Invalid carriage blue Mk1 Cavalier

[4wheeledstool]

The sill covers came off after work today. Passenger side is spot on throughout its length, and only crusty at the wheelarch lip end.

 

 

The drivers side is not as good - the rearward six inches has rotted. It looks worse than it is though, and should be a straightforward job to repair. Everything forward of this grotty bit is sound.

 

 

 

[4wheeledstool]

The front arches have no rot at all, just a little surface rust. The drivers side wing will be replaced with a good used one as its rotten at the top of its rearward top edge.

 

 

The side trims were also removed today, giving it an L spec look.

 

 

 

Surprisingly, no trim clips broke during their removal!

[RichardK]

Those sills look amazing for the age of the car.

[derskine]

 

 

 

It's pretty good - the whole underside has had an almighty spaffing with some kind of bitumen type stuff. It may have been waxoil, but its kinda hard and brittle now. I'm looking forward to scraping all that shit off at some point in the future!

 

Probably ziebart, it's a horrific job scraping it off.

I did it lying on the floor under my Cortina, thankfully I have the 4 post for doing it on the Imp.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

That's an early one. Looks nice and clean overall - well worth the time and effort you're investing in it. I had a couple of weeks with a bronze 'w' plate back in the early 90's. I was a skivvy at a garage and the boss lent the mk1 whilst I was prepping my car for paint. The Cav was worth pennies and had been px'd against a forecourt car. The poor old girl was running on 3 cylinders all the time, and I'm pretty sure it was more sinister than plug, dizzy cap and leads. However, I took my girlfriend of the time out and about in it and we both really liked the old thing - it felt so solid and even twitched its arse end on gravel despite not running right.

It was left where I'd parked for a couple of months after I'd finished with it, then pushed into the workshop to be attended to by Pete. The last time I saw it, Pete the welder and scrap man (he called himself an 'engineer') lifted the bonnet, smashed the shit out of the engine and inner wings with his lump hammer, and when I questioned why he wasn't fixing it up, he replied that there was no point as he was taking "the shitheap for scrap that afternoon'. Thinking about it now, the car would have only been about 11 years old - crazy world.

Keep up the good work with yours anyhow.

[purplebargeken]

This is one car that I would feel no shame about licking.

[Skizzer]

Great to see the work going into this!

[4wheeledstool]

Removed some more trim today, the rain gutter trims were a swine to do - not looking forward to re-fitting them.

 

 

The boot/rear panel trims and the badges were really easy though. Again, all the trim clips remain intact! Starting to look a bit naked around the rump now.

 

[purplebargeken]

Gutter trims are a pain and serve no real purpose. I might take mine off the Dolomite.

[4wheeledstool]

Only had an hour to spend on this today, removing the bumpers was a job that fitted that kind of time frame. The rear bumper was a five minute job - all bolts undid nicely!

 

 

The front bumper went similarly well, until the last bolt to come out lost its threads! Fortunately it was one of the front chassis rail ones, so it was easy enough to grind the head off the offending item.

 

[4wheeledstool]

A bit more stripping down went on today, the interior is in the process of removal at the moment.

 

 

 

That front end is such a complicated arrangement - must be a nightmare to repair if damaged!

[sloth]

i spent most of 2008 rebuilding one of these. it was a local car to me, and i welded in new floors, swan necks, boot floor, and rebuilt the nsf bulkhead/apost/inner wing. they hide rot alarmingly. i finished it, and it got nicked 3 days later and ended up on the oval. id have another in a heartbeat if i was in the uk. 

[tooSavvy]

Does this car fit with our Utoob 'hand built in jigs Manta'?

 

Or on an automated line.....

 

 

TS

[4wheeledstool]

i spent most of 2008 rebuilding one of these. it was a local car to me, and i welded in new floors, swan necks, boot floor, and rebuilt the nsf bulkhead/apost/inner wing. they hide rot alarmingly. i finished it, and it got nicked 3 days later and ended up on the oval. id have another in a heartbeat if i was in the uk.

