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V8 Coupe JUG 909V


winnj
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A little longer than planned but i finaly got 5 minutes to get some photos of the V8 as she is now. This is the start of something thats going to take a lot of time and effort.

All wrapped up waiting for some serious TLC

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Need to get the 400 spoiler off in one piece and see if i can save the boot lid.

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One crushed 400 N/S Wing fortunately i have a spare one of these

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One remote brake servo, just need to free of the brakes so it actually does something when you push the pedal.

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The interior, got lots of plans for this bit of the car

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Broken windscreen, got a replacement for this.

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One slightly creased/split inner wing

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A roof with a few bubbles in it. This is probably going to be the biggest/hardest job to do. Replacing the roof panel.

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Underside of boot lid showing some of the rust

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Ah yes, shouldn't there be a piece of glass here ?

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One slightly modified rear quarter

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Bit of work to do here

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Two rather subtle tail pipes

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A piece of art otherwise known as an exhaust

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That interesting registration

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  • 3 weeks later...

I got some time on Monday to do some more work. Decided i'd find out why the rear brakes didn't work. Took the rear wheels off and thought to myself that the drums looked in good nick. Checked the inside and they must be new! No wear of any sort at all. Quite happy about that. New shoes as well. All looking good so far. Cylinders..... Both seized [:(][:(]

Got the nsr one off quite easily but snapped the brake pipe while removing the osr one. Ooops, well it gives me chance to remember how to make brake pipe again. Must remember to put the ends before flaring the other end.....

Off to the motor factor in the morning before work to see if the cylinders they have got me are the right ones. Hope so. Gives me something to do over the weekend then.

More updates to follow

Jon

OMOC 5995

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally got a bit of time today to do some more to the V8. Well that was the plan anyway. In the end didn't get much done apart from finding a few more holes to weld up. Took some photos while i was there.

Finally got the cracked front windscreen out. It was a lot easier than i was expecting. 10 minutes with a scraper leavering the seal out and then a gentle push and that was it.

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Getting ready to take the rusty roof skin off. Found the leaded joint at the rear pillar

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I've got most of the dent/squashed front pulled out. Just need to make a few shaped plates to weld in to the gaps now.

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Another rusty hole. This comes through where the washer bottle is. Not to bad.

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You can't see to well on the photo but this bit is causing concern. Its rusting from the inside out. From what i can see through the hole it doesn't look good on the inside. Quite a bit of work me thinks to get this bit sorted.

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Good job i am changing the roof skin. Front edge is all rusty, can stick my fingers through this bit its got that little metal left.

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Jon

OMOC 5995

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hi mate,looks like a hole lotta work to be done, wots the colour sceme,not a to darker colour as i dont think it shows off those manta lines that well(only my opinion thou),a nice moddern piant job like a grey as on the honda s2000,blue as on vxr astra ect,are you keepin the v8,anyway good luck and lets see it on the road one day.

gary

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Now I've sussed out who you are it makes sense..[:D]

Looks like you'll be at it for a while sorting that one, look forward to seeing it done..[8D]

Mick

OMOC 5924

DSCI0619.jpg

1980 Black Berlinetta Coupe

1981 Manta B just as Adam intended

1981 Ascona in need of modding...lots!

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Nice work, inevitably it's going to be a money pit bodywork wise. What sort of condition is the engine in? I've been having a look around to see what's still availiable for the SD1 V8 and you'll be amazed how easy you can get bits for it. What carb is it running? The picture of the engine bay when it was up for sale, had a flat bolt on filter, is it hiding a Weber 45 or something?

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Hi Rick, V8 is in great condition as it stands. Its currently running a Holey 390 carb on an Offenhauser manifold. I have a set of Stage 3 heads and a Piper 285 cam to go in it when i get the body work done.

Engine runs very nicely even now so it should be great with the heads on it.

