Vauxhall Cavalier GSI RestoMod Track Car

[Cocknose]

I'd been toying with the idea of a track toy, and/or a project for a while. But couldn't really decide what I wanted. I've had MX5's, a Clio 172 Cup, Impreza, Abarth 500 etc and didn't really want to revisit any of those, albeit all would be good options for a track car.

Having always been a fan of the 90's era of BTCC, I couldn't help but get excited when a Cavalier GSI (in motorsport white) was listed on ebay. With a quiet nightshift ahead (too much time on my hands) and some money burning a hole in my pocket, I exchanged a few emails with the owner. It was listed as a project, and hadn't been on the road for 10+ years. I knew some of my excitement was due to rose tinted specs - my late Dad owned a Cavalier mk3 - but I thought it might be something different to take on track, and they did well in the BTCC, right? It would also kill two birds with one stone, it'd be a track car, and a project. Bonus!

One slight problem, I wasn't on dry land to go and view it. A brave (or stupid) decision was made, to part company with some of my hard earned and arranged for the thing to be delivered for when I was due to return home.

The ebay pictures;






The seller was honest about the condition of it, it was rusty in the usual places, needed a mechanical recommission and was missing a passenger seat - no problem for me as the interior would be getting stripped.

It arrived, and rather sheepishly I had to go and ask the wife to give me a hand as my new toy wouldn't start!


I immediately got started on stripping out the interior and some tinkering and located the source of the running problem. The donut valve was knackered. A new one was duly ordered, and once fitted she ran rather nicely. Although there was a bit of hesitation on anything over half throttle.




Removed some excess wiring. No going back now!


I gave her a quick wash and reflected that it could be a lot worse, even if those period alloys were not to my taste.





I got hold of a set of 'slabs' for not very many pennies, and gave them a quick paint. I also ordered some Team Dynamics 5 spokes which would be the track wheels. The brakes I had in mind wouldn't fit under the 15's.



BTCC style single wiper fitted


Managed to get a new old stock boot lid (from NL), as mine had seen better days.


And a NOS boot panel (from Germany) with NOS badges. Catchiest model name ever!


White dial kit, and coloured the needles red too. Because I'm cool.



On to the elephant in the room - rust! It's a 90's Vauxhall, so it wasn't pretty.





It was entrusted to the nearest place to me that were willing to do the repairs, and dropped off for two new sills and two near rear arches. These lads ordinarily work on a variety of more expensive and desirable cars, including vintage Ferraris and Porsches, so I was confident it'd be looked after. I've never felt more of a chav though, dropping off a Cavalier in a workshop full of exotica.



And back she comes! Nicely repaired and on her new (refurbished) wheels, it kind of looked like it was coming together. That'll be my cue to rip her apart then.


Front end dismantled for overhaul;




The shocks were sent off to GAZ to be rebuilt into Gold Coilovers, subframe sent off for powdercoating, the driveshafts were stripped and painted with new CV joints and boots, and the standard brakes were chucked in the bin.

Subframe back;



Driveshafts painted and reassembled;



Powerflex bushes pressed in;


Subframe ready to be put back on;


A box of excitement arrives!


Attached the new Wilwood 4 pots, bells and discs to the newly refurbished strut, looking good!


Stuck some Compbrake solid top mounts in


And lobbed it all back together



New wheels on


I decided at this point, it would be a good time to get it off to have the roll cage welded on. A clubman 6 point cage was decided on.


The welder had asked me to remove the fuel tank, which I duly did. On removing it, I found it full of rust and ste. Which goes a long way to explaining the poor running I had been experiencing.


Fuel sender unit was fked, for want of a better expression.



Off she went to have her roll cage installed. Big thanks to ADT Motorsport in Skipton for fitting the cage.


I got the Cavalier back and shortly after moved house, to one with no drive. Boooo.

Not much happened until the winter had gone away and the weather had warmed up again. Once it had, I set about painting the interior and cage. Considering it was done on the drive, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.





Popped one of the seats and a harness in, and realised just how long this project is taking me!


Rear subframe was next up for overhaul



While I that was off the car, I stripped the whole underside back to bare metal and gave it a thorough coating of POR15. What an utterly, utterly soul destroying job that was. Looks good for it though and the POR15 dried rock hard.




