shonky opels Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Heres my mk1 cav coupe 1.9 gls, I bought it last june/july from Ianmc. Originally I was just looking for a solid shell that I could build up into a c20let track car but on viewing I fell in love and now I use the car almost daily and really enjoy driving round in the old girl. Unfortunately the bottom end went on the engine last week so currently I'm weighing up converting over to c20xe running gear with a 5 speed manta box, the cars currently 4 speed and is useless if you have to do any motorway driving and dont want to hear the engine scream just to maintain 70mph lol (the 4 speed is awesome for town driving tho) so onto some pics so thats the pics, the cars actually starting to show its age a bit and has a few specs of rust appearing here and there, so I will be treating the car to a full respray in the original yellow but first I need to crack on with the engine conversion. thanks for reading. Barry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*energy* Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 love it mate,love the old coupes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manta400john Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) Looks good.....especially next to the black car What about this..... http://forums.mantaclub.org/topic/27406-manta-gte-engine/ .....and this. http://forums.mantaclub.org/topic/27407-gte-gearbox/ John. Edited January 10, 2011 by manta400john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casper1483 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Dont do it................ keep it an Iron Head, Yes to the 5 speed box though, mine tops out at 70 and the price of fuel makes the 5 speed box a wise choice, nice car though, keep seeing more and more on here, Have you seen the cav on here for £200 rusty but may have some userble bits on it............... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanosabby Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 As above man keep it to a CIH engine but with a 5 speeder from a GT/E. I am running a 2.2 in mine and it is torquey as hell and goes very well mated to a 5 speed box. My one has a 214 kent cam, weber 38 dgas on a ported inlet manifold, lightened fly wheel and a 4 branch mated to a s/s exhaust and is probably putting out 140ish bhp. One other thing though is loose the fog light as it does not need it and looks cleaner . Here is mine for ideas if you want. And the outside, and the back sans foglight, Good luck with it as they are a rare beast now. Ta, Deano. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 How did you get yours upto a 2.2 mate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2908642343 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 If you are serious about changing to a 5 speed set up, talk to Paul Newport who can sell you a bracket (he gets them made up in batches). The bracket will save you the need to change the tunnel top to allow a 5 speed box to be fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanosabby Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 How did you get yours upto a 2.2 mate? The engine is from a Carlton but was modified to run on the old mechanical fuel pump instead of the injection which it came with. Don't know much else about it as it was installed by Bill Dalgety from round these parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary6303 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 The c20let is a great choice but i would not use a 1.8 gearbox as you will brake it and are now getting very rare, instead use a omega box, a little more work but it wont break that easy,or instead of paying a £1000 for a let spend about £200 for a saab turbo and omega box, save some cash and maybe tune that engine a little, just my pennies worth. nice car by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 The c20let is a great choice but i would not use a 1.8 gearbox as you will brake it and are now getting very rare, instead use a omega box, a little more work but it wont break that easy,or instead of paying a £1000 for a let spend about £200 for a saab turbo and omega box, save some cash and maybe tune that engine a little, just my pennies worth. nice car by the way. I was going to originally use a let engine but I've now fitted that in the black astra in the pics above, plans where to leave the car standard and just change the wheels and lower it a little but since the bottom ends gone on the CIH engine I figured that i'd change the engine for a c20xe lump, theres a few reasons for this mostly thats its a bolt-in conversion that can be done relatively cheaply without cutting out the trans tunnel, I already have a good xe engine in my shed, I have sourced a good 1.8 gearbox from a friend, but the best bit of it for me is that if i ever wanted to re-install the cih lump in the future i'll be able to because I wouldnt of compromised the originality of the car by fitting the xe in the first place. thanks for the replys though chaps its interesting reading If you are serious about changing to a 5 speed set up, talk to Paul Newport who can sell you a bracket (he gets them made up in batches). The bracket will save you the need to change the tunnel top to allow a 5 speed box to be fitted. Nice one, I take it he's a user on here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robah Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I was going to originally use a let engine but I've now fitted that in the black astra in the pics above, plans where to leave the car standard and just change the wheels and lower it a little but since the bottom ends gone on the CIH engine I figured that i'd change the engine for a c20xe lump, theres a few reasons for this mostly thats its a bolt-in conversion that can be done relatively cheaply without cutting out the trans tunnel, I already have a good xe engine in my shed, I have sourced a good 1.8 gearbox from a friend, but the best bit of it for me is that if i ever wanted to re-install the cih lump in the future i'll be able to because I wouldnt of compromised the originality of the car by fitting the xe in the first place. thanks for the replys though chaps its interesting reading Nice one, I take it he's a user on here? Nice car mate . Yes Paul is on here, but I am not 100% on forum name I think it's paulmanta but don't quote me on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiney_norman Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 It is indeed paulmanta you want to speak to, do it soon as he's getting some bits made up at the moment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 which is better, manta 1.8 5 speed getrag or the ford type 