TD Daily Project

[Metallicav]

After knocking on a door up the road from me about 3-4 months ago to enquire about the car to find it would be for sale at some point when or if the owners emigrated, I returned to their house on Wednesday to leave a number when I found out that the owner had just done the timing belt, water pump and thermostat when the clutch went on the car, so he had bought a mk4 astra as a replacement leaving the cavalier open for sale, within a few days we came to a deal of £240 , so yesterday we managed to limp the car home, only a quarter of a mile off of the road he lived down and down our road , don't know how we had only recently found out about the car being there as he had lived there and owned the car for 10 years .

The car has done 230k but is clean and has near perfect original wheel arches with no signs of rust, although the inside is a different story... It needs a full new interior really but I was planning on switching to a black interior anyway and have already got a replacement black dash ready to go in, I also have plans for an LED heater panel, I bought a panel from the scrapyard by me , the dash that I bought also came with one, so I have those two to use for that and will keep the one that came with the car standard, if I ever wanted to change back.
Other plans I have for the car is to lower it about 30mm, add new speakers and ICE, 2.0 litre brake set up for a Rear disk conversion (Are the front brakes different on the TD and 2.0 models? and are sri brakes different again?) and the usual slight tuning/mods that are done to TD cavs.
Here it is from when it first arrived:



The car looked like it hadn't been polished for a couple of years



The only bit of welding that the car needs is here in the right hand side of the boot:

I will add information and images from today's progress after the images are uploaded

[Metallicav]

Yesterday after picking up the car I decided that after who knows how long the car deserved to be polished and i was amazed at the results
Guess which half had been polished

After a full polish and alloy cleaning:




Also found this bit of rust starting on the bottom of the drivers side rear door but not to much if sorted soon

Still need clean under the bonnet:

All was going well until I woke up this morning to find the rear tyre had gone flat... the first attempt to jack the car up failed due to a useless jack which although was properly attached slipped and took some of the paint off the sill and leaving a dent...
finally got it up properly on a better jack where all seemed to be well...

...until the wheel wouldn't budge off of the car from where it must have been on for ages! after endless attempts to remove the wheel, the wheel finally managed to be removed from the car, although the alloy is ruined

That's all the progress I have been able to make, will be taking a full look around the car to list the jobs that need to be done, although it seems that one of the front springs has snapped and the rear shocks are gone, so the car may be getting new Shocks and springs sooner than thought...

[iangsi]

Looks OK for the price the rust in the boot may have been caused by the plastic vent above letting water in that's where mine was doing it, you have to take the bumper off then it pops out I used plumbers leak sealer on mine but ordinary silicone will do it as well.

[Metallicav]

Looks OK for the price the rust in the boot may have been caused by the plastic vent above letting water in that's where mine was doing it, you have to take the bumper off then it pops out I used plumbers leak sealer on mine but ordinary silicone will do it as well.

Cheers for the tip, will do that when I have time

[Cavalier342]

Looks like you've got something to keep you busy! Good luck with the progress mate.

[Metallicav]

Cheers Andrei , yeah I have a fair bit to do, but I plan to take at least a year for a more affordable insurance quote. I also plan to fit front fogs and asking the previous owner he told me that he had seen and wondered what wires in the grill/headlight area were for, so those sound like fog light wires so will have to look at some point, he saw them as he has done all of the work he could on the car while he owned it. It's also already got an alarm fitted to it which works quite well could do with a newer/louder one really but it works so it's one less job to do.

[Terry]

Looks a clean car mate.

Reg is really close to my old Cav.

[Cavalier342]

Yes, plugs behind grille with blue gaskets on them are for front fog lamps.

[Metallicav]

Looks a clean car mate.

Reg is really close to my old Cav.

Yeah it is dude, I'm enjoying the progress on your WIP by the way , There are a few bits of surface rust underneath so that will have to be sorted and undersealed but the only bit that needs attention so far are the pictured holes in the boot, I've removed the trim from around the rear of the boot and had a better look and some photos, I would upload them but it seems that I've forgot my Photobucket password... (Just sorted that out, for some reason it wasn't accepting the password although it was correct...)

