Manta Gt/e Coupe

[Stonymanta]

Ian and I nearly froze last night down the workshop - stoopid blokey thing to do - but the Manta has to be worked on if it's going to get finished.

Here's the latest, if rather light picture of the battery tray in Zinc Primer:

Footwell repairs now moving along also :

Forgot to take a snap or two of the wing repair - will do this now likely after Christmas.

Ian now has a nickname which I'm proud to announce is 'The Armourer' - cos he can make metal fit and keep it's shape with a lot of skill patience and putting up with me giving him the benefit of my advice ;-)

Still it must be getting to icycle weather now, cos the CD player keeps skiping tracks the colder and colder it gets......hmmmmm we'll have to start listening to local radio soon in deperation

[opel2000]

Superb bit of work there Mr. Virco

[keith1200]

Braw bit of fabbing there you couldn't tell battery tray has been welded.

[Stonymanta]

Braw bit of fabbing there you couldn't tell battery tray has been welded.

This is in a large part down to Ians skill with hammers and steel and his commitment to making the best repair he can make - so thanks a load to Mr Virco.

Superb bit of work there Mr. Virco

Good to see you back Clive

[Stonymanta]

Ok so this is a little after Christmas now

But here's where we've got to:

Progress has been slowed due to domestic issues for both Ian and I.

But we're going to start again soon - no honest

[Stonymanta]

Got Some more done last week(Tues Eve) to the other inner wing area:

Found a little more rust than we expected - but not bad :

Footwell Drivers side - looks ok:

But then again!:

What this looks like from outside:

Rusty bits cut away ready for welding:

Ran out of time last Tuesday evening so welding it this week

Progress steady

[Stonymanta]

We got some welding done on Wednesday evening -been a couple of weeks or so since lastupdate.

Here's the drivers side inner wing work:

Now filled in - just need to grind off and prep:

bit out of focus - but you get the idea:

[Stonymanta]

OK so we have finished the welding on the drivers side washer bottle/inner wing area:

Just need to use some filler and more primer

Why is it that the smaller areas take four times longer to sort out......?

[Stonymanta]

Hi All,

Back from Holiday and looking forward to moving the car on again.

Sadly no pics at this time.

I have been told that Mr Virco has moved things arround in his workshop whilst I was on Hols so that we can get the car onto the body roller. We need to get good access to the underside of the car to get it properly sorted.

More tin worm to eradicate and metal to bend, stretch and weld - A Manta owners work is never done .....

This is great news and will accelerate the repairs.

Hopefully we will continue the work from next Wednesday eve.

Pics from this will follow for sure.

[Stonymanta]

Hi all - been a while since I updated.

Have Rolled the Manta......

In the workshop

Rusty crusty bits :

Original GM Exhaust system :

Now we can really get into the drivers side repairs at last

[mantaray]

Through you had been in my garage and nicked my roll over for a mimute then. Have to agree the roll over is a graet bit of kit, wouldn't be without it.

[Stonymanta]

Through you had been in my garage and nicked my roll over for a mimute then. Have to agree the roll over is a graet bit of kit, wouldn't be without it.

Sorry m'lud not guilty

It's MANTAMANs and the fun now really starts - have to agree with you they are great bits of kit - if a little 'exciting' to use - car balancing as a new sport - whadaya think

[Stonymanta]

More progress...

Front passenger side floor area:

Front floor area was rotten above the jacking point(no suprise on a Manta I know ) - so I cut out the rot - cleared all the loose rusty pieces away with a light grinding. Rust converter applied followed by Zinc primer. I'm using this all over the place to keep the work clean ready for the body shop once we get that far.

Sill and Rear Sill:

The Sill was in great nick - only surface rust - so just a clean-up, rust convert and primer ready for later.

The rear Sill by the jacking point was a very different matter - though the inner panel once exposed was in good condition, so this will make re-wedling the inner strengthener a whole lot easier. As the area of the outer panel is under a trim - we shouldn't be too fussy with the top finish. We kept the trim fixing hole as you can see below.

Rust 'spiders' crept under what looked like good paint - not visible from the surface - but by sanding away this is what you can reveal...

