VXOC Astra-J/GTC

So finally bit the bullet and got myself a GTC, almost got one before but ended up with a Saab 9-3 TTiD Aero, which was a lovely car but the gremlins beat me in the end. 

My new GTC is a 12 plate (soon to have a GTC private plate) SRI in manual, 2.0 cdti flavour. It has quite a few factory options; Aero pack (VXR style kit), 20" alloys, leather seats, forward lighting pack and perimeter protection pack. I wanted the VXR styling and parking sensors at a minimum the other options are just major bonuses!!!

Haven't got a picture of my actual car as the ad has been taken down and it's too dirty to picture but I've attached one that looks the same. 

So upon inspection I could see that it was a little tatty around the edges i.e couple of little dings on the door and the alloys need refurbing but I took a punt on it, traded in the Saab and drove the GTC home. Since then I've discovered a couple of other bits; the drivers heated seat doesn't stay on and the interior steams up. Now having read the forum for the last couple of hours I see that these little faults will not come as a surprise to you guys

Couple of other things that I need to address; 
1. It has full service history but no record of the cambelt and water pump being done so I'm going to get this done asap (the car is on 114k!)
2. The passenger door mirror has been replaced at some point but with one from a 5 door model so it doesn't fit properly. It's power folding though and I cannot find a replacement :(

So as soon as the new year starts it's off to my local garage for the cambelt and a health check. Down to the bodyshop for a quote to repair the door and source myself a mirror from somewhere (near side in case anyone has one in their shed!). I'd like to get the wheels done too but the dollar is adding up, I think they may have to wait!!!

the power fold mirrors are a sort after upgrade, so if you see one you need then buy it quick or it will be gone !

As luck has it I do have a pair of GTC mirrors (non power folding) but will still need the glass & motor to make the mirrors tilt if that of any assistance.

Thank you but I just need a power fold passenger mirror so will hold out for that. Thanks again though

Visited Vauxhall dealer hoping to have a browse through their parts list with them and confirm that the part number I have from Rusty is defo right but alas buying parts from the dealer is not the experience I recall from many years ago..... Anyway I got a price for the mirror assembly £172 which wasn't too bad but not as good as the £140'ish from GSP. Gonna hold back until the warmer weather comes along, the ill fitting mirror doesn't actually look too sad (I'll take a picture one day).

She's booked in for 9th Jan with my local garage for the timing belt, water pump and health check so that'll give me peace of mind for the time I have the car which I hope will be a reasonable length of time.

I've ordered a few little bits and pieces and have a couple of small projects that need to be done:
1. Repair drivers sunvisor flap
2. Replace bulbs in centre light as they're not working
3. Add an extra light to boot (current light flickers and does not light boot at all well!!!

I have also found myself looking at DTUK pedal boxes cos although I'm no racer I do love how responsive my daughters Audi TTS is!!!

The pedal boxes really help the car, I'd advise looking on ebay or even the facebook as they come up on there cheaper.

Yeah I really like the sound of what the pedal box does to the car and after having my previous Saab remapped then suffering from an untold amount of limited performance and failing the MOT for emissions I vowed not to go that route again.

Found a few on eBay but not bitten the bullet yet. Just procrastinating...

So managed to get job number one done today; repairing the sunvisor.

It was an obvious repair really and google confirmed I was on the right path by drilling out where the old tabs had snapped off and replacing them with something else. So I drilled them out with a 2mm drill bit and found that a bicycle spoke (I’m a bicycle mechanic) screwed straight in; perfect!!! No glue required and they’re stainless steel. Good job done








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Btw I’m not on Facebook so if anyone sees a PedalBox up for grabs please put me in touch!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Thinking about this one:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=...3324901813

Will it work with my 2012 2.0 cdti GTC? Also is the price about right?!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Postman brought me some goodies today



Ashtray - just like the way this looks



Seatbelt pads - not sure how long these will stay for, I can imagine them being a pita



Chrome door pins - wasn’t sure until I fitted them now I think they add a bit of quality so happy with them



Cabin light kit - these were actually a bit of a pain. I replaced the ones in the centre cabin light first as they were not working only to find that the new ones didn’t work either! Figured the unit itself must be faulty. Moved onto the front lights only to find they did not work either!!! Anyway I found that they required quite a bit of jiguring about for them to work but now tat they’re all jigured they all work fine Including those in my newly fixed vanity mirror, even those though the last one I fitted did not work so I turned it up the other way and hey presto it worked....

