Some 7 years ago a member of my family offered to sell me his (Carmine Red) MK2 Cavalier estate, which he had owned from new and which had some 24,000 genuine miles on the clock. Another attraction was its towbar. The princely sum of £250 changed hands.

I had at least one good year left in the Volvo I was then running so I SORNed the Cavalier. Parking it on my drive for a year wrecked the tyres!

I owned a Cavalier saloon before the Volvo, so I knew more or less what to expect of the estate. My brother had operated as a freelance mechanic, having previously worked for local dealers, etc. and he then did any necessary work on my cars. When he retired he gave me various Cavalier parts: lamps, dashboard, etc., which I still have.

In semi-retirement, in recent years my activities have included those of a freelance photographer, photographing most non-people subjects. Chucking a pile of gear into the estate for driving around the countryside was ideal.

Mostly, I haven't travelled very far but this year, after buying lots of spares for parts most likely to fail, I took it to the French Alps, some 500 miles each way and lots of driving around the area where I was staying with my wife. The car loved the motorways, doing 80 mph for hours, 90 mph for two hours on the return trip, to catch the ferry. There were no problems, apart from a tiny leak on the radiator overflow reservoir pipe, easily fixed.

The car has now done just over 44,000 miles and sails through its MOT every year, with just the odd CV joint gaiter needed. The distributer cap disintegrated a few months ago and most of the lighting wiring had pulled lose, needing pushing back together behind the dashboard. There has been some surface rust this year, now neutralised and painted over. I put new shockers on last year and a new exhaust front pirpe this year. (When I saw the size and length of the split on the bottom end of the latter I was horrified).

The engine will need some work, maybe next year. There are tiny oil leaks in three places, one of which leaves a small puddle of oil on the hot manifold. But it never needs topping up.

I had some fun soon after I started driving it. I found the engine continuously racing uncontrollably, as though the choke was looked on. Those in the know will have guessed that the electically controlled choke was the problem, a wire connecter near the bulkhead at the back of the engine having come apart.

The car showed stirling service when I gave my sister-in-law (Chinese, her English not good!) regular driving instruction. The performance of the handbrake at red lights in world class! It also got some continental driving experience ahead of my French trip when has she sometimes showed a remarkable lack of predudice about which side of the road to drive on!  My son has also been learning to drive in it. One day he decided to turn left before he had cleared the side of our house when unparking it. So there is now a very shallow dent in the rear door. A puller (sucker) did not improve it and the skins are to close together internally to permit any leverage outwards.

In February 2008 I left my car in the drive and took the bus into town. When I got back an hour and a half later the house had been burgled. They had screwdrivered the lock of the driver's door and the ignition lock, wanting the car to carry away the small safe they had "borrowed". Fortunately, I have a second, key-operated, isolator in the ignition wiring so they got nowhere (stealing a wheelbarrow as a car substitute). I was going to get it repaired under insurance but realised it would be a write-off. A replacement car of similar condition would cost me £000s. Anyway I did a repair with epoxy and cable clips. That worked fine and, when the barrel sheared more than two years later, it took some effort to break that epoxy enable me to replace the barrel.

I had suffered, for many years, from a severe case of droop, especially in cold weather. (This is an age thing).

I refer, as you realised, to the failure of tailgate struts to keep it up when opened. The silent descent has resulted in a hefty thump on my back on numerous occasions and at least one gashed forehead when I turned to load a heavy item, only to hit the lock latch.  Usually, it was not a problem on level ground but my drive is steep, such that the back of the car is usually lower than the front when I unload supermarket shopping.

For several years I trawled the internet and canvassed Ebay sellers of Cavalier parts by email (one had chucked a pair out the previous week). I tried an I Want It Now post with no luck. The Vauxhall dealers established there was no strut in their system . Hatchback ones are sometimes offered but are too short .

