VXOC Astra-J/GTC

Hi All,

In this original post there are a few of the original mods that I carried out on the car but due to the limitations of the forum I was/am unable to update this post with all of the other mods I carried out (and am still carrying out). So I have had to create new replies throughout the progress thread for each different mod...Please have a browse through the thread to find them all

Also a list of ALL mods I have carried out is on post 408 (link below). I will update this with TEXT only for every mod i do.

https://www.vxoc.org.uk/forum/Thread-Pro...6#pid26326

Any questions about anything I've done please feel free to ask me.

Mods/Retrofits Installed

Leather Arm Rest

This was the first thing I bought for my car, it wasn't cheap (over £120 if i remember rightly) but i really wanted an arm rest in my car! This one was custom ordered from Italy and is real leather:





Alloy Wheels

I never really liked the standard alloy wheels on my energy model so I decided to buy some from eBay and have them fitted, i believe they are from the SE model..



Pedal Box V3

Not sure if this belongs on here but after reading the great reviews of the Peddle Box I decided to get one for my car. I wanted a bit of extra perkiness when I hit the gas and wanted rid of the turbo lag! This thing does just the job

Tinted Repeaters

Soooo I kind of like the dark, tinted style look of the lights on the Astra SRI and higher, want to get the rear lights done eventually but thought I'd start with installing tinted repeaters which I got for around £20 on eBay, nice and easy to install







Ambient GearStick Light

Now THIS is something I’ve always liked, really sets off the look of the interior, was made up when I saw this there was a thread on how to get this thing installed! picked up the part from VX themselves and set about installing it.

Needed everything that was specified in the how to section and simply wired it into the headlight switch connector.











Heated Leather Lumbar Support Seats

Okay this was something I never thought i’d want to do to my car, firstly thought it would be impossible and also thought it would be VERY expensive…managed to get the seats for cheap which came bundled with the door panels too (another project to install those soon). Got them to the garage and found out the seller had screwed me and sold me seats which had the connectors cut off the bottoms of the passenger seats!! I left it with the garage who was able to take the connectors off my old seats and splice them onto the new leather seats…not sure how he got power to the seats for the lumbar support but he did and they now work!

Next part of this project is to buy the heating module from VX and get the heated section of the seats working!







Additional Trip Computer Options

i have also had the additional options of the mid level trip computer display activated, this now tells me my average MPG, average MPH and miles until empty along with current MPG

Removed Energy Badge

There were too many badges on this thing for my liking as standard! So I removed the "Energy" branding from the sides of the car too (can be see in then photos above). Also hardly anything left of the energy model anyway so thought I may as well remove the branding lol

Litter Cup

Not sure if this is classed as a mod or retrofit but I have picked up one of the litter cup things which go in the centre console cup holders...For some reason I like the look of them and also be useful for putting rubbish in rather than stuffing it into random compartments! lol.





VXR Pedals NEW

So my original rubber pedals are starting to wear thin now and the mrs has decided to get me the VXR pedals for my upcoming birthday! They should be coming next week and I'll have them on my car in April Will post photos then.

Elite Centre Console Trim

Decided I wanted rid of the centre console trim that I had and wanted some that would match the new elite door cards i am going to install. Rusty2009 was selling this part so I bought it off him and installed today Thanks again mate!







Elite Leather Door Cards NEW

So I finally get round to installing the leather door cards which I bought a while back along with wiring up the LEDs in the door handles













More photos to come when it goes dark so that you can see the lights better! Thanks to rusty and tucpal for all their help with info and the cables I needed to wire the LEDs up .

Thanks to [MENTION=2]tucpal[/MENTION] I now have my rear leather door cards fitted too which have been modified to function with the manual winder as my rear windows aren't electric



IPC/Trip Computer Upgrade NEW

So I was able to upgrade the whole IPC from the rubbish stock one that I had to the one from a higher end model which shows more information and looks a hell of a lot cooler with the larger screen and white (illuminated dial surrounds).

Before





After











Indicator Surround Chrome NEW

It's always annoyed me that my car lacked pretty much all of the chrome trim...I was planning on replacing the whole indicator surround with one that had the space for fog lights and also the built in chrome surround but this was going to be quite pricey so I decided against it. Tucpal directed me to some chrome trim which sits on top of the current black trim and looks identical to the official part! So here it is







Sunglasses Holder NEW

Only a small one this but I swapped something with Rusty in return for a sunglasses holder for the driver side roof and here it is



Heated Driver Seat NEW

I got in touch with Andy from VXMODS who was willing to wire up my heated seats for me. We purchased the module which was needed to activate the seats (see below photo) and then met up today so that he could carry out the work. All went to plan and I now have this working on my car too . Turns out that my seats only have heating modules (and lumbar support) in the drivers seat though which is odd.



