James' 1993 Cavalier LS

[James McGrath]

They're actually not.
They look very similar but they're unique to the saloon Cavaliers and are for something else.

[iangsi]

They are for holding the trim panels on in the boot.

[James McGrath]

Correct! 8 forum points to Ian!

Before:




After:




They break really easily and are rather difficult to find. Well, they have been on my wish list for a good ten years anyway.

[Envoy CDX]

My bad. It's been a while

[James McGrath]

To be fair they are very similar. These are just a bit smaller I think.

[vexorg]

Are you not meant to unscrew them to get them off, there should be no damage

[James McGrath]

Are you not meant to unscrew them to get them off, there should be no damage

I find that they are prone to cracking over time.
This means they don't hold tight to the threaded stud and won't screw in place.

[Mk3alan]

I second that - mine split with age!

Alan

[vexorg]

The calibra has similar and I've never had a problem with them.

[James McGrath]

Well it's summer, and for me, that means the start of MOT season. One MOT a month for six months, oh the stress!

My cars have a habit of following each other, if one fails, they'll al fail on the same thing. (Probably more to do with my MOT tester than the cars themselves)
So I can normally get a good idea of how the year will go from the first one, and that's Elizabeth, AKA the LS.

This year, I decided to try somewhere new for MOTs. This was determined last year after my last garage failed 3 of my cars on emissions. I later found out that they were trying to put it through the wrong test. Instead of testing for euro 1 emissions, they were testing for euro 2.

The LS is normally pretty good with MOTs these days but I thought I'd do a bit of pre-emptive work nonetheless.
Along with the usual service I thought I'd replace the manifold vacuum sensor. The engine had been running with a bit of a flat spot recently and I thought this might be the culprit. It's also one of the only sensors that I hadn't already replaced at this point so what the hell!

These are rather expensive for what they are but I got a genuine one from genuine parts search along with some GM vacuum hose to go with it:




This is just as well because the old hose was in a very poor shape, just bending it slightly caused the surface to crack and fall way:




Old and new side by side:



Also got myself a new vacuum connector for the top hat to air box line.
I was never happy with this one I put on, was far too loose for my liking:




Totally unable to find an original GM part (I couldn't even find a part number for the originals) I bought a part originally for an original Mini.
Austin part number: 12B2062




The flat spot is now gone although I'm not sure if it was the new parts that did that or the drive I took it on afterwards. Either way, things seem a bit happier.

I then splashed out on one of these, from eBay don't you know.
Actually rather impressed considering it's a repro:




Next, it was MOT time, drum roll please...






Yay!
Great way to start the season and I was very happy with the emissions considering the mileage and original nature of the engine.

That wheel bearing did need changing though as it had been making some noise for about a year. Noting for it than to change it I suppose:

New Febi kit from the spares bin:




Fitting with the help of my mechanic John:






The old one was pretty knackered, full of iron filings:




And finally, today (well yesterday, it's now gone midnight since writing this), I've been doing a bit of prep for VBOA on the weekend.
Hovered her out, cleaned the floor mats and the headlamp protectors:




Gave her a good wash and dry, Polished the glass, sprayed the hubcaps with some wheel protector, blackened up the plastics and lubricated all the door hinges:




Today also saw a lot of work on the CD auto:




Although maybe I'll talk about that one another time as it's now gone three in the morning!




Tomorrow will be another day of washing and waxing, or otherwise making them shine as much as possible, before making the journey to Market Harborough on Friday. Can't wait!

[Robsey]

Excellent work.
And congratulations on the MOT pass.
Nice to see half of the McGrath fleet looking so splendid.

[James McGrath]

Thanks Rob,

Just noticed that you can see 5 of the 6 in the above photos, only one you can't see is the Diplomat which is away getting it's rusty bits cut out.

Well as said, today was another day spent on cars. Not as much done on the LS and CD auto as i would have liked.
The day didn't start well; I moved the V6 out of the garage to get to some parts only to find a long trail of fuel behind it.
Fuel hose had completely cracked open! So the first hour or to I was fixing that.

I was also hopping to fit a Blaupunkt Madrid RCM 105 cassette player to the LS however it needs some sort of extension on the aerial port as it doesn't quite reach. My plans to fix the 'minor leak of exhaust gases' on the LS were also scuppered when Halford's didn't have the exhaust fitting pate I ordered despite saying that it was in stock on the internet.

Oh well, I get the CD auto clean and put some wax on the LS at least.

[Mk3alan]

Nice one James - it looks like a 90's Vauxhall showroom!
All going well we should bump into each other.

Alan

[ilovedmymantas]

Congratulations on the pass. It must be difficult keeping a fleet on the road

matt

[Envoy CDX]

Nice one on the pass! I have a mk3 2litre bosal backbox that was only on the car for a few months. Will sort it out when you're up for the subframe

[cavalier1990]

This year, I decided to try somewhere new for MOTs. This was determined last year after my last garage failed 3 of my cars on emissions. I later found out that they were trying to put it through the wrong test. Instead of testing for euro 1 emissions, they were testing for euro 2.

That's interesting to read about the euro 2 emissions, as I was wondering if the same thing was happening with my LS emissions check. I'd of thought that when they put the model to be tested in to the emissions check system, it would automatically pick the required test. How did you find out, was it just a case of asking them?

Cheers

Andy

[James McGrath]

That's interesting to read about the euro 2 emissions, as I was wondering if the same thing was happening with my LS emissions check. I'd of thought that when they put the model to be tested in to the emissions check system, it would automatically pick the required test. How did you find out, was it just a case of asking them?

