92 Cavalier GSi 2000 J422EGT

Cav GSis are pretty darn rare now, between being broken for the engine and rotting out the rear chassis legs.

Look forward to seeing stuff happen. T

good stuff.

what sort of condition is it in??

i have a few cavaliers myself.......

i've a 1989 gsi 2000..........a 1994 turbo 4x4......and a 93 2.0 8 valve sri spec.

i love cavs.

look forward to seeing some work on this

Awesome cars these, always wanted one the GSi bumpers and kit just look so right. If it was mine I'd just drive around like a nutter pretending to be John Cleland ;D

Cheers for the replies. I used to drive my original Gsi a bit like I was John Cleland, and the car begged for more. Handling was fantastic and the xe lump just wanted to be ragged.
Anyway, I guess I should start a proper build thread following on from what I've posted so far....

My interest in Cavalier GSi's started in 2004 when I sold my original GSi through epic MOT failure (back end rot). Despite owning a wide range of cars in the meantime, I always missed the GSi and told myself that someday I would buy another.

My original GSi


Moving forward to June 2010, this beauty became available in Devon. It came with masses of paperwork and had lived in the Devon area for most of its life. White wasn’t my first choice in colour, but the moreI looked at the advert, the more I came around to it. By the time I called, the car had provisionally sold to someone. Gutted! I made it clear to the owner that if there was any messing around at all, I would be straight up there with the full asking price. 24 hours later the phone rang and I couldn’t say no...

Bringing back the new one!


First thing on the list was replace the back lights with original GSi smoked ones. It took ages to remove the ****** things; an owner at some point had loaded the seals with silicone sealant, and it had well and truly bonded everything in tight. I was suitably impressed to find the metal behind the lights was solid and in really good condition.



Next. I didn’t feel the love for the DTM 17” alloys from day one.


Soon after, I managed to locate a set of Cav slabs for £100 – the same price I sold the DTM alloys for. Result. Before they were bolted on, my brother mentioned that he had a set of Momo arrows which should fit straight on. For a laugh, we gave them a go and they actually looked pretty good for a period wheel.



My brother tried to lower the back end of the car manually, but it didn’t do a lot! He’s hanging onto the arrows for his own project, but if he doesn’t use them, I may try them in anthracite...
Anyway, the slabs are now fitted:



At about the same time I visited a lad in Plymouth who was breaking a black GSi and bought a load of bits from him, including an original space saver wheel, to replace the rusty steel which sat in my spare wheel well. Little touches but well worth the hassle.



I also whipped off the rear towbar, which looked curse word and wasn’t needed. I was impressed to find the rear panel behind the bumper was in excellent condition too. No photos unfortunately.

Next, I located a mint interior. My interior was in good condition apart from the driver’s seat which had worn. Out with the old, and in with the new.




Since this, I have bought some genuine Morette headlights, a decent spec alarm and immobiliser, a scorpion stainless exhaust system to match the existing Scorpion back box, and a fifth slab alloy wheel (always handy as they seem to be becoming much harder to find now).

The car just before going into storage:


The plan is now to keep the car in dry storage over the winter, drag her out for welding and MOT in the spring, then get the car back on the road after a 2 year hiatus. Really looking forward to it! ;D

I’m still looking for several bits including a dark grey/black carpet (were these standard in the sri models?) as well as a few other parts if anyone knows of any Sri's or Gsi's breaking?

I’ll keep the thread updated as and when, although progress may be sporadic!

Awesome project - massive soft spot for these. Same with the Mk2 Astra GTE's.

Will be watching this one

strange seeing that photo of the white gsi....and a we white pug 205 van in the background.

my cav turbos white..............and i had a pug 205 for a rounnaround there for a couple of years.

i showed the mrs the photo.n she thought they were my cars lol.

have you had a good look yet to see what weldings needed?

get the skirts and the back bumper off for a start is all i can say............mine revealed a whole lotta horrors behind them unfortunatly.

pretty much sorted now right enough

How far are you from Penzance?

www.facebook.com/pages/GM6-Spares-Company-01736-810500/36602446735

His welding an fab work is pretty good and he's an opel fruit not sure how his workload is mind

Having had a Cav 4x4 until recently, the areas you need to look at are:

Boot floor where it joins the rear valance - mine was actually caused by the centre mount on the (OE) boot spoiler rusting, allowing the spoiler to lift from the bootlid slightly and water to get in. 1 spanner rating for any decent welder.

Sills - 2 spanner rating for any decent welder.

Rear arches - this is important; any non-decent welder won't find this particularly challenging but they won't do it properly. You need a decent welder who'll do a proper job, ie repair the inner as well as outer arches, not just stuff it with filler. As with most cars, inner arch repair panels aren't available and need to be fabricated. These have a double curvature and are hard - 4 spanner rating done properly!

Rear spring mounts - my car was ok but rot in the chassis rails above the rear springs is a killer for these cars. It's not a hard welding job but there's a lot of prep work - 3 spanner rating for a decent welder.

All in all it's about 1 week work for a pro welder I should think.

The pic with the momo arrows on took me back to my youth for a min there!!