Arons Stealth Bus

[KraZed]

Considering the amount that I have done to my car since owning it I think it's about time I do a progress thread.

Earlier in the year I decided to change up from my MK5 Astra and go for something bigger with more power. Driving a 1.6 none turbo isn't exactly riveting so I decided to sell up and invest in a Signum.





Unfortunately it turns out that the Signum was a total dog of a car, the Duel Mass Flywheel, Rear Wishbone, Fuel Pump and Injectors were all completely nakered as well as the car having a huge leak which completely flooded out the passengers side. With the car not being worth repairing I unfortunately had to get rid of it (I miss that car :cry and go on the hunt for my next Vauxhall.

It took me a while to find the right car as I wanted something that had good size as I have a family and practicality is important, but I also had something that I could have some fun with and had some pace. This is where [MENTION=20]nick6425[/MENTION] suggested I try a Zafira GSI.

For the following 3 weeks we searched high and low for Zafs but they were all either out of my price range or dogs of a car, we even went all the way to Newcastle on a road trip to view one which again was a complete shed.

Just as I was losing my hope of finding one and considering other cars Nick phoned me early on a sunday morning (only 23/06/2013) saying he had found the perfect zaf online when he was looking around but it was in Portsmouth! Again we saddled up and went on another road trip, this time south along with [MENTION=11]Rob[/MENTION] to check out this prospect. As you can imagine I was sceptical after going to Newcastle and being let down so badly but still we plodded on in hope that this be the one.

The guy had put it on for a ridiculously low price as it was burning a lot of oil and spraying it all around the engine bay. Within seconds Nick noticed that the one way valve was broken and using his mad bodging skills he made a new valve from a pen That instantly cured the oil in the engine bay, next up was the smoke from the rear which the owner believed to be the turbo. After taking it out for a test drive it was evident that the turbo was fine, it pulls perfectly, boosts when it should and doesn't wine or produce any other strange noises. We quickly came to the conclusion that it was the Valve Stem Seals that needed repairing and bit the guys hands off completing the deal.

Armed with my new weapon I drove home with a HUUUUGE grin on my face and quickly popped to a car park with Nick and Rob for a little shoot and to plan the mod list

It is a genuine Opel Zafira OPC and everything is Opel, from steering wheel, to centre caps it's all legit





After looking at the engine bay I decided that it needed a complete make over and made that my first priority. I ordered a box full of goodies and we set to work getting the car into a good standard.



We got a bunch of Silicon Hoses, A dump Valve, a direct air feed and a new breather all put in and that just sparked mod mode for me!



After again speaking with Nick we went on a road trip to MIJ in Walsall for a Custom Stainless Cat Back exhaust (worth every single penny). Not only does it look better at the back of the car it gives it a really nice sound so you have an awesome back drop whilst going through the gears.

From this:



At MIJ:



To This:



The very same day we had a torrential downpour so I changed my wipers from the big old beefy one to the sleek flat blades just to give it a bit of a smarter look



We then moved back into the engine bay to continue it's make over. Nick used his crazy painting skills and it made such a HUGE difference!

Nick with his sexy robo boot :P



Foglight Surrounds and rocker cover



Removing the Sound Proofing from under the bonnet



which transformed my engine bay into this:



At this point [MENTION=16]benz[/MENTION] had just gone out to get his Morrettes and I was obsessed with the lights that he had exchanged with Nick. We headed over to the scrap yard and picked up a new set of lights (mine were left hand drive) and Nick set about taking them apart and spraying them up.





Left one is sprayed and right one is standard



Obviously because they aren't tinted in any way the light out put on them in completely legal and perfect as normal however they appear to be tinted and add to the stealth effect

After the lights were done and fitted I headed straight over to [MENTION=3]Gairo[/MENTION] who was awesome and helped me custom fit my HIDS to the zaf He did a bunch of other bits and pieces on my car as well as taking me out for an awesome drive in the MX-5



So the car ended up looking like this and I was coming to the stage where I needed to make a huge impact to the look of my car.





As I mentioned earlier the stem seals on the car are pretty much dead so I decided to get all my bits and pieces for that and book myself in with the god of Z20 LETS [MENTION=46]ANT-VXR[/MENTION].

I was comparing the back of my bus next to nicks and I couldn't help but notice how lame the back looked in comparison. The lack of a GSI spoiler made it look far to round and didn't really give it that sporty look. Once again another road trip was in order and once again Nick dropped everything to help me out This time we headed up to Liverpool to see the guy at CS Autos who was selling a rear bootlid, with a GSI spoiler in Sapphire black which appeared as though it would be perfect for my car. I ended up walking away with quite a few goodies including the blanking plates (to fit instead of the roof rails), a new cruise control stalk, a new cooling fan, and of course the boot and the spoiler all for only £100.00. After inspection we came to the conclusion that the boot itself wasn't going to be worth putting on the car as it had a number of dents on it and my car unfortunately has rust on the bootlid so I would have been able to completely eradicate it by swapping the boots over.