Rear subframe and trailing arms after powdercoating, polybushing, reassembly and ready to be put back on


Et voila, it's a rolling chassis again




And for unknown reasons, I've cleaned, stickered and lacquered the rear hub nut covers. Attention to detail, procrastination, or something else?!


Fuel tank cleaned out, scrubbed, roughed up, and painted with stone chip shield



'Curing' by the radiator


I've also overhauled the gearbox. Stripped it, cleaned it out, rebuilt it, painted it, and reassembled the linkage with NOS Vauxhall parts and a short shifter





And that's pretty much where I'm at with it. Handily, I've just moved house again. Although, this time I've got a double garage!

The car's not far off being done now. The engine is out and on a stand, partially stripped down, I hope to get it in for honing in the next few weeks. I plan to rebuild it with a set of ITB's, some uprated cams, forged internals and a gasflowed COSCAST head that I've got spare.

And then it'll be time for paint. I'm undecided about what to do with the paint. I might just do it white, but I'm currently swaying towards white with some Yellow/Grey/Black stripes, something in between these two.



That's probably enough rambling for now, I'll keep the thread updated if anyone's interested.

[Cocknose]

Scrump said:

Thanks for posting, your one post covers a lot of ground.
I enjoyed reading that.
The BTCC from that era was great, it had some really memorable cars and the Vauxhall is right up up amongst the best.

Thank you. As well as covering a lot of work, it also spans a few years, in which I've bought, renovated and sold a house, moved twice, and had a little girl, who's now nearly 3!

You're not wrong though, the early 90's was the golden era of BTCC for me.

matt2911 said:

Couldn’t agree more, love the older BTCC cars so great to see this! It’s gonna look great with the paint too.

Thanks chap, fingers crossed!

Willse46 said:

Looking forward to this! Great progress!

Thank you! As said, progress up to now has been glacially slow. But now I've got a garage to work in, I'm hoping to get it done this year (2020).

B'stard Child said:

Well I’m glad you shared that - nice work and don’t worry about the time it’s taking - project overrun due to life is normal

Thanks for that, glad you enjoyed it. Life, work and scope creep have all played a part in delaying this thing!

s m said:

Excellent

Great project

Thankyou, I think so too.

Killboy said:

Fantastic! Really looking forward to seeing the end result!

Thanks bud, 2020 will be the year... I hope!

Jonesy1972 said:

Ah, found memories of John Clelland hooning around Whilst competing in the BTCC. Inspired my Dad to later buy the Super Touring Vectra, which was also quite tasty. Loving where you’re going with this and big respect for the time, money and personal effort you’ve put in so far. Top work, OP!

Jonesy

If you've got time, there's a whole host of races on youtube that cover the 90, 91 and 92 BTCC seasons. Those Super Touring Vectra's are pretty rare, didn't Carl Fogarty buy one?!

Thank you for the kind words, I've always liked a saloon and I'm quite fond of this thing now.

Tommie38 said:

Good effort!

I’ve often wondered: what was the difference between the GSI 2000 and the SRI 16v of the same shape?

Thanks mate.

It was mainly the rear axle and engine options. The SRI had a beam and the GSI had independent rear suspension, SRI was an 8v (early ones) and the GSI was a 16v.

swampy442 said:

Great project, and nice work. I cant help thinking a better base car car would have cut your workload a lot, spend more initially to spend less

Thanks mate.

It absolutely would have, but GSI's are getting rare now and project ones all need sills and arches. I got this for less than a grand though, and the rest of the work has been because I can't leave things alone!

tvrfan007 said:

Enjoyable read that. Was around cavaliers a lot when younger, then Vauxhall made the vectra abomination and I was put off them for life. Lol.

Will read on with interest. What direction will you go engine wise ultimately? Just the itbs? Z20?

Edited by tvrfan007 on Thursday 26th December 09:38

Thank you.

The engine I've got (C20XE) will get forged internals, cams, ITB's etc and I've got a BTB exhaust manifold too. After reading the thread on that loonie VX220 with the Z20LET in, I did fancy going in that direction and may well in the future. For now though I'll just build it with NA and see how I get on. ITB's make an addictive noise too.

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Excellent work! Looking forward to future updates.

Thank you!

rickygolf83 said:

Love it and look forward to more progress updates!

Thank you too!

helix402 said:

I don’t like most Vauxhall’s. But I like your work in this this.

