Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 13/11.

[High Jetter]

5 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Electric boot release on the ragtop, from memory.

Ah, could be. I'd presume if there's a light, there has to be a switch - unless the lens is just a dummy? Might the switch be behind the lamp? Got to be somewhere, shirley.

[PhilA]

7 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Ah, could be. I'd presume if there's a light, there has to be a switch - unless the lens is just a dummy? Might the switch be behind the lamp? Got to be somewhere, shirley.

Yup, the springs enter the cavity behind the light, likely just a contact in there. As you open the lid, the spring moves and touches to make the light come on.

The movement is small, might just be dirty

[beko1987]

The forbidden sippy-cup 😲

[Zelandeth]

Thinking about it more resulted in this piquing my curiosity so I had to go looking properly for the answer.

No wiring into the boot lid on the Mk I.

Though I do appear to be missing a bolt.

Investigation showed that we had a permanent 12V feed to the red wire.

Then a bit more standing on my head found the switch.  It's quite small and was masquerading as simply a grounding point from any normal viewing angle.

It's a normally closed switch which is depressed by the hinge when the boot lid is closed.

Turns out we had dirty contacts in the switch, the power feed connector and at the bulb itself.

After cleaning all of those up...

Success!

Of course there was a very important test to also carry out.

Yes, it does actually switch off when the lid is closed.

Mystery solved.

25 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

The forbidden sippy-cup 😲

Given it's currently full of bleach, very much forbidden!

Just put an order through to Autodoc for about £200 of bits, would rather have got them locally but none of the local factors I tried could (or were willing to try looking at the paper catalogues) find anything beyond the oil and filter...so there we go.

Only parts I *know* I currently need beyond this to get the car roadworthy will be front brake calipers (or an overhaul kit if I'm lucky), a rear silencer (or at least a bracket for the currently fitted bit of pipe), and a set of tyres.

The list of additional things it would be *sensible* to change however is rather longer!

[High Jetter]

Hidden where?

[Zelandeth]

3 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Hidden where?

Assuming that's asking where the switch was hiding - I've highlighted it in the photo below.

That black dot is the bolt the switch is grounded through.

While it's not fantastic the boot light is actually useful which surprised me for a mass market car from this era.  Reckon with an LED lamp fitted it will actually be pretty decent.

Getting the boot water tight so I can get a lighter coloured carpet put in there would help too.

[Zelandeth]

After an overnight bleach soak and a good scrub the washer bottle from the Cavalier looked like this.

That'll do!

Refitted and refilled.

Well, shoved back into the corner.  The bracket it's meant to clip into has rusted away to the point it's snapped off (that's half of it up by the wiper motor).  It's not going anywhere though and the washers are now working fine.

This engine bay definitely has an appointment in its future with the pressure washer and various cleaning products.

Especially down here where it's quite grimy indeed.

Question for folks who know these cars: What are good sources for parts?  I'm looking for a set of coolant lines in particular, probably a set of points too no doubt with a set of brake calipers to follow once I confirm which type are fitted.  However I haven't tracked down the best sources yet.  

 

This evening I took TPA out for a wander down the a little gathering over at MK Museum.  There are worse ways to spend a Thursday evening.

I still love this little Micra.  It's so nice to see an utterly unmolested example.

Not sure who brought this thing along...

Was good to see how much attention it got.  Probably one of the most unusual cars there.

Interesting to see a common styling feature on the Trevi and MGB GT.

This was something I'd never seen before.

A Turner Mark I apparently.

Being such a small car with a lightweight fibreglass body I reckon that looks like a lot of fun to drive.

This looks mean.

I still do have a real soft spot for the MGB.

I definitely really do need to own one some day.  That colour would do me just fine too - though Snapdragon Yellow would be absolutely be my first choice.

Wouldn't say no to spending some proper time with a Maxi either.  They really strike me as a car which was a lot cleverer than it looks on the surface and was quite ahead of its time in some ways.

I still love these things even though I know they're basically useless in the real world unless you live in town.

