Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

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cavalier1990
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Ended up having a look inside the cam cover as I had suspected it was blocked up, there seemed to be quite a sweat of oil down the front of the cam cover that warranted further investigation. The cam cover seemed to be welded on, after removing the 10mm cam cover bolts, I had to hammer a screwdriver through the gasket in various places to break the seal. After getting it off though it seemed there wasn't any problems with gummed up pipes or the little mesh thing in cam cover. It was just a bit dirty as you would expect. I was in a kind of couldn't be bothered doing any bodywork mood so decided to have a wee play with the engine.
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Robsey
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Robsey »

Still good to give all the breather hoses and the mesh filter a good clean.

Sadly all my 8 valve Vauxhall engines have dribbled from the cam cover gaskets.
Usually within a matter of a few weeks of a thorough clean and fitting a new cork gasket.

Cav mk2 -13S
Cav mk3 - C18NZ
Cav mk3 - C20NE.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Robsey wrote:Still good to give all the breather hoses and the mesh filter a good clean.

Sadly all my 8 valve Vauxhall engines have dribbled from the cam cover gaskets.
Usually within a matter of a few weeks of a thorough clean and fitting a new cork gasket.
In an old book I have about tuning v8 chevy engines (don't ask!) it says to stop rocker cover leaks (or cam cover in our case) and for easy access to rocker area, is to seal the gasket to the rocker cover and grease the face down section of the gasket. This is more for easy access to tuners so that the gasket is not stuck on the facing and cover can be removed quickly. I tried this on my granada and it works a treat. No leaks whatsoever either. Might be something to consider for our cavs?

I did notice that when I removed the gasket that the squashed section was "dry" i.e. the oil hadn't penetrated through. I'm just wondering if maybe the oil cap was leaking. Only a clean up and time will tell.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Time to bring this resto back to life. I now have additional panel for front support at LH side.

Image

So tonight after work I jumped in the garage and cleaned back all the rusty bits I had previously treated. This is going to be a multi stage procedure because even though I had initially treated the rust I never painted it over the winter and it all slowly came back, some of it I wire brushed and grinded back then painted it with zinc 182 and left to see if more came through, and it did in places so I am doing those bits again more thoroughly plus redoing the O/S, which I had not touched since last year.

I am working my way round to the O/S front so once that is done I will clean back all the areas wit thinners, treat it, then wipe with thinners again and spray paint with zinc 182, on a dry day.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

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Now have worked my way round the car with the rust eater. I ended up cutting more of the drivers side sill off due to some hidden tin worm. Practically it was solid however under that good looking bit of the sill, on the centre inner strengthener, there was sandwiched some nice crumbly rust although not holed but was starting to expand.

The drivers door too is looking quite bad at the bottom. Again ,not holed but the rust was very pitted into the metal and I'm wondering now about replacement or cutting out and replacing as after grinding into it, it is very lumpy and the metal very thin in places. I'm not into welding patches into the bottom of the door where the metal is paper thin anyway so might opt for replacement should a door become available.

The passenger side was nowhere near as bad thankfully.
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Robsey
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Robsey »

Doors do come up from time to time, but remember to keep hold of your existing bump-strips / mouldings.
They are nowhere near as easy to get hold of.

Ah the joys of chasing rust around a cavalier.
A bit like painting the Forth Bridge :shock:
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Robsey wrote:Doors do come up from time to time, but remember to keep hold of your existing bump-strips / mouldings.
They are nowhere near as easy to get hold of.

Ah the joys of chasing rust around a cavalier.
A bit like painting the Forth Bridge :shock:
It is a bit like painting the forth bridge Robsey! I think what I am trying to do is make it so that the rust is contained for a long time, rather than what I might have done in the past i.e. one treatment then paint over with underseal or primer/top coat. Inevitably doing it that way seen the rust return within the year. I think this way it should hold it off for a good 3 or 4 years at least. Going to be a bit of a pain trying to rejoin the sills to the inner strengtheners. While I could ignore these I would like to retain originality and strength. It is a good thing they haven't rusted away as usually you would just bang the sill on and weld at the outer extremities.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Envoy CDX »

