1994 Cavalier LSi C20NE (was C18NZ) Work-horse

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Envoy CDX
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

Robsey wrote:Definately worth considering...
Just depends on the finances at the moment

To add insult to injury, my tax is due at the end of the month £113 for six months or £205 for 12 months. :o

So now I need: -

Head gasket Kit with head bolts
2nd hand Cylinder Head
O2 / Lambda sensor
Anti-freeze...and other general sundries
Get yourself up here, we'll sort something out :) I have umpteen head gaskets here. Head bolts are £19 a set.
Anti-freeze isn't an issue either.
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

Chears Gary,

You're a star as usual.

I'll see if I can convince the wife that she needs to see her friends Jane and Zak in Chester-le-Street, in mid June. ;)
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

Robsey wrote:Chears Gary,

You're a star as usual.

I'll see if I can convince the wife that she needs to see her friends Jane and Zak in Chester-le-Street, in mid June. ;)
Theres a manky looking 1800 spi in the breakers (well, there was last week) willl see if its still there :) for donor parts.
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

Must be a good breakers, as there are very few Cavaliers in the yards near me.

Getting like rocking horse doo round here!!

Regarding the replacement head, I would be buying a complete head-gasket set including bolts...can't afford to do anything less than a proper job.
There is no point in skimping!!

I have never had to skim a single head...they have all been perfectly straight and flat!!
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

Robsey wrote:Must be a good breakers, as there are very few Cavaliers in the yards near me.

Getting like rocking horse doo round here!!

Regarding the replacement head, I would be buying a complete head-gasket set including bolts...can't afford to do anything less than a proper job.
There is no point in skimping!!

I have never had to skim a single head...they have all been perfectly straight and flat!!
Well, I get full headsets up here for around £18-20. But I bought a genuine c18nz headset from Vauxhall Green Parts for £25 posted :D that was without the headbolts though, but the headbolts were £19 from the factors :)
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

Have you any experience of Vauxhallworldparts (Vauxhall World Parts).
They seem to list some very good prices on some items.

They do headsets for about £22 and Bolt sets for about £10..can't remember if this is plus vat and postage, or just plus postage. :)
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

Robsey wrote:Have you any experience of Vauxhallworldparts (Vauxhall World Parts).
They seem to list some very good prices on some items.

They do headsets for about £22 and Bolt sets for about £10..can't remember if this is plus vat and postage, or just plus postage. :)
Can't hurt to try them. I might have bought a sensor off them at some point.
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

Done some more general checks around the engine bay today.

The air-box (on top of the throttle body) was full of oil, and so this was cleaned out again.
There was also oil all over my injector conector.
This too has been cleaned. I then wrapped some PTFE tape around the male connector to prevent any further oil ingress.

Other than this I just re-sited my alarm head from my Meta Alarm.
The original mounting bracket had rotted through, so the alarm head was resting on my brake pipes behind the ABS module.

I've ordered an Oxy / lambda sensor from LMF as well...approx £18 all in (including vat and postage). So hopefully this time next week my running issues "may" be sorted...fingers crossed.

I have noticed that my fuel computer has gone a bit wayward...my instantaneous consumption is all over the place.
My actual consumption is approx 25 mpg, and still very rich.
When cold, and for the first five minutes after starting, there is a distinct smell of petrol from the engine bay, but there is no visible trace of a fuel leak.
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by btcctroy »

well to be honest i haven't cleaned mine for a year either and it was used as a work horse,

i liked the digi dash install looks smart.

as for the doors keep an eye out on ebay there quite a common colour.

most of ur problems are easy fixes.

how long does it take to remove the dash
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Pimpvehicle »

Nice project you have there, loving the digi dash! how hard is it to wire up the dash as im ok with electrics and found these digi dash's on ebay for the Senator..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VAUXHALL-SENATOR- ... 3f000dbedf
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

The Senator Dash is very similar to the Cavalier 3 Digi dash (only available in mainland europe).

The main thing with the wiring, is that the wire colours are the same regardless of the model.

The astra dash has a how 2 thread.

It took a few hours to do this, as I had to make the astra dash fit the Cavalier surround (rectangle into a semi-circle).
You also need the clear screen and most of the black panel from the Cav dash, and then you weld / glue this to the astra panel.

