VEHICLE - 2001 Vauxhall Astravan

ENGINE -  1.7DTI

SUSPENSION - Lowered 30mm on P.I Springs

WHEELS -  17" Vauxhall Multi Spoke wheels

TYRES - Falken ZEIX-ZE912 - 205/40/17

BRAKES - Factory Spec

INTERIOR -  Astra coupe Front seats

EXTERIOR - Astra Gsi front bumper, badgeless grill. angel eye headlights with 10K Xenons. Full specialisttyres.co.uk graphics

The Begining

This company vehicle purchased in november 2008 started as a standard looking everyday astravan which didn't look attractive at all. with bad bumper scrapes and rust on the front bonnet with standard looking van seats.

Soon as Specialist Tyres get there hands on the van. It is transformed from a standard van to a head turning show van.

This is only the beggining....

Future Plans

The list goes on and on... We think the next thing on the list is probably getting the ride dropped even lower on either V-Maxx or P.I coilovers and may be put on some bigger wheels such as 18" with an extra low profile of 35.

Everyone loves the sound of a Dump valve so we think that's going to be added to the list too.

Big Problem

In March 2009 the engine oil pump pully had broken in half on the way to Luton which caused the timing belt to get shredded up along side 10+ valves being damaged as well as the pistons.

At the time of the incident our mission was to get the car back to the garage and take the cylinder head off and replace it with a new cylinder head. But once we took it apart we noticed the pistons/piston rings where also damaged. We could have just fixed the current engine but it would have been a long job. so we decided to get a new engine block too.

Once we took the old engine block out this is when we noticed the oil pump pully being snapped in half which was the CAUSE of the problem.....

As the engine was apart we replaced a new clutch plate aswell as other bits & bobs.

The van is now all put back together with a very low mileage engine. First week being on the road we had to take it easy to let the engine run in a little.

500 miles later the car is running how it should be. It actually runs better than before.

But then we had the problem of the vehicle drinking lots and lots of water. We found out that the water is getting mixed with the oil which is another big problem as well as the engine management light being lit. The Management light is something to do with the Turbo and the water/oil problem maybe caused due to a Cracked Head.

The van had to be checked and we located the problem for the oil/water problem. The oil filter had a big hole in it. So we had to replace the part which was damaged.

Now we are working on management light problem.

watch this space for updates.........