Cheers

Andy

So basically when I get it tested, they said it failed on emissions but didn't give me a print out. When i asked, they said they didn't have one but it was so bad that it 'crashed the machine'.

I gave it a full service and a bit of an Italian tune up and took it for a retest.
There was another guy there this time who got cross when I told him about the result the first time around. He made a few comments about their MOT tester, along the lines of 'what has he done this time and went and did the emissions test himself.
It passed and he gave me a print out and said that it was running fine.

It was all a bit weird. There was is a real mixed bag of mechanics at the place I used to go to. Really nice couple of guys on the desk who both loved cavaliers.
Unfortunately, the MOT tester seemed to have a hatred of old cars and I heard several comments from the other staff about him. One of them said, 'Oh wow, I bet he'll love that car' when I turned up once.
One time, I got the car back from an MOT and several things had been broken; one of the alloy wheel centre cap badges had a hole poked in it, there was a scrape on the door rubbing strip and the bonnet stay clip was broken off. That was the last straw and I never went back.

The garage was great for other work, they did lots of great work in the past like cam belt changes and helping me drill out a thermostat that was seized.
Shame their MOT tester was a total git.

[cavalier1990]

That's interesting to read about the euro 2 emissions, as I was wondering if the same thing was happening with my LS emissions check. I'd of thought that when they put the model to be tested in to the emissions check system, it would automatically pick the required test. How did you find out, was it just a case of asking them?

Cheers

Andy

So basically when I get it tested, they said it failed on emissions but didn't give me a print out. When i asked, they said they didn't have one but it was so bad that it 'crashed the machine'.

I gave it a full service and a bit of an Italian tune up and took it for a retest.
There was another guy there this time who got cross when I told him about the result the first time around. He made a few comments about their MOT tester, along the lines of 'what has he done this time and went and did the emissions test himself.
It passed and he gave me a print out and said that it was running fine.

It was all a bit weird. There was is a real mixed bag of mechanics at the place I used to go to. Really nice couple of guys on the desk who both loved cavaliers.
Unfortunately, the MOT tester seemed to have a hatred of old cars and I heard several comments from the other staff about him. One of them said, 'Oh wow, I bet he'll love that car' when I turned up once.
One time, I got the car back from an MOT and several things had been broken; one of the alloy wheel centre cap badges had a hole poked in it, there was a scrape on the door rubbing strip and the bonnet stay clip was broken off. That was the last straw and I never went back.

The garage was great for other work, they did lots of great work in the past like cam belt changes and helping me drill out a thermostat that was seized.
Shame their MOT tester was a total git.

Oh no that doesn't sound good! Sounds like he was failing it deliberately. There was a guy at the old garage I used to go to, who luckily wasn't the tester who done my car, but he basically scorned the car the minute it drove in the station. Had a bit of an argument with him one day, he was just getting way out of hand.

I'm in 2 minds to go to another garage I know that are quite good, see what results I get. I know the guy that does mine is an old work mate, and for all intents and purposes imagine he's pretty competent, and don't see how he could run it through the wrong test. I think when the vehicle details are put into the MOT system it checks for the values given for the year of the car.

[Envoy CDX]

Hope you're taking it elsewhere next time, that guy has no business testing cars from the sounds of it.

[Robsey]

It is a worry that such practices should be knowingly allowed to happen by the garage owner.

Other staff obviously know what this tester is like, yet he is not being made to apply the test in an unbiased manner.

I wonder how many others are allowed to have this shameless attitude.

[James McGrath]

It's annoying that an otherwise very good garage is ruined by one member of staff.
It's also the closest garage to my home so was quite convenient.

I've now started using kwik fit for MOTs.
It's about 25 minutes away compared to only 10 for the other one but everyone there seems very good at what they do and interested in the cars as well.

I used to go to a halfords autocenter in Tunbridge Wells.
The manager there was brilliant. My dad took the cars there back in the 90s and early 2000s. When I went there after I started driving in 2010, the manager looked at the car and said 'I know that car'.
Unfortunately he left about 5 years ago and was replaced by a total numpty. Then all the other staff left too.

[vexorg]

It really does depend on the garage, I used to use a small place that would bend over backwards to help cars pass, keeping it legal. The emissions are always an issue for older cars and they would try every trick in the book to get it to pass. Unfortunately the owner had a heart attack a few years ago and shut up shop.

I've changed to the local halfords autocentre for MOTs now, they seem very fair.

[James McGrath]

Completed a 700 mile round trip in the ol' girl last week. Went to Newcastle and back to see some friends and pick up some parts from Gary.
She ran very well with no problems at all. Managed to average 45mpg over the whole trip, slightly lower than I was expecting (personal best is 54.3mpg in this car) but respectable.

I'm suspecting that the engine has a slightly sticky valve as it has developed a characteristic popping sound from the exhaust. Gary also had is suspicions. I'm guessing that this is what is causing the lower MPG and probably why it seems a bit down on power in the top RPM range.
Time for a top end rebuild I think.

In the meantime, I've been using her again as my daily driver this week and thoroughly enjoying it.
I am getting the itch to do a few minor jobs though.

I'd like to replace the gearbox oil as, to my knowledge, it's never been changed and now done over 209,000 miles.
I'd always assumed that this car had the F13 gearbox but from what I can find online, the F13 was a small-block gearbox.
Is there an easy way I can tell what gearbox I have?

Once I know I can get some gaskets and oil ordered.

[Envoy CDX]

being the c16nz2 it will be an f13 box mated to the engine, surprisingly good little boxes too.

[James McGrath]

That's what I thought, what people were saying on other forums was making me second guess myself.
Are there two types of F13?
Seems like the F13 on the Corsa was for the small block engines.