1990 Cavalier GSi 2000 2WD 3.0 V6 in Silver!

[CavT]

So, had lots of GSi's, Turbos, CDX's, Isuzu diesels, theres not a Cavalier I haven't had. Whilst I loved my 320BHP Cavalier Turbo, it was unreliable as stuff constantly broke on it... ironically, not the transfer box!!

Had several Omegas, even built myself a 3.0 V6 MK3 Astra on an F20 box, went like the clappers, perfect stealth machine as it still looked like a standard 1.6 16v CDX Astra hatch!

Sold that on, and still had the bug for a GSi all over again. Even though the Turbos would walk all over a standard GSi all day long, its the look of the GSi I love the most, so, thought i'd put some feelers out for one!

Stuck a random message on a banger racing forum, and low and behold, two weeks later, someone responded.

They'd spotted a GSi that had been sat up for a long time, and eventually persuaded the owner to part with it.

The poor Cavalier was destined for the banger racing track, it was going to get killed!

The guy who bought it, got as far as removing the redtop, F20, shafts, and ECU, and then he had a change of heart when his mate directed to him to my plea for a GSi.

"Its got 17" alloys but I want to keep them"
"Fine, keep them I want to keep it standard anyway, i'll get a set of slabs."
"i've got a set of slabs, you can have them!"
"Cheers, nice one"
"I want to keep the stainless steel system though"
"Fine, keep it, its going to be converte to V6 anyway, so anything specifically redtop you need, you can have"
"Ok, great, 250 quid sound alright to you?"
"When can I get it then?"

So, a LOOOOOOOONNNNNGGG trip to Braintree in Essex to go and get it from Bath with my mates truck, and on the 10th May 2010, I took delivery of this:





I wanted to dive right in and use an Omega 3.0 V6, the only one I had belonged to my missus, so there was no chance of donoring that!

Finding a cheap 3.0 V6 Omega proved to be tricky, so instead, I thought i'd start off with a 2.5 V6, and at least have all the bits I needed when it came to sourcing an Omega to convert the engine.

So, on the 2nd June 2010, I sourced a very local Calibra 2.5 V6 that was literally 10 miles down the road for 200 quid, non runner.



Guy explained the symptoms of the problem, so I gave the drivers kick panel a whack, and then tried to start.... she fired up!

Bloke was not chuffed that his former pride and joy was now working, and was now going to be a donor for an ancient Cavalier.... oopsy!

Two days later, here was what was left of the poor Calibra!

[CavT]

GSi was prepped for the engine to go in, normally i'll chuck the lot in the top, but if memory serves me right, we ended up swapping the subframe to the Calibra one as it was much fresher.



Here is the lot out of the Calibra ready to go into the GSi



And here it is all going in under the car with the replacement subframe



And here it is with it all in. Calibra donated a full stainless system plus a load of other bits.



Engine went in, ECU loom was all wired up in the drivers kickpanel, and boom, she fired up and sounded the mutts nuts.

Took her for a lively spin up the road, and it felt good, not blistering speed, but good enough.

And then its like good and bad news. Bad news is the engine had only just gone in, good news, two days later I found the perfect Omega 3.0 V6 donor near London for 200 quid!!!

So, off to London I went for a rather mint looking M reg Omega 3.0 V6 Elite, shame to break it up, but lots of bits were sold off it, so not a total waste.

Did the swap the following week, and then ran into problems. Just couldn't get her running right at all, and was struggling to figure out why.

So over the next few months, it took a back seat to the other work that needed doing.

Then discovered the original Bosch external fuel pump wasn't running at full pressure, so opted to put in a later Calibra tank with in tank pump setup.

No difference.

Then when I was able to read the trouble codes, it came up with stuff that NEVER goes wrong, knock sensor faults!!!

This could only be one thing, the ECU loom was knackered.

And so the GSi sat in a corner and was covered over and left.

Spent months trying to find a suitable donor Cavalier or Calibra, but to no avail. Wasn't prepared to buy a loom as I didn't want to spend hours swapping it all over to find the loom I'd put in was crap, it had to come from a running car.

Car was laid up for nearly two years when I thought, why not try the banger racing community again.

So I stuck up a request for a running Cavalier or Calibra V6, and lo and behold, someone got back to me three days later (two weeks ago) telling me he was picking up a Cavalier Auto on an L reg, a Cesaro. Broken windscreen, and only just taken off the road, either I could have the loom for 40 quid, or buy the whole car. 275 lighter, and a 200 mile round trip later to Devon, and I had the donor.

Two days later, swapped the loom around, rewired the ECU all back in, and then turned the key............ YEAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice to be right for a change!

She booms with power now, absolutely belts it along the road, even on the F25 gearbox.