Mods/Retrofits To Do

Buy metal door lock pins (not sure if they look tacky or not yet though)

Navi 600..may ask vxmods about this when I get a bit of spare money!

Install fog lights (installed but now waiting for wiring and programming)

Keep up the good work

Thanks rusty! have a few other mods and tweaks I want doing to my J at some point too, will add those to my post and update with photos when I do them . Next up is the door cards with LEDs as you know!

looking real good and look forward to see what happens next

tucpal Wrote:looking real good and look forward to see what happens next

Thanks mate! I know I don't do anything extraordinary like some of the others members, I just want my car to have some of the features of the higher end models but for less money than vx would charge

Very good mate, i like how you have done. Plus this is all well laid out :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks mate! Spent about an hour putting the info together and finding the pictures as some of them were taken 6 months + ago. I want to try and add a section in the bottom about future mods and retrofits when I get a minute . As i say, most of my mods aren't anything fancy, just adding what I feel is missing which most of the time is just some of the VX standard features that mine didn't come with.

I dropped you a PM [MENTION=19]Lewis6317[/MENTION] about the door panels btw

no worries mate

Have added a few new things to my post and marked them in red

looking good

it's quite addictive this! haha, still a list of things as long as my arm i want to do!

HAHA Tucpal says that's it I'm finished now and always comes up with something else to even if its something someone has done. This modding lark is very additive

once you get the modding bug it never goes away

Hahaha you're both right!! I literally started just wanting to get an arm rest installed...Did that and then thought hmmmm..this other thing would be cool too! Last month I promised myself I would stop at the seats..now I've gotta sort the heated bit out..and then I asked the mrs for the pedals..and I bought the litter cup thing..and so on and so on! Haha

yep i really have finished this time

Didn't know the trip computer can be changed to tell you all that info, that is definitely on my list of to do's now!

It can't officially...can only be done if you get in touch with a half decent vauxhall mechanic willing to go the extra mile

Ahhh okie dokie! Sorry mate, didn't realise you were able to do it.

No problems mate lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Updated to include photos and info on the new centre console trim I just installed also does anyone know why some photos are small and others are large when they were all taken on the same phone?

Looking good mate, are you turning the phone when taking pics?

Thanks! I'm made up with it! well packed too so cheers for that. And in some i am and some i'm not, same as I did with the other photos in my thread but they are all large and the new ones aren't :(

looks much better mate well done

are you using thumb nails to upload photos

Thanks dude! And nope...just uploading straight from Dropbox as I did with the others...not sure what is different about those last few

Not sure mate as i use photobucket what are you using

Sorted it mate! I forgot i'd used IMGUR for the top pics and then started to use the built in image uploader on the forum for the last few. Just updated them all with IMGUR links now

cool well done

Updated again with photos of the leather door cards I installed shame my car won't start lol

They look much better

Much better mate I want the chrome!

Nice job!

Ta have to connect the leds back up to the window switch tomorrow thoigh because I removed them in a panic trying to get the car working again lol

I thought all leather door cards had the chrome?! I do love that myself though, caught my eye right away when I got them! Was initially gonna just sell them too! Glad I didn't

Only very early models had the chrome been after a set for a while.

ahhhhh yes! and that's why I have the sort of carbon effect on the black trim too on the handles isn't it...i like the adding styling of the old elite models then . There's a few on eBay atm I'm sure there is...

Just need those rear ones from lewis now and I'm done with the doors!

I dont even have a kit yet mate will just have to hang fire at minute mate


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awwww that's a shame! But oh well, as long as it's all still good to go ahead with the swap when you get sorted then it's fine with me

Leds redone after yesterday crisis lol. Will get some photos when it goes dark

well done

Updated the post with photos of the doors with LEDS on in the night

grate job your really getting the hang of this now

Thanks mate! Really enjoying it tbh just doing retrofits atm to try and get it as close to the elite as possible

It's all coming together mate mine was an elite but it well above that now need to decide a spec to call it.

Hahaha elite plus then eh I'm happy with just stock stuff at a higher level than mine is as I say main thing I want to do is the instrument cluster but may not be feasible :(

Did you see my post in your thread?

Which one was that mate? Think I may have missed it

About the IPC mate.

Just seen it now and replied mate

Im rather jealous that you have the chrome trim around the speaker vents


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hehe it does look pretty good :P. I'm jealous of all you guys who have chrome window trim though!

Weird they chose to remove that from new Astra's, I prefer most of the old elite stylings over the new one tbh