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Cavalier mk2 - another blue giffermobile.


4wheeledstool

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  • 2 weeks later...

Couldn't resist a good old pick at the rear valance....

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Pieces of metal have been tacked on and wobbed over, it took a decent amount of biffing with a hammer to break it, but I would imagine it being a bit 'cornflakes box" in an accident.

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The front seats, centre console and assorted trim pieces were removed to allow the carpets to come out.

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A long time was spent vacuuming all the dog hairs and other crap out of the carpets - they came up pretty nicely.

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Had a look under the underlay and found a Stanley knife blade that had stuck itself to the foam part of the underlay. I assume that it was left in there during assembly, as nothing appears to have been disturbed inside the car until now

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After removing the rear bumper, I continued peeling away pop riveted "repair" pieces and chipping away at the filler today.

 

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The inner parts on the lower rear quarters and rear valance have been bodged in the same style as the outers. This will all be removed at some point, and started again with sheet steel and welding instead of pop rivets and wob!

I could do with some pics of what it should all look like before I get stuck in to make sure it all looks right when done.

 

The front bumper and lower spoiler type thing were removed next to reveal very crispy wings and edges of the front valance where the wings attach.

 

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I could probably repair the valance, but it looks like I could do with a pair of wings. :(

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Christ, it does look a bit grim. I knew the arches were filled (obviously) but not how bad it was underneath/around that area. Are wings available or is there a chance you could find a couple with decent bottom halves you could scavenge a repair out of?

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After removing the rear bumper, I continued peeling away pop riveted "repair" pieces and chipping away at the filler today.

 

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The inner parts on the lower rear quarters and rear valance have been bodged in the same style as the outers. This will all be removed at some point, and started again with sheet steel and welding instead of pop rivets and wob!

I could do with some pics of what it should all look like before I get stuck in to make sure it all looks right when done.

 

The front bumper and lower spoiler type thing were removed next to reveal very crispy wings and edges of the front valance where the wings attach.

 

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I could probably repair the valance, but it looks like I could do with a pair of wings. :(

I take it you are a member of mk2cav.com ?

 

Last went there in 2009 when I was critised for saying I thought putting a CALIBRE body kit, 19 inch alloys and an LET with the ONLY 2 door base bodyshell in the UK was just wrong.

 

To be fair, I didn't have a mk2 at the time.

 

Most of them are okay though. If you can find a member called Rabbit he has a shed full of new old stock and Andy the guy that started it will have pictures of every part

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Great to see you making progress on this old girl.

Re the pictures of the boot floor and the signs of rust on driver's side. This is directly above the chassis leg and upper spring mount - you can see the 2 lines of parallel spot welds in boot floor. Have a good look at the chassis leg and mount as its a very common rust area and replacement panels have not been readily available for a few years but they can be formed out of sheet steel if necessary.

 

Wings should be easy enough to find on eBay. I've recently got rid of most of my spares but I've a few odds and ends if you're short of anything.

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Typically, up until I realised that I could do with one, there were front valances appearing from time to time on eBay. Not this week though! :(

I'm thinking of buying pattern wings and using them to repair the originals - my experience of pattern body panels suggests that making them fit right will be harder than making the old ones good again.

Once the car is stripped right down, I intend to roll the shell over to inspect and repair the underside - the thought of doing it on my back should ensure I get some kind of spit or rollover frame together to make it a less unpleasant prospect!

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You're not wrong there. I bought a driver's side rear quarter off them for the same price I bought a full CD spec mk2 a few months later.

Still, they've not quite reached the prices of ford parts from same era.

I was going to say...

I had to get a pair of new rear quarters for my Capri - £1200 each! EACH!! Front wings, nos Ford parts and they were £600 the pair a good few years ago, god knows what they’d be now.

Absolute madness.

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+1 on using the pattern wings to repair the originals. A friend of mine made the mistake of replacing the dented original front wings on his mum's MK3 Escort estate for pattern items. He then spent a age trying to getting them to fit right before giving up and spending even more money on pricey genuine wings. 

 

Great to see some more on this Cavalier and if you fancy restoring a MK3 to go with it and the MK1 I know where there a worthy example.  :-D

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Great to see some more on this Cavalier and if you fancy restoring a MK3 to go with it and the MK1 I know where there a worthy example.  :-D

Sadly I don't have room for any more cars - I'm on a strict one in, one out policy.

I'd find it impossibly difficult to nominate which one would get the chop!:(

 

Good news! A genuine front valance panel has been sourced.

 

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Should save a bit of time straightening and repairing the original part, and go some way towards making this sad face look a bit happier. :)

 

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I know how you feel which is maybe why I've only ever made feeble attempts to sell my Cavalier earlier this year. I could really do with a estate car or larger van but the though of parting with it fill's me with dread!

 

Nice find too by the way with the Genuine front valance suprised Vauxhall only left the original valance in primer though.

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Got a couple of hours on this today - headlights, wings, arch liners, rear side glass and roof gutter trims all came off. The driver's side front wing may be past saving - not made my mind up about that yet - but the inner wings seem to be pretty reasonable so far (may be some small repairs needed after its seen the wire wheel!)

 

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The passenger side wing is much better - I'll definitely be repairing the lower front section on this. The inner wing on this side looks pretty much spot on (wire wheel notwithstanding)

 

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The sides of the panels behind the headlights have rotted, and will need repairing - hopefully it won't be too difficult to make a nice job of it. :)

 

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I managed to grab a little bit of time on this today, sadly not a lot to report other than stripping the interior trim from the doors.

 

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I was expecting many breakages, but was most fortunate not to destroy any of the plastic clips that attach the door cards to the doors! :)

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Today's installment was kicked off by removing the tail lights and number plate panel.

 

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After that, I couldn't resist it any more - the grinder came out, and armed with a wire wheel, flap disc and slitting disc, the O/S/R outer arch "repair' came off

 

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There's not much left of the outboard side of the inner arch once all the structural filler and mesh came off!

 

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I was hoping that there was more inner arch left than that - its gonna be a bit of a mission to remake that so it looks right! Hopefully I can modify a wheel tub for a different application to make a decent job of this as a replacement doesn't appear to be available! Deep in though, I left for home.

 

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If anyone knows of a replacement panel for sale, I'd be fantastically grateful as it would save me a fair bit of time!

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Sheeee-it! This is going to be a labour of love. Good luck!

 

Looks very similar to my MK2 SRi, I liked that car but it was a bag of shite to drive, really. It was good for general tip runs, layby sex and understeery skids, and I was cautioned for doing about 120mph on the M6 in it. I don't know why I'm telling you this.

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A bit more excavation this evening - the dubious repairs to this side were a fair bit easier to remove due to being attached with pop rivets instead of welding.

 

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There's a lot more inner arch left on this side, but the rearward end visible in the next pic is another pop riveted repair yet to be ousted.

 

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Because the wheel arch came away so easily, I had enough time left to have a pop at the rear valance. Should be an easy enough job to repair this - I have an outer panel, just need to replace the bottom inch or two of the inner part.

 

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Bonus shot of some of the junk that has parted company with the car recently.

 

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:)

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Collected a decent pair of genuine wings this morning.post-18211-0-39091800-1542552986_thumb.jpg

 

They were a long way away, but the pair were less than half the price of one new GM wing. :)

 

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No more actual work done yet, but less bran flakes to contend with can only be a good thing!

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