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Blimey, that tube is proper smashed lol. At least it caused no other damage. The rods are the worst I’ve ever seen lately Haha yeah, good effort wasn't it? Yeah pretty luck really, could have been much worse. They are pretty bad, round by me they're generally ok, but there's several areas that have been patched and it's all appearing again. The road this happened on needs completely resurfacing to be honest, it's pretty awful. I have now bought 2 new 2" axle bends, one of which I will cut up and use to tuck the exhaust up higher, might try and squeeze it up above the gearbox mount. The chassis height of the car is absolutely fine, it won't scrape, but got to put some effort into this exhaust to sort the low hanging issue out. Also got a 2" V band which will be used, so much better than slip joints or flanges with gaskets! |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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Anyway I said I wanted to try a mk1 Golf front lip, so ordered one from Classic VW, was under £30 so worth trying at that price.  Honestly I'm not really sure on it, like it almost looks good, but the way it needs to sit to bolt on is just a little high up for me, and the ends aren't quite long enough to sit flush on the front valance edge. I've got a potential breaker with an OE front lip that I'm currently messaging someone about, so might just go and get that this weekend. Out of interest, what does the OEM one look like? That Golf one shown in the photo looks spot-on, and not out of place from a design point of view. It echoes the shape of the underbumper intake really well, and also visually balances with the fog lights as they appear centred on the sections each side of the number plate. Being black works well with the various rubbing strakes too, and matches the blacked out rear panel as well. The overall effect looks far more OEM than a lot of actual OEM upgrades, and very much in keeping with the age of the car. |
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Last Edit: Apr 6, 2023 11:42:13 GMT by Paul H
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Anyway I said I wanted to try a mk1 Golf front lip, so ordered one from Classic VW, was under £30 so worth trying at that price. Honestly I'm not really sure on it, like it almost looks good, but the way it needs to sit to bolt on is just a little high up for me, and the ends aren't quite long enough to sit flush on the front valance edge. I've got a potential breaker with an OE front lip that I'm currently messaging someone about, so might just go and get that this weekend. Out of interest, what does the OEM one look like? That Golf one shown in the photo looks spot-on, and not out of place from a design point of view. It echoes the shape of the underbumper intake really well, and also visually balances with the fog lights as they appear centred on the sections each side of the number plate. Being black works well with the various rubbing strakes too, and matches the blacked out rear panel as well. The overall effect looks far more OEM than a lot of actual OEM upgrades, and very much in keeping with the age of the car. Thanks mate, appreciate the comments on that. I just wish it was about an inch or so wider each side and it'd be flush with the valance ends, but it'll do for now. The OE one as seen on the Sports Hatch here is quite subtle, but definitely adds something much needed to the front, as they look quite bare without one I think:  |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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Ah - wondered if it was that one. Always thought that they looked like a later upgrade, akin to a modern bodykit on an older car. The later derivatives, such as the '80s Mantas, looked ok with that sort of stuff as by that point they had lost the chrome bumpers etc. Were these ever fitted to saloons, or just the sports hatch?
I see what you mean now about the width with the Golf one, but as it has a join in the middle, how easy would it be to move the halves apart slightly, and add in a central spacer to hide the join?
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If you can get one, kamei chin spoilers are cool.
