J4M13
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 06
Location: Bacup (Rossendale)
User status: Offline
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Right, Here she is in all her chavvy glory!
bought her around may this year. didnt realise how much bad condition the bodywork was, but that didnt really bother me, i only bought this car wiht 1 thing in mind, using it for track days and sticking an xe in her.
the car already had 17" Kei racing wheels and carbon induction kit.
so here is how it looked the day i bought it
First things first, gave her a good clean, looking mighty tractorfied!
next up was to remove the uber ghey petrol cap cover
and then the mod's started, in its first week had it lowered on Bilstein -60mm springs
also, smoked the rear lights(done badly though) and fitted smoked side-rep's.
much better!
low enough?
THEN, this happens 2 weeks into owning it
Whilst the car was off the road untill it was in the bodyshop i decided i might aswell carry on the changing things.
interior came out
in favor for sprayed red parts(what was i thinking:rolleyes
also colour coded the door handles
thought i might aswell de-badge/rubstrip it
before
after
How she stood near end of may
Whilst the car was in the bodyshop a week later i decided to re-furb the Kei's myself as they were kerbed to feck!
1 Week after going into the bodyshop it came out looking spanky!
Stuck the newly re-furbed Kei's back on her.
(yes that is a kerb mark on the drivers fornt wheel
Next up was to sort out the massive exhaust and exchange it for a nicer one, this called for a 2minute trip upto TopGearNW and handed over the cash for a full powerlfow system
Laurence busy hacking off the old one
nice new system, looks much better! top job!
8 Weeks on and she looked like this, with the addition of headlight brows.
meanwhile, i purchased a full reiger Rs kit from Rexy of here, but never fitted it so sold it on in order to buy......
2 nice corbeau buckets and sparco harnesses
Next was to Strip out the rear as i couldnt get to the seats anyways, and also painted the arches.
whilst stripping out i found this
Now in July and things have moved on quite abit.
I finally found and managed to grab a set of speedlines off 'chapcorsa' i think on here.
at the same time, i bought and fitted a set of 2ltr disk's and calipers.
so they went straight on a treat!
Time to start engine mod's!
bought a mantzel replica inlet off L30 SCT off here and fitted it asap, was a right bastid to fit, had to be sent off and where the hoses connect to it, they had to be welded in different places, all was sorted and got it fitted, it now pulls alot more around 5700rpm
engine cover painted up red and oil breather fitted
next was bodywork, got rid of rust and dents in the boot, decided to just weld up the rear wiper instead of fannying about with making a new hole.
also laquered the rear smoked lights proeprly, they look much better now!
next, bought a screen and fitted it into the dash along with PS2
also stripped the back out properly getting rid of the carpet and all that sticky crap.
made an 8 hour round journey to pick up a set of gsi skirts
the next day picked up a seat cordoba splitter and fitted them both the same day
low enough for ya?
got the skirts sprayed up the same week and bonded them properly onto the car, starting to look nice now
were now in october.
decided the speedlines would look much nicer on my car white!
before
during
after
fitted them the next day, looking spanky!
fast forward to mid november and this is how she looked.
now fitted with delocked veccy door handles colour coded and also chrome inner door handles from veccy too.
also as you will see in the pics to follow i sprayed up the interior parts nighthawk black to get rid of the chavvy crap red paint, looks much better now
UPDATE (28/11/06)
Picked up my badboy/extended bonnet on sunday night, 4 1/2 - 5hour round journey to pick it up, not bad for £55
also on sunday managed to find and picked up a post 97 bumper form a vaux breakers yard, i needed a new bumper as mine is nackered at the bolt holes.
ready to go on for trial fit
old one off
new one on
UPDATED (03/12/06)
Got the post 97 bumper on today, it didnt want to go on for some ghey reason but eventually went on with angry force 
first off, decided to treat myself to some new tools'' plus seen as i didnt have a rachet and sockets needed for the bolts it was a good idea, £30 from halfauds, looks like a nice bit of kit.
old one off
new one on
im in 2 mind wether or not to re-fit the cordoba splitter to the post97 bumper, was a bastid to fit and was abit impractical for driving, was less than 2 inches from the floor on flat.
UPDATE [07/12/06]
Got these babies to go on now, cost me the massive sum of £10!! Bargain or what?
they do need abit of tlc, few cracks here and their, nothing i cant sort out with abit of fibreglass. and the lamps have rust inside them, can purchase the outer big lamps for them no problem and for now untill funds are available again im going to use the inners as air feeds.
