Bilbo's mk1 Cavalier

Yes, the forth photo shows the backside of the gauge cover with the acrylic fitted to it, which the LEDs were glued in to, in the hope the edges around the gauges would glow like those acrylic signs you see, which it sort of did.

So got a load done this weekend. Started with the rust holes above the throttle pedal After poking and buzzing back the little holes we had this:



Inside the front arch these holes also spread into the engine bay, it was an awkward one to sort out given the shape. But I made up a couple of plates and got it all sorted. Here's the area now after welding, seam sealing, priming, and underseal:



Much better. Wanted to get this sorted before it spread to the throttle mount plate as that would have been annoying to re-make. There was about 8 separate holes in this area, so it's good to get it all sorted out before it got too advanced.


I stuck the super bright LED light in the arch (we call it the flashbang) and no signs of any light coming through except for the 3 throttle screw holes:



Ignore my primer runs haha, Painting in a cramped footwell isn't fun, now sorted.


Anyway, with this sorted I got to taping/cable tying the loom down in various places, and got the routing into the boot of both the cabin loom and main power wires that come through the floor all sorted. I've tucked it down as tight to the floor as possible to avoid any carpet bulges or issues with contact with the rear seats.

Carpet going in:



Rear seats were super simple to fit, and no issues with the wiring either, all mounted fine:



You really wouldn't know there are 2 fairly chunky bits of harness on the left side of this photo, I'm very pleased with how well it is hidden.


Rear door cards in, 3 ashtrays in this car haha, very old school.



Speaking of ashtrays, I noticed when fitting them one still had something in. As well as 5 presumably Marlboro Reds, there was also an old KitKat wrapper:



Best Before 1 Oct 1990! 80s KitKat! Might put it in the windscreen like an old tax disc haha. Funny thing is this car was last taxed 1997, so this had sat in that ashtray for at least 7 years while the car was still being used.

Front belts all bolted in:



The buckles were a bit sticky on the button, obviously been sat for years, so after a few uses they have freed up again and work perfectly. Belts both retract and lock as they should, drivers one is a bit noisy when retracting though, but it doesn't affect it's operation.


Decided to put the front passenger seat in, driver's side I have some more bits to finish on the dash so keeping the extra space for now. These seat rails are well janky, I don't like this setup at all haha. Such weird rear plates, with this long hook shaped metal piece that the seat and rail contact each other with, and the rear sliders aren't sliders that I am used to in runners, it's just a heavy duty plastic strip on each side that the seat slide points run backwards and forwards on. The front points are just basic U clamps on the front bar of the seats. It's an old school setup for sure, I don't like it, but the seat seems to be in well enough so it'll do for now:



You can see the slider strips I'm talking about above. A little primitive looking to say the least! Sadly this seat isn't in as good condition as the driver's seat or the rear seats, with a long tear on it. Other than that it's ok though, and fairly comfortable, if not a little high.


Also got my brake pedal sorted. It was too long, and too close to the clutch pedal. So I removed it, heated it up, and got it bent a bit more:



I shortened it by an inch or so, cut a piece out, butted the pedal back up, and seam welded it both sides. Ground one side down completely, and then took the cut out piece and added it as a sort of strengthening plate to brace the pedal over where it was welded. It was plenty strong, but it was just butt welded together, and being such an important piece of the car, I decided it was worth making it way stronger than needed, just for peace of mind.



Once it was cooled I gave it a coat of primer and then gloss black, almost looks OEM:



Naturally I had to strength test it, so I gave it some hefty hits with the lump hammer, very scientific as always, and it isn't going anywhere. Happy with how it has turned out, and it now matches the height of the throttle pedal perfectly and is in a much better position between the clutch and throttle.


Got a few other bits sorted out this weekend as well, got the loom mounted under the car, tucked up where it needs to be, with some additional insulation wrapped around it. Also added some extra wire length to the speaker wiring so I can place them wherever is convenient, and got the heater fan wiring extended and routed into the bay, ready for my heater box build I'll be doing next week. Also checked over a few extra plugs and lengths of wiring, and got a few of them cut off that aren't needed, which made it a bit less untidy, particularly on the passenger side. I've got one of the door switches wired in now, just need to do the other one. And finally I got my instrument light earth permanently mounted, and they work perfectly when lights are turned on, I just need to replace the cluster lighting to something with better light output.

It's getting there for sure! Still a lot to do, going as quick as I can, but seeing the interior almost back together has felt like a real step towards making it an actual car again.

And yeah 100% agree on the seat rails. Probably good enough back then, but then so was not having rear seat belts so I don't think that is saying much haha. I was fitting them thinking if I had made these I'd consider this a proper bodge job and wouldn't be happy with them. I may have to sort them at some point, weld on some more modern universal sliding runners, I'll have a look if any floor mounts are available for Mantas, I'm sure someone makes some.

Thanks mate, so excited to have it done.

I was planning to fit the engine tonight, and then remembered the subframe hasn't been braced yet. Stupid oversight really haha.

Anyway my mate who did the engine mounts and gearbox mounts has just bought a house, so he's been crazy busy. Decided I may as well give it a go myself, I rebuilt the jacking point and that didn't collapse when I used it, so might as well do this too.