Thank you, I know what you mean. I'm no fan boy for any particular make, but the Cavalier has been good fun to mess about with.

650spider said:

Outstanding Christmas Day post!

This is what pistonheads is about.

Loved the white GSi 16v cavaliers...they were from around the time i first started driving in late 1989 ( sure it was very early 1990 'G' plate that these hit the road though ) and inspired my 2nd car as an 18yr old...a white mk1 astra gte...which i still have the best memories of...until i bent it slightly and met my future and current in-laws in hospital....

Looking forward to updates.

Ha ha, to be fair, I'm at work at the minute so it's not a traditional Christmas.

You're memory is right, they came out in 89 and were in the BTCC for the following year. Love those old Astra GTE's, glad you survived the crash!

Crafty_ said:

Snipped

That is some impressive knowledge, thanks!

Fermit and Sexy Sarah said:

Please tell me you're taking your little girls racing with you. That would be such a cool way to get them in to cars, Before it inevitably all goes electric.

If I can work out car seats etc, then fk yeah they'll be out in it with me!

For now, she's happy tinkering.

AceKid said:

Awesome project and will be following closely,
I never managed to get a GSI back in the day, the one time i was close, the only one i looked at had a knackered head gasket...ended up with a SRI 16v, didnt look as good but was great fun!

Snap! I always wanted one when I was younger too, but never managed to scratch the itch. I did have a Nova GTE at one point though.

[Cocknose]

As I mentioned before, I've just bought a house with a double garage, this one in fact;



On moving day, it looked like this inside.



Some epoxy resin floor paint delivered! (Resincoat, mid grey).



All finished. Annoyingly, you can see the float marks from when the floor was laid. A minor irritation though, I'm over the moon to have a place to work in.



I live my life in three week chunks, after moving house and getting the garage floor painted, I got the car moved and got the top half of the garage walls painted (first coat). As I went back onboard, this is how it was looking. All the stuff was dumped in the middle of the garage so I could get to the walls, and the poor Cav was piled high with stuff.

[Cocknose]

And last time off, I got the second coat of white on, and started on the lower walls (grey).



I then set about building a workbench, and getting my stuff in position so it's a nice place to work.






The grey and black panel, is to be pegboard with a black and grey union jack on it, like this;


And while I've been away, my wife and the little one have finished painting the garage walls. They've left the edging to me, because I'll make a better job of it - her words, not mine!!!!!



Sophie gave the car a clean, because it's dirty, apparently.



I've got an electrician going out on the 6th Jan to install four LED battens and three double sockets by the workbench, and I'll be calling it done.

[Cocknose]

B'stard Child said:

Get a couple of extra plug sockets by the doors means you don't need an extension lead all the way from the work bench to run a jet wash, hoover or battery charger etc - plus at later date you can always extend the ring to a waterproof external socket

That's not a bad shout, thanks for that.

1602Mark said:

Great project. I'm another fan of that era of BTCC so I was always going to like this. I toyed with the idea of doing an E36 in the same vein.

Most watched YouTube clip - "The man's an animal"

I toyed with exactly the same idea! There was a lad on here a few years ago, maybe 2009 ish called sniff diesel who had a 'ring shed' project which was a BMW E36 saloon, in white. This is my interpretation of that thread, in a Vauxhall! If his car is still about, maybe we can recreate the 92 finale*, but with a little less body contact!

• disclaimer, I realise that the 92 BMW's were Listerine livered 3 doors!

Found the thread, here it is. Photobucket have fked it though, which is a massive shame because it was a great build

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

aponting389 said:

“I’m going for first” says Cocknose

Bless Murray, what a legend.

[Cocknose]

Mr Tidy said:

Great thread.

I was an avid BTCC watcher back in the early 90s and a big Vauxhall fan, probably because I bought a 1990 Cavalier in 1991. I still have fond memories of John Cleland and Jeff Allam getting their Cavaliers "stuck in"!

And in a sort of weird twist of fate my niece now works at Jeff Allam's Skoda dealership.

Me too, I used to watch it with my Dad, the Murray Walker commentary and the close racing made it very exciting.

I still watch it now mind, I've been to a few races the last couple of years and I really think it offers amazing value for money. Combine that with how close you can get to the cars and drivers, and it's a very accessible motorsport.

[Cocknose]

Slight update. I saw this rendering posted online, with the contact details of the clever chap that made it.



