Bilbo's mk1 Cavalier

Bilbo · July 27, 2023

Right, hello all. So almost a year into owning this now, I've been posting into a build thread on Retro Rides, which is around 13 pages long now. So I'll just give an overview of the car and everything done to it.

Basic background is that I wanted a classic car. Something preferably RWD, 70s/early 80s, 4 door, and something a little bit less common. So I ended up with the Cavalier. The plan was to modernise it with an MX-5 engine, and go from there. I have done plenty on 5s in the past, but a full on engine conversion was something I had never done before. So I just bought it and gave myself no choice but to just jump into it and get it done.

So here it was the day I got it:

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Last taxed 1997, dry stored for around 24 years, then someone bought it to restore but had to give up and sell before barely starting.

it was largely in good condition, and complete, arches, strut tops, A pillars etc. all pretty good. But there was of course some rust to deal with:

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Not ideal, but not absolutely horrendous either.

So anyway I got to work with the welder:

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A few other bits too, but you get the idea.

Now 24 years isn't kind to anything, dry stored or not. So everything suspension, steering and brakes wise needing completely redoing entirely, so I got to it:

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All new brake and fuel lines, front to back were completed also:

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With all this done it was time to address the engine conversion.

The donor, a 2004 mk2.5 MX-5. 1.8 VVT engine with 86k miles:

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Test fit, no good. needed to notch the subframe, and modify the manifold:

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Sorted:

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Strengthened and welded back up:

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Manifold was a Frankenstein of the 5 manifold, part of an AE86 manifold, and some pipework from my old Yaris T-Sport:

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Mate welded me up some engine mounts and a gearbox brace:

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Cut the transmission tunnel hole for the shifter, made an extended shifter to get it in a useable position, and finally it fits:

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Firewall cut and extended for hydraulic clutch system, MX-5 brake booster and master fitted:

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MX-5 clutch and brake pedals modified to fit:

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Then it was loom time. No half measures. I wanted all original gauges, switches, stalks etc. but all running fully on the 5 loom in its entirety.

Out came the Vauxhall loom and interior:

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And the Mazda loom here. I cut off the airbag, ABS, and other bits that weren't needed.

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MX-5 ignition barrel fitted:

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Long old job this was:

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Spliced everything to work with the original stalk and instruments where possible:

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Many many hours of messing around later and it was all in (original wheel has now been re-fitted, the one here was a bit cheapy tbh):

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Battery in boot:

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MX-5 fuel tank with all associated fuel pump assembly stuff, all fitted:

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Custom heater box welded up to suit the required placement of the heater matrix (Corsa B matrix used):

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Engine bay modified to accommodate MX-5 radiator:

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Exhaust re-done front to back. V-band fittings welded onto manifold for easy fitting and removal:

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Custom prop from JW Engineering to mount the 5 box to the Vauxhall rear prop:

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Got some JBW Superlight wheels, brand new Toyos, re-fitted everything and basically done:

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And it drove, it was superb.

Then I ripped the exhaust off as it hung too low, so re-did it nice and tucked:

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Gave it a polish:

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Decided it needed ITBs. ME221 ECU:

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Jigged up my own manifold, with K5 GSXR 750 throttle bodies:

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Brakes didn't fit with the trumpets. Compbrake Balance bar and dual Wilwood master cylinder setup all fitted (really painfully long piece of work this, hated it haha):

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Laptop out to get it running:

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Fitted some gauges:

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Lovely stuff:

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Becoming a good car now, been to some shows and my MX-5 has now been stripped and scrapped so it's in fully daily driver duty now:

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And there you go, that's the story so far. It's been many hundreds of hours, roll throughs at the unit until the sun is up, brake fluid covered hands, insane amounts of Monster Energy consumed. But every single time I drive it, it was all worth it. Love this car so much.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Bilbo

Mike. · July 27, 2023

Great looking cav, it sits really well, cracking job done there 👍

Trooker · July 27, 2023

That was a serious undertaking but a fantastic result. Love the fact it’s now your daily 😎👍

