Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

Heres a few shots(hopefully if ive sussed how to do it correctly) of my recently aqquired 46k LS. There is at least 20 stamps in the service book to verify this millage is correct and apart from the dealer who sold it me had registered it in his name its a one owner from new car. Overall its very sound with no rot in the arches and sills. The body looks very good but has quite a few small scratches which hopefully should disappear with a mop.
I cant believe how good this car is for 22 years old, I did ideally want a 1.7 diesel or 1.6 petrol because of fuel consumption but this was the first unrotten one I had seen in years so I snapped it up.
There are a copuple of jobs that need doing, the clutch has an irritating judder as you bring it up to the bitting point. Does anyone know if these 2.0 have the cover under the box that just pops off allowing the clutch to be easily changed like my 1.6 did? Im struggling to get underneath at the moment because of arthritis in my hip, but I did manage to check out the rear end and the chasis legs all look rock solid.


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Looks like a keeper to me. Very nice indeed.

3cav3 wrote: Does anyone know if these 2.0 have the cover under the box that just pops off allowing the clutch to be easily changed like my 1.6 did?

Unfortunately not. Later Cavs like this one never had that feature unfortunately.
Compared to a modern car however, they are still very easy to change.

as there was a change on the facelift they fitted a heavier type flywheel to help with emissions.
as a result the clutch could not be changed the traditional way.
the gearboxes were made with the omission of the access panel and sliding shaft

That's a pity, there's no slip so will probably live with it for a while till I feel better off. I can't believe how the good this is on fuel for a 2.0 I reckon I was getting at least mid 30's on the 100 odd miles back home. The volvo next to it has the same size engine but struggles to do better than 18mpg!
My first job is going to be to clean it properly inside and out, then probably pump it full of wax to try and preserve it as long as possible.

It is possible to fit a standard fly wheel and the corresponding clutch to F16 and F20 gearboxes. As these had the inspection hatch.

Sadly most 1992 onward cars were fitted with the F18 gearbox which does not have the hatch. So no point changing from the heavier pot flywheel, unless you want to simply have a lighter flywheel.

Regarding clutch judder -

You can check the cable adjustment to see if it is correct.

Measure the distance from the top of the pedal to the steering wheel rim.

Measure distance with pedal pressed.
Measure distance with pedal released.
Deduct the smaller length from the longer one.

A spot on setting is 138mm if I remember correctly.

Adjustment of the cable is at the gearbox end...

Robsey wrote:Regarding clutch judder -

You can check the cable adjustment to see if it is correct.

Measure the distance from the top of the pedal to the steering wheel rim.

Measure distance with pedal pressed.
Measure distance with pedal released.
Deduct the smaller length from the longer one.

A spot on setting is 138mm if I remember correctly.

Adjustment of the cable is at the gearbox end...

Thankyou all for your advice, it did seem to get a little better on the journey home, allthougth this could be down to me getting used to it a bit.
I've been thinking to the future and after a look on ebay can only spot 4 door sills, do these fit 5 door ones. With any luck I won't need them for a long,long time but want to get them whilst they are still avaliable.

Most online suppliers do not differentiate between saloon and hatch.

Just between skin sill and full sill.

Still plenty of suppliers of these panels around.

See here - just a two second google found these.

http://www.carz2.co.uk/cavalier-88-95-5201-c.asp

3cav3 wrote:That's a pity, there's no slip so will probably live with it for a while till I feel better off. I can't believe how the good this is on fuel for a 2.0 I reckon I was getting at least mid 30's on the 100 odd miles back home. The volvo next to it has the same size engine but struggles to do better than 18mpg!
My first job is going to be to clean it properly inside and out, then probably pump it full of wax to try and preserve it as long as possible.

Tidy looking car you have there. The 2.0 8v can be very good on petrol. On a recent trip around Europe I drove a 2.0 8v diplomat for approx 4000 miles and on the trip the car was getting an average of 37mpg.

Greig

I did want to keep the original tape deck in this cav, but unfortunately its dead. So until I can turn up another one ( can anyone help please?) i'm going to refit my old Kenwood cd player that I actualy hadn't fitted in my last Cavalier back in about 2001 so its still old school. As the wires are a bit of a mess on this head unit(- ive scince fitted it to about 6 other cars), ive ordered a fitting kit off ebay for about a fiver.

