Mk 2 cav

[Bren]

I had an 84 SRi identical to the one in the photo (but in much better condition) as my first "decent" car in Jan 1992 - by decent I mean no rust, filler, silicone sealant or water anywhere other than the cooling system - some of you may have guessed it replaced an SD1.

 

 

It was a fab car - clutch changed in an hour with a sykes pickavant kit costing £12 (three clips and a splined bit) 3000 mile oil changes meant six figure mileage was no problem. I sold mine to my brother in 1996, he used to drive it so hard the rev limiter cut in - he sold it with over 140 k on the clock, the engine was starting to smoke slightly, it still had it's original sills and the motor was on it's original cam.

 

Although I like sierras I think the cav was better quality - they did'nt rust like fords and were easy to work on, although they may not have driven as nice as the ford. The gearing on mine was very tall - 80 mph in 5th gear was 4000 rpm.

 

I wonder if they sporty cav's will be the next big thing as Mk 1 astra GTE's are getting somwhat expensive now and the cav is more practical.

 

Thoughts?

[dollywobbler]

4000rpm at 80mph is on the short side! Same as a BX 16 Valve. 

 

But I do like Mk2 Cavs. Doubt they'll ever have the following of the Blind Blue Oval Crowd though.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Had a few as company cars,always impressive but as I'm a child, RWD shenanigans means I was always a Sierra Boy.

I think they've already got a blue collar Old Skool Racist following to a certain extent, at least in Convertible. Red Top form.

My favourite spec mk2 would be a facelift GLi saloon , can't remember seeing one for about 25 years though.

 

 

Can't even find one on Google!

[DVee8]

I had a A reg 1.6L  4 door in gold with beige/cream carpets,dash,seats and headlining.It had a camshaft problem,the garage that i bought it from gave me a Toyota Camry on a Y while they repaired it.

It took so long they gave me the Toyota and a part refund.

[Timewaster]

80s vauxhall speedos were notoriously optimistic. I seem to recall the pubs being full of bores looking for someone to tell about how their 1.3 astra would crack 120 down the newly opened bypass.

That said, they were generally quicker than the competition.

I'm sure mk 2 nostalgia will push prices up soon.

 

Now look out for the thread starting police.

[Cavcraft]

I can't speak highly enough of them. My first decent car was an '87 1.8SRi saloon ( the face lifted one) that coped with an incredible amount of abuse on a daily basis and just never gave up.

Those 8V engines and that box were heaven sent.

[trigger]

My Starlet is also in the 4000rpm @ 80 camp, I like the Cav's, they go like stink and drive nice although i prefer the Sierra to drive as it feel more solid to me, As for prices, I think they are already getting there, early SRi's and SRi 130's are big money now.

[Asimo]

 

This was mine from new (1.6L Auto), company motor. Miserable leg-room but everything else was good.

The 5 speed SRi was geared quite high on the pre-facelift cars, more like 75mph / 3000 rpm. I once saw 140mph on the clock, down hill with the wind behind me driving my supervisor's SRi. The later cars with the 130 bhp engines had a real close ratio 'box, which was great for a quick thrash around the lanes but crap if you had to do Edinburgh and back. Again.

The Recaro seats and the grip / feel from those 195/60-15 tyres were a revelation. Remember we were comparing them with Marinas and Cortinas the job would have supplied only a couple of years earlier.

 The (very rare then) 1300 Cavalier, (probably quite extinct now), was my favourite because the steering was so much nicer than the others, really light and neutral. (I only drove one with PAS, A CD, not a good example).

 

My "dream Cavalier" is an early SRi Saloon in red over grey. 2 door of course. I still think those SRi alloys are one of the best ever.

 

Like this  rather than this

 

(OK it's a 1.6 Ascona)http://www.custojusto.pt/porto/ligeiros-passageiros/opel-ascona-1-6-12950285

[Alan_Green]

Also a 1.6 Auto.  3 speed, which should have been terrible. But I don't seem to remember it being a problem. Had a bit of a bump:

[Cavcraft]

As for prices, I think they are already getting there, early SRi's and SRi 130's are big money now.

 

 

Tell me about it, if I still had my Calibre now I'd be laughing.

[Timewaster]

Calibre eh?

Local legend has it that the owner of the one we used to see around here topped himself when the repayments got too much for him.