Not really into super bright cabins and I don’t really know how bright they’re gonna be until tonight but to have all the lights working and all white rather than dull yellow and I had a couple of aftermarket blue in there too I just know I’m gonna be happy.

Still got the glovebox to do but understand that this needs to be removed so thought I’d order a pollen filter too and do them both at the same time.

Now what am I going to do for the rest of the day!?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Coming along very nicely.

The leds make all the difference, I'm not a fan bright cabin but TBH I'm grateful to be able to see when I drop something down the side of the seat at night lol & also much better to read with then the crappy halogen yellow bulbs.

Cambelt and water pump done yesterday. Good call cos the mechanic showed me the old one and it had clear signs of perishing and more alarmingly a small chunk out of it too!!! My mind is now at rest

Also fitted this:


I read loads about these and finally bit the bullet purchasing a second hand unit on eBay for £70. It is brilliant does exactly what I wanted adding a bit more urgency when I hit the accelerator. Currently in Sport mode but still playing. Happy days.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gave it a clean today so finally some pictures of my actual car!







And the offending ill fitting mirror:



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

looks good
that wrong mirror dont look too bad

You could if you feel brave cut the top off so it fits nicely.

(17:th-Jan-2019, 20:23:58)Rusty2009 Wrote: [ -> ]You could if you feel brave cut the top off so it fits nicely.

Considered that but not brave enough!!! Plus I’d have to take everything apart to get it off and I’d rather just do that the once when I fit the proper mirror.

As niteram said it looks alright, I didn’t even notice until I got home.

Couple of little jobs today

Replaced the crappy, worn wiper blades with some nice new Bosch Aeros


And removed the Astra badge from the back as from 2014 Vauxhall removed the Astra branding from the GTC. Forgot to take before pic, so just got a mid job one instead.





Very, very easy to do; hot water, credit card and wd40. I do prefer it without although now I’m thinking about taking them all off....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Despite my plans to not tune it I picked up a DTUK CRD2+ box on eBay for £70. However there’s no instructions, looking online and reading Rusty’s guide on here I should be fine but my one question for now is does that red lead connect straight to the positive terminal on the battery?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Coming on nicely.

Yes the red wire to battery.

Hidden age complete




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fitted the DTUK CRD2+ box today on setting 3 +10%. In honesty with all my research I had high expectations but in reality I was disappointed....

Fitting the box I just was not happy with the non oe look of the bolt on box, I just couldn’t find anywhere decent to fit it so slipped it down behind the headlight. Not a biggy, I can live with that cos I’m sure the benefit of an extra 50’ish bhp will make it worth it.

On initial start up I thought it sounded a bit more chuggy than before which I was not too impressed with but again I can live with that. But then the actual drive revealed very little in increased performance. I could feel it was a little different but not as dramatic as I was hoping for. I know that there are all different settings and I could play around with it but in honesty I cannot be bothered to keep disconnecting the box, dismantle it, rearrange the jumpers, reassemble and refit only to have to do it all again until I’m happy with the result (I should have held out for the newer version with the buttons on top).

I’ve not seen many bad reviews of the DTUK tuning box online so I think it’s just something that’s just not for me. I must admit the few things I have read about smokey cars gave me flash backs to the crap remap I had on the Saab.

Anyway after my test drive I came home, removed the box and will put it back on eBay. Think I’ll just stick with the pedal box, I love the difference that it made to the response and feel of the car, I was expecting the tuning box to have the same effect again but it didn’t. I’m also optimistic that the pedal box is less likely to have a detrimental effect on the car.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With the money I get back from the DTUK box I think I should maybe invest in some mudflaps!!!