Sounds pretty cool - that panel arrived yet?
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Envoy CDX wrote:Sounds pretty cool - that panel arrived yet?
It did cheers mate
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Envoy CDX »

cavalier1990 wrote:
Envoy CDX wrote:Sounds pretty cool - that panel arrived yet?
It did cheers mate
Fantastic! Can't wait to see it all fitted :D
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cavalier1990
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Envoy CDX wrote:
cavalier1990 wrote:
Envoy CDX wrote:Sounds pretty cool - that panel arrived yet?
It did cheers mate
Fantastic! Can't wait to see it all fitted :D
Me too! Currently going round the rust again. I treated it and am now using one of those twisted wire brush things in a grinder, what a difference it makes to the rust, so one more treatment, clean again with brush, then spray with Zinc primer.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Well am working my way round all the wee bits again after treatment, as I mentioned in last post I am using one of these twisted knot wire wheels for the grinder and it is amazing. It just flashes the rust straight off and leaves the pock mark holes where the rust was. I wasn't getting great results with a drill and normal rotary brush, it was just polishing the flakes and leaving rust in the little pock holes.

This is what I am talking about:

Image

If you are going to use one be careful as they are pretty aggressive. They can actually melt off a nut thread like on one of the little bits that stick out the boot for the exhaust shield, and I managed to buff off half of one of those little nipples that holds the trim along the sill below door, oops. I also managed to hit the front of my finger, although with the speed of it it just flicked it away luckily my finger must have hit it on the leading edge but if I had come in from behind it might not have been so pretty, or if I wasn't wearing gloves!

I'm also finding that it's quite handy to reach bits you couldn't with a buffer disc as all sides of it can buff rust. Ok I'm addicted now!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Managed to get some time away from my other projects and do some stuff on my dippy. A bit of work around the outrigger, welding a little plate along the floor where I will eventually be joining the outrigger to.

Also been spraying the FOS wheelwell area with zinc 182 paint.

Painted areas mainly around where it takes the worst of the weather beating, and the edges. Blanked off the steering access hole, top strut and side of engine behind chassis leg with newspaper to mask:
Image

Starting with bit of zinc coated plate inside the floor area. Made it a bit bigger than the hole so that when the weld had plenty to stick to.
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This is how it looked when offered up. There was a bit of a gap but that disappeared once I started welding and knocking it into the shape of the floor.
Image

Then sealed up the top section of the weld only as the bottom section will be sealed once the outrigger is placed along it.
Image

Sprayed another coat on after sealing. Will apply a few more before welding.
Image

I've also gave the inside of the outrigger a few good coats of black matt underseal. It's a fine thin coat rather than that messy black tar stuff, which I don't want anyway as it will catch fire when welding.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Robsey »

After seeing mine develop from rust heap to a solid vehicle, I love seeing these repairs progress.

Good work :thumb
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Welded on the O/S/F outer crossmember section from klokkerholm tonight. Quite a good job, a bit shady with some of the welding as I was trying to weld together two different thickness of metal, and one bit of it is in a really tight space so hard to see what the hell you are doing. Turned up the welder a bit stronger than would probably use as the metal inner sections are quite thick, the new plate was slightly thinner but still thicker than normal panel thickness.

I therefore employed an intermittent welding technique rather than continous line in case it blew through. In fact that is pretty much all I do when welding on most cars as the metal is usually paper thin at the best of times.

So here is the finished product, after welding and cleaning and sealing up the welds, then the primered view.

Notice I drilled two large drain holes on the middle section rather than that skimpy little pin hole VX left in the original. Helps drain water a lot better. Have put spray on underseal inside with the extension pipe, but not too much and will have to check the drain holes aint blocking with it as it was dripping out and starting to create a little skin when I had sprayed it inside. I also put underseal into the box section behind to cover the welding burn through that happens on the back of the panel, it leaves the panel bare and strips away any primer.

I did notice that the klokerholm panel was slightly different to the original in that the outer hole on the old one aligned on the centre of the hole in the upper inner structure but on the new one the hole is slightly inboard. It doesn't make any real difference though, just something I noticed. Other than the actual dimensions are a good fit.