[Cavcraft]

E258AUX, was A2 EWJ when I got it, plate went back to previous owner. It was seriously mintola and had had a brand new genuine GM engine (£1,800) before I bought it.

Looks like it was last taxed in 2004, what a shame.

[Barry Cade]

I had shed loads of these back in the day, as I was working for Vauxhall at the time and we got loads in as trade ins. First was a 1.6SR, which I had painted Toyota pearl turqoise, with blue bumper strips... a good few SRi's then a cracking 130 saloon in black with 2000GSi wheels. It was the shizzle at that time. Happy days.

[M'coli]

I really need to get my 1300L back on the road, don't I?

[I_am_Diesel]

When I arrived at my first posting in the RAF in 1988 Mk2 Cavaliers were the staff cars. They were just changing to diesels. We only ever saw them for routine maintenance, never really any snags. Great cars.

[New POD]

Tell me about it, if I still had my CalibrE now I'd be laughing.

 

Yeah, I blew the engine of mine up on the Runcorn bridge. The conrod came out and destroyed the starter motor.

As you know I was a member of  www.mk2cav.com for a time, but I became somewhat addicted, and my obsession developed into a mild mental illness.

 

I have owned a 1.6 GL facelift, a preface lift 1.8 Cdi Auto, a preface lift 1.8 Sri, and the CalibrE 

 

The 1.8's had the 1.8e astra GTE mk1 8V engine with 115BHP and that SRi had a so called "ultra close ratio gearbox" which meant it was almost redlining in 5th at 115.

 

The regrets over selling all of them outweighs all the other automotive regrets in my life. BUT I'm not going back.

[New POD]

I really need to get my 1300L back on the road, don't I?

Only if it's a brown 2 door auto with orange interior.

 

My mental illness was so bad I used to dream I found the rare bird I describe and became the mk2 cavalier king

[M'coli]

I did wonder if you were the real Puppet of Doom...

[brickwall]

I can't speak highly enough of them. My first decent car was an '87 1.8SRi saloon ( the face lifted one) that coped with an incredible amount of abuse on a daily basis and just never gave up.

Those 8V engines and that box were heaven sent.

 

The 1.8 was indeed. a fantastic car.

[Cavcraft]

Yeah, I blew the engine of mine up on the Runcorn bridge. The conrod came out and destroyed the starter motor.

As you know I was a member of  www.mk2cav.com for a time, but I became somewhat addicted, and my obsession developed into a mild mental illness.

 

I have owned a 1.6 GL facelift, a preface lift 1.8 Cdi Auto, a preface lift 1.8 Sri, and the CalibrE 

 

The 1.8's had the 1.8e astra GTE mk1 8V engine with 115BHP and that SRi had a so called "ultra close ratio gearbox" which meant it was almost redlining in 5th at 115.

 

The regrets over selling all of them outweighs all the other automotive regrets in my life. BUT I'm not going back.

 

 

Is Rab(?) still on there? He had some crackers, including an Ascona 2 door GT and a few others. Nice bloke, he was bang into them.

[Roostybroon]

I must've had at least 20 mk2 cavi's back in the late 90's early 2000's.

They took loads of abuse and were cheap to buy and run.

Think I've still got a new front valance for one somewhere amongst the Shite collection if anyone needs one.

[Bren]

I really need to get my 1300L back on the road, don't I?

My mate's dad bought a B reg 1.3 in 1986 - he was convinced that it was a 1.6 due to it's surprising swiftness.

A few weeks into ownership the cambelt went - an exchange engine was fitted under warranty.

 

He maintained it religiously and sold it to my brother in 1993. The engine was like a sewing machine - warmed up at idle you could'nt tell it was running.

 

Sadly it started rusting and an issue with the main fuse box saw B324 PVM moved on.

 

For a time after this, vauxhall definitely lost their way.

[CortinaDave]

When I was 16 my mate and I went halfers on a £70 mk2 cav on I think an X reg.

 

It was absolutely shagged, and being an irresponsible teen off we went for a drive in it.

 

Pulled over by the rozzers the same day and huckled for having three bald tyres. This was the 90s so no instant check of the mot/insurance/licence database.

 

I had no MOT , insurance or licence.. It did have a few weeks tax.

 

They asked for our details and we gave false names and were given a producer for our documents.

