Mk1 Cavalier

Great work so far Bilbo - an old Cavalier is not what I would have gone for, but it looks like you'll make it much more interesting than it ever was!

So, got back from Italy on Tuesday and started cracking on with the car again. Naples is awesome, also went to Sorrento, Ischia, and Pompeii. Ischia was absolutely stunning, and the food everywhere we went was incredible. Highly recommend.



Anyway, the Cavalier. I really wanted to just get the remaining welding out of the way so started poking and cutting the chassis rail and ended up with this:



The inner skin here was discoloured as you can see, but it was actually just the rusted outer skin that was sort of stuck to it. When I cleaned it back it was still perfectly solid, so I patched the outer up:



Seam sealed and sprayed with underseal to protect it (I sprayed weld thru primer on the exposed inner skin before welding):



Then made a start on the rest of the chassis rail, near the subframe mounting point. I started poking at the 2 areas where the outer skin was blown out and the holes steadily grew as I cut out more rust:



The inner skin was gone a bit in some areas. Kept cutting back until I got to clean metal, the inner and outer skin immediately surrounding the subframe mounting point was still solid on both sides, which was a relief as I really didn't want to have to take the entire subframe out to rebuild it.

Got the inner all sorted and welded a new outer skin on, as you can see it grew in size a bit from the photo above:



Got the section on the left cut out and welded up as well, then seam sealed and undersealed, again everything behind the repair was all coated in weld thru primer:



Also got the front left protected, it looks much better now it is in black:



I'll be taking the driver's front wing off tomorrow, I noticed a rust hole in a similar place to the repairs I had to do on the passenger side, so that will need addressing, plus the back side of the wing itself is a bit rusty, so I want to treat it, and see what I can do about the hole in the wing behind where the front bumper mounts. So just that and the driver's rear sill to sort for now and that is all of the immediate holes that need to be sorted.

Good progress, but I really want to start on getting the engine fitted, once it's sat in the bay it will all feel a bit more real. Lots of stuff completed, but from the outside the car doesn't look all that different yet haha.

So, was back at work this week so not as much time to spend on the Vauxhall but progress still being made.

Took a look at the front bumper I picked up from the previous owner. Needs some metal polish and the outer side will clean up fine. The inside of the bumper was a bit rusty. gave it a good wire brush and it was all basically just surface rust, no holes or other issues. The mount points are all good. So I gave it a good coat of Hydrate80 and then got it painted to protect it:



Came out pretty well I think.

Been thinking about the fuel tank for a bit, so I finally bothered to pull the original tank out and have a proper look at it. My plan was to maybe fit the MX-5 fuel pump assembly into the top of the original tank, but there isn't a flat surface large enough to accommodate it, and the angle the pump assembly sits at it would contact the inside of the tank without modification. Seemed more effort than it was worth.

So I bought a mk2.5 MX-5 fuel tank on Ebay for 30 odd quid. My pump assembly will obviously go straight into this with no modification as it's the right tank for it. Meaning I can now retain the original OE returnless fuel system, with just 1 fuel line going to the engine bay.

The 5 tank is a totally different shape of course, so I put it into the boot in roughly the same place as the original to get an idea for mounting.

There are 4 main attachment points on the tank, 1 on each corner. The front ones will be easy, I'll just use a bolt and spreader through the floor above the diff. I'll likely have the bolt facing up into the car if there isn't much room between the axle and the floor.



Not the best photo but you can see one of the attachment points here, it's butted up directly onto the hump in the floor, so this should be fairly easy to sort.

The rear of the tank is going to be a little more involved as it is raised a few inches off the boot floor when I mocked it up nice and level:



Looks a little awkward here, but we have a load of box section laying around the unit, so I'm going to chisel off the old underseal/insultation stuff and weld a bracket into the floor for the 2 rear attachment points, and bolt the tank directly to that. All fairly straightforward. You can see the fuel filter and the original fuel boot exit point on the left. I'll work out the best placement for it, and then I'll make up a bracket for the filter, and run some rubber lines from the tank down to it. I'll be making an entirely new fuel line to go to the engine bay, as the original is very old, and there's no point even trying to use it, it shouldn't be too difficult to make up a new one.

The filler on the 5 tank is on the correct side in this configuration, so I'll make up a pipe to go to the petrol cap, it looks like it'll be fairly simple to do. The tank breather I will just run into the bung at the bottom of the spare wheel well. The whole tank assembly I will be able to cover with the original tank rubber plate thing with some minor modification, and there is still a decent amount of boot available. The tank will sit far forward enough to not be an issue in the event of a rear end collision.


I really need to get around to doing the driver's side suspension bits. The front right is looking very dodgy right now:



This photo is taken directly above the wheel. Quite a lot of camber going on, I think something may have broken down behind there haha. The wheel, even with the nuts tight, also has a bit of a nasty wobble when moved at 12 and 6, so I have bought new front wheel bearings to do on both sides. I have all the other parts to rebuild this side, so I'll get that sorted in the next week.


Obviously no update is complete without more rust work, so here is the inner wing/front of the sill on the driver's side after I removed the front wing and started prodding at and cutting out the rust spots:



A bit of rot, but honestly not that bad at all, and fairly simple to sort. Lopped the front off of my full sill section and started with rebuilding the front of the sill and the areas above it. The jacking point and floor above it are actually decent on this side, so far less work was required than on the passenger side.

Got it all cut out, inner all cleaned up and sprayed, and welded the new bits on. Went pretty well:



Then I cut out the 2 holes on the inner wing back to good metal, made up a couple of plates and got them welded in. Front corner is looking much better now with it all seam sealed, primed, and painted:




Good progress, and I am so close on the rust work now. Just the rear sill on this side left to do, and a couple of minor little holes here and there, and then it is done for now!

Hoping to have the front subframe notched in the next couple of weeks so we can actually try and get the engine in. Have also secured a set of JBW Minilights from a mate, a fairly decent size compared to the original 5j wheels, so they should fill the big arches quite nicely without needing to roll or touch the arches in any way. I'm planning on running a really large sidewall tyre, 70 profile, to give it a proper retro look.

So much left to do, but one job at a time, getting there.

Picked up the new wheels last night off a mate. A set of JBW Superlites, 13x7 ET-7. Have seen these on a mk1 Cavalier and I think they look good, and should fit with no arch modification. A set of 185/70/13s on these will suit the car I reckon.



Here's the car I found with them on. They look to be the same in terms of dish, though I can't tell from the photo if they are JBW, or perhaps some Compomotives etc.



Can't find any more information on this car, if anyone knows who's it was, let me know. I'd like to ask if the wheels were the same size as mine.

Hahaha, seeing as I have been told by people that know them that this was considered to be in good condition, I'm not sure that you do 😂

But if you really do, I hope you like welding burns and orange dust in the air constantly 😂

Brilliant, had me spitting my virtual coffee over the keyboard this morning! Talking of incongruous things to use in the garage, I think I'll be using bread to get the pilot bearing out of my flywheel tomorrow...

Bread is good for soldering copper pipes when you can’t turn the water off…. amazing stuff.