1975 Ascona (1900)

[ghcoe]

Well starting to cool around here so figured that now is the time to repair the rust. The Ascona is my daily driver now and I do not want water, and cold/hot air coming in through the fire wall. Took me a bit to figure out how I was going to get this done. The biggest problem was the fire wall along side the booster. I was afraid to move the booster because it is so rusted that I thought that it might fall apart if I tried to move it. This made for a tight area to get the welding head into. After cutting out all the rusted metal I found that I did have pretty good access to most of the fire wall. I started by making a template of the fire wall from the booster to the outside edge of the battery tray. Once I have the template I copy it to a piece of sheet metal and cut it out with my band saw that has a metal cutting blade installed.

[ghcoe]

[ghcoe]

Once it is cut out it is time to fit it. Takes a little time to get all the little bends just right. Then weld into place. I am just a begginner at welding so please don't laugh at my welds. I am using a 110 mig and flux core wire to make it worse.

I Ground down the welds to make a smooth surface for the next stage. I will be modifying the drain route of the battery tray to keep if away from the frame rail too.

[ghcoe]

I applied a coat of POR-15 to the brake booster, battery box and fire wall before I continued. I had to make three pieces for the wheel well because of the rounded area by the brake booster. I also wanted to make a baffle to keep the water from running over the frame rail. I allowed for a small drain hole in the wheel well.

[ghcoe]

Worked on the floor board last week. The seat got to a point where it would flip backward 2-3" when I would take off from a stop. I thought only one mount was bad. Once I inspected it closer I realized that both mounts had rotted through. There was only a small piece of metal still attached on the inboard mount that kept me from going all the way back. I was able to undo the rear mounts and pull the seat out.

Used the same process to make my templates as I did for the wheel well area.

[ghcoe]

Pictures of project.

[ghcoe]

Finished working on the wheels finally, it has taken a few week. Repainted the black inlay and painted the backsides as well.

[ghcoe]

Got tired of looking at the back package tray and seat blow out so I finally got some carpet. Used the old cardboard for a template and installed. Flopped some carpet over the rear seat to cover the bad vinyl and thought it look quite good. Went ahead and contact cemented it to the seat. Of course anything looks better than what it did. I will be installing a new stereo next week so I will have to do some cutting then. 6X9's will find a new home back there....

George.

[BQS4]

About the best thing you can do to slow down the "cooking" of your new carpet back there, and it also depends on if you can afford it, or even like it, is have the windows tinted. State laws vary, but, here in GA, all glass forward of the "B" pillar can not be anything less than 35% reduction, from the "B" pillar back, you can do "limo" tint, meaning REAL dark.

[ghcoe]

That sounds about the same for here. I like tint, but I do not think it will go with my theme on this one.

This carpet is indoor/outdoor carpet so it should last a long time. I believe it had a 3 year fade warranty, and that is if you are walking on it! Not too hard to make though and only a few dollars.

I think when I redo my interior I will make a flap of carpet to protect the rear seat. Going to be making some floor mats out of this stuff too.

George.

[Gary Sullivan]

I put black speaker mesh cloth on mine and it looks great. The sun doesn't fade it and it looks great several years after I did it.

[ghcoe]

I installed the stereo this last week. The radio in it was stolen at one time. When they stole it they tore up the dash trying to get it out. They also tried to kick and pry the underdash A/C unit out of the way. Since the dash was already damaged around the radio area I did not have a problem cutting the dash for a single DIN stereo unit. I picked up a Kenwood unit. I already have a unit similar to this in my Jeep and loved it enough I went ahead and got this one. This unit can play most music formats and will play from CD, USB thumbdrive, ipod, and ACC such as portable MP3 players(other than ipod). This one differs from my other one as it is also a bluetooth unit so you can be hands free with cell phone use and also links up with bluetooth capable audio devices other than cell phones. I mostly like this unit because it has the look of a older stereo unit mixed with a modern look. It has two knobs reminiscent to older units and not too many buttons which to me just looks terrible and are a pain to clean. I installed Kenwood 6x9 four ways in custom mounts. I did not want to cut the rear deck to install the speakers so I made spacers to match my package tray cover that I had already installed a couple weeks back. I was able to mount the speakers so that the magnets were sticking through the existing holes. This allowed the speakers spacers to only have to be 1 1/2" tall. Sounds pretty good, but I think now I need a amp to run the speakers to their max. I will be installing speakers on the doors at a later date.

George.

[ghcoe]

Took the center bearing out yesterday and found that it is ok. Looks like I have something internal in the rear axle making my whirring sound. I was hoping not. I would assume now that it is the front pinion bearing. Anyone replace this in the car. Does it require the pinon gear to be removed or can you get the race out without complete disassembly?

Thanks, George

[guyopel]

You will need to remove the rear gear assy. and both axles . For parts you should get a front and rear pinion brg. , pinion seal and cover gasket a new crush spacer .
If you have never O.H. a diff. , might be best if you bought a good used ( complete ) diff. as a replacement .
HTH
John

[Aardvaark]

I agree with John about going the good used route.
There is a very good chance the whirring is from the diff gears themselves
having been damaged on the gear faces, and even if yours is overhauled, you may still have the noise unless you replace both gears too.

[ghcoe]

Well I was hoping to repair. I can handle the noise if I knew it was just the gears whirring. I would hate to have something come undone at highway speeds though. I was involved with a friends of mine rear axle lock up at 60 mph and it was a hairy ride. Might have a bit of a problem locating a axle around here. I have been keeping my eyes open for something to pop up for a few months now. I would like to find a Manta for parts and possibly a nose clip change if it is in good shape. Price would have to be right too. Had one a while back but he wanted $1200.00 for it and some extra parts. It needed looottts of work. Definitely not worth $1200.00.

Thanks for the suggestions, George.

[74Opel1900]

I just noticed that you have the same head unit as I do and it's also in an Ascona! Here's how I finished off my rear deck if you're interested. Also, I put velcro (soft side) around the head unit to give it a cleaner look. You might want to give that a try with your's.

http://www.opelgt.com/forums/general...dux-start.html

[Aardvaark]

In my Manta I've got a Kenwood KDC-122P with the removable head too.
It looks a little different then yours though.
The PO put it in. Sounds good so I'm leaving it.

[ghcoe]

Originally Posted by 74Opel1900 I just noticed that you have the same head unit as I do and it's also in an Ascona! Here's how I finished off my rear deck if you're interested. Also, I put velcro (soft side) around the head unit to give it a cleaner look. You might want to give that a try with your's. http://www.opelgt.com/forums/general...dux-start.html

I just used the old cardboard deck cover for a template. Cut the carpet and just layed it on the deck and bought some new push pins to hold it down like the originals for the cardboard. My speaker spacers are just 1 1/2" thick foam. I used the template that came with the speakers to copy the cut lines onto the foam. I then used a band saw to cut the foam and then covered the outside edges with masking tape. I used contact glue to attach a carpet strip along the outer edge. That is why you have to use masking tape to keep the glue from melting the foam. Used the speaker template again to on the carpet to make a nice mat for the speaker sills to rest on and it holds the carpet in place. No need to glue.

The head unit in my Jeep is a Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X592. It was discontinued, but luckily I stumbled upon this unit. It is a Kenwood KDC-BT838U Looks and works just like the other one except it is also Bluetooth capable. Great little units. I hardly ever listen to the cd, I love the thumb drive interface. I have a 8 gig thumb drive that I have most of my music on. No need to switch out cd's every time you want to listen to something different. And no CD's to tempt someone to steal.