2004 Astra Coupe

roverspeed

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roverspeed
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Insignia
Hello all,

My mighty Insignia has gone now, sold at 238,103 miles. The person I bought this car off actually bought the Insignia after I gave him a lift home.

Its a 2004 Astra Coupe 1.8

79,500 miles and it seems to be in really nice condition for the age.

Got it as something cheap, but a wee bit different and decent enough to drive. Being based on an mk4 Astra, most parts are dirt cheap.

1613656013783.png

Haven't got any real pictures take.

Overall its going well, I changed the MAF today and its running much smoother, still a bit of a lumpy idle (i am very fussy) so will check the vacuum hoses and throttle body this weekend.

Will change the Thermostat this weekend also, it heats up fine but takes longer than I would like so this is more prevention that cure, for less than £30, its peace of mind for me.

On the cards next month will be Cambelt kit inc Waterpump. Again peace of mind more than anything else.

I have fitted a wee bluetooth headunit from Amazon, and took the sub and amp from the Insignia, so will get those in when I get the chance.

Got a LED dash kit to change all the dials and buttons from off white to red. I always like the red lighting in the Insignia.

Whilst I have the dash open, I will track down the annoying rattle coming from that area. There is also a slight rattle in the drivers do that sounds just like the lock operating rod, so should be an easy fix.

The only really noticeable marks are on the passenger door and rear passenger wing, I can't feel them at all with nail/fingers, so I am confident they will buff out (my mate will do such things)

Other than that, it seems a solid we car.

My god am I missing Xenons and my lightbar. So next on the list will be sorting the headlights out, I think I will go full Bi-LED projector with an an all LED Pencil beam in place of the existing main beam unit.

I have already upgraded rear brake/running lights to LED and the reverse lights, and wired the 2nd fog in (they have 2 fogs but only one works from the factory)

Cheers,

Warren.
 

roverspeed

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roverspeed
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Cheers all, well I fitted the LED dash lights and they are utter crap.

Messaged the eBay seller saying I want a refund.

Have ordered another set from a "reputable" website, so we'll see.

I don't really like the white dials, and would prefer to change them out for black ones, but all the black dials only go up to 140mph. Mine go up to 160mph (that's optimistic for a 1.8 lol)

Anyone know if it will read the correct speed if I fit the 140mph dials??
 

Blackie

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Blackie
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One step closer
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Not sure, but they are electric as opposed to cable driven, so it’s certainly possible they could work.
 

Smick

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Smick
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Had one of these back in I think about 2007. Same silver and had red leather interior. Always felt a good solid car, moreso than an run of the mill Astra.
Don't see many on the roads today htd!
 

cormac81

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cormac81
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Smick said:
Had one of these back in I think about 2007. Same silver and had red leather interior. Always felt a good solid car, moreso than an run of the mill Astra.
Don't see many on the roads today htd!
Click to expand...
I remember that car parked at the end of my street in S.Belfast.

@roverspeed noticed this for sale and looks like a great buy. I have an europa blue coupe, they're fantastic looking cars in my opinion.
 

roverspeed

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roverspeed
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cormac81 said:
I remember that car parked at the end of my street in S.Belfast.

@roverspeed noticed this for sale and looks like a great buy. I have an europa blue coupe, they're fantastic looking cars in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Yeah it was very cheap, I wasn't specifically looking for one. I just wanted a cheap petrol runabout with a decent size boot that's relatively fun. The guy that sold this to me bought my Insignia a few days later, so this owes me nothing really.

I viewed a few Celicas and they were all rotten underneath.
 

Big Pimp

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Big Pimp
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like im late
Can’t wait to see your headlight mods.

I was really disappointed with the factory xenons on my MSRT van and stuck a laser elite 18 lightbar on the front.

I’ve had a few light bars in the last but this is on a whole different level!
 

Chris100

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Big Pimp said:
Can’t wait to see your headlight mods.

I was really disappointed with the factory xenons on my MSRT van and stuck a laser elite 18 lightbar on the front.

I’ve had a few light bars in the last but this is on a whole different level!
Click to expand...

It’s coming down to mine on Sunday for a bit of Anachem treatment.

