Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

tonyo wrote:...in case a small asteroid needs removing from the core of the earth or something...

How have I missed this thread till now?
Excellent progress there Tony.

Bit of a catch up here..

Dippy, apart from it's trip to the Southern Meet, has been pounding the road to and from work since December with little more than fill-ups and washing. In that time, she's gathered some jobs that need to be caught up with, so I'm going to be posting here a bit more regularily again now the weather is better.

Most pressing job was the source of the crack last week that led me to have to leap on the brakes before it rolled into the GTE.

A quick look underneath diagnosed the problem soon enough..



Stripped out the old cable and checked against the new.



Didn't take many more photos, changing a handbrake cable has to be one of the most tedious jobs I've done.

I rust treated, primed and sprayed the adjuster before it went back in..



Thast about it. I've got the adjustment about right, and I'm just waiting for the cable to stretch and bed in so that I can make the final adjustments.

Over the coming weeks, the job list is - New Throttle cable, crank end seal (oil pump end), replace the O/S/R window motor. Hopefully with a favourable MOT result, I'll get time this year to replace the seals in the Airconditioning system, and have that gassed. The other large job needing doing is both rear arches, sills and spray/add the bootlip spoiler.

Buy wrong.. Buy twice!

When the cable went, I couldn't find genuine cables with the part numbers I had, so I bought a pair, made by Pagid, from Euro Car Parts.. All was well..

Until the middle of last week, when the handbrake all of a sudden needed to be pulled right up to engage. Throwing it into the garage, I leapt underneath, expecting to tighten the adjuster to compensate for a stretched cable. What I found was that the new short cable had pulled straight through the adjuster. Removing from the car, and having a look, the metal is so soft it has torn the thread most of the way up the end.

With another visit to Ecat and armed with the correct part numbers the great people at GPS should have the correct items with me next week. Whilst at it, I've also got a genuine adjuster nut coming from a seller on the bay too, just in case the rubbish cable has damaged the thread on its way out.

Sigh...

Eeek!

Not good. Never had a handbrake cable suddenly snap in 28 years of cavalier ownership (mk2 and mk3).

Mine always failed the mot due to fraying first.

Hopefully the new cable and nuts will make for a long lasting repair.

I remember vividly that the handbrake cable snapped on the LS once.
It happened one morning when my mum was giving me a lift to school, I was probably only about 8 at the time.

I don't think my mum ever quite regained confidence in the handbrake again, forever pulling the leaver up far more than it needed.

Nice work James I need to do this job on my MK3 soon my hand break cable makes a horrible squeaking noise when you touqe up the hand break I have isolated it to the little nylon guides that have warn out.
How much was you quoted for the genuine cables?
I was going to give these guys a try https://brakeparts.co.uk there website is well laid out with everything that you can possibly need quite impressive I think, although I can't comment on quality or anything as I haven't yet purchased anything from them, I will let you guys know how I get on as got to buy some parts for my Civic.

James?
Tony you mean. This is his thread.

James McGrath wrote:James?
Tony you mean. This is his thread.

Err that is totally what I meant.
Must be all the talk of diplomats and red Cavaliers

Steven715 wrote:Nice work James I need to do this job on my MK3 soon my hand break cable makes a horrible squeaking noise when you touqe up the hand break I have isolated it to the little nylon guides that have warn out.
How much was you quoted for the genuine cables?

Yeah, the nylon guides take a lot of wear judging by the ones that came off..

GPS price for both cables was just under £27. The adjuster nut from Vauxhall parts superstore on EBay was a fiver..

If it helps.. part numbers for the cables are 90375403 for the short, and 90495224 for the long. The original numbers were different, but these are the replacement s according to ECat as the originals are NLS.

Oh, and in my job, (IT security) I've been called many things, most of them far worse than 'James', so go for your life..

tonyo wrote:

Steven715 wrote:Nice work James I need to do this job on my MK3 soon my hand break cable makes a horrible squeaking noise when you touqe up the hand break I have isolated it to the little nylon guides that have warn out.
How much was you quoted for the genuine cables?

Yeah, the nylon guides take a lot of wear judging by the ones that came off..

GPS price for both cables was just under £27. The adjuster nut from Vauxhall parts superstore on EBay was a fiver.

If it helps.. part numbers for the cables are 90375403 for the short, and 90495224 for the long. The original numbers were different, but these are the replacement s according to ECat as the originals are NLS.

Oh, and in my job, (IT security) I've been called many things, most of them far worse than 'James', so go for your life..

