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Saw a perfectly preserved P2 RS Convert today

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8.7K views 29 replies 8 participants last post by  butch_n  
#1 ·
I was leaving for work this morning and rode down the elevator with this little old lady. I head out to the parking lot and needed to get into the garage for something. When I came out the little old lady had raised her garage door. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. There sit one of the nicest Cavaliers I have seen in many years. Seriously, this car is absolutly perfect. 100% original. It has 42,000 miles on it. Never driven in the rain. Always garage kept and looks like it just came off the showroom floor.

She told me she bought it new and only planned to keep it for a few years, but feel in love with it. She mentioned how she always kept it serviced and it has never given her a bit of trouble. The darn thing even looks new underneath too. Spotless. The rag top is flawless, even though it is original. I even asked her is it had been changed. She said it was the original top. This car really has no flaws, blemishes, scratches, scuffs, dirt, dust, sand, gravel anywhere at all.

I didn't have my camera and my phone is a phone, not a camera, lol. Anyway, if I get a chance I will ask her if I can take some pics of it.

I was almost ashamed to point over to mine and let her know I was the owner of it, lol. No camparison between the two. And while mine isn't in bad shape, it would need some major restoration to even come close to looking as nice. LOL, heck no matter how much work I was to do to it, it will NEVER look that nice.

Anyway, just thought I would share this with you all.
I told her if she ever decided to sell it, to ket me know. It really isn't exactly what I would want, if I was to buy a convert, but as sweet as that car is, it would be hard to not buy it, if I had the chance. I mean it is rare to see any car as old as this one is such pristine condition.
 
#2 ·
GET PICS I WANA SEE !!!!!!
 
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#3 ·
After all this time I finally got another look at it today. The lady that owns it washed it and it was sitting out to dry. I grabbed my camera and went downstairs!
I didn't see her though, so no pics of the interior, but it is perfect too.

Anyone, here is one of the nicest original Gen II Phase II Cavaliers left in the world!

Enjoy the pictures :)
 

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#9 ·
frankd said:
my rear window has even more.
Click to expand...
LOL. You just changed your top not long ago, didn't you? That must be a picture of it before you did.

My 92 has the same glass window as the one in the RS. Neither one is the heated one though. I believe you could get that option when they switched to glass window. Of course down here it isn't really needed anyway. And yeah, they don't have a real good view out the back. I've already noticed that just moving mine around from the parking garage to outside when working on it. Big blind spots on the sides. Adjusting the side mirrors outwards helps alot though.

I just found out that the building maintenance man got the car. I don't know the details. I fear the old lady may have had to be put in a rest home or something, but I don't know for sure.
 
#11 ·
This car is for sale. The owner is asking $900.00 for it.
It has 50 something thousand miles on it. It needs a belt tensioner. It isn't quite as nice as it was either, but still a good rust free, low miles car and the second owner hasn't driven it much, but it has sit out in the Florida sun :nono:

If anyone is interested, I'll find out the contact info of the owner for you.
 
#18 ·
heartbeat1991 said:
Exactly what you needed.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it really is. It will be a driver. Most mechanical stuff appears in great shape. It isn't a bad tensioner I mentioned before. That is what the owner told me it needed, but I cranked it and found the problem right away. It needs a water pump. The bearing is failing. Not leaking yet, but lots of noise and play in the shaft. No sign of stop leak ever being used. Not overheating either. I've got a new pump. Window motors and door lock actuators need replacing. There's a new window motor in the box laying in the back seat, but I didn't look at what brand it is. I'll get together a list of stuff this weekend, but I think that is probably about it. Maybe brake pads/shoes, I haven't looked. ABS appears to be working, or at least moving it around didn't set the light.

There does appear to be something wrong in the charging system though. The light is on and it did die on the girl and there was no juice in the battery. They put a new alternator on it, but the light is still on. I'll try to diagnose the problem this weekend. He also said the A/C stopped working.

It has many excellent pieces on it. One being the front of door window seals. They are coming off very soon. I've got another set that are good, but not perfect like these are. The top is shot though. 1 1/2 years of sitting outside took it toll on it.

inspector317 said:
I thought the car looked awesome just didn't see how I was gonna take a week off to look at it lol
Click to expand...
It doesn't look as nice after the 2nd owners teenage daughter drove it (and like I mentioned about it sitting outside). It isn't really trashed, but sad to know it was so nice when the old had it,,,,, not so long ago :cry:

I'll get some pictures this weekend.
 
#19 ·
Coolant drained, new water pump, new power steering pump pulley, new air filter, oil/filter changed, greased, alarm removed.

