andy

Thats a fantastic colour for a saloon.

Three people have signed up to say they are doing Billing 2016. so far. Can someone else (who's going) click on the widget I've added to John's post - or go to the calendar and say they're coming so I can see if the new widget works?!

I've updated the event calendar to have a heading, location etc.. Remember it's the 35th, so please use the new RSVP feature! So there is the event in calendar, and then a chat thread - no sign-up thread needed anymore. Also. Any event can have a review and galleries added to it once you RSVP. Only members can RSVP (at lease if I've got the permissions right!)

I'll be there. 35th and all. With yellow one.

That thread is inspiring!! I don't know anyone who made their own aircon! Well done. How good is it 3 years later?

Gabriel - Brett is heading to Brazil soon! Can you help him bring home my glass?!! Now THAT would be a story...

3-Speed Automatic 1st 2.48 2nd 1.6 3rd 1.0 1300 Early 4 Speed: 1st 3.636 2nd 2.211 3rd 1.429 4th 0.969 Final Drive Gear 4.18 to 1 1600 Early 4 Speed: 1st 3.545 2nd 2.158 3rd 1.370 4th 0.971 Final Drive Gear 3.74 to 1 1600 Early 5 Speed SRi 1st 3.42 2nd 1.95 3rd 1.28 4th 0.89 5th 0.71 Final Drive 3.47 to 1 Mid Spec SRi 1800i 1st 3.42 2nd 2.16 3rd 1.48 4th 1.12 5th 0.89 Final Drive 3.94 to 1 Late Spec 2.0 SRi's 1st 3.4 2nd 2.2 3rd 1.5 4th 1.1 5th 0.89 Final Drive 3.55 to 1 Often used others: F20 1st 3.55 2nd 2.16 3rd 1.48 4th 1.13 5th 0.89 Final Drive 3.55 to 1 F28 1st 3.57 2nd 2.16 3rd 1.45 4th 1.10 5th 0.89 6th 0.74 Final drive ratio: 3.72:1 (front) Feel free to add new data and box codes for other models and I will flesh-out the data above. This is just a start.

The idea of this mod is to give you better motorway cruising by fitting a WR 5th gear while keeping the decent acceleration of a CR 1st - 4th. You could just go all fancy like Andy and fit an F28 but this is cheaper and gives you lower revs in 5th than the F28 in 6th. I'm fitting a WR gear to my F20 but its the same procedure if you want to fit an F16WR 5th into your F16CR or if your fitting an F20 gear cluster into your F16 housing this is a worthwhile mod. F16s all share the same selector forks so swapping between them is easy. If your fitting an F20 cluster its easier to use an F18WR 5th as the selector forks are the same between the F18 and F20 but not with the F16 If you dont feel confident taking your gearbox apart the please dont start. This is fairly simple to do but its still the inside of a gearbox 1- Remove the end cover of the box. This is the inner ring of 11/13mm bolts 2- now looking at the gears you need to: Remove the two circlips arrowed in GREEN Remove the two 5.5mm allen bolts that are arrowed in YELLOW The left hand gear can now be removed by gently prying it from behind with a screwdriver. It is in a few parts so keep hold of it as you pull it off keeping the selector fork with it and being very carefull not to let the two bronze bushes (circled in RED) fall out. 3- Removing the left hand gear requires a puller but it does just slide off once the circlip is removed. This is what your left with. Be gentle with it and keep it absolutely clean Removing the F20 one is exactly the same and refitting is the opposite. If your doing this with the box still in the car jack up the passenger side only so you don't loose gear oil.

