My Diplomat "A 20 CAV", with added goodness

[DiplomaXE]

Here we are then, C20XE Diplomat Saloon daily driver:-



I bought this ^^^^ from eBay as a project, a fixer-upper really, it was gonna be scrapped/broken for spares by the seller because of a few silly faults, most of which we fixed within days or on the drive back home. Most of the bits I have put on it are from eBay too. I bought it to use just for commuting 90 miles a day to work really, instead of piling up all the miles on my other car.

This was a dealers demo car from new, so had all the available options. Now it has almost everything else too:-

The 2.0 8V engine was doing fine to start with for the first 2 years i owned it, but after a new radiator, a new heater matrix and the top hose blowing off every week kinda pointed towards a problem that turned out to be a cracked head, so we decided to do the decent thing and sort an XE for it. Could have gone for a LET, or just bought a manky Cav turbo, but as I also have an modified Lotus Esprit Turbo, so another thirsty turbo car was far from ideal. One is quite enough.

Modifications/re-engineered bits, from std. spec. :-

Engine:- Astra GSi C20XE-LN late coil pack engine, lightly ported head, Lightened early flat type flywheel, decent quality clutch, pocketed Mahle forged pistons (so its a bit lower compression ratio, done for wilder cams and NOS (by the previous owner) later on maybe), ARP H/T rod bolts, ecotec sump/seal baffle plate, V-Tuning top hat/ecotec inlet pipe (came out of a Nova see) with Samco breather hoses and the ICV relocated for ease of access, stainless decat pipe with std late Cavalier Sri/V6 centre exhaust and rear sections - painted black, STD Panel filter in the STD airbox, Omega cruise control. All the usual bits replaced/sorted to make it reliable.

Rolling roaded at a healthy 176 hp at only 5800rpm, 160 Lb/Ft at 2500 rpm rising to 173 lb/ft of torque at 5000rpm on 99 octane fuel. It sounds just right.



Economy:- 34-38mpg local commuting, 40-45 on a run.

Transmission:- Std fitment 2.0 8V F16W, lovely ratios! 70 something in 2nd, bout 110 in third. Equal length driveshafts.
5 stud Calibra front hubs, Vectra B abs 5 stud rear hubs.

Suspension:- Lowered on a set of -50mm uprated springs, knackered Bilstein uprated gas front dampers, new front arms. Factory fitted optional
pump up height adjustable rear dampers reinstated, valve in boot.

Front Brakes:- Vectra B GSI 308mm discs and calipers, Saab 9-3 EBC Red ceramic pads with wear indicators, braided hoses.

Rear Brakes:- Vectra B 286mm discs with std. 35mm cavalier calipers and Mintex M1144 new old stock pads, with larger spaced out Vectra B back plates (so the caliper sticks out to match the disc) redrilled upside down and swapped over to fit the opposite side to make the handbrake levers come to the top. Dot 5.1 fluid.

Wheels and Tyres:- Reconditioned Cav turbo fan alloys fitted with 205/50/16 Pirelli P Zeros, or STD white Vectra Supertouring 7" by 16" wheels fitted with 205/45/16 Toyo T1-S, complete with home made flat alloy wheel centres finished with recessed Corsa B tailgate centre badges.

Exterior:- Turbo Cav front bumper, with cut down facelift Diplomat chrome strips fitted to match the rest of the car, with anti pheasant mesh in the radiator intake, SRi prefacelift boot spoiler with no badges or decals (leave them guessing I say) Poxy speed bumps down the road to work removed the mudflaps the day after we slammed it.

Interior:- Cavalier Turbo heated front leather seats, std split/fold Diplomat leather rears and door trims/wood etc. Omega preselect electric sunroof/electric windows/mirrors etc, Lotus Elise S2 135R steering wheel with blue alcantara centre, new gaitors and mats, optional keyless remote deadlocking with window closure, recalibrated fuel computer and outside temperature sensor, red needle turbo dash clocks with 8k rev counter and original 140mph (not enough numbers) speedo head, Calibra Turbo red needled centre dash oil pressure/voltmeter gauges, Omega/Vectra cruise control/fuel computer stalks, centre rear headrest conversion, tiny Diplomat badge from Carlton, on ash tray.



Lights:- 6000k HID dip/main conversion, LED front sidelights, new front indicators, new 95 model year rear light clusters/new matching rear panel.

ICE:- Kenwood MP3 CD tuner, Infinity Kappa Reference 6.5" rear speakers, Std component front speakers/tweeters.