Found where the nice folks that installed the alarm destroyed the firewall pass through grommet. I'll have to try to repair/seal it with silicone caulk.

It had the nicest belt cover I've run across. I replaced it with a not so nice one I got off a car in NC when I was up there at Thanksgiving. I'll put the nice one on the 92 sometime. I think the one currently on the 92 has a piece broken off on one of the hold down tabs.

Today I hope to track down the no charge problem. Yesterday I looked at the fusible links and they all look flawless, like new really. But that is as far as I got. I decided to call it a day without spending any time on finding what is wrong.

Overall, this car is in great shape (except the top).
I'll get more pictures today.
 

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#20 ·
Sorry, no more pictures until next weekend. By the time I got done and put everything up after a good test drive, it was getting too dark for pics :cry:

The problem was the alternator. Even though that was a new one, going by the diagnostics in the book, it said the alternator needed repair/replace. I took the old one that was on the 92 and sure enough, the light went out, the system is charging and everything is fine. The car runs and drives really nice. The FE2 is a nice ride. My 92 is very stiff and harsh, but it does handle better and leans less than the RS does. The RS is going to be nice for daily driving, I can already see that. I haven't fixed the windows yet, but will do that next weekend. They sorta work, if I need to put them down. I need to unpin the wire to disable the auto door locks :x

I'll be switching some parts too. Many super nice pieces that I want to take off soon.

A few little things left and I should have a good driver that will hopefully hold up for a good many years.
 
#21 ·
Car is now in very near perfect running condition. I need to change the ball joint boots, both have a small rip in them and leak a little grease. I'll change them next weekend,,,, hopefully.

Got the window motor changed.
New alternator.
All four mounts changed.
New Plugs.

Still need to clean it up real nice and get some pictures of it. I'll get those once the ball joint boots are installed. This coming weekend is going to be busy, so I might not have time to wash/wax it.

I changed the window motor and one roller Friday. Got some pictures of the rust I found.

Saturday morning I got the new alternator on. It started raining around 10:00am and rained all day, so I rested well :wink:

Did the mounts today. The trans mount didn't fit correctly. I had to change the outer ring and use the one off the original mount. The hole for the large bolt would not line up and the lips on the 'outer ring' were sitting on the mount bracket that is bolted to the trans/eng. But using the original outer ring, it went right in.

Changing the mounts made huge difference. It is running and driving extremely well. Very smooth. I knew they needed to be changed, especially when in Drive while sitting at a red light. A good bit of shacking was going on. Silky smooth now that.

Everything works and the entire car is pretty tight. Ride is very nice, tracks perfectly.

Not counting the insurance and tag, I've got around $1,100.00 in it, including the things I did last week. I'm very happy :love:
 

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#22 ·
Been repairing the top today and got a few pictures.

I think this repair will be good for a while, as long as I don't lower and raise the top many times. If this doesn't work for long, I'll replace it.

Car is doing great. I've put a few hundred miles on it now and everything is perfect. Getting 23.3 mpg after first full tank run. 5+ minute idle warm up every cold start. Been pretty heavy footed too, checking all is well with the car. I imagine the mileage will improve some with less aggressive throttle.
 

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#23 ·
Well here is an update with the top repairs.

Mostly done and came out okay. Takes a lot of time to do well, but hopefully it will hold up for a few years.

Here is how I did the trim.

You can see in the pictures that I unfolded the trim and then cleaned it with Acetone. I applied one layer of glue to whatever was to be stuck together. Wait until completely dry and add another layer to 1/2 of the area to be joined. Wait until that becomes tacky and then join the two pieces. As you can guess, this does take a while, especially doing some so small and doing steps before final closure of the trim around the top's edge.

I'll get some finished pictures tomorrow. It was near dark when I got everything done today.

EDIT:
For some reason the pictures are not coming out in the correct order. You'll figure them out though.
 

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#25 ·
Worked on replacing the rear tack strip. It was broken up and the glass needed to be re-glued to the curtain. So I got the old strip off across the back and the last part of the glass to be fixed is now done.

I'll get it put back together tomorrow. Hopefully with enough time left to wash and wax the think. I still haven't cleaned it yet :oops:
 

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#26 ·
The repair didn't work :cry:

The back glass started coming loose on the trip to NC I made a couple weeks ago. So, I'll have to get a new top :x
The old car is worth a new top, but I really didn't want to spend the money on it. My plan was to just keep it in good mechanical condition as cheaply as possible. Had the glue worked, I'd have been perfectly happy not being able to lower it, just so it stayed dry :wink:

Oh well, at least I will be able to lower it once I get a new one on it.

I've got an EZ-On for the 92. I think I will get a Robbins for this one.
 

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