$800 Cavalier

[MP81]

Turns out there was a dark green wire with a white stripe that looks like it used to belong in the factory radio harness - looking up on the wiring diagram, that is the VSS output...probably for some form of speed-based volume adjustment. Taped it up, speedo and odometer works again, woot!

And yep, probably around $1200 or $1300 with the head unit and speakers included, but those are "luxuries"...still ain't too bad of a deal at all though! I like working on it, it's another project car DD for me to play with haha

[MP81]

I put in a new fuel filter after peeking under the car and seeing what the old one looked like. Took a while to start 2/3 of the time, and gas mileage wasn't very good...possibly the fault of the filter. Haven't ran through a tank with the new filter yet, but hopefully it makes an impact...starts a lot better.

Old one. Looks old.
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There's supposed to be a muffler there.
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Old filter out. Along with the gray, dirty gas from that filter.
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New shiny filter.
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Also hit all the rust on the doors and a couple other surface spots with the VHT rust converter. Goes on clear, and as it dries (24 hours), it turns black where there is rust. All the formerly rusty areas don't feel flaky, feel solid now.

The black (looks a bit different due to flash here) looks a lot better than rust-colored.
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[MP81]

Not much going on this this other than it getting a K&N filter about a month ago, an oil change this past weekend, and a low-beam fix a week or so ago.

Noticed the left low beam had gone out - but the two highs and the right low both worked, so I figured bulbs. Bought a pair of Silverstars because brighter is better out here with these dark country roads...put the left bulb in and no bueno. Long story short - turns out the ground wire was broken somewhere between the left low beam and where the right and left low beams become a common ground. Ran a new ground wire to the right low beam's ground wire a good half a foot before where the tie in, and it works perfect again. Now with brighter bulbs because I had opened them, so why not.

Next things on the list are the rear trunk seal - if you go through a car wash, the trunk becomes wet inside. There's a tear in the weatherstripping, so that'll need replacement. Also, the driver door's weatherstripping is a more noticeable leak - but with air/wind on the freeway...whistles and is annoying.

Problem is, I can't find any of the weatherstripping online in my brief search. Any ideas?

[93formulalt1]

Not much going on this this other than it getting a K&N filter about a month ago, an oil change this past weekend, and a low-beam fix a week or so ago.

Noticed the left low beam had gone out - but the two highs and the right low both worked, so I figured bulbs. Bought a pair of Silverstars because brighter is better out here with these dark country roads...put the left bulb in and no bueno. Long story short - turns out the ground wire was broken somewhere between the left low beam and where the right and left low beams become a common ground. Ran a new ground wire to the right low beam's ground wire a good half a foot before where the tie in, and it works perfect again. Now with brighter bulbs because I had opened them, so why not.

Next things on the list are the rear trunk seal - if you go through a car wash, the trunk becomes wet inside. There's a tear in the weatherstripping, so that'll need replacement. Also, the driver door's weatherstripping is a more noticeable leak - but with air/wind on the freeway...whistles and is annoying.

Problem is, I can't find any of the weatherstripping online in my brief search. Any ideas?

Junkyard. Find a newer Cavalier with decent weatherstripping, and swap them out. Or check out the dealership parts counter to track down a part number. If I'm not mistaken, you should be able to buy it by the roll either online or through the dealership, it's not like they had 5,000 different types of weatherstrip.

[Fox Slaughter]

Who needs weather stripping? Racecar.

http://www.perfectfit.com/13023/1541...-Chrysler.html

http://www.jcwhitney.com/weatherstri...id=d246y1996g2

[MP81]

Well looks like new exhaust (cat-back, at least) will be on order tomorrow...may, possibly, be in part by the request of the two nice State Troopers that may have pulled us over this morning.

That and a fuel pump.

[meissen]

So you got pulled over for a loud exhaust as well?

[MP81]

So you got pulled over for a loud exhaust as well?

Got pulled over for no exhaust

[MP81]

Went to install the muffler last Saturday, but it seems that Walker did not have the correct muffler strap listed for the years...meaning the "rod" style strap I had ordered would not fit at all, as the Cav has a "slot" hanger. RockAuto was great to work with, they refunded me for the purchase price and told me just to keep the incorrect part. Good stuff!

