forum, which is a great community. They have parts for sale etc on there and overall is a great board for the Astra owners.

Angel eye headlights, you can pick them up from eBay brand new for roughly £130 - £150 ish, some other online websites do sell them aswell. Xenon headlights, we tend to refer to them as HID's, i do indeed have them fitted. I wouldn't recommend getting any Angel eye headlights without them, its dangerous you can hardly see where your going lol. With the HIDs fitted, the light output is deffinatly better than the standard headlights. Again, you can pick up a good set of these for approx £50 on eBay, just try and make sure you get 55watt ones and NOT the 35watt versions. I'd also recommend not going above 6k in terms of the light output, the more K you go, the more blue they are. I run 6k in mine and they are perfect. You'll get a better idea of what i'm talking about if you have a quick look on eBay at the kits.

Anyway thats a somewhat huge reply lol, so i'll leave it there with you.

Feel free to PM me and i can point you in the right direction for certain things, hopefully you'll still check back here.

Cheers.

[Dano2k0]

Ok guys,

Been a while since i posted any updates, basically ive got yet again some different rear lights (irmscher smoked ones this time) ive also got colour coded bump strips fitted, and yet again ive swapped the headlights lol. I went for Morette headlights this time, they are pretty rare as they were damn expensive brand new so not many ever bought them, with Morette having gone bust none can be had so they are very hard to track down!

Oh and sorry Bucko, i promise one day soon i'll get you the video of the engine running, i just seem to keep forgetting!

Anyway heres the pics.

Colour coded bump strips.


And again, but this time you can see one of the new rear lights too, didn't think of taking a pic of the pair lol.


Lastly the new Morette headlights, very happy with these i think they suit the look alot better than the angel eyes did.






Feel free to post comments.

Cheers

[bucko]

Ok guys,

Been a while since i posted any updates, basically ive got yet again some different rear lights (irmscher smoked ones this time) ive also got colour coded bump strips fitted, and yet again ive swapped the headlights lol. I went for Morette headlights this time, they are pretty rare as they were damn expensive brand new so not many ever bought them, with Morette having gone bust none can be had so they are very hard to track down!

Oh and sorry Bucko, i promise one day soon i'll get you the video of the engine running, i just seem to keep forgetting!

Anyway heres the pics.

Colour coded bump strips.


And again, but this time you can see one of the new rear lights too, didn't think of taking a pic of the pair lol.


Lastly the new Morette headlights, very happy with these i think they suit the look alot better than the angel eyes did.






Feel free to post comments.

Cheers

Dude chill about it, I just want the video to do justice to your awesome pics did you see this?

Ouch, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC-qXGXYOMQ...player_embedded check your oil if you don't use your car in 6 months

[grim_d]

^saw that on PH, most likely owner doesnt have a clue, fuel pipes probably perished due to dry storage. what a waste, if i had an F1 id drive it EVERY day.

The morettes look great and even better they are real ones. much much more classy than angel eyes i think.

[Dano2k0]

Sorry about the lack of my reply guys and for the lack of update aswell

lol bet the guy that owned the Ferrari was gutted. I'd be thinking the insurance company will be less happy about it having to shell out so much money to the owner.

Yeah i'm well pleased with the Morettes Grim, they suit the car much better and things have made it go from strength to strength looks wise as i now have new wheels which tie the morettes in even more so.

Bucko, yeah no worries mate i WILL get you the video sometime soon, i just always seem to forget and just keep doing stuff and taking pics, i'll get a vid sometime soon though, may see if i can get one this weekend actually!

Anyway guys time for abit of an update.
----------------------------------------------------------

Well some time has gone by since i last managed to get on here and post abit of an update.

Not huge ammounts to show really, but i'll let you all in to what ive been up to anyway, ive been quite busy buying various parts for the car and just in general doing bits that needed sorting out, plus ive been on holiday aswell so lack of time more so other than general cleaning etc.

First of all, colour coded door handles and a good clean, made a huge difference to the sides of the car, just awaiting on colour coded side skirts now.







Next up was a prodrive rear splitter, no fiberglass on this, its the genuine pro drive GRP type part, very rare was originally on the SRi-Turbos.

Had to remove this from another bumper where someone had bodged it on, then re-paint it in the colour of my car and heres the result, looks 100x better in my opinion.



Also ive now got a new set of wheels, i was getting abit fed up of the 18s, the side walls were too thin for our country, i was fed up of the pot holes, so i down sized to some 17s. Also another issue i had with my old wheels was cleaning them, they were a nightmare to keep clean due to the lack of space between spokes etc.

Anyway i decided on the wheels i wanted, which have much bigger spokes, painted in black aswell

I think they suit the car alot better than the old wheels, think general feedback pretty much everyone agrees. I kind of miss the 18s but i love how it looks more with the new wheels on.

(Please excuse the fact its dirty in these pics, also wet through as it had rained)









Overall i'm very happy with the most recent modifications, looking much more like i wanted.

Future plans now are theres various little bits i'd like to sort out, i have also aquired a Pro drive front bumper, which needs alot of prepping, painting and fitting, i also got some GSI sideskirts, and rear arch spats which need painting and fitting also, plus a GSI spoiler which needs the same work aswell. Once these are done and on, i'll be far more satisfied with the look of the car. No doubt i'll come up with more to do on it, but its getting time to begin concentrating more on power

I have got quite big plans for the power of the car, in the near future i'd like to be pushing in the region of 350bhp, and in the future from this point on ideally i'd like to be going above this, but for now 350 is a realistic target and will be plenty for now. Just going to be a case of deciding for sure what parts to buy and slowly buying them all in, going to ideally need forged pistons / rods, arp bolts, piston rings, possibly some new bearings while i'm there, tubular manifold and i think turbo wise i'll go for something like the GT28RS. Also going to go for an uprated inlet cam at least, possibly do both.

When i get chance after which point the head is going to have some work done aswell, but this is going to be a good bit down the line now.

Anyway, enjoy everyone and thanks for reading.

EDIT: Just for the crack of it, hard to believe this is what it was like just abit after i got her, in these pics only mods was lowered and exhaust





Just thought i'd post those for anyone who cares, hard to remember when it looked like this lol.

This post has been edited by Dano2k0: Aug 11 2009, 02:35 PM

[grim_d]

Dano, what kind of IC is that and where did you get it from, price?

ill be looking for one similar in size shortly.