MY 93 L CAV 1.8 LS

[GLC]

Where do i start with this one? Well i'll take it from the top i guess. Last night i had an accident in my cav . Had a run in with an complete idoit, polish driver in an audi a4. He forced me to swerve and ive lost the back end in heavy rain and my passnger rear quarter hit his front wing. Unbelievebly my car has come better off ! Tried to take sum pictures but couldn't get any that where clear enough to show you.
Damaged the rear pasanger side of the bumper all it's done is broke a clip of the bumper assambly and left a black tyre scuff on the coloured coded part of the bumper and sum of his paint is scuffed onto my rear arch. But it has put a small 10p dent along the lower edge of the quarter half way along the panel. The audi had a badly dented corner of the wing, scraped bumper and his headlight and indicator were hanging out by the wires. 1-0 to the cav Have took the rear bumper off the cav today and due to the rain thats as far as ive got. But i did go up the scrappy this morning and get a second hand bumper in met grey but i think i should be able to swap the colour coded section?, onto the replacement bumper once ive t-cut the marks off.
He did call the police out but they weren't really intrested so ive had to swap details im just hoping that when i speak to my insurance they we be able to tell this idiot to jog on. Im gunna fix the cav myself but with the dark evenings and being at work during the day mean's i'll probbley have to do without my rear bumper for the week till next weekend. The dent is small and i could live with it but will try and see if i can get that sorted.

[humbucker]

sorry to hear about your misfortune. hope the damage isnt too bad. as for the wheels those BK ones are rank, go with the astra ones! ...or better still as set of turbo rims

[Envoy CDX]

He was at fault, so hopefully all will go well for you.

[Colorado]

The bumpers should come apart. Just take your time. Glad the damage wasnt too bad.

[GLC]

sorry to hear about your misfortune. hope the damage isnt too bad. as for the wheels those BK ones are rank, go with the astra ones! ...or better still as set of turbo rims

Thanks the damage is only cosmetic thankfully hasn't bent the car anywhere just as i said left a 10p size dent in the quarter an the back bumper needs replacing. Though found sum rot on the lower rear panel thats been bodged over with sealent! But thats for another day. The car looks werid without it's rear bumper but will get that sorted this weekend hopefully.

He was at fault, so hopefully all will go well for you.

Cheers. If only that was true! I've spoke (had a row) with the insurance company tonight and they are saying it's my own fault. Look's like there's nothing i can do except let my insurance cough up to fix this prat's car and i'll sort mine myself.

The bumpers should come apart. Just take your time. Glad the damage wasnt too bad.

Thank's i'll hopefully tackle the bumper replacement the weekend and also get some picture's up of the work but as ive already said can't seam to get a picture that can show you the dent on the quarter will see if this dent can be fixed by a dent wizzard or similar.

[GLC]

Oh forgot to mention.

sorry to hear about your misfortune. hope the damage isnt too bad. as for the wheels those BK ones are rank, go with the astra ones! ...or better still as set of turbo rims

My m8 could possibly have a set of them going spare maybe after xmas so will wait an see what happens. He brought recently a pretty rotten cav turbo! He want's to restore it but it look's too far gone which is partly to it being left in a field for three years and poorly reparied accident damage. Hopefully it can be saved but as he is working 7days a week till xmas he hasn't had time to inspect it, if it too far gone im gunna hopefully treat the cav to the alloys and the leather interior.

[GLC]

Just finally got round to posting up some pictures of the cavalier rear bumper swap after the audi incident!
Me and my m8 did the work, with my brother taking the pictures. As colorado said taking your time was the order of the day.


As the cav looked with the secondhand grey bumper temporary fitted only lasted barely 1 day like this.


Bumper being removed.


Bumper fully removed, third time ive done this on my cav so im getting pretty good at it.


Pasanger bracket was replaced with the one from the car at the scrapyard as it was slightly damaged. It's barely noticeable
but the small dent left by the audi can just be seen. An i mean just


Replacement bumper refitted with the colourcoded part removed.


Cav with the colourcoded part of my old bumper fitted to the replacement bumper. Done.


