My Little 1.8LSi

[thomas]

with the New Year celebrations likely to start winding down up here, sometime soon I expect ...

amidst sundry dark-doings
finally got around to car and bike stuff

top and bottom, the barrels got the heat-resistant paint scraped off the fins, just because, looks more something, better



the mig, I done away with the screw-shield, fitted header pins, a 1/4w resistor's distance from the nano's socket
this left room to remove the two side-mounted relays, stack them instead on top of the other four and turn all of them around so the wiring between them and the nano was much shorter
all the 24v relays and the torch changeover switching were moved to another board piggy-backed onto the original pcb
occasional resets of the microprocessor sparked alarm and some bi-directional TVS diodes were liberally sprinkled, in this new layout, originally 30v on the 24v stuff but these were passing about a 1/4w normally, so were replaced with 100v ones in the end and the 30v ones in the 5v areas
found a misplaced jumper on one of the six relays, which probably caused the resets due to leakage from the dirty 5v supply to the clean(er) 5v
just to reassemble, add a speaker for audible alerts, some plumbing, two gas solenoids, two-one-way valves and a 2-valve y-shaped gas tap




petrol flap the 2nd

I didn't use this flap last time, as it was the worse of the two spare ones I had, dark-metallic red, peeling and flaking off in chunks on the underside and around the edges, it smelled of diesel, and had a sticker saying DIESEL, all suggesting it might have been in contact with the stuff.

so it had to be stripped to the bare plastic, using epoxy-remover, as paint-stripper I hear is useless, had to score the old paint to allow this runny stuff used to penetrate, to stay on the surface instead of just running off

economising on paint a bit, especially on the underside and the invisible-in-use bit of the hinge, as will have a couple of bits on the driver's side sill to paint too, soon. Light breeze, obviously over a period of about a week allowing stuff to dry/cure: plastic-primer, velvet/jungle pearlescent green basecoats, couple of coats clear, aerosols, for the base colour, adjustable nozzles for horizontal or vertical fan pattern proved handy. should be done vertically, I'd think ideally, so the pearl/mica bits arrange themselves as they might do on the adjacent panel, but couldn't chance runs, thinnish paint compared with last batch, so sat mostly flat, heavier coats and not too warm, to allow it to settle and flow, time will tell
















will let dry/harden for a week before further molishing.

will catch up with forum later, greetings all!

[Robsey]

New Year??
Do you mean Jubilee? - lol.

Looks like plenty of activity there to keep you busy.
Looking forward to the 'catch-up', shortly.

I didn't understand 90% of the discussion about the mig welder.
I know what your are doing, but the explanation just went in one ear and evaporated out of the other.
But I do love all this boffin type stuff.

[thomas]

The time has come to reveal the state the offside sill has got into, been allowed to get into.
Though other than the areas shown, the rest of it is sound. A local welder/restorer Peter (not his real name he prefers to remain anomalous) welded these using part of a wheelarch section and part of a sill panel. The rear-arch/end-of-sill bit was much more involved than it looks.

No filler had been applied when the 'after' photos below were taken, just a blow over with zinc primer, so far.
The end result is far better than it looks.

There's another little bit needing doing, soon, a horizontal panel behind the rear arch, forming part of the boot floor, proper access to which requires the rear bumper's removal. This bit seems to have missed out on any of the Dinitrol coating, it's surface rust run amok. The same area on the nearside might need attention too, but that will have to be next year, I guess.






















Have lost one of the middle rivets, and the forward-most rivet, for retaining the pesky clip-on rubber strip, am loath to drill holes to fit this using plastic clips or screws, I'm thinking of using strong little rectangular magnets to help retain it, or simply double-sided tape.

Hope the dryish warm weather holds out a bit longer and get these bits sealed, filled, painted etc. over the next few days.

[Robsey]

It probably doesn't look the prettiest, but it will certainly be better than it was.
I am sure it won't take much filling and fettling to get it looking good again.
Just in time for summer cruising.

[Envoy CDX]

It's a thing, it's less rusty than it was and it can be fettled.
Rather drilling more holes into the panels (agreed, avoiding it would be good) as your welder to weld in something sacrificial that can be drilled / tapped and screwed into? allows you to make it look right, and also no worries if the sacrificial bit needs cutting off and replaced later on.