Primed:

Rear Sill area:

More news hopefully soon :cool:

[keith1200]

Dr Manta is 'NOW' selling the rear inner sill bit, for £20 odd quid (who's supplying it? Don't know, but I'll find oot). It's coming on braw Stonymanta Can i give you a wee bit of constructive criticism? I'm nay expert 'mind'. I would've replaced that jacking point. If your happy? nay problem, and nay dis-respect ment, just thought I'd mention it

Keep the up-date's coming looking forward tae the finished article

Keith

[mantaray]

Dr Manta is 'NOW' selling the rear inner sill bit, for £20 odd quid (who's supplying it? Don't know, but I'll find oot). It's coming on braw Stonymanta Can i give you a wee bit of constructive criticism? I'm nay expert 'mind'. I would've replaced that jacking point. If your happy? nay problem, and nay dis-respect ment, just thought I'd mention it

Keep the up-date's coming looking forward tae the finished article

Keith

If you have the money, then I would agree with you Keith

But I suspect that Stonemanta is doing the job on a bugit.

There are lots of panels avilable from Germany now, but by the time you add up the cost of what you need it soon starts heading into 4 figures.

My A is a perfect example, I can get all the panels I need including floor pan, but at a cost of £847.68.

Once you then add the cost of paint and all the other bits you know you are going to need, a quick and cheep restoration soon becomes expencive.

[Stonymanta]

Hi All,

Some more pics for you...

Tidied rear jacking point area - more next time on this:

Front passenger floor patch primed underneath ready for welding in :

Whats that fabric I can see..... ;-):

Now both patches welded in place :

I have taken some more pics but they're stored on my phone and I need to find out how to get them off as currently using the synch cable they can't be seen - V. frustrating - but I'll sort it.....

[Stonymanta]

More progress last night:

Passenger footwell needed a patch - so cut out the rust, wire brushed and jenolite applied:

Floor repair area zinc primed:

Explored the split underseal areas and found some more rust and holes - worst bit was the rear spare wheel well as you will see. Still at least the towing bracket is still there which is rare on coupes this age:

Spare wheel well:

Rust snakes have spread quite a way under the underseal and so we will need to cut quite an amount out and replace with good steel. Unfortunately the rust has gone under the towing bracket, but we plan to cut this area fron inside carefully and leave the bracket in place. Then make the plates required and re-weld onto the bracket from inside th boot. The residual can be welded from outside.

Bit like British Rail (for those of you old enough to remember) 'we're getting there...'

Hopefully more next week.

[Stonymanta]

OK two Wednesday evenings work - last wednesday evening was *&!£$%@!!! Cold! :

Got to clean off the high weld spots and smooth the outer surface before filling and priming.

Good news is that I have now done quite a bit of the welding for this myself. Mr Ian Virco is a good teacher for sure!

Should have some more pics after our next session.

The more observant of you will spot that the original hole doesn't match the welded hole area. This was because when I grinded the first welds away I got a bit carried away and we tried ot patch-up the very thin areas which just blow through when you weld, so we had to add another patch to repair the repair if you see wheat I mean - ho hum - these things happen .....

[2908642343]

Looking good.... keep the updates and pictures coming.

John

[Stonymanta]

Looking good.... keep the updates and pictures coming.

John

Thanks John - looks like next Wednesday might be tricky to get to the workshop given the snow that we're about to receive . I have to travel 14 miles each way every wednesday evening - perhaps I am mad afterall

[Stonymanta]

Great night last night on the Manta.

Welded and painted the jacking point inner repair panels and also moved the rear arch on too

Rear Arch coming along:

Bit of grinding and some more steel to go in here, but with the warmer evenings - things are coming along nicely

[Stonymanta]

We've finished the welding at the back of the rear arch :clap:

Bit of trimming to make the right shape to fill ( surface rust sanded off inside and jenolited ) :

Welded and ground to shape :

Painted :

Some filler is required as there was some distortion - otherwise it went ok.

[Stonymanta]

Rear passenger side sill outer now in place :

Template next to hand made plate. Thit took ages to get right as we didn't have a metal folder :

Profile:

Ready to weld in place:

Part Welded :

Almost there - grinding and fill-in welds to finish off :

We're getting there now... The panel doesn't look half bad from a distance - well without glasses on

[adz the stig]

nice work! i would have thought it would have had alot more rot on it to be in the scrapys. how long was it off the road when you first found it?

[Stonymanta]

nice work! i would have thought it would have had alot more rot on it to be in the scrapys. how long was it off the road when you first found it?

Thanks a lot

I think it was last taxed in 2000 or there abouts - so around 9 years off the road in a garage I understand before the chap sadly passed away and this was in the house clearance.

Yep way too good to be scrapped - we saved it by about 1-2 days from what I remember.....