One small issue, is I forgot that the front driveshafts were from an L reg Calibra, rear ABS rings are still from the Cavalier.... two different sets of rings = one confused ABS as the brakes don't work... at all!

Pull the fuse out whilst i'm driving, can now brake again!!!!!

Here she is now

[TurboDan]

That looks cool! Wouldn't mind a 3.0 litre v6 4x4 myself

[gsi pie]

looks sweet dude

[HAIRIBO]

Glad you never gave up mate.

I've got a 3litre cdx, but the boot floor has a hole in. I'm tempted to stick everything in turbo/nay 4x4 shell but they always need more welding than mine dose. Plus i dont have the space o money to do something like that

[iangsi]

So I stuck up a request for a running Cavalier or Calibra V6, and lo and behold, someone got back to me three days later (two weeks ago) telling me he was picking up a Cavalier Auto on an L reg, a Cesaro. Broken windscreen, and only just taken off the road, either I could have the loom for 40 quid, or buy the whole car. 275 lighter, and a 200 mile round trip later to Devon, and I had the donor

Hi, have still got the cesaro as I would like the wing badges if they are available, cheers.

[TurboSteven77]

looking very nice mate

[HAIRIBO]

Hi, have still got the cesaro as I would like the wing badges if they are available, cheers.

There are some on ebay, just type "Cavalier badge"

Also do yyou have any of the interior left?

[CavT]

So I stuck up a request for a running Cavalier or Calibra V6, and lo and behold, someone got back to me three days later (two weeks ago) telling me he was picking up a Cavalier Auto on an L reg, a Cesaro. Broken windscreen, and only just taken off the road, either I could have the loom for 40 quid, or buy the whole car. 275 lighter, and a 200 mile round trip later to Devon, and I had the donor

Hi, have still got the cesaro as I would like the wing badges if they are available, cheers.

Cesaro long gone, other than the 5 stud stuff, front seats and ECU, the rest has gone.

[Envoy CDX]

Interesting any other plans for it?

[CavT]

Interesting any other plans for it?

it will eventually get either an F20 or a CR F18 gearbox with flat type flywheel for quicker throttle response, and maybe, if one comes up, i'll stick in a 3.2, but as a general rule I don't like breaking facelift Omegas, cracking cars.

[CavT]

After two years, logbook has finally turned up, so no VIC tomfoolery needed, so the car gets finished this week for its MOT.

Now rear bumper should properly clip to the side of the car now all the rots been cut out and re-welded.

[TurboSteven77]

nice 1 mate

any more pic

[jimmy]

Very interesting indeed

[CavT]

nice 1 mate

any more pic

Will be more pics this week when she finally sees daylight again.

[CavT]

Well, back end now all welded up, and undersealed to hopefully prevent anymore problems in that area.





Chassis rails were solid, so it was mostly contained behind the rear bumper

Now, rear bumper is back on, and actually stays on!



Shes now all cleaned up, and heres a few shots of her outside for the first time in an age!









Taken her out for a spin, and frankly, in the wet, 1st and 2nd gears are utterly useless!

In the dry, and with replacing the knackered drivers side front tyre, shes got good power. Not quite as quick as my old Astra 3.0 V6 with F20 gearbox, but a lot more composed and gets the power down a lot better.

Now i need to replace a massive amount of stereo wiring as some muppets in the past have chopped it all to hell!

Gets a valet tomorrow, interior will be put back together and then she goes for the MOT on Saturday to see whats what.

Seal up the exhaust a bit better, and i'm confident she might even make it through!

[CavT]

Now MOT'd.

Probably the last post in this thread, it doesn't appear to be attracting any interest whatsoever.

[iangsi]

Keep the pics coming always good to see another gsi being kept alive

[Stoater85]

Now MOT'd.

Probably the last post in this thread, it doesn't appear to be attracting any interest whatsoever.

Mate its hit or miss, most folk just read and comment via the new posts section, so depends when you post v when people are on etc. Don't be disheartened because people aren't all over your thread. Keep it going im interested in all V6 projects.

[C20letlad]

top job there mate i really miss my old cav gsi i admit it was 7 years ago when i killed it but i really have a soft spot for these. top job glad its still up and running !!

[wafers]

Great to see it's back on the road! Can't be many GSi V6 conversions around. I remember this one was V6'd a couple of years back, but don't know if it's still around or not:

[CavT]

Head Gasket now gone, so shes now on eBay for sale.

[Cavalier-C20LET]

sorry to hear that mate, would it not be worth fixing? or you had enough ?

[CavT]

sorry to hear that mate, would it not be worth fixing? or you had enough ?

It's the second time I've had to do it, had enough now

[Cavalier-C20LET]

fair enough, good car for somone anyway