Mk1 Cavalier

Thought: If the ECU is (easily accessible) in the glovebox, are you going to make it easily removable as a security feature?

(Does it just push into the connector blocks?)


WRT the terrible dash lights you could consider buying some Superluminova or similar product and painting the needles and the main markers - they might glow a little in the dark and aid reading of them, although good luck with seeing anything after being blinded by those Canoeing Tailgate McNoIndicate and other LED dipped beams nowadays.

So got a load done this weekend. Started with the rust holes above the throttle pedal After poking and buzzing back the little holes we had this:



Inside the front arch these holes also spread into the engine bay, it was an awkward one to sort out given the shape. But I made up a couple of plates and got it all sorted. Here's the area now after welding, seam sealing, priming, and underseal:



Much better. Wanted to get this sorted before it spread to the throttle mount plate as that would have been annoying to re-make. There was about 8 separate holes in this area, so it's good to get it all sorted out before it got too advanced.


I stuck the super bright LED light in the arch (we call it the flashbang) and no signs of any light coming through except for the 3 throttle screw holes:



Ignore my primer runs haha, Painting in a cramped footwell isn't fun, now sorted.


Anyway, with this sorted I got to taping/cable tying the loom down in various places, and got the routing into the boot of both the cabin loom and main power wires that come through the floor all sorted. I've tucked it down as tight to the floor as possible to avoid any carpet bulges or issues with contact with the rear seats.

Carpet going in:



Rear seats were super simple to fit, and no issues with the wiring either, all mounted fine:



You really wouldn't know there are 2 fairly chunky bits of harness on the left side of this photo, I'm very pleased with how well it is hidden.


Rear door cards in, 3 ashtrays in this car haha, very old school.



Speaking of ashtrays, I noticed when fitting them one still had something in. As well as 5 presumably Marlboro Reds, there was also an old KitKat wrapper:



Best Before 1 Oct 1990! 80s KitKat! Might put it in the windscreen like an old tax disc haha. Funny thing is this car was last taxed 1997, so this had sat in that ashtray for at least 7 years while the car was still being used.

Front belts all bolted in:



The buckles were a bit sticky on the button, obviously been sat for years, so after a few uses they have freed up again and work perfectly. Belts both retract and lock as they should, drivers one is a bit noisy when retracting though, but it doesn't affect it's operation.


Decided to put the front passenger seat in, driver's side I have some more bits to finish on the dash so keeping the extra space for now. These seat rails are well janky, I don't like this setup at all haha. Such weird rear plates, with this long hook shaped metal piece that the seat and rail contact each other with, and the rear sliders aren't sliders that I am used to in runners, it's just a heavy duty plastic strip on each side that the seat slide points run backwards and forwards on. The front points are just basic U clamps on the front bare of the seats. It's an old school setup for sure, I don't like it, but the seat seems to be in well enough so it'll do for now:



You can see the slider strips I'm talking about above. A little primitive looking to say the least! Sadly this seat isn't in as good condition as the driver's seat or the rear seats, with a long tear on it. Other than that it's ok though, and fairly comfortable, if not a little high.


Also got my brake pedal sorted. It was too long, and too close to the clutch pedal. So I removed it, heated it up, and got it bent a bit more:



I shortened it by an inch or so, cut a piece out, butted the pedal back up, and seam welded it both sides. Ground one side down completely, and then took the cut out piece and added it as a sort of strengthening plate to brace the pedal over where it was welded. It was plenty strong, but it was just butt welded together, and being such an important piece of the car, I decided it was worth making it way stronger than needed, just for peace of mind.



Once it was cooled I gave it a coat of primer and then gloss black, almost looks OEM:



Naturally I had to strength test it, so I gave it some hefty hits with the lump hammer, very scientific as always, and it isn't going anywhere. Happy with how it has turned out, and it now matches the height of the throttle pedal perfectly and is in a much better position between the clutch and throttle.


Got a few other bits sorted out this weekend as well, got the loom mounted under the car, tucked up where it needs to be, with some additional insulation wrapped around it. Also added some extra wire length to the speaker wiring so I can place them wherever is convenient, and got the heater fan wiring extended and routed into the bay, ready for my heater box build I'll be doing next week. Also checked over a few extra plugs and lengths of wiring, and got a few of them cut off that aren't needed, which made it a bit less untidy, particularly on the passenger side. I've got one of the door switches wired in now, just need to do the other one. And finally I got my instrument light earth permanently mounted, and they work perfectly when lights are turned on, I just need to replace the cluster lighting to something with better light output.

