1988 Mk2 Cavalier 1.8GLi

[sleag40]

Its been all go at the shed today, sadly not all Cavalier based, but still got a bit done. The Mrs' car was in first for its annual oil,fuel and air filter service - followed by my van, which recieved new shocks and bottom ball joints. The remainder of the day was spent stripping the paint off the last door. No time was found for this during the week, but the whole door was done today to catch up.



Just need to finish the window frame, and I can get it epoxy primed tomorrow.

[victorbox]

Great work on those doors. All your work is top notch as with the Mk1 Cavalier. At £280 each on eBay at the moment for new old stock I'm sure you'll think it's worth it!  tinyurl.com/y272ot8g and tinyurl.com/yyybz69a

[sleag40]

Inside of the door was primed on Sunday.



It took a while to fully cure, so I didn't get to do the other side until yesterday.



With all four doors stripped and primed now, theres just the bonnet and spoiler left to prepare for bodywork now. As the weather is set to be colder for the foreseeable, I reckon now would be a good time to make a start stripping the paint off the tailgate spoiler. It has been painted over the factory finish, and there is crazing in certain places, so the only way to make it right again is to take it all off.

I've tried a patch sanding the majority off then finishing up rubbing it with thinners on a cloth - it worked well, but was incredibly time consuming. I'm gonna see if I can get hold of some decent paint stripper to try and speed it up a bit.

[sleag40]

As seems to be the norm, commercially available paint strippers don't have much effect on actual paint. Back to sanding and thinners it is then.

[sleag40]

The thinners approach was sped up considerably by using a scotch pad with it instead of a cloth.



It was still a pretty grim way to spend an afternoon.

[sleag40]

Far too cold to be painting anything at present, so made a start on cleaning the inside of the bonnet.



Theres no rust at all inside, so I'll just remove the blue paint and filth, leaving the e Coat in place like on the bulkhead.

[sleag40]

Next to no time has been available for a while, just enough to finish up cleaning the inside of this.



With the potential for warmer weather on the cards, I may even get some primer on it in the next few days.

[sleag40]

Got a little done on Sunday,



And a bit more today,



I'll hopefully get it all cleaned back and primed by the time the weekend has ended.

[Granadamk2]

Excellent work.

[sleag40]

Finally got round to finishing the stripping back.



And found a bit of time to get some primer splashed on today.



In other news, I was given these wheel trims the other day.



They're 14" though - probably off a Carlton. If anyone needs a set, they are available FOC.

[hairdoo]

Been quietly following this since the start and I have to say what an epic save on one of the most popular yet little saved cars of the 80s. Those wheel trims I'm sure are for a mk2 astra Sri, I admit if I'm wrong. Possibly seen on various Vauxhall special editions too.

[Archie01]

They are Cavalier SRi 14 inch trims, 5 pairs of slots. I think the GL had very similar 13 inch trims but with 6 pairs of slots

[75swb]

No idea how I missed this one but 22 pages caught up on this afternoon! What a great read and a great restoration, cracking work! Will you be painting it yourself I assume? Also how's the compressor? I keep looking at those hyundai ones as they seem reasonably priced for Nz (3hp 100L belt drive for ~350 quid) but don't know anyone who's got one!

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

The bare metal on that bonnet is a thing of beauty.

[sleag40]

Dec 21, 2020 6:19:47 GMT 75swb said:

No idea how I missed this one but 22 pages caught up on this afternoon! What a great read and a great restoration, cracking work! Will you be painting it yourself I assume? Also how's the compressor? I keep looking at those hyundai ones as they seem reasonably priced for Nz (3hp 100L belt drive for ~350 quid) but don't know anyone who's got one!

Many thanks! As its having a metallic finish, I'll be entrusting a proper painter to do the top coats - I don't believe my spraying skills are up to making a decent job of it! The compressor seems right enough - so far no shortcomings have become apparent.

Last bit of reasonable air temperature for the foreseeable today, so took the opportunity to prime the underside of the bonnet.



Here ends the "bare metal and epoxy primer" chapter. The "filler, rubbing and dust" chapter will begin when the weather warms up at some point.

[darrenh]

those trims used on early mk2 astra 1.8 gte too

[sleag40]

Not been at this for a few weeks for a variety of reasons. The most recent reason was the inability to get to the shed due to flooded roads.

Got the tyres off - it's still too cold to do any body work stuff, and there isn't a right lot left to do apart from that.



I had an exploratory session with power tools to ascertain the general condition, and was pleased by the face of the wheel.



The back was not quite as pleasing.



I duly got stuck in with the wire wheel stuff.



Not too bad at all - they're all very straight too. If I can afford it I'll get them all blasted and Powder coated.

[novamadash]

This is gonna be the cleanest cavalier in existence love how much effort your putting in great work.

[sleag40]

The inside of the wheel cleaned up pretty well too.



If I don't have the wedge to get these powdered, I could always do them in POR15 - I'll have to see what's left in the kitty after the bills have been paid.

[sleag40]

Got another one cleaned today (31st Jan)



Costs have dictated that POR15 will be used on these, just got to get the other two done and I can put the wire wheel stuff away. (Hopefully for considerable time!)



I'll probably have to paint these in the kitchen as it's a bit too cold in the shed.