There were a few exotic cars there too, a brace of Astons as usual given they're just up the road, though this was the only one I really deemed worth photographing.

Really exotic stuff generally goes over my head these days, but have to admit this is a car that still for me has epic levels of wow factor.

I do wish they had closed the engine cover at some point - though the engine *is* rather nice to look at.

Would have been nice to get some shots with the cover closed though.  That's why I always try to alternate that periodically if at a show so folks can get photos of the car without it in the way but those curious can also still have a look at the engine.

The interior is a rather nice place to be.

Absolutely zero interest in any modern Ferrari, but yeah this would definitely make me turn and look.

I did snap quite a few more things and more interesting angles, but they're on film in several cameras so you'll have to wait a while for those to come back.

[Zelandeth]

This weekend has mostly been spent turning the disaster area that was the room we refer to as the Purple Room into a usable space again.  It's always been something of a dumping ground, but with the move to working from home over the last couple of years it had turned into a complete and utter disaster.  You literally couldn't walk from one end of the room to the other, much less use the space for anything.  Given we need to have two adults staying in here for a week and a bit, we needed to sort it!

It took for bloody ever, but eventually we got here.

You can now see why we call it the Purple Room.

There's now room to fold out the futon (which only folds out to sleep one person despite being wide enough to be a double - daft design) and to put out the camp bed currently propped against the far wall and still walk around.  I also put the curtains up as we'd never got as far as doing that before.  Putting up the curtain rail in the bay windows was an utter swine of a job.

Yes that room is as odd a shape as it looks.  There is not a single 90 degree angle on the floor plan.  It used to be a lean to containing a combined heat and power unit when the house was built, before being closed in and turned into a room back in 1986.  The fireplace is where the gas supply to the generator unit used to be.

This evening I was determined to get a half hour to actually do something I wanted to, so went after some of the none working dash lights in the Cavalier.  

Once I figured out how to get the rear window demister switch out (there's a recess to hook something behind above the symbol, then it just pulls straight out) it was pretty obvious why that light wasn't working.

New lamp in and we were up and running.

Photo makes it look far brighter than it really is.

Didn't expect to see the symbol change colour to show when the switch is on on a car of this age.  Nice touch.  The camera hasn't really caught the colour right, but it's a kind of magentaish colour rather than red or amber, matching the marker on the switch.

I've confirmed that there is no facility for illumination of the symbol above the headlight switch, so we're not missing a light there.

Next up will be the instrument cluster.  We're missing the offside panel light and the ignition light has a touchy contact.  As it's a bit of a faff to get into because of how the heater controls are built into the dash cowling I'm probably just going to replace all of the lamps in the dash and the heater controls as a batch.  There's no lamp actually in the heater blower switch, it's lit from above by the one in the lower end of the heater controls via a little window.

Tomorrow I need to start unburying the rest of the ground floor of the house which I've buried in unearthing the Purple Room.  Hoping I'll get time to get an oil and filter change done on the Cavalier though, especially as the filter looks quite rusty.  The oil isn't that dirty but it does smell quite fuelly so I'd rather get it changed sooner than later.

[Zelandeth]

Ooh...box of goodies has arrived.  

Few things for the Cavalier.

[] Air filter.

[] Distributor cap & Rotor arm.

[] Fan belt.

[] Thermostat.

[] Rear brake cylinders X2.

[] Front brake discs.

[] Front brake pads.

The thermostat in there seems to be working okay, but I've had 50/50 luck with them starting sticking after a long period of sitting so just makes sense to change it I reckon.

Everything looks to be in fine shape despite Yodel apparently having played football with the box.  Seriously guys, renaming yourselves isn't fooling anyone.  Especially as parcels are still delivered by the same person in the same clapped out Ford Galaxy, which has had no tax or MOT since 2015, and when I checked was also showing as uninsured.  Quality operation.  "Quality with a K" as Mortske would say...

So...bits I still need.

[] Brake calipers/rebuild set*.

[] Coolant hose set.  

[] HT leads (these seem fine, but are a mismatched set).

