pacea1 Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 I've finally found time over this Christmas break to make good progress on the restoration of my coupe . The only work done so far was to install the engine that wasn't in the car when bought and finding a decent bonnet as the original was not on the car. All this only took a couple of hours then it sat waiting . After finding too much rot in the roof I managed to source a non sunroof roof from a fellow member and have now progressed with the skin swap. The donor skin was released from its frame by drilling out all the spot welds ,with a spot weld drill, (approx. 160) from the frame side leaving the skin intact. The lap joints were ground off the back of the skin to leave the panel just as it would have been before opel fitted it. We then did the same procedure on the car but from the skin side to leave the frame and pillars intact . Then the back of the sunroof box was cut off leaving room to install the crossmember from the donor roof . After this the rest of the sunroof box was removed to allow space to insall the second donor crossmember. The skin is now in place and ready to be spot welded in the gutters and window openings as well as the rear lap joints as per factory and then brazed on all four lap joints. Sounds quick but that's about 1 1/2 days work to get to this position common sight roof rot . rot cut out before the decision to replace roof roof skin removed from donor roof this is the lip that goes into the gutter (lots of welds to drill ) back side of skin showing remains of pillar lap joint before being ground off . you can see some spot welds from the factory donor roof frame before crossmembers have been removed roof roughly cut off car to allow access to frame you can see the hidden rot on the edges of the sunroof box here .How glad am I that I decided to replace the roof after seeing this plus ive always wanted a nonsunroof car back of sunroof box cut off to fit crossmember in . rest left in place to brace opening 2 donor crossmembers welded in . front pillar lap joint cleaned up 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacea1 Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 rear pillar lap joint cleaned up roof skin in place at last ! time to break out the spot welder !!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiney_norman Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Big job on your hands there, but they seem to be capable hands. Good man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manta88 Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Looks like you have done a great job on the roof, good luck with the rest of the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upk Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Nice one! I do so enjoy the fabrication stage of a project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRAZYDAVE Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Great work well done! Looking forward to the next update Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacea1 Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 Just a quick update, managed to get a couple of hours on the car today and got all the spot welding done as well as some brazing. I doubled up the number of spot welds on the front and rear screen openings like I used to do on my rally cars to add more strength . I was surprised they were originally only about 1.5 to 2 inches apart instead of about 1 inch like on the gutter sides . Just the big debate about colour as there are only a couple of small bits of welding before a respray.I would like to go with white like one of my old coupes as this is undoubtedly the best colour, or maybe red , however there seem to be less standard coupes around these days so I am straying towards originality of blue The engine is something I am sure of i will be keeping the cih(bucking the trend of redtops im afraid) but with a few twists. programmable system linked up to the original injectors and ignition system. The exact tune of the engine is yet to be confirmed and eventually maybe supercharging. of course the suspension and brakes will receive attention as well but everything in good time first the bodywork. now where did I put that colour chart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANTAMAN Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 You have made a tremedous start to this project, doing a roof swop is a brave thing to tackle yourself but then i suspect you have a few years of body shell preperation behind you with the statement 'like i used to do on my rally cars to add more strength' The debate about colour could be a long one, you say that because there are not many standard coupes around you are straying toward the originallity of Blue, there are many colours in the Opel range of the period that the Manta could be painted in and still be original, some rare colours like, Orient Blue (petrol green) Steel Grey (bluey grey) a samon pink i forget the name of, Platinum (a far superior grey to Dolpine) are all original Manta shades, there are other colours that were current in the Opel range but didn't make it onto a Manta, well not at least in the UK market, there was a Yellow (pineapple i think) that appeared on a Nova SR, at first you'd think yellow would be too much for a Manta but there was a GTE in Holland this year in a yellow shade and it worked, this may have been an original Manta colour as the 1/18th model comes in this colour. there is one one colour i have always wanted to see on an Opel Manta that was current in the Opel range of the time yet as far as i know never made it onto a Manta, Helios Blue, a light metallic blue that apperaed on Senators of all things, There were susposed to be a few Carlton GSi in this colour but they have taken on almost urban myth status. This might be of interest, Unique Car & Parts, appear to be an American company but they have a list of Vauxhall/Opel Colours with thier codes & dates,heres the link - http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/colour_codes_vauxhall.htm right now i have confused you completely about what colour to paint your Manta i'll leave you to contemplate, just dont order the colour immediately after seeing the new year in,still with a bottle in one hand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacea1 Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 I like the sound of the helios blue although I did have a platinum hatch that was about 5 years old at the time I bought it .it was a lovely car and the one I had when I met my wife over 20 years ago .I got pulled for doing well over the ton on the m1 on our first date .at least she knew what to expect over the next 20 years . Don't worry the best decisions are made whilst drunk surely. you're right that I have experience with bodywork and mechanical. over the years ive built several stage rally cars mostly escorts plus a corsa(I apologise for the fwd ) and bmw e30 and e36 compact.i used to road rally mantas and an opel kadette coupe (which recently appeared for sale on ebay funnily enough ) I've also restored quite a few mk1 and mk2 escort rs , vw camper , mini's, and a lotus sunbeam.I'll see if I can dig out any pictures of my old mantas you never know someone might recognise them. meanwhile I will check out your link and not drink too much while choosing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCarlos Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Good to see that car getting done :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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