Return to a Cavalier - Satin Red Diplomat.
Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:24 pm
A bit of history..
In the late 90's I owned a really nice Satin Red CDi. It was the first 'Nice' car I'd owned - I'd had a rotten Sierra and an Epic Mk2 Cav GL, but the CDi was the first that felt solid.
I had it for about 3 1/2 years before trading it for some horrid french thing.
I'd always missed it, and felt that I made a huge mistake getting rid of it.
Anyway, over the years, I came back to Vauxhall, and although I didn't like the VectraB, I loved the C's of which I had two..
Firstly a Preface 2.2 SRi.
Then an awesome CDTi 150 XP.
Which was replaced a couple of years ago by an Insignia.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, a Satin Red Cav Diplomat appeared on the bay for not a lot, I decided to go for it. After discussions with Peter (DiplomaXE), we thought it would go above £1k - which I wasn't prepared to pay.. One day before closing, it was still at £520, and thinking there would be a few last minute snipers, I put in a cheeky bid.
I was more surprised than most, therefore, when a day later, the snipers had not appeared and I was the owner of a Cavalier once again for just over £800..
With the Help of Peter she was collected and delivered to my drive before I went away, and had very little time to look at it.
Until last weekend.
SATURDAY
Thought It would be only right to do a few introductions..
She was washed along with her Grandson (and illustrates how big the Insignia is against the Cavalier - as a direct descendant).
And then introduced to her older sister - my other little vice that sits in the garage unless it's dry...
Of course, there are a few similarities..
Astra is a 20NE, opposed to the Cav's C20NE, but there isn't too much difference.
Introductions done,I thought I'd get down to a bit of tinkering..
The list of things to do was (and still is) quite long and extensive, such as making electric windows work and investigating the non working central locking on the boot. For now, I thought I'd start by giving it a little bit of TLC under the bonnet.
The Throttle lever was sitting at a really horrid angle, down to (as I'd discover soon) the plastic washers behind the arm being in lots of pieces.
Throttle bodies on NE's always get gunky. This one is no exception, and was really rather crusty.
A bit of cleaning, and it looked altogether more presentable..
Bolted it all back together along with a temporary metal washer until I can replace the plastic version.
In the late 90's I owned a really nice Satin Red CDi. It was the first 'Nice' car I'd owned - I'd had a rotten Sierra and an Epic Mk2 Cav GL, but the CDi was the first that felt solid.
I had it for about 3 1/2 years before trading it for some horrid french thing.
I'd always missed it, and felt that I made a huge mistake getting rid of it.
Anyway, over the years, I came back to Vauxhall, and although I didn't like the VectraB, I loved the C's of which I had two..
Firstly a Preface 2.2 SRi.
Then an awesome CDTi 150 XP.
Which was replaced a couple of years ago by an Insignia.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, a Satin Red Cav Diplomat appeared on the bay for not a lot, I decided to go for it. After discussions with Peter (DiplomaXE), we thought it would go above £1k - which I wasn't prepared to pay.. One day before closing, it was still at £520, and thinking there would be a few last minute snipers, I put in a cheeky bid.
I was more surprised than most, therefore, when a day later, the snipers had not appeared and I was the owner of a Cavalier once again for just over £800..
With the Help of Peter she was collected and delivered to my drive before I went away, and had very little time to look at it.
Until last weekend.
SATURDAY
Thought It would be only right to do a few introductions..
She was washed along with her Grandson (and illustrates how big the Insignia is against the Cavalier - as a direct descendant).
And then introduced to her older sister - my other little vice that sits in the garage unless it's dry...
Of course, there are a few similarities..
Astra is a 20NE, opposed to the Cav's C20NE, but there isn't too much difference.
Introductions done,I thought I'd get down to a bit of tinkering..
The list of things to do was (and still is) quite long and extensive, such as making electric windows work and investigating the non working central locking on the boot. For now, I thought I'd start by giving it a little bit of TLC under the bonnet.
The Throttle lever was sitting at a really horrid angle, down to (as I'd discover soon) the plastic washers behind the arm being in lots of pieces.
Throttle bodies on NE's always get gunky. This one is no exception, and was really rather crusty.
A bit of cleaning, and it looked altogether more presentable..
Bolted it all back together along with a temporary metal washer until I can replace the plastic version.