hi

i have recently brought myself a cav mk2 its been well looked after until its most resent owner the body work is almost perfect not much rust anywhere the engine im afraid is a little worse for wear it only a lil 1300 cc but boy it shifts that armored body work of the cav

anyway i am thinking of replacing the engine with something abit newer and bigger

and im looking for new best friends for advice along the way  ;D

i intend to keep my cav till i die then be buried in it  >

so if you feeling nice and would be will to help me and answer the old email drop me a line

what part of the world you from mate lol  ;D

sunny old plymouth

would it be a red one by any chance ? saw one when i was out shopping a couple weeks back parked up at the mayflower carpark 

welcome to the site mate you will find lots of new friends on here any chance of some photos of your cav is it a saloon or hatch in some ways you are lucky to have a 1.3 engined cav they are very few of them left now

yea that the one - will try upload photos but keep getting error msg

its a hatch cant upload photos i getting error about path

Welcome bud . Try using photobucket or imageshack to resize you pics then just copy and past

if its the one am thinking off which sounds like it is we have pics on the site somewhere does it have 3 spokes ? from a while back when it was on autotrader

email the photos to me and i will post them up for you

if its the one am thinking off which sounds like it is we have pics on the site somewhere does it have 3 spokes ? from a while back when it was on autotrader

if its one i'm thinking of if on same wave its the red one that had a body kit and tints on it was in telford round the corner from me  ???

the calibre lookalike hatch 

yea that right it from telford i have emailed someone photos so hopefully they can upload

am sure its the same one

what plans do you have for the cav then ?

here you go mate photo as promised

every 1 was right that 1 off a ebay cool 8)

Welcome, feel free to ask the questions (I still do )

well this is why i am here i not sure wat to do

there is a small mount of body mantanice needing doing

but the engine is of great concern it loseing water every now and then so the head is gonna need doing

i have got the gaskit kit and cam belt on its way so oi was thinking of giveing it a mini overhaul

however i use my cav as a cav should be used - everyday

nd im thinking if i gonna do all this work i may as well drop a bigger newer engine in her

the 1.3 does well in such a heavy car but drinks petrol like its still at 1987 prices lol

so i was thinking of something a little more eco nd bit more power

but i hve been told the 1300 is rare so i would feel bad crateing her up

so i am stuck

i would really like some advice from people  who have done it

cheers

do the head gasket mate its only a 3 to 4 hour job depending on how experienced you are at working on engines an engine swap would take a lot longer plus it would lose its originality the extra power would be partly offset by the increase in weight and the fuel consumption would be roughly the same as it is now

1.6 Mk2 cav engines are very hard to get now the other option would be a small block sv 1600 out of an early Mk3 cav but even these are getting hard to find spending an hour reading up from the Haynes workshop manual will save you time in the long run

yea im happy with the job in hand i have rebuilt many bike engines and worked on a few cars the block looks roomy enough to work around

does anyone hve any advice on where to buy piston sets

so far on my list is

redo head gaskit

replace cam belt

replace sparks

pos replace pistion/rings pos rebore if needed

replace battery - any idea of wt the most powerful i can fit is

is there anything im missing

and i read my haynes manual daily its my bible

i doubt if the engine will need pistons or a re bore i had a Mk3 cav 1400 which is basically the same as your 1300 it blew a head gasket at 218,000 miles on the clock and when i took the head off and checked the bores for wear there was hardly any wear at all

this one is showing 47.000 miles and the mots seem to back it up which dont seem alot for a 22 year old car

then i think we can forget about pistons/rings and rebore just replace the head gasket with a good quality one and bobs your uncle and don't forget to use new head bolts unbolt the exhaust manifold but leave the inlet manifold attatched as it gives you somthing to handle the head with but watch out for the rocker arm thrust pads falling off the top of the valve springs when you refit the camshaft

Suggest if it has not got it you get some proper security on it. They are stupidly easy to nick and the last thing you will want once it is sorted is for it to disappear.

It will take a bigger battery than you can afford!!!

By the way, as well as joining this Club  ;D hint,

you should also join at www.vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk another really friendly site which, when you join gets you a Halfords trade card, which can save you a lot of money (plugs half price!), starting with that battery!

For better mileage you could try finding the Irmscher 1.3 injection inlet with all and match it to the head. For power you could get the head done as its off. For big/easy power the ©20xe swap seems to be the most common option.