James' 1993 Cavalier LS

[James McGrath]

Anyway, new gasket ordered.
Annoyingly there are 2 listed on EPC4, 90345227 and 90345226. Both seem to be exactly the same so I've ordered 90345226.
Sod's law it will probably be the wrong one, time will tell.


As for oil, can't seem to find any of the original stuff listed in the owners manual (part number 90188629)
93165290 seems to be the latest equivalent, does anyone know if this is the right stuff for sure?

[Envoy CDX]

Aye, that will do the job James. Not as badly priced as I remember either: https://www.autovaux.co.uk/93165290-man ... as93165290

Looks like you've got the right gasket too.

[James McGrath]

Can't believe I didn't follow up on my last post! Well it's over 2 years late but here it is!
Disclaimer: all this work took place on 23rd ‎August ‎2021 well before my son was born!

With the new genuine parts...




... and my Dad's assistance, we set out changing the gearbox oil.




Far easier than I expected really. All that oil leaking out over the years must have kept the bolts for seizing up Only tricky thing was keeping it from going all over the drive:




Initial impressions of the oil that came out were good. Considering this has (as far as I know) over 200,000 miles on it, it looked remarkably cear:




The gearbox looked ok inside, looks like a bit of varnish build-up but the gears looked good:




Oil pan was a bit grubby though:




On closer inspection, the old oil was noticeably thicker and discoloured. This had just sunk to the bottom:

Sod's law it will probably be the wrong one, time will tell.

What did I say? What did I say! Yep the part number was different!
Amazingly, the old part still had it's part number clearly visible. EWP 207 compared to EWP 208 for the new part. Which looks weirdly similar. You'd expect the design to change slightly but they had near identical markings. Note both parts are Elring parts, despite the new one coming in GM Vauxhall packaging:






Next step was to give the pan a good scrub:




Fitted back on with the new gasket:




Spent the next 20 minuets faffing about trying to find the oil fill plug. The Hynes manual makes out that it's on the side of the gearbox when in reality it's at the top. Anyway, new oil in:






I had a really fun time doing this with my Dad. Just want to give a shout out for this wonderful guy. He's always been there for me and pretty much none of this would have happened without him. So thank you Dad, you're a star.
Also, huge thank you to the love of my life Lizzie for embracing my mad hobbies so fully. I'm very lucky to have such great people in my life.




Had some really happy times at the old house, I miss it a lot.

Anyway, this is a job well worth doing. Gear changes are markedly improved; seems to just slot into gear much more smoothly now.


My next challenge to sort out: these bolts:






Tried some Wurth Rust off ice but they aren't going anywhere. I think they are completely fused to the exhaust manifold now. Anyone have any ideas? Think I'll just have to take a drill to them and hope I don't go too far and put a hole in the exhaust!

Rather embarrassingly, that's it for this thread, it is completely up to date. I have literally done nothing since August 2021. It passed it's MOT in July 2022 2nd time around, because of a brake imbalance on the rear axle. It was sorted out with a simple brake clean up. Apparently it was caused by lack of use It had only done 1500 miles since it's previous MOT in June 2021 so you can see why.
This year however it's much worse. The car has been sat in my parents garage since July 2022. Last time it saw the light of day was for VBOA that year. So for the first time in it's history, it is currently untaxed with no MOT

I will be getting it out next year though, determined to make it to more shows after the disaster this year.

I will leave you with a few beauty shots of the ol' girl at our old house, enjoy!

[Envoy CDX]

Nice progress really

[Robsey]

Ah yes... the joys of multiple car ownership.
Which to lavish the love on, and which to mothball for another year.

I promised myself all this year to get our Cav mobile again...
But alas it will see another year of sitting unloved, and untouched on our exposed parking area.
The approach of crappy winter weather makes things look more bleak.

[James McGrath]

This is just an easy car to forget about. It's stored in a dry garage and doesn’t get used very much. It's the least of my worries so doesn’t get much attention.
Next thing I want to do on it is a top end rebuild as I'm fairly confident that I have a sticky valve.