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Coming back to the MK2 fold ( WITH PICTURES)

Galahad

By Galahad
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Galahad Newbie

Galahad

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Hello, new to this forum, but not to MK2 Cavaliers.

Used to have quite a few back in 2000-2002 before I moved onto MK3 GSi's and Turbos.

D309JKK was my favourite, nice GL 1.6 5 speed that I swapped for 4 old mobile fones and £60, wish i'd never gotten rid of it, but shes long gone now :(

Cut my mechanical teeth on MK2's, would get them for nothing when I lived in Bristol, make a good one out of a pair and sell them on.  Didn't care how old they were, even saved an X reg SR which being a 4 speed was quite a bit quicker than my 1.6!

On Thursday I goto Pembroke Docks in South Wales to pick up my new charge, a B reg 1.6 hatchback.

Going to need some work on it, needs the passenger side wing and door replacing.  Wing is on order already, got a mate than can spray cheaply and good so subject to getting the door sorted, she 'should' be looking her best again in two weeks time.

Also picking up a Cavalier Turbo 4x4 interior for it on the way back on Thursday, old MK2 seats get a bit saggy after a while.  Not much else will be touched in the interior as I want to keep it as standardish as possible.

The engine will be going in the near future, i've got a 2.5 V6 from a Calibra sat in my unit, after driving a 3.0 V6 Astra MK3 for a while, I know I will miss the power.

Going to stick on a set of either SRi original MK2 Alloys (I know, finding them will be tricky!) or go for Cavalier GSi MK3 Alloy wheels.

Want to get sideskirts and basically SRi the exterior a bit, and then thats as far as I want to go with it.  I prefer Irmschers understated bodykits and stuff, they need no 'improvements'!

Will get pictures up after I get her.

I'll be honest, I prefer the facelifted look of the MK2 Cavaliers, so the old lights will be going, clear front indicator lenses.  Christ, 9 years ago all this kind of stuff was dead easy to come by, now its getting a little tricky :(

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Again good to see it rescued. The auction is still live on ebay?

Is it just the Mk3 front seats you are planning on putting in as not much else will fit from a Mk3 saloon into a Mk2 hatch? As this looks to be an early floorpan Mk2 even those front seats are not a straight bolt in like the later floorpans.

Your wheel choice could be limited by your possible need for bigger brakes with the V6 upgrade. If you want to fit larger than 254 2litre Mk3 brakes, e.g V6 or Turbo 288 then the original 'iron cross' SRi wheels will not go over them but the GSi 15" 'slabs' will. Also even the 254s may 'machine' a grove in the SRi wheels!

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Galahad Newbie

Galahad

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Again good to see it rescued. The auction is still live on ebay?

Is it just the Mk3 front seats you are planning on putting in as not much else will fit from a Mk3 saloon into a Mk2 hatch? As this looks to be an early floorpan Mk2 even those front seats are not a straight bolt in like the later floorpans.

Your wheel choice could be limited by your possible need for bigger brakes with the V6 upgrade. If you want to fit larger than 254 2litre Mk3 brakes, e.g V6 or Turbo 288 then the original 'iron cross' SRi wheels will not go over them but the GSi 15" 'slabs' will. Also even the 254s may 'machine' a grove in the SRi wheels!

Yeah, he's an old boy and his niece is doing the auction for him, shes just a little slow to answer messsages, but the old girl is mine ;)

Front seating will be easy enough, rears might be a problem, but thats something that will come later.

Brakes and wheels will be worried about when the engine gets put in, but for the moment, i'm just going to enjoy it with its 1.6, its still got 10 months mot to go.

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Galahad Newbie

Galahad

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where abouts you from mate? good to see that Cav is gonna get rescued, saves me having to get it as its only about 7 miles from my house

Radstock in Bath, and its only 154 miles 'down the road' for me!!!

Still, you've got to travel for these impulse purchases ;)

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Galahad Newbie

Galahad

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Hello mate  ;D

Gimme a shout if you need any bits, I have a few bits of Mk2 trim lying around.

Thought you'd pick it up on your truck rather than get a bus?

Cheers - Dougie

Haha, small world innit? :)

The truck being a Ford is rotten to hell, well i'm guessing the propshaft shearing off from the chassis isn't a good thing!!!  :o

I do want a few bits mucker, damn, looks like i'm putting money in your pocket now!  ;D

Actually, seeing your red MK2 when you came and bought some MK2 Astra bits off me was what finally got me wanting to go back to a MK2 Cav.

I BLAME YOU!!  ;)

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Galahad Newbie

Galahad

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Well, firstly, my apologies to Paul, I wasn't expecting the old bloke to come and pick me up, seeing as he was utterly useless at picking up the phone and replying to messages, and then out of the blue some old codger is calling me to enter a rather nasty Renault Clio!

So sorry Paul, tried to give you as much notice as possible, I appreciate you bothering to offer to come and pick me up, bearing in mind you have no clue that I might be an axe murderer!! ;)

Well, the old girl got me back in one piece, lots of things wrong with it that were not advertised in the Ebay auction, but hey, most of the problems will be rectified with an engine change anyway, so its not all bad.

Car is a GENUINE 97,000 miles Cavalier..... 1 OWNER FROM NEW!!  :o

It's a base model, its age means it got the passenger wing mirror i'm guessing.

1.6 carb engine, bit rattly if you hoof it, probably to do with the fact its never been converted for unleaded petrol and the valve stem seals are getting crappy by now.

The 'stereo'.... crikey, its older than Moses!!! Not even a cassette player in sight... thats going right away!

4 Speed gearbox.... count em!  Still, a Citroen Picasso couldn't keep up with the old girl which impressed me no end.

Things wrong with it: Brown interior, wear on drivers bolster, bootlock doesn't lock, need to replace door and wing, engine has to go, track rod/steering rack bent, fuel gauge doesn't work.

Got a V6 for it, but i'm going to get a 2.0 8v SRi lump and power steering in there first, just need something to drive around in for the moment, fix all the little problems, and then worry about power at a later date.

Will post pictures tomorrow.

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kensascona Newbie

kensascona

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welcome to mk2 cav base model ownership a least you have got 2 door mirrors on your cav mine's only got one on the right hand door no clock and only one rear foglight a big well done for firstly rescuing a low spec mk2 cav as these models tend to get overlooked in favor of the higher spec models and secondly for taking on one with accident damage which would have put alot of people off buying it good luck with your project

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Galahad Newbie

Galahad

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cheers folks, well its not going to be base spec for long ;)

First up will be power steering, rack needs changing anyway, and MK3 Cavaliers are ten a penny.

If the power steering pump from the MK3 won't mate up to this engine (as I think the pas pump on this engine sits in between the cambelt), i'll simply use the MK3 rack and piping, and stick a Citroen Saxo electric power steering pump in there to get it going.

Need to find me a cheap MK3 2.0 SRi Cavalier so I can start uprating the car somewhat (hubs, shafts engine etc), then all the aesthetic stuff can be sorted out.

Confession:  When I had my D reg Cavalier, I actually fitted it with central locking..... from a Ford Sierra!!!

The Ford system is a doddle to integrate, no extra relays or footwell regulators needed ;)

Might even fit a Carlton boot release seeing as the damn thing won't lock :(

First thing I want though is a replacement front valance cover that sits below the front bumper, sets off the front nicely :)

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