 

Mate, that blows! Was it insured?

 

Door furniture was removed next - I wish all cars were as easy to strip down as this!

 

 

Back seats out - I was surprised that there is no bulkhead between the back seats and the fuel tank!

 

 

I'm quite enjoying this part of the process, just need to start bagging and tagging the pile of parts that have accumulated before I forget whats what!

[purplebargeken]

Crikey, you are cracking on! Always bloody one bolt on the bumper isn't there.

[Cavcraft]

Couldn't have gone to a better home.

[4wheeledstool]

There's possibly a little grot in the bottom right of the drivers footwell that warrants investigation.

 

 

You can see evidence of when the accident damaged front chassis leg was replaced after it's crash in the early 80's. The grey primer highlights the area.

 

 

Overall, it looks pretty decent down there - will be even better once I've removed all the carpet underlay dust, glue and fibres!

 

 

 

Not much else will be done now until my mate John has worked his metal fusion magic on it.

[4wheeledstool]

I found this wafer wrapper under the rear carpets - made in Belgium - perhaps one of the assembly line workers had a snack on company time!

 

 

After vacuuming the foot wells, I cleaned most of the dirt and dust out of the boot.

 

 

 

I'll not know for sure until the underside has been scraped clean, but it doesn't look like any work is required in here.

[4wheeledstool]

There's not been a lot of time to spend on this recently, but did get half an hour on it today and took the near side wing off.

 

 

 

It is a little rusty in places, but after a thorough poke about I didn't find any soft bits.

[purplebargeken]

Are you going to get that cleaned up and repainted?

 

Ace progress so far.

[Sudsprint]

Fantastic stuff.

[4wheeledstool]

Are you going to get that cleaned up and repainted?

 

Ace progress so far.

  

Indeed - when the engine, drivetrain and suspension stuff is all off, the whole underside + inner wings etc. will be cleaned back and repainted. The aim is to make it last another 40 years!

Fantastic stuff.

Cheers!

[purplebargeken]

Brilliant

[4wheeledstool]

After the wing came off, it was possible to re fit it in a better position so that the panel gaps were better.

 

 

Quite pleased about this, as I thought the wing was a pattern part due to the bad panel gaps. It is actually a genuine wing that was just fitted in the wrong position!

 

My key refurb kit arrived from Germany recently - two replacement key grips - bought as my main key was getting a bit worn and sloppy.

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

Comes as two pieces that slot together using the original key blade.

 

 

Not all good news today, after removing the driver's side wing, another area needing attention was revealed.

 

 

It's a pretty easy fix to do though, so I'm not worried about it!

[vulgalour]

There's practically nothing to do on this thing, it's unrealistically sound!

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I have seen this featured on Retro Rides - I didn't realise there was also a thread about it on here. It is wonderful to see such a survivor receiving the love, skill and effort it deserves. These Cavaliers are very handsome cars and it saddens me they are now so rare. Good work!

[Uncle Jimmy]

I've long admired the mk1 Cavalier, so much better than its rivals; this really is a peach, I is well jelas.

[Angrydicky]

Ugh, that picture of the inner wing brings back the nightmares of welding up my FE Victor in exactly the same place. Damn you Vauxhall and your non-existent rustproofing.

[Skizzer]

Great work, great car, great thread.  OMG actual old car content.  Top man.

[Bren]

After the wing came off, it was possible to re fit it in a better position so that the panel gaps were better.

Quite pleased about this, as I thought the wing was a pattern part due to the bad panel gaps. It is actually a genuine wing that was just fitted in the wrong position!

My key refurb kit arrived from Germany recently - two replacement key grips - bought as my main key was getting a bit worn and sloppy.

Before

After

Comes as two pieces that slot together using the original key blade.

Not all good news today, after removing the driver's side wing, another area needing attention was revealed.

It's a pretty easy fix to do though, so I'm not worried about it!

Not too bad really.Did somebody mention FE victor? Pah! Until you have had a senator/royale of that era you don't know what rot is.