1983 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL (C20xe + F16)

[redexstyle]

Hey guys.

Well I think it's time for me start my story and progress thread.

So my story started way back when:

forum.retro-rides.org/thread/185741/1982-vauxhall-cavalier-1-6gl

1983 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL











I ended up having to sell it as I'd just bought my first house and needed the cash. Luckily, I sold it to a mate who has restored the paintwork and is now looking lush. Plenty of regrets selling it after seeing it now.

So fast forward to July 2018 where I saw this up for sale and after a chat, I bought it and it transported from Bridgend to Banbury. A tidy 1.6L in vomit inducing Reed Green. 62k on the clock, in semi decent condition bar the rotting lower doors. Came with no MOT due to brakes not working. However, I wanted it.

A few odds and sods pictures from when I bought it to now. Not a lot has been done just because I couldn't decide how to tackle it haha.

1983 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L













So that's the long term project to basically factory restoration.

This was then purchased as a breaker for spare parts:

forum.retro-rides.org/thread/207423/vauxhall-cavalier-saloon-breaking-scrapped

1983 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.3L

Now long gone.















Which now brings me to the latest purchase. A chance spot on Facebook, led to a conversation and a 7 hour round trip from Banbury to Pickering and back.

82k on the clock in a lovely GL spec with velour seats and a factory sunroof. However, there was another reason for buying it.....

1983 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL

Few things to sort: new wheels and tyres, full service, new discs and pads all round, new exhaust and some lowering.









Have to say this has not skipped a beat, especially on the 220 mile trip back from picking it up. The C20xe paired with the F16 box gives it great train strength pull in 2nd and 3rd.

So that's where I am. Hopefully not too confusing. Hoping to be at RR Gathering soon. It's quite clear I have some fetish for pre-facelift 1983 Y Cavalier saloons.

First changes done today. Keeping the retro/sleeper look with a retro backflash and the obligatory AA grill badge.





Couple of comparison photos over time lol.





Phew, that was a mission haha.

[shielsy68]

Love them I had the same green one as yours. Will be lurking

[mat88]

Love these I've got a bit of a soft spot for an old chavalier its first car I can remember as a kid my mum used to drive. She ran it out of oil and killed it so my dad had an engine built by someone who built f2 stock car engines.. went like stink but the rust got better of it and it was sold to give up it's engine... Definitely bookmarked

[vader]

That blue one reminds me of when my eldest brother hired one and took me and another brother to Ryll for the radio one road show (remember those) the Cav was brand new X reg, what was that?1982? My brother was travel sick and threw up all down the side of it.
That red one is a lovely colour

[shampooefficient]

Been watching your topic on PH. Love these cars - my parents had one, long before I existed. A couple of weeks after they sold it, the local police arrived and asked who they'd sold the car to - as it had been used in some sort of ram raid!

[darrenh]

Some 15inch steels and natty wheel trims?

[redexstyle]

Feb 7, 2020 19:33:53 GMT shielsy68 said:

Love them I had the same green one as yours. Will be lurking

Any pictures of your old one? The green one won't be started till I'm happy with the blue one which should be soon lol.

[redexstyle]

Feb 7, 2020 20:13:09 GMT mat88 said:

Love these I've got a bit of a soft spot for an old chavalier its first car I can remember as a kid my mum used to drive. She ran it out of oil and killed it so my dad had an engine built by someone who built f2 stock car engines.. went like stink but the rust got better of it and it was sold to give up it's engine... Definitely bookmarked

Yeh my old man had a black SRi hatch which is probably where my love affair for them came from.

So easy to work on and pretty simple. Plus it still smells of the 80's

[redexstyle]

Feb 8, 2020 8:40:52 GMT vader said:

That blue one reminds me of when my eldest brother hired one and took me and another brother to Ryll for the radio one road show (remember those) the Cav was brand new X reg, what was that?1982? My brother was travel sick and threw up all down the side of it.
That red one is a lovely colour

Yeh 1982 was late X and early Y I think.

The red one is owned by my mate now who has restored it and it looks pukka.

[redexstyle]

Feb 8, 2020 9:19:06 GMT shampooefficient said:

Been watching your topic on PH. Love these cars - my parents had one, long before I existed. A couple of weeks after they sold it, the local police arrived and asked who they'd sold the car to - as it had been used in some sort of ram raid!

I've only posted it here and on PH so at least you'll see the updates somehow lol.

The boot space and train-like pull made it great for robberies lol

[redexstyle]

Feb 9, 2020 10:06:46 GMT darrenh said:

Some 15inch steels and natty wheel trims?

Was thinking about 15" steels with cable tied hubcaps with one missing lol

Maybe as a spare set once I find a decent set.

[redexstyle]

So we all know the original headlight bulbs are weak and candle style.

Decided to upgrade to give me a chance of life while driving at night. So far they seem to hold up well. Bit pricey at £20 but seem decent quality.







On other news, I'm booked in tomorrow morning for a new stainless steel exhaust system. Will be pretty much mocking the current, but just better quality and a bit more noise and rasp but nothing too droney and asbo loud haha.

