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Yet again, excellent service from the boys in yellow.. Turns out the eBay condenser was knackered - 3 months after fitting! Thankfully the patrolman delved about in his van and found an old condenser with 'made in England' stamped into it... Some prising later and it was snug in its new home and I was on my way!
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It's not been easy for the Cav, I've had no time to pay it any more attention than getting in and out of it, I've not even had a chance to dust the dash!
It's got a slight miss at low throttle which can only really be vac leak or a dodgy carb, as well as some nasty noises coming from the suspension at the front. With the Easter holidays coming up for us education type, I've decided to dedicate some time to the old girl, starting with (I say this through fear of being chucked out of Retro Rides) lifting the sucker!!
Dragging it's poor belly over every speed bump, undulating road surface and particularly-proud cat's eyes has become too much for my mechanical empathy glands to take! My back is also ready for some comfort - went from a Jag to this remember!? I hope you all understand and my place in the parish is safe??!
I've ordered a set of -55mm springs and a spanking pair of black and silver pressed ally plates so that the lift isn't completely aesthetically disappointing!
I'm also going to get some black paint on the chrome bits that have previously been painted but are becoming chipped and some stone chip to replace the under seal that is now missing underneath following the amount of time it spends grinding the asphalt!
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Apr 10, 2014 22:08:18 GMT
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Well, I was supposed to be working on an assignment but decided as the weather was so nice I'd spend a couple of hours on the Cav. First job, cleaned up interior and painted a few bits and bobs inside to tidy her up At some point someone has painted all the brightwork Black which looks cool but is all chipped and flakey so I spent a bit of time touching it up. Stuck a couple of coats of wax on it too , figured it's gonna be lifted soon so I'll get some pics of it gleaming and hard slammed
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luckygti
Posted a lot
I need to try harder!
Posts: 4,912
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Apr 10, 2014 22:14:32 GMT
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Looking good, lifting seems like a sensible option (to me!) and I don't think it will look any less cool.
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Apr 10, 2014 22:15:01 GMT
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Looking good, lifting seems like a sensible option (to me!) and I don't think it will look any less cool. It's definitely sensible, I stayed at a mates in Anfield on Tuesday and the speed bumps were a major problem, then I hit a grid full on with the cross member - it just conpletely takes the the driving enjoyment away. I don't get that "I'm gonna go for a blast" feeling, so I'll sacrifice the mega lows for the sake of motoring enjoyment!
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Lift it just a tad and you'll have a far more usable, but still drop dead gorgeous motor...!!! That is a gem...
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,410
Club RR Member Number: 52
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Apr 11, 2014 19:26:13 GMT
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I'm not against you lifting it. As you say it makes it far more enjoyable in the long run. My daily is lowered on collies and I ended up raising it cos I was getting sick of it so low.
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Apr 11, 2014 19:51:20 GMT
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Very nice car lovely
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Dude, where's my car?
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Apr 11, 2014 21:20:19 GMT
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A bit of a lift will be a good thing, i've had a few daily's that are just way too low for there own good that you end up hating the thought of driving it which defeats the purpose of having retro daily.
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timasorus
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 433
Club RR Member Number: 90
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Jul 21, 2014 22:05:29 GMT
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Have you had any issues with the upper arm hitting the chassis leg? I'm fitting mini shocks in a few days after modding the bump stops because one of my cones cracked and pushed the rubber up into the cone.
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banditos ahoy!
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Don't worry Tim, for the upper arm to hit the chassis leg the front wheel would have to be higher up than the bonnet!
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'77 Vauxhall Cavalier coupe 1.9 GLS - the long term project '81 Opel Senator 3.0S '81 Opel Senator 3.0CD '82 Opel Manta SRB coupe '90 Vauxhall Cavalier SRi '93 Vauxhall Senator 24V '93 Lancia Thema 16V Turbo '94 Vauxhall Carlton Diamond
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Jul 22, 2014 11:48:31 GMT
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Beautiful car Daveyboy20 - looks class that low!
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Jul 22, 2014 12:10:28 GMT
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Love this. Daily driver hero *n
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Top grammar tips! Bought = purchased. Brought = relocated Lose = misplace/opposite of win. Loose = your mum
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Well, I've been piling the miles on the Cav, and she's been ace! Not updated for a while so bear with me. First things first! I couldn't stand the thought of making it visually less appealing (ie. raising the suspension) without offsetting it slightly with something cool.
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So, the day of raising the suspension, if I remember correctly, the springs are -3".. or -2", I can't remember! Took the plates off in preparation for the new ones and took one last pic of it slammed on the deck. The springs came unlabeled - a pair of short and a pair of long. I presumed that the long ones would be the rears and so began the job of swapping them out. All the components came apart fine, didn't use spring compressors as I couldn't fit them in with the arms so just lowered it down on the hydraulic jack wincing a little bit, all good! It soon became obvious that my guess as to which pair of springs went where was 100% incorrect... I'll admit, it looked kinda cool. But off they came....
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Clicked on this because I saw you were building it (I don't get the chance to check all the readers rides threads)... was not disappointed .. top work.
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Cheers mate! You may be disappointed with new ride height though.. Shiny springsies So, with the fronts on the front and the rears on the rear it looked something like this.. As expected, it doesn't look as badass. However, it does bring driving pleasure once again, and now they've settled a bit lower still, it looks purposefully low. It handles better, rides better, gets over speed bumps and doesn't try and rip it's off on every grid! I no longer clench every 2 minutes of driving and I can look ahead at the road instead of 3 feet in front to avoid abandoned crisp packets! Face off:
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I'm also pleased to bring the news that she passed the MoT last week, jobs a goodun! Only problem I've had since the AA helped get me home is the home brew exhaust springing a couple of leaks pre MoT. Sounded hilarious in the tunnel though Due to not having a welder at the moment, I wire brushed the holes till they were shiny around the edges, dented it with a hammer, layed a small piece of wire mesh over them and chemical metaled (is that a verb?)them in place. Been fine and dandy since. Oh, and I believe I am now one of what can only be a tiny percentage of car owners that get to actually witness the 'sun related' dash cracks on their retro actually happen! I was sat in it on a hot day waiting for the missus and I glanced at the dash, just as I heard a surprisingly load 'pop'. The dash only went and split along the top of the heater vents before my very eyes! I felt blessed and curse word off all in one emotion.
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Jul 23, 2014 12:03:39 GMT
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Lovely MK1 Cavalier, I have a yellow 1978 GL with a thread on here.
I much prefer the new ride height on it I have to admit. I think it looks much better now.
I don't think your instrument cluster is from a GL. It looks more like it's from a sport hatch. I can show you my GL clocks if you like. They're not as fancy as yours though.
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Twitter @w0rd5w0rth
1957 Ford Prefect 1965 Austin 1100 4 door 1968 Fiat 500L 1969 Ford Escort Super 1971 Vauxhall Viscount 1974 MGB GT 1978 Vauxhall Cavalier GL 1981 Ford Capri GL 1982 Ford Cortina Crusader 1985 Vauxhall Cavalier L 1987 Austin Maestro City 500 1987 Ford Fiesta 1.1L 1988 Volvo 240GL 1989 Ford Sierra Cosworth 1991 Fiat 126 BIS 1993 BMW 740i 1997 BMW M3 Evo 1998 Ford Transit Beavertail 2002 MINI Cooper S
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