This is a basic how-to on converting to rear disc brakes using mk3 cav or astra hubs. This is a very simple swap and is very worthwhile since the disc setup brings both better braking and easier maintenance. Now if your thinking of doing this I assume you can remove the beam yourself so im not going through that. The rear brakes will need to be bled afterward and there is a small bit of welding needed on the handbrake adjuster. The easiest way to do it it to get your hands on a complete mk3 cav rear beam complete. This just bolts straight on without any modification leaving you with only the handbrake cable to sort. If however you can't get one of those but can get the disc hubs all is not lost, you can use your mk2 beam. If for have early NON ABS hubs they will fit straight onto the mk2 beam. If you have ABS hubs it goes as follows Horrible drums and off Now when you compare the ABS hub with what you have taken off the problem becomes obvious Old one New one with stupid massive abs sensor The hole in the beam is too small so to get the hub to fit it has to be opened up to 61mm. There are a few ways to do this I used one of these with a carbide tip Hole marked up to be widened And done Then it all fits together Brake line If you have mk3 disc setup ones they fit straight on but if you dont you basically have two options. 1- replace the line with some copper or nickel brake line. If you dont have the tools to do this yourself most motor factors will make it up if you give them a length (bending a bit of thick wire into the right shape is a good way to get the right length) 2- bend the old drum pipe to reach the caliper. This works OK but IMO a new pipe is the way to go. Ill be making up a new pipe for mine but just to prove that the drum one will fit Handbrake This has to be done no matter what beam your fitting. You will need to get a pair of mk3 cav disc handbrake cables which fit directly onto either beam. The problem is that mk3 cav cables are longer so you need to loose the slack. The easiest way to do this is to get this little bugger (the adjuster used on both 84-88 mk2s and ALL mk3 cavs) The adjuster is 140mm long overall and by making it shorter you loose the extra slack on the cable. You need to cut a bit out of it (about 25mm) so you end up with it being 115mm long. Take the width of your grinding disc into account, it needs to end up being 115mm long or you wont get the ends of the cable into it. And weld it back together This is fitted as it would normally be and the mk3 disc brake cable will now fit the car perfectly. Once its all bolted back up and the system is bled your good to go. You can also use larger Vectra or Saab 9-3 rear disc brakes if you want. Its a cheap 5 stud conversion too. Backplate needs redrilling though.. Edited 7 Aug 2014 by Frisco

This is a basic how-to on removing the internals from an F16/F20 so you can swap the housings over to allow you to keep your F16 housing. 1 Remove the gear selector turret by removing the four 11mm bolts at the base and giving it a tug and a wiggle. Disconnecting the gear linkage can make this easier, if you do this make sure you split as in the pic below not by undoing the bolt on the shaft to save you having to reset the selector. 2 Next remove the reverse light switch. This isnt strictly necessary but can make life easier and it just screws out. 3 Undo the ring of 13mm bolts on the end casing of the box. There are two rings of bolts, the inner one is for the 5th gear cover plate and the outer is for the gear cluster. Its the outer one you want. (that blue thing at the bottom is my finger) Once thats done the gear cluster will simply pull out. 4 Remove both drive shafts. (if your attempting this i take it you know how to remove drive shafts ;D) 5 Now the difficult bit. You need to remove the big diff preload nut (castle nut) These are set by weight at the factory so you need to mark its position and count the number of turns it takes to remove as it needs to be put back in the same place. Remove the locator which is a 10mm bolt. Then you need to spin the nut out. Some people use a hammer and chisel but i am not that way inclined so i made this. Which fits like this and allowed the use of a 30mm spanner. Castle nut out. These are bugger tight so have your breakfast before you start. 6 Remove the drivers side diff bearing by removing the 5 bolts and prying it out. This takes a lot of prying and some swearing. 7 Once you have that off you remove the bottom diff plate (gearbox sump) Have a bucket as there will be oil in it. The diff should fall out now so if the box is still in the car don't have your head under the hole. Thats all of it apart. Both F16 and F20 are the same to dismantle. Reassembly is just the reverse except for the diff which is covered below 8 The F20 diff is slightly too wide to fit into the F16 housing and catches on the ends So it get it in the edges of the housing need to be relieved slightly on both sides. This is done with a sanding disc covered in wax so to stop the dust getting into your gearbox. Give the inside of the box a good clean afterwards, needless to say filings on the inside of the gearbox isn't a good idea. Pay attention to the setting of the diff preload nut, it doesn't have to be 100% perfect but as close as you can get. Replace all seals and gaskets. Refill with good quality 75-80W oil. Job done Edited 7 Aug 2014 by Frisco

Thanks Gabriel! I'm sure we can find a way for you to honorarily put your car in the garage properly, given you are too far away to actually attend a meeting! So I have a question.. what components did you use for the air conditioning system? Was it original Monza parts, or did you use 3rd party system? I ask because my Monza has compressor and condensor still inthe engine bay, but nothing else!!