So, progress!

Turned my attention to the engine last night. I looked up an EGR blanking kit for the VVT engine, and like that classic Clarkson scene I said "I'm not paying 13 quid".

So I just made a little blanking plate for the intake manifold out of some scrap ally I had lying around, and lopped the EGR bung off the exhaust manifold and welded the hole up.




Hardly a professional product, but I bolted it on with a little sealant and it does the same job. It's also totally hidden so I really don't care what it looks like.


Then I got the engine mounts bolted back to the engine, removed the original clutch spiral hard line, got a couple of other things sorted on it, and got it on the crane. My mate gave me a hand lowering it into the bay, and now it's in (hopefully for the last time!)



The good news is, after removing the original cut hard line from the clutch master, it fits with ease!




Ok it looks quite tight here, but there's actually a fair amount of room, can definitely get a hand and a brake spanner in there to get a braided clutch line on for sure. I'm going to buy one with an angled end piece on, just to make it a little bit easier, but no dramas at all, this master cylinder fits. Thank god.

The loom is a little tight annoyingly, the TPS, IACV valve, and a couple of other plugs don't quite reach. I have pulled it through the firewall as much as I can (the rubber bung now needs to be cut and moved back a way to re-fit into the firewall. A little annoying, but I think I need to extend maybe 3 plugs tops and the engine will all be able to be plugged in.

My biggest headache is the exhaust manifold, now the routing under the car will be fine I think, lots of room, no issues. But cylinder 2 hits the engine mount due to the way the mounts are on the subframe, so we're going to need to modify the manifold a fair bit to get it to fit. I need to look at options here, but it should be something we can sort out without a huge amount of problems. I've also ordered some exhaust bits, new mid silencer, couple of reducer pipes, backbox etc, so that'll be sorted in the next couple of weeks, I'm just cobbling together a system from various parts. Couldn't be bothered to pay 200 odd quid for a system that I would want to cut for a new backbox style anyway.

True, and it turns out it wasn't an issue re: the engine mount!

Got original axle bend and backbox off this evening. They were in pretty terrible condition. I managed to get the midpipe and axle bend section sorted as well.

I cut off the original silencer and re-used the bend, it's a very specific shape and the pipe had no holes and was perfectly usable, it was just a bit rusty. Got my new silencer welded to it and painted the bend with VHT manifold paint, just to make it last a bit longer and not rust out immediately. Welded the hanger brace onto the new silencer like the original was, all fits quite well.

The original basically fell apart when I cut and pulled the pipe out of it. Also the backbox in the background was pretty horrendous too!



When this was done I got those bits roughly sleeved together and mounted, I'll sort the backbox section when the bullet silencer turns up this week.

After this I got a few bits sorted on the engine, moved the bung for the engine loom down to the firewall cut, got a few plugs extended, and plugged the MAF and original intake in. I'll probably change the intake, but this was just for a first start.



I chucked 5l of fuel in the tank, temporarily attached the fuel hard line to the engine, and attached the engine earth to the body. Gave everything a once over and then just went for it.



It runs! It actually runs, starts fine, and revs like it should. I'm so pleased, this is a massive milestone.

A few bits to sort, my fuel feed into the fuel filter is only attached with a hose clip, the others are nearly all proper jubilees and are perfect, but that one leaks pretty badly into the boot. So I'll get some more decent jubilees and get that changed over. None of the fuel lines popped off though, I turned the key to prime the rail a few times and that's the only issue really. My T piece and fuel return seem to be working as they should, the returnless line to the front of the car seems all good. The car was struggling to idle, but I think it's the fuel line not being able to pressurise properly due to the leak, I'll sort that and try again.

The oil pressure warning light works too, and extinguishes when the engine has started. Fuel gauge appears to work as well, may be over-reading a bit, I'll need to check that.

All in all great progress tonight and so excited to get the last few bits done on the engine.

Thanks mate, yeah it's a great feeling to see it fire up!

Hahaha, that car was running a little rich at that time yeah. And no, this smells of that pure fuel smell, not even fumes, just raw fuel. It evaporated pretty quickly. Luckily no carpet in the boot yet so no material got soaked.