Mk3 Cavalier commute-mobile

[Pitstoppete]

New car time! no# 4 has arrived.

I was in need of a classic runaround, firstly so i can take the Diplomat off the road and sort the engine problem/arches/front arms - generally sort out lots of bits, maybe try and save it for a bit longer, secondly to keep the miles and daily damage down to a minimum on the Monaro, but! it had to be over 20 years old for my rather complicated Multi classic car policy, or that would have had to have ended and insurance would have got complicated and very expensive.

So been looking for a pre 92 astra/nova/cav etc, really wanted an auto for commuting as I have never owned one, thought it would good fun, so after a bit of hunting about looking into different options, some even non-Vauxhall (tut tut), I bought this today -



Pre-facelift Mexico red 1.6L auto hatch, J plate 91 so piece of p1ss for me to insure.
62k,
20 dealer stamps right through its life, last one just done,
std with electric windows at this age,
central locking that I wasnt expecting,
demo car at my local dealer, then a local couple for 9 months, then another local couple till now,
with a wipe down and a clean of the windows the interior will be best described as superb, not really any wear anywhere.
no cat to worry about,
no abs,
tiny 165/80 13's
new tiny! battery,
though it needs a thermostat clearly,
fairly sh1tte brakes, a feature of the model I fear,
everything works as it should bar the heater controls and boot bulb as usual.
bodywork is really great, just a tidy on the rear arches to do, polish all over, a few touch ins with a paint stick, bit of waxoyl and run it to work for hopefully many winters.
Hoping to share commuting duties in this and with the Dippy - half and half tax disc wise in the year, keeping the Monaro for when the weathers nice and the salt/grit aint down.

So, just what I've always wanted and more to the point, just what I needed at the right time and only 20 miles away, some timely poverty spec soft wallowyness, with lazytronic pedals.

I'm sure this is going to be the start of some great times. a standard car for once!

Do have 4 sets of 14's and some GSI slabs that need using. that might be the extent of any modifications, so I can concentrate on the Diplomat and my other garage queen.

more soon when we have minced and taken shiny pics.

[scooby-KILLER]

that looks bloody clean, so just a good wash/wax and enjoy driving sounds good, the wheels would make a difference even tho thats possibly as far as your going so to speak

[GTE 16v]

Nice hatchback there Pedro.

Slammit.

Dad had one of them, exactly like that when they were new.

[Cavalier-C20LET]

jesus mate J-reg? looks really clean that does, crying out for banded steels and a roofrack lol

[Benn]

Auto? Awesome! You'll lose all power in your left arm.... Nice buy, you are the king of Cavs.

[GaryVaux]

looks really clean! as said, get it lowered, some 16v brakes and some alloys

[JaguarJohn]

Pete Just to let you know that there was no sign of smoke on the way home and she sat realy well on the road. Good luck John

[Pitstoppete]

Pete Just to let you know that there was no sign of smoke on the way home and she sat realy well on the road. Good luck John

good stuff. cheers again for the lift. will wash the S type at the weekend as i bet its a bit sh1tty now.

it does feel alright on the road, considering it's obviously so soft and on tiny tyres. all I can hear on the way to work today was the rumble of the vast 165 tyres and the door pins rattling. nowt else.

You'll be glad to know CAF's didnt have a thermostat for it in stock on the way home, but once through the traffic with the temps in the blue still, I fixed the split and mayo filled breather hoses when I got home, then filled her up and redexed it a tad, then a massive italian tune up in what Vauxhall laughingly call "sport" mode which is best described as a "is it ever going to change up switch" and she really lifts off. it dont stop after that mind. I think the front brakes are two retired hamsters running backwards inside the wheels..

I think it's going to have to have some 256 front brakes and the 14" steelies i have.

Replaced some fuel hose today that was squirting nicely down the back of the engine, which was nice! so I could at least make it home from work without catching fire! redone it properly at home just now, so its all good!

roll on saturday and a full going over at Vox Hall.

[Pitstoppete]

some commutemobile progress.
at dans today I fitted a set of 8k! std calibra clocks so I now at least have a rev counter, a speedo that clicked back to correct mileage quite easily and doesn't lie by over 20% and a fuel light.

whilst mincing about we put the never been fitted michelin MX spare wheel/tyre to the front and bought a new tyre for the other side, this has sorted all the wheel wobble as the tyres were oval and cracked.

cant be arsed with either cav gsi rims of 14" steelies as the ones I have all need a full set of rubber, so its going to stay on 13's for the mo. need to spend on other things, so keeping it simple here.

checked the front brakes and they cant be too old, but they are the smallest sized non vented variety! my word. no wonder they are so crap.

going for a bit of a wash off tomorrow and a change of cam cover gasket, so maybe some new pics may happen

[Mark P]

Would love something like this as my day to day car to save the mileage off my SRI

[Pitstoppete]

daily commuting is going well! Auto is sharing duties with the freshly repaired Diplomat.

new cam cover gasket, few new fuel pipes, some tweekage to the carb and we're cooking with the proverbial, and its getting better to the gallon the more I use it, so I think I'm getting somewhere.
auto fluid change next i think, as I bet it's never had one.

