OK then! Here we go....
Bought some new hoses from the spares day, fitted them Sunday afternoon.
Fitted new sections of the exhaust yesterday....
Before I did any of this the car would run, albeit roughly & would stall if you gently pressed the pedal, but now, nothing!
It wont even start!
Every now & then there will be a bit of a flutter, like its about to start, but it wont....
Can anybody help me here? I'm getting to the point where I'm so annoyed with it, I'm gonna offer it for sale.....
By the way, it does stink of petrol when it's turning over, so it's not run out has it???

Looks like it's the curse of 'idiot me' striking again! Looks like the monster has run out of juice! At least, there's none coming through to the fuel rail! Will put some motion lotion in tomorrow or Friday & let you all know!!!

At long last, some good news!
Managed to get hold of most of the air hoses to go around the plenum, & a new breather hose too, she now runs loads better, & didn't take that much effort to start.
Altho, had her running for about 5 mins or so, had to get a jump start from a friend's car as the battery was flat, I had a quick fiddle with the mixture & idle settings & then the engine stalled, and unable to get it going again.
I am assuming this is because I didn't run the engine for long enough to put a decent charge in the battery? Or could it be that either my battery is knackered or the starter is pooped? A replacement alternator was fitted last weekend....
Any thoughts???

you could do a volt meter check to see if the Alternator is puting in the charge to the batt, Taking the batt of and puting it on a good charge over night would not do any harm.

Unfortunately I don't possess a voltmeter, & if I did, I wouldn't have a clue how to use it!!
I took the old alternator off as it didn't seem to be charging at idle, so will wait & see what this one does...
Will whip the battery off tonight & charge it overnight, am not mad keen on leaving it on charge while I go to bed though, have scary visions of my house catching fire.....

Ok, charged the battery, started her up, & with a bit of fiddling got her going well! Have found an annoying rattle though, only when in drive, sounds like it's coming from somewhere on the passenger side....
another annoyance, is that after replacing the rear springs & dampers, the car is still sitting high on the passenger side....

Took the car on a small road test, just down to the bottom of my street & to the roundabout round the corner, she sounds awesome!!!

Quick update!!
Brand new battery now fitted, thanks to my friend Martin who gets trade discount at Vauxhall, she fired up first time, engine was turned over mega fast!
Gave her a run up the road & back(several times!) to iron out any hiccoughs, runs like a dream now, MOT could be booked for later this week....

great news, you must be looking forward to being able to get out on the open roads

Like you wouldn't believe!!! Have only ever driven this car as far as the bottom of my street & back, am itching to just get her out on a long drive!!!

That is further than I have driven mine haaa haaa