Rab Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Fair braw Chris,impressive load of work going on there.Will be well worth all the effort when complete. rab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1393 Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) Hi Chris, If your looking for a good primer and anti rust paint that realy works, I can recommend Epoxy Mastic from "Rust Busters". It's the best stuff I have ever used. On those new floor pan sections you could apply it without thining for a nice thick finish using a small gloss roller. The finish looks not unlike it has been applied with a Schultz gun. I painted over some light rusting on the floor pan on my car with it around nine years ago and there has been no signs of rust since. It's a two pack without the nasty stuff that other two pack paints have which require an air fed mask when spraying. Good luck with the project Paul. Edited March 19, 2011 by paul1393 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 Well at last I feel as if I am getting somewhere, Drivers side floor is now welded in and just need a little bit more cleaning up. Cut out and made a patch up for the rear floor section that sits under the rear seat, this is also now welded in place. Trail fit of the outer sill, all looks good. Front wheel well welded up. Just got to make up a new section for the rear jacking point and replace the rear lower corner and that will be the drivers side all finished....yipee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 great work m8 ,,your floor pan looked very good to me what did you use to remove the paint from the engine bay ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opel2000 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 I have to say I think it looks good but I'm not sure those floor panels are £360 worth better than your go Was thinking the same myself there. Will say though, if I was to order a floorpan that is what I would have liked to see arrive, couldn't believe the shit small sections of Chevette floorpan that arrived recently for me to work with, they were a fffing joke compared to what Chris had been delivered. Be nice to see this on the road again Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 Was thinking the same myself there. Yes they were expencive, and I could have made them up myself but the amount of time saved in fabrecation is worth it. What I didn't what was a floor made up out of patches so this was the only way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opel2000 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Yes they were expencive, and I could have made them up myself but the amount of time saved in fabrecation is worth it. What I didn't what was a floor made up out of patches so this was the only way to go. Very much appreciate what you are saying there mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith1200 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Has to been the first time I've ever seen a nice and shiny manta floor 'looking good'. Any manufacturers stickers on the panels? Didn't happen to encounter any rear B series floor pans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 Opel-Tuning-Leidinger This is where I got my floor panels from, they do show front Manta B floor pans and some rear sections. In with my panels there was an invoice that said to contact them if I needed any other parts, as they do not show all the panels available in stock, on there ebay shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 Rear spring locator had a big hole so having drilled out the spot welds I could remove the locator. and this is what was to be found. inside was even worse. A coat of rust encapsulator after cleaning and treating. Now that looks better. Rear lower corner looked good until I removed the filler and inside was not much better. As some will remember, I have moved the petrol filler cap and biult a battery box in this area of the boot floor, so I deceided that I would box this area off and remove the possible dirt trap. And thats the drivers side welding all finished. The passenger side will now have to wait a few weeks as I have some paying work to do, but all is not lost, as I hope that the jobs I have to do will give me the monny I need to get the car over to Simons for media blasting. My intention is to get the shell media blasted and then make a start on the passenger side and sort out any other bits that show up after blasting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted May 28, 2011 Author Share Posted May 28, 2011 Well the shell is booked in for media blasting, taking it over to Suffolk County Mantas a week on Wednessday. :thumbup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opel2000 Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 You know what Chris, as I've seen a lot of your work first hand, and has been pretty damn good, but I always get the impression that when working on your own vehicles you have cut the odd corner here and there, and to be totally honest with you, I wasn't actually expecting the complete attention to detail on the metalwork for your own vehicle as you are actually doing..... Don't get me wrong there chris i'm not criticising you, it's that "painters house on the street" thing if you get my drift. Really good to see you doing the top notch work this old beast of yours deserves, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted May 31, 2011 Author Share Posted May 31, 2011 I know where your coming from Clive and I have to admit that in the past you are probably correct, when it's your own car you tend to let things go a bit more than when it's a customers car. But as the car has been off the road for 5 years now, and I have a lot more expirenece than when I last worked on her, I have deceided that this time round I don't care how long it takes or how much it costs, I want to do it properly, so that with just the normal mentainace she should be good for a long time. When I last sorted her out 20 years ago, it was a case of welding patches in, but I have found that it is around thies patches that the rust has come back, so instead of putting more patches in I have gone for the new floor pans. Having spent the monny on the floor pans it is fause ecomimy not to get it blasted as we all know how well blasting shows up all the thin metal that looks fine before hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 Lol since we got set up media blasting we have had a succession of mini owners who abandoned their projects due to the rot and filler we exposed! I think manta owners know what they are in for and nothing too unexpected has come up on them!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted June 17, 2011 Author Share Posted June 17, 2011 Well it's back from the blasters, and the good news is that it is not half as bad as I thought it may have been. :thumbup Before I add the pics, I would just like to say a big thankyou to Simon P and T & B Blast cleaning services, http://www.t-bblasting.co.uk for all thier help and a great job. I can't recomend then enough, realy nice guys. Anyway as they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words, so I'll let the pics tell the story. 5am and ready to go. D/S boot floor by wheel arch. D/S boot floor rear corner. Spare wheel well. D/S rear corner P/S rear corner D/S top A post P/S top A post P/S floor. Boot seal D/S door. P/S door And now from the underside.P/S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 Rear arches are good apart from a small area on the D/S. Generaly the underside is very good, Not worried about P/S floor as I have the new floor sections to go in here. Biuld date now very visable. Over all I am very pleased, for a shell that is 40 years old this year, I don't think it is in too bad a shape. :thumbup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 Well as I got hold of a Corsa B power steering unit,I thought I would have a go and see if I could fit it to the Manta. Some club members have fitted it to the B and C Mantas but as yet no one has tried to fit it to an A series Manta. Well I can confirm that it does fit and with out any real problems. So when the car does go back on the road next year, I will have a 40 year old car with power steering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Well a bit more of an update. Managed to spend a few days on the Manta over the last couple of weeks. I have now removed the rear floor section and started to repair the the inner sill. As with the other side i needed to make up a peace of floor section for the rear most floor under the rear seat. Once this was welded in place, I could start to fettle the new rear floor section which is now ready for welding in. I have also started to prepair the inner chassie rail ready to fit the new rail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Hi Chris, Great view through the floor pan almost looks like awe photo shop picci, wi welder in fore ground.Awesome fabrication going on like watching awe surgen at work. Regards. Rab. PS. Mind und pit thi lavy lid doon nixt time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 n/s chassie rail now all in along with rear floor section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Blimey Chris thats the most chunks I think I ever seen chopped out of an A series, glad to see u added braces . Great to see the project coming along well keep up the good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Barrett Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 nice work fella. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Floor compleat ! :thumbup :thumbup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Nice work Chris, you have been busy. The project is cracking on well now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 Managed a few more days work on the Manta. P/s floor and sill now all welded in place. Also made a start on lower rear corner. Once I've sorted this corner out, that will be all the major welding work done. I then need to sort out all the small areas that showed up after blasting. Don't know how much more I will get done for a while as I have a large paying job coming in later this week, so the Manta will have to take a back seat again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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