9 with xe bellhousing? Bearing in mind that its only going to be a relatively standard xe so not mega power and it will never see the drag strip so wont be doing full power standing starts, also whats involved in fitting the type 9, I take it that i'll need the prop changed to suit, a gearbox mount, an sbd clutch kit and the 5 speed tunnel top? thaks for your time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANTAMAN Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I would have said keep the original engine type but if you have a XE and 5 speed box to match then why not. The gearbox should take the 150 bhp of a standard XE provided its not abused but make sure you put in fresh genuine GM Getrag oil (no other), you can get this from Vauxhall dealers and if you join our club you'll get it at trade price plus of course you'll have access to the whole forum and its info on XE conversions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 I would have said keep the original engine type but if you have a XE and 5 speed box to match then why not. The gearbox should take the 150 bhp of a standard XE provided its not abused but make sure you put in fresh genuine GM Getrag oil (no other), you can get this from Vauxhall dealers and if you join our club you'll get it at trade price plus of course you'll have access to the whole forum and its info on XE conversions. thanks for that, luckily I already get trade club through MIGWEB but as soon as payday comes I will be joining up anyway as I believe its only fair to support the club Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 you got any tech spec on the Astra? Me and a friend have a mk4 astra we bought for track use. Other than a 2.0xe its std. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 you got any tech spec on the Astra? Me and a friend have a mk4 astra we bought for track use. Other than a 2.0xe its std. the astra spec so far is: C20let with F28 front mounted intercooler with hard boost pipes sard fpr, evo5 chipset, uprated 500bhp capable fuel pump, xe inlet cam with vernier pulley, helix 4 paddle clutch, steel rods, arp's, bowyer baffled sump, mocal oil cooler with braided lines, -31 actuator, 2.5' stainless steel system running around 300bhp ish Gaz gold coilovers, 308mm astra coupe turbo brakes all round with ebc yellowstuff pads, Braided brake lines all round Full fia spec rollcage (copied from an escort cosworth fia cage, that we modded slightly) Fia spec rollcage padding plastic4performance polycarb windows all round except windscreen is standard item all sound deadening removed, aircon removed doors and tailgate have been hollowed out of all electrics and metal so there is just a single skin, basically all interior and headlining anything that isn't needed chucked in the bin Magnum prosport single bucket seat with alloy side mounts and magnum 3'' 5 point harness. ASA 9.5 x 18 with 215/35/18 road wheels team dynamic with prada spec2 wet track wheels phase 1 vectra gsi with yokohama ao48 dry track tyres theres still alot more to do but its a work in progress at the mo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 some pics of the astra in the summer the whole car will be getting stitch welded, then i'll probably be looking for more power with a new turbo, manifold and aftermarket management. theres a full thread here- http://www.migweb.co...-astra-let.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Fish Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) Nice projects you have there... and I spy a mr2 aswell? You got good taste! Edited January 12, 2011 by Devil Fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) cheers fella, the mr2 was really nice buts its gone now I think i swapped it for a cav gsi or a escort series one turbo cant quite remember lol, I do have another long term project but its a ford, so i'll probably need a lottery win to afford to finish it. I bought it like this after being laid up for 20 years its now completely stripped and in bare metal, and needs about 2 grands worth of panels lol Edited January 12, 2011 by shonky opels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manta400john Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Mk II 'tina.....now were talkin' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapierdave Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I remember meeting you at Total Vauxhall live at Castle Combe last year. Maybe see you at Billing this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 I remember meeting you at Total Vauxhall live at Castle Combe last year. Maybe see you at Billing this year Hello mate, it was nice to meet you fella's I'll definately be at billing this year, hopefully on the manta stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonky opels Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Sooo, after binning off the xe conversion, I set about finding a good cih engine, after passing one up in april last year that was in wolverhampton because I thought I'd be able to find one closer to home, I then hunted around untill october last year where luckily I asked opelscott on his build thread if he was getting rid of his cih and if so how much he wanted for it, scott being the top bloke that he is told me that aslong as I picked it up I could have it for free!! awesome news I thought, untill I found out that scotts at the other end of the country to me lol. So one sunday night at 12am I set off for aberdeen from london in my old transit and 1,222 miles, 24hrs, and £200 of diesel I got home with the new engine, exhausted but happy I'd finally made a forward step with the car. During the following week I spent a few evenings doing the engine swap but work got in the way so I left it untill today (4 mths later lol) to finish it off. Found that I'd fitted the dizzy 180 out but once that was sorted and timed up properly she fired right up, and ive got to say purrs along, so really happy now and I just need to mot and tax the old girl for the summer, theres some paintwork that needs sorting first, and Ive also broken the original steering wheel which now needs replacing! anyway will update with progress as and when it happens thanks for reading Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robah Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Hi, Good to hear you have got your engine running nicely, don't envy you for the journey. I thought Cheshire to Morayshire (8 hrs) was long enough. I may have a steering wheel Opel 3 spoke from earlier B, but no horn button. If I can get it off the coloumn without damaging the column. Yours for the price of the P&P. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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