Some very good ideas from Bad Obsession's videos that if I still had a cav to restore, I'd look to implement.

[Envoy CDX]

Also, that mig welder needs a thread all of it's own

[thomas]

Cheers Robsey and Envoy CDX

Decent day today, warm, filler going off too rapidly, not much wind but now and again few spots of rain. Had to pack it in a couple of times till the rain stopped but it never came to anything, so resumed.

The rusty bit further back on the offside, mentioned yesterday -the bit behind the side of the rear bumper, is the same bit as the rust was held at bay a couple of years back with some squirts of paint inside the boot. The bits of light rust found there were mis-attributed to the few drops of water leaking past/under the boot-seal, settling there, but the underside of the same area, on both sides is the real problem and the cause of rust returning to these areas. These bits are pretty far gone now, thin and easily perforated.







I did get some filler on one of the main new welds, running up and down the sill, today, and got it into approximate shape, zinc-primed and later a blast of clear to seal it temporarily, incase the weather turns inclement before the other areas needing a skim of filler catch up with this bit, then I can do all the final primer and colour/clearcoat bits at the same time. For the clip-on trim I'm still drawn to using one or more little magnets.



I can't justify spending time on the bike work pending, as that is optional, can be done at my leisure, once this salt-ravaged Cav is sorted.

[Robsey]

That does not look too shabby.

When you say clip on trims - are you talking about the little pins that the plastic strips clip onto?

When my car was restored, Troy welded 'tacks' onto the outer sills, for the trims to clip over.
For the most part, it worked well.
The driver's side strip is solid.
The passenger side does get kicked off once in a blue moon when I am faffing on that side of the car.

[thomas]

Those are the little blighters, Robsey. Had some similar-headed nails which might have done, which could have been attached to the repair pieces, with full access to the back of them, before the sections were welded in. If it went wrong however, would then have unwanted holes or worse. It's only the ends that are critical to hold the trim, as long as you've got some middle ones too. I used to knock the trim off frequently on the last cav I had, rootling about up under the dash, fusebox, pedals area, lying on my back, head upside down in the footwell, looking up, as you do for attaching a clutch cable-end and such awkward stuff.

Some nuisance showers of rain today, hence having contemplative cuppa, sat here writing this. Have some bits inside the car to attend to, as pictured.

Wire-brushed this seam-weld shown, primed, squirted a bit of cavity protection product down that little gap, and down any of the (intentional) holes along the inner sill where the cables are clipped. Which ran out of the back of the sill as the car is facing uphill. Will finish this with seam sealer, another scoosh of primer once cured and a blast of colour, not too fussy, it won't ever be seen. It shows the extent to which this sill-end rot if not caught early, can penetrate into critical areas.

Have those plug welds visible below (second photo) to scrub the burned paint from and paint too.

Also have a 'hedgehog' or two in the recesses of the arch to remove.









*UPDATE* on the above.

This (below) will do this bit for now, probably till the weekend is by for the rest too. It's better than the factory managed there. Vast areas didn't see much paint originally either, but it could be argued "it's all in undercoats, and the top-coats are mere frills", but especially on the underbody, and inside, original paint is really sparsely applied, it makes you think how well, how much better they could be made if cost and less-so weight wasn't all that mattered.

They'd stand almost no chance still, as the conditions they work in are as maximally destructive as science misused, in all its full malevolence can be paid to devise. You could say, cars and we are NaCl'd in the same sense as nobbled.

It's the precautionary principle in the hands of zealots and control-freaks, obsessed with targets, and being seen to 'do something', for esteem, to make a name, with much back-slapping and congratulations, not be caught-hopping, tough, pro-active, deranged. Hidden awful costs are deferred and socialised, borne by all. It's all much too much and the worst is it would be best left entirely undone.

This is our winter, but actually year-round discontent, as by the time the last lot has been only partly washed away, into verges and streams with who knows what effects, who cares, it all starts all over again. Now with mocking 'friendly-face' stickers on the fronts of the lorries, that strike instead terror as they go about their destructive mission and lay waste to all that come after.

[Robsey]

Yes -cavaliers are very poorly painted on the whole.
Only painted where the parts are on show.

