VXOC Astra-J/GTC

I think its time I made a thread here about mine since its racking up the mods rather quickly!!
Unfortunately i've not got as many pictures as I'd like during the mods - I'm always too exited after its done and too busy doing them to take pictures! haha

Not long after I picked her up - Boggo standardo





Trip to the lakes



After a thorough wash



First to install were new alloys and tyres, and then later the same evening I fitted 40mm Eibach lowering springs. Tyres were Bridgestone Potenza S001's. Factory fitted on Ferrari 458 Italia and they were an absolutely cracking tyre for on the road and track days!

It really sets the car off and sits much prettier - Handling characteristics have also increased although the ride quality has suffered (more so with the low profile tyres than suspension I think!)


K&N panel filter was a swift install but made a noticeable difference! I also drilled a few holes in the cool side of the air box BELOW the filter so the air still has to pass through the filter to the intake - This let the turbo sing and flutter more audibly and sounds great when manoeuvring around. I love turbo sounds!

Next came the leather interior. Bought from a local scrapyard they were out of a vehicle that had been in a flood. Managed to pick up the entire interior for £200 including all seats, door cards and even the full floor console.

Before the interior was put anywhere near the car is was thoroughly washed down multiple times with leather cleaner and other products to get any smells and stains off. The advantage of leather is how everything can just wipe off!

The interior was then fitted - Both front seats, rear seats and front door cards. I haven't got round to drilling through the hole for the rear window winders yet so they are still standard, and I simply swapped the leather armrest lid over as the console itself was quite mucky and its more than likely that the handbrake button wouldn't work anyway. That's the only different part anyway.

It's always fun taking the interior out - Didn't take long at all and we found a whole host of things beneath the seats, including a rather sharp knife. No blood though thank goodness!

I then left it for a short while whilst I went on holiday and tried to do some saving, but then my 21st birthday came around and I couldn't resist any longer!

I got a personal registration from my parents so I swiftly fitted that!


I still need to reposition the front plate up slightly!


I was getting bored with how the car made no sounds other than the air box noise i mentioned above. Time for exhaust!

I got the car booked in at a local custom exhaust shop and had a chat to them about what they could do. The plan was to remove the entire rear section from where it joins beneath the front seats.
Original system layout:
Turbo downpipe -> 1st Catalytic coverter -> 2nd catalytic converter *join* -> middle silencer ->1st rear silencer -> 2nd rear silencer -> Tip
In the words of the engineer, an 'extremely restrictive system'. They also mentioned that the 2nd cat just restricted the system further and wouldn't affect the emissions too much anyway, so we agreed that they will cut the 2nd cat out, and create the rest of the system from the new join.

Here is a video of the sound. I think it's awesome! When you want to just drive nice and slow or cruise down the motorway, you can't hear it, but put your foot down and it really sings!
[video=youtube;_ijnm9-JejI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ijnm9-JejI&list=UU2zSY7JhXimZYaBEy3F2u8g[/video]

New system layout:
Turbo downpipe ->1st cat *join* -> middle resonater box -> rear resonator box -> tip
The whole layout looks tidier and you can see that the piping is much more free flowing, especially as the original system rear silencers had the exhaust pipe coming in and out the same side rather than simply passing through!
Unfortunately they were in a rush to close when I picked it up so I didn't get any pics on the ramp - I will next time its in for some sort of tracking at my local garage or something.
I didn't wan't it to look any more noticale than the standard, so I chose the closest matching oval.


I did a track day the day after the exhaust was fitted which was an awesome day until my brakes began squeaking more than expected and seemed to be fading fast in the afternoon - It was fine in the morning sessions!
After consulting with one of the officials the pads looked a little low and he didn't recommend doing many more sessions if any. I went out for one last blast for a few laps until they began to fade again, let the car cool then headed home.



I had only ever replaced the pads not long after getting the car so this time I decided to do the full front disks and pads. After a while searching for someone who actually sold grooved/drilled vented disks they also recommended some EBC yellowstuff pads which are a good balance between road and track and pretty much made for the EBC disks I ordered. Whilst waiting for the parts to arrive the front left began to grind under braking - luckily I only work less than 10 minutes away from home so I just drove gently as I could tell one of the pads had worn through completely. Oops!

new disks arrive and that evening I planned to fit them with a good friend of mine who works on heavy machinery as a mechanic. This would be a doddle for him!!
Upon inspection we found the inside pad had indeed worn to the metal, and the outside although looked like it had a few MM left, half of the pad disintegrated upon removal from the caliper!
Old vs new!


Finally fitted it was another 500 miles of gentle driving to bed these in.


Next it was a simple headlight bulb revamp. New main beam, full beam and DRL and number plate lights as recommended by Rusty.