Thanks for the part numbers that will help! £27 not to bad for both sets. Cheers , I hope it all works out well.
Steve.

Sooo..

Just to give you an idea of how shoddy the ECP Pagid part was. This was the state of the thread after 3 days of use...



As you can see, there was very little thread in the first place, and it's ripped about half of it away. Lesson learnt.

Anyway.. .in the words of Marvin Gaye. Ain't nothing like the real thing baby...



Part numbers for those who may face the same job...





If you follow the manual of lies to the letter, you should take the rear wheels off to adjust everything. As I'd adjusted the shoes when I fitted the last cable, I elected to leave them on. It makes access to some bits a little harder, but by no means impossible.

Strip out the old cable. Access to the connection for the lever can be made easier by dropping the Centre box heat shield. Feed the new cable through the holder on the base of the tunnel.



Push your nipple through the hole in the lever connector...now take it out and put the one on the cable through. The little plastic bung goes back in to stop it all falling out once fitted.



Clip the little plastic guide into the holder just in front of the fuel tank.



And then feed the cables around, remembering to put the plastic guides into the holders on the rear beam. Clip the ends of the cables over the handbrake actuators, remembering to refit the release springs.



I found it easiest to do this before winding the short cable into the adjuster. Once you are fitted on both sides, then with a bit of patience, you should be able to wind the new cable in. The end of the short cable can than be held with a 6mm open ring spanner, whilst using an 11mm to tighten the adjuster nut.



Of course, this being a Cavalier. It couldn't let one job go well without demanding more attention, so whilst refitting the heat shield, this happened...



As it's going to have some time at the MIG SC workshop day, where it may well get some ramp time, I've stuck a screw and a couple of washers in there to stop it rattling, pending a proper fix next weekend.

Good mincing Tony! Is there a MIG workshop day then? When is it please, I'll pop down and lend a hand/tea/biscuits/sarcasm. The latter is free.

Good work there Tony, nice write up too.

Nice write up.
It's on my (ever expanding) to do list and this'll make it easier.

Gosh! Just under two years since I last posted!

Dippy is still here, still plodding to and from work, and still providing me with little oppertunities to explore the more puzzling mechanical faults.

Latest one was working the bolt loose on the throttle linkage, resulting in a 'failure to progress'. 30 seconds with a 10mm spanner, and she's fine again.

I am however, now getting to the point where I start wondering how much further I can continue to support an increasingly 'needy child', whilst balancing home, work, family, a serious lego habit, and the GTE.

I need to have a think..

Can't blame you for not posting, I'm hugely guilty of that!

Good to hear you've still got it Tony.
Last I heard you were considering taking it off the road due to rust.

Cavaliers used as daily drivers require constant attention, I've considered loads of different cars to buy as a daily run around but I honestly can't find something that will be as good as the Diplomat and as cheep to run/buy.
One day I know I'll have to have a rethink myself. But it will take something very special to take me away from using it

Fantastic project, ive enjoyed reading through this. Gives me hope for my own

Well, Thats it. Dippy failed her MOT in epic fashion last week. A combination of rot and emissions have finally put her in a position where I'm not able to justify spending the money to keep her on the road.

She's rusting out on the rar acrches and sills, the rear spring seats and chassis rails are going home, the boot floor is like cheese, and everywhere I look she's starting to bubble with rot. Doors, rear window opening, filler neck, and wings are all going to start needing attention in the near future. She's been leaking rain into the boot and under the rear seats for some time now too.

The Emissions problem I believe is down to a failed CAT, which at only a couple of years old likely confirms my suspicion that the rings are letting oil by and the engine is generally tired. I've long had a suspicion that she had a hard and relatively un-maintained early/mid life.

Add in this years list was starting to grow with gearbox end oil seal, oil pump seal, and rear window motor already down, and she's going to be too much for me to cope with.

So, the strip down starts on Saturday, with the remains and shell going to a scrappy in a week or so time. Some of her parts are going to live on on my GTE Cabrio (Limited NE spares can be scavenged form the Cav), and I'm sure in the coming weeks, some of her parts will be on here, awaiting a new Cavalier to adorn.

Tis a sad day.

Sorry to hear it is the end of the dippy.
I only rescued mine on the request of the missus.

I am now bankrupt from getting the car restored to rude health.
Probably not one of my most sensible decisions.

Really feel for you. I know I'd be gutted to have to scrap my Cav, especially after all the work you've put in.

3cav3 wrote:Really feel for you. I know I'd be gutted to have to scrap my Cav, especially after all the work you've put in.

That is more or less what I meant to say.