And a unexpected addition


Can just see my other cars in the background though the renault is my brothers now but i rescured it when i was at a scrapyard
from being crushed when out looking for cav bits. The uno is shared between us as hopefully we can get this back into good condition though to be fair it's doing well for a 22 year old fiat.


Brought these last sunday while i was doing the rounds at local scrappys looking for a alternator for the renault.
As my driver's tyre was shot and i couldn't afford nearly £200 for tyres for the astra alloys i already had. They needed refurbing anyway so these with legal okish tyres seamed a bargain for £80. So i had these and fitted them that evening at my m8s unit. Could do with a light refurb but are presentable enough for now till funds allow. Think these are staying. What do you think ?
Oh nearly forgot brought the last remaining cavalier hatchback bootseal from my local vauxhall dealership last week for the cavs b'day, was £95 retail haggled an was mine for £57.50 Result

[Bull]

Looks like ya done a gud job with ya cav m8. Shame no before and after pics wudve been gud to see and wud also av bin nice for ya to see the effect yaself.
J

[Colorado]

Youve done a really good job on that well done

[GLC]

Youve done a really good job on that well done

Looks like ya done a gud job with ya cav m8. Shame no before and after pics wudve been gud to see and wud also av bin nice for ya to see the effect yaself.
J

Thanks for the comments and sorry i didn't respond sooner!, still plenty more work to do mainly bodywork is the big one and my back brakes they need doing asap i still haven't sorted them out from before but they have much to my shame have been ignored but now they aren't dong anythink so got to get them sorted. Then i might be having a 2.0 16v ECOTEC engine off my m8 soon that he fully rebuilt last year and slightly moded to put in mine if i can make my mind up. Hope everbody having a good 2010 and all's well with your cavaliers.

[Colorado]

Keep up the good work. I like the alloys youve got. I would have gone for that type if i had seen any

[GLC]

Keep up the good work. I like the alloys youve got. I would have gone for that type if i had seen any

Thanks. Got to be honest i wasn't sure if these alloys would look right on my cav but now im glad that i brought them even if the tyres are rubbish in the bad weather! So gusss i should thank my m8 as he suggested buying them in the 1st place. So thanks Jim.
Got a pair of secondhand cav turbo rear lights to fit the weekend and an electric ariel too from a cav turbo my m8 is sadly breaking due to bad rust and poorly repaired accident damage. Could av brought the leather interior but the rears won't fit and i haven't got enough spare cash to buy that anyway. Got my rear brake shoes and a rear brake cylinder for £25 ready to fit except my rear drums are rotten so need to get these too before i get them sorted. Hopefully get some pictures up soon with turbo rear lights fitted and see what you all think.

[Colorado]

Should look good with the smoked lights at the back

[cavalierclaire]

Nice one mate. Good luck with it.

[GLC]

Should look good with the smoked lights at the back

Thanks went to fit them and found that one of the tabs that hold the the bulb holder on the passaner light is broken. So unsure if ill bother to fit them now i know it's not a big deal but i hate stuff being broken. But on the plus side my m8 sorted my rear brakes now weekend before last so thats one job sorted.
Bonus last weekend was my m8 replacing my useless heater matrix with the one from the cav turbo he sadly broke up. So have a turbo heater now ! Didn't realise my heater was that bad to be honest till last friday evening when my same m8 pointed out how useless it was an said he could sort it out that wekend for me. Result. Works great now im having to turn it down cus it gets too warm. Why did i not notice that this wasn't working right sooner ill never know.

Nice one mate. Good luck with it.

Thanks much appreciated and nice lookin cav you have too there by the way.