[metzy motiv]

auto fluid change next i think, as I bet it's never had one.

DONT DO IT

honestly worst thing i ever did to my Corsa Auto, i thought as id changed the engine oil twice since owning id change the box oil, it was no better AT ALL and in colder weather worse than it was, was bloody gutted, i will add also i used i think it was 6 or 7 litres? and after googling found the new stuff wasnt thick enough, even the genuine vaux stuff

just my 2p worth

[Pitstoppete]

err, ok.

[Jack]

Looks nice and clean, I really like it!

The brakes will be 236mm solid discs, same as I had on my last Astra. 14" steels will just fit over 256mm vented and will be a massive, massive improvement. Honestly, the 236mm brakes are just plain dangerous on anything heavier than a Nova.

I've got some brand spanking new Mintex 256mm vented discs and pads if you want them, all you'll have to find are some calipers and carriers. And some wheels.

[Pitstoppete]

Looks nice and clean, I really like it!

The brakes will be 236mm solid discs, same as I had on my last Astra. 14" steels will just fit over 256mm vented and will be a massive, massive improvement. Honestly, the 236mm brakes are just plain dangerous on anything heavier than a Nova.

I've got some brand spanking new Mintex 256mm vented discs and pads if you want them, all you'll have to find are some calipers and carriers. And some wheels.

it is remarkably straight and has had a sheltered life locally to me. I scraped the drivers side sill down Benns garden wall fairly soon after I got it which p1ssed me off a bit, but at least I wasn't in something I care for a lot more, it's doing fine popping to work on it's 165/80/13's and is real nice to drive, comfy and quiet. unlike the blue one! it aint ever going to do the mpgs of the blue cav either, so it's not going to do lots and lots of miles in the year.

I hear you loud and clear with the brakes. it has indeed got plain ol tiny discs and they are a tad dire if you have to do an emergency stop. got everything to sort it and lots of bigger wheels and tyres and I might even do it in the summer if I get bored.
All i have managed to squeeze on it so far are a set of clocks with rev counter in em and a VW wiper relay and the full monty sort out of the Pierburg 2E3.

I'm thinking of it as a motorised bike for the winter to lash to work in so I can concentrate my spare time on the other cars in the fleet, that need much more attention than this one does, then sorn it for the summer and enjoy the much firmer and airconned Dippy, once that has had some TLC and the v8 rocketship on the occasional trundle and show.

hope to see you in the summer.

[alistairolsen]

Sounds good Pete, Still cant quite believe the built a cav on 236s!

Correct me if Im wrong, but did the diplomat porject not begin as a commutermobile to save miles off the esprit? :P

[Pitstoppete]

Sounds good Pete, Still cant quite believe the built a cav on 236s!

Correct me if Im wrong, but did the diplomat porject not begin as a commutermobile to save miles off the esprit? :P

err yeah, to do a 100 mile a day commute from October 2003! which has taken it's toll on the poor thing a tad, but I think I see where you are coming from!

[alistairolsen]

I look forward to seeing this with a let in it at somepoint then ;-)

[Pitstoppete]

I look forward to seeing this with a let in it at somepoint then ;-)

now there's a plan

[Jack]

hope to see you in the summer.

You will.

[Pitstoppete]

Another update about the 16SV Cavalier!
Hopefully If you are reading this after a search for a misfire on a 16SV engined car, this may help you a bit -

The poor old thing has been off the road for a few days until I could get round to sorting a huge spluttery misfire, it was a tad undriveable being an auto too, making it worse...

The real misfire (that wasn't fault code related) has been cured with some inenvitable outlay on new plugs/leads/cap and rotor arm and I had the distributor off to check inside for oil ingress, overhauled that while I was there, that part of it is all good now, but -

As it warmed up from cold it has always had plentiful amounts of fault code lights on the dash, but that itself didn't cause too much of a problem to start with it was still going ok. Even though it's carbed, it still has what they call a MSTS or Pre-ignition control unit, called Siemens EZ Plus or E1 plus, like many other Vauxhalls I have now learnt. Never played with one before. We live and learn.

