1994 Cavalier LSi C20NE (was C18NZ) Work-horse

[Envoy CDX]

Fingers crossed Rob

[Robsey]

Indeed - Fingers crossed.

I am hoping to spend a whole day of my March leave fitting the interior to the car on the car park behind my home.
So hoping for the cav to pass it's MOT and to be released back into my care before then.

I know Troy has other cars (paying work) lined up for major welding work... but all the hassles of my Cav have set him back about 4 weeks so far.

So - on the last update, I believe the rear brake pipes and flexi's have been fitted and sorted.

And today the sub-frame mounting threads were replaced with new deeper inserts.

All welded into place and treated / undersealed for longevity.

So here are my freshly repaired subframe mounts.





Oh and the correct sized front disc pads were also fitted. I believe the near-side calliper was also sticking. All sorted now.

I am hopefull that Troy is getting close to finishing the jobs on the pre-mot list that I drew up for him.
(On his request to ensure nothing got missed).

I am eagerly anticipating the "rolling project" phase, where I will be able to drive the car to work and finish off the fitting of the interior as time permits.

Exciting times ahead.

[Envoy CDX]

Woohooo!

[Robsey]

Easy on the woohoo, at least until I know that there are no more hiccups.

The cav appears to be cursed, and throwing out problems at every turn.

[Lowrider Dave]

Any progress is some progress!

[Envoy CDX]

Easy on the woohoo, at least until I know that there are no more hiccups.

The cav appears to be cursed, and throwing out problems at every turn.

Cos you've dragged it out of retirement kicking and screaming

[Robsey]

It is like anything that stays dismantled or stripped for 18 months.

You end up mis-placing or forgetting about needing to replace half of the bits.

Getting nearer now -
Exhaust fitted complete with gaskets and birds-nest seal ring.
General check of ignition system carried out - the dizzy cap pins were quite burnt and there was plenty of moisture from being stood for most of 2 years.

Troy tells me that my brake fluid was black.
A total mystery why this would be as it was a golden honey colour in 2014 when it came off the road.

So I believe it is a matter of fitting the remainder of any external trims and mouldings -
Then the old girl should be ready for being booked in for her MOT.

Interior and alloys to be done after the MOT, when I get her home

[James McGrath]

Nearly there. After so many months of anticipation I'm excited to see the results.
I can't imagine how you feel.

[Robsey]

I am doing my best to hold back the excitement.

There have been so many knock backs recently.
The last being that I had alegedly bought the wrong dizzy cap - grrr.

Anyway here is the latest picture.
Body mouldings now fitted.
Looking a bit cleaner.



Oh bugger! Someone's stolen the wheels - lol.
I presume they are off to allow good access to all brake bleed nipples.

You can see Troys nifty car dolly under the car. From above it looks like an adjustable "H" frame. It is not too difficult to move the car about, whilst still having good ground clearance to access the underside of the car.

[cavalier1990]

Can start to see it really taking shape now Robsey, looks good. Did you have to do much work to the bumpers, usually they are all scuffed, usually corners, and big lumps out of them.

[Robsey]

Sadly I have done nothing to the car apart from provide funds and parts.

Except for about 3 days in July where I refitted the suspension parts and refitted the discs, drums and fuel tank.

Thr paint job was done by a lone eastern European lad for a modestly low fee.

And all work since it's return to Troy's unit has been done by Troy.

[Lowrider Dave]

Getting there! Love that dolly - very handy.

[Robsey]

Got a message from Troy last thing last night
(Thurs 9th Feb), that the car is now finished.

All working as it should. Including central locking etc.

A mis-fire that had been evident on the return of the car from the paintshop, was diagnosed as my fuel rail wiring bracket lifting off from the injectors.
(There have never been any retaining clips to hold it on).
Pushing the rail back into place restored full smooth running and revving of the engine.

So just waiting for Troy's friend to get it to the MOT station for it's test.

[Robsey]

Some pictures of the results of machine polishing.





And then ready to go for it's MOT.
I am worried however that it will fail.



Troy reported that the airbag light was on, on the dash.
Don't know why, as neither the airbag nor the crash sensor were touched at any time.
And all was fine before the resto...

Bugger!! -another knock back.!!

This car is cursed.

I am crossing my fingers for tomorrow, but I am resigned to the expectation of a fail notice.

[James McGrath]

Wow, that's looking amazing!

As a temporary solution, the idea of removing the airbag bulb from the dash comes to mind.

[Robsey]

I fear it is too late for that.
The car has already gone to the test centre.

Light on = mot fail.

Light doesn't come on at all = advisory.


I have heard that an over-charging alternator can cause the airbag light to illuminate on a TD. Sadly mine is a petrol.

I have also heard on one rare occasion that unplugging the connector for the crash sensor box behind the hand brake had cleared a logged fault, and put the light off.

I only wish it is that easy, as I will be hard pressed to find a Tech 1 tool anywhere local to me.

[James McGrath]

Ah, I see.
Well we can only hope for a sympathetic mot tester.

