Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

Finally about to lower her! Ordered the cheapest 40mm springs I could find and they arrived today. Hey, it's a first car, those are for doing stuff wrong.
Well, I jack up the rear, remove the shock bolts and lower the axle... Hey, what's that creak? Oh dear, where's my spring seat? Yep, both spring plates are rotted, with one snapping off and the other soft enough to break off by hand. Well, hell.
Once again my brother will weld it for a reasonable price and my boss will let me use the company car for the price of fuel. The nearest spring plates are 100km away, so I guess I'll have to reserve them and go cruising once I get off work on Tuesday.
I put the new springs on anyway just to feel better. Well look at that, she'll look fine! The springs should settle about another centimeter, that's just the look I'm searching for. It'll be worth the hassle.


I got started on the front and got stuck on the track rod ends, so I just decided to head home for the day. I'm on call for the whole weekend and Monday, so I have plenty of time to replace the springs and get her ready to tow. Anyone got a good trick to pop those track rod ball joints off?

Disregard that! She's finally low. Only took me five hours to get the front end done. Curse whoever decided permanently attaching the strut to the hub was a worthwhile idea. It'd be, what, a two-hour job with conventional struts?



New next to old. For costing about fifty euro a set, the springs seem quite good. We'll see how they ride soon enough, but I'm optimistic.



Both tie rod ends gave me trouble. One would unbolt but wouldn't come off, one came off but wouldn't fully unbolt. Lovely
The former came off with a liberal application of Clarksonian science. Big pry bar and a big ol' hammer, smashing horizontally on the strut while prying the tie rod end up. With the latter, I had to clean the threads with a wire brush, pry the stud down onto the mounting point and work the nut back and forth with plenty of oil. Lower ball joints came off with hard horizontal whacks on the mounting points again.
For taking the nuts off the shocks, I needed a 1/2" 6mm socket; A stubby little hex key wouldn't give enough leverage. Once the strut is off the car, putting the large nut back on the stud gives more purchase on the lower nut and makes it harder to strip.

Time for before and after shots. I got new side blinkers too, from a G-Astra. Looks smart.





Love it.

Looking good -

You may feel a bit of harshness at first from the shortened springs. But this will improve after a week or two, when the springs have settled and bedded in properly.

My cav felt like a bone-shaker at first, but now it feels fine. (It is on Spax 30 / 40mm lowering springs and Bilstein B4 dampers).
The back end now looks very low compared to the wife's Vectra-C.

Cheers. Quick glamour shot...



Just got back from a 200km drive in the company's 2010 Yaris to get those spring plates. We use it to deliver batteries and jump starts. What a dreary li'l car, can't wait to get back on the road in my baby.

Maybe I should get a spare grille and replace the slats with some mesh next?

Very jealous of the garage...
Lots of light and lots of space.

If I had a garage like that, my car would be absolutely immaculate.
I would have no reason for any jobs to be waiting for decent weather.

VectraGoVroom wrote:Cheers. Quick glamour shot...

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Just got back from a 200km drive in the company's 2010 Yaris to get those spring plates. We use it to deliver batteries and jump starts. What a dreary li'l car, can't wait to get back on the road in my baby.

Maybe I should get a spare grille and replace the slats with some mesh next?

Interesting use of Scottish slang there most people say that when it's raining or overcast but also suitable for other things like that!

Modern cars got no 'soul'

Alan

Modern plastic definitely has no soul.. Or character. Or a sense of being an actual motorized vehicle. They're all just computers on wheels nowadays and have been since 2000 as far as I'm concerned. Have to say, I like the look of your project here, and yes, that is a nice garage!