I like it, but would rather it was red, grey and black, so I contacted the lad and asked him if he'd mind knocking me something up. He did, and this is how it looks. I think it's the paint job I'll be going with.

[Cocknose]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I agree - it looks fantastic!

I plan to do the colour in vinyl, when I say I've decided on the paintwork, I mean I'm just getting it done in white again with the colour added in vinyl.

Good tip about waiting till the paint has fully gone off, I'll speak to the painter when I get the car back and find out timescales.

[Cocknose]

scottos said:

Excellent project and love the new house/ garage too!

Do love a Cav and im a big fan of the c20xe too, the competition engine builders i help out at does a lot of them for mk2 escorts. The proper daft spec ones are up to 300hp!

Thanks mate, garage is coming along nicely. I finished painting the union jack on the pegboard and it looks pretty smart. Just need to populate it with some tools now.



Do you mind me asking which engine builders you help out at? I'm looking for some advice for my C20XE build, and while I'm not going anywhere near 300hp I will need someone to hone the block etc. I'm down in North Yorkshire.

5harp3y said:

this is superb, hope the back end gets slammed, BTCC style

Cheers It'll be low that's for sure!

Andrew D said:

Nice, but maybe a hint of Audi with those colours? And surely it needs Cleland-spec colour matched grille and mirror caps?!

Thanks matey. There is a hint of Audi yes, it's the only real drawback. I was thinking about going yellow/grey/black GM Dealer Sport colours, but the trailing arms etc and the harnesses are all red so it'd look mental I think.

Shakermaker said:

Excellent project there. Always been a Vauxhall fan really, I had a couple of boring Cavaliers in my earlier driving days. Top work!

Thanks mate. Hopefully get it out to some Vauxhall shows this year.

[Cocknose]

Ah no way, that's a shame. Didn't you use to run VXON?

I've been building this thing for so long that I'm out of touch with 'the scene' too, but I'll try and attend retro rides and PH events once it's done. There's a very passionate lad on Facebook who runs a Cavalier owners club, and he get's stands at most of the shows. Hopefully once mine is done he'll let me tag along.

[Cocknose]

WFL said:

Great project! It's gonna be amazing - I'll be following with interest.

Thanks bud.

[Cocknose]

Shakermaker said:

Yes that's me, I'm still there running it in the background but its just a forum now, the club part just wasn't worth it for us anymore but the forum has a few people there, I mostly just delete spam

I get you, that's a shame though. If I remember correctly, you used to have a Bedford Rascal?

Sko77y said:

Love this for a project car, please do the yellow, black, grey though, even with the red subframes!

Ha ha, we'll see. I can do a side in each colour and see which is best! Thanks though.

OFORBES said:

Oh man, what a great project!

Cant wait for further updates, it was my favourite car from the 90's BTCC era!

Congratulations on what you've achieved so far and I am excited to see more updates!

Love it!

Thanks mate, updates should be a bit quicker these days. I stripped the engine down to a bare block last time off, just need to get it honed and then reassembled. I had the ITB's delivered too, so it's all go and hopefully will get an MOT this year.

[Cocknose]

s m said:

Effortlessly cool

Great work

Thanks chap, appreciated.

Fonzey said:

Great stuff, do love a good garage too!

North Yorkshire y'say?

Cheers, I should probably add the garage to the Best Garage thread, it's getting there now.

North Yorks indeed, I've lived all over but am now settled on the outskirts of Scarborough. You close?

[Cocknose]

Jonny-Jimbo said:

I've enjoyed reading this over my morning cuppa, excellent work. I have a soft spot for some old Vauxhalls of a similar era, but like you said, they don't half rot! My Dad had a Vauxhall Carlton 3L 24V Manual Estate which I loved as a kid. He had is slightly modified with a Lotus front air dam and some other lotus bits, then had it on gold BBS split rims with polished rims in a dark metallic blue. Looked mint. It was the first car I ever drove, did over 100mph in and did donuts in... all on the same holiday in North Wales!

In terms of your engine, try the guys at Retro Engineering, a lot of their work these days is on Dolomite Sprints and BMW 4 bangers, but they have spent years in the world of rallying and grasstrack, building mainly Vauxhall Redtops. In fact the engine builder used to work for Bill Blydenstein at Dealer Team Vauxhall.

