Cavalier mk2 - another blue giffermobile.

[Noel Tidybeard]

dont be too hard on your self re welding- my b-i-l always reckoned the chavaliers were WORSE to weld up than any maestro/montego

[paulscavalier]

Hopefully you can get a nice fresh not on it

[sal]

This is all well and good but I'm still waiting for an explaination as to how you change the clutch without removing the gearbox

 

Srsly though, great work!

There's a removable plate on bottom of gearbox that allows access to clutch. Using a kit you can then compress and slide the clutch out from in between gearbox and engine. New clutch is fitted in reverse.

[4wheeledstool]

I can only assume that the paint around the rear screen was damaged some time in the past when the rear screen was replaced, as it has rotted in the bottom right corner under the outer seal. This is the only non-original glass on the car, and the only one thats bonded in. It would be difficult to repair nicely, so I bought another one to make life a little easier later on.

 

 

On the positive side, it is totally rot free, and has genuine glass in it. On the negative side, it has spoiler mounting holes in it. I could weld up the holes I suppose, but if an LX spoiler came up for sale, I'd most likely fit one.

[stuboy]

cant beat a mk2 cav!!

[sal]

I'll keep my eyes out for a spoiler for you.

[alf892]

There's a removable plate on bottom of gearbox that allows access to clutch. Using a kit you can then compress and slide the clutch out from in between gearbox and engine. New clutch is fitted in reverse.

......after removal the end cap on the gearbox.........and then pulling back the shaft (using an 8mm fine bolt)

[4wheeledstool]

Spoiler now acquired

 

 

MOT also acquired this afternoon.

[Cavcraft]

RESULT!

[paulscavalier]

Well done! Very good news

[4wheeledstool]

Insurance now sorted - more quality chod on the roads tomorrow!

[4wheeledstool]

About 70 miles covered today, went to the fishing hole -

 

 

Home for a bit-

 

 

Visited other chod at the lock ups -

 

 

Over all, it's quiet, reasonably quick, copes well with being hurled at corners, the brakes are excellent, and it doesn't appear to use much fuel. The only fly in the ointment is a bit of transmission shunt when changing gear - I have no idea if that's normal, or perhaps a gearbox mount is past its best or something?

[paulscavalier]

I don't recall the mk2 I had being afflicted with that so it could be.

[4wheeledstool]

After a couple of days, I kinda learned how to drive it smoothly, there doesn't appear to be anything amiss anywhere. I guess it's just "different" to my other cars?

 

Done another couple of hundred miles in it now, still going well!

 

Some more pieces of the puzzle arrived today

 

 

 

They'll be stashed away with the other bits until work commences, I'm actually quite looking forward to cutting all that car pox out!

[CreepingJesus]

Stellar job! I'm right back in the parts department, twenty odd years ago, seeing those brown paper packs and the blue and white labels.

[M'coli]

Are they saloon arches, or genuine replacements?

[sal]

They look like saloon arches. They should still fit a hatch they just don't have the section for the vent inside the door shut.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Mk2 Cavs look so good still. I keep on spotting that £5k Commander on ebung and having the occasional ridiculous thought. Do these have arch liners? I spy a bit of grot on your front wing as well. Is it getting a full blow job like your mk1?

[4wheeledstool]

Are they saloon arches, or genuine replacements?

They're Klokkerholm 5 door arches - not too bad for the price.

They look like saloon arches. They should still fit a hatch they just don't have the section for the vent inside the door shut.

You can't quite make it out in the above pic, but they do have the vent cutout

I have a pair of saloon ones that I was given, with two pairs I can have the rear section overlap the front section to make a factory looking repair.

Mk2 Cavs look so good still. I keep on spotting that £5k Commander on ebung and having the occasional ridiculous thought. Do these have arch liners? I spy a bit of grot on your front wing as well. Is it getting a full blow job like your mk1?

They do have arch liners, but there's a shite trap in front of it! The plan is to do it to the same sort of level as the mk1 - this one requires a lot more work though!

[4wheeledstool]

This fine* chariot is still doing the biz nicely - over a thousand miles covered to date.

On seeing my most recent chod in action, a friendly local geezer gave me these two CD alloys he'd had stored since his mk2 ownership ceased many years ago.

 

 

They're in remarkable un-kerbed condition - if anyone has any more of these, I'd like to buy them to make a full set. Alternatively, if anyone needs these to complete a set, you can have them for £buggerall.

[4wheeledstool]

Still getting regular use out of this, a fair few miles done recently.

 

 

It gets almost as many looks as the Mk1 does - most probably due to its shonkyness.