TheRealExile · July 27, 2023

Very nice indeed 👌

Bilbo · July 27, 2023

Thanks all, appreciate the comments. It gets far more interest than I was expecting when I'm out in it to be honest. I can't tell you how many times I've had the classic "I had one of these" or "not seen one of these for years" comments 😂

It's a great car to enjoy driving, especially with around 50hp more than it had when new (not done a dyno power run with the ECU and ITBs yet). Diff is the original auto one, so a 3.6 I believe, so it is very long geared with an MX-5 box, but it makes for a good cruiser. 3k rpm at 70 is very nice! But honestly if I never have to look at the black and white wiring diagram in the Haynes manual ever again like I did when I was splicing all the switches and stalks I will be very happy 😂

Sutty2006 · July 28, 2023

Do you have any plans for an LSD? I think that will be another game changer if you do! I found with an extra 50 bp I was constantly spinning 1 wheel up while driving. The quaiffe ATB took all that away and allows the power to go to both sides, and makes roundabouts and junctions very fun too! 😁😁

Bilbo · July 28, 2023

2 minutes ago, Sutty2006 said:

Do you have any plans for an LSD? I think that will be another game changer if you do! I found with an extra 50 bp I was constantly spinning 1 wheel up while driving. The quaiffe ATB took all that away and allows the power to go to both sides, and makes roundabouts and junctions very fun too! 😁😁

That would be nice. At the very least a manual diff would be good, I think they're around 3.9 ratio aren't they? MX-5 diffs range from 3.6 to 4.3 depending on the model, but a 3.9 is probably the best balance between acceleration and cruise that you'll get with these gearboxes. I had a 4.6 in my old mk1 MX-5, and it was great fun but motorway cruising wasn't particularly nice 😂

And yeah an LSD would be lovely, god this thing will just light up the inside tyre if you try to pull away in the wet with anything more than like 1/3 throttle haha. Not even bad tyres either!

Sutty2006 · July 28, 2023

1 minute ago, Bilbo said:

That would be nice. At the very least a manual diff would be good, I think they're around 3.9 ratio aren't they? MX-5 diffs range from 3.6 to 4.3 depending on the model, but a 3.9 is probably the best balance between acceleration and cruise that you'll get with these gearboxes. I had a 4.6 in my old mk1 MX-5, and it was great fun but motorway cruising wasn't particularly nice 😂

And yeah an LSD would be lovely, god this thing will just light up the inside tyre if you try to pull away in the wet with anything more than like 1/3 throttle haha. Not even bad tyres either!

I’ll be honest, I’m not good with the numbers side of diffs, so I just booted an axle under that I bought off a mate, it’s been great and I think it was same ratio as a 1.8/2.0 anyway as the revs are similar 3000rpm at 70ish so all good! And there’s nothing worse than having the power and not being able to put it on the tarmac. It’s like night and day the difference is.

Bilbo · July 28, 2023

2 minutes ago, Sutty2006 said:

I’ll be honest, I’m not good with the numbers side of diffs, so I just booted an axle under that I bought off a mate, it’s been great and I think it was same ratio as a 1.8/2.0 anyway as the revs are similar 3000rpm at 70ish so all good! And there’s nothing worse than having the power and not being able to put it on the tarmac. It’s like night and day the difference is.

Ah Ok, I'll have a read up and see what diffs are what. Looking at current gearing I believe this auto diff is a 3.6. It's honestly fine and no noise or anything, it's mint, but off the line 1st is just a little useless until about 20 odd mph haha. Plus using a gearing calculator online it's geared to do 165 at the top of 5th now, which is so stupid 😂 not that it'd get there, I'm certainly not going to try haha.

Yeah an LSD would be nice eventually, open diffs are always bad, this one is particularly bad for 1 wheelers.

Moonmonkey · July 28, 2023

Welcome Bilbo, looks like a great job, and unique conversion

Manta B CIH axles have 2 types of differential cage for different ratios (OHV engined cars have a different axle)

Type A is for 3.18 and 3.44

Type B for 3.67, 4.22, 4.75, 5.00, 5.28

The difference is the crownwheel flange thickness

if you have a 3.67 you should be ok to fit shorter geared crownwheel and pinion sets.