Finally, a few months ago, I somehow got an internet search worded in such a way that it found a supplier:

SGS Engineering (UK) Limited

Unit A6

Cranmer Road

West Meadows Industrial Estate

Derby

DE21 6JL

Telephone: +44 (0)1332 298 126

Fax: +44 (0)1332 366 232

Email: andy@sgs-engineering.com

Web Address: www.sgs-engineering.com

"New struts are available at a cost of £36.99 for the pair delivered (£12.99 per strut plus £5.50 carriage and VAT), are covered by a two year guarantee and are available on next day delivery."

I now have those fitted - estate heaven!

Although I can do work on the car, these days I pay the professionals to do most of what is needed. In general, I'm not really "an enthusiast". I don't form emotional attachments to cars, driving each successive one until it is fit only for scrap, keeping it in reasonable condition for so long as it makes financial sense.

Here are some pictures:

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/vodc-pics/Harolds%20pics/CarCatsandAlex400.jpg

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/vodc-pics/Harolds%20pics/CarCatsandAlex397.jpg

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/vodc-pics/Harolds%20pics/CarCatsandAlex394.jpg

Nice story and welcome to the site, the estate looks great and an early one also! Keep it going! 

My Cavalier is now in intensive care. I diagnosed a blown head gasket and asked them to investigate oil leaks while they were in there. The initial diagnosis is it needs a top end rebuild. I am probably going ahead but they are taking a closer look.

depending on what they say it might be worth just sourcing a replacement engine

It still hasn't done 50,000 so I don't know how that fits in with practice. A 'short engine' might be an option but availability might be an issue.

It still hasn't done 50,000 so I don't know how that fits in with practice. A 'short engine' might be an option but availability might be an issue.

I would not have thought that a 'short' engine (block and below) was needed as your problems, as described, are in the top end. The oil leaks, from experience, sound like rocker gasket and distributor end camshaft seal.

Put in a v6 mate....i can definately recommend it........and so can a few others

a top end rebuild sounds like the best option mate. i take it its a 1600 8v. i did mine earlier this year, its a doddle to do and a garage should be able to do it in less than a day

I would not have thought that a 'short' engine (block and below) was needed as your problems, as described, are in the top end. The oil leaks, from experience, sound like rocker gasket and distributor end camshaft seal.

The rocker gasket was replaced months ago, knowing that there were other leaks. There has never been much oil loss but it is messy and get hot on the front of the engine block and a bit smelly.

a top end rebuild sounds like the best option mate. i take it its a 1600 8v. i did mine earlier this year, its a doddle to do and a garage should be able to do it in less than a day

Yes 1600 8v. That's the most likely way to go, and my preference. They mention at least two valves needing work but I would want all, and their guides, replaced.

Put in a v6 mate....i can definately recommend it........and so can a few others

I don't even know the cost of a straight replacement, let alone an upgrade. The cost, plus higher insurance, etc, is not waht I want on my pension. Also, I rarely venture out of town and the power has always been more than adequate on motorways.

I would not have thought that a 'short' engine (block and below) was needed as your problems, as described, are in the top end. The oil leaks, from experience, sound like rocker gasket and distributor end camshaft seal.

Correct. That was me mis-remembering from when I was more directly interested in the mechanics of repairs. A short memory error!  :-[

Update:

My local garage is nervous about what they might find if they open up the engine. It might need new valve guides (which they can't do) as well as valves and dealing with other seals might get them into the cylinder block anyway.

It seems that Ivor Searle will refurbish the engine if it is taken out and sent to them. This would leave my car taking up space for weeks at the garage and they don't want that. They say that taking the engine out also implies a new clutch would be needed (kit now on Ebay). It may be that Searle will only deal with the trade.

There is no way I would attempt the job. My neigbour is in some kind of partnership with a garage owner (?), working on Corsas, some of whichb he does on his drive. So I am going to see if they are interested. It could be done on my drive.

Most important, is there anyone reading this who would be able, and keen to do the refurbishment for me? (I am in Reading and the car is drivable, behaving normally so far).

you need to find another garage, its all simple work, sounds like they just dont want the job!

I must say I was surprised at their reaction.

They just dont want the job mate. Its all simple stuff and they should be more than qualified to do the job and you dont need a new clutch just because the engines out, thats rubbish.

