New Astra Owner.

[AndyR]

Hello everyone. 

I have just recently purchased a 2003 Astra G. And what a great car it is. Needs a bit of TLC as it was previously owned by a young driver. After removing the monster stickers, and other boy racer decals it now looks more like the family car I need. It has just clocked 100,000 miles, and I will be servicing her soon. New front pads are the first job on the list of "to do's".

I am in mid norfolk, so if there are any other members nearby, I would like to meet and pick brain cells on a few queeries I have concerning my car. 

Regards all . Andy.   

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

Hi AndyR

Sounds like it's still going strong at 100k miles....just need to keep on top of the maintenance tasks and it should last well.

Pads are straight forward enough....feel free to ask any questions on here.

 

[AndyR]

It does seem to be doing well considering the previous owner was a young lad. It is need of some tlc, but i'll get there over the summer. If the engine is as good as the cavalier sri that i owned quite a few years ago, then i know that i have plenty of mileage left in her. 

Cavalier was a 1990 2.0ltr SRi 8valve 5-door hatch. Pulled like a trojan and when i finally had to scrap her due to the rear springs coming through. She had 260,000+ miles on the clock. 

I do have some niggly probs that i might need advice on, if i can't sort out myself. So i will be a regular visitor to this site. Do you have a parts for sale page? new or secondhand. As i will be looking for some replacement wheels. Those that are fitted aren't that great, had to remove one as it was breaking up.

Regards Andy.   

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

Hi Andy

The old school Cavaliers were excellent cars but as you say, the tinworm usually got the better of them. Use to work on so many of them and they just went on forever.

We usually have a parts page but that is in the process of being updated at this current time.

Feel free to post any questions...will see what we can do to help

Cheers   Trevor

[AndyR]

Thank you Trevor. I'm looking forward to all the help i can get with some of the problems this car has. Whilst i'm here, how do i tell what engine is in my car? and how do i find the paint code?   Also I've noticed on the rear of the car there should be badges, but they have been removed. I can see that my car is a "Twinport". How do I tell if this is a twinport?

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

The Twinport engine is best described in this article 

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/?t=40238

The paint code should be on a sticker somewhere on the door post, visible when the door is open or in the engine bay somewhere.

[AndyR]

Well i found the paint code,  Z157, turns out to be star silver 111. So i can start to match in the scuffs the previous owner aquired. And it turns out that it is the Twinport engine.  Now i need to find some astra twinport badges to put back on the boot . 

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

Win-Win all round then....

 

[AndyR]

   

Now the cars not in use as much,  now the kids are back at school, i can spend more time getting these little jobs done. Will be ordering a pair of rear springs next week, 3 children and a boot load of shopping, and i couldn't see the top of the rear wheels. Not good. 

So glad they are separate from the shocks, should make life easier on changing them. 

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

from memory, it is a straight forward job....no special tools required apart from spring clamps

 

[AndyR]

I guessed as much. Did look underneath and thought that if i jack the car up high enough to leave the wheels hanging , and then spring clamps to remove and replace. There would be no need to disturb the shocks. Which is a win win for me.