Performance:- Superb. Really pleased I went for the XE swap, it runs so well and it pulls like a train.
I'm glad i sorted the brakes first though. It goes very well and out handles almost everything i can find to chase and of course it stops really well now too. Because of the long ratio gearbox, it also seems to be indecently useful off the line at the traffic light grand-prix.

It has to be said that I prefer driving this day to day than my Esprit really, Cavs are very under estimated and unloved car by many and a nice-ish one is a rare sight now, apart from on this forum of course!

Coming soon, time permitting!:-
Specializing in fixing F28's, I have a rebuilt F28 to fit at some point, remake/reshape the air con pipes to reconnect that up for the summer.

[FoxyCav]

Wow! i must say that is gorgeous. We've got some stunning Cavs coming on the boards lately, they really are a pleasure to drool over

I agree with you completely the Cavalier MK3 is a completely unloved and underestimated car (apart form by people on here ). Most think they are used to just thrash till they break, then it's off to the scrapyard Drives me mad that.

anyway all i can say is it's beautiful, i love it

[Squig]

sorry fiddled a little with the post and sorted the spacing

Loving that mate as I said before... If I didn't drive a v6 I'd be very jealous... stuff that, I AM jealous!

[Colorado]

Its great. hard to believe it may have been scrapped at one time.

[DiplomaXE]

yeah, it did defy belief at the time.

PO had an idea there was an engine fault because it ran a bit hot, also it had no gas in the aircon, and that he'd been quoted 400£ to "convert it to the new gas mate" to get it up and running again.
The weepy heater matrix was making the car stink inside, so he cut his losses and ebayed it. He bought a far worse looking xe calibra to replace the dippy.
Anyway, we went to see it, my mates dropped me off 100miles from home with him, i drove it and wanted it, sussed out some of the faults on the test drive, adjusted the clutch so I could actually get all the gears, transferred some money via on-line banking, he took it off ebay, i drove it home! came with the fan dippy wheels in the boot too! and ten months tax.
The reason the heater didn't work and he was getting very cold on the way to work was that he'd had a look at removing the matrix and given up, disconnecting the little flap link cable while he was at it, so the matrix was hot, just the flap was shut.
The heater matrix went totally in the end in a cloud of steam, so changed that, the rad blew up after a year or so, then with a new one it still blew the top hose off the rad, so we I rebuilt the XE for it then we swapped it all. had the head off the NE to find a huge crack between the valves on no:1 cylinder and a bit of a mess:-


The steam cleaning of the cylinder due the crack had broken up the plug ceramic and it was distributed around the cylinder making a mess off the piston/bore, so it was quite dead and we decided it had had a fine life:-


it was still pulling like the proverbial train up to the day we took the NE out and served me really well.

heres the day we swapped it over, old one in the background:-


And here we are in third gear at the little kink on the main straight at Castle Combe during a track day:-


Heres where the number plate came from earlier this year. another ebay special, a 89 sri 130 saloon. Sadly shes a bit of a rotter, so its sat there now full of waste metal ready to be scrapped, unless someone wants any bits off it:-

[Colorado]

Nasty crack there in the block but at least you were able to get it back on the road again. Love the Castle Combe picture

[Envoy CDX]

Very nice looking cav.
Not got an adjustable steering coloumn does it? looking for a cheapun.

[cavyman]

never known that was a xe very nice cav .

[mattyonline]

nice cav m8 the 89 sri whats the driver seat like any good ?

[DiplomaXE]

nice cav m8 the 89 sri whats the driver seat like any good ?

the pass seat is now a computer chair, I'll check the state of the drivers one next time im down there for you. take some pics etc.
looked ok the last time i was there.

[DiplomaXE]

Very nice looking cav.
Not got an adjustable steering coloumn does it? looking for a cheapun.

will check the column too when I'm there next, but alas i think its a pov spec one.
car is weird, no split fold rear seat, but headlamp wash wipe, irmscher steering wheel with touch sens. horn buttons, hideous irmy alloys and tasty RDS cassette player.
will do a separate post in the for sales forum when I'm down there and decide to start breaking it.

watch this space.

[simonbach]

if you have still got the sri cav? can you see if its got the CJ front abs sensors,if it has il have them both,cash waiting,infact id like all the abs relays too,thanks simon.