Image

Image
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Robsey »

Sweet ! :cool

I like seeing fresh metal going in.
Klokkerholme panels usually are quite well made and quite thick compared to original GM panels.

I remember my original spec rear chassis rail was wafer thin - no thicker than 20's gauge.
The Klokkerholme chassis legs were much thicker and looked more professionally finished. With three skins in some areas.
The poorest quality parts were a pair of "UniPart" outer rear wheel arches.

Keep up the good work - can't be easy in this crazy hot weather.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Robsey wrote:Sweet ! :cool

I like seeing fresh metal going in.
Klokkerholme panels usually are quite well made and quite thick compared to original GM panels.

I remember my original spec rear chassis rail was wafer thin - no thicker than 20's gauge.
The Klokkerholme chassis legs were much thicker and looked more professionally finished. With three skins in some areas.
The poorest quality parts were a pair of "UniPart" outer rear wheel arches.

Keep up the good work - can't be easy in this crazy hot weather.
The thickness of the metal is quite good and the quality of finish does seem better with the klokkerholm panels. I always remembered unipart as being Austin Rover parts but I think it was that they made parts for rovers but other things too. Maybe explain the poor quality image of Austins back in the day!

Weather's not too bad here Robsey, although it looks like it's going to be an el scorcho today. Away to enjoy it in the office!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by 3cav3 »

It's really nice to see someone putting all this time and effort into saving what a lot of people would of said was terminal. Also helps prove to my wife that I'm not mad trying to keep my pair on the road. Once you're done hopefully it'll last at least another 20 odd years.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

3cav3 wrote:It's really nice to see someone putting all this time and effort into saving what a lot of people would of said was terminal. Also helps prove to my wife that I'm not mad trying to keep my pair on the road. Once you're done hopefully it'll last at least another 20 odd years.
I'm glad you appreciate it :) it really was on a knife edge, the car was basically going to be scrapped. To think if I hadn't went down by that dealer that day they wouldn't have had it out front I would have missed it. That car is one lucky bar steward!!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by ilovedmymantas »

seems like destiny, reading from page 1.
Isn't it a west coast thing to 'always back the underdog'? I know I often do.
(Dad's side from Glasgow, went to school for a term in garthamlock - and that's an eye-opener when you've moved from Edinburgh :o ). Luckily I had some good friends because I holidayed with my gran & uncle in bavelaw street for a few weeks every summer.

It's good to see your level of dedication in a project. You see the potential, realise it's probably a money-pit, and carry on just like the rest of us :)

Seriously,really nice progress there. Do you have a timescale to complete?
" It's not rust. It's age-related patina " ;)

1980 vauxhall cavalier MK1 1.6L, 1982 opel manta berlinetta 1.8s, 1985 opel manta 2.0 gte, 1990 cavalier 2.0 gl ,1994 cavalier sri x20xev

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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

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ilovedmymantas wrote:seems like destiny, reading from page 1.
Isn't it a west coast thing to 'always back the underdog'? I know I often do.
(Dad's side from Glasgow, went to school for a term in garthamlock - and that's an eye-opener when you've moved from Edinburgh :o ). Luckily I had some good friends because I holidayed with my gran & uncle in bavelaw street for a few weeks every summer.

It's good to see your level of dedication in a project. You see the potential, realise it's probably a money-pit, and carry on just like the rest of us :)

Seriously,really nice progress there. Do you have a timescale to complete?
Yes when it comes to cars I do like to back the underdog :) and I'm so glad I had the chance to rescue it, as you said must have been destiny.

It hasn't been too bad as per a money pit, at least I know I aint throwing good money after bad, as it is a restoration project and I have my own pride invested in making it as good as possible, and it gives a real sense of satisfaction to see it coming together.

As I have a couple of other projects those took a bit of priority recently. I'd also just moved house and had to move all my cars, well most of them :), and bits to this new house. Mainly just need to get the bodywork back in order. It's that way where there is lots of little fiddly bits that I am trying to manage many different stages of restoration at once, plus getting parts, although have most of those now.