I made some end plates to slot inside the subframe from some decent thick steel. I think it was 5mm. Got those welded in to close the ends off, and then I took the original cut out from the subframe that I kept, flipped it around, and got it welded on. I had made an additional cut after the original one, which I didn't keep, so I needed a little extra plate to make it reach the end of the subframe.



So there it is, not exactly Instagram worthy #weldporn, but it's plenty strong. Couple of ugly add-on bits I did in areas I wasn't completely happy with after the first pass, got those ground back and I was happy.

Got some seam sealer on the welds, primed, and painted. Should give it plenty of protection, and I think it looks alright.



The good thing about the subframe is it has round holes underneath, so I can get to all of the inside of the bracing to spray it with paint/cavity wax on an extension nozzle like I did with the sills.

Now this is done, I can get the engine in tomorrow! I want to do a test fire asap, then we're really on the final stretch.

So, progress!

Turned my attention to the engine last night. I looked up an EGR blanking kit for the VVT engine, and like that classic Clarkson scene I said "I'm not paying 13 quid".

So I just made a little blanking plate for the intake manifold out of some scrap ally I had lying around, and lopped the EGR bung off the exhaust manifold and welded the hole up.




Hardly a professional product, but I bolted it on with a little sealant and it does the same job. It's also totally hidden so I really don't care what it looks like.


Then I got the engine mounts bolted back to the engine, removed the original clutch spiral hard line, got a couple of other things sorted on it, and got it on the crane. My mate gave me a hand lowering it into the bay, and now it's in (hopefully for the last time!)



The good news is, after removing the original cut hard line from the clutch master, it fits with ease!




Ok it looks quite tight here, but there's actually a fair amount of room, can definitely get a hand and a brake spanner in there to get a braided clutch line on for sure. I'm going to buy one with an angled end piece on, just to make it a little bit easier, but no dramas at all, this master cylinder fits. Thank god.

The loom is a little tight annoyingly, the TPS, IACV valve, and a couple of other plugs don't quite reach. I have pulled it through the firewall as much as I can (the rubber bung now needs to be cut and moved back a way to re-fit into the firewall. A little annoying, but I think I need to extend maybe 3 plugs tops and the engine will all be able to be plugged in.

My biggest headache is the exhaust manifold, now the routing under the car will be fine I think, lots of room, no issues. But cylinder 2 hits the engine mount due to the way the mounts are on the subframe, so we're going to need to modify the manifold a fair bit to get it to fit. I need to look at options here, but it should be something we can sort out without a huge amount of problems. I've also ordered some exhaust bits, new mid silencer, couple of reducer pipes, backbox etc, so that'll be sorted in the next couple of weeks, I'm just cobbling together a system from various parts. Couldn't be bothered to pay 200 odd quid for a system that I would want to cut for a new backbox style anyway.

Modify the engine mount, not the exhaust. It's quicker, easier and cheaper especially as you already have the other two mounts made. This is why the engine should be as complete as possible before committing yourself to its final position.

So after going back after a day off and having a go at the manifold again, the main upper manifold fits. I unbolted it from the (unsuitable) downpipe, and could then slide it on at a better angle and the cylinder 2 pipe just about clears the engine mount. It's close but it should be alright.

Now it was clear that the downpipe section wasn't suitable at all. It didn't bend far enough away from the rear leg of subframe, the o2 sensor bung was too close to the floorpan/tunnel so the sensor wouldn't fit, and it didn't end in a place that was particular useful for mounting a midpipe too. As well as this the manifold/downpipe flange was just too close to the tunnel for my liking, there was just not enough room.

I looked at aftermarket manifolds, but really all of them route a very similar way, they may be a little better, but the downpipe sections would still need adapting fairly heavily to actually work. To be honest I just don't have the budget to be spending on things that aren't 100% needed right now, so I've made use of what I have.

I needed to remove the flange section, re-angle the downpipe, move the o2 bung, and add a bend so that it would sit nice and straight under the car for a midpipe to bolt to. So I took the original manifold, cut the flange off, chopped up my mate's old cracked 4AGE manifold and used a perfectly sized Y piece from it. Re-used the collector section of my original downpipe with the o2 sensor in, angled it so that the subframe was no longer an issue, then used another bend I had off of my old TSport Yaris for the end of the downpipe. Here it is:



Is it perfect? Probably not. Will it give the best performance of any manifold for this engine? Probably not. Is the end stainless and the rest not? It is. But honestly I don't care right now, I'm really happy with how it has come out. The welding went really well on this, I'm still learning and I'm so pleased about how it all went. Got each piece tacked on, test fitted, adjusted if needed, then welded up fully. It fits an absolute dream, it clears everything, it bolts up, no contact issues with the tunnel or subframe, and the o2 sensor threads in and has plenty of wire length to plug in to the harness. For now it's ideal.

Again my welding is hardly worthy of any awards, but the progress I've seen in it since I started this car is great, I can still see areas I can improve, but it's plenty good enough I think, I'm quite proud of this:

Well done!
You should be happy with your welds, nothing wrong with the. There is good process now and I think you have the correct mindset; focus on what needs to be done to get it working. The rest is not important right now.

Regards,
David