[GLC]

Well it's been a while to say the least so thought id put a overdue update! Well since last time the cav has been racking up the miles. 15k since the last mot. Turned 150k on the 7th may so was well pleased even though the engine isn't the orignal. Though the 2nd engine has done nearly 180k! Which isn't a lot for a cav i guess as ive seen others with over 200k. Handbrake cable snapped on the right hand side in april one rainy tuesday night though. So brought a new pair of cables for around 20 quid an my m8 helped me replace these so another job done. Replace 3 tyres with budgets costing 38 quid each cause that was all i could afford around april too. Brought a spare speedo cable from vauxhall costing 38.76 too cus the cable on the cav tends to wobble at low speed so thought id get it just in case though hasn't snapped yet.
Sadley things have gone a bit downhill since then, the 1st was a small hole in the driver side sill when replacing the handbrake cables had turned into a 4in hole last month! So paid a friend of a friend to cut the rust out and welded in 3 patches in total to repair it though when he tried to paint it with the halford spray cans i gave him it kept reacting so i told him id sort it myself so left it in primer so we agreed on 60quid. Spent 45 quid on sum proper paint 1/2ltr of nautlius blue an laqure so that my m8 could paint this an a few other areas of the bodywork though this hasn't happend yet. Then 2 days later the powersteering started leeking from the one of the pipes along the front crossmember. This wasn't the best timing as it was a week before the mot. Then to make matters worse the part is no longer avalible from vauxhall so im stuck. Though hopefuly might have found a way to sort this out.

So i thought id take it for a mot which i did on 4th of june anyway an see what needed doing then i could start getting it all sorted. I wish i hadn't !
Failed on,
1] nearside headlight aim too low. To be fair it's been like this since ive owened the car though my friend tryed to adjust it ages ago but it's seized so probbley just replace the light.

2] nearside outer sill seatbelt anchorage prescribed area excesively corroded. Two holes in the middle along the bodyside of the sill with mot yellow chaulk around them. This is pretty bad.

3] offside [ fuel pipe floor pan ] fuel system componet insecure. This is the fuel clips that hold the fuel lines to the floor were broke off by sum scum 18 mths ago an were tempory reattached with cable tie's but passed the last mot like this?

4] front power steering pipe[s] leaking. I already know.

5] front brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Yep knew about that too.

6] Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive. This could be another big problem had trouble last year with this but scraped it through. Not sure wot to do about this as ive got no fault codes when a friend checked an no obvious faults that i can see.

The car has sat for nearly a month now as im skint cus i had to mot another car me and my brother share and insure an tax it too. So till i get paid next week i can't do much with it anyway. Though i did manage to get the fuel clips from vauxhall cost 21.53 for 4 to replace the broken one's though went to move the car just over a week ago to fit them an it started leaking fuel from one of the fuel lines as it's roted through. . Took the cav up my friends unit to see what can be done an the sill has rotted from inside through the middle skin then through the outer. My brother got a replacement outer sill yesturday for 20 quid. But to be honest ive lost my mojo with the cav an im not sure wot to do? It's really got me down this pass month as the cav been on the road nearly everyday the last 2 yrs ive had it an it's give me sum good times along the way an we have both been through the wars too. Soz to waffle on. Just needed to get it out if you know wot i mean. Hope everbody's cavs are fairing better. I'll get sum pics up soon of the cavs current state.

[Robsey]

Quite a few bits to do.
The main bit is the inner, middle and outersills. - Quite involved, but quite do-able.

The fuel pipe will be just 8mm copper pipe (gas micro-bore), about £20 for 30 metres from B&Q.

Brake pads and so on are simple things...

So it is down to whether the cost or your "former" love of the car is more important.
No an easy call, mainly because of the large amount of cutting and welding.

Most would probably give up and throw the towel in, but in your situation, I would probably be daft enough to try and fix it all up and get it back on the road. Money permitting!!

[GLC]

Thanks Robsey.
Most would probably give up and throw the towel in, but in your situation, I would probably be daft enough to try and fix it all up and get it back on the road. Money permitting!![/quote]
My m8 and i are gunna cut the rotton sill out this weekend and see how bad it is 1st and go from there. Hopefully my m8 is gunna replace the fuel lines and power steering hose with 1's from a scrap calibra turbo shell he has lying round so would be a major help to my limited funds if that works out.
The tax expired today an the insurance is up next week too so this is making it even tighter for me. But im not beat yet so fingers crossed!

[Robsey]

The tax expired today an the insurance is up next week too so this is making it even tighter for me. But im not beat yet so fingers crossed!

Alaways seems to be the way...my skint period is November, when Tax, MOT and insurance are due together ( within 3 weeks of each other). And the insurance for the wife's Vectra-C.