The biggest bits are going to be finishing off the other side crossmember support, which I know how to do now via the other side I just done, fitting new back panel and repairing the edge of boot floor onto the new panel. Stripping the set of doors I got down for respraying as well, another biggie I need to get done is drivers side sill, that was most of it cut out so need to get a new panel and fit that.

I'm hoping to get the crossmember started next week and get that out the way, then have a stab at starting to fit the back panel the week after. Then it'll be onto the doors and getting them ready for spraying. I've got 2 new wings so would be taking all of those to the bodyshop and then when I fit them and get the car on the wheels will take it in to finish the back panel and the sills etc.

I've also got these bits to get sandblasted so what is not stripped off yet, needs to be removed. most of it is, just bumper and driveshafts to take out:

Front/Rear bumper carrier
Front struts
Rear axle
Rear anti-roll bar
Rear brake plates
Front brake brake plates
Front subframe
Front anti-roll bar
All calipers
Exhaust shield
Front and rear anti-roll bush clamps
Battery clamp bracket
Crank pulley (yes it is pretty crusty in the middle section)
Charcoal canister holder
Driveshafts

Phew reading that back it is defo a WIP! I hope to have it looking like a complete car by end of the year at least. Haha don't hold me to that!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

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Today's job was to try and get the new rear panel into place and "offer it up" to see how it was looking; it's not being welded in yet just a check. The sections where it joins on to were pretty clean as I had drilled the spots out, however they were a bit bent in some place as had to chisel the remaining spot weld on some.

Took a bit of faffing about but got it pretty neat looking. I did have a bit of a fangle with the driver's side bumper bracket that is attached to rear of floor. This was where the back end took a ding so had to do a bit of measuring and checking. side to side and top to bottom. I was using the holes in back panel as an alignment check whilst clamping the panel to the outer wing fixing points where it is spot welded. Also trying to align the joins at the boot opening either side, seemed close enough and no big gaps. Once I had clamped in place I was closing the boot and checking the lines. I wasn't sure if the boot edge apron bit had been pushed back slightly and/or the bottom of the light panel so was playing about with that. Seems within tolerances and I think would be fine once welding into place. I know I'm never going to get it perfect (to satisfy my OCD!) but will get it as close as.

After I'd finished with that I shaped the new crossmember panel for the N/S and sanded and primered the inside of it. I'd to do a bit of cutting to get the remaining bits off the the floor and in the process cut into the floor a bit. The section where it joins to floor was starting to rust a bit so that will be cut out anyway.

A few more pics of the work:

Image

Image

Image
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Spot of welding (excuse the pun) now complete on the N/S front floor under where the new crossmember support is to go. I will have to also weld on the new support however and also to drill 2 drain holes in it.

Image

Between welding it and primer I had put sealant across the upper length of weld due to not being able to get to here after welding the CM support on. I will also be sealing it from inside the car to replace any sealant that melts due to weld heat.
Image
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Time for a wee update. I am not far from being able rto weld on the other crossmember repair panel on O/S. Firsty, I'd to drill a few holes in it where water can drain out, and secondly get as many coats of primer I can on it.

In between waiting for coats to dry I started drilling out the spot welds on the Rear N/S sill section as I got a GM repair panel for this so am going to replace the whole section. The repair I made was just that, a repair but it doesn't look right, so given the chance to get a proper repair panel I jumped at it.

Here's the start of me removing the spot welds. I do need a new drill as this was also used to drill out the spots on the rear panel.

Image

The replacement panel:

Image

Image

And finally the holes drilled in the crossmember repair panel.

Image

Looking to start the welding at some point this week as I have probably enough coats on the repair panel and the floor area where it goes.
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ilovedmymantas
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by ilovedmymantas »

Good progress there :thumb
Hopefully not too much welding left now
" It's not rust. It's age-related patina " ;)

1980 vauxhall cavalier MK1 1.6L, 1982 opel manta berlinetta 1.8s, 1985 opel manta 2.0 gte, 1990 cavalier 2.0 gl ,1994 cavalier sri x20xev

-1995 cdx x20xev

---------------
Matt
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