[] Wiper blades.

[] Clutch set*.

[] Tyres.

[] Water pump and/or alternator*.

Water pump will depend on what I find when I take the belt off.  Something is making intermittent vaguely squeaky, I'm not happy bearing type noises and I reckon it's either the water pump or alternator.  Whichever is the least smooth or has any play in when the belt is off will get changed.

Clutch will be properly assessed once the car is mobile. The release bearing is definitely noisy, but I've seen situations where they go on like that for a good long while, and also where they quiet down after some use in a car that's sat for years - so I'm going to see if it settles down at all before I just automatically change it.  That's a job I'll likely farm out anyway.

Brakes depend on me pulling the calipers off to assess whether they're rebuildable with a service kit or need replacement.  Or sending away to someone who has the kit to sleeve/rebuild them professionally.  Will see which makes the most sense.  When that stuff is off the brake flexible lines will likely get changed too unless they look in exceptionally good shape.

[JMotor]

On 8/18/2022 at 10:12 PM, Zelandeth said:

Question for folks who know these cars: What are good sources for parts?  I'm looking for a set of coolant lines in particular, probably a set of points too no doubt with a set of brake calipers to follow once I confirm which type are fitted.  However I haven't tracked down the best sources yet.  

If it's of any use...

https://www.copeparts.nl/en/shop/manta-cavalier-mk2

I've used them a few times for MK3 Astra stuff. 

https://www.mm-opelparts.com/amfinder/?cat=5876&find=opel-ascona-b---1975---1981--all--360419&p=2

Another site, but a bit thin on the old parts front.

[Zelandeth]

25 minutes ago, JMotor said:

If it's of any use...

https://www.copeparts.nl/en/shop/manta-cavalier-mk2

I've used them a few times for MK3 Astra stuff. 

https://www.mm-opelparts.com/amfinder/?cat=5876&find=opel-ascona-b---1975---1981--all--360419&p=2

Another site, but a bit thin on the old parts front.

Thanks for that.  The first one in particular definitely has a few things listed that I'd not managed to track down elsewhere yet.

[beko1987]

Nice parts stash! 

It just needs to be gotten mobile and be driven I think, then you'll know what's what. As you say a good thrash/drive might fix a few things (or make them nice and apparent so theres no guessing involved) 

[Zelandeth]

28 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Nice parts stash! 

It just needs to be gotten mobile and be driven I think, then you'll know what's what. As you say a good thrash/drive might fix a few things (or make them nice and apparent so theres no guessing involved) 

Yep.  Before it gets driven the list is:

[] Brakes. Currently there's about 1/2 a wheel's worth of handbrake and that's it.

[] Cooling system - the heater hoses at least need changing.

[] Tyres.

[] NSF chassis leg welding as the rust is way too close to the suspension mounting point for comfort.

Oh, and replace the cable tie holding the tailpipe on with an actual exhaust hanger - or at least something heat proof!

[Zelandeth]

Well this has started well.

Distributor cap: Wrong.

Rotor arm: Wrong.

Of course this is from Autodoc so there's no point in even trying to return them.  Will look up a cross reference from Bosch for what they're meant to for and offer them on here.

...After I measure the rotor arm to make sure it's not the same as the one for the Trevi!

Air filter at least was right.

The original wasn't that dirty but had obviously been rather well squashed, making it quite a loose fit.

Probably from someone putting the lid on without first seating the filter properly in the housing (there's sort of a lip it fits over).

Plus it's just nice to know things like that have been done.

Fan belt was a simple replacement.

Bearings in both the alternator and water pump feel smooth.  There is a tiny bit of play in the water pump, but not enough which would alarm me.  I'll need to get a big screwdriver out and see if I can track down the noise using that as a stethoscope.

Think I'll probably treat the car to a new set of battery leads too.

Brought to my attention by the fact that when it was cranking a bit today (seems the fuel likes to drain back to the tank) that the positive lead started smoking down at the starter end.

The ground strap has also seen better days.