@roverspeed is my brother.
 

roverspeed

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roverspeed
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7,479
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Belfast
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Insignia
Big Pimp said:
Can’t wait to see your headlight mods.

I was really disappointed with the factory xenons on my MSRT van and stuck a laser elite 18 lightbar on the front.

I’ve had a few light bars in the last but this is on a whole different level!
Click to expand...
I am a bit obsessed when it comes to lights. You can see my Insignia in my avatar. It built the lights with Morimoto Bi-xenon projectors, Additional LED Moritmoto main beams and of course the 120 watt light bar.

For this Build I the head light units are a lot shallower, so It will be fun. But they will be a truly sealed unit, no replacement elements.

For a better base, I will buy a set of these

1613740813921.png


Pull them open and replace the Projectors with

1613740880080.png


They get a good write up and they have a nice wide beam pattern, very nice 5000k led too. Their peak brightness is now higher than Xenon equivalents out there.

And then modifiy the main beam relfectors to accept the Morimoto HB Projectors

1613741052116.png


I will think of something for the indicator when I start.

being a older car, it doesn't need DRL but the Main beams can be wired to light at 35% as a DRL if I so wished. I'll need to come up with a sidelight solution also, which will be LED too. I am not a fan of the Angel eyes, so they would be removed.

All in all, it will cost about half of what the car did :-D but hey ho
 

Gobsheene

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roverspeed said:
I am a bit obsessed when it comes to lights. You can see my Insignia in my avatar. It built the lights with Morimoto Bi-xenon projectors, Additional LED Moritmoto main beams and of course the 120 watt light bar.

For this Build I the head light units are a lot shallower, so It will be fun. But they will be a truly sealed unit, no replacement elements.

For a better base, I will buy a set of these

View attachment 312848

Pull them open and replace the Projectors with

View attachment 312849

They get a good write up and they have a nice wide beam pattern, very nice 5000k led too. Their peak brightness is now higher than Xenon equivalents out there.

And then modifiy the main beam relfectors to accept the Morimoto HB Projectors

View attachment 312850

I will think of something for the indicator when I start.

being a older car, it doesn't need DRL but the Main beams can be wired to light at 35% as a DRL if I so wished. I'll need to come up with a sidelight solution also, which will be LED too. I am not a fan of the Angel eyes, so they would be removed.

All in all, it will cost about half of what the car did :-D but hey ho
Click to expand...
That looks really well, do you think that they will still pass MOT with the new rules about LED lamps being retrofitted in?
 

roverspeed

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roverspeed
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Belfast
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Insignia
Gobsheene said:
That looks really well, do you think that they will still pass MOT with the new rules about LED lamps being retrofitted in?
Click to expand...
Hard to tell really, the regulations are more about lamps being put in housings they weren't designed for. But it's for sure a grey area.

I changed out my entire headlights every year for MOT, yet even when I got stopped at random by a vosa checkpoint at Nutts Corner, the police officer got the vosa guy over and he asked me to turn my headlights on and flash them etc and they were fine. (The officer thought they were tinted at first, they were in fact just black inside without any reflectors)

I think I will fit proper headlight washers this time round, maybe self levelling if cheap.
 

roverspeed

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roverspeed
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Belfast
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Gambit said:
Aged well the coupes looks great in silver - happy tinkering! Amazing how turd lights are on older cars yet it was normal not long ago 😆
Click to expand...
I'm such a car humbug, I love older cars and have little interest in more modern stuff. Buy one thing that I hate about older cars are the headlights!

None of my cars have had standard headlights lol

Rover - upgraded looms, upgraded bulbs, spot lights in lower grill

Mk2 golf - same as above

Mondeo - first car I put xenons in

VW Transporter - HID projector retrofit and 4 100 watt spotlights

VW Passat b6 - xenon dips, led mains, 4 pencil beams where the fogs usually go.

Insignia - Full custom built headlights, bi-xenons additional LED mains. And every single bulb was replaced with LEDs, inside and out. Oh and the lightbar.

I don't care about making them look more modern or anything, it's all about performance.

The fact that this car doesn't have Canbus is a huge bonus, as half my time modifying the Insignia was working out how to not make it throw up a bulb warning.
 
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