Keep positive, it is too easy to get bogged down and to give up.
The only down side is that if you do give up, you'll probably scrap the car - then later, you'll kick yourself and miss the car badly.

I know this from experience, when I scrapped my 22 yr old cav mk 2 last November.
It was abolutely heart breaking to see it being dragged away by the local scrapper truck. I know that there was no way I could fix it, but I was totally gutted all the same.

[GLC]

Well it been nearly 2 mths since my last post and to be honest im pi**ed off spent ages putting up a new post an then saved it only to find it hasn't an lost what id typed not happy so im re writting a shortend version of my update as i can't go through all that again. Rant over !To be honest work has been slow to say the least my m8 has only just finshed welding the sill on. So it's in primer but still needs stonechipping underneath then painting bodycolour and some other parts of the car bodywork are gunna be tidyed up hopefully too.
We removed the passanger wing, headlight and indicator along with the front grile. The wing was quite easy to remove although the side indicator wires had to be cut to allow the wing to be removed because the bulb holder won't pass trough the hole in the wing as it's too small. To be honest when he started on the cav it was gutting to see a hammer and disc cutter being taken to the it. It was hard to watch and the rust was worse than etheir of us had thought with the remains of the outer sill removed, to be honest i thought about giving up with it as it looked in a bad way.
We both left the car for a few weeks to have a think an decided to carry on an try an see if we can save it as i couldn't bare the thought of letting it die. The inner rotton parts were cut out then more rot was found near the rear seatbelt mount so more cutting was needed. The car was left for a few more weeks an on an off the grinding an more cutting then finally the welding started.
Over the last three weekends the replacement sill has been welded on an my m8 yesturday phoned me to tell me he had got to the primer stage. Win. Still got all the other mot faliure points to fix ive got no idea if/ when the cav will be back on the road as my m8 is doing the work for free just costing me the materials and is doing as an when he feels like it but can't moan because without his help the cav wouldn't have a chance. So credit to my m8 jim for his help and motivation. Will get lot's of pics up of the work so far when ive got more time.
Hope everbodys cavs are fairing better.

[Envoy CDX]

Nice to see your still progressing with it

[Robsey]

All the Cavs are a similar age (within 7 years), and so most will be in a condition similar to yours.

I'm sure mine will need plenty doing, but I have neither time nor money at the moment

Just keep positive - it will be fab, when it is back on the road again.

Good of Jim to do this for you - labour of love and all that !!

Can't wait to see the pictures.

[GLC]

After nearly giving up with this car due to personal probblems an a lack of cash.
Things have took a unepected turn of events this week which has ment that on friday this week after 3 days of late night graft by my mate jim an sum limted help by me. He left the car with the garage next door to his work an then i got a call late that morning at work to say that it passed the mot !
So spent friday night cruising round for a few hours in it after a quick wash. Does need clay-baring and polishing and a through clean inside too
when i get the time an the weather is better.
Brought a new genuine oil filter an ac delco 15w40 oil for a bargain £15.98 all in at a local motor factors saturday so thats next weekends job.
Know i said before but wlll get some more pics up of the work done over the last 8 months yes 8 months since it was last on the road. An give some more info on whats been done to get it back where it belongs on the road. Looking forward to adding to the 150,900 miles on the clock.
Just need my brothers help to do the pics.
Hope everbodys cavs are doing ok.

[Envoy CDX]

Glad to hear shes been welded up
Look forward to seeing the results of the labour

[GLC]

Hi at last thank's to my brother paul's help i finally got some pics up of the work my mate jim did to the sill over a 6 month period
after the cav failed the mot last may. Though its taken 8 months to complete all the repair work needed.

The cav back last march on a wet day vist in wales before the mot failure.





One of threads on the rear of the floor, that the fuel clips fix to were hanging by a thread of rusty metal.
Some tempory patches have been welded into the floor, along some of the other rotton threads so the new clips can be fitted to secure the fuel pipes correctly.





Leaking fuel pipe that only failed after the mot.



Heavly worn brake discs.



Leaking powersteering pipes.



Sill after mot man's proding complete with yellow chalk.