James' 1993 Cavalier LS

[planetc]

Spotlessly clean faces are a must and the original gaskets from the late 90s were rubberised cork too. I always fitted them dry, with just enough turns to pinch the gasket gently down to the metal spacer on the cover. Lots of covers around that have had the spacer crushed through over tightening.

[James McGrath]

James, i may have a spare gasket. Will check. But autovaux do the rubberdised ones (cork with a rubber binder) for about 7quid. 8nm and both faces need to be pretty much pristine clean.

I used to go through gaskets like wildfire till i used these

Spotlessly clean faces are a must and the original gaskets from the late 90s were rubberised cork too. I always fitted them dry, with just enough turns to pinch the gasket gently down to the metal spacer on the cover. Lots of covers around that have had the spacer crushed through over tightening.

Thanks for the advice guys! I'll make sure to clean the surfaces thoroughly next time.


This is how she is sitting at the moment:



I unwrapped her and gave her a good wash along with the other 3. The first time all 4 have been washed on the same day!





And of course I had the obligatory tea and biscuits after.



Time to take her for a run up the A21 and back I think......

[humbucker]

Careful not to let condensation build up inside the cover if any part of the car or ground beneath it is still damp. Trapped moisture is a rotter, literally!

[planetc]

Er, be quick before it rains again!

[James McGrath]

Careful not to let condensation build up inside the cover if any part of the car or ground beneath it is still damp. Trapped moisture is a rotter, literally!

I keep a towel under there too to absorb the moisture which I change every few days.

Er, be quick before it rains again!

Safely back under cover now. More heavy rain forecast for tonight and pretty much every day this week unfortunately.

[James McGrath]

I'm thinking of changing all the locks.

The drivers door lock has deteriorated so much that I can actually use the key for the Diplomat to open the door!!

[Cavalier342]

Do it before full lock sets become even more expensive My old Cavalier, I used to be able to start it with a screwdriver

[James McGrath]

I've been busy recommissioning her today, making good use of the lovely weather.

I was giving her a good wash down and a polish (Her first proper polish in about 9 months!) when my new neighbour came up to me and gave be a brand new Auto Glym LifeShine kit! Saying she got it free with their new car and they will never use it. Awesome!

Also been buying a ton of service items that I shall be doing over the next few days.

Pics to follow...

[Envoy CDX]

Sounds fairly kool you have PM

[James McGrath]

The post arrived on Thursday.... all of it!



Most of this is actually for the CD hatch as that desperately needs a service which I shall be doing later today.



I thought I'd make the switch to Mobil and see how it goes. I was considering going for super 3000 5w40 but decided to go the cheaper route.

Anyway here are some snaps of my latest cleaning efforts:

[btcctroy]

Cav whore.
I love the pre face lift, feel I want an old Sri.
The ls looks immaculate pal, you really know how to look after your motors. The service kit is more than suffice, that Mobil is great oil ran my old engine on it for years

[Super89]

Nice little lot of genuine stuff there James, how much was the oil?

[James McGrath]

Cav whore.
I love the pre face lift, feel I want an old Sri.
The ls looks immaculate pal, you really know how to look after your motors. The service kit is more than suffice, that Mobil is great oil ran my old engine on it for years

Thanks Troy!

I'm hoping to get the pre facelift to billing this year, chance to show it off.

Nice little lot of genuine stuff there James, how much was the oil?

I got it from opie oils. Remember to use the club discount!

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-6361-mobil- ... 0w-40.aspx


Here is the lifeshine kit I was given by the way. Thanks again to my new favorite neighbour!





Most of it I already had but there are a couple of new things I've never tried, I'm trying out the aqua wax on the CD manual right now....

[Super89]

Have you sorted that leak yet, How was the autoglym wax?

You seen the 2x GM shocks on ebay, If you have never had new on yours might be worth getting...

[James McGrath]

Have you sorted that leak yet, How was the autoglym wax?

You seen the 2x GM shocks on ebay, If you have never had new on yours might be worth getting...

It's not been fixed yet unfortunately. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's something to do with the sunroof. I wouldn't be surprised if I clogged up the front channels with underseal by mistake.

The one thing that kit doesn't come with is wax unfortunately.

I've got a pair of GM shocks actually, not sure which Cav to fit them on. CD hatch probably needs them the most.

