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My White Ascona B


entwistlecymru
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Well thought i would get in on this project section action. Some changes will be made in the next month or so and i'll update as i go along.

I took her for an MOT at my friends garage and she failed on one rear brake, both rear seatbelts and indicator stalk. Got them sorted and she now has a one of these new electronic printed MOT certificates things!! WOOHOO! [:P]

Thought i would take some pictures of her current state, she not to bad, bit battered but all in one piece!

IMG_1634.jpg

IMG_1638.jpg

The rest of the pictures I took are on my photobucket account, here is the link http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y99/Ar ... scona%20B/ I took some under body shots as well…

I’ve got some questions for you manta/ascona owners if you don’t mind...

Does your filler flap sit flush? Mine sticks out by about 5mm and i can't see how i would be able to fix it. Maybe i can take it off and bend the metal spring/strap thing back so its under more strain when closed thus keeping it flush with the car?

Have any of your doors dropped? my drivers door drops a bit when its open and catches on the B pillar when closing. I can't see any way of adjusting it at all, could anyone advise me how i could do it?

Apart from that shes runs well apart from a slightly high tick over when in not in gear but im not too concerned about that really.

Underneath sees mint, no rot at all so its just the outside that needs some attention. She was owned by an old girl and i think her eyesight was not so great. Bumps and scraps all over her.

The only plans i have for her is to fit some exip wheels i've got lying about to her, get her lowered and fit the XE. After this i'll drive her till winter then probably take her off the road for some cosmetics. The only problem is finding some parts. I've put a list up below of what she'll need.

4 chrome arch trims.

all of the bump strips

chrome strips that run down the sills

front and rear chrome bumpers

a complete 1 key fits all lock set

If i can't find the bits i need in time then i'll probably smooth her down and not refit the bump strips, maybe de-chrome her and fit the plastic later spec bumpers?!? Still not sure if this would look cool or not, i really would like to keep the outside as GM intended her to be but i think im going to have trouble finding the parts.

Hope you approve, shes a cracker and i can't wait till i start driving her! [:D]

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Sexy little car there! I may even buy one soon. Is it a 2 litre?

As for the questions the filler flap should sit flush. Mine didn't on my Cav so I just bent the hinge like you said. The drooping doors mean you'll have to fit some new hinge pins. Its possible to do it yourself if you strip the doors down to lose a bit of weight. You can still get the pins from Vauxhall but I've been reliably informed that mk3 Cavalier ones fit and they handily have a 'head' on them to make whacking them in and out a bit easier.

BTW the high tickover is ok. I thinks it stops the engine from stalling when in neutral - its something to do with the autobox anyway

79 SRB coupe - anyone know what a B230FT is?, 79 Cav saloon - 16v sleeper, 1986 GT/E hatch in red street camo colour scheme, 198? GT/E hatch - building from a bare shell to factory spec

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Thank you for speedily reply [:D]

Shes a 1600 btw and slow as anything. She can get to a decent speed on the motorway but acceleration is rubbish. One of the major mods i'll be doing is an engine and gearbox conversion and it will probably be the 20XE lump. I know its been done to death now not just with mantas but with any other modified Vauxhall but it'll give me reliability and a little performance for very cheep money.

Looks like this filler flap is going to be quite easy to fix then....Coolio, i might have a little go at sorting the filler flap out today then if this hangover clears!!

The main thing that lets her down at the moment are the bumpers. At some point the rubber band has come off both the front and rear bumpers and someone has reattached using REALLY big bolts and cable ties. lol its a right botch job. + the back bumper is almost falling off.

what else is wrong with her....erm....ohh yeah O/S back quarter is a little damaged and has been filtered up at some point, problem is they never finished it so it looks a right mess. Both wings are damaged and a little rusty underneath the bonnet. and all the chrome bits need some work.

I wasn't going to spend any money on this car, just mot and drive but i would really like to get the outside looking a little better. I think a quick blow over should sort her out.

Shall I take some pictures of the engine bay and boot floor? If you’re interested in having a look i’ll pop out and take some.

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quote:Originally posted by Jacko

....I wasn't going to spend any money on this car, just mot and drive.....

Shall I take some pictures of the engine bay and boot floor? If you’re interested in having a look i’ll pop out and take some.


id="quote">id="quote">

Famous last words [8D] I wasn't gonna modify mine and here I am contenplating Monza bits and an SEH in the garage [:o)]

And pictures always welcomed.

post Roanoke

OMOC 5885

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loose lips sink ships

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  • 7 months later...