Jon

OMOC 5995

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Bloody hell, that'll shift a bit then! With the cam and heads you'll have well over 200bhp if it isn't that already! Hope it's at Billing '07. I'm on an opposite end, the bodywork on my V8 is pretty sound (for an exclusive) but I wouldn't rely on the engine for too big a distance and the custom exhaust is mild steel[:(].

Dunno if it's of interest, but I hear if you get land rover V8 rocker covers they don't have the 'rover' engraving, they're just blank ready to have 'Opel' stamped on 'em. Appreciate you've got plenty to do in the mean time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hate spot welds!!

Well at least thats the rusty roof off. Just have to do the same to the spare roof now and then work on it to get a nice fit. Well that is after i've treated all the bad bits the are now visable with the roof skin off.

Spot welds drilled out leading edge

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Spot welds drilled out trailing edge

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And what remains....

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Still loads to do but i feel like i'm getting some where now the roof is off. Got a few more days off work to go so hopefully i'll have the other skin off and ready for fitting next weekend.

Jon

OMOC 5995

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  • 3 months later...

Well its been a while since i've got any work done on the V8 but finally got back to the garage yesterday.

Decided i'd make a start on the bottom of the A pillar on the drivers side where it was causing most concern. Was goin to use the air chisel to take the outer skin off so i could see how bad things were underneath.

Chiseled it off by hand in the end as i didn't want to make more of a mess if it was really rotten inside.

Here are 3 photos to show what i found.

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Its a lot more solid than it appeared through the tiny rust hole i had to start with. Just needs a small plate at the top but the rest got a heavy going over with a wire brush and then soaked in POR15 Metal Ready. Back to the garage on Tuesday to finish this off and weld it all up again. Next stop new roof skin which i still havent got fitted

Jon

OMOC 5995

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  • 11 months later...

Pictures to follow shortly[:)]

Well its been a long time since i updated this topic.....

12 days short of a year to be exact.

Since the last visit to the garage i've welded up the bottom of the drivers side 'A' pillar. Its not pretty but its very strong.

I've now got the roof skin 90% welded into place. A few more rose welds to the front and rear edges. i've got the side seems smoothed off. Going to tap the seem into a groove and then lead fill over the top.

Once the roof is finished i can make a start on a few other problems that have arisen.

The roof came off the garage around this time last year and the car spent 10 days stood in a pool of water. This has caused the clutch to seize to the flywheel [:(]

Engine was coming out anyway but it justs add a little more to the workload. I've got a spare flywheel, just need to sort a clutch.

List of things to still to do..

A few more bits of welding

Fix dent in rear drivers side quarter

Remove rusty boot lid & fit fibreglass one and spoiler

Change front passenger side wishbones

Polybush entire front end

Engine out

Change gearbox/flywheel/clutch

Rebuild engine including cam & stage 3 heads

Refit engine and gearbox

Shotblast exhaust manifolds, paint with uht paint. Wrap and refit

Strip shell to bare metal & spray

Refit both windscreens

Refit rollcage.

Fit new buckets & harnesses & steering wheel

Refurb wheels. Fit new tyres

Take for MOT

Get some tax

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  • 7 months later...

Finally managed to get some time spent on the V8 this weekend....

Had a small accident yesterday while trying to remove the drivers door.

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Snapped the pin removal tool inside, open to suggestions on what to do next with that.

Been planning for a while to take engine & gearbox out and fix the clutch which stuck to the flywheel after getting damp Nov 07.

The way the V8 conversation is done its a body off subframe and drag engine & gearbox out on the wheels.

First thing was radiator out _

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The state of the coolant & the radiator was a bit of a shock. Large calcium deposits in the radiator. Its that bad i doubt it was cooling anything.

Fortunately i've got a replacement to go in.

Next was to get the car on the ramps at the back so i have enough room to pivot the body up.

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All pipes are disconnected. all bolts are undone including subframe to chassis rail bolts which came out very easily.