[UPDATE - 09/12/06]
friday i had the day off work so decided to get started on the prepping for the re-spray, a quick trip upto my mates bodyshop (NWautobodies) and got started on the car, bad news/good news, he cant fit me in this weekend for the re-spray but promised for next weekend, suppose it gives me more itme to sort the bodywork out before hand to make a quicker job.
into the shop she goes
i counted this many dints at a quick glance on the worse side
couple of pics at the end of the day of the work i had done.
sorted out the worsed dint in the drivers rear quarter and sorted a couple more dints, one on the boot and one on the passenger door, also grey scotched more or less one side of the car ready for spraying leaving the parts where dints were so i could see them when i come to sorting them this week.
at the point of no return now
this week i will be taking a grey scoth pad with me to work to get on during my breaks, oh the fun ill have 
and thats what she still looks like at the moment.
AND.........i now own a garage to store the XE and rest of my shit in.
aint she pretty? its having new doors put on before its signed over to me, when i get the keys im going to sort the inside out and deck the walls with wood etc.
If you didnt guess, the xe is hid underneath the blue cover in the trailor, forgot to take pics though
[UPDATE - 15/12/06]
Havnt had much time this week to work on the car, and it looks like the re-spray could be in the next few weeks now
got around to repairing the morettes (the shells were abit broken and cracked). sorted them and primed them up.
the lamps in the morettes were fooshed, so ordered 2 new outer lamps off tuning.co.uk, and got hold of 2 brand new inners with all wiring for £20!! that saved me £80!
they came in no time so built them up and fitted them last night.
[UPDATE - 17/12/06]
was a dry day yesterday and i have been driving about with no front indicators since fitting the morettes, so got around to fitting them behind the front grille, also took one of the inner lamps out and replaced it with a cold air feed.
UPDATE - 21/12/06
Bilstein Tarmac Road Rally Spec suspension set-up arrived today, Thanks to Dave A.
got them fitted last night, in the DARK! the car feels alot stiffer and is awesome around bends, well worth the cash
fitted finally
[UPDATE - 30/12/06]
Been really busy this last week working on the car, as it has to be sprayed up before i start back at work, the finishing date is 2/01/06!
all my work carried out on the car bodywork wise has been done at a mates bodyshop, he has been comming into work this last week just so i can get my car ready, BIG thanks is owed to him!
decided that the badboy/extended bonnet that i bought was done shite, so i swapped it my mate for my old one so my mate could do it properly, got all the dints/stone chips sorted etc, all the dints we could possibly find on the car have finally been sorted and are now primed up ready for the big day!
Right the pics -
ready for masking up
masked ready for the primer
on goes the primer!
unmasked and ready to rub down before the re-spray
got the bad boy bonnet finished today also, decided not to extend it this time, will get pics of it finished tomorrow.
welded and ground down ready to apply filler.
all that is left to do on tuesday before its masked and re-sprayed is to sand the front bumper down as its been sprayed previously and is flaking, other than that, i cant wait for it to be done.
UPDATE - 05/01/07
WOOHOO!! its finished finally!
got the rest of the little bits done this week whilst i was still off work then got her in the spray booth and stripped her down ready to be masked for the last time!
masked everything up and awaiting the gun
Looking much nicer
Unmasked and put back together she is looking like this.
The paint is very orange peely at the moment, i will be flatting and buffing the paintwork very soon to get the best finish, thats the outside done, just the engine left
Bit of bad news, this past week(s) the car started really over heating and staying way above 100degrees, got graham at topgearNW to have a look and decided the engine wants to throw in the towel sorted it so it will run just about untill the XE is fitted in february.
[UPDATE - 25/01/07]
RIGHTO, change of plan, the car decided so.
over the last week or so the engine has started running worse and worse, saturday, half way to morecome and she starts over heating very fast on the motorway, put hazards on and pulled over, smoke/steak pouring out from the bonnet, topped up with water and let her cool down. Tryed starting it back up and, nothing, it just about turned over but was no where near starting, kept trying turning it over constantly while pumping the gas for a few mins and she eventually started but as soona s i let the revs drop it cut out, managed to get home just about after it cutting out about 20 times. next morning i try to start her up and nothing.
