Ben_g40 Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 (edited) Hi all, On Monday, I decided to fly to Edinburgh to view (and buy) a Manta. After an hour flight, and a further hour train to fife, I was greeted by the rather smokey and pink Manta. It was solid underneath had 12 months MOT and 6 Months tax. Despite it looking like a salmon and sounding like a bag of nails I thought I'd buy it and drive the 350 miles back. I really didn't fancy getting the train! About 100 miles in it decided to start getting quite warm (105-110 degrees on aftermarket gauge). I slowed down to 55-60mph and the temp stabilised at ~95 degrees. I managed to get it home and parked it up quite happy that I had bought a solid base for a project. The next morning I started it up to go to work and was surrounded by a cloud of blue smoke. I knew it smoked a bit but not that much! Today the strip down began. I decided that I would replace the headgasket, valve stem seals, cam belt, water pump, and all the other associated parts. The head came off very easily with no seized or snapping bolts. It looks as though it has had a recent Cam belt but obviously no water pump. The metal impeller looked very corroded! On removal of the thermostat it looks as though someone has decided to aid the cooling! After getting head off it was obvious that oil had been getting past the stem seals for a loooong time! The oil had been burning and actually gone very hard on the exhaust outlet! You can see on cylinder 3 & 4 that oil had been dropping down the exhaust valves. All other valves seem ok. The head gasket looks poorly! Really hard to see any leaks but it certainly looks original (106,000) I'll be getting he head skimmed tomorrow. Also have the option to get it mildly ported, will this be worthwhile? I plan on getting the polisher on it so hopefully the different shades of red might actually merge into one (being very hopeful) I'll put an update on over the weekend when hopefully it'll all be back together! Edited July 24, 2013 by Ben_g40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manta again Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Good job, getting stuck in early. Once sorted you will have a good car however many shades it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davo Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Wow you don't hang about ! ! But if its solid then the mechanical side is easier/quicker repair to do I guess Looks like you be on the road in no time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sutty2006 Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Get stuck in nice and early!!! Good going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_g40 Posted July 27, 2013 Author Share Posted July 27, 2013 (edited) Managed to find time to continue after work this afternoon. I really was hoping I'd be driving it home from my unit. I had a friend skim and clean my head for me. Took off a total of 10 thou I believe. Managed to build up the head during work time so I could crack on with fitting it when I finished at 6. All seemed to go to plan amazingly! Only mishaps was a slight split in a fuel hose and forgetting to put on a breather pipe. Both easily corrected. Car started on first turn of the key with no blue smoke!!! I noticed the bottom rad hose was dripping. It's hard to say if its coming from the hose or the radiator. Looking at the state of the rad it really needs replacing. Is there anything that's better to replace it? Anything from another model? I work at a motor factors and am really struggling to find anything reasonably priced. I let the car warm up and checked the ignition timing which seemed to be massively different to where it was previously. I'm not sure if I'm checking the right mark but its the only mark that's on the bottom pulley I believe. I think I need to recheck when I'm less tired. The car starts and runs reasonably well however as soon as the choke is pushed all the way in the revs drop and the car cuts out. I can just about keep it alive with the throttle but its not happy about it. Will something on the carb need re setting up? I'm only 22 so my knowledge of them is pretty limited. It's a twin choke weber fitted by the way. Here's where the cars sat tonight. Hopefully I'll get back onto it tomorrow night!! Edited July 27, 2013 by Ben_g40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANTAMAN Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 your cracking on well with that, the ignition timing have been a long way out previously, trying to decifer the (ha ha!) haynes manual the timing mark, needle like pointer at the bottom right of the cambelt cover lines up with the pully notch at 10 deg before top dead centre. the slow running on a weber carb, IIRC can be adjusted by turning a small,horizontal recessed screw around the base of the carb, this is the air bypass screw, richening or weakening the mixture. BTW, the first post in this thread has lost it's photo's, if you have moved this from the other thread you may need to go back and edit the post and reload them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_g40 Posted July 27, 2013 Author Share Posted July 27, 2013 your cracking on well with that, the ignition timing have been a long way out previously, trying to decifer the (ha ha!) haynes manual the timing mark, needle like pointer at the bottom right of the cambelt cover lines up with the pully notch at 10 deg before top dead centre. the slow running on a weber carb, IIRC can be adjusted by turning a small,horizontal recessed screw around the base of the carb, this is the air bypass screw, richening or weakening the mixture. BTW, the first post in this thread has lost it's photo's, if you have moved this from the other thread you may need to go back and edit the post and reload them. I'll have a go messing with the carb this evening. I moved the photos in photobucket, for some reason cant seem to edit the post to change the link......? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_g40 Posted July 27, 2013 Author Share Posted July 27, 2013 I managed to go and do a bit more fettling after work today. For some reason I cant get the ignition to time up with the correct marks on the pulley and the pointer. When timed up correctly (or what I believe is correctly) the car runs like a bag of nails and doesn't idle well at all. My boss from work came to give me a hand and managed to get it running really well by listening and just playing with the timing and the idle screw on the carb. Somehow he's managed to get it running perfectly! The idle is spot on and she drives like new(ish). I think that the previous owner might of played with some bits to get it running smoothly despite it burning so much oil. It's now back outside my house I am going to go fetch a GTE radiator tomorrow which will hopefully help it run a little bit cooler! I plan on running this engine for a couple of months whilst collecting the parts to do the inevitable change to a XE engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_g40 Posted July 28, 2013 Author Share Posted July 28, 2013 (edited) Irmscher or standard.....? Could sell the irmschers to help fund XE conversion.... Edited July 28, 2013 by Ben_g40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANTAMAN Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 the reason why most people fit twin lamps is not a styling issue, with twin lamps you can actually see where going at night !! square lamps where created for the Manta/Cavalier in 1975 and Manta's subsequently got alot faster, so making it even faster with a XE i think you'll need all four of those lamps at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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