bendy

I have registered my interest and put my name down too

As you can see ive really got no excuses now, plenty of space to work on the car... Only problem is its absolutely freezing cold! starting work on the shell in january all being well

Believe it or not this project has been in pretty poor shed being stored for over 4 years, some of it is back to square one but i now have somewhere to work on the car which is dry, plenty big enough and the whole thing has been moved. Should be getting things going again soon once I get a proper look at what i still have left to do etc Just renewed my membership this afternoon

Looking awesome Mick, great project! Run your bike much?

Hi again folks, amid the mayhem i mangaed to find somewhere to keep my manta and all my parts. i have a new house after staying with a friend and sometime in the near future this project will be underway again

This project is now for sale .

Novashed, ive been keeping an eye on yours for some pics on how your rear end works out As for a geometry nightmare, it could well be! ive just bought a 328i for spares for my own 328. I reckon since im going to have a car for scrap soon i can cut the rear end out of it, after bracing it all up and then take a look at measuring 300 times and possibly cutting once! I personally imagine a manta would go well enough with a 328i engine, its a great engine in my opinion. But since ive got an XE all built up ready to go i think ill stick with it at this point! The ideal scenario would be taking the bmw arches and turrets the lot into the manta i suppose rather than trying to graft the subframe, mounts and all points accurately into the manta. Ill just have to get the measuring tape out when i get this 328 stripped down. As for the blasting i wasnt worried about the old underseal, i said if its lasted over 20 years just leave it be. I just wanted the rust cleaned off. Its crushed glass they use. Pretty much just turns into sand though doesnt it!! When you live where id do i probably wont be taking you up on any blasting, would be closer for me to get my car to norway than down to england!

Looks well cool cant remember the last time i saw one of those!!!!!

Right then, ive had a new brainstorm. Ive come to the conclusion the manta axle is a bit of a sinking ship, as im sure one day i hope to have a decent wedge of power in this car. Also, i pretty much want to have an LSD as im really not a fan of open diffs. So, what are peoples thoughts on fitting an entire BMW E36 rear end to the shell, independant suspension, cheaper stronger diffs and possible better handling?? I know its alot of work but i would feel confident i may be able to pull this sort of thing off now

Old expendable hoover and hose was knocked up a few weeks ago, the green hose in one of the pics on the last page is said device! Problem is the sand is damp and just wont suck up through it, just clogs up. Its just got to be patience and leave it for a couple of days till some more dries up and hoover/blow it out. Ive been using the hose and air line to sort of blow it along and spread it out every couple of days. its tedious but its working. Yeh ive got enough angle iron to choke several horses, i have a couple of bits i put in the vice for bending sheet but it still gets me sweat on bending it over! You got a more clever method than i do?? cant really justify buying a sheet bender its not often i would use it

Yeh its handy getting it upside down, not an easy task right enough Got another bucket of sand out last week, thought that must be it but ive just shaken more out tonight, its never ending. Started turning my attention to making up some new sections to repair the floor in the meantime. The sand just keeps on coming I was nearly squeezing out a turd leaning on this section in the vice trying to bend it!!!!

This build is coming along quickly, good work! And the saab engine is certainly interesting, the swedes manage to get pretty big reliable horsepower out of them motors Whats the torque rating of the omega box? Is it a hydraulic clutch job? most bmw boxes will be hydraulic. maybe a strengthened type 9 and off the shelf bell housing adapter would be an option? it mat surprise you what it can handle, could just be a question of how long it will take it for depending how it gets driven!

Awesome :thumbup You would hardly believe it was the same car