Actually looking on this picture you can see the stance of the car looks higher at the back than it does at the front. I had thought about some eibach lowering springs but don’t really want to go lower at the front so was contemplating fitting VXR springs on the rear. What do you think?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had the REDBOX (which stopped working after a vauxhall update) but I never noticed a difference I think I upset DTUK when they tried to sell me the CRD box and I said no as the other box did nothing. Pedal box however does.

If you want more power then remap it on a rolling road.

I had a dtuk box on my old diesel, it only really worked at higher rpm.

I know volvo and vauxhall ECUs sense the wrong readings and then adjust the fuelling so that the box does nothing, total waste of money

Damn! Looks like I should have researched harder :( WG Motorworks is pretty close to me and they have a very good reputation for tuning Vauxhalls. To have mine remapped & RR'd you're looking at £400!! I'm just gonna leave it I think.

I have the leather pack fitted to my car but was disappointed to see the instrument cowl wasn’t covered so thought I’d have a go myself with one of the pre cut ones on eBay from JF Customs. It didn’t come out quite as well as I was hoping mainly due to the glue I was using. The problem was it dried too fast, ie as I was applying it so the finish has a few small lumps instead of a smooth professional finish. I’m pretty disappointed with my efforts in all honesty although it’s passable I think....














Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It looks rather smart mate

Sticks out think the whole dash needs doing would look better then.

I'd be concerned in the summer time of the glue heating up and coming unstuck tho.

Thanks fellas. I'm actually quite happy with it now it's in the car still know I could have done it better if the glue was more suitable. I did think about taking it to a upholsterer to find out how much the whole dash would cost but in reality I don't think that that is something that will ever happen. Will have to see how it holds out over the summer months, will post any findings if there are any

re whole dash being covered. Surely you would have to allow for the passenger airbag and still have a weekness somewhere in the new covering so that it can pop out in the event of an accident?

a good trim shop would install a cut in the section above the airbag in the dash cover, held back together with the correct thread - so that if the airbag deployed the stitching would easily break and not interfere with the operation of the airbag system

The Cascada has a very similar leather covered dash so I guess it’s doable but like I said it’s very unlikely to happen.

Spent 3 hours cleaning out the interior the other day which included cleaning and treating the leather. We’re constantly decorating in my house and regulars at the local dump so the boot took about 30minutes of vacuuming. It was at that point I decided on my next purchase; a boot mat



And my cleaned interior, not that it looks particular clean but thought I’d upload a pic anyway




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I got a Nextbase Rear View Mirror dash cam today. Upon removal from the box the first most obvious observation was just how huge it is. I intended to fit it this weekend but couldn’t resist trying it for size before then. It was then that my concerns were realised; the mirror is too wide and doesn’t allow the sun visors to clear without disturbing the mirror. So it’s been repacked and ready to be sent back.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Brake day today; new pads, discs and fluid on the front. And I got the mechanic to give the callipers a lick of paint too to tidy them up. Shame the wheel condition lets them down...






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Liking the white colour on the GTC. You have similar leather seats and the same wheels as my 2016 Limited Edition 5dr.

Must be a nightmare to keep it clean....

Thanks I saw a very nice LE 5 door the other day in white, very good looking car!

So I’m still playing about with this dashcam thing. I sent the rear view mirror one back which I was a bit gutted about because it would have been the neatest option, I now have a regular Nextbase 412gw but can’t settle on where to put it.

Cos the GTC has such a large sloping windscreen the dashcam feels rather close to the passenger if I mount it up by the rear view mirror so I’m debating mounting it right down on the dash. There’s an option to rotate the menu and when you flip it 180 the picture reverts to upright so it seemingly is an option to mount on the dash however I cannot find anything in the instructions or online that says it is doable.

I’ve taken a couple of pics but would really appreciate some input from you guys. Thanks












Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've mounted mine right at the top by the mirror making sure it doesn't affect the mirror from being adjusted.

Have you got a pic please rusty?

(29:th-Mar-2019, 10:19:13)Telsun Wrote: [ -> ]Have you got a pic please rusty?

I'll try and remember to grab one when I go to the car.

you still got this motor?