project cav 2.5 V6 CDX!

[cav_2.0_gli]

hello all,

i recently bought this cavy 2.5 V6 CDX manual off ebay, and its time to sort it out and get it on the road in time for PVS!

info:

2.5 V6 ecotec engine
142k on the clocks
polar sea blue in colour
leather, aircon, e/w x4, e/sr, t/c, abs, airbags, everything i need basically.

FUTURE PLANS:

engine:

3 litre G cams (bought these already)
4 bar FPR (bought these already)
superchipped ECU (bought these already)
6 new injectors
cylinder heads x2 - gasflowed + ported + polished
inlet manifolds - gasflowed + ported + polished
throttle body - enlarged + gasflowed + ported + polished
Ramair induction kit (fitted)+ enclosed in the airbox
dark met red painted engine cover (fitted)

exterior:

SRI spoiler (fitted)
colour coded number plate board (fitted)
opel badged front grille (fitted)
remove all bump strips off the doors
clear oval side repeators
colour coded vectra door handles
5 spoke vectra sri alloy wheels with new 195/60/15 pirelli tyres all round
'badboi' headlamp eyebrows
oval backbox
lower it 40MM

interior:

cavalier turbo recaro style front leather seats
richbrook alloy gearknob + handbrake + pedals + tax holder + door pins
white speedo dials
white VDO oil + voltage gauges in centre consol (fitted)
all dash switches blue LED (fitted)
all interior + speedometer bulbs BLUE
trip computer
centre consol armrest

ICE:

alpine headunit
vibe 3600w space subwoofer + JBL 1114rms amplifier
JBL speakers x6 (all round)

i think thats about it lol.

heres some pics of it currently:

[cav_2.0_gli]

i shall be spending mon/tues next week working on it, and hopefully i will have:

removed bump strips
fit oval side repeaters
fit all the alloy stuff to interior
fit the vectra colour coded door handles
fit the trip computer to the dash (once found where the loom is)
removed the blaupunkt CD player
fit the headlamp eyebrows
remove the speedometer ready for white dials + blue bulbs
re-fit all the dash switches
fit the centre consol armrest

plus much more. just cant think what atm lol.


then all i need to do is make a start on the engine! got to whip off the cylinder heads, so they can be ported + polished, along with the inlet manifolds + throttle body, then i can send the injectors off to be cleaned, fit the 4bar FPR, and so on!

should hopefully have the engine stripped, ported/polished and put all back together again within a week.

[Paul]

Looks very good, excellent base for nice project bud! Keep it up!

[cav_2.0_gli]

PIC OF THE ENGINE:

[Paul]

It needs GOOD clean!

[cav_2.0_gli]

right, spend whole of mon/tues on it, and ive done:

removed bump strips, and all glue it left behind
fitted oval side repeaters
fitted vectra colour coded door handles
put all dash switches + centre consol back in
fitted the 5 spoke alloy wheels
removed glovebox + CD player to try and find the loom for the fuel comp
sanded the rot out on the rear arches, fillered them, sanded that down, and primered it
fitted the alloy gearknob + doorpins

now all ive got left to do is:

spray + laquer rear arches + pass rear door
paint the brake calipers red
fit new backbox
take the speedometer out, so i can fit the white dial ones + blue bulbs
change all interior bulbs to blue
wire up the VDO oil + volt gauges
fit the JBL front speakers + refit the front doorcards
fit the JBL rear speakers + JBL 6x9's
fit the cav turbo front leather seats
fit the alloy handbrake + pedals + tax holder
find the loom for the fuel comp!
fit a pair of cav turbo defiltered rear lights
fit the headlamp eyebrows
fit the centre consol armrest

think thats about all left to do really. i do the majority of that in one day while waiting for coats of paint to dry on the arches/door.

and then strip the engine down!! which is my task for next week!

[FoxyCav]

Your keeping yourself busy. its coming along great though. is this the one going to PVS???:)

[cav_2.0_gli]

Your keeping yourself busy. its coming along great though. is this the one going to PVS???:)

got a few weeks off college, so i thought i'd crack on with it while its off the road, and while ive still got the carlton to drive while i do the engine work to it.

yup, this is the cav i want to put on show at PVS.

il post up some pics of it as soon as ive finished the arches off on it, as it looks like someones dumped a car on my dads front lawn at the min lol, with the interior in 1000 bits, 1/2 the rear end sprayed with primer etc.

still, wont be long before its looking good again!

[FoxyCav]

lol you'll well get it done Dave

is that Polar Sea Blue BTW? same colour as my Cav

[cav_2.0_gli]

lol you'll well get it done Dave

is that Polar Sea Blue BTW? same colour as my Cav

cheers,

and yup, she's polar sea blue, although it looks more purple most of the time lol!

[cav_2.0_gli]

right, spent yest + today on it again.

now all thats left to do is:

paint the brake calipers red
fit new backbox
change all interior bulbs to blue
fit the JBL front speakers + refit the front doorcards
fit the JBL rear speakers + JBL 6x9's
fit the cav turbo front leather seats
fit the alloy handbrake + pedals
fit a pair of cav turbo defiltered rear lights
fit the headlamp eyebrows

i spent today stripping the engine down.
throttle body + both inlet manifolds are off, ready for porting+polishing.

heres some pics of it:





she needs a good clean, and ive got all the centre caps for the alloys, just took em off so that no-one nicks them!

[Paul]

I love grill and car overall, but I must say Im not keen on Calibra rims tho

[cav_2.0_gli]

I love grill and car overall, but I must say Im not keen on Calibra rims tho

i love the grill too, thought it would be a lovely addition to the car.

the rims look a lot better with the centre caps fitted.

im trying to not go to over the top on the outside, so that people think its just a 1.8 cav lol.

