Help with old Vectra

My daughter's old Mundano comprehensively failed its MOT last week so Daddy was suckered into buying her an old banger to "get by" for a short while, so when I stumbled over a Vectra on a 'P' plate that drove very well but had a few cosmetic 'issues' it seemed to fit the bill.

One problemette that spoils an otherwise quite clean vehicle is the trim on each side of the windscreen. The top end of the strip (on both sides of the vehicle) is bulging and distorted with rusty metal showing underneath. I'm unclear whether there is a body seam here which is covered by the plastic strip, or whether the metal is part of the trim.

Essentially, I'm looking for advice on how to deal with this at minimal cost because the car will probably be sent to the scrapper's at the end of the year anyway. Looking for help from Mr Haynes in his fine book on the subject, all I can find on replacing the windscreen (which I presumed would explain how to remove and replace the trim) is that replacing a windscreen is a specialist job beyond the capability of a DIY-er.

Two pictures to illustrate what I'm trying to describe maye be found here

formatting link
and here
formatting link
Any help and advice gratefully received.

Reply to
Mike Faithfull
Loading thread data ...

If you start you'll never stop.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

Undoubtedly sound advice Duncan, thank you! But I promised her I would ask the experts on the Interweb and try to make it look pretty again.

Reply to
Mike Faithfull

Well if you're feeling keen it's bonded in, you can cut it out youself but if you ring the local one man mobile windscreen repairers then they can cut it out for you & refit for less than you'll earn in Macdonalds in the time it'll take you. Then you'd have to glue it back in again. So long as you only touch the rusty bits under the trim & just buy new trim pieces (which may well be cheaper from the same windscreen boy) it'll last more than a year.

The instructions are in the vauxhall workshop manual which I obviously wouln't recommend downloading form the pirate bay after searching for Opel Vauxhall TIS2000.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

"Mike Faithfull" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Almost certainly the windscreen's been replaced by a ham-fisted muppet who made a right bodge of cutting the old 'screen out - taking the mounting flanges back to bare metal in the process. Rot is the inevitable result. What you can see is the tip of the iceberg.

Don't bother, then.

Reply to
Adrian

Especially as it is a marvellous antitheft device. Check you got that on her insurance... Doh, better not..

Reply to
Weatherlawyer

Leave it if you're scrapping at the end of the year. The idea of bargain bangers is that you don't start doing loads of stuff other than that required to keep them safe and legal.

Reply to
Conor

Hmm .. £370 with 4 good tyres, taxed until the end of June, MOT till November, brakes, lights etc. all fully functional and a clean interior. Perhaps I should tell her to be satisfied with that! Thanks for all the inputs.

Reply to
Mike Faithfull

Thus spake Conor (conor snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) unto the assembled multitudes:

Conor's right. There's no point spending £££ on cosmetic work if all you'll be doing is scrapping the car within a few months. I think you'll just have to break your somewhat rash promise and tell your daughter to put up with the car as it is.

Reply to
A.Clews

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.