I’ve got one new in the store
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Ah - wondered if it was that one. Always thought that they looked like a later upgrade, akin to a modern bodykit on an older car. The later derivatives, such as the '80s Mantas, looked ok with that sort of stuff as by that point they had lost the chrome bumpers etc. Were these ever fitted to saloons, or just the sports hatch? I see what you mean now about the width with the Golf one, but as it has a join in the middle, how easy would it be to move the halves apart slightly, and add in a central spacer to hide the join? Not sure if they ever came on saloons, I think maybe just the Sports Hatch and Coupe versions? Yeah that's probably not a bad idea, it is annoying me it not reaching the edges. The valance is a bit rusty anyway so probably a good idea to get it off and clean it all up and re-fit it spaced out. Quite like this, it's subtle but suits it quite well. |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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So my re-bodged exhaust I made last week after the big smash had to go. I swear the pipe I used to jank the axle bend together was about 1.5", if that haha. Was just some bend on an old manifold I had lying around. Not ideal. So here's what we were dealing with. A lot of droop in the middle of the exhaust that needed to go:  You can kind of see the bend I cobbled together here over the axle, it wasn't blowing, but it was ugly and probably fairly restrictive:  Yes the axle is a bit rusty, I'll sort it one day haha, everything around it isn't bad though! Anyway I needed a new axle bend, so I bought one. Well actually I bought 2, at only like £27 each it was cheaper to buy an entire extra one to chop up than buy all the other exhaust bends I needed separately. 2" bore on these, which matches the silencer boxes and most of the rest of the exhaust.  Chucked it up on the ramp to get a look at it all:  Spent hours and hours on this. The manifold/downpipe is one piece and sat too low, so had to remove the entire system from the engine back, shortened the downpipe, and re-angled the exit, completely re-routing the system in its entirety. Angle is slightly different but compare this to the original photo:  So much better, tucked way way higher. I took out the black centre resonator at first, it's straight through anyway so assumed it wouldn't be too loud. I was so badly wrong, I managed one lap of the estate and put it back on the ramp haha. So loud, sounded horrific. Cut the backbox section up, and added the centre resonator in there, keeps it tucked up away from the ground, and same nice tone as it had before.  It was a lot of work, not much room to do it, but I've now got the exhaust tucked up above the gearbox brace. Then it makes a straight run back much higher than before. Gained about 2" ground clearance I'd say, in some places maybe more. The downpipe to midpipe connection is now V-banded too, and I've kept the flexi in there, just to take any strain from vibrations etc.  I have a bit of a blow developing from one of the remaining slip joins I have used, easy fix. And the end of the axle bend where it goes into the black silencer at the back is rubbing on the panhard rod quite a bit. So I'll get those last couple of bits sorted out and it should be absolutely perfect. It's nice having a system that doesn't reduce down excessively like before, and I do love V-bands. I may just V-band the other 2 slip joints as well, they never blow and just one little bolt to undo to get it all off. Think I have another one lying around somewhere in my exhaust boxes. |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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Got a few bits sorted out the last couple of days. I had forgotten to fit the moisture sheet things behind the rear door cards when I put the interior together. Still had both originals at the unit, so got them re-fitted:  Should stop any water getting in, which it hasn't seemed to so far, but can't hurt putting them in. My new exhaust is alright, just having some annoying knocks against various things when driven. Adapted the mount points a little bit and it seems a bit better, but going to do a bit more tomorrow. Good news is the ground clearance is pretty good now, and when going over speed bumps I went over before, it no longer scrapes, which is great.  Yes there's a couple of rusty holes at the back there, that's where the old fog light was, it's not too bad and I'll sort it properly soon. The sun came out which was nice. Only the second time I've had to top the oil up just a tiny bit to get it back to the top of the dipstick, this engine uses so little oil compared to my MX-5, it's great.  Took the opportunity to give it another wash  I noticed that the bonnet was starting to fade quite a bit. Went old school and got some T Cut red paint restorer, just buffed it on and off by hand, and then followed it with an old bottle of Autoglym Super Resin Polish I had lying around. The bonnet now beads nicely when wet, and it has really brought back the red. In all honesty the car will probably be resprayed at some point as I mentioned before, but I can't stand faded red, so wanted to sort it before it went pink. Came out alright for not much work to be honest!  |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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Apr 21, 2023 23:29:56 GMT
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Decided to give a couple of other bits a polish. Nothing crazy, just to get the red back a bit. The roof had some fading as did the boot, so just worked on those. Can't see it amazingly in the photo but it came up pretty well, half and half comparison:  And finished:  And boot lid done too:  Not bad for a half arsed polish. Gave it a jetwash tonight and the polished panels bead really nicely, which is nice. There's a car show down Madeira Drive in Brighton in the morning so I'm going to go down there, a mate is bringing his AE86 as well. Bit of a mixed group of cars when I've been to it before, a lot of it not really my thing, but it's free so how bad can it be? |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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May 18, 2023 16:39:49 GMT
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So been a little while. Been to a few shows, got Retro Rides this weekend as well which is always good. Overheard many people calling it a Chevette haha. Went to Incarnation in Brighton, the 2 blokes taking the entrance and exit photos wanted 20 quid to remove their watermark, mental, so here's one crappy photo instead:  Anyway the big news is this:  A sad day, but I have plans, and plans need money. The 5 is being broken for parts, it's just sat and I just don't use it anymore. Already sold a fair bit of stuff off of it, pulling engine, box and diff tomorrow night. Anyway said plans:   The first piece of the puzzle has arrived. An ME221 standalone ECU. Considered a Megasquirt MS3, but went with this in the end. A mate has one in his ITB'd VVT MX-5, so I've already had a bit of a play around with the MEITE tuning software in the past. As I'm running full 5 loom, this will plug straight into the Vauxhall. Once it is in and running well, I will be making some ITBs up. Yes the Vauxhall is getting ITBs. Glorious sound and will look perfect in the engine bay of this car. All the ITB kits are hideously expensive, so much like the 5 I will be making my own again, but this time using my previous experience to try and make something just a little more professional. Exciting times. And yes I will be configuring launch control because I am a child. |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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thomfr
Part of things
Trying to assemble the Duett again..
