Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

]This is my Cavalier V6 saloon, complete with full (and rare so i'm lead to believe) Irmisher kit, and after 10 years in isolation, it was about time i got the old girl MOT'd and back on the road. Problem is, i still don't know what to do with it. In an ideal world, i'd love to do right by it and give it a full restoration/on going project. The reality is its doubtful this will happen. Between working, family life and our C20LET mk2 GTE track car, time is something that, for now at least, i have very little of. For now, i'll bring her back from where we used to live and where it has been stored (Norwich) back to Wiltshire (assuming it copes with the 220 motorway miles) and use it as and when i can. I'll still spend what time i have attending to some of its needs, and generally enjoying it for a bit while i try to work out whats best for it, meaning a long conversation with my head and indeed my heart ! I'll also try coming back on here and post any updates. I'm new to this forum stuff, and have spent most of the evening reading other peoples post on their V6's! That's a bad thing!

Seems i can't attach any pics??? I know im new to all this but.....

Looking very nice after a 10 year lay-up.

Weaknesses will be with rubber components.
Fuel, brake and coolant hoses, and of course any camshaft and alternator drive belts.

GSi's are very sought after, so as long as underbody corrosion isn't too severe, it is always worth keeping.

Hello and welcome.

Awesome looking V6 you have there. Glad to hear it's back on the road.
Did it need any work for the MOT?

Presuming the engine is original, it's either a GLS or an original "V6" trim model with lots of goodies added on. Am I right?
The lack of air-con and the grey carpet give it away.

Ah yes - my mistake.
Don't know why "GSi" jumped into my train of thought.

Still, a very nice looking car despite the length of inactivity.

We would all be biased and say you should drive it on every possible occasion.

And regarding a 200 mile drive.
It should manage this effortlessly.

On the whole, all Cav engines are very durable and reliable.
Assuming they are well maintained and you have ensured that all fluid levels are correct and everything else visually appears to be in good order.

James McGrath wrote:Hello and welcome.

Awesome looking V6 you have there. Glad to hear it's back on the road.
Did it need any work for the MOT?

Presuming the engine is original, it's either a GLS or an original "V6" trim model with lots of goodies added on. Am I right?
The lack of air-con and the grey carpet give it away.

CDX. Not all of them had air con.

Welcome, Dan! Great to see what is quite a famous car being afforded a new lease of life. Looking forward to project progress reports. Don't hesitate to holler if you're in need of advice etc.

Robsey wrote:Looking very nice after a 10 year lay-up.

Weaknesses will be with rubber components.
Fuel, brake and coolant hoses, and of course any camshaft and alternator drive belts.

GSi's are very sought after, so as long as underbody corrosion isn't too severe, it is always worth keeping.

All bar coolant hoses have been done fortunately! It scrubbed up well i thought, considering it was outside under a cover for a year with perished fuel lines. Then it went to a place where they were meant to do the repairs (but instead used it to stack all sorts of boxes on) so in the end it went back to my old garage where it sat on stands for a few years until i got round to fitting a new fuel tank and filler necks, and began to renew the pipe work

James McGrath wrote:Hello and welcome.

Awesome looking V6 you have there. Glad to hear it's back on the road.
Did it need any work for the MOT?

Presuming the engine is original, it's either a GLS or an original "V6" trim model with lots of goodies added on. Am I right?
The lack of air-con and the grey carpet give it away.

It went through quite a bit for the MOT. The fail list was, erm, long?
Reason(s) for failure
rear Statutory seat belt missing centre (5.1.1)
offside rear Seat belt locking mechanism does not secure or release locking clasp/mechanism missing (5.2.5a)
nearside front Front position lamp(s) not working (1.1.A.3b)
offside front Front position lamp(s) not working (1.1.A.3b)
Battery insecure (1.9.1)
nearside front Side repeater not working (1.4.A.2c)
offside Direction indicators not working only when hazard switch operated (1.4.A.2c)
front Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (8.2.3)
Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.D.3)
Exhaust emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.D.3)
Exhaust emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (7.3.D.3)
nearside front Direction indicator insecure (1.4.A.2b)
nearside front Headlamp insecure (1.7.3)
offside front lower Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint (2.4.G.2)
nearside front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)
offside front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)
offside rear Fuel hose insecure filler breather pipes @ o/s/r wheel arch area (7.2.1)
offside front lower Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded floor area near jacking point (2.4.A.3)
Advisory notice item(s)
Exhaust emits blue smoke during acceleration (7.3.A.2c)
offside front windscreen wiper slightly deteriorated
rear exhaust mounting rubber deteriorated
Steering column top bearing slightly worn (2.1.2c)
So, needless to say, it needed a fair bit of work to get through!!

