Cavalier (Mk3) Attitude - MoT result

[HMC]

That looks lovely Rob! I remember the car park backdrop only too well from when I was eyeing up your 220sli ad repeatedly.

 

Great colour and spec combo, this was my fave vauxhall colour of the time, our family neighbour got a Carlton cdx as a company car in it and my 12 year old brochure mad self couldnt fault how theyd specced it!

 

That must have been an early facelift model? I always remember as a kid another neighbour (a very pro GM cul de sac) had a pre facelift one with the badge on the bonnet, after it got pranged it got repaired with a mix of pre and post facelift bits with the result that it ended up with no badges on the front at all (early grille, later bonnet) can haz debadged!

[DVee8]

Now thats bloody nice

When is it for sale?

[RobT]

Ha! Not for a while, I'm keeping this one.

 

 

That must have been an early facelift model? I always remember as a kid another neighbour (a very pro GM cul de sac) had a pre facelift one with the badge on the bonnet, after it got pranged it got repaired with a mix of pre and post facelift bits with the result that it ended up with no badges on the front at all (early grille, later bonnet) can haz debadged!

I think these early facelifts are a mash of parts, as the interior cloth is different on the later CDs, and also the later seats don't have the double lumbar adjustment knobs like wot these ones have. I could be wrong on that though. Prices on ebay for bonnet badges are a bit steep, approaching Ford money, so it'll be the debadged look if i do swap the grills as I'm too tight to pay 20-30 quid for a friggin' badge!

[Jim Bell]

Not for a while, I'm keeping this one.

 

 

If I had a pound for every time I've said, or heard that, I'd have enough pounds to buy a much inferior Cavalier.

 

Does look far too good to let go though.  I always have a giggle internally when I see one with a badge on the Grille and another on the Bonnet.  I'd rather have none, than two. (BADGES, NOT CAVALIERS)

[CortinaDave]

Very rare being a facelift but non air bag and still with headlight wash.

 

HL wash was deleted in favour of the airbag very very quickly following the facelift

[Noel Tidybeard]

i always liked the way the gold flecks in the paint stood out in the sun when i had a vecturd

[bub2006]

I think k plate was a strange change over year for cavaliers. I've seen early front ends,late front ends with no airbag but digital clock like my 1.8 auto was and late front end with analogue clock but an airbag like a friends mums 1.7td was.

[Skizzer]

Mmmmmmmm, like.

 

The carphone aerial also marks you out as one of life's winners.

[Lord Sterling]

That is a sweet Cavalier Rob, I only wish I had more time at Stondon to slobber over it! You'll need some proper floor mats in it. When I went to a large scrappy down in Crawley, Surrey, I saw a Cavalier with leather seats and proper mats, I didn't get the mats for some reason otherwise they'd be winging thier way to you now.

[RobT]

Thanks Mo, was that GW Bridges?  It will need some proper mats to hide the carpets as they are extremely manky.  I'll be hiring a steam cleaner at some point to do the carpets and seats, and give the 75's interior a good going over.

[holbeck]

That's nice Rob. It's a dead ringer for the 1.8LS I had for a while in the 90's. Same colour inside and out and same non airbag wheel too!

[Jerzy Woking]

When I was a rep I had a couple of Mk2 Cavaliers. First was a brand new "Y" plate 1.6L hatch, in China Blue which replaced my MkIV Cortina estate. Cavalier felt so modern, light and fast in comparison (even though it was also a four speed too). Had that for 3 years and 90,000 miles, never went wrong. I bought it from the lease company and sold it to my BIL who had it for several years, each school holiday saw him attach a huge caravan to it and tow it to and from the West Country.

 

I chose another 1.6L hatch to replace it, this time a "B" plate in green with a 5 speed box. Better mpg and faster than the one it replaced, although the green interior was a bit too green. I was made redundant after two years and it went back with just under 80, 000 miles on it, with nothing more than regular servicing. It was thrashed everywhere!

 

A few years later I bought a Mk2 SRi 130 on an "E" plate from a mate who worked at a Vauxhall dealer. It was taken in as a part exchange but big scabs on the bonnet front and near side doors meant I got it cheap. Bit of paint, lacquer and a paintbrush saw it tidied up (from a distance). Everything else was immaculate including the underside unmarked, perfect alloys, and immaculate interior. Great car, did everything and more I asked of it and handled great. Sold it when I changed jobs and got one of the very first Vectra diesels, but that's a story for another day. It was the worst, the very worst car I ever had...........

 

Moved companies, and being the "new boy" I was given an old Mk3 Cavalier SRi to use. I loved it- it was so fast for some reason, and I could embarrass the drivers of the BMW 320's work had. Out accelerate them and continue to pull away in the distance. So comfortable and quiet. I was gutted when the car was retired.

 

I'd love another Mk2 or Mk3 SRi but they seem to be far and few between now (at least at the price I want to pay for them.....)

[RobT]

Thought I'd dredge up this old thread with a trip out, so today I took the Cavalier for a much needed stretch along the motorway and down to the coast. Having an aversion to crowds and people in general (with the exception of yourselves obviously!) Dungeness in winter is always a winner. Apologies for the crap pics, I need to get a better camera, but here's some nuclear power station shite. Dungeness A is the decommissioned one behind the building with the red chimney stacks.

 

 

After that I went to the beach. Everything was shut with barely a soul about, perfect. Although the council bogs were open which was handy as I was desperate for a piss. I always seem to be needing a piss, so god knows what I'll be like when I'm old.

 

 

A stroll along the beach to watch the sunset then I headed off home.