Posts: 694
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ITB's? (sorry foreign)
Thom
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73' Alfa Giulia Super
64' Volvo Duett
65' Volvo Duett
67' Volvo Amazon 123GT
09' Ford Focus 1.8
20' VW ID4
71' Benelli Motorella
65' Cyrus Speciaal
The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys
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misteralz
Posted a lot
I may drive a Volkswagen, but I'm scene tax exempt!
Posts: 2,495
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Individual throttle bodies.
Mvg,
Al
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ITB's? (sorry foreign) Thom Yeah as misteralz said, individual throttle bodies. Something similar to what I had on my MX-5:  |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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After my comments yesterday that I had no good photos from any shows I've been to these popped on Facebook. From the Bentley Miniature Railway classic show last weekend. Nice entrance shots, courtesy of Past 'N Curious:   |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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v8ian
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,832
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May 19, 2023 11:19:40 GMT
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Forgot that Bently was on otherwise I would have been there, Got to love ITBs mine are going on a vauxhall redtop, not in a vauxhall Jenvey direct to head ITBs on DTA pro 40  |
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Last Edit: May 19, 2023 11:27:22 GMT by v8ian
Atmo V8 Power . No slicks , No gas + No bits missing . Doing it in style.
Austin A35van, very different------- but still doing it in style, going to be a funmoble
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May 19, 2023 18:39:33 GMT
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May 22, 2023 10:27:06 GMT
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Forgot that Bently was on otherwise I would have been there, Got to love ITBs mine are going on a vauxhall redtop, not in a vauxhall Jenvey direct to head ITBs on DTA pro 40 Yeah it was a good day, some interesting stuff there actually. They look nice, I've not seen anything like this on a 5, there's always an adapter plate intake manifold it seems, even with the off-the-shelf kits. It would be good for reducing space required. Thanks, I will get one but I've got to prioritise the ITB stuff now haha. 5 parts are selling quite well so hopefully can sort this soon. |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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May 22, 2023 10:54:35 GMT
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So Saturday came about, I cut, re-welded, and re-painted my gearbox brace so the exhaust no longer hits it, and welded up my 2 part midpipe which constantly started blowing after like a week of driving. Exhaust no longer vibrates on the brace and it doesn't blow, which is very nice. I can't stand exhaust issues, it annoys me so much if there's any blow or vibration to the point I don't even want to drive the car. Anyway when that was done I decided it was time to fit my wideband and the new ECU. Had a total nightmare with the original o2 sensor, it got a bit wedged when undoing it, then it somehow cross-threaded itself and I had to take off the entire manifold. Cut the o2 sensor top off and had to impact gun it out of the bung. Obviously the threads in the o2 bung were absolutely destroyed by doing this, so I welded up the hole fully, cut a new hole and luckily had a spare o2 threaded bung, so got that welded in and it's perfect. Got the wideband sensor threaded in, wired it all up to the 5 loom, and fed it into the car. I was so pleased with this, popped the dash vent out and the AEM gauge is literally the perfect fit, I pushed it into the vent hole and it pretty much made a satisfying click as it went into place. Almost looks OEM+, kind of. Whatever, it's neat and that's what matters haha.  