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Ascona (1900) Please post technical questions in the appropriate Technical Forum, unless it is very specific to the Ascona.

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  #76 (permalink)  
Old 01-06-2003
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The boredom of rust repair....

Left front inner fender after scraping of undercoating. Lots of work involved here, and the underside is maybe only 30% scraped at this time. Plenty more hours left....

Bob
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Old 01-06-2003
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I finally decided to patch up the rust hole in the driver's footwell area. Problem is, there are compound curves and the jack pad has to meet the floorpan correctly to ensure strength.
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Old 01-06-2003
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Here's the underside of the floor after tack-welding new panels in place.
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  #79 (permalink)  
Old 01-06-2003
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Inside view of the floor patch. I tried to match the contours as best as possible, including retaining the drain plug hole depression. No more Fred Flintstone travel.....
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  #80 (permalink)  
Old 01-06-2003
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The underside after fully welding and grinding. Still need to attach the jack pad, patch the forward portion of the rocker panel, two more small holes in the floor, and then POR-15 the heck out of everything to make sure it never happens again.

Bob
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File Type: jpg itb floor patch welded and ground 02.jpg (32.3 KB, 247 views)
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Old 01-07-2003
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sweet welds,,,,,,great shaping,,,,my gt is on its way over!
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Old 01-07-2003
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No doubt... awsome looking body work. If you are looking for some extra money I could line you up with some body work on my GT. I have drawings of the mods I want but I don't have the guts yet to start hacking... especially when I only have 6 hours or so behind the grips of a MIG. I plan on getting some misc body parts from a junkyard and practicing quite a bit...

Does anybody on the board do body work for hire??? I am looking to have some custom fender vents created and am looking at some local shops... I will have very detailed spec drawings completed soon...
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Old 01-13-2003
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I couldn't bring the racecar inside this weekend (not running, bad back), and decided instead to work on other components. I determined it was easier to replace the front nose clip rather than try to repair or patch together the old one. This is what is on the car now, you can see it's pretty bad.
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  #84 (permalink)  
Old 01-13-2003
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The donor front clip is in better condition somewhat, but still needs work. The most obvious difference is this front clip is from a 1974 vehicle with big bumpers, so the cutouts for the bumper tubes need to be filled.....
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Old 01-13-2003
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Closeup of the big-bumper holes......
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Old 01-13-2003
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Patch panel in place......
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  #87 (permalink)  
Old 01-13-2003
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Patch panel after final welding and grinding. I was careful not to overheat the sheetmetal while welding and grinding, so this patch will need minimal body filler.

Bob
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Old 07-27-2003
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I am not sure how I missed this thread bnefore Bob. Very informative. I will save your cage pictures to use as ideas to upgrade my built in '87 cage. Why have you not updated this thread in 5 months?
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Old 07-27-2003
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Originally posted by IT Manta
Why have you not updated this thread in 5 months?
It just *might* have something to do with the 27 other projects Bob has going on. I think RallyBob's day is 36 hours long.
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Old 07-27-2003
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ITB car has been parked since December. I've worked on smaller components, but not the shell.

Lately, I've worked on the GT-4 engine and associated updates for my friend's GT-4 Manta. It's a logbooked car, and is primarily in need of some TLC and an engine, but not a complete rebuild. So it's a lot closer to being done. I will be running the GT-4 car in exchange for the engine work (see 'Welcome a new Opel racecar' thread for details). The ITB car is not dead, merely hibernating.

Bob
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Old 07-28-2003
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Bob;
Pardon me for asking what sounds like a dumb question, as I don't race, I hardly have time to even do the restoration on my Opels as it is, But, I notice that you're using a 4 dr Ascona Sedan. Is there a reason/advantage, or is it just what you have to prepare/run? Again, sorry for the dumb question.
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  #92 (permalink)  
Old 07-28-2003
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It's what I had available to me. I'd have prefered a 2-door, as that model is lighter. The chassis of the Ascona and Manta are the same, and both are FAR superior to the GT in terms of handling. This is well documented in showroom stock racing of the early '70's, where the Manta dominated the class and was baned eventually...the GT was not competitive at all sorry to say.

