Communal MK3 Cavalier Thread

[Burnside]

@Split_Pin saw a K reg Nova 1.2 Luxe earlier, was surely a sign of good news to come! Great to see my old Cavalier staying in the fold and thanks for the kind words.

All the best with getting it through the Mot and if you need to know anything, just ask away. 

 

[Split_Pin]

Cheers, I shall do. The car is a credit to you, I plan to build on that!

[Split_Pin]

Hmm

 

[loserone]

Emissions and that boot floor?

[Split_Pin]

It looks as though the actual car structure is rotten around the tow bar rather than the tow bar itself.

I have spare headlights though!

[juular]

I didn't think it looked that bad around the towbar and thought the rotten part was actually the towbar frame. I wondered if removing the towbar would go 90% of the way to sorting it. To be fair I was crawling around in the dark in December!

The boot floor looked like a decent patch wouldn't take too long.

[sutty2006]

Take the tow bar off. Job done for now. 

[Split_Pin]

Spoke to the garage, emissions are the biggest hurdle at the moment. Will likely know middle of next week if anything can be done.

[sutty2006]

Isn’t much to those 8valve engines. Everything is fixable! Good luck! 

[Cheezey]

A few years ago the bloke who had done a couple of jobs on my Jag arranged the MoTs for it and my MX5. 
Both times they passed but the MoTs were £70-80 as the tester got a tenner/£20 for the probe to go up the wrong exhaust. 
I didn’t ask for it but didn’t complain. 

[Jim Bell]

22 hours ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

 

Since the Jim Bell aborted Cavalier Roffle I’ve been looking at these and anything remotely sporty or high spec is up there with Sierra pricing , which for a FWD  Vauxhall is unheard of, the lower spec cars won’t be far behind, buy now!

 

Mine is currently being treated to a brake master cylinder, front shocks, a gearbox mount, an rear spring, a CV boot and an exhaust front section to bring it up to standard. Once that's all done, it'll be available for sale sadly as my 4x4 Panda is eating it's gearbox. 

 

[Split_Pin]

12 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

 

Mine is currently being treated to a brake master cylinder, front shocks, a gearbox mount, an rear spring, a CV boot and an exhaust front section to bring it up to standard. Once that's all done, it'll be available for sale sadly as my 4x4 Panda is eating it's gearbox. 

 

Yours looks ace with the 'slab' alloys, the wheel of choice. 

[Rusty_Rocket]

Those early CAT cars with their single-point injection were always difficult to get through the emissions test.  You have to get them properly hot, mainly because the CAT itself is halfway along the floor and the gasses have cooled down by the time they get to it 😆

In fact, in real world usage, I'd say the emissions of those K, L, M etc aged cars were rarely what they were supposed to be.  

I had lots of Cavaliers when they were cheap cars, and my favourite was this one-

 

2.0, 16v saloon in 'Rioja'.  It was a CDX with full leather, working A/C, fuel computer etc.  I sold it to a friend and never saw it again.  I'd kill to have this car back again! 😔

[Split_Pin]

I would take that home and love it!

[loserone]

ooh er

[Rusty_Rocket]

Sadly just a throwaway car in the mid 2000s

[danthecapriman]

I love these Cav’s, the best generation of Vauxhalls imho.

My dad was looking for a used car probably back in about 2000, I went with him to have a look around a few local garages and the local Hyundai dealer had a blue H reg Cav saloon in SRI flavour in the used trade in section. Took it for a test drive and it was spot on. I of course absolutely loved it but my dad was less keen (SRI makes it expensive to run and too fast... apparently!) so he ended up buying an N reg Hyundai Accident 1.3 instead which was the most dull boring awful to drive/be in/look at pile of shit ever! Unforgivable choice imho! I’d loved him to have had that Cav instead.

[Split_Pin]

Mine has an SRi interior fitted. Possibly not the most comfortable for some but Vauxhall sports seats seem to suit my frame well. I've probably evolved into the shape of them over the decades!

Good to see they are so well thought of, from my 7 mile drive this one certainly lived up to that. It certainly didn't feel 27 years old but then the basic design of my Audi 80 Cabriolet  is older so I might just be used to 80s designed cars now.