My blue van on the other-hand had been totally bathed throughout in epoxy sealant, primer, and paint -
but the vans still rotted for fun.
Every seam is a rust magnet...

The extensive erudite and eloquent elaborations in your update had me scratching my head for a while, until I read it a few times and converted it to "thicko" Robsey language.

[Envoy CDX]

It's a happy medium when it comes to paint I found with the cavs, earlier models were better painted I feel, but they do lack paint, and protection behind trim etc.

And alot of seams are exposed to the elements to just fatten up and corrode away.
Will be watching this thread with interest though, see how the repairs fair too

[ilovedmymantas]

Your update makes interesting reading, are you Nostradamus

I think the older i get the more disillusioned i'm becoming with the way the world is being run, the rich get richer, the poor poorer so the world I want to live in will never exist

- Good progress there.
Due to the uncertain future and my apathy I just can't get motivated to work on my cav, so well done

[thomas]

Thanks, folks for the support and ideas, thoughts.

It was a bit of a rant fuelled by seeing full-colour flagrant rust up-close in macro-mode, it makes a pimple look the Grand Canyon.

This area, both sides looks quite accessible once the rear bumper, wheel and to do it right, shockers probably too, are out of the way.

I've always suspected there was more to these rusty bits in the boot than met the eye. Since last painting those bits, on the inside, I still hadn't put the boot trim, speaker-shelves and stuff back into the car, cluttersome unwieldy and awkward as they are. Even though I'd been washing the inner rear arches, did neglect this bit which takes a pounding both corrosive and abrasive. Out of sight it was, but never out of mind.

Just filler work today, it's too deadly dull to document or illustrate, so will keep it brief. Flung out a hardly-used litre can of Tetrosyl filler that must have been around at least five or six years -it was just too unworkable, no longer of liquid or plastic consistency, even before addition of any hardener. It was like the difference between night and day switching to fresh new Isopon p38, lovely to work with and apply.

So progressing merrily again.



Edited this to add: the Tetrosyl filler thrown out actually dates back to when the bike was changed from black to blue (it's back to black again), so it must have been about 11-12 years ago, and the filler likewise 11-12 years old, and it too was really nice to use when fresh and new, like the Isopon. The point was about freshness and not this that or the other brand being any the better.

[Envoy CDX]

Problem you have with the boot floor rear inner arches is that you have 3 flanges meeting up and spot welded, with very little protection and as you said, in full brunt of a rotation of corrosive materials. I wish someone would have resolved that issue during the production of the mk2 - mk3 models.

[thomas]

A few days back had lost my filler mojo: my edges had a wobble.
Paint if it wasn't being blown away by the wind, was reacting with the cold surface or substrates, or running.

Feels like progress today. Much better conditions, getting there.

Still not touched the bit at the A-Pillar as very awkward there with the wind blowing the door closed on my head, not unlike being whacked with a cricket bat with a nail or two sticking out, heavy these doors.

Nor touched again the actual innards of the arch, what filler there is so far on the arch is just on the front face and not the full width of that. Going to have to further clean up in there, remove well a tiny strip of the new schutz in there and of the dinitrol that oozed out at the bottom, and lay down tissue-thin glass mat in the inside lip, gulley part, sticking out 2 or so mm past the edge. so it can be wrapped/rolled round the edge and close the slightly open seam at the very edge of the arch return, where new meets old metal, then bring the filler the last few mm up to the edge to meet it.






The Big Picture. Still awesome.

In sheer looks, from the back, I think only the Firenza and the Manta-A the only contenders with the Cavalier Mk3.

[Envoy CDX]

Dunno, the Magnum was pretty nice too.
But nice progress. Little by little.

[chrisp]

It's looking good - and I do like the Jungle Green pearl paint. It's unusual and really suits the Cavalier which, to my mind, still remains a good looking car. It makes my Smoke Grey Cavalier look a bit dull!

[thomas]

Thanks Chris and Envoy. Credit for the fabrication/welding goes to Peter, the welder, I'm just slapping sparkly goo on top, or trying to.