3.44 and 3.67 are the most common road ratios. You may be able to get other ratios 2nd hand (often from competition cars), or you can get new crown wheel and pinions sets from Krause Rennsport but they are not cheap.

https://www.krause-rennsporttechnik.de/shop/en/Chassis/Rear-Axle/Axle-drive-ratio%2C-CIH?source=2&refertype=1&referid=107

Bilbo · July 28, 2023

1 hour ago, Moonmonkey said:

Welcome Bilbo, looks like a great job, and unique conversion

Manta B CIH axles have 2 types of differential cage for different ratios (OHV engined cars have a different axle)

Type A is for 3.18 and 3.44

Type B for 3.67, 4.22, 4.75, 5.00, 5.28

The difference is the crownwheel flange thickness

if you have a 3.67 you should be ok to fit shorter geared crownwheel and pinion sets.

3.44 and 3.67 are the most common road ratios. You may be able to get other ratios 2nd hand (often from competition cars), or you can get new crown wheel and pinions sets from Krause Rennsport but they are not cheap.

https://www.krause-rennsporttechnik.de/shop/en/Chassis/Rear-Axle/Axle-drive-ratio%2C-CIH?source=2&refertype=1&referid=107

Thanks for the info mate, appreciate it. I need to check on the laptop what my exact RPM is at 70, as I've used a calculator and I know what it should be for given ratios. I'm not 100% if I have a 3.44 or a 3.67 at this point. I could just stop being lazy and just actually check the teeth on my current one, but it doesn't leak and I don't want to take the cover off 😂 I do have new gasket for it though so I might just take it off and have a look. 4.22 would be ok I guess, was hoping for something a little bit lower, I mean my current one isn't awful but I'd love to make it a little quicker off the line.

And yeah those Rennsport ring and pinions are a little rich for my blood 😂

Moonmonkey · July 28, 2023

www.viadanny.com is good for opel axles and parts.

Just checked he doesn’t have anything other than 3.44 and 3.7 at the moment, but a lot cheaper than Rennsport.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Moonmonkey

Bilbo · July 31, 2023

On 28/07/2023 at 13:33, Moonmonkey said:

www.viadanny.com is good for opel axles and parts.

Just checked he doesn’t have anything other than 3.44 and 3.7 at the moment, but a lot cheaper than Rennsport.

Thanks mate, appreciate the info. I need to decide what I want really. maybe I'll eventually build another axle out of the car that is shorter, 4.22 might be quite a good option.

Bilbo · August 7, 2023

I had a wedding to attend on Friday, so I actually bothered to clear the car out, and give it a good old hoover. It's quite nice seeing it a bit cleaner in there!

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Had 2 passengers in the back, they liked how comfy the seats are (honestly ridiculous, they're like a sofa!), but we hadn't told them there were no belts until they got in the car and one of them was absolutely terrified 😂 Anyway, we survived, so all good.

Not a huge amount else going on, I went out late one evening and did some more mapping, I've got the cruise dialled in really nicely now, the ECU barely uses any fuel correction (stays under 5% almost the entire time) to keep the AFRs on target. Leaned out the cruise a bit to around 15.2, so probably see a small fuel saving over before. Also dialled in the acceleration enrichment a bit better, quick jabs of the throttle seem a lot happier now. It's still not bang on perfect, but it takes a while to get these things right. Certainly makes it feel a lot nicer than it did before.

Had a look at my door bottoms, driver's front is the worst. It's not the end of the world, but I'll need to address this soon I think:

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They're not awful, but 1 more winter I think they'll be far beyond their best.

I did have a bit of an incident though, nothing terrible. Was driving along yesterday, noticed gearshift felt odd, almost like it was going too far into gear if that makes sense. The throw felt a bit off. Anyway I joined a very short slip road onto the duals, and as I banged it from the top of 2nd into 3rd it all went a bit wrong 😂 Straight into neutral and banging limiter as I hit the throttle again. The gear knob in my hand went all limp and started just flapping around. I thought oh god, my extended shifter has given up. And it had. Pulled into a layby and had a look.

