Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

It's difficult to tell the exact diameter with all the surface rust and without proper equipment.

Right, just been down to see the very helpful parts chap at SLM Vauxhall.

Amazingly both of the rear ARB bushes are still available and at only £1.99 for the end bushes and £3.01 for the middle ones (17mm).
Only snag is the end ones are only available as packs of 5, which is ok. In fact I bought 2 packs - they fit all of my Cavs, I'm bound to need them eventually!
Plus £19.99 for 10 is a damn good deal compared to £25 just for those 2 on eBay.

They are on order and should arrive on Thursday.
Just need to get some front ARB bushes and then I'll have all the parts I need.

Edit - Just seen the front bushes I need listed on AutoVaux for just £2 each for genuine GM parts.
Now I've got everything I need. Just need to wait for all of it to arrive now.

At long last, I had a big box of goodies arrive through the post today.
Inside were my Bilsten B4 shock absorbers and, fresh from the factory, my Eibach pro kit springs.








Should go nicely with this mega haul of Genuine componentry:




Rubber spring seats top and bottom:




Rear ARB bushes, all new from Vauxhall:




Front ARB bushes of varying quality:




Odd thing about these is they were packaged as 90447867 parts (which is a newer part number), yet the parts themselves were stamped with the older 90304225 number.
Oh well, both numbers are right for my Diplomat.




Anyway, I bought 4 as I'm planning to update the suspension on the CD manual after this and it uses the same part.
All 4 were bought from genuine parts search but they came from different suppliers and have all spent years sitting on shelves by the looks of them. The rubber is still good though.


Febi top mounts:




Delphi steering arms, bolts and rod ends:




Can't wait to get it all fitted now!

It reminds me of my desk at work in June last year.
Loads and loads of new parts.

I can guarantee that you will feel a massive difference when you have fitted this little lot.

It will be interesting how many bushes and spacers etc; are mis-aligned when you remove them from your front suspension legs.

My alignment marks, notches and ribs were all over the place despite being untouched since leaving the factory.

Amazingly Haynes is quite accurate and useful in this area.

By the way. The tubular nut that holds the front damper in will need a good bench vice or a 60mm spanner to remove it.

And the top mounts.... did you get the bearing with it too. Again, Haynes will advise the correct orientation of the bearing during assembly.

I suspect that everything is out by a mile on this car.
I don't know when the tracking was last done as the track rods have completely seized.
My new tyres have already started to get the tell tale uneven wear in the inside edge. That's the main reason for wanting this all done really, that and the broken spring.

Yes, I did get the bearing with the top mounts, it's in the box.

Regarding the part numbers for the ARB bushes James it's a typical VX change of number. You can see here

http://ecat24.com/opel/catalog/part/1/39/420/4348/9967/

Look for any of the 90304225 and it says e.g: BEARING,FRONT STABILIZER BAR (FOR 22MM) (EXCEPT FOUR WHEEL DRIVE) (NLS.- USE 90447867 3 50 078)

I just replaced my top mount rubbers too. On the face of it they didn't look worn but if you put them side by side they difference was astonishing. They gap from top to the inner dish was a lot less than the new ones so they were flattened from years of use. Look at the differences, especially how far up the top plate is compared to the new one on the left:







In hindsight I wish I had sourced all the other parts new as they all looked a tad worn or just perished.

Wow, that does look squashed.

Did you notice much difference once you fitted the new ones?

Regardless of the squashed-ness of them,
take a look at the severe cracks in the middle photo.

These parts do take a lot of hammer and suffer cracking and the strut top spindles have been known to burst through completely.

Both of mine were on the verge of bursting through with a lot of knocking noises on uneven surfaces.

Yes I saw the cracks, nasty.
I wonder what mine are going to be like now!

James McGrath wrote:Wow, that does look squashed.

Did you notice much difference once you fitted the new ones?

Yes a lot, car a lot tighter, steering much better, stable on the mway etc.

If you haven't fitted yet measure the gap between the bodywork strut top and the little round plate below the top nut and then measure after fitting. The big gap is the strut pushing up through the worn rubber.

Just thinking, should I replace the wheel bearings too?
None of them are giving me any problems, no noise etc. but if I'm going to be replacing all the other componentry would it not be good practice to do so?

That's a good haul of parts!

If you are stripping the legs anyway, then I would change the bearings too.