I gave the idea of using fibreglass mat in the gulley a miss. I just brushed down it with seam sealer, letting it hang over the edge, and pressed it once part-set into the fissures. I couldn't do much else today, cold, wet with sporadic rain. It was really just so you could run a finger round the inside of the arch without having it sliced open. Looking at it now, it's obvious It could really have done with the full wheelarch replaced right around. Not going to use filler on the arch lip, it's a bit frilly in places, wavy, but sound and is at least honest. Can't sustain that level of spending on it, as it's going to be a recurring thing every few years.

It has very recently picked up a most prominent ding on the offside rear door. Quite, how why, where, I don't know?

There's a strong feeling of déjà vu about all this with my last Cav in its sunset years between 2006-2012. That was Mistral Grey. Millstone Grey would have better suited, been horribly apposite. Smoke Grey actually looks better than Mistral, I think, as it's more Silver than Grey.

Sick of it really, may not carry out any further work on it between its next MoT and letting it go to seed, so it only has to last till about this time, 2023, then the banger-racers, scrappies or whoever can have it. If it should break down meantime, I'll just walk away and leave it, get the bus.

[vexorg]

Oddly, I only ever remember that shade of green for M and N cavaliers with the ABS badge on them.

[chrisp]

Yes, it's odd that the ABS badge only appeared on the M and N cavaliers. My 1995 K reg has ABS but no badge, but it has a "catalyst" sticker in the rear quarter window!

[chrisp]

That should be 1993, not 1995.

[thomas]

Sorry for sounding so despondent, temporary doldrums. Slings and arrows from all quarters right now.
Working on the sunnier side of the street today.
Still adjusting filler and tapping a high-spot or two inside the rear door-shut, rarely seen.
Getting some colour on soon should lift spirits.

This car was a snap purchase when looking for something else. Intended mainly to get an aged-relative to and from Chiropodists, Hairdressers and such necessitous trips, to stop certain other parties moaning and making trouble. One or the other having dementia, but I'm not sure which one. Before it got the chance to do that the beloved aged-relative was gone. Now looking for somewhere where the citizens are armed to the teeth and the state doesn't dare venture, to emigrate to.

It has been rusting away in these areas for many a year, before I got it, and is showing itself in all the usual places, including under whatever coatings were belatedly applied. Rust on the upper inner surface of the sill, is possibly accounted for by condensation forming inside, with one similar (fixed) patch on the nearside too in roughly the same place as the sill bit by the driver's seat, on the offside, now fixed too.

It's a dilemma all are in, they cannot be at the same time preserved in the best ideal conditions, and used in the worst that can be made.

The present state of play: doesn't look much different from how it did a week ago.

[Envoy CDX]

When it comes to resto's you will go through these ups and downs. I certainly did,
Car's pick up all sorts of parting dings and dents sadly, and many a person will do something and just walk away without giving it a thought to the owner (a$$hats). Any areas you can't justify repairing, if you can clear back the rust, use kurust or jenolite to convert the last to solid metal, thencoat it in some kind of water repellent (vaseline or something).


Even when you consider the youngest Cav is what 27 years old? Going to have niggles, and as you said if its been left to fester till you got it, there is going to be a fair bit to done to keep it ticking along. Hopefully it doesn't go to the banger rods anytime soon.
Chin up chap.

[thomas]

Thanks Envoy and all for the support, rear-arch/sill repair is quite an ordeal in itself. Hand-holding appreciated. Would do likewise.

Coming together nicely now.

The bit at the A-pillar explored:




Sorted. The shape here is a bit improvised, but looks ok.




Happy with the shape here:




and here, finally:




It is close to getting colour on, couple of little pockmarks, scratches could do with a bit of putty/stopper and blow over with primer again, or could just stop nit-picking and prevaricating and get it painted.




A glimpse underneath shows some areas still pleasingly slick with underbody coatings ...




and some bits that look a bit worrying, more so after a poke around.
Noticed early when I first got car that this looks flattened from improper jacking/lifting.
This area might one day need work, or this bit replaced, if available.

[Robsey]

I am very guilty of "improper jacking".
Both of mine are completely flattened.

It is the cost of replacing mine that keeps it off the road.
I would use the car tomorrow if I thought I could get an mot with crushed and now rusted outer reinforcers.
I suspect that they are within 30cm of load-bearing members, suspension parts or other mot critical areas.

As for yours...
A quick clean, slosh of rust treatment and then whatever underseal or painting that you chose.

Especially if you only plan to keep it for 12 months.