Anyhow, in this time, another issue had presented itself. The car would make this really loud squealing noise whenever you would turn the wheel even remotely to the right, but not to the left. Thought this could be the left wheel bearing (slightly coincidental with my car just having that one go bad as well), I ordered a new one. As time went on, that squealing was extremely loud, and made for a slightly embarrassing feeling to be in the car...it also made a nice grinding noise under
braking at low speeds...

Took a look at the brakes through the wheels when I went to try the muffler last weekend and noticed that, on the front left, the metal wear tab was pressed right against the rotors, and there was next to nothing left on the pad. When doing my wheel bearing I pried the metal tab off the wheel, and that stopped the squealing.

Fast forward to this past Monday: Megan was driving her car back from work in Auburn Hills to her class in Flint, and she called me saying the grinding got much louder. At that point, I knew it was likely getting close to metal on metal. I had her drive it home, dropping gears to keep her from using the brakes until she absolutely had to. She got it home and parked it, while I ordered Raybestos Professional Grade brake pads and Raybestos Advanced Tech rotors at work (and the correct muffler strap, as well).

I got the parts Wednesday and got to work, as we needed to both drive to work on Thursday so she could leave early to go to class - not to mention, we were taking the car up north for our annual canoe trip. No way my car would make it up those hills getting to the campsite.


Started on the passenger side brakes, got the car up in the air and went to work.


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Caliper off, old brake pads - outer is worn much more than the inner.
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Old rotor removed:
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Brake pads removed:
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New vs. Old pads:
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New pads installed into the caliper:
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New vs. Old rotors:
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Passenger side done:
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Driver side, ready to come apart. Yeah...you could feel the grooves in the rotor without even using your fingernail...
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Caliper off...
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And the source of that grinding...
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Both old pads:
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Ready for reassembly:
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New pads in caliper:
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Old vs. New Rotors:
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Driver side finished:
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Was about 1AM by the time I finished the brakes, got to bed around 2...late night, but definitely worth it. Car stops great once again.

[WMCC Gary]

I hope you cleaned up and greased the slides on the calipers. Its obvious from the picture they were not working correctly.

[Darren]

yeah those calipers are not working right.

[MP81]

I hope you cleaned up and greased the slides on the calipers. Its obvious from the picture they were not working correctly.

Well aware. Yes, I spent a good deal of time doing that.

[MP81]

Finally got around to welding the muffler on a couple weeks back. Didn't get a complete bead on the muffler due to a lack of clearance on the driver side and top of the exhaust. Regardless, it was way late on a week night, so we called it good for the time being - at least there is a muffler on the car, so no getting pulled over for lack of muffler.

I knew there'd be a leak at the muffler, which was fine, because we had planned to finish it up another day, but I found out basically all the noise the car made is out of the flex pipe in the downpipe, so the car is hardly quieter.

Oooh Shiny! Walker "SoundFX" muffler...will be interesting to see what exhaust tone it has when the rest of the exhaust isn't a giant hole...
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Ordered a new downpipe Monday night and it was waiting for me on my porch today. I <3 Amazon Prime.

Also...note where the shipping label is...
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Bought this one off eBay yesterday and also had it waiting for me today when we got home for work too! GM put 18, 19, 22 and 24mm front sway bars on the Cavaliers from '95 to '05. Oh, and they also put no swaybar on some (FE0 suspension). Like Megan's. Needless to say, turns can be frightening.

The 24mm swaybars were only put on FE2-suspension '03-'05 Cavaliers, so they're rather tough to find. I got the next best [stock] thing, which is the '95-'02 FE2 22mm bar. Cost a whole $40...will make a huge difference in the handling of the vehicle...making it safer to drive, as well.
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Hopefully I can get around to putting the downpipe on soon, which will also allow the muffler to be fully welded since I can drop the main piping, and thus, the muffler. It'll be weird to have the car quiet...our neighbor currently uses it to wake him up in the morning as we leave for work and drive by his house.

Really can't wait for the swaybar, though. Gonna be a nice addition. Just need a couple endlinks...$10 for a pair of Moog Polyurethane end links...cheap!

[SOPES]

lol Im my neighbors alarm clock as well

[meissen]

Good deal $40 for that sway bar!