[danthecapriman]

3 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Good to see they are so well thought of,

Rust is their biggest problem. The rest of them is pretty tough and well made imho. When I was in the garage I used to look after a G reg 1.8 basic model, it looked a bit rough round the edges even then and it was pissing oil out of every gasket on the engine but it just kept on going and going. The mileage on it was incredible though! Can’t remember what it was but it extremely high! 
They’re the right blend of old enough to be characterful & stand out and simple build/mechanics but new enough to work well and reliably. They do seem to be criminally overlooked and ignored now though and they seemed to almost disappear overnight. They were everywhere at one bit. Shame more haven’t survived.

[Talbot]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

they seemed to almost disappear overnight. They were everywhere at one bit.

Seems true of a lot of Vaux models.  Wasn't the MK2 Cavalier the fastest disappearing vehicle from UK roads at one point?  They all got to the late 90s and were then all scrapped overnight.  Seems the MK3 was trying to do the same thing.

[M'coli]

On 2/24/2021 at 4:12 PM, Split_Pin said:

Reviewed the service history.

 

Literally every receipt has been kept from 2008 through to 2017, kind of tails off after that and nothing from last year. It's the same person's name on the documents who I presume is our @Burnside. <snip>

That'll be because I didn't drive it much, especially after March; it seemed to spend more time with its battery on charge!  I think it did less than a thousand miles in it...

Looks like it's in good hands though.

[Split_Pin]

Ah right yes that would explain it! 

As far as 90s Vauxhalls go, rust isn't this ones biggest issue. My Corsa has been far worse. I think theres something going on at the back though, I reckon the rear valance has gone frilly. Same happened on my Corsa and it wasn't expensive to fix.

[danthecapriman]

3 hours ago, Talbot said:

Seems true of a lot of Vaux models.  Wasn't the MK2 Cavalier the fastest disappearing vehicle from UK roads at one point?  They all got to the late 90s and were then all scrapped overnight.  Seems the MK3 was trying to do the same thing.

And the mk2 Astra. Good looking small cars that seemed pretty well resistant to high mileage and abuse, used to be everywhere then suddenly they’ve disappeared. On the rare occasion I see one now I have to do a double take!

Its getting to the point now with late 80’s early 90’s era cars where they’re actually getting thinner on the ground than a lot of cars a generation or two older than them.

[Talbot]

2 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Its getting to the point now with late 80’s early 90’s era cars where they’re actually getting thinner on the ground than a lot of cars a generation or two older than them.

I am absolutely sure that the rise in electronic control is at least partially responsible for this.

[Rusty_Rocket]

I think there will be less late 80s/ early 90s cars left one day than 1970s/ early 1980s cars. 

They were the first victim of a society becoming ever more obsessed with throwing away repairable cars and replacing with new. 

Think of all the new car offers in the early 2000s- free insurance, £99 down and easy payments, rumours that old leaded petrol cars won't run on unleaded, etc etc.  All those Cavaliers, Sierras, Escorts etc were replaced with newer stuff that ultimately proved to be no more reliable and would be scrapped as soon as an EML caused it to fail its MoT.

Rinse and repeat

[ETCHY]

Scrappage scheme , PCP & so many folk having to be flash new car owning wankers will have done for these. Same as with so many cars of that era.

Perfectly presentable tin sacrificed to "save the planet" or boost the ego & visible prestige of some pecker who couldn't afford it.

Sad, very sad.

 

[bezzabsa]

scrappage scheme killed too many decent motors

[Split_Pin]

Precisely  why I want this car to live on.

I bought my old MK1 Megane from ebay and the seller said that they were just going to scrap it because she had a new car. That lasted another 3 years because I brought it back from the brink.

[JMotor]

That I can get behind. 

Those Cavvys give the right care are tough old bastards. 

Seeing yours makes me miss my first Cav. 

Bought as a bone stock 1.8 GLS in the same colour (I think). 

Ended up with an XE, yellow billies all round and a set of Kahn 17's to finish (was on Speedlines too, only picture I have that will upload at the moment of it) . 

Swapped for a fucked MB6 Civic.

Idiot! 

 

[Split_Pin]

Ooft, you're giving me ideas! That looks great.  If I decide to keep it longer term then I'd take the white Speedlines off my Corsa and put them on the Cav. 

Parting with the Corsa would be incredibly hard though. I had my Astra Coupe for 13 years but I cant say I ever fully bonded with it, probably because it was damned reliable and just a bit modern. I've been through all kinds of everything with the Corsa though in the 11 years I've had it. We've been to the brink on both the engine front (replaced it in my garage at home when it started knocking) and the bodywork front (its had quite a lot of welding) but I never gave up on it.

My Audi gives all the family fun in the summer and I love my 75.

I'll just have to drive it about and see!