Think just replacing these now will be one less thing to worry about at the side of the road in a year's time.

Oh, and I found a vacuum line cap which obviously had seen better days.

So that was replaced, bringing the idle speed down to a bit more sensible level.

Not been the best of days otherwise so was nice to at least get a couple of to do list items ticked off even if they are really minor ones.

[mercedade]

Side note, but I love just how much of a 'family' Vauxhalls were at this age.

I used to have a Chevette (in purest AS beige, with an interior I once spilled milk over 🤢) and the pictures of this are so strongly reminiscent - the Chevette was a proper baby Cav.

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, mercedade said:

Side note, but I love just how much of a 'family' Vauxhalls were at this age.

I used to have a Chevette (in purest AS beige, with an interior I once spilled milk over 🤢) and the pictures of this are so strongly reminiscent - the Chevette was a proper baby Cav.

Yeah, the family resemblance through the range then was really neat.  Especially as each car still had a clear identity, not like the current Audi range where you can't tell the models apart unless you happen to have a tape measure handy.

Today was the day of waiting for tradesmen who were meant to be coming to do survey/quote work.  Out of the four, one turned up.  So I was left with a day where I couldn't really go anywhere or do anything major as I was waiting for them.  Of course the one who did turn up did so within two minutes of the end of their 2-4PM window.

This meant it was a day of small jobs on cars etc.

First up was an oil and filter change on the Cavalier.  The oil which came out was a lot dirtier than it looked on the dipstick and reeked of fuel, but there was absolutely no metal in it and while it was dirty there weren't any chunks in it.

Filter was well and truly stuck on there but eventually relented and came off.

That's definitely been on there a day or two and had very nearly rusted through around the base.

Can't say I'm that thrilled with the replacement.

I've never had any issues with Napa stuff personally, but a filter that's been sourced from an OEM so cheap they've not even put any form of markings on it save for a wonky plastic label just doesn't instill confidence.  Methinks I'll be buying the next one from elsewhere so it can be a Mann, Wix or Bosch one.  Takes the same filter as the Invacar I now know which is helpful as it minimises the difference things I need in stock.

Did notice something less than ideal when crawling around for the drain plug (which is quite awkward to get to because it's towards the rear of the sump and the engine is a long way back already).

While I'd poked several bits of surface rust in the vicinity of this bit, apparently I totally missed this crispy but of chassis rail.  It's absolutely not the end of the world, it's a simple rectangular box section so pretty easy to reconstruct, could have done without it though and I'm irked with myself for not spotting it before.

I did wonder if it was historic damage from jacking improperly or something, before I realised the cause.

That damage lines up absolutely perfectly with the centre of the dent in the nearside door and the slight kink in the exhaust.  Was clearly caused by the telehandler fork when the car was picked up (though it's obvious the area was weak before so would have needed work sooner than later anyway).

It's just never nice when you find structural bits that have turned crunchy.

Also noticed while changing the oil...I suspect I may need to come up with something more durable than duct tape to cover this unused PCV port in the rocker cover.

Though it's clearly been on there a while and is well and truly stuck...guess it's a good demonstration that this engine doesn't have much blow by...

The oil is now looking rather cleaner, to the extent that it's kind of hard to see on the dipstick now.

Was really quite surprised how little oil it took, pretty sure including the filter it was just under four litres.  Was expecting nearer to five.

Well nobody had showed up by then so I got the vacuum cleaner and cleaning supplies out and went after the interior.

Pretty sure this must have had a going over when it arrived at the FoD as aside from being a bit dusty it really wasn't bad.  Though the plastics are basically just drinking the conditioner, which is why the dash top currently looks patchy.

Once the seats and carpets have been shampooed it will pretty much look like new in there I think.  Even as it is, for a 44 year old car you can't fault how that's come up.

I really don't understand why car makers insist on making interiors so dull these days, what was wrong with a bit of colour?  Is there some unwritten rule which says we can't make an interior look warm and inviting any more?

I did notice today that one of the headlights has previously been used on a higher trim level car at some point as it has a scratch on it from a wiper which this car has never had.

