It may have been asked . . But why an astra?

 

Well the project started with an Astra and originally thought of doing a RWD LET, but then changed my mind to 4WD as RWD would be a bit of a handful,

A couple of mates said it would be cool if it had a Subaru engine and running gear, so my challenge began...

 

A little more progress… chopped up the doors taking the motors and mechs out as I will just go lexan, still weigh a fair bit so may get the hole-saw on the top inner rail





A while ago I covered the dash with flock material and to be honest it looked sh*te so decided to try again, I purchased a DIY Flock kit off the bay and after a test last week it seems pretty good so ripped the material off and a few hours sanding it back down applied the flock, the pics below still have the excess flock on it so fingers crossed looks ok next weekend when I remove the loose... also flocked the roof vent inner section…





Rear quarter filler work is now done so will start getting the outside prepped in the next few weeks ready for paint,



My Engine is also ready to pick up (cheers Paul and Tim) so busy times ahead!!!

 

Nice job, you'll have to give us some feedback on the durability of the flocking kit - some of my centre console is lifting and needs re-doing

 

Dash turned out ok there are a few slightly bare patches, thinking back to when I did it the glue was soaking in on a few area’s as I gave it a good rub down, so if I was going to use it again I would give it a coat first an let dry or even a coat of primer,

Only took one pic and it was blurred so will take some next week…

As I want to get it more weather proof for the winter I started the rear quarter windows, I got the rubber trim off the passenger window a few weeks back which was a nightmare of a job, I cut around the glass then smashed it and picked out the small pieces with long nose pliers took hours!!!!, hard to see in this pic but it’s just the rubber,



Made a cardboard template



Cut the Lexan and as the rubber on the inside isn’t very neat I masked and sprayed a black border



Bonded in… may need a slight bend forming on the edge next to the ‘B’ post so will give it a little heat and clamp it over the bench once tiger seal has cured.



Got bored of that so decided to get the Astra wiring loom and have a trimming session as a mate has offered to help build the loom so we laid it out like it was in the car to help identify things, started off with this



Removed this lot



Leaving just the rear lighting and central locking… done the same with the front lighting but forgot pictures of that



Also it has a friend for a week or two…

 

Looking good, that's a seriously trimmed loom, lol.

 

keep up the brilliant work, can't wait to see a video of it all done!

 

Yeh surprising how much crap you can get rid of, remember this is just the Astra loom to run lights ect, Subaru loom will run separate, although I have been attacking that too...

Cheers, yes will be getting a couple of camera's mounted when done

 

Engine - well it fits!!!

Done a test fit of the engine today will need to come back out for a paint up, but now gives me an idea of space I have for various parts… I’m pleased with the room at the front for rad and IC and where I though the alternator would be tight on the bonnet I have about an inch so all good.

Goes in easy just had to remove the oil filler pipe,

A few pics for different angles…

 

It's really coming together now

 

Fair play Ian it's been a while since I last checked in an fair play you been a busy guy lol, coming along nicely now bud, like the focus rear touch, and it's mad how low the engine seems to sit in the pics, fair play to you keep up he good work, looking forward to my next catch up

 

Cheers Jon, feels good having the engine in place, need to get on with the wiring now..

yeh been a busy few months got a weeks holiday now... (got to keep the misses happy)
Might be painted when you check in next time..

 

Any more updates mate? ... People will snigger at this when it sees the road (Until they hear and see it fly past them )

 

Not a lot to show for the weekends efforts, spent a lot of time on the lighting wiring loom soldering and shrink wrapping it’s surprising how long it takes to do and had a mate helping, now have the rear loom running up to the center of the dash where the switched will be mounted.

A few pics nothing really exciting, decided to route the front light loom’s out through the inner wing then back in through the ‘A’ Pillar





The red wire in the pic below was originally the towing charge cable so I left it in place and will use for aux power in the rear may be useful for in-car cameras ect



And I picked up this bumper Friday evening it’s a fibreglass after-market one needs a couple of repairs but ideal for what I need…



Just need to trim a little more off the Subaru front lower cross member ends so the bumper goes back a little more…

 

was just in the middle of the update

 

Got a nice box of goodies from the guys at rally-tech.com we have done a sponsorship deal where some of their parts will be fitted on the car along with advertising with their decals once the car is painted,

anyone who has any of their products will agree the quality and finish is superb.

 

Keep up the good work and looking good.
My projects along same lines. Think im needing a kit due to impreza width.

 

cant wait to see vid m8

and that clio with a scooby engine will fly!!!!!!

 

Looks cool how much room do you have up front? You should take a look at James' 205 on here as it's a similar size car he has put a kit on his

Build thread??

Think it's going to be around march before it's on the road to get some video, still loads to do....

 

Got the door jams and inside of the doors painted on Saturday so I can get it a bit more weather proof…





So now I have the door rubbers and door catches fitted… doors fit well still!!





Also made some temporary windows to stop the damp and birds ect getting in as I want to bolt a seat in next weekend so I can see where to mount switches…



Some more wiring and on the drivers headlight loom done and door looms for central locking are now trimmed, tapped up and fitted,

Then did my low tech inside door handle



Next main job is to get rubbing down, I’ve changed my mind on the plain white for the outside going to do something along these lines, but replacing the Red with Blue.



Opinions??

 

Body is coming along nicely, as for finish are you intending to paint the various colours or vinyl it, although I reckon the red looks good

 

will be paint, mate is doing it he does a lot of detail work so up his street, I like the red but thinking to add a little blue as I have blue seats and give it a little Subaru touch..

 

Just spent the last hour or so reading this thread wot a cracking job you are doing im hooked 👍👍👍👍

 

Cheers....

 

Small update had another little job yesterday morning helping out with some wiring for a Subaru kitcar,

So on mine bolted a seat back in so I can see what is reachable from a driving position,

I got hold of an indicator stalk from a Subaru but in the end I decided to use the Astra one along with the airbag/horn/radio control squid so I can have some buttons mounted just behind the steering wheel,

Next I chopped up the Astra column to get the switch/stalk mount off and had to modify it taking the bearing out and enlarging the hole to go over the Subaru column once that was done it fitted like a glove, just had to grind down the steering boss to allow clearance for the wiring





The setup now cancels the indicator which I’m happy with as it’s a pain not cancelling… just need to lower the column a bit more.

I then put some carbon wrap stuff on the door bars to protect them, looks ok...



Then I found I may have a minor issue reaching the gear stick comfortably especially 1st gear so I might go down this route… or something similar



Also finished the light circuit wiring, now all goes into the middle of the dash ready for switches.

 

Not a lot to report on from the past few weeks just been doing small jobs that don’t really make good pictures and some body prep,

I have received this fuse/relay box today it’s got some good wiring and terminal blocks so ideal and a good price, I will mount it in the center console area with a switch panel above,

 

just make sure u make a vid when its up and running

 

Great project this. Just read from the start. Lovely work.

Subscribed!

 

Have you thought about fabricating a gear lever in a 'Z' shape to bring it closer?

 

been working out how to wire up the fuse relay box i got hold of, i decided to strip some of it out and leave just the feed wires in place and have purchased some new terminals to rewire the trigger and switch wiring and the negative to the relays as it had yellow and green when i got it so i will replace with brown to keep consistent with the rest of the car.



also been making up some wiring diagrams so i have a reference later on how it was wired, and make wiring it up easier especially if my mate Neal is helping he will have diagrams to work with





just wondering if I should fuse the headlights after the relay too??