I've been doing loads of work on the cars of late, and my Cavalier's new Lexan polycarbonate window kit from Plastics4Performance arrived a few days ago, so I figure I should probably make an effort to try and get each of my project threads up to speed before I end up with a trillion photos to sift through. Here goes...
The good news is that the Cavalier was sold to me complete with a Coscast cylinder head and a receipt for a rebuilt F28 six-speed manual gearbox. The bad news is that it also came with an engine filled with enough oil to make OPEC stand up and take note. This became apparent as I drove across the Humber bridge during my drive home from the seller’s house; oil pressure was through the roof, and I discovered an already-filthy engine bay covered in lubricant when I lifted the bonnet following my arrival in North Lincolnshire.
Pic taken the day the car landed at its new home:
Perversely, I was pleased to see that a loose-fitting dipstick had done its best to avoid serious engine damage by offering an exit route for oil that was desperate to break free. Sadly, what seemed like every visible surface was covered in copious amounts of once-hot fluid, leading me to begin a clean-up operation that has continued with the removal of pretty much every component surrounding the car’s engine.
The Coscast-topped two-litre will also be removed as soon as I’ve cleared enough space in my garage. The engine will be replaced with a forged build based around a late 1990 C20XE block that I’ve managed to get hold of. What’s remarkable about this particular bottom end is that it has covered no more than a verified eleven thousand miles from new!
Equally as pleasing as this revelation is the fact that the block’s previous owner had sent the part to famed Vauxhall engine builder, Steve Milton (aka steveboyslim), whereupon it was acid-dipped, deck skimmed, re-honed and furnished with a turbocharger oil return, new core plugs, ARP fasteners and expertly-installed under-piston oil squirters. During a subsequent conversation, Steve told me that he’s worked on hundreds of performance Vauxhall engines over the years, but he has yet to see another used C20XE or C20LET block in as good condition as this one.
Fortunately for me, the fella that commissioned the work decided to move on to a new project and advertised the block as available for purchase before fitting it to his car. Nevertheless, I wanted to make doubly sure that the part’s cylinder bores were bang-on 86mm before ordering new pistons and connecting rods.
Off I popped to race car tuning firm, Zen Performance, in Earith, North Cambridgeshire. Zen master, Richard O’Sullivan, carefully measured each lip-free cylinder bore and confirmed that my refreshed Red Top block was every bit as good as I’d been led to believe it to be. He did point out a small amount of pitting in one corner of the head gasket mating surface, but it’s not enough to be worried about.
I might get the head mating surface lightly skimmed when new pistons are in, just to ensure that the surfaces of all parts are 100% level, which will also have the effect of eradicating the slight pitting. This pic makes it look a lot worse than it is: