Vauxhall Cavalier GSI RestoMod Track Car
Discussion
ZX10R NIN said:
Great thread & amazing work I think a modern take on the white yellow & grey would be good, conversely I had a mate who bought a GSI that had a very special conversion carried out on it.
It had an uprated T3 using an RS Turbo Manifold & a Sierra Cosworth inlet Manifold & Cosworth (all this bolted onto the red top) engine management it was an very fun steer a proper sleeper unless you noticed the full Wilwood setup he had.
Thanks mate. That sounds like a very fun setup, I did wonder about going the turbo route, z20let or similar, but I'm a sucker for ITB noise!It had an uprated T3 using an RS Turbo Manifold & a Sierra Cosworth inlet Manifold & Cosworth (all this bolted onto the red top) engine management it was an very fun steer a proper sleeper unless you noticed the full Wilwood setup he had.
Brief update, this lockdown has been pretty good for getting stuff done.
This part of the dash has been on my to do list for quite a while, it's made of foam and they disintegrate when touched. Since removing the dash for the cage installation, I've been pondering what to do with it. There's no NOS available, so I decided to use resin to harden up the foam and stop it collapsing any further, it worked a treat.
Next up was the rear brake shoes and a new handbrake cable. Cleaned up some of the internal parts with a wire wheel, and fitted it all together...
New handbrake cable
And then for the rear calipers. Time to turn a box of parts, into a complete braking system;
This part of the dash has been on my to do list for quite a while, it's made of foam and they disintegrate when touched. Since removing the dash for the cage installation, I've been pondering what to do with it. There's no NOS available, so I decided to use resin to harden up the foam and stop it collapsing any further, it worked a treat.
Next up was the rear brake shoes and a new handbrake cable. Cleaned up some of the internal parts with a wire wheel, and fitted it all together...
New handbrake cable
And then for the rear calipers. Time to turn a box of parts, into a complete braking system;
To stiffen up the rear end, and while I was tinkering back there anyway, I decided to replace my DIY effort at repairing the rear suspension bar damping block, with a GEMA Motorsport version, from Germany.
Old vs. New
Installed on the car. Fantastic piece of equipment, fitted well and is properly solid.
While I was under there, I also installed the spreader plates for the transmission side of the lap strap. The harness eyes, are screwed into the original seatbelt mounting points on the external side.
Seats and harnesses test fitted.
Pretty much got the garage finished off now too
Next job is to get the dash back in place and reconnect and test all the wiring, and then it'll be the engine.
I had spoken and received a good quote from AMAC, but with all this Covid s
t about, that's on hold for now. I don't really know what I'll do, I work in oil and gas and with the oil price being through the floor, it feels a bit foolhardy to spend a chunk of cash on an engine.
Sadly, I'll probably end up putting it back together with a standard bottom end, and just run it with the ITB's and the exhaust and maybe build a higher spec engine at a later date.
Old vs. New
Installed on the car. Fantastic piece of equipment, fitted well and is properly solid.
While I was under there, I also installed the spreader plates for the transmission side of the lap strap. The harness eyes, are screwed into the original seatbelt mounting points on the external side.
Seats and harnesses test fitted.
Pretty much got the garage finished off now too
Next job is to get the dash back in place and reconnect and test all the wiring, and then it'll be the engine.
I had spoken and received a good quote from AMAC, but with all this Covid s
t about, that's on hold for now. I don't really know what I'll do, I work in oil and gas and with the oil price being through the floor, it feels a bit foolhardy to spend a chunk of cash on an engine. Sadly, I'll probably end up putting it back together with a standard bottom end, and just run it with the ITB's and the exhaust and maybe build a higher spec engine at a later date.
s m said:
If you like old media, have you seen this?
I have a friend who worked on the Cavalier touring cars for a while at Ray Mallock. He worked alongside a guy who had worked on them in the previous team
I hadn't seen that no, but fascinating reading. It's funny how the cult of cars develop isn't it, I paid £900 for this thing and have no qualms about stripping it down. Back in the day, the Cavalier and the E30 were rivals on track, but what would you pay for an E30 M3 now?! Mental! I have a friend who worked on the Cavalier touring cars for a while at Ray Mallock. He worked alongside a guy who had worked on them in the previous team
Cocknose said:
I hadn't seen that no, but fascinating reading. It's funny how the cult of cars develop isn't it, I paid £900 for this thing and have no qualms about stripping it down. Back in the day, the Cavalier and the E30 were rivals on track, but what would you pay for an E30 M3 now?! Mental!
It is interesting - they were quite well thought of as Touring Cars and there were some quick road cars as well, like the GSi, Turbo and V6. Wrong badge for PH though.My friend worked at Ray Mallock cars preparing the Cavaliers for a while before moving to South Africa to work on the Nissans.
I had the Mk2 Astra GTE 16v for a while and one of the techs my friend worked with there had been working on Vauxhall Touring cars for ages - set up the geo on my car and it was superb
Am enjoying reading your project - the Cavalier Touring car was one of the few they tried out as rwd, 4wd and fwd in development
s m said:
It is interesting - they were quite well thought of as Touring Cars and there were some quick road cars as well, like the GSi, Turbo and V6. Wrong badge for PH though.
My friend worked at Ray Mallock cars preparing the Cavaliers for a while before moving to South Africa to work on the Nissans.
I had the Mk2 Astra GTE 16v for a while and one of the techs my friend worked with there had been working on Vauxhall Touring cars for ages - set up the geo on my car and it was superb
Am enjoying reading your project - the Cavalier Touring car was one of the few they tried out as rwd, 4wd and fwd in development
Thanks chap, appreciate that. My friend worked at Ray Mallock cars preparing the Cavaliers for a while before moving to South Africa to work on the Nissans.
I had the Mk2 Astra GTE 16v for a while and one of the techs my friend worked with there had been working on Vauxhall Touring cars for ages - set up the geo on my car and it was superb
Am enjoying reading your project - the Cavalier Touring car was one of the few they tried out as rwd, 4wd and fwd in development
You're dead right about the badge, Vauxhall's have never been popular on PH, just a bit of fun to take out on track and things. It'll never be worth much now anyway, as I've modified it so far from standard.
I'd love to see a proper touring car in the flesh, especially the RWD one if there's any about. I think Cleland tested a RWD one in the UK somewhere. I've also seen footage of Colin McRae testing out a 4WD rally version, crazy!
Cocknose said:
s m said:
It is interesting - they were quite well thought of as Touring Cars and there were some quick road cars as well, like the GSi, Turbo and V6. Wrong badge for PH though.
My friend worked at Ray Mallock cars preparing the Cavaliers for a while before moving to South Africa to work on the Nissans.
I had the Mk2 Astra GTE 16v for a while and one of the techs my friend worked with there had been working on Vauxhall Touring cars for ages - set up the geo on my car and it was superb
Am enjoying reading your project - the Cavalier Touring car was one of the few they tried out as rwd, 4wd and fwd in development
Thanks chap, appreciate that. My friend worked at Ray Mallock cars preparing the Cavaliers for a while before moving to South Africa to work on the Nissans.
I had the Mk2 Astra GTE 16v for a while and one of the techs my friend worked with there had been working on Vauxhall Touring cars for ages - set up the geo on my car and it was superb
Am enjoying reading your project - the Cavalier Touring car was one of the few they tried out as rwd, 4wd and fwd in development
You're dead right about the badge, Vauxhall's have never been popular on PH, just a bit of fun to take out on track and things. It'll never be worth much now anyway, as I've modified it so far from standard.
I'd love to see a proper touring car in the flesh, especially the RWD one if there's any about. I think Cleland tested a RWD one in the UK somewhere. I've also seen footage of Colin McRae testing out a 4WD rally version, crazy!
Was at my local track - Oulton - in the 1990 season. Chris Hodgetts was in the rwd version and John Cleland in the fwd. Obviously they could choose as the 4x4 Cavalier was out but they went with fwd in the end for the Touring Car. Remember Hodgetts having a bit of a fight on his hands
s m said:
They actually raced a rwd one and a fwd one at the same race back when they were developing the car.
Was at my local track - Oulton - in the 1990 season. Chris Hodgetts was in the rwd version and John Cleland in the fwd. Obviously they could choose as the 4x4 Cavalier was out but they went with fwd in the end for the Touring Car. Remember Hodgetts having a bit of a fight on his hands
I thought it was at Oulton! I seem to remember seeing something on YouTube about it, I'll have a search. I can well imagine a RWD would be a bit of a handful, I wonder how successful it would have been vs. the M3. Was at my local track - Oulton - in the 1990 season. Chris Hodgetts was in the rwd version and John Cleland in the fwd. Obviously they could choose as the 4x4 Cavalier was out but they went with fwd in the end for the Touring Car. Remember Hodgetts having a bit of a fight on his hands
Cocknose said:
s m said:
They actually raced a rwd one and a fwd one at the same race back when they were developing the car.
Was at my local track - Oulton - in the 1990 season. Chris Hodgetts was in the rwd version and John Cleland in the fwd. Obviously they could choose as the 4x4 Cavalier was out but they went with fwd in the end for the Touring Car. Remember Hodgetts having a bit of a fight on his hands
I thought it was at Oulton! I seem to remember seeing something on YouTube about it, I'll have a search. I can well imagine a RWD would be a bit of a handful, I wonder how successful it would have been vs. the M3. Was at my local track - Oulton - in the 1990 season. Chris Hodgetts was in the rwd version and John Cleland in the fwd. Obviously they could choose as the 4x4 Cavalier was out but they went with fwd in the end for the Touring Car. Remember Hodgetts having a bit of a fight on his hands
Even Mark Hales was quicker in the wet with it than in the M3 but I bet it took some learning
Good luck with your car - I keep watching the updates
s m said:
I guess history speaks for itself as they chose fwd and did ok with the car in the end. I guess fwd had its upsides for some circuits/conditions although I remember Cleland said he was always fighting to keep all 4 wheels on the ground
Even Mark Hales was quicker in the wet with it than in the M3 but I bet it took some learning
Good luck with your car - I keep watching the updates
Absolutely, I remember hearing that some tracks favour FWD and some RWD, but that Cavalier always looked a bit lairy, Cleland had some big off's in it. Even Mark Hales was quicker in the wet with it than in the M3 but I bet it took some learning
Good luck with your car - I keep watching the updates
Thanks for that, I'm really hoping to have it complete this year, the lockdown is having a mixed effect!
Great project. I have spent several years developing the C20XE in my Westfield, with a focus on being easy to drive and reliability. But still be a bit of a spectacle when it comes to noise, etc. If you want any info on what I have done give me a shout, including what did not work or was not value for money.
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