Yep, that'll do it:

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The tape has been good as a sound deadening/reducing heat in the car type thing, though it does look a little ugly. So basically I made this makeshift shifter up when I built the car. It was only ever meant to be temporary tbh. As the 5 shifter was too close to the handbrake, I took a standard MX-5 shifter, cut it at it's base, and welded in a thick extension rod that brought it forward by about 7-8 inches. Then welded the original threaded shifter part to the front. Well my welds didn't fail, which is always nice to know, but the actual metal itself decided to completely sheer off. I'm not exactly soft on the shifts sometimes, I do like banging it from gear to gear, so I guess this is to be expected.

This shifter has never been great, obviously as it is on a horizontal extension, the throw is exaggerated quite dramatically. But it felt quite in keeping with the retro car, having a longer throw, so it never really bothered me. For now the plan will be to fix this temporarily, with some added strengthening put in place. But longer term I want to build a fixed relocated shifter, like this one I found online:

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Having the gearbox end on a bush, and the actual shifter on a rose joint will mean the standard MX-5 throw will be kept as it should be. Should make the gear shifts feel a lot more sporty and short, which won't hurt. I guess this is very similar to how some FWD cars work, my old Civic had a very long bar with a bush either side that was basically the same principle as the setup above really. It make sense to do this. But at the time I just wanted the car on the road. My current setup lasted quite well all things considered, done a good few thousand miles without issue. But I guess this is my prompt to actually sort it out properly this time!

Jessopia74 · August 7, 2023

It would be like day/night with the improved shifter . Kind of always the same when something works, even if not perfect it’s improvement is always back of the ‘to do’ list, but they usually bite when most inconvenient 😬🤪

Bilbo · August 7, 2023

15 minutes ago, Jessopia74 said:

It would be like day/night with the improved shifter . Kind of always the same when something works, even if not perfect it’s improvement is always back of the ‘to do’ list, but they usually bite when most inconvenient 😬🤪

Yeah 100%. Everything is on the list, but if it's not a safety issue or a massive problem I usually ignore it 😂 I'll get some bits ordered. Going to be a bit of a faff to get it to fit in it's current location, but definitely worth the effort I think.

Bilbo · August 8, 2023

Ok so I have now planned out the new shifter. I've got a fairly good idea of what I want to do. Very similar idea to the image I posted above yesterday.

Made a little diagram of the planned setup:

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The relocation bar will likely have a standard cylindrical bush on the box side, allowing the bar to pivot up or down, depending on the selected gear. I could just hard mount this, but as I am planning to bolt it directly to the relocated shifter on the front side, I assumed this would cause a lot of tension/stiff shifts if the bar can't pivot itself to remain perfectly flat.

As for the front, a strong U/C shaped bracket bolted directly to the tunnel, with a clevis going through it. I'll likely just use an M8 bolt and flap disc the threads off in the centre so it is a smooth cylinder. There will be a rose joint on this clevis that will thread into the bottom of the gear stick, which will allow the gear stick itself to pivot as necessary, but anchoring it in position relative to the rear.

In my head this works, and when done should give the exact same throw as an original shifter in the 5 gearbox would give. I've been meaning to do this since before the car was even on the road. Seeing as the shifter needs to be repaired anyway, it makes sense to just do it properly this time. Will make for a much shorter throw, and quicker gear changes, hopefully! 😂

Jessopia74 · August 8, 2023

What about gearbox movement? Usually they have a fixed arm too, so it’s always working against the gearbox not the chasis. I guess if the movement is very minimum so should nit be a issue but having it as a grid fixed point could cause a break again in the future?

Bilbo · August 8, 2023

19 minutes ago, Jessopia74 said:

What about gearbox movement? Usually they have a fixed arm too, so it’s always working against the gearbox not the chasis. I guess if the movement is very minimum so should nit be a issue but having it as a grid fixed point could cause a break again in the future?