Started life as a GLS V6 , well done

humbucker wrote:Welcome, Dan! Great to see what is quite a famous car being afforded a new lease of life. Looking forward to project progress reports. Don't hesitate to holler if you're in need of advice etc.

I'll need plenty of advise for sure!! If i keep it that is....anyone want a LET GTE lol

So not too bad then.

To be fair most of those are more what I would call niggles than serious problems.
Some of them sound very familiar actually. I had the same battery and side repeater failures on my V6 a few months ago.

Justslater002 wrote:Started life as a GLS V6 , well done

Having had a failure list as long as my inside right let ( im 6ft 4) it was time to spend some money on it and see if we could get a nice shiny MOT back on it. What would have been nice is to have worked on it myself at home, but it wasn't possible as i'm 220 miles away! So it was left to some dear friends at A and P CarCare in Norwich to get to it and get it back on the road, complete with a fresh ticket. So, having been issued with the long MOT failure list, it was time to be handed another list, this time with the good stuff thats gone the stricken cavs way! New parts inc:
Full clutch kit
All discs and pads replaced
New rear caliper ( other 3 have been refurbished)
New brake pipes
Remainder of the fuel lines replaced
Handbrake cable, shoes and springs
New Oil Cooler
New wishbones and link rods
New battery
Indicator relay switch
Some welding (and treated )
add to that the new fuel tank, fuel neck, belts and pulleys amongst numerous other little bits and bobs, its getting there, as they say. Theres still plenty to do, but for now, i'm hoping to spend some time getting re acquainted with the old bus

James McGrath wrote:So not too bad then.

To be fair most of those are more what I would call niggles than serious problems.
Some of them sound very familiar actually. I had the same battery and side repeater failures on my V6 a few months ago.

Justslater002 wrote:Started life as a GLS V6 , well done

[ Image ]

That why i would have liked to give big pieces of that list a go myself. Dare say i'll have time to tinker around with it!
Thing is, the more i look around on here the more i would love to do with it! Still, it'll get its first outing for some time in a couple of weeks time at the Goodwood Breakfast meet. Should be fun

I'll be back in Norwich at the weekend, so will be hoping to take it for a run.May even do a little video and post it on my YouTube page

Justslater002 wrote:Started life as a GLS V6 , well done

Ahhh, nice one. I could have sworn Barry (previous owner) told me it was a CDX!

humbucker wrote:

Justslater002 wrote:Started life as a GLS V6 , well done

Ahhh, nice one. I could have sworn Barry (previous owner) told me it was a CDX!

I may be wrong....but ive always been under the impression it was a GLS with the CDX trim added....ill do some digging as soon as i can find the v5 and all the old service history! Cant bloody find them at the moment typically

Hello People! Hope you all had a good weekend!!! Here's a little update:

So Saturday didn't go quite how I would have liked. First of all, i got back to Norwich much later than planned, which meant there was no time to 'tinker' with the bus. Still, there was time I thought to fire her up and go for a drive, before i had to pop and see the wife and kids who have been, and still are, down in Norwich over the school break.

So, key in, ignition on, and OH MY GOD THAT'S LOUD!......turned out the centre section of the exhaust was just about hanging on in there. The 3 bolts holding each section were all very loose, and typically I didn't have the correct jack to get underneath. Fortunately the local ATS center was 4 odd miles away and with 10 mins to go before they were due to close I pulled up outside half expecting them to tell me to bugger off! Luckily, they knew it had been next door for the past 2 years and were happy to help, fitting new gasket and bolts before shutting shop. Result! Now, time to go for that drive...

That drive revealed a few things. 1) I've got quite a steering wobble and anything over 60 mph... could be just a wheel weight issue, or the fact the Toyo's have been on there now for 10 years (most of that time its been on axle stands) so the rubber could just have seen better days even though they were new when it came to retirement.