Robsey wrote:It is possible to fit a standard fly wheel and the corresponding clutch to F16 and F20 gearboxes. As these had the inspection hatch.

Sadly most 1992 onward cars were fitted with the F18 gearbox which does not have the hatch. So no point changing from the heavier pot flywheel, unless you want to simply have a lighter flywheel.

I fitted a gearbox with access panel to my M plate 1.8 whilst doing an auto to manual conversion, maybe that's how my emissions are shite! I'm quite sure it came from a facelift.

Nice find!
Looks solid, I'd get some mudguards on to keep the water & gravel away.
Hope your radio cleans up enough to reflect the outside of your car

ilovedmymantas wrote:Nice find!
Looks solid, I'd get some mudguards on to keep the water & gravel away.
Hope your radio cleans up enough to reflect the outside of your car

I was thinking that but have had a few cars where they've rusted because of stuff getting trapped between the arch and mudflap so am not to sure what to do for the best.
Don't worry about the radio it'll be getting a full scrub before it goes anywhere near the car, it's just been in storage for the last 4 years or so.

3cav3 wrote:

ilovedmymantas wrote:Nice find!
Looks solid, I'd get some mudguards on to keep the water & gravel away.
Hope your radio cleans up enough to reflect the outside of your car

I was thinking that but have had a few cars where they've rusted because of stuff getting trapped between the arch and mudflap so am not to sure what to do for the best.
Don't worry about the radio it'll be getting a full scrub before it goes anywhere near the car, it's just been in storage for the last 4 years or so.

Best thing to do is simply keep the inside of arch lip clear of mud, at the back anyway at least. Mudflaps should be ok on back as connected to plastic bumper however fronts are onto the wings, and as you said stuff gets trapped in there = rust. If you're clearing rear arches make sure scrape the mud from above the petrol filler inside O/S rear arch, rots out the tank filler mounting point.

Here's a few shots of the totaly solid boot floor and the genuine looking engine bay. Just noticed that the battery, exhaust system and tyres all brand new. Hopefully on the weekend I'll be able to start on the big clean up.

Finally managed to get an insurance firm to recognise that this is a classic(footman james), they've given it an agreed value of £1500. Just waiting till the 1st now so I can tax it and have my baby on the road.

Managed to grab a couple of hours on her this afternoon. First thing I did was to give it a major hovering. The car doesn't show any signs of being smooked in but all the footwells had a lot of loose rolling tobacco in them. I fitted the new set of carpet mats as the old set were not pretty at all. Then spent ages trying to remove the original radio with the removal keys, then spotted that the holes had tiny grub screws fitted. One of the disadvantages to getting older is your eye sight gets worse lol.
Ive also given the drivers side a cut back and polish and im pleased to say that almost all the marks have vanished, and there is no sign that this car has ever been repainted in its life.
As a final job today ive dug out a set of alloy wheels that I had in my shed. They came with my skoda fun, I know the pcd is the same, just hope the offset is within the same range as the insurance company said there would be no extra charge for alloy wheels and I want to protect the original wheels for one day showing.



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Took it to its first show yesterday, got a reasonable amount of attention, but did hear a few people muttering that it is to new etc. I can't get the photos off my phone at the moment though.

3cav3 wrote:I did want to keep the original tape deck in this cav, but unfortunately its dead. So until I can turn up another one ( can anyone help please?)...

I've got an SC330 in my garage with two security heads
It came with the redtop, I know it works as I played it when I collected it from Southampton but I can't remember which head works with the unit or what the code is.

On that basis you can have both heads if you're still interested?
I don't have the posh leather pouch for the head(s)

How much do you want for it?

5 grand in used bills

No Police and no tricks


Actually you can have it for free, it's just gathering dust
Send me your details and I'll box it up for you

That's very kind of you, you're actually very close to me I'm only the other side of Abergavenny to you, if you pm me you number could I drop by some time and collect it please?

You still after this radio, chap?
Not heard from you

I did PM you my details in case you haven't picked the message up