Comparison - its hard to distinguish really on a camera!








I managed to drop the driver side DRL bulb into the headlamp but after 45+ mins of fishing with an old wire coat hangar bent into a hook, it miraculously came out and was fitted back without issue.

But I swiftly got bored of those so moved to my biggest project yet. Xenon look full headlight units.

Starting with removing the bumper


After getting a wet head, jacket and phone all from water dripping under the bumper we got it off and set about removing the headlights themselves and get ready to fit these beauties!


I fit the HID kits fully inside the headlamp unit whilst my mate took the old lights out and then set about rebuilding
(we wondered if the torch would be better than the standard candles, i mean headlights, the astra comes with!!)


new vs old


Car went all back together nicely and the results speak for themselves!!






Im sure there will be more to come!!

I even convinced my mum to 'join the crew' and she has bought a 1.7CDTi with only 19k on the clock! Here they are together (before headlights were done!)


Cheers for looking!

Jordan

Looking good mate

looking real good mate i like it alot

Looks awesome mate :-)
Where did you the alloys? Are they reps or gen?
Also your lights, did you do tucpals tut or buy them like it?


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there the headlights i was taking about the other day on ebay
and a long last there are after market headlights that are for RHD cars

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271707014180?_...EBIDX%3AIT

they do look good i like them they came out just after i retro fitted the projectors my self

Jordan are they error free on the DRL mate
if you get any misting issues after fitting the HIDS in there you may need to add some vent holes
but hopefully not
you are the first to have got them lights so keep us posted on how they are

the exhaust sounds awesome also well done

Yeah i seen them last week... I am thinking about getting them.. They look better in proper photo :-p


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much less hassle than doing it your self mate
still you need to adjust and aim the lights and get a HID KIT but that's about it :cool

Is a hid kit really needed for them is it mate?


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all depends on what type bulb they will take if it is a H1 then yes as they only have one connector not two so a HID KIT will be needed
Jordan should be able to answer this one

These lights sure do seem to be causing a stir! in a good way!
Thanks for the kind comments guys, I really appreciate it and I feel less bad for spending so much money on it! lol.

First of all, the alloys are reps, they were £400 on ebay. They don't seem to be bad quality at all, they have shrugged off a few large potholes and have survived at least 4 track days so far My plan was to fit the standard 17's back on over winter, but my best mate is getting an Astra H VXR so we will want to get some pics and stuff together and I want mine looking its best haha!

Now onto the lights.
They are completely plug and play and fully error free. I don't know how it works but I fitted a HID kit not designed to be error free, but they do not show up with any errors. However I think the main beam and DRL are linked together as when my driver side ballast for the HID doesn't bother starting, then it pops up saying check DRL and check main beam. Turning the lights off and on normally solves this and the error immediately dissapears. This is due to it currently being a cheap HID kit from a mate. I am waiting until after Xmas to get a proper £50+ professional kit which should sort that out and make it a little brighter as these cheap bulbs are brighter than standard, but arent as bright as Xenons you see in Audi's etc. My mate has a Volvo C30 with projectors but normally halogen bulbs. He fitted a pro HID kit and it looks awesome and is quite alot brighter than mine.

I have not had to angle the beam - I don't know if its even possible in the unit. You can raise and lower the beam with the switch as normal as they have a motor built in (awesome for aftermarket!) but they seem about right I think. They look alright shining onto my white garage door anyway Maybe i'll get the garage to have a look when its in for its service in a couple of weeks

As for bulbs;
Original units: Main beam - H7
Full Beam - H7
DRL - 580 dual filament

New unit: Main beam - H7
Full Beam - H1 (Come supplied with normal yellow-looking bulbs)
DRL Full LED built in, cannot be altered but looks freaking awesome.

A HID isn't needed, but they look like genuine Xenons with a kit installed. I haven't tried it with regular bulbs to see what it looks like.

I'll get more pictures in daylight when i'm fitting my bluetooth kit tomorrow to get away from the family haha!!

I have no misting issues so far, they have rubber caps on the openings like where the standards had the spin plastic caps and there is decent sealant used all around the glass which should stop any water getting in.

Any more questions or pictures of anything specific, just let me know and i'll do my best!

thanks mate very good to get a review on the lights
i use this HID kit from hids direct totally error free i have settled on the 4300k bulbs
as the 6000k was nice and blue and white but the vision suffered for it the 5000k is better and still has a hint of blue
but the 4300k is what i need as they are still very white and they light the road up the best

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/h7-35w-slim...rsion-kit/

Awesome mate, was the reps off ebay? I have been watching a set for while now but going from 16s to 18s is a massive difference for price of tyres


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could you show the light pattern on a wall do they have a sharp cut off
just wondering if the projectors are HID projectors

Sorry for the late reply, with christmas etc i've been really busy!