This is a very good point I hadn't taken into account. The brace for gearbox onto the chassis is pretty beefy, with 2 very stiff rubber bushes on either side, going into the OE mount holes on the chassis. The shifter is almost directly above this mount, I'd hope there wasn't a lot of movement, but it is a good point. There will be movement in the box to some extent, as obviously I have rubber engine mounts and rubber bushes on the box mount. But I'm not sure if it would be enough to cause issues with a shifter that was hard mounted to the chassis on one end?

I suppose the ideal solution here is for my proposed front mount to bolt directly onto the gearbox somehow, so the entire setup wasn't chassis mounted anywhere. I'll need to have a look and see if this is feasible.

Bilbo · August 10, 2023

Ok, so decided to just get it done last night. I rigged up an absolutely terrible shifter to get to the unit, as all I had was the snapped shifter stub. It involved a 1/2" extension, reinforced tape, and cable ties. It was truly awful, but it got me there, so that's a win 😂

Anyway, based on the comments from a couple of people, including @Jessopia74(thank you), I decided my chassis mounted front was a bad idea. So I pulled all the sound deadening/carpet etc. out and took a look at the box. On the top of the box there is a little plate held on with 4 12mm bolts. Under this is the shifter rod that goes to the inside of the box. Some people do shorten the shifter into this location by cutting the rod down, but I wanted a solution I could easily swap to another box if I ever need to.

So I took the plate out, and welded a piece of cut down box section to it. Drilled a hole through both sides of this new box section bracket, and found a weird bolt in the spares drawer that only had thread right at the head end. Used the makeshift drill/grinder lathe method to make the smooth round part smaller, so the rose joint could slip onto it.

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The hole on the bolt head side is 12mm, and on the other side only 8mm, so the smooth end sits fairly tightly in the hole. You can see the nut holding it in on the inside, this keeps it in place. I had to do this as I had no appropriate bolts that had thread on the end that would actually be suitable for the rose joint I used. It looks a little odd, but it actually works very nicely. I drilled a hole in the bottom of my shifter and put a small piece of threaded bar in the bottom, which winds into the rose joint and allows the shifter to smoothly articulate 360 degrees as required, while keeping it anchored.

Only thing I need to do is add a small spacer to the left of the rose joint to stop it moving to the left too far for 5th and reverse shifts. For testing I just added some beefy cable ties to simulate this, and I'm happy that a spacer/extra thick washer type thing will be the perfect thing to help stop this.

For the linking mechanism I used some spare thick pieces of steel, and some spare braking components I had lying around. Plates welded to the shifter mechanism, and the gear stick, with holes drilled in them. Then a brake pedal clevis bolted on each side. I welded a brake master pushrod into the frontmost clevis, and have it threaded into the rear one, so I can adjust the gearstick position slightly if I want to. With washers between the clevises and their mounts, they both have some ability to pivot the link bar, so shifting doesn't have any excessive tension to it.

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Apologies for the bad photo, but you get the idea. Little bit of spatter I need to clean up, but the welds seem strong enough.

Made a quick video of how it works.

I actually want to remove the shifter extension I have on the gear stick as I feel it isn't really needed now, plus that will help to shorten the throw a bit more.

Overall pretty happy with it for a first attempt at something like this. It got me home on the 20 odd mile drive from the unit, so it can't be that bad 😂 I just want to add a few more welds to the box section plate on the inside, and add the spacer to the left of the rose joint, and probably strengthen the way the thread is mounted in the underside of the gearstick to prevent any issues. It's definitely a much better setup than before. 1st and 2nd shifts the rear part of the shifter is a little close to the handbrake, but it's manageable and doesn't make contact with it.

Jessopia74 · August 10, 2023

Function over form, 100% 👍😎. Looks good, should be pretty positive like that. Best bit about the way you have it setup is it can easily be adjusted for positioning feel and quick shift if needed. Should be able make a glass fibre cover & sone 1” sound Matt it will be silent. Making a new console ofc is going to take the time . Good job though

Bilbo · August 14, 2023

On 10/08/2023 at 16:13, Jessopia74 said:

Function over form, 100% 👍😎. Looks good, should be pretty positive like that. Best bit about the way you have it setup is it can easily be adjusted for positioning feel and quick shift if needed. Should be able make a glass fibre cover & sone 1” sound Matt it will be silent. Making a new console ofc is going to take the time . Good job though

Cheers mate, I'm pretty happy with it overall. Certainly a lot better than it was.

