Exclusive Opel Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Is there at any time a Manta no longer becomes a project? Maybe evolution is a better word! After three years of use (maybe longer, I forget!) there are some issues that need attending to sooner rather than later. There are some areas of the paint that need looking at. May end up redoing a full respray. One main concern I had was this: When I resprayed the first time I didn't remove the windscreen but several attempts to fix this failed. So I removed the windscreen not knowing what I'd find. Would most of the metal stay attached to the screen when I took it out or at best sound very crunchy? Well I had a very pleasant surprise, all metal stayed where it should No rot, just starting to go in the bottom corners a little bit. I was so pleased that I decided to take out the headlining because it's brown and doesn't really go with the grey interior. The photo makes it look way better than it is. There's small holes, stained and a bit crunchy on some edges. At least the neighbours cat liked it. I don't have another head lining to replace it yet because I'll be making my own up and needed the old one for a pattern. Today, I spent cleaning the screen rubber. Now, if you've ever done this before, What the (insert your own string of expletives here!) do they make that sealer out of? You'd think after 26 years it would have dried out a bit but oh no! If Super Glue made a chewing gum, it would be like this. Fortunately it was nice and sunny today so the heat from the sun helped. I just used white spirit, an old half inch paint brush with short bristles and and old tooth brush and lots of rag. Just done a couple of inches at a time. Used and old blunt knife with a round end the scrape the worst of it off and just scrubbed away at it with the spirit. When it was all clean I then washed it in a bowl of warm soapy water to finish it off and clean out the insert groove. That's about as far I've got at the moment. Tomorrow I'll make up the patterns for the new headlining and Wednesday I'll be walking on Exmoor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsi marc Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Hi just thought i'd tell u about the head lining in my old hatch, I painted it with grey bumper and trim paint and it came up top notch, Just an idea for u 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManx Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 If you can make replacement head-linings, you could be onto a little side line with patterns for a hatch:thumbup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Work on a Manta never ends! Finally managed to get a week in on the Manta last week after several months! The reason for doing this side was because half of the old battery tray was made up from several pieces and looked messy and looked if water was finding it's way in through the many layers of patches that were there. But while I was at it, I replaced the wing rail top as well. Just under half of the old battery tray was cut out and a new half let in. I say new, I started of with a flat piece of steel and hammered a new piece in to shape so it looks roughly the same. Rather than messing around and trying to make a raised section for the bonnet release cable I came up with a simpler (and easier) way of adding one. Basically it's piece of steel tube with the end carefully hammered over so you end up with the right size hole for the original cable grommet to fit in. Drill a hole the same size as the tube and with a round file, elongate the hole slightly so you can angle the tube. Weld in. This was done before fitting the tray section in to the car. Ok, not original looking but way better than what was there before. (Sorry, crappy photo!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 Right, a small update at last! Now have something painted at last and fairly shiny looking Hopefully I'll be able to get the wing fitted next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 Slowly but surely! With the other side finished, it was now time to do the other side. Wing rail top has been replaced instead of the home made jobbie that was on there before. Currently prepping the inner wing for painting. With the wing off, I wanted to take it back to bare metal because it wasn't done last time. Horrible messy job to do! Took bleedin' ages! Then I found this on top of the original paint This was done by the garage my dad brought the car from back in 1988 as it came to them with scrapes down each side. Had this on the sides as well but there wasn't any damage to the steel. What like seemed forever, it was all finally removed, hooray! Not bad for a 29 year old wing. Now in etch primer. Have also been doing other odds and sods on various parts. Refurbished my spare fuel pump bracket as the other one is on more solid mounts and you can hear it in the car. Derusted using the caustic soda method and worked a treat. Sourced a good as new fuel damper. Have used Mini exhaust bobbins for the rubber mounts but have since got hold of a set of genuine ones for a bargain price. Will get a new fuel pump and pipes, have filters in stock. I'll then refurbish the other one and keep as a spare. As the master cylinder and servo had to come off, thought I may as may do that as well and fit the new complete set of internals for the master cylinder I had. Onwards and upwards! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Findlay Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Looking good, keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Right, it's been a while! Been very busy but not with much Manta stuff unfortunately. What with moving house,acquiring a partner along the way, work, just coming to the end of a two year electronic engineering course (for work) and unfortunately my dad was seriously ill for several months before passing away in January and other everyday stuff I won't bore you with. The fuel pump assembly in the above photos has only just began to be assembled. Not directly car related, but have managed to finish something as last, a new shed (with the help of the missus)! Needed another shed to put things like the engine lifter, spare nose cone, junk etc which is taking up valuable space in my tiny garage. This sits next to the garage which makes it handy. Have another 6 x 8 foot shed in the back garden but filled that up with spares (and lawn mower). As I need to empty my dads garage soon (more spares, back axle etc ,and also the need for another shed), I may have some coupe glass in bronze tint. I know there is a rear screen but there maybe some door glass if I can work out which is which. Yours free if you want it but it's in North Devon, if not, it will go to the tip in a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 Not updated this for a while! Stuff has been happening in the backgrund, albeit slowly. At the weekend I decided to remove the fuel tank as at some point it's going to need a clean up and paint so it was a good time as any. I knew there was old fuel in there which turned out to be a gallen and a half and it stinks! Taken two days to get rid of the smell off my hands. Turned out good and bad(ish) news. On the outside there is a few scabby bits as I whould have expected. The drivers side is a great mud trap between the tank and side. Looks like the rear wheel throws mud and crap up there as it also taken the paint off the tank on a corner. I may look in to some sort of plastic sheild to help stop that. When I refitted the straps last time, I put two strips of flat silicon on each tank strap to avoid metal to metal contact. That worked a treat as the tank underneath the straps was as good as the day I fitted them. The inside of the tank is going to need de-rusting. It isn't that bad yet. The bottom is actually rust free. It is full of crap though. Used Hylomar blue on the cork gasket and never showed any sign of a fuel leak. The tank is for another day. First need to sort this out: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Looks like it's been in the sea for the last twenty years! 😱 Could be worse, could be paying nearly £200 for a new one. Sod that! Can we fix it? Yes we can! (hopefully) Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Scrape off any loose rust first. Put in to some hydrochloric acid (Patio and brick cleaner) to de-rust. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Just takes a few minutes to get this. The bits that are left practically fall off when touched. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Badly pitted but still strong and usable. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Still got to get a few tiny bits of rust still to remove but 99% done. This is most of what was scraped off first! Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The plan is, when all the rust is removed, to copper plate then nickel plate the parts. Just wating for some copper sulphate to turn up. The nickle plating solution I made myself. The filter wasn't great. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The pipe entry end does pop off which makes cleaning easier which I didn't discover until later. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. All clean and ready to reuse for the next 100k. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The resistive track still has plenty of meat on it and resistance checks out all through the range. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. That's about where I have got with this. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike. Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 Unbelievable what you have achieved there, brilliant! I would not have thought that could have been rescued 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-400 Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 Respect👍! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 Amazing, yeh we are learning what works, great save. Have you thought of any coating for the sender, hows the inside of the tank looking? Great work so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sutty2006 Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 This is why old cars rule. You can strip, clean, rebuild parts to get them working 100%, new cars are just a throw away society. Well done! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted June 29, 2021 Author Share Posted June 29, 2021 8 hours ago, ®evo03 said: Amazing, yeh we are learning what works, great save. Have you thought of any coating for the sender, hows the inside of the tank looking? Great work so far! I'm going to plate it first in copper then nickel. The reason for the copper first is nickel seems to plate easier on copper than steel. I'm new to all this plating malarkey! The inside could be better but could be a lot worse. There is what looks like mainly surface rust on the sides. Bottom is rust free! I need to get a borescope to see the other end. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 Only reason i mentioned the tank, try looking up motorcycle tank sealing, never tried it but it works, yeh, new to plating, great save all round, as they cant be got new, so better the devil you know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 Good news and a Doh! Finised the sender. Didn't end up copper plating first as I just couldn't make it work so just went for nickel plating. Had fairly good results with it but a piece did end up flaking of the pipe but I'll live with that. All back together and working and usable. Doesn't look pretty and ugly as sin but no one ever sees it. The black stuff is just remnants of some anti rust stuff after I went over it just to get any missing rust in the pitting. The outside was then painted. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The Doh! part is this: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. I had in my stock list one from a 1.8. I went looking for it thinking if I could use the sender part if I needed it. Found it and turned out I had listed it as from a 1.8 than from a GTE! Doh! I had a good one all the time with out realising. It does mean I'm left with a spare good one now if needed otherwise I would have probably binned it if I had known. Been reading up about cleaning the rust from inside of the tank. I think I'm going to try the acid route as this does work. From what I've been reading, clean using the acid then immediately use vineger to neutralise the stronger acid (I know, using an acid to neutralise another acid doesn't sound right) and to stop flash rusting. Dry and use a little diesel to coat all of the inside while it's stored to stop damp and new rust forming. After the vineger I might rinse using distilled water and washing soda crystals just to make sure and neutralise all acids. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Use acid to neutralise the alkaline or vice verse. But it will do the trick for sure. Whilst my cars are coupes, this tank issue has been on my mind. One problem is the acid will also destroy the seam sealant, but that might need to be replaced anyway due to the Ethanol fuels we will be forced to use. It's something I have been thinking on how best to deal with if I want to keep the oem tank and the two options I have come up with are a) have the tank modified and modern cell type fitted inside the oem that is properly compliant. b) have tank lined with ethanol stable rubber after washing out with acid, like POR15. But! This also presents lots of other issues for the GTE tank. As I intend to use fuel injection, if I go with option b), then I will additional costs of needing a non-injection tank(cheap enough) plus an external swirlpot and multiple fuel pumps, but might be the better option long term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted August 19, 2021 Author Share Posted August 19, 2021 Finally finished the inside of the tank I started nearly two months ago! This is what I was faced with! A lot worse than I was expecting. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The old fuel was drained and left to dry. The actual bottom of the tank was surprisingly ok but probably due to the fuel covering it. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. There was a lot of crap inside! That's a 2 litre bottle. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The process I started with was to use electrolysis. I made up an 'anode' using some threaded bar. One end I fitted a plastic disc to keep it off the bottom and the other, an old piece of acrylic drilled to fit the fuel sender hole. An old rubber fuel sender gasket sealed it all. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. All bolted on. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. All the breather pipes were blocked off. It was then taken outside. A long time was spent hosing the inside out to remove lose rust and sediment. A workmate is great for holding the tank along the seam so it's on it's side with the float hole facing down while you flush! Normally you would add salt to make the water more conductive but that is not going end well! So another thing that can be used is washing soda crystals (Less than a pound from Tesco's). I think I used about the equivalent of about half a litre then dissolved it in hot water before adding it to the tank. The tank was filled taking care to avoid air pockets. I connected up a 12v batter charger (an old 1970's jobbie), negative to the tank and positive to the threaded rod. Think I done it for about seven hours a day over three days. Some of the crap on the rod. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. After the electrolysis. What was left was loose. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. After this, it was given a good flusing out again. The next step was to use hydrochloric acid but in a weaker form. The tank was refilled with water including 5 litres of acid. This was left for 24 hours. This was all done when it was very hot with the tank in the sun which helped speed things up. Afterwards I added soda crystals as this neutralises the acid so it can be safely disposed of. Another good flushing. Because it was so hot, the tank dried almost instantly. I was left with this. It did flash rust but the heavy rusting was gone. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Roll on several weeks later due to doing other things. Then the magic happens! I brought half a litre of phosphoric acid (30% strength) and added it all to the tank and gave the tank a good shake in all directions to coat everything. After about half an hour I was left with this. (a few tiny bits crap still floating around). Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. I'm happy with that! The acid was drained. Flushed with paint thinners and dried. Mixed some new engine oil with some thinners to thin it down a bit, poured it in and again shake to coat all the areas to stop it rusting while being stored. I shall drain the excess off in a day or two after letting it stand. This has taken a LOT of time and effort but only cost £20 to do. Still cheaper and easier than sourcing another tank. Part two in a day or two..... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 That is a really great guide for anyone with a thatch tank, excellent job mate 😎 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Pounsett Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 What an excellent outcome and a very informative post. £20 sounds very reasonable - I’ll drop my tank round to you soon. 😂 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1200bandit Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 All ways try and fix ,repair anything When you repair engineer something and it works, you think yes l did that ( all so a lot cheaper) When l had sticky had to make a O/S kick panel as it had power steering the was the wiring for it down there 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam.in.head Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 absolutely. i always try to fix everything too. when you consider that a lot of new aftermarket stuff is so inferior these days it makes total sence repairing your old part. plus over the years ive had many an issue with so called recondition parts such as engines ( gmx even ) and gearboxes and steering racks.all claimed to be recon as good as new !. fix,refurb,rebuild your own original stuff and it should last years ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooker Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Brilliant! & thanks for documenting the process so well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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