 

 

The Cavalier ticked over to 130k on the trip down, which means it's only covered 8,000 miles in 18 months of ownership. I'm surprised it's so few, but then I've always got other stuff on the go to share the mileage I suppose. As usual it drove fine and is great on the motorway, being quiet and comfortable, and returned close to 40mpg today over 180 miles. It's less quiet at slow speeds when a symphony of trim rattles get going, but such things don't bother me generally.

 

One thing that was bugging though me was cambelt roulette. So I took a look through the docs and noticed a bill for belt, tensioner, and waterpump at 95,000 miles. No idea why I missed that before but it should be alright for a while then, although I have noticed it's loosing a bit of coolant recently so will need to investigate that soon. But overall it's been a good day!

[Cavcraft]

Lovely! I'm guessing it's a 16V being the sort of mildly facelifted late-ish one? I know the 1.8s were 'safe' engines as the belt on mine went in 23 miles of me owning it, have it in my head the 2.0 8V ones are also ok if the belt snaps. But don't hold me to that!

[Jim Bell]

Lovely looking car, lovely looking views.

[RobT]

Lovely! I'm guessing it's a 16V being the sort of mildly facelifted late-ish one? I know the 1.8s were 'safe' engines as the belt on mine went in 23 miles of me owning it, have it in my head the 2.0 8V ones are also ok if the belt snaps. But don't hold me to that!

 

2.0 8v this one Billy, so it keeps plodding on without complaint!  Giffermatic too for added laziness.

[John F]

Cavaliers are ACE.

[UltraWomble]

I are disappoint

I expected to see one of these on the tailgate

[RobT]

Nothing so controversial, but I did add a National Trust sticker to the windscreen this year when I was bought membership as a gift.

 

Vauxhall Shite - A National Treasure!

[sal]

Nice mk3.

 

Re cambelt I believe the 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0 8v's used in Cavaliers are safe. But if you're concerned about its condition they are really easy and cheap to change.

[Guest bangerfan101]

All cavalier banger racing meeting at Stoke in spring time. Except the cheap shitters on eBay to get snapped up.

 

Don't shoot the messenger

[Ghosty]

Everything is fine...

 

[paulscavalier]

The cambelts are non interference on the 8 valves

[paulscavalier]

This would be my ideal, great colour and wheel combination, although something this mint is probably beyond my budget. Just tried to register on the mk3 Cavalier forum but kept getting the anti-spammers code wrong - those things are all well and good but crap if you can't actually read them...

 

cavalier mk3.jpg

This is one of my two cavaliers the other one an l reg colorado has been my daily for 16 years, and although it's fine I think I will give it a rest and get the cd on the road

[paulscavalier]

Colorado

[RobT]

This is one of my two cavaliers the other one an l reg colorado has been my daily for 16 years, and although it's fine I think I will give it a rest and get the cd on the road

Excellent, more details on your CD please! I googled that image a couple of years ago so it's great to have the owner pop up on here.

[paulscavalier]

I picked up the cd off gumtree in 2013. I was tempted by the condition spec and mileage. The mileage was 51000 & it drove like it too. I always fancied a preface lift cd, and this was a one owner car where the owner had died and the family had used it for a bit before disposing of it. The paint was a bit poor on the drivers side where the laquer was peeling from a poor repair. So I had the whole side done and was fortunate enough to have been able to source a correct gm pinstripe for it. All alloys have been refurbished and the interior has been valeted as it is beige velour with beige carpets and they were grubby. It has all the options for a 1990 car including an electric sunroof abs and a catalyst. It's going to go back on the road in March hopefully so I can get the 1.8 Colorado off the road for a bit so I can get time to get underneath it clean up and derust where necessary and take off the rear beam and refurbish it. The cd is the nicer out the two the old 2.0 8 valve is a good engine. The 1.8 isn't bad but it's a single point injection rather then the bosch multiplied in the 2.0

[RobT]

Well if you're local (I'm in South London) it would be good to get the Cavaliers together at an AS meet in the spring. Come next April I'll have owned my CD for 2 years, which is good going considering how fickle I can be. But even 20 years on they're good dailies with few vices, even if the ride and handling is a bit average.

[paulscavalier]

I am in sunny Suffolk but would be up for an AS meet up. It should be back on the road by then

[RobT]

This month I'll have owned the Cavalier for 2 years, so by my standards it's become a keeper. Hardly anything goes wrong with it (or atleast nothing to stop it being driveable) but recently it's been losing water at a fair old rate. I wasn't really in the mood for fixing stuff today, but shite waits for no man so a radiator change was on the cards.

 

In the garage removing stuff

 

 

Water was pissing out near the top hose, and I thought the casing was cracked as opposed to the hose being split. Turns out the elbow was cracked half way down with the end just coming away when I removed the hose. Pic doesn't show it that well, but you can sort of see the difference between new and old.

 

 

The new rad isn't the best quality, but was the only one available at a reasonable price, as being an auto my choice was limited to about three on ebay. I ordered it on Thursday from a company in Glasgow, and it arrived yesterday which is mega quick. So rather than do my usual and procrastinate for a month I'm glad I got it done today.

 

I also changed the cam cover gasket, as after changing it six months ago it's leaking oil again, giving that eau de 10w40 smell in the cabin. From my limited knowledge all looks OK in there. The cam still has lobes on it and oil seems to be getting up there fine.

 

 

Took it for a drive and all looks good with no leaks, so I'm quite pleased that's sorted now.

 

I should probably do something about the increasingly hideous looking rear arches at some point, but the rest of it is hardly a minter so will just leave them for another year and call it patina!