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next job is sorting out this drivers seat... thick and fast, this one is picture heavy i pulled the drivers seat out of the spare shell (which was fun working through a tiny gap between the passenger side and a hedge)  i thought i would start stripping the good chair as a learning exercise, first thing is to remove the winder for the back rest adjustment, its got a double D shaped drive, seems to be just sprung strength of the plastic holding it on, but does have a plug fitted round the centre to stop it expanding  next is a trim piece covering up all the gear mechanism for the back rest adjuster, its held onto the frame with expanding rivet and a peg driven through the middle to expand the legs.  easier to see once removed   there's an identical trim on the other side, then the only thing stopping you separating the back rest from the base frame are two spring clips on the pivot, marked here with the screw driver blade  so you remove the spring clip from each side then the lugs on the back rest can be forced outward over the pegs on the seat base  now removing the actual cloth covers, starting with the front of the back rest, there's just a rod that runs horizontally from one side of the frame to the other, the cloth has a J shaped plastic tube sewn along the bottom edge which clips over the rod.  the rear face of back rest just has a straight plastic strip sewn on the bottom and is trapped behind the rod by the J shaped bit from previous picture.  next thing stopping you peeling the cloth upwards is the lever and trim for the seat tilt, they just pull out with some force  now you can see its possible to slide the seat cover upwards, or de-gloving if you like. but only so far  you get halfway up and there is a tube sewn into the liner with a rod through it, and that is attached to another rod buried in the back rest with hog rings! this is what keeps the seat covers taught to the seat frame  i do have hog ring pliers but they are only designed for squashing hog rings, not expanding them, so i just just long nose pliers through the middle and forced open.   with that removed the only thing stopping you sliding the cover right the way off is the tubes for the head rest, inside the cavity of the fram you need to squeeze the tangs on the plastic and tap them out of the frame, also need 3 hands to do it   tadaaaa! the seats covers seem to have the same issue as the roof lining, degraded scrim foam, its horrible  luckily(?) its kind of quilted between two layers of cloth, i'm not too confident on what the future holds for vauxhall seats, i can only imagine it will start balling together and making lumps in the seat covers.  now the seat base, the back edge has a similar setup holding the cloth on, J shaped strips sewn onto the edge and clipped over a metal lip  if you just kneel on the seat base to squash the seat foam, it makes the sides go baggy and takes the tension off the clips  front and sides are a bit different, has this stiff leather/card edge strip which is doubled back on itself into a channel    after freeing these the cloth can be peeled back up the sides of the base, then there are more wires and hog rings holding the cloth to the base    |
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Last Edit: Nov 5, 2018 18:48:06 GMT by darrenh
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heavy day on the astra, i was stripping down the knackered drivers seat to transfer the cloth to the good spare carcass, found some horrors though  notice the sponge is very dark and the rear of the covers are kind of golden syrup like ?   compare the seat sponge from my good spare  i kind of guessed this was the same issue as the headlining, i.e degraded scrim foam, so i had an exploratory cut into the lining cloth. b_gger its all turned to mush and is seeping through the cloth   bearing in mind this is now lunch time, the day before NEC. properly stressed and panicked i cut all the lining cloth off, hoovered out the foam remains, then had to scrub the back of the seat fabric with cellulose thinners. in this pic i have cut out patterns of foam backed lining material then done a qick and dirty contact adhesive to the rear of the seat covers  then slipping that over the backrest from the good seat frame  this is actually the seat base but the picture is to demonstrate fitting new hog rings to a wire in the backrest. the noses on the pliers have grooves in them to hold the ring, then you squeeze and it curls them back over themselves double  seat fully reassembled and took a snap just to illustrate the structural integrity, this was still before i had cleaned the fabric itself properely, see the dark stain is gone just from me cleaning the oil residue from the BACK of the fabric ?  picture from before to compare it  also did a couple of bits in the engine bay, new genuine cam cover gasket as its been weeping for ages  also did some degreasing and karchering but forgot to take an "after" pic, this one is after i sprayed degreaser, looks kind of clean and shiny !  |
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Last Edit: Nov 7, 2018 22:15:25 GMT by darrenh
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I hope you glued the gasket to the cover to make life easier if you need to remove it at some point in the future??