[Metallicav]

Well today, I only just took and passed my theory test, they really need to update their Hazard perception videos, must have been from very early 2000, counted multiple mk3 cavaliers 2 pre-facelift SRi's, 3 normal Preface lifts and another 2 facelifts. Made me really want to work on mine today so without being able work on any of the main things I decided to do a few little things that I could and check for any other signs of rust.
One of the first things that I noticed when I started to look at the car was the build up of muck behind the rear lights, so i thought i should remove them to clean behind them to ensure no water could build up behind them, it also shows what is the only perfect condition piece of the interior

so I went about removing the trim to access them, when I noticed a wire coming of off the light cluster

I followed the wire to see what we all love to find...

The other end attached to the aerial ground

Still not knowing what it was I followed the wire back to the added brake light in the rear window which was good news as it was useless and I wondered where it would wire to, needless to say its now in the bin

While the boot trim was removed thus giving me more room i decided to check the hole in the right hand corner, luckily its still strong in the corner/sides of the boot which is good news (I'm guessing that the pipe is one of the sunroof drains?)

A couple of photos showing what is surface rust underneath (the spare wheel well is perfect from within the car)


After checking that i couldn't help noticing the dirt around the boot inside, so I had to polish it and under the boot seal and found a couple of patches of rust where the boot lifts up, the result:

In the end ran out of time to properly do the rear lights so will get around to it when I can.

[Cavalier342]

You've only just passed your theory and already have 2 cars? Doing better than me when I was 17

Yes the rubber hoses in the corners of the trunk are indeed sunroof drains, it's always worth pushing them through the grommet a bit, you can see underneath when they pop through, otherwise they can back up and sometimes overflow if debris jams the grommet. Looking good, rear lights are definitely worth a removal and clean up, looks so much better when done.

[Metallicav]

You've only just passed your theory and already have 2 cars? Doing better than me when I was 17

Even though they're both low spec models LS and E and the polo is 8 years newer, the Cav definitely has a better spec, as the polo only has 2 speakers (front and only the drivers side works at the moment, also been meaning to put the mud flaps I got for it on since January ), manual windows all around and no sunroof or alloys either.

[hipo1024]

Looks good! Can't believe you got it for that price, especially after he had a new clutch and cam belt etc put on it! You did well! And they tune very well too

[Metallicav]

Looks good! Can't believe you got it for that price, especially after he had a new clutch and cam belt etc put on it! You did well! And they tune very well too

It had the cambelt but it needs a clutch and was why I got before they emigrated, your videos on YouTube were the first time I heard one of the TD's, good looking car you've got aswell, what tuning have you done to yours?

[hipo1024]

Oh yeah, I was on the thrown at work when I replied to that so miss read it but still not a bad price non the less!

Mines got the usual things, tweaked boost and fuel and not much else yet. It's getting a straight through zorst and a bigger front mount and I'm finally going to get around to removing the white ring from the fuel pump lol

And cheers about the vids! They have got a fair few views now as well lol

[Cavalier342]

You've only just passed your theory and already have 2 cars? Doing better than me when I was 17

Even though they're both low spec models LS and E and the polo is 8 years newer, the Cav definitely has a better spec, as the polo only has 2 speakers (front and only the drivers side works at the moment, also been meaning to put the mud flaps I got for it on since January ), manual windows all around and no sunroof or alloys either.

That's because Cavaliers were designed to be company/fleet cars, both to trade and public. Polos are cheap run abouts, and no more, I can understand if they are a good cheap run about to start off with but nothing when compared to larger family cars. That's my view on it anyway.

[Metallicav]

You've only just passed your theory and already have 2 cars? Doing better than me when I was 17

Even though they're both low spec models LS and E and the polo is 8 years newer, the Cav definitely has a better spec, as the polo only has 2 speakers (front and only the drivers side works at the moment, also been meaning to put the mud flaps I got for it on since January ), manual windows all around and no sunroof or alloys either.

That's because Cavaliers were designed to be company/fleet cars, both to trade and public. Polos are cheap run abouts, and no more, I can understand if they are a good cheap run about to start off with but nothing when compared to larger family cars. That's my view on it anyway.

I agree with you dude, with the fleet car thing, this was originally a Vauxhall fleet car until 1996 then it was owned by a policeman 1996-2004 and then it was sold to Peter, the guy I bought the car from.

[McFall1984]

really weird this
i just bought this friday


1.7td an looks the same colour as yours
twins lol

loving the progress

[Metallicav]

Both saloons aswell, yeah I only brought mine home on Saturday, have you got any pics of the car from the front that I can see dude?, I'm going to be adding fog lights and colour coded mirrors and would love a better idea of what it would look like, mines satin red 72L is the paint code.

