monzta Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Ok so here´s a little info on my project. (pics of build will come very soon). The car is a 1971 A series, and has only travelled 73.000km. This unfortunatly does not show, and the car is in need of alot of work. The car was bought by my brother some 11 years ago from the original owner of the car. When he bought it he eventually disliked the colour so much that he had it repainted in black by Opel 3 years after his purchase (the car was a bronze metallic with beige interior). When my brother bought it it had the original 1,6S engine, and he used it for some time. The engine finally was to small so we fitted a 2,0S with a set of 40mm carbs and a 2" exhaust. The car drove perfectly untill it lost a balljoint (the balljoint actually came apart and pulled the ball out of the socket!!) and after fixing this it ran the rest of the summer and was put aside. And aside it has been untill last christmas when i came to have it. The car is hardly in original shape, and will never be, so i figure why not make something that no-one has ever seen before, but still respect the A series unique shape and style. The plan is to make a ½ bodydrop on it. It will be very low. The rear inside fenders will be shaped to accomodate some very large 19" alloys, using a B series rear axle. This will also require custom building the propshaft tunnel, and maybe even change to a 4 link configuration but this is not certain yet. The idea is that i want the alloys running all the way up in the fender so only 3/4 of the wheel shows. On the front end it will also be lowered drastically and will be running 18" (if i can fit them or else 17" ) in same design as the rears. Brakewise i have bought the following components. Epytec rear disc brake conversion to accomodate VAG brake calipers, and discs (Corrado). This is a bolt on system, and is very very clever, it is the most simple rear disc conversion i have ever seen, and require nothing but the use of spanner tools. On the front i am currently getting 296mm Carlton GSI brakes redone and are also using the massive calipers from this car as they are direct bolt on. I have also decided to make the car 5 lug (5x120mm) using a set of shortened commodore B rear axles, and Commodore B front adapters (amazingly they appear to have the same front wheel bearings!) Enginewise i haven´t decided yet. I have a XE but i am propaply going to sell it as i have gotten a good offer on the head. I was thinking of finding a ecotec 2,0L complete with gearbox etc from a Omega / Carlton. Exhaust system will be custom made, and will exit on the rear fender as the photoshopped car on my avatar Bodywise i will not make drastic changes. I would love to make a ducktail rear spoiler on the car, and i also plan to remove the ventilation grilles next to the rear side windows and exchange them with something a little more sexy, maybe some GT500 lookalike intakes ? I will also install black DE front lights from BMW, and i will definatly make som changes to the rear lights. I have the choice between some round led lights, a set of modified Mercedes 190E rear lights that will make the rear lights look like 3 very thin seperate rectangular lights, or a set of Corvette C4 rear lights ( this is my favorite but it is expensive). The interior will also be custom and i have purchased a very rare Mazda 323 GT turbo 4x4 set of interior in black and white that i will be fitted. But first of all the body needs some work. I have gathered alot of part the past 6 months and these include: Dr Manta complete new front end Used and good front wings Used and good boot lid Used and good set of doors Dr Manta side panels Dr Manta rear arches Dr Manta rear panel And alot of other goodies as a retro steering wheel (300mm) a set of original SR external instruments, rekord D instruments for the dashboard (fit right in but include voltmeter, oilpressure, water temp, fuelgauge, rpm and tacho). I figure the SR gauge console will be fitted with oil temp, etc. The body as said need alot of work, and this is my main project. I will be building a jig to work on the car. When finished the car will be painted satin black.. Heres a photo of the car back in the days where it was running a 2,0S and some 7x14" Melbers Hope that you will follow the project as i progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stradacab Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 I look forward to following your progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 I look forward to following your progress Thankyou So here´s some pictures As you can see rear panel needs changing, the paint though still looks fairly good beeing 30 something years old ! Bumpers has been stripped, and so has all the windows, and trimmings and the interior New bootlid in very good condition (a bit dusty though ) Sorry about the mess. This is an extra gastank that i was able to salvage. It will be blasted and coated if it is intact after blasting Some of the nasty stuff. This is the edge around the trunk, it will need changing and as this can not be bought i will have to fabricate it. Here´s a bit more from the trunk, left side needs changing. I am considering removing the spare wheel well completely.. Left hand side rear inside, someone has repaired this before, but it will be completely redone, also new rust has appeared here. Right hand side same place. Very rusty indeed, the white stuff is the floor beneath the car Front right side foot rest. Also needs alot of work. This is the most common place for the Manta´s to rust as there are 3 layers of sheet metal on top of each other here to join the A piller, the floor and the firewall together... Right side inner panel. Needs alot of work, and when i start to dig i am sure to find several big holes. The top side of the panel is good though, and i might be able to repair this and not change the entire thing. So i just need to take the rest apart of the interior and move on to the engine bay. Pics will come of this as i progresses. The next step will be to make the jig so i can dismount the front and rear axle, tank, propshaft, exhaust etc so i can have a clean car to work on Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Good luck with it Monzta, don't forget plenty of piccys, will be nice to follow an A rebuild from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 Hi Johnboy, don´t worry, i am filming it as well as the car eventually will end up as a present for my brother Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickappy Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 good call, i need a brother like you:) does he know or isit a suprise?