I have no direct link to the company, but I used to work with the owner, Tom, on some historic Touring cars and he is a st-hot engineer.

http://www.retro-engineering.co.uk/index.html

That sounds like a hoot, I love those Carltons. I like the sound of the colour and rim combo too. I must admit to being tempted by these wheels, sent to my by a fellow Cavalier enthusiast. I'm not sure whether to order a set for mine or keep the Team Dynamics on it.





Thanks for the info about the engine builder, I'm currently weighing up my options, but someone who used to work at Vauxhall building redtops has to be up there! Their facebook page looks good too.

Fonzey said:

Yes there's nothing quite like finally getting that double garage after years of rolling around on cold/wet driveways. I thoroughly enjoyed preparing my garage for action this year.

I'm between Leeds/York so not a million miles away. Tend to venture your way on in the summer months so I'll certainly keep my eyes peeled for an escaped BTCC car on my travels, not to mention on local trackdays.

Keep it up, cracking project.

Tell me about it! The sad thing is, I've done pretty much all the work - front/rear suspension and brakes, the entire underbody, and the seats, mounts etc, all on the drive! Now I've got the garage, there's no big jobs left to do!

Sounds excellent, feel free to give me a shout when you're over this way and we can always go out for a blast. I've worked all over North Yorks and the Moors, and have found some excellent driving roads.

Shakermaker said:

yes, only sold it last year actually, its still going. Great little van

I'm glad it's still going, they're awesome little things.

Maty said:

Great project! Loved that era of the BTCC, definitely the best years... specifically this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI8litf5a2s

Cant wait to see it finished.

Cheers mate. There's definitely something lacking from the BTCC now that Murray doesn't commentate.

Fonzey said:

Somehow I knew before clicking it would be the "I'm going for first" clip

Legendary race that, a shame in a way that the race for the title ended up without all the contenders finishing, but I imagine the adrenaline levels in those drivers must be very high.

[Cocknose]

Jonny-Jimbo said:

Aye, they're a good bunch at REL, absolutely st hot. Enjoyed my time on the touring cars. Here's me on the end - long haired beardo by the white car. Was a good weekend, both cars performed extremely well... hence the... is it silverware if it's gold??

Always good to get a personal recommendation on something like that. I'll contact them for a quote, shall I say that you put me in touch with them? Feel free to PM if you like.

Also, beardo? Is that bearded-weirdo? If so, I'm having that!

Gary29 said:

I think the 5 spoke Team Dynamics look the part for a touring car rep, loved these wheels as a kid watching BTCC in the 90's

Yeah, that's pretty much why I went with those wheels. The earlier Cavaliers were equipped with these;



and slightly later, these

[Cocknose]

Jonny-Jimbo said:

Yes, you're welcome to say I recommended you to them. What's your name though, I best not say to Tom that 'Cocknose will be in touch about an engine for his Cavalier track car'.

Yes, beardo is a bearded weirdo, as opposed to the generous afro on Zac at the other end of the line haha.

Edited by Jonny-Jimbo on Saturday 1st February 00:36

Ha, very good point. I've just tried to email you, but your profile doesn't accept emails?

I could probably be described as a beardo myself.

[Cocknose]

Jonny-Jimbo said:

I can't email you either, obviously PistonHeads have disabled that feature. If you speak to them just say long haired beardo Jon sent you... they'll know who you mean haha.

Ha, ok buddy. Email sent now, if you speak to them, my name is Chris

[Cocknose]

Manmoths said:

Amazing project! Looking forward to updates.

Thanks mate!

[Cocknose]

scottos said:

Funnily enough they are in North Yorkshire, Amac Engineering in Northallerton. Very oldskool, website and social media not great.

edit: just caught up on the thread with regards to Retro Engineering too, i know Tom and Nigel, great guys also!

Edited by scottos on Tuesday 4th February 10:59

Amac were the other company that I was hoping to speak to about the engine, with the added bonus that they are in North Yorkshire.

[Cocknose]

scottos said:

Thats good, if you struggle to ring through just keep trying. The same guys taking the calls are the ones doing the work sort of thing. If you end up popping down there are two awesome Vauxhalls through the back at the mo

I got them on the phone, they seem dead on. What Vauxhalls have they got? I'm away with work for the next couple of weeks, which is frustrating!

As an aside, I just saw your thread on your 2002, that's a beautiful car - I like your front brakes!