[dave's.veccy]

I like Calibra V6/turbo wheels, they suit that Cavalier imo

[Paul]

I like Calibra V6/turbo wheels, they suit that Cavalier imo

I think these are V6 Calibra, so 15".. 16" from Turbo would look better!

[cav_2.0_gli]

I like Calibra V6/turbo wheels, they suit that Cavalier imo

I think these are V6 Calibra, so 15".. 16" from Turbo would look better!

i was looking at a set of the cav/cali turbo wheels, but i dont like them that much. prefered the ones ive fitted to my cav

[Paul]

Late Calibras Turbo are fitted with same wheels as on yours, just 16" Mate

[cav_2.0_gli]

now all thats left to do is:

paint the brake calipers red (to do on thurs if weathers good)
fit new backbox (to do on thurs if weathers good)
fit the JBL rear speakers + JBL 6x9's
fit the cav turbo front leather seats (waiting for arrive in post)
fit the alloy handbrake + pedals
fit a pair of cav turbo defiltered rear lights (waiting for arrive in post)
fit the headlamp eyebrows (waiting for arrive in post)

inlet on head + both inlet manifolds + throttle body have been ported+polished

cav's booked in at a garage on friday to have the 3 litre cams + 3.8bar FPR fitted, and to refit all the inlet manifolds etc, make sure it runs ok, and then tech2 it, to find out why the EM light is on (apparently its a knock sensor), get that sorted, and then finish off the small bits left for PVS!!

need to give it a really good wash + polish + T-cut + hoover out too. need to get rid of the marks on the doors where the bump strips used to be too. il do that all next friday before PVS

hopefully will all be sorted by time of PVS

[HAIRIBO]

Looks tidy mate, how did you change your cav lock over to the vectra handel?

[cav_2.0_gli]

Looks tidy mate, how did you change your cav lock over to the vectra handel?

i havent
i simply used the original cav handle backing plate with the lock. it does fit, but the lock barrel is slightly in, so i will need to sort that out if i can.
was considering de-locking the drivers doors and getting r/c/l fitted, and leaving the boot lock in, so that if the r/c/l fails, i can still unlock and lock the car etc.

[cav_2.0_gli]

now all thats left to do is:

fit the blue speedometer bulbs + refit speedo + surround trim
fit the alloy pedals
fit a pair of cav turbo defiltered rear lights (waiting for arrive in post)


3 litre G cams and 3.8bar FPR have all been fitted. car's going back down the garage to have a new knock sensor fitted to it.


need to give it a really good wash + polish + T-cut + hoover out too. need to get rid of the marks on the doors where the bump strips used to be too. il do that all next friday before PVS

heres some pics of it now:






i hope you like it! havent got any interior pics yet, as its a complete mesh atm, with all the bits ive taken off of it and replaced with new/modified bits all over the seats and floor lol.


i really can't wait now for PVS. will be really good to meet you lot, and get the cav on the cavmk3oc stand!

fitted the http://www.vauxhallcavalier.com window sticker to my rear window aswell!

[Cavyman_130]

Looks tidy mate, how did you change your cav lock over to the vectra handel?

i havent
i simply used the original cav handle backing plate with the lock. it does fit, but the lock barrel is slightly in, so i will need to sort that out if i can.
was considering de-locking the drivers doors and getting r/c/l fitted, and leaving the boot lock in, so that if the r/c/l fails, i can still unlock and lock the car etc.

only way to get the lock to fit right is replace the cav backing plate with a vectra plate and lock, cav is looking good mate, though I did prefer it without the headlight brows.

[cav_2.0_gli]

been thinking, and ive come up with a few future plans to do it now:

EXTERIOR:

facelift SRI side skirts
both rear arches resprayed (and probably replaced too)
CDX V6 badges on both wings
front bumper resprayed, and possibly a laguna splitter fitted to it
pair of de-filtered cav turbo rear lights
lowered by 30/40mm possibly
get a replacement pass rear door, as mines got a dent in it
possibly get a replacement bonnet as mines got a small dent in it, depends how fussy i am really.
i may give her a full respray yet, not sure.

INTERIOR:

drivers cav turbo leather seat repaired
r/c/l fitted, and drivers door lock removed (will leave boot lock so if the r/c/l fails i can still unlock the car)
i might colour code the dash to the car, but im not sure if it would look too gash then.

ENGINE:

new gearbox + clutch (going in soon)
lightened flywheel (going in soon)
ECU remap
possibly custom manifolds (if i can afford them)
port + polished heads

think thats all i want to do really. dont want to go for bodykits n all that, ive tried to move out of the 'halfrauds add on crap' phase now.

im not going to bother doing much more to it until after its MOT in beginning of Aug, just incase it fails majorly (which i doubt as i cant find a thing it needs - tyres/brakes/bulbs/electrics/engine are all fine), and i dont want to plough a load of cash into the car, and then find it needs a hell of alot of work doing for the MOT etc.

still, should be a nice cav when she's finished. lack of money is the only thing im up against at the minute.
Dave

[Squig]

sounds like some good plans (except for the colour coding the dash... yuk!) can't wait to see what you get done by the RR

[cav_2.0_gli]

sounds like some good plans (except for the colour coding the dash... yuk!) can't wait to see what you get done by the RR

yer i won't colour coding the dash, i think it will look horrible aswell.

yer i cant wait for the RR day either, see what my old girl pushes out. aslong as i make 180bhp, im happy.
Dave