My LS quite blatantly failed its emissions in 2015 yet I was still given an MOT.
The readout was a bit odd though. Lambda was something like 1.01 on the first test and 1.7 on the second test

[Robsey]

Some garages fail it on purpose and then retest, to make them look like they are not too lenient.

My normal garage does the MOT,
Sees what it fails on,
Gives it a service including fail items,
Then retests it.

[Lowrider Dave]

Looking good! Fingers crossed for MOT.

[Robsey]

Ah well - unsurprisingly it failed.
But not on the bodywork - lol

Reason(s) for failure
Supplementary Restraint System warning lamp indicates a fault (5.4.2)

front registration plate deteriorated (6.3.1d)

Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content at idle excessive (7.3.D.4)

Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.D.3)

Exhaust emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.D.3)

Advisory notice item(s)

car presented with only a drivers seat and drivers seat belt fitted. All other seats and seat belts are missing.

I have a set of new plates still to fit, and the interior is simple enough.
Just a lot of it - lol.

Emissions - hmm good service, fresh petrol and an italian tune up.

Airbag light - this could be a bit tricky.

[Robsey]

Well the old girl is back home...

I arrived at Troy's unit, with a view to collecting the jalopy.
He was busy cutting and polishing the bonnet.

Whilst he did that, I looked for a potential cause for the airbag light.
All cabling securely in place.
No obvious cause that I could see.

I noted the sunroof was not seated properly in it's aperture. Synchronising the roof got that sorted within about 20 seconds.

Until tonight, I didn't realise how much interior there is to fit.

I am told about 3 hours to fit... but I have a lot of other little house keeping tasks to do before fitting the interior.
My interior looms all need clipping back,
Modules need screwing back into place.
I have a big box of bits, including all my various trim fixing screws etc.
So a lot of time will be spent looking for screws and stuff for reassembly.

A drive of the car produced a lot of mixed emotions.
After replacing all steering and suspension parts, the car feels very "in-touch" with the road - falling just short of being a bit of a bone shaker.

When cold, the car idled a little slow (C20NE Syndrome) and the exhaust smellt very petrolly, like a catalyst wasn't fitted.
After idling for 5 or 10 minutes, this smell eased off.

After standing for 18 months, the car didn't feel quite as "purposeful" on the road, and needed a bit of a prod every now and again to stir up a bit of motivation.

It was nice to see the new angel eyes fitted with Osram Night-breaker bulbs.
Wow - a huge difference over standard bulbs.
A very white, much brighter view of the road ahead.

So - I can see a lot of hard work ahead.
I have just under two weeks to fix the airbag light and the emissions. (And complete the interior installation(.

The number plate is a nice leisurely 15 minute job.

[cavalier1990]

Perhaps with the emissions the car just needs a really good run to properly heat it through. Not sure how much you've had it going, mainly to clear out all the crud lying in the exhaust and give the cat a good heating through to burn everything off.

[Robsey]

I haven't done much yet...
Barely had time to unlock the doors due to commitments, but managed one major job.

I put down some anti-vibration matting on the front footwell areas.
And then put down the foam packing that sits invisibly under the front section of the carpet.

But the important bit was that I sorted the airbag fault for the huge sum of £12.
This was the cheapest "honest" method to sort the permanent airbag light.

I disconnected the car battery.
Waited 15 minutes.
Swapped out the old airbag ecu, and fitted my 12 quid replacement.
Waited another 5 or so minutes, just in case.

Connected up the car battery and turned on the ignition.
Blimey those 4 seconds go on forever when you are waiting for the light to go off.
But go off it did.
Woohoo - one box on the fail sheet ticked.
You can't see it here. But the airbag light would be the warning symbol on the farthest right position.
Only two on here - lights and hand-brake.



And here is the old girl sat on our communal parking area.



A picture in the East Manchester rain.
(Cheesey halo and one working fog light picture).
I also had to clip the radiator grill back together.
Ah well five second job.

[James McGrath]

Good to know that the air bag light was an easy fix.
Just the emissions to sort next.

Just curious, did you have to change all of the exhaust when you upgraded to the C20NE?
I know the C16NZ2 uses entirely different exhaust componentry, wondered if the same is true of the C18NZ.

The paintwork looks really good by the way.

[Robsey]

I didn't change any of the exhaust at all.

I was quite surprised at the time that the C18NZ exhaust manifold fitted the C20NE cylinder head perfectly.

The only part I had to change was the lambda sensor. The 'NZ' has a single wire sensor.
The 'NE' has a multi-wire sensor.

Ordinarily the 'NE' sensor is in the front down pipe just after the engine rear support bracket.
The 'NZ' sensor is in the exhaust manifold.

I fiited my 'NE' sensor into the 'NZ' manifold.

This may be obvious, but at the moment, with no interior nor insulation fitted, the car sounds like a 'scud missile' from the driver's seat. And that is with an exhaust with no apparent leaks.

Regarding the paintwork - it is indeed a good finish all round despite the fact that the off-side has not been cut and polished yet.