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The Big Manta A Project (Pile Of Rust To Manta A)


mantaray
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Spent the last few days getting the car ready for paint. If all goes well I hope to have it in the first coat of primmer this weekend.

I must once again thank Paul Holton for passing on the shell, because if I were still doing the yellow one, I would be no where near this far along. I think Kev definitely owes you a few drinks at Billing Paul. :thumbup :thumbup

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Hi Paul, tried to call you but ended up leaving a message. A BIG BIG THANKS to yourself for donating the blue shell, if it wasn't for your generosity, Chris and myself would still be halfway through the welding on the yellow one, if that far. I was at Chris' again last night and we spent several hours doing the fine fettling req and then put some sealer/barcote on it at approx 12.30 this morning, which incidentally, has highlited a couple of areas that still need fettling. I will be at Chris' this afternoon, once I have finished work, to finish the last little bits and will then, hopefully have it in topcoat tonight. I somehow get the feeling that tonight is going to be one of our infamous " late ones ". If all goes to plan, lol, we should be able to start refitting the wiring loom, new brake lines etc tomorrow.

Once again I would like to THANK Paul for his more than generous donation of the blue shell and also Chris for his invaluable help in getting this project where it is in such a short time, cheers lads, I owe you both BIG time :thumbup

Edited by mantai200
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Hi Kev, Sorry I missed your call.

When I seen how bad the yellow shell was I thought you may like to take on the blue one instead. The only plans I had for it was to cut out the rear panels and boot floor. They were to be kept in case of a rear end damage to mine. However your need looked greater than mine. Glad to be of help.

Cheers, Paul.

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After yet another "Late" one last night,fianlly getting home at 2:30 this morning and 03:30 on sat morning, the manta is now in topcoat :D Have to admit, it sure feels good to finally get to this stage. Chris and I worked out how many hours this project has taken so far and were amazed that we had done so much in only approx 240 hours ( 1 month at 8 hours a day ). So far this restoration has cost a total of 1165.00 which include : purchase of original yellow manta a, front wings,new headlights,new front indicators, new boot seal ( from Germany ), rear wheel arch panel,lower rear quarter panel, offside sill and new twin back box. So all in all, a very very cheap restoration, plus I will have a manta a trailer to top it off with, result. I am off th Chris' again today to start rebuiling, putting the dash, clocks, wiring etc back in ready for next weekend, when we will be putting everything else back in. Can't wait to get this beast on the road. Hopefully Chris will put the pics up as for some reason, I am unable to, too thick really.

Again a big thanks to Paul and Chris for their involvement in this latest project as it would never have happened without them, cheers guys. :thumbup

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Friday 23rd. 7.30pm

After getting the first coat of primmer on the whole car on Thursday, Kev came over tonight and we did the final prepping to the car, it’s not perfect, but then again neither are Kev or myself :lol: .

We have done our best with in the time and money restraints of the project.

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Finish for the night 1.30am

Saturday 24th 1.30pm

Kev came over again straight from work. IT’S paint day!

First thing on the to do list was to get the primmer on. So after a wipe down with panel wipe, it was all systems go.

After 2 coats of primer, a little more fettling was done and the primer blow back in. A qwice rub down with 1000git and she looked like this.

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9.30pm

The car was now ready, as far is it was going to be anyway, for the top colour to go on. All we needed was for kev to get ready.

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That should do it.

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At this point I left Kev to it, but could hear the old compressor kicking in every few minuets for next couple of hours.

Sunday 12.30am

The compressor finally goes quiet. Top caot is finished.

ENJOY.

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Kev finally got home at 2.30am, after an hours drive.

1pm

Kev came over again today, to do some parts cleaning and painting ready for the re-fit and he started to re-fit some of the parts in the engine bay.

Also got all the rear loom back through the sill, into the boot, and up the A post to the interior light .

The main build starts next weekend.....

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Yes, did a bit more over the weekend, the car is now on it's wheels, engine is in but not yet connected up. rear 1/4s and door glass in, and also the dash. I'll post up some more pics when I get time.

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  • 1 month later...

Well it's been a while since I updated this post. With both Kev and I limited on time the project had to slow down. Other the last 2 months, the car has been moped and polished, and fitted back together ready for it's big day today....The MOT. :angry:

Well IT PASSED :thumbup:D :D So all Kev needs now is to tax it,and she's fully road legal. :thumbup

Just in time for for Billing :thumbup :thumbup :thumbup

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:D:D:D:D:D:D :

As Chris has said, the pile of rust has now got a full MOT, although the car is by no means finished, i will be going to Billing. I still have to fit a roof lining, repair the front wing where Chris fell and headbutted it ( PLONKER ), flat and mop,get the graphics made up and a few more little jobs that will all have to wait until after Billing, cuz I have got to drive my car and can't wait any longer.

Once again a BIG BIG thank you to Paul for donating the shell and Chris for helping me burn the midnight oil for the last several months. :thumbup:thumbup:thumbup:thumbup

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  • 7 months later...

Just thought I would add a bit of an update - the car made it to Billing and came away with a 2nd place award :D and received some good reviews from people. I then took the plunge and drove the car to the Dutch show in September, great drive but just a few problems arose : Exhaust snapped as we were getting on the ferry at Dover ( sounded great though ), no heater, no speedo. We managed to fix ( more like bodge ) the exhaust whilst at the show ( Roy _ Dutch member's neighbour has a pit which he let us use- top bloke) Just had to use the sat nav as a speedo. The car ran sweet as a nut apart from all that and made it under it's own steam there and back, unfortunately, the exhaust has given up the ghost now and so she is sat on my drive waiting to have it replaced. The plan over the next month or so is to replace the exhaust with one I have already sourced, fit new cam and followers, fit brand new roof lining and then start driving her again. I was going to put a bigger engine in, but due to the cost of a replacement unit and people wanting silly money for them coupled with the rise in fuel and the fact that I want to use the car as everyday transport, I have opted to keep the original 1.9 unit. :thumbup

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kev. if you can get the car over to me, then I'll give you a hand with the exhaust.

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Would love to mate, but it is completely shot, so I will need to get hold of a set of ramps from somewhere and try and do it on the drive, just a tad concerned of the slope of the drive, thanks anyway matey. :thumbup

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