The wiring is quite easy...I made sure by soldering and using heat shrink sleeving.

As mentioned in the various threads, I also had to fit an airbag light as he astra dash doesn't have one.
My main worry was whether the "return" side of the airbag light was to earth or to +12v...I think in the end it was to earth.

The bonus to this is that the back lighting bulbs for the astra GTE dash became obsolete, but they are again now readily available.

Another trick is, that you can make the display whatever colour you like, by printing your own colour scheme onto overhead projector film (like I did)

I would assume that the Senator panel should be laid out at the rear, very much like the Cav...whichever dash you get, make sure you get all the connectors and the speedo transducer.

The transducer just screws into the gearbox, inplace of the mechanical cable.
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

sriguy wrote:well to be honest i haven't cleaned mine for a year either and it was used as a work horse,

i liked the digi dash install looks smart.

how long does it take to remove the dash
I'm a bit of a veteran at getting the dash out (I assume you mean the instrument cluster).
It takers me about 15 mins to get the dash out and another 15 to get it back in.

Quicker and easier without the mechanical speedo connector to wrestle with.

The main dash panel has never been out.

The real comlex job was hacking about the centre dash to fit the Double Din Sat Nav and Graphic screen.

And for the electrical geeks amongst you, behind my glove box are: -
Vectra C parts as follows, (to run the CAN network, head-unit and screen).
a) Body control module - lighting, temperature info
b) Collumn Integrated module - ignition logic, and warning messages
c) Dimming control
d) Lighting pcb - control CAN lighting functions.

Next time, I would use a NCDC 2013 from an Omega, because I could then run the board computer functions aswell...this cannot be done with my CD70 Navi without a CAN converter module (analogue inputs to CAN output).
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by btcctroy »

sounds like you know wat ur doing.

i was hoping you had taking the whole dash out as i need to take mine out at some point so i can inspect the bulkhead
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

There is a thread on it here...

http://www.vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk/ ... hp?t=77971

I seem to recognise a name on there, who is now an Admin on here...
That would be that nice man Gary from Hebburn .. lol

There are only a few screws holding the dash in, but when re-assembling, make sure everything is tight...I removed the dash on my Mk2, and after refitting, it never stopped squeaking whenever the car was moving.
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

Robsey wrote:
I seem to recognise a name on there, who is now an Admin on here...
That would be that nice man Gary from Hebburn .. lol
.
I have my moments :)
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

For those interested to see what a Cavalier Mk3 / Senator dash looks like, here is a "library photo" of one.

Looks a bit fussy for my liking, and it will need to be tech 1 / tech 2 programmed to work in mph instead of KPH (Cav 3 dash only).

Cavalier dash shown...Senator is very similar
digicav3.jpg
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

I've done a few jobs recently...

1) Sorted a little niggle that I have with my sat nav head unit...
After cleaning the laser lens so that the cd reads all cds everytime, I then had the problem with the cd jumping every time I caught a pot hole in the road...which is about every 5 feet in Manchester!!
I dismantled the unit again, and found one of my bump stops had collapsed, (looks lke a little grey rubber ballon affair). I pulled the support leg out of the ballon and reassembled. - Fixed

2) My alarm mounting bracket had rusted away, so my alarm head was just flopped and resting on my brake pipes near the ABS unit.
I made up a pair of metal strips to re-mount the alarm near the suspension tower.

3) Finally received my new Oxy 2 / Lambda sensor on Saturday in the post from LMF. Only £17 1/2 posted.
Fitted it on Saturday afternoon.
Did a few tip runs, so that the engine was able to get to full operating temperature...slogged the car up the hill where I live (which is where the EML often comes on, and stays on) and so far no EML.

Possibly psychological, but the car also starts and runs smoother when cold...but this should not have been affected by the Lambda sensor, as they do not kick in until the cat is about 273 degrees C.

I now have 2 weeks, before my next long run out to Birkenhead (via Ellesmere Port) for work.
Suppose I can report back then......


