1975 Ascona (1900)

[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]

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.

[ghcoe]

Yes, the 75 supplement says to remove and block the vacuum hose to the vacuum retard pod and then set the timing to the ball on the pointer at the flywheel or where the notch on the crank pulley is linded up with the pointer in the timing cover. When the vacuum retard hose is reinstalled you will be at 5* BTDC. However, I always set mine to zero with the hose attached... which would give 5* advanced with the vacuum hose removed...

I got a timing light for Christmas so I went out to see how close I was to timing by ear. Well it showed that I was off 30 degrees advanced! I adjusted to where It was pointing at the ball and the car was running so bad it sounded like it was running on 3 cylinders. I thought this cannot be right. I remembered that this car had a pointer on the front pulley. I could not find a mark on the pulley though. I went ahead and reset the timing to 30+ and used the light to see if I could see a mark that was close. Sure enough I could see a mark very faintly about 5 degrees off. I went ahead and and disconnected the vacuum advance and timed on that mark. This was pretty close to what I had it timed by ear. So I am a bit miffed about why the discrepancy between the flywheel and the pulley pointer. Any ideas? As far as I remember the flywheel can only be bolted on in one position. I am timing off the front cylinder and the dwell is correct.

[ghcoe]

Still bugging me so I went out and went through the whole thing again. This time I adjusted the idle by the book. I then reset the timing to the ball on the flywheel and again it sounds like it is running on 3 cylinders. Coughing and sputtering. Went ahead and adjusted to what I think is a mark on the front pulley and it runs pretty good. I set it exactly to the mark on the front pulley and then checked the flywheel and it showed about 28 degrees advanced. Hooked up the vacuum, rechecked, and it was 23 degrees advanced. So I am curious if all 75's had the actual pointer on the front pulley? I know that they had the timing marks casted into the timing chain. This one has a pointer that screws into the timing chain cover and nearly touches the pulley so you can get a accurate timing reference.

[Aardvaark]

Still bugging me so I went out and went through the whole thing again. This time I adjusted the idle by the book. I then reset the timing to the ball on the flywheel and again it sounds like it is running on 3 cylinders. Coughing and sputtering. Went ahead and adjusted to what I think is a mark on the front pulley and it runs pretty good. I set it exactly to the mark on the front pulley and then checked the flywheel and it showed about 28 degrees advanced. Hooked up the vacuum, rechecked, and it was 23 degrees advanced. So I am curious if all 75's had the actual pointer on the front pulley? I know that they had the timing marks casted into the timing chain. This one has a pointer that screws into the timing chain cover and nearly touches the pulley so you can get a accurate timing reference.

Yes all 1975 NA FI Opels have the front timing mark on the front pulley and
only it should be used for timing in accordance to the '75 service manual
instructions. Ignore the flywheel mark and pointer.
Under no circumstance should you use the flywheel timing mark on the '75. Down that road lies madness.....

[ghcoe]

Thanks, I thought I was going mad .

Guess I will just leave it as is. I will confirm the mark once the weather gets warmer. At least I did learn I can still time a engine by ear.

[ghcoe]

Did a fuel filter change this last week. Been cutting out pretty bad above 3000 RPM and I just contributed it to ignition/timing, or something wrong with the injection system since I have been battling it since I got it. I finally got it timed right and still missed above 3000 RPM. Replaced the points and it improved somewhat. I went ahead and changed the condenser and nothing. That left the injector system. Was going to wait till spring to do a injector cleaning and replacement of screens and seals. Had a warm day and thought I would go ahead and change the filter I had installed inline just before the fuel rail when I bought it. I had installed two extra filters to protect the system from tank rot. I installed a clear low pressure filter before the pump and a small high pressure filter just before the injector rail under the hood. I have already changed out the pre pump filter 3 times do to fouling. I had also installed a pressure gauge just before the filter under the hood. It use to read 40 PSI, but I noticed lately that it was registering 60 PSI the last few weeks. Thought that maybe the pressure regulator was faulty and was going to look into it. I decided to change the filter first though. Glad I did, pressure went back down to 40psi and now no miss. Now, with the combination of new points/condenser, timing corrected and proper fuel delivery I can feel the power! never could get it much over 4000rpm without some hesitation, now I can feel the power band start to kick in about 3500. This is what a OEM FI is suppose to feel like, I like it!
Now to find a good rear end, still looking.

[hrcollinsjr]

Now to find a good rear end, still looking.

Ask no more! Seriously, are you looking for something special, aka, 3.67 rallye or just a good 3.44? Any differential from the later model 50 series (Manta, Ascona, & Sportwagon) cars should be the same, AFAIK.

Harold