Vauxhall Cavalier GSI - Track Car
Discussion
Although not a Vauxhall fan, I do have a soft spot for the old Cavalier's, I think because my uncle had a few back in the 80's. I vaguely remember being in awe of things like the electric windows (& possibly sunroof?) on his Mk2 CDi back when I was a kid 
Looking forward to the updates on this OP, looks interesting.
Looking forward to the updates on this OP, looks interesting.
Again I'm not a Vauxhall fan at all however I've always said if I won the lotto I'd buy or build the 95 Cav touring car. There's just something so right about it!
How far are you going with this, full roll cage etc?
If you do go for a full tribute it'd be a shame not to full livery it.
At least do they yellow door mirrors and grill surround!
How far are you going with this, full roll cage etc?
If you do go for a full tribute it'd be a shame not to full livery it.
At least do they yellow door mirrors and grill surround!
Pulse said:
Shakermaker said:
I'm friends with Dougie...
He tells me that he's welding up the sills, and has to drop the engine out again to sort it out more. But progress is slow, he also seems to do up old trucks as well now, as well as all his other cavaliers.
nice guy though.
Not the same Dougie who's on here, by chance? (DougieMc is the username)He tells me that he's welding up the sills, and has to drop the engine out again to sort it out more. But progress is slow, he also seems to do up old trucks as well now, as well as all his other cavaliers.
nice guy though.
Edited by Shakermaker on Friday 10th February 14:39
A sound bloke he was.
In fact I just went and searched and he posts on here as Dougie. but hasn't been on here for more than 8 years!
Edited by K50 DEL on Wednesday 9th August 08:20
K50 DEL said:
Dougie definitely is (was) on here.... I did the Staples to Naples banger rally with him back in 2006 and seem to remember we had one of our Vauxhalls featured in TV at around that time... back then he was living in Bath but I believe he's up North again now.
A sound bloke he was.
In fact I just went and searched and he posts on here as Dougie. but hasn't been on here for more than 8 years!
Did you do an other of the rallies? I first did S2N in 2008, but did a few others with the same gang, in the team The Big Mabungoes, we had a Carlton estate for a few years if you by chance remember us. Dougie even featured it in Total Vauxhall a couple of times! A sound bloke he was.
In fact I just went and searched and he posts on here as Dougie. but hasn't been on here for more than 8 years!
Edited by K50 DEL on Wednesday 9th August 08:20
He's back in Scotland now, and restoring old trucks as well as a few cars by the looks of things!
Shakermaker said:
K50 DEL said:
Dougie definitely is (was) on here.... I did the Staples to Naples banger rally with him back in 2006 and seem to remember we had one of our Vauxhalls featured in TV at around that time... back then he was living in Bath but I believe he's up North again now.
A sound bloke he was.
In fact I just went and searched and he posts on here as Dougie. but hasn't been on here for more than 8 years!
Did you do an other of the rallies? I first did S2N in 2008, but did a few others with the same gang, in the team The Big Mabungoes, we had a Carlton estate for a few years if you by chance remember us. Dougie even featured it in Total Vauxhall a couple of times! A sound bloke he was.
In fact I just went and searched and he posts on here as Dougie. but hasn't been on here for more than 8 years!
Edited by K50 DEL on Wednesday 9th August 08:20
He's back in Scotland now, and restoring old trucks as well as a few cars by the looks of things!
Apologies for the thread hijack OP and good on you for restoring what was one of the real-world icon cars of my teens!
Buggles said:
In other news, I've found a roll cage for it;
I was going to wait until I'd got it MOT'd and then drive it somewhere to get the cage in because transporting it is a pain in the arse. However, if I do that, I'm going to have to put the dash and seats back in for the MOT and then take them out again for the cage to go in. Pointless.
To that end, I've been doing some maths; my Landcruiser weighs 1970kg, and a car transporter trailer available for hire locally is 500kg. This leaves me about 1030kg for the Cavalier if I'm to stay on the right side of the B+E towing regulations. The book weight is 1228kg, with the engine and ancillaries weighing approx 150kg, if I remove these, this leaves me with a standard Cavalier weight of 1078. With all the seats removed it's got to be less than a 1000kg and therefore legal to be towed on a trailer right?
Seems like the easiest and simplest way to move it to me but I really don't want to fall foul of the law and I'm going to be right on the legal limit.
When you say "Transporting it is a pain in the arse" do you mean transpoting the cage? I would have thought a cage would fit (just) in the back of the Landcrusier without much fuss, all seats down and what not? I was going to wait until I'd got it MOT'd and then drive it somewhere to get the cage in because transporting it is a pain in the arse. However, if I do that, I'm going to have to put the dash and seats back in for the MOT and then take them out again for the cage to go in. Pointless.
To that end, I've been doing some maths; my Landcruiser weighs 1970kg, and a car transporter trailer available for hire locally is 500kg. This leaves me about 1030kg for the Cavalier if I'm to stay on the right side of the B+E towing regulations. The book weight is 1228kg, with the engine and ancillaries weighing approx 150kg, if I remove these, this leaves me with a standard Cavalier weight of 1078. With all the seats removed it's got to be less than a 1000kg and therefore legal to be towed on a trailer right?
Seems like the easiest and simplest way to move it to me but I really don't want to fall foul of the law and I'm going to be right on the legal limit.
High I'm not sure what you're doing engine wise I had twin 48's on mine when I had it I then switched to throttle bodies the car also had cams a gas flowed head etc the result was 224bhp & then by accident whilst in for some more work my engine guy discovered that the inlet manifold from the RS Cosworth engine bolted straight onto the GSI as did the RS Turbo Manifold which meant Cosworth engine management & the opportunity to run Eight injectors after a bit of work it was done.
The result was 352bhp with 340ft/lb unfortunately my Cossie got finished 4 months later so I sold the engine put a standard one in & sold the car, so if you're looking for turbo power that might be something worth considering.
The result was 352bhp with 340ft/lb unfortunately my Cossie got finished 4 months later so I sold the engine put a standard one in & sold the car, so if you're looking for turbo power that might be something worth considering.
Buggles said:
Shakermaker said:
When you say "Transporting it is a pain in the arse" do you mean transpoting the cage? I would have thought a cage would fit (just) in the back of the Landcrusier without much fuss, all seats down and what not?
Sorry mate, I should have been clearer. No, I mean I was going to drive it, because getting a non-MOT'd car moved about is a pain in the arse. You're quite right when you say the cage would easily fit in the Landcruiser.
Stripped down Cavaliers can be quite light - once its on the trailer you don't need to worry about the GVW of the Cavalier, just the actual weight of the trailer with its load
Buggles said:
If anyone has any tips on where to buy performance bits for the MK3 Cavalier then please offer them up, I'd be grateful for the advice.
I can't remember the companies off the top of my head but have a look on the Westfield forum. One of the popular engine options for the Westfield is the 2.0 XE (Red Top), so plenty of options out there for tuning (Cams, dry or baffled sumps, TBs, 45s/48s, etc...).M
I am not sure if you have a B or B&E licence, but this is worth a read;
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
If you are unfortunate like me and don't have a B&E licence then I think you'll be stuffed by your GVW of your tow vehicle and plate weight of the trailer, despite you potentially being under the actual weight limits. They only go on what you are capable of towing.
Guesstimates incoming;
Landcruiser GVW: 2500
Hire trailer MAM: 2000 (quite common, even for a small twin axle hire trailer)
Total: 4500
Over the limit of 3500 MAM by a lot.
I have B only, and if I wanted to tow I could do the following;
Mondeo GVW: 2100kg
Towing limit: 1800kg
205 Gti track car: <900kg
Trailer would need plating down to 1400 MAM (leaves 500kg for trailer and 900kg for the 205).
But you cant plate down a hire trailer!!!
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
If you are unfortunate like me and don't have a B&E licence then I think you'll be stuffed by your GVW of your tow vehicle and plate weight of the trailer, despite you potentially being under the actual weight limits. They only go on what you are capable of towing.
Guesstimates incoming;
Landcruiser GVW: 2500
Hire trailer MAM: 2000 (quite common, even for a small twin axle hire trailer)
Total: 4500
Over the limit of 3500 MAM by a lot.
I have B only, and if I wanted to tow I could do the following;
Mondeo GVW: 2100kg
Towing limit: 1800kg
205 Gti track car: <900kg
Trailer would need plating down to 1400 MAM (leaves 500kg for trailer and 900kg for the 205).
But you cant plate down a hire trailer!!!
- GVW = Gross vehicle weight
- MAM = Max Authorised Mass
Edited by Jon_Bmw on Friday 18th August 11:51
Jon_Bmw said:
I am not sure if you have a B or B&E licence, but this is worth a read;
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
If you are unfortunate like me and don't have a B&E licence then I think you'll be stuffed by your GVW of your tow vehicle and plate weight of the trailer, despite you potentially being under the actual weight limits. They only go on what you are capable of towing.
Guesstimates incoming;
Landcruiser GVW: 2500
Hire trailer MAM: 2000 (quite common, even for a small twin axle hire trailer)
Total: 4500
Over the limit of 3500 MAM by a lot.
I have B only, and if I wanted to tow I could do the following;
Mondeo GVW: 2100kg
Towing limit: 1800kg
205 Gti track car: <900kg
Trailer would need plating down to 1400 MAM (leaves 500kg for trailer and 900kg for the 205).
But you cant plate down a hire trailer!!!
This is a good point, you could be done for being over weight with an empty trailer if it was plated to 2000kg.. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
If you are unfortunate like me and don't have a B&E licence then I think you'll be stuffed by your GVW of your tow vehicle and plate weight of the trailer, despite you potentially being under the actual weight limits. They only go on what you are capable of towing.
Guesstimates incoming;
Landcruiser GVW: 2500
Hire trailer MAM: 2000 (quite common, even for a small twin axle hire trailer)
Total: 4500
Over the limit of 3500 MAM by a lot.
I have B only, and if I wanted to tow I could do the following;
Mondeo GVW: 2100kg
Towing limit: 1800kg
205 Gti track car: <900kg
Trailer would need plating down to 1400 MAM (leaves 500kg for trailer and 900kg for the 205).
But you cant plate down a hire trailer!!!
- GVW = Gross vehicle weight
- MAM = Max Authorised Mass
Edited by Jon_Bmw on Friday 18th August 11:51
"The turbocharged Vauxhall Cavalier GSI 2000 was always a rare car, its position as the flagship of the Cavalier range almost guaranteeing that. More than two decades after the last GSI was made, coming across one in any kind of condition is a real find."
Somebody at Pistonheads needs toed in the balls.
:
Somebody at Pistonheads needs toed in the balls.
:Sorry chap. Its a rubbish rule, my old dear who is nigh on 60 can tow fine though according to the law, yeah righto.
Its actually worse than you think, because you have to take GROSS vehicle weight of your landcruiser, ie when the actual weight is 1900kg, I wouldn't mind betting the GVW is actually over 2800. The principle being that GVW is with 4 large passengers and luggage, well a landcruiser was built to haul s
te around, so I bet it has a bigger differential than a car.
Even my Mondeo that physically weights a shade over 1500kg has a GVW of 2050kg.
Its actually worse than you think, because you have to take GROSS vehicle weight of your landcruiser, ie when the actual weight is 1900kg, I wouldn't mind betting the GVW is actually over 2800. The principle being that GVW is with 4 large passengers and luggage, well a landcruiser was built to haul s
te around, so I bet it has a bigger differential than a car.Even my Mondeo that physically weights a shade over 1500kg has a GVW of 2050kg.
monzaxjr said:
"The turbocharged Vauxhall Cavalier GSI 2000 was always a rare car, its position as the flagship of the Cavalier range almost guaranteeing that. More than two decades after the last GSI was made, coming across one in any kind of condition is a real find."
Somebody at Pistonheads needs toed in the balls.:
Indeed. Turbo GSI? No such car! Somebody at Pistonheads needs toed in the balls.
:GSi - pre-facelift, some with 4wd some without.
Turbo - post facelift, all with 4wd system
Buggles said:
monzaxjr said:
"The turbocharged Vauxhall Cavalier GSI 2000 was always a rare car, its position as the flagship of the Cavalier range almost guaranteeing that. More than two decades after the last GSI was made, coming across one in any kind of condition is a real find."
Somebody at Pistonheads needs toed in the balls.:
I wondered where you'd read that, and then I realised I'd been nominated as Readers Car Of The Week! Class! Somebody at Pistonheads needs toed in the balls.
:Good to see you made the front page!
Have you tried getting a quote with Shipley to see how much it would cost for someone to transport the car for cage figment?
I used them to move my M5. The quotes come out pretty good and the guy that did it was great. (Obviously it's not Shipley that transport your car but 3rd parties)
With that cage you can easily get away with Race livery. I get what you mean about liveries on road cars but only when the factory interior is left in does it look pants.
Have you tried getting a quote with Shipley to see how much it would cost for someone to transport the car for cage figment?
I used them to move my M5. The quotes come out pretty good and the guy that did it was great. (Obviously it's not Shipley that transport your car but 3rd parties)
With that cage you can easily get away with Race livery. I get what you mean about liveries on road cars but only when the factory interior is left in does it look pants.
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