Out standing work is: -

exhaust manifold stud to drill out and replace,

still considering trialling an alternative Octane Plug (set at 95 or B).

need to sort temperamental central looking (fuse out at the moment)

car needs a good wash and valet (sad to say it is used to transport our dogs)

Would still like to convert my instrument signals to CAN format, so that I can run the board computer on my Sat Nav / CD / MP3 Radio. But will probably need an ECU from a 2003 Vectra to convert the analogue signals to CAN data-stream format.
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

All good progress so far though :)
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

Envoy CDX wrote:All good progress so far though :)
thanks.. :D

I was very "ALARMED" by the amount of corrosion on the alarm mounting bracket...it had rotted right through so that it had just crumbled away.

No idea what Meta used for their brackets....the rest of the car is rot free in this area. roughly behind the ABS module assembly up on the bulk-head.

Oh, and I need to change my window switches...mine appear to have collapsed, and so are very stiff to operate.

But as a friend on the forum says..."I've got a full window switch panel assembly kicking around somewhere" :lol:
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

Aye, as have I. :)
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

No real progress today, although I have now had a good chance to test the Lambda Sensor and the pesky EML.

Did a lot of running round today in the glorious sunshine (In the normally rainy city of Manchester).
The car easily got up to full running temperature, and despite my best efforts, I could not get the EML to come on.

Also, my fuel computer readings have improved. My MPG has doubled!! :thumb

So to celebrate, I washed the car...the first time in about three years.
It was nice to see the metallic particles sparkling through the blue/purple paint.
(Polar Sea Blue Metallic).
washed cav.jpg
On the side view of the car, you will see my scabby sills that need replacing.
When time and money allow!!.
washedcav2.jpg
washedcav2.jpg (93.62 KiB) Viewed 3239 times
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

Still, looks in good nick bar the odd scab in the sill :)
Great news :)
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by btcctroy »

Looks a nice tidy Cav. You must be bit of an electronics expert as I don't really understand the can stuff lol
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Robsey »

sriguy wrote:Looks a nice tidy Cav. You must be bit of an electronics expert as I don't really understand the can stuff lol
Thanks, despite having 216,777 miles on it, yes I suppose it is quite rot free.
Doesn't normally stand still long enough to rot! :)

Not really an expert, but having access to Vauxhall's TIS wiring diagrams does help ( but only cars from 1998 onward, so the Cavalier isn't covered).

I understand what CAN is, and how it works, but that's as far as I go.
I believe that there are two or three types of CAN...which are: -
1) For standard cars
2) For trucks and Lorries and
3) Mechatronics CAN used in industry

In lay-man's terms it is a digital data-stream that runs between 2.5 volts (Reference line) and 5 volts (signal line). :ugeek:
There are three speeds
Hi-Speed CAN, (2 wire pair). CAN on other makes
Mid-Speed CAN, (2 wire pair). LAN on other makes
Lo-Speed CAN, (Single wire). VAN on other makes

My use of CAN, is to gather the necessary modules from a 2003 Vectra-C, and then link them via my Radio Display Screen. :geek:
As an example,
My screen has 32 wires in it, but I only used about 10 to get it to work.
My Radio head-unit has 40, but I only use 18
My BCM (Body Control Module) has 78 wires in it, but I only needed about 12.
My CIM (Collumn Integrated module) has a 32 pin plug, but I only used 5

Sadly, it gets a bit expensive getting these modules and the next item would need to be an Engine ECU, and possibly an ABS ECU.

The Engine ECU has 102 connections, but I would only need about 12 and finally the ABS module has about 20 connectors, but I would only use about 6

The tricky bit is squeezing all this in the space behind my glove box, without generating too much E.M.I (electrical interference).
Envoy CDX wrote:Still, looks in good nick bar the odd scab in the sill :)
Great news :)
Thanks for nice appraisal,
Thankfully, pictures at this low-resolution can be quite forgiving and so hide a lot of the minor imperfections.
Of which there are many ;)
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Re: My 1994 Cavalier LSi 1.8CFi (C18NZ) Work-horse

Post by Envoy CDX »

Robsey wrote:
Envoy CDX wrote:Still, looks in good nick bar the odd scab in the sill :)
Great news :)
Thanks for nice appraisal,
Thankfully, pictures at this low-resolution can be quite forgiving and so hide a lot of the minor imperfections.
Of which there are many ;)
It'll sort :)
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