Sooooooo, looks like the XE is going in a few weeks sooner.
i picked up the XE from its current home in the garage and trailored it up to Graham at D.C.M.S(formerly topgearNW). graham is stripping it down and giving it a good service this week, taking my old engine out beginning of next week then fitting XE and should be ready for the end of next week(4th feb) i sooo cant wait!
right a few pics of the xe before it was touched, all the sprak plugs and centre part under the spark plug cover were flooded with water
managed to give one side of the engine and box a quick clean before i tok it up.
before cleaning
after cleaning
and in its new home for the next week or so
the rocker cover and belt cover are currently at a friends bodyshop where i am prepping and painting them red with a white spark plug cover.
quick update on the cars exterior(still havnt got around to flatting and buffing the car yet) Purchased a badgeless slatted grille to finish the front off, also lost oen half of my splitter this week
i went upto graham's today and started stripping the engine down of its wiring loom, inlet manifold and all pipework ready for him to time it up properly before any further progress can be made.
hopefully my next update will be informing about the completed conversion
Quick Update
Managed to get me some track day wheels today
graham at (d.c.m.s) had a customer with new alloys, offered to buy his standards and he sold them to me for £100, Bargain! tires are really good almost like new too.
Astra SXI wheels.
now all to do is deicde on a wacky colour to paint them for a laugh, any idea's??
UPDATE - 01/02/07
Last week and this weeks priority has been getting the XE ready to go in, I have been up at D.C.M.S(topgearNW) with Graham throught most of this, he tells me what to do and i do it, best way of learning.
stripped it down of all pipework/gearbox/loom/rocker cover/inlet etc, and gave it a good servicing.
took the gearbox off and gave the inside a good cleaning
before
after, nice and shiny
Pic of the mess i was making :loli wish the engine to the left was going in instead)
all service parts were fitted and started putting everything back together.
Got around to Painting my rocker cover and belt cover this week also, found a tin of red paint lying around a friends bodyshop so wacked that on.
future plans are to do it white with black sparkplug cover to match the car.
in primer and rubbed down ready for painting
all nice and fresh from spray booth
also ordered a few shiny things, Stainless steel rocker cover bolts and a stainless steel chrome look heat shield(still to be fitted).
pic of rocker cover painted up and new bolts
Ordered some Exhaust manifold heat wrap and stainless steel tie wraps(more to cover up the rusty-ness and look tidier but also with a performance advantage is anything)
2"x30m of the stuff for £25 off ebay!
so thats the xe ready to go in this week, should hopefully be running by the end of the weekend.
I was bored one night last week and had some spare time so nipped upto my local A1 motorstores and purchased a roll of black suade material to have a go at re-trimming my ghey sport doorcards.
purchased a can off decent spray adhesive and got to work(bare in mind i have never done anything like this before)
stripped the door cards of their horrible sport/sri pokadot material
Cut out enough material to cover the whole doorcard
Sprayed on a generous amount of adhesive(the cob webby stuff)
layed the suade material on and then stuck it into all the corners as good as i could, took ages to try and get all of the creases etc out but couldnt get them all out, still looks nice though.
cut the excess material away and secured it with more adhesive on the back
and thats it, job done
looks 10x better(will get pics of them fitted when i get the car back)
quick pic of the gauges i have bought from 'L30 SCT' form on here.
This week ordered:
M-Tech Short shift
Goodrich Braided Brake hoses
Oil Temp & Oild Pressure gauges from 'L30 SCT'
Custom Pod for gauges also form 'L30 SCT'
pics will be up asap and thread will have regular updates.
[Edited on 23-05-2007 by J4M13]
[Edited on 23-06-2007 by J4M13]
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All Torque
Member
Registered: 17th Nov 05
Location: Milton Keynes Drives: Ford Focus TDCi
User status: Offline
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Looks 1000 times better now 
Get those rear lights to fuck
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Robin
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: Northants Drives: Clio 182 Cup
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nice right up, its come a long way
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MikeE
Member
Registered: 7th Mar 03
Location: Milton Keynes
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looks smart mate. personally dont like diy smoked rear lights other then that very nice car
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J4M13
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 06
Location: Bacup (Rossendale)
User status: Offline
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the smoked lights are just on for now, should be getting mhw's after xmas some time along with morettes, first priority after the re-spray thsi weekend, will be getting the engine sorted in february.
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deano87
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Registered: 21st Oct 06
Location: Bedfordshire Drives: Ford Fiesta
User status: Offline
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Did you get the hole in the boot sorted?
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All Torque
Member
Registered: 17th Nov 05
Location: Milton Keynes Drives: Ford Focus TDCi
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by J4M13
the smoked lights are just on for now, should be getting mhw's after xmas some time along with morettes, first priority after the re-spray thsi weekend, will be getting the engine sorted in february.
Sounds good.