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 Oh it´s a suprise of course hehe. My brother has always been there for me and i have not been the easiest brother to have in the past, so i figure i owe him something really great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 If you can aford it, I would recomend getting the shell media blasted, well worth the cost as it will show up every bit of bad metel. I have just had mine blasted and there are bits that looked fine before but now are just holes. Good luck with your project and I look forword to seeing how you do things over there in Denmark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 (edited) If you can aford it, I would recomend getting the shell media blasted, well worth the cost as it will show up every bit of bad metel. I have just had mine blasted and there are bits that looked fine before but now are just holes. Good luck with your project and I look forword to seeing how you do things over there in Denmark Thanks Yeah i know but that is just too expensive i´m affraid. It will set me back around 1000£ for blasting and dip after the rust has been fixed.. So it will be done the old fasion way. Anyways, i know the car, have looked at it (and driven it some times) in 10 years or so, so nothing on the car has come as a surprise yet, all the rust that has been found have been there for many years and have just evolvet slowly. I will be very surprised if there´s some rust i wasn´t aware of. It is a great advantage if you know the car. The other A series car my brother owns come from Germany, and let me say it straight up. Those Germans can NOT fix cars worth a **¤%&¤%&! The entire front of that car had been changed in Germany and had been welded, glued, painted and rivited on ! Finally everything had gotten 2 inches of polyester to smooth the worst stuff out It was a nightmare. But it ended up allright By the way, if anyone is curious regarding the rear boot spoiler it is a stock rear spoiler from a Peugeot 405 that with a little fiddling to fit over the ducktail of the boot fits the car perfectly The colour was awsome by the way, and was a original Kadett B colour called GM Blue, but it was more greenish in the sun, and looked light blue when cloudy Edited June 9, 2011 by monzta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Okay got some more stuff sorted this weekend. I now have a electronic jig on the way wich i bought for a redicoulous price ( a case of lager) wich has been used on a professional vw repairshop. It is made to fit virtualy any car, and has wheels Also i have chosen to get every single bolt on part of the car made in lightweight firbreglass instead. I think this is a good and cheap solution as the alternatives is to use old used parts that will propably rust anyway, or buy new parts from Dr Manta wich will cost an arm and a leg! So fibreglass boot, doors, hood, frontwings are beeing prepaired for molding and will be ready by winter. I will post pic´s as it progresses. If anyone else would be interested let me know But before all that theres still the rust to see to. Will post pics very soon Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shug Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I think a company in germany makes fibreglass wings already for the A. I think it was Lenk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Yes they did or do i don´t really know, but the thing is that molds become worn down, and i have talked to several people who say that i should stay away from fibreglass wings for the A series as they fit the ngambooolah.. So as i have a set of very good and original front wings (never damaged, never repaired, original paint in white in mint condition) i think it would be a good idea to get new ones made. If i provide the parts i get the original parts back + a set of new fibraglass ones for free so that is a very good deal i think But he isn´t too pricy and can supply frontwings for alot of Opels like the Kadett, B series Manta, and Monza for under 300£ a set ! And that i think is a good price as 1 original one can cost 420£ on german ebay, and aftermarket ones cost 250£ per side ! Even a set of used ones in what i would call doubios condition will set you back 300£ on Ebay.. Sure you can get lucky but theese fit like original ones, and will never rust or fade away. If you have a accident it is the most easy thing you will ever repair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 Started to clean out some of the old black rubber/asphalt stuff in the bottom of the floor of the A today and .... DAMN! The entire floor needs replacing. I was pretty confident in the fact that i knew the car, but i really got a bad surprise there. So Leidinger Tuning will be recieving my order momentarely for a set of all new floors for the car. It is rusted away from the propshaft tunnel to the panel.. Everything in between needs changing ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Good luck with the project, your Brother will love it when he receives it! You have exceptional English, how did you become so good? I ask as I am learning Spanish as a new language and can't even consider a time where my understanding could be as good as yours in a different language Cheers Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hi Kev. Oh i hope so It will be awsome, but there is quite alot of rust so i have my work cut out for me. Thankyou for the remarks regarding my English I have just practised alot i think, here in Denmark we start English classes in School at age 10, and i have studied English for quite som time. Acutally