Bilbo · August 14, 2023

So, the new shifter isn't bad, done a bit more to it to improve things and it seems fairly good now. I had an issue initially as the thread I welded into the base of the gear knob itself wasn't welded too well, and it snapped. So I drilled out the hole wider and have now filled all around the thread with weld, it seems a lot stronger than before and had no issues as of yet (touch wood).

Also removed the extender and just wound the gear knob directly to the shifter, this has helped with the throw, it feels a bit nicer now that it is shorter. Had some adhesive backed sound deadening so cut it up and placed it all around the shifter. It's not 100% perfect, but it has helped a lot with heat and air rushing in from underneath, even with no carpet or centre console top/gaiter placed over it yet, so that's promising.

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I am finding the gear shifts a little bit tight, which isn't ideal. The bolt and washer method allows pivot on the front and rear, but I think I'm going to change it up. I have to run a bolted method on the front, as it is on a rose joint if I added a loose fitting it would likely feel very loose and wobbly, but for the rear I'm thinking of changing out the nut and bolt for a clevis pin type fitting that will allow the same range of movement with a lot less resistance. Currently the shifts are just a bit too tight, and it is slowing down my ability to change gear quickly. Will test out using a clevis pin that will hold it in place but have very limited resistance, should work well hopefully.

Other than that, the car is good, plenty more I want to get on with, but it's being a super daily at the moment. Other than a brief period of lean running on hot starts (afterstart enrichment/intake temp sensor heatsoak related I think), it just takes the miles no trouble. The map is improving each time I take it out, and it isn't far off OEM driveability at this point, which is great.

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Bilbo · August 21, 2023

Right, so made a couple more changes to the shifter.

The tightness was starting to annoy me a bit, so I did what I said before and changed the rear side to a clevis pin with retaining clip. It felt a little loose so I put a washer just before the retaining clip and now it's great. A lot easier to move the shifter back and forward, and the lateral movements are basically unaffected. It also likes to pop itself back to neutral in the centre a bit better than before, which is always good.

The front bar for the rose joint was also annoying me. The little metal spacer to the left of the rose joint worked well, but mainly on overrun it made a nasty rattling noise, and the higher revs you were, the worse it was. So I have now changed both sides of the rose joint to a rubber spacer. I think the pieces I used were actually those little rubber cylinders that come on a throttle cable that you slot onto a bracket to secure the cable down with. But they work perfectly for this. They stop the rose joint moving about, they don't rattle, and they have some flex in them so the rose joint can pivot sideways exactly as needed. Ideal.

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It's still hardly a professional looking product, but it works quite well and gear shifts are the best they've been so far in this car! The sound deadening stuff and carpet offcuts I have put in work quite well at preventing heat getting in, and there is no hot air from under the car getting in now, which is nice. Still need to sort out the mess of a cut up centre console, but it'll get there.

Unrelated, but I am getting a rather horrible weird noise on overrun now. Sounds like it is clutch/release bearing related. No ill effects as of yet, but it's like a weird metal sound, almost sounds squelchy if that makes any sense 😂 First assumption was maybe the rear main had gone and was spitting oil onto everything in the bellhousing, but the weep hole is bone dry. This is actually the only MX-5 engined vehicle I've ever owned that drops zero fluids of any kind on the floor haha. I'll have a look into it, but I reckon it's inside the bellhousing annoyingly.

I have noticed with this new shifter that there is a fair bit of wobble though, by which I mean the whole box is moving about more than I'd like, mainly when starting the car. When driving it isn't noticeable, but I have got my 40% stiffer IL Motorsport engine mounts still lying around from my mk1 5, so I may just fit those. Current ones are old original MX-5 ones that came with the engine from the donor. Might also have a look at replacing the bobbin bushes for the box mount for some kind of poly ones. Should make it all a bit tighter.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Bilbo

Jessopia74 · August 21, 2023

Thanks for update.

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