The car loaded up at Liverpool



The back with no spoiler



The back once the spoiler had been fitted



The rust patch!



As you can see the spoiler made a huge difference to the back and as I said it provided it with that sporty look. For a while I was considering getting the snowflakes re furbished as they were VERY curbed when I brought them (the previous owner obviously had no perception of where curbs are!) and I thought they would look nice gloss black and I did a lot of travelling around getting prices and viewing the work of various garages and body shops until something happened that through a spanner in the works...... I got a puncture.



I was very lucky that when it happened I was literally around the corner from my house so I managed to get it home instantly and asses the damage and boy did it suck! The was a screw that had gone right the way in and snapped off and it was deflating quicker than I could pump it up!

Obviously the spare needed to go on so I set about removing the wheel and decided to start with the locking nut and low and behold, the key snapped!!!!!!!!!



At this point I was completely screwed. I had no way of removing the wheel and obviously with it being flat I was unable to drive it anywhere in order to get it sorted. Luckily for me [MENTION=46]ANT-VXR[/MENTION] was an absolute legend. Not only did he come over when he had things to do, but he grafted his nuts off and managed to get the nut off!

I then plodded around on my H design wheel for a few day until I could decide what to do wheel wise



That very same night was Nicks birthday so I popped over to say hi and whilst there he decided to pop my Wind Deflectors on





The very next day I had made my decision regarding my wheels and I met up with [MENTION=234]skydiver[/MENTION] who was selling a set of pentas in shadow chrome. I was a bit sceptical with how the colour would go on the car but as soon as I saw them in the flesh I knew they were the right wheels for my car





And that brings me to today, today was an extremely busy day but has had the biggest impact on the car so far. We started off the day with [MENTION=11]Rob[/MENTION] completely stripping out my roof lining (at the sacrifice of both my sun visors ) in order to remove my roof rails. They are a ridiculously annoying job to do and i'm grateful that I had Rob there to do them for me

Next up came the fitting of the new wheels, and wow! what a difference did it make! The car looks completely different and due to the colour they look a lot stealthier

We then proceeded to clean the car and then head over to Lickey Hills for some awesome pictures of how it stands now











So as you can see a huge amount has been done to this car to change it from completely standard to what it is now. There is still a lot more to be done however so this thread will just continue to grow and develop. I have only owned the car just over a month and I am absolutely in love with it Its fun to drive with awesome power, its practical as a family car and of course it looks sexy as hell

I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has been involved in making this car what it is now. So many people have helped in their own way and I appreciate it all I want to say a special thank you to Nick who has put sooooooo much time and effort into this project with me, whether it be going on road trips, modding my car, or bouncing ideas off each other the car definitely would not be close to the standard it is now without his help

That's about it guys, I know its long winded considering the little time I have owned it but I have even missed some things out to make it an easier read!

[Rob]

Tbf mate that roof lining wasn't too bad apart from those sun visors, but it's made a massive difference to the exterior

You've just got to get the paint as good as that polished bonnet now!

[KraZed]

Tbf mate that roof lining wasn't too bad apart from those sun visors, but it's made a massive difference to the exterior

You've just got to get the paint as good as that polished bonnet now!

Yeah but still mate, there was no chance that I would have done that without your help, cheers dude

And yeah I think Nick wants to be let loose with his DA on it

[Nick6425]

One hell of a read but an awesome progress thread mate. The difference in a month is insane !!!!

[lsant]

style And function that looks sweet

[skydiver]

Looks mega mate!! Them wheels really do suit the car well. Looks ace after a good polish too. Just needs lowering now. Good work fella

[III_ASH_III]

That is one gorgeous looking Zaf, the only thing I don't like are the red fog light surrounds.

Fantastic work mate, the wheels that you got off [MENTION=234]skydiver[/MENTION] really set it off a treat, I do agree is needs lowering now though

[paulwhite1987]

Really nice looking Gsi mate. Wheels set it off a treat. Looks loads better with the roof rails removed too.

[KraZed]

One hell of a read but an awesome progress thread mate. The difference in a month is insane !!!!

Cheers mukka like I said I removed loads of stuff just to shorten it down it really puts it in perspective of how much has been done in such a short space of time!

[KraZed]

style And function that looks sweet

Thanks mate I'm really happy with it