i juist had an English Exam today and got a 10 on the 12 scale in English at Level B (A is the highest level). Also i enjoy watching English and US films without subtitles alot, and that is a great trick i would love to share It really gives you alot Good luck with the Spanish. Spanish would be a bit hard for you when coming from the UK, they use the same method to assemble senteces as we do in Danish. So for a Dane Spanish shouldn´t be too hard (or so im told) Love Spanish and Italian and would love to learn it some day.. Cheers, Ruben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 So here´s another little update Got the seats for the car today, made a great trade and got theese Mazda 323 4x4 Turbo seats in very good condition. Yeah they need a good clean, but they won´t be going in the car any day soon anyways so i figure im allright I figure mounting will be very easy. They have integrated rails, and are normally mounted very low in the car they come from, so i figure i will weld the tube frame from the A´s original seats to theese rails and see how that will work out. Need to remove the seatbelt thing though (no need having 4 of them ) Also here are some more pics of the A series bottom floor (of doom).. Can´t wait to get started removing that old rusty stuff and replacing it with some new steel. Theese to pics are both from the right hand side of the car. Amazingly the left side is very very good. The most problematic thing will be to recreate that square piece where the seat normally bolts on, but let´s see when i get cracking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 The floor sections from Leidinger are a very good fit, I got some for my A a couple of month ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 That is very good info, thankyou They are not as expensive as Herr Doktor Von Manta An entire outer panel is just 50 Euro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 25, 2011 Author Share Posted June 25, 2011 SO HERE WE GO Got tired of waiting for my jig, so started with some of the stuff i can do while the car is on the ground The right side of the car is by far the worst. I need to get new outer panels, new floor, repair wheel arches both front and rear, inner panels, jagging points, etc. But started with the floor The crappiest job EVER After an hour Amazingly the rear part of the floor is in very good shape! Lucky me So beginning to cut, i figured that i need to change a big part of the floor so laisy as i am i figured i´d save myself some work with that black asphalt stuff Another cut and i could clean the seat bracket. Left it on as i will need it as fix points for the new floor. Cutting out some more A big part of the inner panel needs changing as well, but this is all included in the new floor piece That is one massive hole (who said flintstone-car?) Will need to do some work on the inner arch, also the jacking point kindof just disentegrated and fell off !!!!!! It was full of old dirt and sand, so no wonder it has rusted... So i will lay off until the parts arrive as i figure i need to repair the front inner wheelwell also and i need it all to line up. More pics when parts arrive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieH Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Isn't it amazing how 1 little hole turns into half the the car keep up the good work and keep on putting up the pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 25, 2011 Author Share Posted June 25, 2011 Isn't it amazing how 1 little hole turns into half the the car keep up the good work and keep on putting up the pictures Yes it is But so far no big surprises i knew that the right side would be a twat to fix I figure i will need to do as much metal work on this side of the car as on the entire rest of the car.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 As your car is an early A, it has a 3 peice sill, the floor forms the middle skin, the inner skin is the peice from the door down to the floor. This inner skin I have been looking for and can't find anywhere, so be carefull how much you cut out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 26, 2011 Author Share Posted June 26, 2011 (edited) As your car is an early A, it has a 3 peice sill, the floor forms the middle skin, the inner skin is the peice from the door down to the floor. This inner skin I have been looking for and can't find anywhere, so be carefull how much you cut out of it. Yes that is what is called inner panel here in Denmark That is included when you buy a new floor piece from Dr Manta or in my case Leidinger Tuning, all the way up to where the outerpanel is connected (bottom of the door) You can clearly see it on this picture Though this piece cost 109 Euro so it is a rather expensive piece of metal, so i will change as much as i can (use every penny of it) Edited June 26, 2011 by monzta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantaray Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 No, the side part of the new floor section is the only the inner sill on the later cars, as the later A's had a B piller, they only have a 2peice sill. BUT the early cars with out the B piller had a 3 peice sill, and the floor forms the middle skin. The inner sill labled above is not part of the floor section, it is an extra panel to reinforce the sill as there is no B piller. The floor goes up between the inner and outer sill, if you look at your door shut you will see 3 metal panels, not 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzta Posted June 26, 2011 Author Share Posted June 26, 2011 Oh ! Well that sucks the broomstick... Wasn´t aware of that... Ok, well what i have removed needed to be removed so i need to figure it out then.. Guess i will need to do some fabrication work then, fortunatly it isnt a big part of the inner sill that has rusted. But still need to get some more cut out all up at the wheel well in the front.. Thankyou very much for info, i really wasn´t aware of it. I thought they where the same ( 2 / 3 pillar cars). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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