The Ascona does have a bit better front/rear bias, 52/48% versus the Manta's 54/46%, but the aerodynamics do suffer. Not much of an issue at the tracks I will be running at, but it would definitely hurt at more 'open' tracks with higher average speeds.

The donor car has solid framerails, which is critical for a northeastern car...most are structurally unsound by now.

Bob
  #93 (permalink)  
Old 06-08-2007
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This car has found a new home!

One less project for me to work on....

Yeeha!
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Old 06-08-2007
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Priorities

Originally Posted by RallyBob View Post
One less project for me to work on.... Yeeha!
As we get older we DO learn to prioritise -

Warmth
Food
Sex
OPELS
Beer

and not necessarily in that order!
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Last edited by GTJIM; 06-08-2007 at 10:15 PM. Reason: Forgot the BEER!
  #95 (permalink)  
Old 06-09-2007
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Jim, scratch the beer and sex and your close. Even tho the two go together some of us don't partake in either. Tig or Mig and fab work are close.
  #96 (permalink)  
Old 06-16-2007
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The ITB Ascona has left the building....

Most assuredly, it has gone to a good home in Pennsylvania, to be completed by a guy with higher standards than myself.

Along with it went many used parts that were leftover bits from racing days past. These included parts from my own street cars, from old road racing cars, from old circle track racing Opels, and from my days of doing R & D when I was running my Opel shop here in CT. Altogether there's enough parts to put together a 150-160 hp 1800 lb. hillclimb car. Should be a blast!

Bob
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Old 06-17-2007
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too bad!


Maybe this does not sound good, but I noticed a few weeks ago a 'going down' on the enthusiasm on the forum.

I also noticed that some of the people with the best expertise lost their interest or gave up their passions...

I totally understand them and I am sorry for this happening.

I'm sorry; even if I wasn't very active, I have read your various threads and some of them still make me dream (and damn, I'm 31, not a teenager anymore; in august I'm going to have a wedding and start a family). I just not feel very well when this happens.
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  #98 (permalink)  
Old 06-17-2007
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Originally Posted by emircea View Post

Maybe this does not sound good, but I noticed a few weeks ago a 'going down' on the enthusiasm on the forum.

I also noticed that some of the people with the best expertise lost their interest or gave up their passions...

I totally understand them and I am sorry for this happening.

I'm sorry; even if I wasn't very active, I have read your various threads and some of them still make me dream (and damn, I'm 31, not a teenager anymore; in august I'm going to have a wedding and start a family). I just not feel very well when this happens.
As for me, it's just a matter of having to either find storage for my cars or get rid of them, because I have lost my previous storage space. Plus, if I can find a good home for a project car, I'd rather do that than crush it. I simply don't have the time and money to work on all these cars at once, so I am concentrating on the ones that are most important to me...I haven't lost enthusiasm, but I need to focus on the important ones (to me).

I have these project cars to deal with:
*1975 Manta road-racing car (most important to me right now)
*1972 Ascona wagon (road car, next important one to me)
*1971 Ascona rally car
*1973 GT convertible (for my father)
*1970 GT for Bonneville
*1975 Sportwagon
*1972 Manta rallye (hillclimb car)
*1973 Ascona (my old crashed road car...not sure what to do with it?)
*1974 Manta Luxus road car (turbo EFI 2.4)
*1973 Manta Luxus (I want to build a replica Manta GT/E from this)
*1974 Ascona, this is the first Opel I ever drove. It is the reason I started working with Opels. It needs a LOT of work, but it is important for the sentimental value. I just want to restore it.

Then I have a 1969 Kadett wagon I need to get rid of, and a 1975 Manta shell I need to cut apart. I just don't have room any more!

Bob
  #99 (