 

Moving on from there I went and checked the various fluid levels on the rest of the fleet, checked all the tyre pressures, topped up the steering box on the van, and paired all my socks.  Still no sign of contractors.

Turned my attention to the recently acquired bike.  Main thing it needed was a fresh set of tyres.  The ones on it were quite badly perished and were more off road focused than I wanted.  An easy change.

That quite predictably made a huge difference in how it rides - the difference in rolling resistance is truly remarkable.

Then gave it a bit of a wipe down, peeled some of the already disintegrating stickers off and replaced the smashed up rear mud guard.

Need to investigate the play in the front fork top bearing and tweak my previous adjustment of the gear shift as I over compensated slightly when I moved the limit screw on the front gear set when I adjusted it last week.  I'll also need to put a new rear reflector on, the original would have been totally obscured by the rear mud guard, so I'll swap it out for one on the seat post.  I'm not too bothered about lights as I'll never be riding on road save for a couple of hundred yards to the cycleway here or after dark at all.  If that changes I'll obviously fit a decent set.  It's just something else to break/get nicked otherwise.

At this point the last of the four people who we were expecting actually appeared so I had to down tools - then get a whole day's worth of errands run after they were left in about an hour.

[LightBulbFun]

Just thought id mention quickly that TPA turned 49 just a couple days ago!  

she will be 50 next year which is a bit scary!

[RichardK]

I like the forensics of wiper scratches and so forth... not so much people moving cars with telehandlers

[Zelandeth]

Unsurprisingly not been much going on over the weekend between initially having guests arrive then immediately being plunged into isolation when one of them tested positive for COVID on the first evening here.  

This afternoon I escaped outside for an hour though determined to do...well...anything useful.  

So targeted the fuel system on the Cavalier.  The main tank to front line on this is nylon and is in fine condition so I see absolutely no reason to disturb that.  The rubber line from the tank to that nylon line has already been changed (it was leaking back when the car was at the FoD), however the front end lines haven't been touched any time recently.  The one that goes to the carb was way too long as well and would get in the way of the (missing) warm air duct from the manifold.  This car has worn a plethora of carbs when a historic running issue was fought with so that may well explain why the routing seems odd.

A quick careful reshape of the steel line and a shorter length of hose made things far tidier on that side.

The other side of the engine is a little more awkward as the fuel pump from the engine bay is totally hidden by the alternator - access from underneath is fine though.

I've replaced the inlet side hose there, outlet will have to wait as I don't have any more fuel hose clips the right size and don't want to reuse those jubilee style ones.

I added an inline fuel filter as well as there was no evidence of one having been fitted anywhere before.

The suction side lines are branded GM...have to wonder if these are original?  

I'd have expected fabric covered lines probably given the age, so reckon they're replacements off a later car - quite prepared to be proven wrong though.  Not in terrible shape but they were just starting to go.

Managed to get the traditional oily handprint somewhere.

Very much looking forward to getting the engine bay in this car clean...getting fed up with getting covered in grime every time I touch it.

[stuboy]

On 8/25/2022 at 5:14 PM, Zelandeth said:

Distributor cap: Wrong.

look like mk2 

[Zelandeth]

15 hours ago, stuboy said:

look like mk2 

Entirely likely - there was a running issue with this car which resulted in just about everything bolted to the block being swapped at some point, so quite possible this isn't the original distributor.

[Andyrew]

[Zelandeth]

Looks like the brightwork should polish up not bad at all.

Just did a tiny bit there on the way past today.

There's a surprising amount of brightwork on this car so having that all shiny will make quite the difference.  Shame I'm missing three of the chrome trim rings from the wheels though.  Will have to keep my eyes open for a set of those.

[Andyrew]

Sorry for the random picture. It was just i had the catalogue to hand and thought it may be of use.

[Zelandeth]

31 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

Sorry for the random picture. It was just i had the catalogue to hand and thought it may be of use.

It may well prove to be useful indeed.  Whose catalogue is it, just to aid in cross referencing part numbers.