Car looks good !
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I hope you glued the gasket to the cover to make life easier if you need to remove it at some point in the future?? Car looks good ! Thanks  gasket is hardish rubber which surprised me, they are usually Cork on the ohc petrol versions. Quick snap from NEC!  Someone took a liking to pauls rally car on the Mk2 astra owners club stand   |
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Last Edit: Nov 11, 2018 6:03:34 GMT by darrenh
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That seat recovered is lot of work.
I would love to find the Blazer a spare cover to match for my passenger seat.
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That seat recovered is lot of work. I would love to find the Blazer a spare cover to match for my passenger seat. It was a nightmare chap, not nice! |
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921 
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Nov 11, 2018 21:53:25 GMT
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Jobs jobbed for the show !
Good work
James
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Nov 11, 2018 23:51:50 GMT
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Nice job on the head lining. When you've finished retiming all the Jowetts would you like to do mine? I'll even bring it over!
Ah, go on, it's only little...
Contact glues scare me. Once it's touched down you are a bit stuffed if it's not quite right.
James
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Nov 22, 2018 23:14:16 GMT
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couple more from NEC. we had lots of interest over the weekend from folk who remember the cars fondly. most random was a chap who used to work for phillips car audio, he was a rep that drove a mk2 astra round to dealers over the country trying to up-spec head units ! also had vauxhall rally royalty - Harry Hockly came on the stand for a long chat.   |
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Last Edit: Nov 22, 2018 23:15:18 GMT by darrenh
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Nov 23, 2018 11:42:29 GMT
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This car is a work of art...
Pure simplicity and all the better for it!
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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Nov 23, 2018 14:02:30 GMT
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This car is a work of art... Pure simplicity and all the better for it! thanks GK |
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Nov 30, 2018 23:17:58 GMT
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weve been invited to NEC spring restoration show ! p.s beige (although vauxhall called this set "grey"   |
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Nov 30, 2018 23:24:32 GMT
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Darren - Great stuff - I will be there & managing the Jowett Car Club stand - plenty of muck, rust & seized bolts planned for our stand - Chris |
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Last Edit: Nov 30, 2018 23:25:13 GMT by Deleted
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Very impressive looking estate, not many estates survive especially in this condition. I saw the car at the NEC show reminded me of the courtesy car that the Main dealer lent out when my car was being fettled.
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Jan 18, 2019 21:45:31 GMT
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Thought I recognised the cars, I've delivered to your house on a few occasions. Great to see a bit of a back story about the car!
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1993 Renault Clio 16v -Weekend Toy
2006 Skoda Octavia VRS Estate-Daily Hack
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Jan 28, 2019 14:34:28 GMT
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i pointed out to laney on facebook, that despite having some serious malaise with my GTE projects, i have atleast been daily driving a mk2 astra for the last 5.5 years (well nearly 20 actually not including a year or two breaks) but anyway on the way to work thursday my a-rse dyno noticed the handling was a bit weird and a knocking noise when the steering was lightly weighted to the right. jacked it up this morning and took the wheel off and greeted with this! youve got to be grateful for easy diagnosis i guess ! anti roll bar link bolt had gone like a carrot and sheered off, it did the same at the nut end when i tried to undo it. bit of a shame i lost the bottom washers and rubbers as i noticed genuine vauxhall part numbers on the remaining ones, and they are great condition despite the age ! had spares in the garage so sorted that easily  i don't normally post about services as its not that exciting, but did take this picture purely because the parts are now retro aswell as the car old faithful VOF93 oil filter has been discontinued for years, about 15 years ago or something ridiculous JamieF got be a unit pack of 20 from vauxhall trade club, theres only 3 left now !!  |
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Last Edit: Jan 28, 2019 14:34:57 GMT by darrenh
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Jan 28, 2019 15:00:29 GMT
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In about 2000 I had a blue 1.3 astra D870 LNG. I bought it for £200, it had been looked after and maintained really well prior to me buying it. I used to go up and down from Sussex to Exeter frequently and almost always that was going flat out.
Some dirty little scum bag stole it one night in Exeter and it was found burned out a couple of miles away.
