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A tale of two cavs


paulscavalier

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Thought I would do a thread on my cavaliers. The blue 1.8 Colorado I have had 17 years and was the family car for most of that time. The burgundy 2.0 CDi was bought off gumtree in 2013 because it was cheap had low mileage ( 52000) and was in pretty good condition and I couldn't resist it. I used it for a few months then stuck it in the garage where it has sat ever since.

I decided to swap them over this year so now the blue cav is off the road and the cdi is back on the road again.

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First job was to get it an mot. It got through but it was advised that the sills at the back were in poor condition so I thought it might be an idea to get them done. I took it to a body shop who I trust and got them to replace the sills where they had corroded. It turned out that reconstruction of the inner arch on one side was needed as well as patches had been welded onto other patches and the whole lot was rotten.the sill had also been patched over the rust. Below are the pictures of the finished job

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Sorry to hear your car wasn't done to your standards at the refinishers. Was it the painting or general repairs? They have had a few different sprayers since I have been there. Maybe I have been lucky. When the blue cavalier was repaired at the Marshall body shop at knightsdale road in 2001 that really was bodged, The bonnet wouldn't open , so it got took back. When it came back it opened after a fashion and they said it was the best they could do. I then mentioned the fact that the passenger seat belt tensioner had been deployed and should have been replaced, the oil filter was squashed flat through contact with the verge. ( an engine mount had given way when driving in the snow and spun the car off the road) It was all done grudgingly then a few weeks later the passenger door mirror fell off. Fortunately mrs cav wasn't going too fast and stopped picked it up and took it straight back. A new mirror but they repainted the old casing and reused it. It was probably more work to strip it down and repaint it than spraying a fresh casing on.Several years later after it had closed down where they had repaired and repainted the bonnet, the corner they skimmed with filler started to bubble up really badly. I took it to the refinishers for a respray and when they put it all back together they said the wings and bonnet were not quite right and had aligned them properly and for the first time it actually opened and shut properly.

I have done a couple of east coast retro meets in the blue cav, but nothing in the cdi. So you won't have seen it about. But it will be doing a few this year with any luck.

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It was about 3 years ago, i sent my Civic in for some damage repairs on the wing and it came back with the damage still there and over spray over everything, shit in the paintwork and the colour was off. They had it back but it still needed flatting back and polishing again once i got home.

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It was about 3 years ago, i sent my Civic in for some damage repairs on the wing and it came back with the damage still there and over spray over everything, shit in the paintwork and the colour was off. They had it back but it still needed flatting back and polishing again once i got home.

That sprayer is no longer there now. I wouldn't have been happy with that either.

 

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments, I think the mk3 cavalier hasn't really dated badly and still looks ok. But it's nice when others think so.

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Just to add, these are both very very nice. Reminds me of the one I had when i was 18, a champagne gold coloured SRi hatchback, G497 SBU, Bought it from a salvage auction as a stolen recovered, needed new locks/steering lock.

 

This was in the days when Vauxhalls were the car of choice for the tea leaves, I also used to buy alot of astra's & novas, that had had the same treatment locks wise. They are very easy to change & at the time, there was no VIC check etc...Just bought them, down to scrap yards for the set of locks, MOT & then advertise....

 

Would definitely have another, a 2.0 turbo 4x4 would be nice, but like hens teeth now & worth a lot of money now aswell.

 

the MK3 cavalier was a legend of a car.

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I have had to invest in a disclock just to beef up the security side of things. The engines go on and on providing you keep the oil changed and clean out the breather system. It's the bodywork that's a bit flaky. I haven't seen an early vectra b (1995-1999) for a long time so maybe the ecotec engines in them haven't lasted as well

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Those Cavaliers are very nice. I haven't seen a pre facelift one for a while, but always thought that they looked very nice, especially when a high spec one like your CDi (that interior is superb and in excellent condition, especially considering its age)

 

Brilliant work so far, hopefully we shall be seeing it around Ipswich in the not too distant future.

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The Ecotec engines aren't as bad at their reputation suggests tbh.

 

They're unpopular because early ones had a lot of sensor problems, but also because there was a substantial power drop from 150 bhp in the C20XE to 136 bhp in the X20XEV... that was never going to impress the die-hard redtop fanbois.

 

Ecotec exhaust manifolds can crack, and they often suffer HGF between 80,000 and 110,000 miles, but apart from that they're a decent enough engine.

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When my wife worked in service at Vauxhall, she said a lot of customers wouldn't do rollers and tensioners on the ecotec engines when they were having cambelts done,which didnt help. Also a lot of people thought they could neglect the ecotec like they had the older engines and I think that was where a lot of the bad reputations came from. The ecotec needs to be looked after the older engines would suffer quite a lot of neglect before failing. My sister had an Astra sport estate with a x20xev in and thought she could treat it how she treated her cavalier 1.8 gl. It was about 3 and a half years old. And it lasted her about three and a half years before it was fit for a one way trip to the scrapers with a very sick engine and a pile of stuff needing doing

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I've had six Cavs, three mk3's and three mk2's.  Sold mine to JohnK recently in a bit of a panic over an enforced house move that didn't then need to happen.  He'd been using it for a while anyway.  Still, while I was fond of it he genuinely loves it, so it's got a good home.  I'm sure I haven't had my last.

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