[Andyrew]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

It may well prove to be useful indeed.  Whose catalogue is it, just to aid in cross referencing part numbers.

Apec, can cross ref some numbers at work if anything looks right. 

[Zelandeth]

3 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

Apec, can cross ref some numbers at work if anything looks right. 

Cheers.  Hoping that later this week/next week I might get a chance to actually get stuck into the braking side of things.  A couple of folks in separate locations have suggested that at this age the car could have one of two types of calipers fitted and there's no way to confirm other than to actually look.

[Zelandeth]

Finally got around to something I've been wanting to do since the day the Cavalier arrived here.  Introducing it to this.

Which has to be one of my favourite tools out of any I've ever bought.  The whole car needs a going over, but the engine bay in particular was particularly grubby which was making it absolutely horrible to work in.

I mean for a 44 year old car it's really not bad at all, but it needed a clean.

Before:

After:

I'd say that's an improvement.  Couple of corners I missed, but it's just a first pass to knock the worst of the crud off and to make it presentable.  

Despite having unloaded about a litre of degreaser on it then spending half an hour attacking it with the pressure washer, she only went and fired straight up on all four cylinders.  I didn't even need to go after the distributor with the WD40...I was well surprised.  I then went and blipped the throttle, completely forgetting this car has a mechanical fan.  At this point all the water that was sitting in the radiator fins ejected itself into the fan and utterly soaked me.  Rookie mistake.

The rest of the car was subjected to a similar treatment.  It doesn't come across quite so well on the camera, but there was a fair amount of surface contamination everywhere.

Also around all the window seals, badges, rubbing strips, in the gutters etc a LOT of moss was removed.

The car in general looks a lot better for it.  Plus I can actually hit it with the polisher and a load of wax now the worst of the surface contamination has been blown off.

A question for those who know these cars.  What's been chopped off down here between the bumper and radiator?  I'm assuming a grill or something of some sort.

The other thought was given that this car was originally an automatic would be a transmission oil cooler.

Blew surprisingly little in the way of bits of paint or rust off all things considered.  Though it does look like the lower leading edge of the nearside rear wheel arch for the bottom inch or so may well be made of black painted seam sealer...not entirely unexpected to be honest though on a car of this age.  

Now it's a little less gross I'll hopefully be more inclined to get some more jobs ticked off.

[Zelandeth]

Right, let's quit it with the procrastination and get stuck into the brakes.

Hmm...do I need to look at replacing this wishbone or is that gap by the upper ball joint normal?

Shock absorber bushes are well past it - but the shocks themselves look pretty rough so I'll probably replace them as a set in the not too distant future.  That's not an immediate concern though.

Getting this sorted however is.

Especially given the proximity of the subframe mounting bolt.

That however isn't today's mission.  Today's mission is brakes.  Based on prior experience on other cars I wasn't looking forward to trying to shift the caliper to hub bolts.  They're generally bleeping tight and given this car only has 44K miles on the clock entirely likely have never been off the car before.

Having space to get this into the caliper retaining bolts definitely made life easier...

Which meant that rather than two hours of swearing and whacking myself in the face with breaker bars the impact gun rattled the bolts straight out and I had the caliper off the car and in my hand in less than ten minutes.

The outboard piston actually retracted pretty easily (thankfully as there's a pretty substantial lip on the discs - replacements are in the boot), the inboard one seems pretty well stuck though.

I just need to have a look around and confirm which type of calipers these are.  If they're readily available for sane money I think I'll just swap them out for new ones.  I can always have a shot at rebuilding these into a set of good spares at a later date.  If they're *not* available however I'll obviously need to go down that road anyway.  Or more likely send them off to a professional to have them rebuilt...the additional cost is most likely well worth it in terms of saved time.  Plus I'd need to pick up a few tools I don't currently own too if I were to have a shot myself.

[PhilA]

Viva/Firenza/Magnum brakes.

They are useless, do not expect them to be good. But, they do work and are fairly reliable.