33019 Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 finally got it ready for paint Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33019 Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 finally ready for top coates lost count of the amount of hours i have spent to get the panels some where near passenger door was beyond it so thanks again to retro power for a good door Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmscher Man Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Nice work! I've really enjoyed reading this thread so keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33019 Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 bit of update and a couple of pictures of the car in 1991 when owned by grahan mander ,i was due to go to the great dorset steam fair with my pair of shires horses in the last week of aug at at the last minute lee ashbury who owns a body shop and a ex works escort agreed to paint it for me while i was away.dropped it off on monday 22aug and picked it up last week that left me with just over 3 weeks to put it back together i will post some more pics of the build as i get chance 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. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33019 Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 got wiring loom in place during the week and also fitted fuel tank/pumps/brake lines in engine bay and fire system pipework built and fitted front suspension yesterday engine and box today rear gearbox mount requires fettling 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. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny D114BCW Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Some great action pictures there, love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33019 Posted September 18, 2016 Author Share Posted September 18, 2016 what a week been working on it every night and and since friday dinner time have put another 27 hours in to it the dash and wiring loom have been the nightmare i thought they were going to be the main problems being the fact i didnt take it apart/the loom has modified beyond belief and the fact it has now got the correct dash after much head scratching with the mbe ignition finally got it started bled the rear brake and managed to drive it fora few yards still waiting for front brake bells 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. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCP Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 After all your hard work to repair an rebuild this it was great to see it in action at Rallyday Castle Combe yesterday, I don't know how you managed to get it rebuilt so quickly. It was nice to meet and that you took the time to give info about the car. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bris jas Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 I was also at Combe yesterday, your car looked great on the track and also nice to see 2 others going around as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33019 Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 another update the above pictures show we made it to castle combe although the car looked finished i did run out of time with certain things. the front suspension being the main thing the old suspension was either bent or cracked so was scrap,i had earlier in the year bought a van full of genuine works parts but when i started to look at it i realised all of it needed new rose joints etc what i didnt realise untill i had a visit by tim ashton a ex dealer opel rally mechanic was how different some of it was bottom wishbone for tarmac is like thisProject images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. this has rose joints in both wishbone rear holes the hole in the middle is for a rod to limit the drop because of the shorter springs the forest arms are even more interesting only the front wishbone hole is rose jointed the rear being a standard bush but the front ball joint is the interesting bit i thought the ones i had got were both bent but tim explained in forest spec the factory found the travel is limited by the bottom ball joint so they had a special batch of cranked ball joints made which allowed more dopProject images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. front arm is forest rear arm tarmac. another thing is all 400 ball joints are a bigger diameter so you have to use 400 uprights ill leave the FRENCH UPRIGHTS to another time but this is very involved all bottom pick up points have to moved Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33019 Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 finally got some time to sort front suspension out. ordered all new rose joints for bottom wishbones but did find one wishbone had some accident damage to it which goes back to [the tour of mull rally 1992] as luck would have it i had 1 brand new 400 bottom arm to use as a datum point 400 wishbones are different to standard arms and have extra strenghtning done from the factory. i mentioned french uprights in the last post basically in the mid 80s the british opel dealer team took some british built rally cars to france and even though they were both running the same tyres the british cars were getting much more tyre wear and increased tyre temp after a lot of head scratching and much asking of questions, the french had moved the bottom wishbone out by 8mm and then welded up the hole in the upright and redrilled it 8mm closer to the wheel. appently it makes a big difference on tarmac. after speaking to tim aston a former works mechanic and chris birbeck who runs asconas and manta rally cars they both confirmed this i have also incorperated this mod finished wishbones ready Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33019 Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 another update after a year of search finally managed to find a pair of 8inch and a pair of 10 inch ronals also bought 4 brand new michelin tb 15 finally managed to get front suspension and brakes on just waiting for new fully floating rear 5 stud hubs from rix enginering otherwise it will stil be on 4 studs for raceretro 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. 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. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33019 Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 did manage to get the back axle finished for race retro Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Pounsett Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 On 03/01/2016 at 11:28, 33019 said: plans for the car are a bit fluid i used to build/prepare/ service rally cars in the BTRDA in the late 80s early 90s so always wanted a 400 but only a proper rally car. once the shell is sorted im planning various upgrades and only last week spent the day with chris birkbeck who owns WIA 5958 photographing and measureing various bits. i have managed to obtain a full set of rose jointed ex works bilsteins off the guy who rebuilt the 2 ex works safari cars so am modifying the front inner wings to works spec which are more robust and a bit more travel. replacing all the front suspension crossmember/top and bottom wishbones to works tarmac spec which will be lighter and stronger as when i stripped the car both upper wishbones were cracked the crossmember was cracked and twisted . 400 spec dash also looking at getting some 8 inch 5 stud ronals made by cnc if youve got any history or photos i would be very interested thanks Do you have details for CNC you mentioned in the above post? Thanks Jonathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumpy Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 On 30/05/2016 at 22:53, 33019 said: the rear wing was a pain it took a lot of head scratching to get it to line up even now the door gap isnt right but i will have to live with that the rear spoiler sides were a very poor fit and the rear bumper was no were near started to think i had got the rear fit wrong so i took the rear bumper off my standard manta and it was just as bad not happy with it now but have to keep reminding myself it is a rally car 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. regards the door gap could you use the steel filler rod trick to close any gap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 (edited) Was told a steel door with all the inners cut out, to made look like a fibreglass door will weigh roughly the same, i would imagine the boot skin would be the same if inner skin was removed to leave the outer skin with a bonded hollow fiberglass rear spoiler. I have planned to fit a fibreglass outer skin to a cut down inner steel structure, to leave it a bit less flimbsy. Do you think your issues are with the hinges, mounting points or with the shell. If you are interested, can across this site, nice history record of most ex works 400s, here is WIA for you, https://www.ewrc-results.com/carinfo/103-opel-manta-400/?spz=4998&a=1#start Knew the car in tony kearns hands, have a few pics, being used by defending NI forest championship defender, against, cosworths, 6r4s, and hard driven mk2s. Here he is driving his own manta. Keep an eye out at about 2mins, has to be about 70mph on a gravel, leaf footpad, if you would call it that, took 19sec out of a group a 4x4 sierra, thats hard!... a pilot! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z7vGBuAOfc Edited November 2, 2020 by ®evo03 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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