Well bugger me i can't believe its been 7 months since i last updated this! To be perfectly honest tho there really hasn't been much to update till now...

I struck a deal with a friend of mine whos in the spray business and about 2 months ago we set about trying to revive this opel and make it a look a little better then it did....prep work to years due to the many dings all over the body work and the panel warp i had caused when using an industrial sanding disk on the bump strip pins [V] I really should have take more care and not let them get to hot and even tho i tried my best it still happened. Anyway, the car had been lowered and i had removed the front bumper and drop her around like this till about a month ago before the work started and she was fine, not had any real problems apart from shes a pain to start in the morning, when shes warm she doesn't have any trouble at all.

Anyway, i had my camera stolen when my friends house was broken into so haven't been able to take any pictures myself as yet but seen as im at the folks i thought i would borrow my dads. By the time i managed to go and take some snaps we had run out of light so i thought i would take some arty photos... hehe

You can't see in the pictures but the paint really isn't up the scratch and will be going back for a tidy up shortly.

I've clearly rambled on long enough and i suppose should be in bed like the rest of you but here you go...

FROM THIS

IMG_1631.jpg

TO THIS

IMG_0153.jpg

Honest opinions please guys and girls. I don't think it boy racery but im sure some of you will...[:P]

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Thanks for all the kind words and sorry its taken so long to reply [:I]

The front bumper isn't going back on and never will, i think it looks cool without it personally. I bought some fibreglass wings from Germany and had the bumper mounting holes shaved and filled but decided that plating the front bumper slots was a little too far just in case i do ever change my mind...i don't think they look bad anyway.

I'm getting rid of the rear plastic bumper and putting the metal one back on but that needs some work first...It will need a good sandblasting and some hammer work to make it straight then it’ll be painted black.

I did want the windows tinted (very very lightly) but we ran out of time and couldn't get anyone to come out and do it while it was in the paint shop so this still needs doing.

What i really want to get on with now is the engine, the 1.6 auto is making such a racket im not sure how its still managing to start in the morning tbh so if you have a cih diff kicking about that you want rid of that would be great as i will rebuild it after welding it up. I also want to do a rear disk conversion and fit some bigger and better brakes on the front as they are much cop at the moment. After the engine, brakes and suspension is done i then need to box and carpet out the boot so thats a little neater and need some recaros fitting as well as some black carpets. The list of parts i still need is massive, i started to work out how much i still need to spend to get it sorted to my level of standard but stopped at 3k, and this on top of what i've currently spent on her. for what is supposed to be a daily driver i'm really starting to go overboard but i'm telling myself that i'll keep this and never sell (i have a habit of starting something and when its 90% complete i'll go and sell it!

Take my astra for instance...

DSC02845.jpg

I should never have sold that car! [V]

Anyway, if anyone can help me with some 1.9 or 2.0 drive parts that would be fab although im skint for the next few weeks so not just yet. [;)]

Ands to answer your question neil the wheels are made by a company call KBS and i bought them from germany for £250 inc shipping, tyres cost me £175 fitted. I wasn't sure at first they would fit because of how low the car is but i'm so glad they do, i think they really finish the car of a treat, and for £250 shipped for brand new wheels with a dish that fit without being stupidly wide i really did land on my feet!! [:P] The wheels where made for this car as the TUV paper i got with them only stated the manta / ascona b. (if you're wondering what a TUV is then its the german mot, and all parts fitted to your car must have a tuv approval otherwise it will fail. They are really sticked on it. This is half why you never see corsas with 17s, because the car can't have bigger wheels than std factory fitted items. I wish they bought that rule out over here, it would stop all the tossers sticking stupidly big wheels on small cars! Its a pet hate of mine.

Joe, big thanks for meeting me and for helping me out with the bonnet stay and boot screw :thumbsup: Oh and thanks for making sure i didn't get in any of the photos! [:(!][;)]

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Mick - You're a star mate, first you give me some free springs, boss and steering wheel now you're offering me a rear axle! Whoot whoot! Nice one dude....not sure how i can collect it tho...humm...

Dan - I also had the idea of removing the rear bumper but its not as simple as doing the front. I'll explain why...

First off you need to fill the back panel in otherwise it does look a little odd, then you need to chop out, weld plates and fill the rear quarter holes that the rear bumper mount too then you would need to illuminate the rear plate so its legal and this would mean some after market side mounted number plate lights and these look ****e! So i'm going to keep the rear bumper as its far too much hassle that can't be bothered with.