[andysri]

nice cav there mate very jealous. keep her smart wish there were more cavs out on the road looking as clean and sorted as yours

[DiplomaXE]

if you have still got the sri cav? can you see if its got the CJ front abs sensors,if it has il have them both,cash waiting,infact id like all the abs relays too,thanks simon.

will check tomorrow, but i seem to remember theres a big old gap under the bonnet where the abs isn't.

[DiplomaXE]

nice cav there mate very jealous. keep her smart wish there were more cavs out on the road looking as clean and sorted as yours

cheers fella. shes still earning her keep daily. longer commute to work now down awesome country lanes at speed. still doing 35-36 mpg average giving it plenty. its superb.
just done a run to B+Q for 22 packs of solid oak flooring for me new lounge.
18 packs across the rear seat with squabs down, all piled up to the headlining, the rest in the boot, 18kg a pack, 400kg in total . requiring about 8 bar pressure in the rear assisted dampers!

who needs a van!

[andysri]

lol what a car!!!!!!

[GTE 16v]

What a Weapon!

[DiplomaXE]

Quick update just in case you dont get on to the "other" Cav forum.
(shamefully copy/pasted as I have got dodgy hands and typing is killing me here...)
A few years back some scummer at my old address vandalised 20 cars in one night in the same area (now he's behind bars and I've moved house!), so I had been on the look out for a new bonnet in the right colour and had never really got round to paint the old one as that aint my thing (aint paying 180£ to paint the bonnet when the car was only 300ish£) so as my mate was just about to kill his dippy hatch on the scrappage scheme (sacriledge), so we stole the aircon pipes and a load of other bits then we went nuts and swapped the bonnets...




Then chaos ensued a tad further as the boys said we should swap the scabby front wings too, as years ago my ST rims had vectra sized 205/55s on them and it rubbed the arches badly initally...



That was a fun afternoon I can tell thee.

And fairly recently I bought several other steering wheels, one of which is an Elise 135R one with the ultra rare blue alcantara centre, may make a VX horn push for that soon and redo the comedy mismatched door pin striping as that dont quite line up now weve swapped the wings! (pic withheld as it looks silly!)



Finally then..

[DiplomaXE]

Quick update on the stripes situation, once again I aint typing this out twice so its copy/paste from "somewhere" else:-

After the bonnet/wing swap shown above here, the pin stripes were a tad miss-aligned to say the least. basically the stripes on the doors seemed high compared to the wings and back doors, so I decided to do something about it.
Two bodywork friends of mine said if I got the old ones off they would fit some new ones. Never seen this done before so I thought I'd let them wade in, so I thought I'd show you what "we" did for reference.

Firstly, the VX EPC shows either silver or black twin pin stripes, sure mine were white, but nope, peeled a bit off and their silver faded to light grey, But I wanted white to match the wheels. I ignored the people who said leave em off, I had to have em done, as it did look utter cack with them missing:-

lots of glue remover and compounding the marks off


quick trip to a great old skool garage in Aldershot (near my old house it happened) to get some new stripe. bought ashed load incase i repair a panel later on. their approx 2mm, them 3mm gap then 3mm at the bottom, BTW. £4.49 for 10M.
Then my bud Simon waded in starting from the back, with plenty of p1ss taking onlookers going, up a bit/down a bit etc etc...:-

As I say, never seen this done before so I'm fascinated, almost in one stick down movement, there it goes, straight over the gaps down to the front, following the body line, leaving a bit spare to get hold of for finishing off.

He then said, what you want at the front then? As gen VX ones are a seperate part for the front wings thats actually joined with a nice curve and we were using just a std. roll of stripes, i said, make it kinda Concorde nose shaped, not a smooth curve. So they did:-

and It's just how I wanted it, which is handy!
I think its just right in white, which was the idea!

[andysri]

still really really like this cav! looks great, glad to see shes still going well

[Squig]

Indeed, and I can see why you wanted the stripes... it really does break up the paintwork nicely

[HAIRIBO]

You've just made your nice looking cav even nicer. How much did it cost? I keep thinking about getting a black Steinmetz stripe to go with the bodykit.

[Colorado]

Looks very good. And even better a good bonnet and wings from a car that would have been crushed

[DiplomaXE]

You've just made your nice looking cav even nicer. How much did it cost? I keep thinking about getting a black Steinmetz stripe to go with the bodykit.

a whole £4.49 for 10M and a double decker for my mates each.

[DiplomaXE]

bit of a winter off road overhaul going on.....

http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/projects ... hread.html

have a few things planned, but the bodywork is the major thing