Also remember there was some very bad flooding one year, and being 21, I thought me and the car were indestructible. On the way to work I was approaching a flood completely covering the road, rather than turn back I decided if I accelerated and hit the flood as fast as I could id probably just glide and get through it...the bow wave certainly must have looked impressive...I then ground to a halt with the poor astra ingesting lung fulls of water which of course snapped the cambelt. I got out and manged to push it back out of the flood, I had wet trousers and shoes that day.
One the easiest cambelt changes ive done (even at the age of 21).
Anyway, this is about you not me! Nice clean example you have there, and so nice to work on compared with stuff these days. Great job on the interior too!
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Last Edit: Jan 28, 2019 15:04:08 GMT by Deleted
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91dm
Part of things
Posts: 20
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Jan 28, 2019 15:49:15 GMT
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Great job on the seat, these cars have really disappeared from the roads!
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Jan 28, 2019 21:12:53 GMT
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In about 2000 I had a blue 1.3 astra D870 LNG. I bought it for £200, it had been looked after and maintained really well prior to me buying it. I used to go up and down from Sussex to Exeter frequently and almost always that was going flat out. Some dirty little scum bag stole it one night in Exeter and it was found burned out a couple of miles away. Also remember there was some very bad flooding one year, and being 21, I thought me and the car were indestructible. On the way to work I was approaching a flood completely covering the road, rather than turn back I decided if I accelerated and hit the flood as fast as I could id probably just glide and get through it...the bow wave certainly must have looked impressive...I then ground to a halt with the poor astra ingesting lung fulls of water which of course snapped the cambelt. I got out and manged to push it back out of the flood, I had wet trousers and shoes that day. One the easiest cambelt changes ive done (even at the age of 21). Anyway, this is about you not me! Nice clean example you have there, and so nice to work on compared with stuff these days. Great job on the interior too! thanks elky, crazy the stuff we got up to in our 20s. my first car wasnt an astra but a mk2 cavalier which was subjected to similar hi-jinx as you. hump back bridges usually, or running out of talent (which was quite easy) on 175 - 13 inch tyres Great job on the seat, these cars have really disappeared from the roads! thank you the chief messaged earlier saying we have been invited to the NEC resto show. my knackered gte would look pretty nifty on its rotisserie on the stand, logistics of moving a 750 kilo empty shell with no suspension though. sky hooks ? |
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Last Edit: Jan 28, 2019 21:15:05 GMT by darrenh
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Apr 26, 2019 12:20:06 GMT
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the 1700 engine is kind of weird, despite being SOHC isuzu origin like the rest of vauxhalls range, its a reverse flow head. that means the inlet and exhaust are on the bulkhead side of the engine. that also means most of the exhaust is unique to the 1700 diesel, and being estate that also means the exhaust is unique to the 1700 estate bar the backbox. it comes in 5 sections, the cast manifold, the down pipe, a short bus stop round the gear stick (presumably this was future proofing a catalyst option) then the long mid section, then a backbox. so you have a relatively rare car, with a rare engine, with an exhaust that is unique to the engine car combo. i need a short cat replacement pipe, never going to be able to find parts for that, right? wrong ! there were 3 new old stock GM items on ebay, and also a raft of pattern versions from MTT, klarius and bosal. damn, parts supply actually seems to be getting better ? then i thought, shall i punch in the numbers for the whole system, maybe try and get a whole spare system in the attic? so far ive managed to get genuine GM for all of it except the long mid section. down pipe  this is the bit i actually need and the seller had 2, so i bought them both as they were only 26 quid  cant find a mid section yet as mentioned, but did find this backbox on ebay. i know this is really nerdy but it was incorrectly listed as mk3, and was reeealy cheap. weirdly it was for sale in my home town by a breakers yard, when i picked it up it still had an ancient vauxhall picking slip tied to it, for greens of rainham, which is the vauxhall main dealer where my car was sold in 1989, it shut down probably 10 or more years ago. who says fate doesnt exist ?  |
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Last Edit: Apr 26, 2019 12:24:23 GMT by darrenh
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luckily(?) its kind of quilted between two layers of cloth, i'm not too confident on what the future holds for vauxhall seats, i can only imagine it will start balling together and making lumps in the seat covers.
gasket is hardish rubber which surprised me, they are usually Cork on the ohc petrol versions.