[retrolegends]

Lovely, so what have you got against hatches, estates and convertibles then? 😂😂😂

[redexstyle]

Feb 12, 2020 20:05:02 GMT retrolegends said:

Lovely, so what have you got against hatches, estates and convertibles then? 😂😂😂

Erm

[redexstyle]

So a few updates.

Decided I wanted some new wheels but wanted to keep them OEM but needed to be 15" to clear the Astra GTE disks.

Settled on the Astra CDX 15's so have them powdercoated in a metallic silver and added some fresh 195/50/15 Toyo TR1's.



Also decided to get the exhaust replaced with a stainless steel Powerflow one which is slightly louder but keeps the redtop rasp at higher revs which is what I was after. The old exhaust was failing with holes and rusted internals.







Currently have a few issues around the welding of the exhaust which I'm currently trying to sort.

Next on the list was to have 60mm lowering springs fitted, tracking and wheel alignment, fresh brake fluid, oil change, oil filter, spark plugs, fuel filter so it runs smoother than before.



Then it was time for it's first outing to Dub 77 at Fargo Village in Coventry.

Quick wash and ready to go.





Thought I'd add some retro window opening grills. Not sure how I feel about them though.



And then a quick pic in the sun from today.



Just can't get over the grin it gives me while driving about.

[darrenh]

love the exhaust, thats just my style, stock looking but upgraded pipes, design and materials

i was sceptical about the wheels until scrolling to the "after" shot, i think it works. i know they have more spokes but its slightly reminiscent of LXi wheels, you know what i mean? facelift mk2s were a bit more bulbous, took the edges off.

[redexstyle]

Mar 13, 2020 18:35:12 GMT darrenh said:

love the exhaust, thats just my style, stock looking but upgraded pipes, design and materials

i was sceptical about the wheels until scrolling to the "after" shot, i think it works. i know they have more spokes but its slightly reminiscent of LXi wheels, you know what i mean? facelift mk2s were a bit more bulbous, took the edges off.

Yeh I agree. Just want it to look standard and unassuming.

The wheels are similar in some ways to the LXi wheels in being a soft spoked wheel.

I just like how the early mark 2's are just so poverty looking with the bare minimum lol.

[jcreber]

Love a Cavalier! These used to be everywhere!

Loving the subtle look with Oem + wheels on the blue car.

Keep up the great work and posts!

[redexstyle]

So it's been a few months since I've updated but being at home more during this time has allowed me to get a fair few bits done.

The first issue I noticed when I happened to be under the car was a load of CV grease on the inside of the driver front wheel.





Turns out the boots were ok but the driver side CV joint had parts break off so I had both driver and passenger CV joints and boots changed as it makes sense to have them done in pairs. Car feels a lot better to drive now and I also replaced the droplinks with new GM replacements.



Looking tidy again.

The next problem was that the car has always sat a bit higher on the driver side at the rear despite having new springs fitted so it was time to investigate.





The problem took two minutes to find and two minutes to sort. The spring tophat seat should be like this:



However, for some reason, the driver side was like this:



Rather than replacing the top hat, a socket had been welded on and the rubber that would sit on the tophat wasn't wide enough so sat 10mm higher than where it needed to be. So slight modification required and the problem sorted.



Next, the indicator and wiper column stalks were looking tired so I swapped them with a newer pair I had. Amazing what small differences can do.









So the next thing was that I wanted to uprate the original hoses to silicon ones. So I removed a few of them and sent them off to Roose Motorsport to have replacements made. Decided to keep them black to keep it looking tidy. Have to say the quality is brilliant and they were very accomodating with my requests.



At the same time I tidied up the original fan and bought a new radiator.



Added a silicon intake hose and also changed the K&N filter to a Pipercross one.





Next it felt like the old key was going to fall apart and I had no spare so bought some blanks and had new keys cut.



Changed the steering wheel from a GL to a CDI one. Felt stronger and firmer than the original one.





Piece of cake 5 minute job.

As the disks and pads that were on the car still had plenty of life in them, I thought I'd give them a little freshen up. My OCD also replaced the disk retaining screws as they were all different lol.





Next up was a few changes under the bonnet. New strut brace, replaced the SFI box with a powercap and hose and it felt like it was starting to piece together.









I went on a spirited drive one evening and all of a sudden I could see steam coming out of the bonnet and the temperature gauge was sitting a lot higher than it was supposed to. Panic set in so I nursed it home, luckily I wasn't too far.



Went to the garage and turns out there was a massive airlock in the cooling system so had that rectified and a new lower temperature radiator fan switch. The plan will be to have a manual override switch fitted so it will work normally then I can flick the switch if I want it running before temperature is reached.

I've always loved single wiper conversions but with ones for the mark2 Cavalier being non existent now, I made a poor mans version. The plan will be to modify my spare linkage to remove the driver side spindle. Luckily I had managed to get hold of a single wiper conversion arm so it looked right.



And finally, a pic from the other day showing both Cav's topping up their tan.

[rblote]

Lovely car. Not so sure about your wiper but then who cares what I think. Your car, your fun. Good for making it your own.