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ash87
Member
Registered: 26th Mar 05
Location: West Wiltshire Drives: Clio 172
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awesome progress has only got better imo. exhaust sits well looks sweet
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danward
Member
Registered: 14th Nov 06
Location: Northants Drives: C Exclusiv
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Awesome mate! Love the progress you've made.
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James
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Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
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Fantastic progress but I admit I did laugh out loud when I read it was being used for track days and scrolled down to see a PS2 and screen installed
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a_j_mair
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Registered: 23rd Jan 04
Location: Scotland
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quote:
Originally posted by James
Fantastic progress but I admit I did laugh out loud when I read it was being used for track days and scrolled down to see a PS2 and screen installed
and fitting of bodykit and a respray 
surely best cheap and cheerful if for track days
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Nic Barnes
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Registered: 5th Apr 04
Location: nowhere near ginger people
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looks real great that car. very nice
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All Torque
Member
Registered: 17th Nov 05
Location: Milton Keynes Drives: Ford Focus TDCi
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This Image was missing 
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Novaneil
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 06
Location: Leamington Spa
User status: Offline
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Great progress mate,
Couple of comments though: I actually liked it more on the black 17's... The speedlines look too small, but it could just be that it needs lowering a bit more IMO. And also I think you should lose the front Vauxhall badge. Apart from that
What other future plans do you have for her?
Neil
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J4M13
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 06
Location: Bacup (Rossendale)
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by a_j_mair
quote:
Originally posted by James
Fantastic progress but I admit I did laugh out loud when I read it was being used for track days and scrolled down to see a PS2 and screen installed
and fitting of bodykit and a respray
surely best cheap and cheerful if for track days
Im not fitting a bodykit, its just having a re-spray to get rid of dints and all the rust etc, its only costing me £200 as im doing all the work myself except the spraying which a mate is doing.
and the screen and ps2 is fitted for the passenger when on long journeys to meets etc.
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J4M13
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 06
Location: Bacup (Rossendale)
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Novaneil
Great progress mate,
Couple of comments though: I actually liked it more on the black 17's... The speedlines look too small, but it could just be that it needs lowering a bit more IMO. And also I think you should lose the front Vauxhall badge. Apart from that
What other future plans do you have for her?
Neil
future plans are:
Re-spray next weekend
Fit the XE in february
Roll cage/strut bar
Fit the Bilstein tarmac rally spec suspension i have bought off 'Dave A' when he sends it.
other than that, im just gunna enjoy driving it when the xe is Fitted and wait a few years for either an LET or a new car, i well cant wait to go out on track with it
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J4M13
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 06
Location: Bacup (Rossendale)
User status: Offline
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better pic of the new bonnet, stil in primer untill the re-spray next weekend
[Edited on 29-11-2006 by J4M13]
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corsaaa_16v
Member
Registered: 8th Feb 06
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looking good!!
why didnt you save this thread till the respray had been done, and bumper and bonnet sprayed up!! would have made more sense!! lol
looks sweet now tho
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STEvieXE
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Registered: 21st Jan 03
Location: Ballymena N.I.
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like the progress mate. looks 200% better now...
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J4M13
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 06
Location: Bacup (Rossendale)
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by corsaaa_16v
looking good!!
why didnt you save this thread till the respray had been done, and bumper and bonnet sprayed up!! would have made more sense!! lol
looks sweet now tho
its a project progress thread, ill be changing the car all the time so will be adding new stuff all the time.
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ajscorsa
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Registered: 30th Apr 02
Location: Perceton, North Ayrshire
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gonna look sweet painted up mate
dont fit the splitter
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tom_simes
Show Staff
Organiser: South Wales
Premium Member
Registered: 12th Jan 05
Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate
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Have you got any pics of the underneath of the pre 97 bumper, so I can see how you have fitted the cordoba splitter?
love it mate, looks amazing!
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J4M13
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 06
Location: Bacup (Rossendale)
User status: Offline
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nope i dont sorry pal, the splitter comes with clip sort of things like what are on standard corsa splitter and i just used the same holes where i could then just used self tappers, about 50 of them haha to keep it from smashing off, then i was left with a slight gap inbetween the bumper and splitter, because i couldnt be arsed thinking of any other better method i ran a bead of black tiger seal in the gap and smoothed it with my finger, didnt actually look too bad.
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J4M13
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 06
Location: Bacup (Rossendale)
User status: Offline
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UPDATED
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Scotty C
Member
Registered: 6th Nov 05
Location: Kidderminster Drives: 1.6 16v Sport
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Awesome
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