 

As it was still in the previous keepers name we immediately drove it to a scrappy and weighed it in.

 

Never heard anything about it. VERY lucky. 🙈🙈

[Lord Sterling]

I love the Mk2 Cavalier. It's a car I really must add to my fleet. Old_man Sterling had one years ago when I was a kid, an early Grey-grilled 1.6 in Red or summat, exactly like Sorn_Me's Beige example but in Red. I loved that car. It once got nicked in a house burglary but thankfully survived as it was simply dumped.

 

It later got traded in for a then brand-new Mk3 Fiesta for Ma at Furrows for Ford near Shrewsbury.

[lisbon_road]

The values may well go up, but I think that to start a serious cult you'd need a few more cars left.  There just aren't any.  Same applies to most 80s cars, Sierras and Montegos and so on.  That's my opinion anyway.

[Vince70]

I loved 80s Vauxhalls and my first decent car was an X plate 4 speed cavalier 1.6L in a kind of grey/beige colour and always had to pull the blank plugs out the dash to see what was behind them on the boggo spec motors and wish I could afford one with a full set of switches.

 

I also had the up market versions though such as the SRI 130 Cavalier and a B plate MK1 GTE but for some reason the cars always seemed to drive better I found as base model workhorses.

 

I replaced a lovely little 4 speed 1300s Astra with a MK 1 GTE but I found I regretted it as the smaller engined skinner wheeled car seemed a lot more agile and the engine seemed a lot more eager to rev although there was nothing wrong with my GTE as it had all the toys but by that time it was when a hot hatch was getting stolen every second of the day so was afraid to park it up anywhere so I guess that never helped.

 

Was it me but I never seemed to have any luck with the bulkheads on either the Astra MK1 or the Cav MK2 as most that I owned always seemed to fracture around the pedal boxes on the manual models my worst one I had was the mk1 GTE which cracked along both sides of the bulkhead and I was lucky as The garage told me it was an engine put job to repair but I had a mate who was a welding God who managed to do the job with just removing some bits and bobs from the engine bay and the use of some some dislocated joints and made a brilliant repair which was a lot stronger than when the car was new.

[New POD]

Is Rab(?) still on there? He had some crackers, including an Ascona 2 door GT and a few others. Nice bloke, he was bang into them.

 

 

At one point he owned about 8 of which 5 were road worthy, 2 were scrappers, and the last was a resto project.  He had a shed full of new old stock, and seemed to be buying the worlds supply of genuine and obsolete GM Sri130 Oil Filters.

 

I suspect he's still mad as a welsh box of frogs can be.

 

I remember coming up the M6 back from a show in convoy with him and a bloke with a rusty 1.6L with 130 SEH in it.

 

At one point we were doing 110 mph 3 in a row, before blasting past a convoy of cosworths doing 50 mph in the slow lane. (What's the point of having 24bar of boost and a hybrid turbo and access to 350 bhp if you only ever polish the car and drive it slowly ?)

[New POD]

 

Was it me but I never seemed to have any luck with the bulkheads on either the Astra MK1 or the Cav MK2 as most that I owned always seemed to fracture around the pedal boxes on the manual models my worst one I had was the mk1 GTE which cracked along both sides of the bulkhead and I was lucky as The garage told me it was an engine put job to repair but I had a mate who was a welding God who managed to do the job with just removing some bits and bobs from the engine bay and the use of some some dislocated joints and made a brilliant repair which was a lot stronger than when the car was new.

 

 

Very common on the Cav convertible, probably not helped by the power steering, being a bit shit.  A mate of mine did take his 1.8 out of his convertible, and weld it.

[Fat_Pirate]

Can I be the first to say I HATE Mk2 Cavs?  I was in the trade back then and drove a lot of them, usually in that horrible fern green, or that horrible china blue, or that  horrible terracotta colour, all with matching horrible interiors of the same shade.  The styling was so conservative compared to the Sierra, too.  However... once it was re-bodied into the Mk3, I loved them!

[Timewaster]

There were some dismal colours and interiors on the early cars.

I knew a guy with a green one probably Y or A reg and about the only part of the interior that wasn't various shades of bottle green was the steering wheel.

Early ones had a camshaft kit every other service and if you drove them like an 18yr old then you would be doing the cv joints once a month.

 

Still great cars though.