Get a company to let you use their bench press. A doddle of a job.
(Apart from the circlips that look and feel like they are too big, and you struggle like a twonk to get them into the grooves.
But they do fit - honest).

My bearings felt fine and I did not have any adverse noise. But after 250,000 miles, apparently they were completely shot.

Ok, I'll get a new set.
Do you know what parts I'll need Rob? Just the bearings or the hubs too?

James McGrath wrote:Ok, I'll get a new set.
Do you know what parts I'll need Rob? Just the bearings or the hubs too?

Just bearings you'd need. Personally wouldn't touch them if they are ok. If you are getting bearings they are different sizes. I think yours and the 1.8 are the bigger one, 42 mm if I remember rightly, and 37mm or similar for the smaller engine.

Well if it's all being taken apart to renew the rest of the suspension, then I might as well replace the bearings at the same time.
I've no idea how long they have been on there so at least I'll know that they are new and shouldn't give me any trouble in the future.

4 new Febi bearings have been ordered.

Well, I know who I'll be taking my Cav to if anything breaks now :O)

Things were all going so well on Thursday.
I had decided to do a coolant change and get rid of the blue coolant that was in there and replace it with some proper GM Dex-cool.




I managed to drain the system, despite the awkward placement of the air con system:




I flushed out both the radiator and the engine block, which were surprisingly clean.
There is some of the flush water, nice and clear with no nasty deposits:




And I even managed to remove the old thermostat with no problems:




The original item was still working as it should:




But I thought it was a good idea to replace it with a new one while I was there:




Finally, I put everything back together and filled the system up:




I started the engine and ran it until it wormed up.
No leaks, and thermostat working perfectly. Hurrah!

After this successful morning I decided to give the old girl a proper scrub down:











Things were going so well I decided to tempt fate by saying to my neighbour that, for once with this car, nothing had gone wrong.
Oh how wrong I was...

10 minuets after that last photo was taken, the Diplomat looked like this:














I was driving thought Robertsbridge high street and noticed there was a car peeping and creeping out of a side turning. I didn't think anything of it as I thought they had already seen me.
Next thing I knew was that there was a loud bang.
They had driven right into the side of me.

No one was hurt and the person who hit me was very apologetic and admitted liability straight away.
I am currently waiting for someone to come round and asses the damage. I suspect they will take one look at it and say it is uneconomical to repair but hey ho. Hopefully they will offer me a good price for it.

I've already been to see my usual bodywork man who says he can repair it if I can find 2 new doors.
So hopefully this is not the end of my Diplomat and it will be fixed.

Ouch! And I was thinking what a great looking car.... or was.

Hope all works out...

Jeez, that's not good... damn shame to boot, she was looking very tidy before that. Keep us informed of the progress in repairing her!

Sorry to hear that, makes you feel sick hope it works out for you.

Alan

Blimey O'Reilly !!

Prior to the new damage the car was looking in brilliant condition. Hopefully the assessor will okay the repairs based upon that fact, rather than just writing the old girl off.

Doors are one thing... the bump strips will be very tricky to source.

I hope the news is good... there have been a lot of Cavs being moved on recently due to being beyond economical repair.

Holy shit what hit you a tractor scuffed your alloy wheel as well.

Thanks for your well-wishes guys. I'm sure this isn't the end of my Diplomat, just a setback.
The old girl kept me safe and I've never been more thankful of those side impact bars in the doors, they did their job well.
I hate to think what the damage would have been like had I been driving the CD auto which, being a pre-facelift, doesn't have them.

iangsi wrote:Holy shit what hit you a tractor scuffed your alloy wheel as well.

It was a new ford focus.
I think I came off worse but there was damage to it's front bumper, headlight and wing.
My alloy is actually ok. It looks bad in the photo but it's actually paint that has come from the other car. Luckily the alloy itself isn't scratched and I've managed to get most of it off.

Robsey wrote: Doors are one thing... the bump strips will be very tricky to source.

I hope the news is good... there have been a lot of Cavs being moved on recently due to being beyond economical repair.

There is a Cavalier on eBay at the moment that has the correct door strips on it already. It's also in the same colour which is a bonus. Amazingly, both of my eclectic windows still work and the door cards are intact so hopefully I can just swap those over into the new doors
Only problem is it's about 230 miles away from me:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-CAVA ... Sw33hZAfvO


The person who was driving was actually a friend of the family. She's going through some rough times at the moment as her husband has cancer. So I feel sorry for her too.