I should hopefully be picking up a couple of bumpers from the scrapyard by me and I might have the boot panel if it isn't frosting like mine, the rear bumper's bent out of shape from the dent shown and the front as mines got a few screws in it and the one in the scrapyards got factory fitted fog lights. Hopefully I can start to get the big things out of the way soon.
Great looking cav you've got there mate are those stealths 16"?

[McFall1984]

yea i have a few pics i'll upload now

15" stealths which i've now removed for these







not sure what the colour code is, i remember looking at it but i think its the same as yours

[Metallicav]

It's even got a tow bar as well, that's pretty mad how we even got them a day between each other, I's yours metallic? As satin red is but yours looks gloss red?
Also an update, It seems the central locking on the car has gone mad and a stopped working properly I can hear it trying to lock the other doors and other times it doesn't try, it's also hard to turn the key left to lock from the drivers door, it's not too bad, the rear door on the drivers side has never locked with the CL and I'm planning on fitting Vectra B remote CL, door handles and lock set to the car anyway but it's an annoyance until then.

[McFall1984]

no idea dude, car was polished before i bought

my central locking is very odd also, doesnt lock passenger door
i also fitted veccy b RCL in my last cavalier, 5 mins an that was that
there is a few types of modules, the 1 i got worked 1st go
it was CG that worked straight after i plugged it in

[Metallicav]

Just thought, actually could be the battery as we had to charge it because it was dead, will have to get an oil/volt guage for it at some point, the alternator in at the moment was from a scrapyard so there might also be useless I'll add that point while we're on the electrical side, but I have been given two of the old alternators with the car, I'll have to get one reconditioned. Automatically thought the worst when it wouldn't work, but with door that doesn't work I'll be putting black door cards in when I can decide which type so I'll sort everything CL or door locking when I get the door cards off.

[cavaliersri130]

She's not a bad find there and looks pretty easy to fix.

[Metallicav]

Last night due to the lack of light output, I thought id remove the rear lights and put them in warm water, it was mad the amount of stuff that came out of them, much better now:

Can finally see that the indicator is on, although I might try LED bulbs as iv'e heard they're brighter?

Also thought id finally post some pics of the interior, they don't really show how bad some of it is, especially the drivers seat which seems to have snapped of off the back runners, and the back can be lifted to the roof... It also needs a new roof lining due to sagging and a carpet due to a few pieces being missing, although I already have black replacement Dash, Under-dash centre console (where ashtray is) and kick panels to replace the old grey ones. Are vectra b 4 spoke steering wheels with radio controls slightly smaller than the cav airbag ones?

Where something has melted into the dash making it flat

The dodgy 230k of wear drivers seat:

Not complete without tape

Better condition but still feels quite worn


Found this unplugged by the passanger seat, what's it for? Heated seat?

The back seats are fine and extremely comfortable yes that is the rear view mirror on the back seat

When I put a black interior in the car I might just have to turn the rear seats into a chair/sofa

Filled in a blank switch it was in the black dash I bought, but since that's not going in for a while I decided add it now, i'm guessing that's the front fog light switch? also do they all have a green insert? i'm wondering as it has an LED wired in for the bottom part and that could have been changed aswell. All I need now are the fog lights, everything else is already there

When I picked up the black dash that I won for £18 I was offered an sri boot spoiler which i was amazed that it was satin red, this was before I bought the car and knew that I was going to get this cav, luckily I was right Although I'm debating putting it on, probably will in the end though, (This was taken before I had even polished it on Saturday, the previous owner Peter is looking for a couple of things for the car and will be dropping them off when he finds them, included is a boot badge which was the wrong one for the boot but sounds like its for the spoiler which will hopefully replace the cracked on on there, might add the prefacelift decals to the spoiler instead of badges when I have it resprayed as it has a lot of lacquer peel on top part) an off-centre mock up:

De-badged in preparation, does anyone know if the (what used to be) griffin badge needs to be removed aswell?

Anyone know where I can get a replacement bolt for the centre by the griffin badge from?

Also does anyone have any tips for getting the holes in the right location on the boot? or if anything needs to be sealed and will the foam/backing from the badges affect the spoiler?

She's not a bad find there and looks pretty easy to fix.

Cheers dude, especially after all the work you've done on your F reg, looks amazing with the slabs on