'89 SRi snotter project

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A-J
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'89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

first things first, i dont particularly like this car, so dont be surprised if some of the updates are a little "unusual" :D

anyway! after aquiring this last year and saving it from the scrap heap, i was at a loss as to what to do with a little blue, four owner, 130,000 mile Cavalier SRi, so i put it in the garage and forgot about it. Christmas came and went, i started it once or twice, and forgot some more.
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i finally decided in May to at least get it MOT'd and see what was up with it, so that if i planned to sell it, it was tested, or if i planned to use it, it was one less thing to do. it was also the first time i'd driven it on the road, and it was definitely interesting (the resulting MOT fail of three ma-hoo-sive flat spots on each front tyre explained why - the flat spots were below 1.6mm, the rest of the tyre was 6mm...)

so i threw a little bit of cash at it, as well as my dad's old LS alloys, and hey presto it was tested! something to add to its comprehensive service history
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shortly thereafter, my other cav was written off, and so the SRi has been pressed into service as a daily, still ironing out some issues but its getting there (and i might be getting a bit softer with the rot-rod)

near future plans now (and i'm only putting these here so i remember them) are a full interior swap from the Cesaro, including front leccy windows, leccy sunroof, and headrest parcel shelf with the brackets, redo my full soundsystem from the Cesaro, swap some engine bits off the old one (downpipe, CTS, 2 month old spark plugs, sucks being broke :() clean and polish it.

future plans include suspension swap off the cesaro, probably wheel swap, but i'm stuck on two sets, and try to enjoy it as much as possible.

thats all for now!
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by Envoy CDX »

What are you doing with it bodywise?
Be interesting to see how things turn out with this one though.
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A-J
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

bodywork i'm just going to repair and keep clean and tidy. not a fan of bodykits, or facelifting cars if they are the earlier model (mk1 and mk2 nova's spring to mind)

just need to find a bonnet badge now after some reprobate nicked it the other day :x
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by Envoy CDX »

Good for you! Loooking forward to seeing this progress - though being an SRI it should already have the non-colour coded side skirts :thumb
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by Cavalier-C20LET »

thats a great cav to have mate wish i still had m preface, keep the pics coming and good luck with the build ;)
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by humbucker »

Not many prefacelift SRis left, and certainly not many in that colour. Look forward to updates, you could really go to town on this and make a proper sleeper!
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A-J
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

update!

been having some wonderful running issues with it, that i *think* are now sorted, just one small issue left to solve to get the eml light off.


so after stripping the black interior out of the donor over the weekend, i decided tonight was a good time to start on the daily (bearing in mind i need ot to get to work)

started by emptying the car of all the previous owners garbage, found 6 pens, 32p, four keyrings of various designs, a cig lighter, two empty fag packs and a bluetooth earpiece. noice. onto the stripping...

started from the rear
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no rot round the inner wheel arches, or anywhere else ont eh boot floor, which was nice to see, and also found two small water leaks into the boot i wouldnt have otherwise found

after the pic, i stripped out the b pillar trims and bolted the seatbelts back up, then started on the dash, first to go was the casette player that didnt work

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i wonder of the warranty is still valid...
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managed to get it mostly stripped bar the essentials to drive it tomorrow, and found my favorite thing in the world...
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**take me down to the choccy block city where the wirings crap and its far from pretty**

looking at how many additional connections have been made i might be using the dash loom out of the donor, its horrific!

so anyway, my dash for tomorrow...
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and i also found a nifty hidden kill switch that i'll be using from now on whenever i park

thats all for now, hopefully get the dash's swapped over tomorrow night
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by Envoy CDX »

Looks like good progress :) rather interested with this one as said above.
I like these sorts of projects.
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

Felt guilty after doing nothing on the cav last night, so during my lunch hour I decided to sort out the tailgate rattle. Adjusted the striker in the boot but it was no different, so I took it off and found that after 23 years it had worn a groove (forgot to get a pic)

Dragged the welder out

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And after a quick bit of fine tuning had it looking semi respectable

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Refitted, gave it a shake and it seems to have almost gone, at worst it's a damn site better than it was. Now I'm going for a butty :)


(but I guess someone is going to pop up and tell me they are still available from vauxhall for a few quid haha)
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by kirsty »

looking good hun and the service history is amazing is everything there for it
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by Envoy CDX »

I have a spare you can have - drop me a pm with your address.
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

Shekshy new rivnuts for the parcel shelf brackets

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A-J
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

Door cards gone, can't go too far as I still need to get it home :)
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

Nasty GB sticker gone, after a good buff and polish the outline should go

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I'm keeping te original dealer sticker on the other side for now, I like stuff like that :)
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

kirsty wrote:looking good hun and the service history is amazing is everything there for it
Mostly, I'm missing two MOT's an there's nothing from the last owner, I get the picture he just drove it and abused it
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

Knackered aerial stump removed (just looks odd without it)

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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by gazza1701-a »

Looks like a fun project mate :thumb
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A-J
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

Dash out

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A lucky escape in the past...

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And now this evening I shall mostly be rebulding the stereo loom :)
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by Gray16v »

Looks like a great basis to build up from, not sure why you dont like the car, these are so rare now 23 yrs old its well worth doing up.
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A-J
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

I don't like it because it's not my old one, that and we didn't get along in the first two weeks, but it's getting better. I might even give it a nickname soon...
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by Deegte »

Good bit of work going into this try get pic of cesaro interior up don't think I've seen it before.
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by A-J »

up early today, and i started by ripping the carpet out, only to find all the heavy sound deadening was smelly and a bit waterlogged. so i put my Colin Chapman head on (to get speed, add lightness) and ripped that out as well. couldnt see any obvious water leaks, so i'll just keep my eye on things for now

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i then spent a good couple of hours removing the old central locking loom, and putting in the one from the donor, as well as door looms and then checking everything, including the new electric windows, still worked. then began the wonderful process of putting everything back

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and then i got bored, so as it stands...

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at least i can drive it to watch the BTCC tomorrow :D
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by nidge »

was that fuse thats burnt for the heated rearwindow A-j . i had a similar problem on my 1990 20cdi cav, had to cut the wires n put in line fue in. :lol:
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by Envoy CDX »

Think it's the fuse for the heaters (or rear heated screen?)

Anyhow, strip the dash loom out of the old one and get it sorted.... You've gone that far now ;)
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Re: '89 SRi snotter project

Post by planetc »

Hrw fuse, common problem, particularly on Carlton but popped up regularly on cavalier too. Fix was to rewire using a maxi fuse.
"No the temperature gauge doesn't work........
we've driven 150 miles today........
the heater went cold last Thursday........
they check the level when it's serviced don't they?"
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