[James McGrath]

Finally got round to replacing the cam cover and gasket yesterday.
It's been weeping oil for ages. I've replaced the gasket 3 times in as many years to no avail.
Part of the problem is the old cam cover which has been damaged by over tightening (giving no names )

I decided to get the best gaskets that I could rather than the generic ones I had been using.
I got some elring ones after being reliably informed that they were the OEM manufacturer:




As much as I hate changing any of the original parts, I finally relented and decided to change it. As you can se the old one was cracked and damaged from when it was over tightened.
I've had this cam cover since September I think. Courtesy of Garry (Envoy CDX):






It could be better inside the head but it looked the same as before so I took that as a good sign.
Unfortunately quite allot of the old gasket was stuck along the top edge as you can see:




After spending an age removing the last of the old gasket and making sure both contact sides were perfectly clean I fitted the new gasket and cam cover.
This time I only tightened the bolts up hand tight plus half a turn with the spanner:




Then today I finished it off by expertly hand painting the lettering in . Surprisingly the paint I used to do this last time in 2010 was still ok:




Hopefully this time it will last a bit longer.
I'm going to get the engine properly steam cleaned to get rid of all the old burnt-on oil.
The engine bay is the worst part of the whole car I think, and it would benefit from some detailing ready for this year's car shows.

[HAIRIBO]

Rocker cover looks class mate!

Cant wait till I get at least one of my cavalier projects finished

[James McGrath]

Rocker cover looks class mate!

Cant wait till I get at least one of my cavalier projects finished

Thanks! Yeah the rocker cover looks ok, just need to sort the rest of it out now!

I'm my experience, a project is never finished. There is always something to be done.

[Envoy CDX]

I wondered where that cam cover went (really must make notes of what I sell).

Looks good to me

[James McGrath]

Nothing much to report on any of my Cavs really I've not been doing very much recently as I've had Uni exams to think about. That's all over now thank goodness and I'm finally a free man!

Just started a new job this week so felling pretty positive.

Getting a few bits together and will be giving her a good service next weekend.

I took this photo of the old girl a few weeks ago at Bodiam castle, enjoy:

[Lowrider Dave]

Looking lovely as ever! See you at Beaulieu!

[James McGrath]

It's late June, so you know what that means!


That's right, It's the season of the Bath Oliver biscuit!!





Oh, It's also MOT and service time for the LS.

Time for an unnecessarily large amount of pictures!!


First of all, she passed the 195,000 mile mark last month, so well done there:




I bought pretty much the same service kit as I did for the CD manual, apart from the oil and Distributer cap which I haven't fitted yet. I decided to stick with magnetic. Also got my hands on a colour matched magnetic sump plug :






Old plugs show lots of oil deposits from it's cam cover leak, but otherwise no nasty surprises:




New plugs in using a dab or two of copper ease on the new plugs:




New GM air filter in:






Found out something that I never knew before while I was changing the air filter. Clever little flap which feeds the engine with warm air from the exhaust manifold on start-up...




...and cooler air when the engine has warmed up!




Old oil wasn't too bad. I've only done 5000 miles in her this year now that I'm using the Diplomat as my main car:








New sump plug:




I did the same with the CD and replaced the oil twice. I had this 5w-30 oil lying around so used that up:






Time for a drive....

Oil darkened up a bit but nowhere near as bad as the CD and nothing on the sump plug:






Old Crosland filter off...






And new GM one on:




Good oil in:




New Bosch HT leads:




Also needed a new sun visor clip:




Oh, that's a rare sight, original paint!






Basking in the sunshine together after a good days work:




Finally, today was MOT TIME!!




First time with no advisories, Well done!! First time in about 10 years I think! Whole thing only cost about £80 this year including the MOT and all the servicing, unlike the unholy £900 last year!
Old girl deserved a wash after that!





Needs a wax before Billing in two weeks time, but other than that, she's ready for the shows!!


Part numbers:

Sun visor clip: 90332334
Air filter (1.6, 1.8, 2.0 8v injection): 25062418
Oil filter: 95509857
Fuel filter: 25164435
Distributer cap (1.6, 1.8 8v injection): 90442011
Bosch HT leads (1.6, 1.8 8v injection): B801
Bosch super 4 plugs (1.6, 1.8, 2.0 8v injection): WR91X

[Envoy CDX]

Pleasure to read as always James.

[btcctroy]

Are you camping at billing James

[James McGrath]

Pleasure to read as always James.

Thanks mate!

Are you camping at billing James

I'm not planning to, but I'm leaving the option open.

I'm going on the Saturday, I may be persuaded to stay for both days.