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1987 Manta GTE refurb - I really should get a life


Petrol
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This was a totally spontaneous buy. I have no Idea what I was doing browsing Autotrader and Pistonheads for another car when I am about halfway through rebuilding a Nisssan 200SX

Anyway I have bought a 1987 Opel Manta GTE 2000 hatchback. I have decided to tidy up cars in the past and it’s resulted in a shell up rebuild. Who knows where this one’s going? Could be a quick tidy up (yer right) or on the other hand it could be a shell dip, electrocoat and full on rebuild.

Here’s some pics

Full history..... next service due

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The best bit

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Interior is as good as it gets for a 21 year old car

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Some sorting required in here

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I have somthing in mind to clean the inlet manifold up with

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Clean in here

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Rims are tidy

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Hatch is rust free although the gas struts are shot

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From what I can see the worst of the rust is at the back of the rear 1/4. This needs welding

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Inner wings also need some work

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All comments & suggestions welcome :thumbup

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Looks great to me, i'll have a look at weekend. I won't bring my special screwdriver though as i have been known to break hearts with it

Just been watching the ' CLIP ' of your s13 build, fantastic if you can do that with a Manta! Reminds me of the talent Nelson Stewart has from manta400.com has in putting clips and video to music :thumbup

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To answer a couple of questions…

There is quite a lot of surface rust underneath, hopefully it won’t need much welding. The car should be with me late Thursday evening so I will give it a full inspection on Friday. There as some electrical problems with it such as the dash ign / oil lights no worky, nor does the heater fan. It does need a bit of fettling up. It hasn’t been MOT’d for 10 years… oh and the exhaust is blowing. My son will be doing all the work on this car, it’s his baby

Here is the ad and gives a good idea how much I paid for it

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When I bought it I put my head in my hands and said “what have I just done, I have enough on my plate with the 200SX” I came home and watched this vid when I drove a works built 400 Sorry there’s some footage of an AE86 in the vid but you get the idea

I was tempted with another Ascona...At £9K though...the GTE hatch will do me nicely :thumbup

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Made a start today. Fist job was to wash off all the dirt from the underside

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Hot soapy water applied with a paint brush in the engine bay

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It's easier working when everything is clean

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Since the car hasn't been used for some time

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The heater fan wasn't working. Took it out and the bearings were seized so I used a mixture of oil and grease to lubricate the bearings

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I found this the easiest way to fasten the clips that hold the insulation on

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Thought this would be a lot worse

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When the ignition is switched on, the oil pressure gauge jumps to full scale and the oil pressure warning light doesn't come on. Is this likely to be the sender? I assume the voltage regulator is OK as the fuel gauge is fine.

Thanks for looking

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That's sweeeeeeet! Will you be hauling it along to Billing? Just a bit of detailing and it would be perfick

Maybe next year.

Game on

See you at weekend

Changed the oil, fan belt, plugs & filters today. Also fitted a new stat but it still seems to be getting a bit warm (assuming the temp gauge is right) I will have another looks tomorrow.

Headlight wiper blades were goosed

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I removed the blade and cut down a new one

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Crimped the new blade onto the arm 0031.jpg

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The screws that hold the side skirts on were corroded and seized. I managed to get them all out though by partially drilling the head. I drilled each screw a bit at a time to prevent melting the plasic clips

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Then used side cutters like this to remove them

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Need to weld a piece into here

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Pete if you still want an Ascona 400 and have £38,500 burning a hole in your pocket then looky looky

He's also got a rally spec car for sale at £16,500 :thumbup

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Hmmm. Still have a burning passion for the Ascona 400. I have driven 3 genuine Ascona 400’s Now if I sold all my cars…. That said, have all of the Ascona 400’s been converted to wide bodies? How much would an original car be worth?

Rally spec car looks average to me £38.5K is do-able at a pinch but I would prefer an "out of the factory example"… Guess I can dream on

Oh well back to reality... NS sill has been plated

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Done loads of work on it to get it ready for it's first MOT in 10 years. Had to strip a caliper down as it was siezed. Sorry no pics but fingers crossed I might make it to the NW meet. It's off to have to have a new exhaust and an MOT.... Wish me luck

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's now taxed and tested but I wasn't 100% happy with the brakes. I want to thank Dan for his help today bow.gifbow.gif He gave up his afternoon to bring some calipers over and help me fettle things up. It's now fully sorted, new front disks, Ferodo pads and calipers that work

Dan once again thanks :thumbup

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