To extend Brett's reply - there was never a factory digidash for teh mk2 - however there was an early "fuel computer option" and some dealers did install and fit dashes to cavalier stock if a sale depended on it. At least one GM management car we knew of had a digidash from dealership.

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Images from the article that we took while we were out there are at the bottom of the transcription that follows.Two years ago, an article in TV proudly told us "You have to go to Europe next year. Trust us on this — it’s brilliant fun and once you’ve been, you’ll want to go back again and again.." This proved to be a prophecy well worth fulfilling. At Billing for the past couple of years we've been flyered by the Manta club of Hageland in Belgium with a view to us attending their bi-annual Manta and Ascona meeting in Aarschot. We made our final preparations at Billing, even managing to convince another couple of cars from our not insubstantial stand to tag along too. This year, the Belgium event fell on the 24th - 26th of July; just two weeks after the VBOA's annual GM extravaganza. Many of those attending managed to get a few days off work around the said weekend so that we could both extend the convoy on the way to the event and have some recovery time afterwards. With club members coming from as far north as Newcastle, as far west as Somerset (and even Ireland!), Thursday the 23rd was a day of meeting up with all the fun of a convoy until everyone had been collected en route. At the last stop before the run through to Kent, each car was furnished with a walkie-talkie by the club. These proved to be an inspired addition to any convoy. The ability to communicate, organise and mercilessly take the piss out of each other on the fly was fantastic. It was then off to Dover for dinner and beer before the 6am crossing to Dunkerque on the Friday morning. Rain and an orange tinted darkness greeted us from the windows of the Travelodge, but mercifully enough, it soon brightened up. At around five-thirty am, six Mk2 Cavaliers filled with camping gear and bleary-eyed but excitable car nuts boarded the ferry. This was a welcome opportunity for Paul to once again replenish his oil reserves. It was a surprise for everyone to see anything at all on the bottom of his valver's dipstick after the blue plumes and acrid spray we'd been treated to on the way to Dover! He had however come prepared; with about four gallons of Texas gold on board to keep on top of the situation. Once off the ferry, we had to get to grips with driving on the opposite side of the road. Although the majority of us had European driving experience (and the club covering the "Staples to Naples" banger rally in 2006 with TV) nothing really prepares you for crazy priorities at junctions and the French police. Our first planned stop was a much hyped trip via the historic beaches of Dunkerque which seemingly promised to be an epic photo opportunity. After close to an hour of driving, and believing we were nearing our destination, we arrived on a patch of ground next to a river, only to realise we could still the the ferry not too far in the distance! We pressed on, and having finally found a side road allowing us down to the front, we made it to the beaches. Photo opportunities were sadly limited due to various dreary bits of 1970's concrete street furniture, and in modern times these beaches don't really exude the sense of history we may have been expecting. In fact the scene more closely resembled Blackpool seafront than the setting of some of the biggest battles in our history. Our presence had not escaped the attention of the local constabulary either. A marked car was followed by several more discrete offerings from the Gendarme which proceeded to circle the block casting a dark Gaelic shadow over our first stop making us feel particularly welcome. We decided to move on towards Belgium. The run between France and Belgium was punctuated with fuel/call of nature stops, photo and video opportunities and a short but torrential downpour which left us wondering if Jonny had led us back to the channel! Motorway services in Belgium soon dashed any hope of cheaper fuel abroad. At over €1.30 per litre, even allowing for the exchange rate, it was still cheaper back home. The food there left something to be desired too, but hey, neither Belgium nor motorway services were ever known for their culinary delights. As we neared the shows' location, we learnt that Jonny's (trust me I'm a lorry driver) directions extended only as far as the nearest motorway exit. Thankfully Ivan's hawk-like vision drew attention to the first of some (tiny) yellow signs on lampposts bearing the word "Manta", and we managed to find the show site. It was around mid afternoon by the time we rolled in, and there were only a few Mantas over in one corner and no Asconas whatsoever - let alone any of the C variety. First impressions ranged from " Where is everyone? " through to " Is this the right place?! ". Happily though, we were fairly early to arrive in the scheme of things and a steady flow of cars soon began to fill the site. Local facilities were good, with two supermarkets within a five minute walk