[4wheeledstool]

This old bus conked out on me at some traffic lights yesterday. As I applied the handbrake at the lights, I noticed the tickover was at 500rpm instead of the usual 700. A quick blip of the throttle then killed it, and it wouldn't re start, so I got out and pushed it up the kerb and on to the grass. The bonnet was lifted, nothing immediately appeared to be amiss, so I had another go at starting it - it started right up! It's behaved perfectly since, but I don't have a clue what was wrong - I guess I'll just have to wait and see if it happens again.

[dollywobbler]

Condenser? They can start behaving once they cool down. Or are these some new-fangled electronic dizzy set-up?

[Cavcraft]

It was just letting other people have the chance to admire it whilst you stopped. Vauxhalls sometimes do this.

[4wheeledstool]

Condenser? They can start behaving once they cool down. Or are these some new-fangled electronic dizzy set-up?

It's new fangled electronic shite - as is fuel metering. It might well be witchcraft for all I know about about electrickery!

It was just letting other people have the chance to admire it whilst you stopped. Vauxhalls sometimes do this.

It came pretty close to being royally bummed by some anus in a BMW that didn't immediately realise that a slightly decrepit looking vehicle with its hazard lights on wasn't moving!

[M'coli]

Keep an ignition amplifier in the glove box, I was lucky when the amp in my Cav shat itself that the RAC bloke had one in the back of his van.

[richardthestag]

wow, missed this thread kicking off 

 

very pleasant read.

 

My first company car in late 88 was one of the last Mk2 1.6L cars out of Vauxhall stealership in Kingston upon Thames. Allegedly GL spec throughout except for the lack of rev counter on the dash.

 

I loved that car so much I bought it from my works when it was three and had just shy of 100k on the clock. I ran it for another 5 years up until 180k when it was regrettably traded in for a mk1 Mondeo LX. I also liked the Mondo but the Cav has my heart.

 

At 4 years old the rear valance had rotted from the inside out and the rear arches were crusty. It was welded up and was gone again by the time I traded it in 1996.

 

The car at 180k had one original tyre on the back, would have had two had the phantom nail cunt not struck in Worcester Park train station car park

It also had its original clutch and exhaust. pretty sure that it had its original battery too.

 

the starter was changed by the RAC when it wouldnt stop trying to start, even when running. fault returned and it turned out to be the loom was kissing the underside of the inlet manifold and had worn through and was sending 12v to the starter solenoid. 

 

I had epic brake failure at the Glossop end of the "snake" during some spirited driving and before the road was ruined. The master had failed

 

I had two accidents in it, once I drove into the back of an Orion reversing off the A560 onto the roundabout in Stockport

2nd was years later when I was trying to get past a Scorpio on the A3 at the Kennington crossroads in sarf lunnon. Back then the road went from 3lane to 2 and then back to 3. Scorpio went from lane 2 to lane 2. I went airbourne into a traffic light and landed on the wrong side of the road. Boys will be boys etc

 

I held the company record for the highest "uncertified" speed in 2nd gear of 75mph

 

the car lasted another 2 years ish after I sold it - last taxed in 98

 

Miss that car

[3VOM]

the starter was changed by the RAC when it wouldnt stop trying to start, even when running. fault returned and it turned out to be the loom was kissing the underside of the inlet manifold and had worn through and was sending 12v to the starter solenoid.

Mine did that! Had to stop it by tearing the earth strap off the battery.

[Talbot]

This is every type of awesome.. My father bought a brand new cavalier GLi 2.0 in the same colour and same interior in 1988. He had it, my mother had it and then I eventually had it. It lasted 13 years and 170k miles before rot just took the back of the car off. If I had had the skills I have now, I would have repaired it. As it was, I didn't, so I scrapped it. Utter shame. E557 WDT was a brilliant car. Most comfy seats I have ever driven in.

 

Regarding your running woes... there are a couple of things to check.

 

Fuel pump relay. Carry one of these at all times. They fail with no warning, but are easy to change.

 

Crank position sensor. The shielded cable to the crank position sensor (mounted at the cambelt end of the engine) is routed up the cambelt covers and under the metal clips that hold the covers together. Over time the clips cut through the sensor cable and will produce what feels like a misfire, and eventually a FTP. Crank sensor is essential on this engine.

 

Earth strap. Check this as they have a habit of corroding from the inside and falling to bits.

 

Great to see one of these again.. they are properly rare now which is a real shame as there were so many excellent aspects to the design of these. Much want.

[Dirk Diggler]

I love mk2 Cavs in a nice spec in 5 dr.

 

All I ever saw when they were current here were base model Ascona saloons, some 1.6 petrol, but most 1.6d; I can remember being brought to school in 1985 in a neighbours 1.6 diesel and being amazed by how much the dash and steering wheel vibrated at idle

 

There's a lovely 5dr auto in gold around here at the moment on a ZV plate; I've been trying to get the camera possession / seeing car interface right for months