I took the standard ECU out next. The ME221 fits into the standard ECU casing, which is handy. So I got some holes drilled into the casing for the USB cable and MAP sensor hose, and got the new ECU fitted into place. Very neat little install:  Got this all fitted back into the car and plugged in, MAP line comes off of a spare tee on the intake manifold. With all the wiring tucked up you can not even tell it's been done, which is what I wanted. Fired up the old laptop and got the ECU up and running. Basemap is pre-loaded, some settings needed changing and messing with. Calibrated the TPS, punched in the voltages my AEM uses, and sorted some other bits like injector size and stuff. I could get it to fire but it just wouldn't start properly and run. Now bare in mind at this point I was at the unit on my own, it was 9pm, I had no other vehicle to get me home, and I needed to be up to drive to Retro Rides, in this car, in under 10 hours. Honestly there is no better motivation to get a car working than that haha. Anyway after much searching and messing about, I realised it was the Closed Loop idle settings on the basemap that the car wasn't happy with. So I put the idle settings into Manual/Fixed mode, so the idle control valve is set to an exact duty all the time. It ran, but barely, idling very low. My mate suggested as a workaround for now to wind out the idle screw a bit. Couple of turns and it was mint. Idling perfectly at 1,000rpm. Both cold and hot starts are almost OEM, which is great. Basemaps always run rich, so there is a fair bit of Lambda correction going on right now, where the ECU adjusts the fuelling to better match the target AFRs. This is only temporary, the car will be remote tuned when the ITBs are on by a professional. The first drive was a 22 mile drive home. It cruised perfectly, no issues at all. Had some big rich spikes on throttle inputs. Once I made it home I checked over the settings, and leaned out the acceleration enrichment settings a lot before my morning drive to Retro Rides. A couple more adjustments to the acceleration settings and it was almost completely flawless, fast throttle inputs, sitting in traffic, cruising at 70, the car gave me zero issues in the 30 odd mile drive each way. Very pleased. This has been my passenger for the last 2 days haha  Overall great progress, and it's good having this in and working before I build and fit the ITBs. Just need a few more bits from the 5 to sell and I can buy some bike throttle bodies and get cracking with making my intake manifold. Very excited. |
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1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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May 30, 2023 10:08:26 GMT
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So, no massive update, been pretty busy. I have acquired an MX-5 steel intake flange to weld up my intake manifold with. I was also looking around for throttle bodies and since I last purchased some 3 years ago it seems all of them have shot up in price, which was annoying. However I mentioned it to a mate who is also into bikes, and he happened to have some GSXR 750 throttle bodies just lying around doing nothing, and very kindly gave me these for free!  They need prepping for use on the 5 engine. I need to do the following: - Remove injectors and fuel rail, and fill the injector holes. - Remove the secondary butterflies, remove the secondary spindle, and fill the holes as required. - Find an appropriate plug and work out wire order for the stock GSXR TPS. - Change the throttle quadrant for the MX-5 one (much larger so more of an OEM pedal travel). Various vac line barbs are present on these already, so I can use them for MAP sensor readings and brake booster, as I did on my mk1. Nice and simple, just need to order a cheap vacuum block. On the VVT engine the fuel rail and injectors are bolted directly to the head, so injection wise it makes everything very simple as I won't need to accommodate them in the throttle bodies or the intake manifold. Now these are the slightly later (2005 ish) GSXR bodies, as you can see they are cast as twin pairs, so spacing them out individually is not possible like with the earlier version. As a result I am going to be making up the intake manifold runners to suit the spacing of these. It appears that the standard port spacing on the 5 engine is (in mm) 91-91-91, and these bodies are 75-80-75. So not a million miles off, should be able to angle the runners to suit this application. Will take some careful measuring. I could of course just get one made and save the hassle, but I like to DIY things as much as possible, and it keeps costs down, so going to give it a go myself. In terms of mounting these to the intake manifold once completed, I will likely look at using the standard rubbers the GSXR came with, and making up some form of support brace that will thread into the soon to be unused fuel rail threads. Just so the bodies aren't hanging purely off of rubber connectors. I'll work out trumpets once the rest is all done. |
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Last Edit: May 30, 2023 10:09:26 GMT by bilbomk1
1980 Vauxhall Cavalier - MX-5 VVT engine/box conversion, GSXR ITBs
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