That's the light pattern, It seems a bit dim with my HID's at the moment but I think that is to do with the cheap HID kit I have

thanks mate
i find a 4300k hid bulb the best for vision anything over 5000k
just gets dimmer on the road

Yeah I think i'll get a 55W 4300K kit next, as long as its the same white as the LED DRL's i'll be happy

They look awesome ;-)

I need to get my lights reset as i think the alignment checked



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Jordan Naylor Wrote:Yeah I think i'll get a 55W 4300K kit next, as long as its the same white as the LED DRL's i'll be happy

they are still nice and white at 4300k
they look like this mate

Tucpal, I really do like your headlamps. That pictures has made them look so good
Once the wedding out the way and other personal things I think i will be investing in them lamps and HID kit

Further to the new projectors - The light seemed to be aiming in the complete wrong direction and didn't look like a real projector cut-off as can be seen above. This evening I spent some time fiddling with them and finding out what does what with them etc and to see if I could get a better light output from them. After some bulb fiddling (unfortunately i'm not actually sure what i've done...) but I have got the projectors aiming perfect and now thet are fantastic. I think I am still going to order a new brighter pro HID kit, but this is miles better for now!!







If anyone is concidering these headlights, they are 100% worth the money - Especially now that I know the projectors are actually aimed properly and it seemed to be my install which was wrong!!

That looks a lot better lol

looks really good

link for these headlights?

As above

They look great! How do DRLs look like in daylight? Are they bright enough in order to be visible? Any daylight photos would be appreciated :cool

Yeah they're fanastic, I'll get some pictures when car is back from the bodyshop Only had time during the night (dark going and coming back from work) but i'll get some at the weekend when its nice and sunny and maybe snowy

We want pictures of your new headlights at daylight !!!!!!!!!!

My bad, I totally forgot to get some daytime pics. I've just been out with my DSLR for you and got these

Pictures also show the new OPC line badge on the front of the car and my lovely new splitter than i'm slowly falling in love with lol.

just DRLs


Sidelights (Cant tell much on camera but they're a bit dimmer)


Main beams


Thoughts?

Looking good mate still not sure on that splitter


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the headlights do look good
and i have been looking at that splitter also
for the VXLINE bumper i have but i would like it color coded
but yer i like what your doing over all well done looking good

Cheers guys, I think I might spray the splitter metallic black rather than the plastic black it is standard. Should be able to just mask up the front of the car and spray it on the drive

sounds good to me but plastic primer first.

The etech stuff is good really though paint they even do a primer that can be used on all sorts.


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Yeah of course. At least it won't need sanding down or anything

just give a good rub with paint prep wipes and plastic primer
and then plastic filler and standard primer rubbing in between
to give a good smooth surface for the paint,

Fancy helping me Tucpal? :P your not too far away

i really would like a how to on how you fitted it
when it warms up in the spring give me a shout and i will

If I wasn't busy figuring out how to do it as we were doing it I would have got pics :') I'll explain it when we meet. Yeah sure. I'll keep it as it is over winter with grit and crap over the roads and stuff

i do not like the cold and i usually come back to life in the summer
yer i will meet and sort that out after winter

Those headlights look really good! I like the opc badge too! It seems that there are three options on aftermarket headlights.

1.
http://www.carpartstuning.com/dayline-he...5985375-1/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2REcl2klHc

2.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/for-Excel...33038.html

3.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/For-GM-fo...54031.html



That splitter would look better if painted in your car's colour I think.

options 1,2 and 3 all are for LHD cars
and have left hand drive light pattern

the only option are the ones he used as they are for RHD
and have RHD light pattern

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DRL-xenon-look...3f43000424

I've just been through the whole thread. Loving what you've done. I dread to think how much you've spent Haha. 


I love the colour.... 'fresco'. When I worked at vauxhall I remember getting a memo saying fresco was unavailable dur to technical reasons. Makes it nice and rare! 

defo gettting these later this year

(2:nd-Jan-2015, 22:58:34)tucpal Wrote: [ -> ]

Jordan Naylor Wrote:Yeah I think i'll get a 55W 4300K kit next, as long as its the same white as the LED DRL's i'll be happy

they are still nice and white at 4300k
they look like this mate

Nice colour match on the photo. that is the 35w H7 4300k kit from HID-direct right?

naylor, I have been looking at this product, your photos give it more justice. 

 Does it have to be a 55w HID conversion kit for your projectors or would the 35w H7 HID kit from HID direct suffice to have no errors? 
What do you currently have, 55w H1 conversion kit 6000k colour?

I use 35w 4300k no problems at all

Nice progress so far. Looking good!






rover servicing

He's now sold his car and got a Pug 308.