providing well priced food and more importantly; Beer (big shout to the Kaiser Chiefs, you know who you are!). Facilities on the camp site were "limited" with communal toilets! The seven am toilet visit can be challenging enough for a man without standing two feet from twenty or so women who are queueing for the two available cubicles. And the inmates at Parkhurst would have thought twice about the showers. The weather was more than kind to us. The few brief rain showers we had really did nothing to dampen anyone's spirits and most of the time we were there it was genuinely hot. By the time the site was full, just about every age and model of Manta and Ascona were represented in both standard and modified forms. Engine conversions were not just limited to GM units either. One Manta A in a particularly striking shade of orange had been very neatly equipped with a straight six BMW M3 engine! Other conversions of note were another Manta A with an XE running a sneakily almost hidden supercharger. At least two of the Manta Bs had been beautifully fitted with 24V Carlton GSi motors too. The usual spread of carbs and throttle bodies were also in evidence, most notably in an outstandingly built Ascona A, finished in a rather individual shade of metallic green. The majority of Ascona Cs (Mk2 Cavaliers) in attendance were on our stand, particularly in modified form. Many of the cars local to the event had lowered suspension and different wheels, but little in the way of engine mods, largely due to extreme rules imposed in Belgium. Our Mk2 Cavaliers therefore drew a lot of interest, especially with the bonnets up! Despite doubting whether Belgium was ready for our little convoy, Leuven was ready for anything. The imposing gothic town hall and surrounding architecture gave little away as to this picturesque town's burgeoning nightlife. Happily our visit also corresponded with some sort of local festival with literally tens of thousands of people cramming the streets to party! This was right up the street of the occupants of our Beer powered support vehicle - the 3.0 Omega Elite driven by Ben Thurston from CJK and Paul from Young's engineering. They may have missed the ferry, the convoy across and most of the show but my god they made up for it in style. At the time of writing it is still uncertain which way the GM board is going to go with it's choice between the Canadian-Russian consortium led by car parts group Magna International and investment group RHJ International. With the former indicating it may well close key European manufacturing locations with the loss of 11,600 jobs. At such a watershed moment over the future of the former GM Europe in general and with the loss of Saab already in the bag it seemed almost pertinent that our Cavalier tour took a detour from our road trip back to port to visit the site that was actually the birthplace of the majority of the Cavaliers in convoy, (the alternative slightly less well bolted together plant of choice was Luton - where all the cars seem slightly more prone to rust from too). From some distance the GM presence looms large, emblazoned on chemical towers and buildings across the industrial landscape. It was impossible not to notice how much one company had impacted a geographic area to such a vast extent. After getting the shots that we wanted we found ourselves on six lanes of pristine yet desolate tarmac running from the plant to the edge of the industrial district. We had casually planned a couple of shots of the cars in formation, but of course, owing to being caught up in our little 'pilgrimage' excitement quickly took over again. The resulting 30 seconds of footage more accurately resembling strip action at the Santa Pod. Everything that we had been through over the weekend culminated in that one shot. It felt like the cars were on home turf for the first time in 25 years and eager to please. Until the Luton built Calibre decided to let the side down. Cut to the end of the clip and there is a moment where the V6's torque can clearly be heard pulling the thread from the gearbox mount. Quick thinking and Keir's big hands made light work of swapping out the bolts from Richie's strut brace to get the car home. So was it all worth it? In short, a wholehearted YES! Some may doubt that a smaller club with a niche outlook and without the resources of some larger clubs could pull off a jaunt to the continent, but this could not be further from the truth. Booking the ferry in advance and being flexible on your crossing time keeps the cost down. Taking two to a car spreads the fuel costs. Eating locally from supermarkets etc keeps those costs to a minimum too. European mapping on your SatNav (including 'safety' cameras) is a must, and walkie-talkies come highly recommended! Our event provided us with a shared experience that none of us shall forget. Perhaps the quote from Dougie's first trip to Belgium does sum it up most effectively; "You have to go to Europe next year. Trust us on this — it’s brilliant fun and once you’ve been, you’ll want to go back again and again.." We are already planning our next adventure. Images from the article that we took while we were out there. Many of which were not included. Many more exist too!

