How hard is it to xe a mk1 cavalier?

[maddogdaz666]

i keep seeing a 1.3 mk1 cav for sale and ive got a c20xe in the garage, how hard is it to mate the 2? any help would be much appriciated!:(

[mowgli]

well, if you can find all of the mounts & gearbox/clutch from a manta/1800, it would be a straight fit, no cutting, but a bit of wiring, and you'd really need to try & find an injection tank. you have to do something clever with the 1800 dizzy drive

or you could find a manta 2000/1600 CIH box, and then look at fitting a 2.4 frontera engine... the manta forums are full of info

[maddogdaz666]

just a thought as its quite tidy and affordable, and i have the xe engine already.
so i,d need a manta gearbox, and mounts, do they fit straight on the xe then!?

[mowgli]

the 1800 manta does, but you'll find rocking horse poo easier than finding decent cheap manta 1800 bits....

[amggsi]

You're talking at least £500 for the conversion parts for an XE, probably blows your budget build out the window.......

[maddogdaz666]

erm..... yes lol!!!!

[MattBrown]

You will also need a bigwing sump and pickup pipe for RWD

Also need a way of sorting the spark, and clearing the bulkhead.

[maddogdaz666]

i also have an omega 3.0 v6 engine?

[amggsi]

Same parts are needed to convert it, and possibly more work! The V6 sit very far back in the bay, pushing gearbox back, and you may need to modify the bulkhead a little as well.......

[mowgli]

omega v6, omega box.. would be excellent, but still expensive.

carlton/senator straight 6 would fit in well too

[bmw156]

500 quid easy for the manta parts.

sump 150
mounts 40
box 100
dizzy if you go that route is another 100
and you will want the axle as well. which is another 100

the only hard bit as mowgli said is finding them.
i have two axles, one box, and a set of mounts (which im not using lol)

the dizzys i have only ever seen a few, there is a sump on the bay atm with out pick up pipe, boxes come up every now and then, axles are RARE, and mounts are impossible to find.

[C612DNM]

Crikey! A couple of years back we sold a Manta GT/E on a D-plate together with a Manta Berlinetta Coupe (1.8) for £400 the pair!
The GTE was tidy but needed it's undergarments freshening up in the usual Manta/Cavalier/Ascona places, and the Berlinetta ran but was rattly & rumbly, but the shell was otherwise quite good.

You'd have had plenty of bits then.

I have most of a rear axle, no torque tube, laying outside my workshop. Was going to scrap it at some stage, together with a smoky/oily 2L CiH lump, and a very knackererd 1.6 Mk2 Cavalier lump.

[mowgli]

you are certain this cav is a mk1? i've never seen a 1.3.. what reg is it? the mk1 has a manta style front end, and is rwd.

[C612DNM]

I remember 1256cc Mk1's
The first Luton built cars were 1256's

[mowgli]

very rare then....

i've never seen one, and as crap an engine as the 1256 is, its almost sacrilege to remove one.

[C612DNM]

Lovely engine..<cough>

An old friend of mine used to run a Bedford Chevanne. He became so familiar with it that he got engine changes down to 25-30minutes! His idea of pre-service shopping was a trip to the breakers yard for another engine as he reckoned he could change the engine quicker than a full service.

[mowgli]

i worked for a bloke that gave me an ex RAF chevette estate on a b plate as a company car.... it was embarassing visiting customers in it.

[C612DNM]

But you could always dream it had a 2.3 TC up front like a HS or HSR!!

[mowgli]

it was truly awful, 5:1 diff, downhill, wind assisted it could do 70