2) Its not quite running as smoothly as i would like, or indeed remember. Running at anywhere above the 3000 rpm mark it becomes a little lumpy and hesitant. Im putting this down to the fact its not actually been driven very far since coming out of retirement, and would benefit from a change of plugs and maybe leads, and a good drive!

3) When it was parked up after said drive, i noticed the windows had a fair amount of condensation after a short time. Turns out the passenger footwell was wet. It had been raining a lot over the past day or 2, so hoping this is just where the drainage is blocked ..... unless someone know of another fault it could well be?

4) When taking a look at the footwell water ingress issue, i could hear a dripping sound from under the bonnet. There's a pipe that comes out of the bulkhead, directly above the steering rods(?) behind the engine, and I can't say iv'e ever noticed this piece before, and now need to find out what it is and why water is dripping from it (unless is part of the drainage)
(pics to follow but photobucket isnt playing ball tonight)

5) even after a short drive, and with the engine barely up to temp, the fan comes on and does so for quite some time along with the fan that i think is there for cooling the alternator(??) So im assuming something is up there....

So, that plan is to...well fix all of the above really. Im hoping the in the next 2 weeks I can get down there with some tools and spend a day or so mucking about with the ol girl, fingers crossed. Then, when I know it will safely sit at speeds a little higher than 60, and not flood itself, ill bring it back home! Some pics to follow asap

Hi,
regarding the water ingress. The dripping part sounds like what's known as the "elephant trunk" - a drain from the scuttle panel.
There's a how2 here viewtopic.php?f=43&t=8345
If you search this site for elephant trunk you'll find a lot more detailed info.
Look for corrosion at either end of the scuttle panel, usually this has unstuck the sealant.
This was one side of mine




I treated the rust then slapped on some tiger seal.
I guess winter will be the test....

Point 1 could well be rotten rubber. Point 2 is almost certainly ignition components: leads, plugs, coil pack. I have a brand new Bosch OEM V6 coil pack up for grabs if you're interested? As mentioned above, points 3 and 4 are the symptom of a blocked 'elephant trunk' drainage hose. A quick and easy fix!

humbucker wrote:Welcome, Dan! Great to see what is quite a famous car being afforded a new lease of life. Looking forward to project progress reports. Don't hesitate to holler if you're in need of advice etc.

Dan, did this once belong to Barry Hood, I have seen this a few times back in the day, it was a really nice cav, didn't know it was still about.

Ads wrote:

humbucker wrote:Welcome, Dan! Great to see what is quite a famous car being afforded a new lease of life. Looking forward to project progress reports. Don't hesitate to holler if you're in need of advice etc.

Dan, did this once belong to Barry Hood, I have seen this a few times back in the day, it was a really nice cav, didn't know it was still about.

Sure is! It's always been about, mainly in a workshop and then the garage haha. Back now, fully legal and (I keep saying this) soon to be with me at home....If only for a short while

humbucker wrote:Point 1 could well be rotten rubber. Point 2 is almost certainly ignition components: leads, plugs, coil pack. I have a brand new Bosch OEM V6 coil pack up for grabs if you're interested? As mentioned above, points 3 and 4 are the symptom of a blocked 'elephant trunk' drainage hose. A quick and easy fix!

Thanks for the pointer fella, I'm confident that it can all be sorted on my next visit to Narrrfolk. I'm currentlyinterested in anything like the coil pack thanks....let me know how much and ill let you know when I can arrange to fit it etc

ilovedmymantas wrote:Hi,
regarding the water ingress. The dripping part sounds like what's known as the "elephant trunk" - a drain from the scuttle panel.
There's a how2 here viewtopic.php?f=43&t=8345
If you search this site for elephant trunk you'll find a lot more detailed info.
Look for corrosion at either end of the scuttle panel, usually this has unstuck the sealant.
This was one side of mine
[ Image ]

[ Image ]

I treated the rust then slapped on some tiger seal.
I guess winter will be the test....

Thanks for the pointers and pics bud. very helpful and now I need to pull the finger outta the bump and get to it! Shouldn't complain, but I'm so busy at work it's difficult to find 5mins....

Thanks for the info/pointers people, it's greatly appreciated and nice to know it's niggles shouldn't be anything major! Between work, the astra and this, I've not enough hours in a day! Will get to it asap and post some pics soo( and a vid as mentioned before )