Almost ten years ago now, myself and Dougie (and Dan) took part in a banger rally. We bought a 130 for £100 (well those days are long gone!), and did it up over a couple of months. This trip really set the tone for storming across Europe on a mission, that in part led to us all going on our first EuroTrip as a formal club event in 2009. To celebrate, what follows is a re-print of the Total Vauxhall we produced to mark the event with updated insight (random comments based on hazy recollections of the event..). Enjoy! I shot photos and videos whilst still doing the lions share of the driving with dougie who was writing the whole way. (dan.. well, we love you mate, but dan ate and slept, and did some of the driving..) Here is the magnificent beast that ended up going to Ireland on a back load.. I wonder where it is today. It was a great car! _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Here you can see some of the challenges, views and the other MK2 we convoyed with. At the end of one day (Naples) there was a planned ambush! We knew something was afoot tho, and the SRI130's central locking didn't let us down! Late night convoys through adn over mountains, with some interesting rest stops! (Also the starting point @staples!) To those that donated to cancer research for us - I'm still seriously chuffed today that we raised a grand and had fun doing it. I'm proud to know such a cool bunch of people. Cancer research might be a 'mainstream' charity, but it's an evil, viscous condition of which my mother died. In many ways, she's the reason I started this website - Cancer Research UK is our charity of choice. It may be that S2N has gone the way of the dodo. Regardless, here's a link to the site on the rally itself: Staples2Naples website. Here's a link to it on the wayback machine that should still work: S2N on Wayback You can pretty much stop reading here.. but if you really care, you can read the progress diary (cough) from the run up to the event below. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ By means of a bonus. Here is the remnants of our project blog, although I'm unsure where some of the photos went. (I blame dougie for poor photobucket stills) Project Blog 20th June - Dougies got the trackrod ends, now it just needs tracked before the tyres go bald. I can safely conclude that the car is riding much better now not only because we changed the driveshafts (dougie) but because the wheels feel more at one with the road (and society at large) now that we have fitted some new wheel centres that I'd found hiding in my garage! Dan also cleaned up Dougies "spare" drivers seat for his red 130, the existing drivers seat had worn through to the wire frame and felt like you were sat on a bench. The new " brown " one not only compliments the rest of the grey blue interior perfectly, but its probably the best of the lot! __________________________________________________________________________________________ 14th June - Changing the track rod ends didnt go to plan as we were sent the wrong ones at the weekend! - still we changed the oil for what must have been the first time in years, sorted out 4 matching sets of wheel bolts removing the (VW ones in the process) and I found a set of centre caps I'd been saving in my garage that will fit her! I'll upload a pic for comparison soon! _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 8th June - As Dan's Astra needs a clutch, and Dougies GSi has interesting isues Myle is still being driven to Bath and back each day. The fact there is creaking and grinding noises from the front end doesn't seem to put you off when needs must! Hopefully the guys will succumb to my nagging about us getting some little jobs on it done, so I can load it up with 200kgs of bits for our stand at billing this year! Anyways, I've decided that all teams on a banger rally where people usually paint their cars in horific ways needs a 'great' team logo.. here is why me and photoshop should never the two be paired.. from left to right: Dan (I spent most time on), me (need to find better pic!) Dougie - (with hair!!!) Finally, I've ordered the stickers for the rear window and bonnet, which are a modified version of the club keyring I designed. I hope Dougie & Dan can get some decent total vauxhall ones, as well as ones from other sponsors. Time to get the word out about our mission. No pristine low milage Cav GL for us, oh no! A Battered SRi130 is only way to travel! _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 29th May - Fitted my mk3 cavs old wheels, got rid of the judder, had a good look round the car, plenty to get done! Must add that these pics were taken at lockups, not my house, washing machine or pesky cat gaddamit!! _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 9th May, bought for £100 - has allready had indicators, trim, K&N, and put out a wanted list of a great many parts!