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Fit an Exclusive bumper - it's cleaner looking than your plastic one and it still has the number plate mounted on it.

OMOC #5826..... 79 SRB coupe - 'interesting project', 79 Cav saloon - 'another interesting project', 1993 Senator 24v. Yakshimash.

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Nice looking car Jacko,well done mate.Those wheels are very very nice.I'd like to see chrome quarter bumpers on the front,and as yousay put the chrome one on the rear,and a boot spoiler (nothing stupid,something along the same lines as a GTE coupe one) but thats just my humble opinion,cheers

Paul Ansell omoc 5963 (Birmingham)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry guys i had forgotten to reply...

I like the idea of the Exclusive bumper but wouldn't want to relocate the number plate...it could be possible to get two bumpers, cut them both up to make one without a recess then stick a whole in the top of it for the light.. humm might have to look into this but how rare are the bumpers, i've never seen one for sale thats all...

If i was going to fit the rear metal bumper it would be without the rubber bump strip and i would fill in all the holes and weld a nut from the inside for the mounting bolts thus making the bumper smooth. Then it would be painted black to match the rest of the trim. This is something i really need to get cracking with tbh.

Well, as you may have read the next on the cards is the engine. The plan is to get an axle and front cross member etc and strip down, paint and rebuild it all so it can all be fitted at the same time (remember that this is my everyday car so can't take her off the road for long)

If you've got a rear axle, diff, crossmember, hubs etc, 5 speed cih box, 2.0 or 1.9 flywheel (if they are the same) clutch pedal etc then please please get in touch.

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Looks pretty good, tho I'm wondering how it might look with a front spoiler on.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OMOC #5988

hmackay at opel-manta.com

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I hae a few guid reasons for drinkin’

And yin juist entered ma heid

If a man canna’ drink while he’s livin’

Hoo the Hell can he drink when he’s deid!

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quote:Originally posted by Shug

Looks pretty good, tho I'm wondering how it might look with a front spoiler on.


id="quote">id="quote">

Funny you should say that as i've bought one from Germany and had it delivered to a friends house over in Germany as she wouldn't deliver to the uk. This was kindly delivered to mine on Thursday, offered it up and i'll need some work to remove the bulge where the bumper would bolt to on the wing but apart from that its in good nick, just not sure what it will look like as offering up a silver spoiler to a gray car just made it look odd! [:D]

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A standard Manta GT/E bumper has it's number plate light in the top. If you were to fit an Exclusive bumper I've got an Ascona 400 infill panel which goes between the rear lights when you move the number plate under the bumper

OMOC #5826..... 79 SRB coupe - 'interesting project', 79 Cav saloon - 'another interesting project', 1993 Senator 24v. Yakshimash.

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If that were my car< I would get hold of an exclusive bumper and chop it up to make "Quarter bumpers" I would then site the No. plate between the bumpers and have No. plate lights both sides of the No. plate, shining out of the quarter bumper ends.

Exclusive bumper would fit in with the clean front look of the car better, but 4rse end of car wouldn't look as good as the front with no Bumper.

But on saying that have a click on this link http://ferretsdomain.co.uk/?page_id=12

You'll see my name somewhere on this page.

Nick AKA Ferret had similar probs with his 4rse end

Shiny bits http://www.customsolutions.me.uk

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Is that scone still knocking about Leic? Would be cool to get some photos of the two beasts together seen as back 'home'

Failing that a v8 and early orange manta parked either side of mine would be cool! [8D]

Just think, i could try and twist your arm into letting the gearbox relocate to Manchester...[;)]

Only kidding, im hella broke at the mo! [:0][:(!][V][:(][8)] My numbers 07818 693 745 if you do with to meet up for a pint or whatever...Clive, Joe and anyone else whos up for it.

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It's the East Midlands OMOC club night next Wednesday at the Vale of Belvoir hotel on the A52 east of Bingham from about 7.30pm if you'd like to come along to that Jacko.

Or if you fancy something both closer and with a somewhat larger attendance, come to the Carington Arms in Ashby Folville (east of Leicester) next Tuesday at 6pm and feast your eyes on the best informal car and bike pub meet in England.

It's a good week to be at home if you live in Leicestershire with a Manta or Ascona next week!

Cheers,

Joe.

Please log into this site from the Home page folks. It helps to keep it as the first Manta site listed on Google.

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