Wiring labelled and disconnected. I'm all set to go as soon as my brother lets me borrow his engine crane to lift the body

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Got back to the garage today and got round to removing the engine.

The lift begins

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Drivers side clear

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Passenger side clear

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Engine out

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Gearbox off

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Flywheel looks a bit rough but then it did have a clutch plate stuck to it

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I've got a spare flywheel that looks almost new. Just have to decide what i'm doing with the clutch. It looks almost brand new but as the friction plate stuck not sure if its been damaged. It came off with finger pressure so not completely seized to it.

On lates this week so going to be harder to get to the garage to get more done. Plan is to at least get the bell housing swapped from dodgy box to new shiny box and investigate the clutch.

Jon

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Nice to see it coming along mate. I would recommend changing the whole clutch kit for new as (unless you've got some serious trans tunnel modification) you'll need to take the engine and box out again if it does fail you.

Are those exhaust manifolds Range Rover ones?

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  • 3 months later...

I really must update this more often.

No photos this time....

Well, clutch change and gearbox have now been completed. the car is back together and on four wheels again. Got the engine started today and all appears to be working correctly. Clutch works and it engages gears correctly even if it is a little stiff but hopefully thats just due to the cold.

Now thats done the real fun starts. Moving on to the bodywork. I want to have it on the road for May 1st which is approx 15 weeks away. Saying that i did say something similar this time last year.

Hopefully work will be a bit more organised and i can get to the garage more often

Jon

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  • 4 weeks later...

I can't claim that this in anything new and if i could remember who posted the original idea i'd give the credit for it.....

I've been thinking i need some bigger brakes for a while now. I got some excellent volvo 4 pots off paulmanta ages ago and had planned to use them. However over Christmas and new year i got time to do some research in to a cheap big brake kit.

Time to raid the Vauxhall parts bin.... I read on here about using other bigger calipers off a range of cars and mention of Ford disks but not which ones.

So after some looking it was decided to use Calibra front calipers and mounting brackets (1995 onwards, casting numbers 57/25) and front brakes disks from a RS Cosworth (283mm x 24mm) as they have the same top hat profile as the manta just different holes and centre bore.

I've had the calipers for a few weeks now and finally got chance to fit them today. I've made a mock up of the brake disk as i havent got them yet.

All fits perfectly

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The disks are not a straight fit as the centre bore has to be enlarged to take the manta hub and four extra holes drilles to attach it to the disk.

Once the disks arrive i've got a friend in a machine shop that has agreed to do the enlarging of the centre bore and 4 extra holes.

So for a set of very serviceable calipers it was £58 inc delivery, found them using http://www.1stchoice.co.uk

Actual supplier was VX Performance Spares

Disks are coming from CRN Performance in Chesterfield £65 for 283mm x 24mm 40 Groove disk. Close enough for me to drive so no postage just diesel cost. Picking them up on Monday.

The manta is running a remote servo and a larger bore master cylinder so fluid to operate calipers shouldn't be a problem....

So thats my brakes sorted, suspension is now all back together on the front end with new lower ball joints fitted. Once the disks are on thats the mechanicals complete and i will be moving on to the last of the welding and then the body work.

If it carries on like this i might even make my 1st May deadline......

Jon

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  • 3 months later...

Its been a while.....

Time for a major progress update

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Thats the etch and the HS primer done, heater running in the garage overnight to keep her war before flatting everything tomorrow and then colour by the end of the afternoon

Brakes are all sorted, 283mm disks and Calibra V6 calipers work fine, well fine for the 16' of drive i have to test with.

Just need some tyre now & the headlights sorting

Jonathan

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And now we have some colour

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Just the lamp pod and the side skirts left to do and then clear coat all of it. On lates with work so its going to have to wait till the weekend.

Toni, the original date to be finished was 1st of May so not that far behind schedule. Want to be on the road for 1st weekend of June. Got a few days holiday lined up so hopefully will be finished :-)

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