Theres not a lot of info around about the codes for this system, but I did find 2 useful links to help me sort it -

1.6 Carb model Engine Fault Light | Vauxhall Owners Network

This mentions some of the codes and a problem someone else had was the oil temp sensor in the block that everyone seems to think is a knock sensor.

Also, found the instructions for a Gunsons fault code reader with the full code list helping me work out which code was what -

http://www.gunson.co.uk/items/pdf/Te...structions.pdf

I had 7 fault codes and thought that was a bit beyond a joke and they possibly could be linked, so thought there may be a bad wire or something common somewhere causing them all. Indeed there was. I took the MSTS/ecu widget off of the bulkhead and even though it looked all new inside on inspection, one of the receptacles on the wiring plug to it was badly twisted so I summised it wasnt making contact very well, or at all when it was cold. How does one little connector get wrecked when its all safe up inside the plug I shall never know. Straightened that and all the codes disappeared apart from code 47. Oil sensor high volts. So to the oil sensor -

So my oil temp sensor seemed to be the problem and I have tested this theory as mentioned by the Gunsons pdf. file, by bypassing it with a 360 ohm resistor pending me sourcing a new sensor if need be. This works a treat and fools the MSTS into thinking the oil is warm, maybe it doesnt give a decent amount of advance until the oil has warmed up, who knows.

So now it was just a case of a full sport mode (wowzers) test drive and back for some adjustment of the idle and try to work out how the hell the idle control valve worked. Says it's got one in the book! what on earth for? Being an auto it has a vacuum controlled actuator that raises the idle speed when you select a gear, and seemingly when the idle is low because of plenty of electrical load, like the lights/fan and HRW are all on. This needs adjusting carefully in conjunction with the base idle speed screw so it actually does something when it clicks in and now thats doing it's stuff too.

So, now it seems all good I'm looking forward to 35-40 mpg commuting in super smooth auto 80 series tyre soft'n'comfiness, saving the miles and ££ on the Monaro.

Think I'm slowly winning with it.

[JaguarJohn]

Peter that sounds like a very rewarding day of fault finding and an excellent post. Good on yer. Happy softer motoring. Pity about the Goodwood breakfast club this morning, would have been V wet

[Pitstoppete]

yeah, would be a washout

[GTE 16v]

Top fault finding there Pedro. Glad its all sorted.

Cheers for the blast in the 'Ro yesterday. Goes well eh!

[Pitstoppete]

another 1.6SV auto update...

I have had this one off the road since June, Sorned its red ass, it's been resting while I used and abused the Blue Diplomat some more. nearly up to 194000 on that one and it is still bloody epic for 300£ nine years ago..it needs another off road maintenance period though, must buy it some new springs....so..
Wanted to run the Mexico Red auto again through the dirtier months, saving the other cav a bit. I ran it for 4 months at the beginning of the year and smashed the fairly low 61k up to nearly 65k and its a superb runner. Knew there were some more tweeks needed though.

Dan came round a few weeks back and we did a little prep for its first MOT in my ownership, checked a few things out etc. I could smell fuel..
Firstly it was oozing fuel from some of the fabric braided fuel lines under the bonnet. not so good. Dan and I changed them all for some decent spec rubber stuff and all new tiny hose clips. Now miles better and the smell of fuel has gone. I'm sure the fuel gauge don't move as far in a day as it used to.
Then it was sort the coolant weep from around the factors thermostat seal I had fitted. that'll be the wrong size then Mr Motor Factors! found my stash of spare seals and fitted a fatter one, Dan popped the timing belt back on and the PS pump after that and I refilled it with GM best orange blood 50/50. bled that out, tad of new fuel in the tank and bobs yur fathers bro. Batt on, whirr whirr whirr and off she goes, Pierburg ftw.
Then it was sort the chuffing exhaust. took the manifold heat shield off and put a turn or 2 on most of the manifold nuts, chuffing gone, runs even better.
It's had new leads and plugs/cap/arm in the spring, so just a oil and filter change when it was hot and pop it in for its MOT Monday just gone. of course she passed with flying colours, no advises were written down as that does seem a waste of printer toner, but Craig said "fix the rear arches up and bit and its got bloody years left in it" So that's probably what I will do, tickle the arches up and sort the new 256mm brakes on the front to help it out a bit and 14" steelies all round, lose the comedy 13's.

Seems it is doing just about as good mpgs as the Diplomat now too, much better now the pipes are ooze free. lovely.

keep on trundling