I'd certainly have a go yourself. I did the head gasket on my SRi, its very easy. Where are you in the country. Bring it to mine and we'll sort the head gasket 

I'm in Reading.

I've just had a long chat with my young neighbour and he has gone away with the Hayes manual. At the moment my preference is for him to replace the exhaust valves and guides as well as the head gasket. He's going to have a word with his mechanic buddy. They took an engine out and put it back today, a fairly typical activity for them.

Thanks for the offer. I may well yet need such help.

In my young and foolish days I did once take a head off (Ford Zephyr) but I have little enthusiasm now and am happy to pay, preferably not commercial rates.

The car is in great shape otherwise and I should get at least another couple of years out of it, hopefully more, after this problem is sorted.

As for clutches, I had an Audi 80 in the 1970s and the main dealer managed to break the clutch when they took the engine out. This was an insurance job but I can't remember who paid for the clutch. They also took weeks to get a genuine wheel bearing or something similar before they could complete the repair.

Come to blackpool and have a go in blue peter ;D, then all your worries about rebuilding engineswill be sorted......just get a v6 and start smiling...ican promise you,,IT HAS TO BE DONE

I've just had to restore function to the driver's door lock. When I got home from the garage yesterday I found that the lock would not function with the key. A mechanic had test driven the vehicle before handing it to me so unlocking it had not been an issue.

I took the panelling off and investigated. It was not the key function, as the lock would not open from either the inside or the outside if I shut the latch with a screwdriver. To cut a long story short (or long) the linkage rod from the door handle was now too long, as though a gorilla had tried to open the door with the outer handle when it was locked. I make no accusation!  :-X

Anyway, I reconfigured the vertical and and horizontal axes of the rod. (I shoved it and bent it). This did the job.

A tip about the inside locking knob/rod. That tends to get rather loose with age and then can drop down when you close the door, thus locking you out, invariably with the key still in the ignition. This can be stopped by inserting a quantity of soft foam rubber into the hole, preferably into the lower one in the door, just below the one in the panel, whence it emerges at the top of the door panel. This provides enough friction to stop it dropping without impairing normal function.

I have to say that posting here is perfect practice for working on lock mechanisms in car doors, in that it what you are working on moves around and stays out of sight when you most need to see it.

Just to say,replacing the guides needs to be done by a head specialist as the head has to be heated up so the metal around the guides expands and they become free,then,before it cools,new guides are inserted,the metal contracts and holds the guides back in place. Agree with everyone else though,they just don't want the job by the sound of it.

For the size of the job i'd find another 1600 with low miles from a previously healthy car and put it in.

Thanks. It may no longer be an issue.

This afternoon I was googling for info on the job when the search turned up a new head (fresh in, so not findable yesterday) which should fit, plus the head gasket and a cam seal.

I have e-mailed the stockist with engine number and registration to see if they are OK. I don't know a price yet but it has got to be better than messing around with the old head.

Andy's reply came in while I was typing this but I still think the new head is the best option.

The saga continues. 

I have staked a claim on the head, however, "head is bare so comes with no valves or springs, let me work through the list and see if we can make up the head with all new parts ready to fit" is the latest from the stockist.

When I put the prospect of building it and then fitting it to my neighbour he hesitated, as I expected. Neither he nor his mate have any experience of e.g. valve grinding.

So, we are back in the realms of seeking help/recommendations from you guys, subject to an update on what kit is put together for me. I have to say that getting the head sorted, except perhaps for timing alignment, outside of the car before touching the engine has great appeal, leaving me with a drivable car until the final commitment!

I am in Reading and available at most times. The car is drivable, if coolant is topped up every 100 miles or so.

Back now to waiting for an email listing available parts.

At last:

I have managed to look up a local, old-fashioned mechanic who does this kind of work. He will start from basics, opening up the engine and doing what is necessary. That is precisely what I asked the garage to do. He can get the head refurbished, if necessary by a firm who have tio part in stock.

If it is just the head gasket thats gone thats quite easy to replace. Do you really need to touch all the valves etc?