a new Virginia Opel owner

[knucklepanshovel]

hello everyone,

I just bought my first Opel a 1971 Kadette L wagon, it has the 1.1 with a 4 speed

body is reasonably straight, but it will be an on going saga to fix this & paint.

worst is it needs a drivers side rocker panel & drivers side floor. I can do it myself when money will allow. I have clipped many cars as well as replaced many floors.

I wasnt looking for a car, when I found this, I was getting ready to buy a radiator for my Mercedes when I found this & ended up liking it soo much I bought it & now I have to wait a couple weeks to save to get my radiator for my Benz. & then I can get started on this.

I guess I got a decent deal? I gave $400 for the car, & drove it home, aprox 75 miles. it has a bad pulling brake. I figure it is either a wheel cylinder either leaking & brakes grabbing? or maybe one not working or possibly a collapsed brake hose? either way the car came with brand new brakes never installed, & 2 repair manuals & an owners manual, & I sent an e-mail to usaopels asking about prices for wheel cylinders & hoses. I just about tapped my finances out. I am just a poor working stiff & going to college taking night classes 106 miles away.

I am going to need to find a spare tire & wheel assembly for this. any good places to look? or what may fit? or anyone have one to get rid of? presently the car looks like it is shod with 165 / 13's & I think are Bias-ply tires.

I also want to ask about what can be done to increase the power, & stay with the 1.1. higher compression? clean up work on head? header? carb? ignition upgrade? I saw dual carb intakes? mine is a single carb intake. just interested in being able to have a better pulling speed in mountains.

I got down to aprox 18 mph on one of the mountains near me coming home & we have alot steeper mountains around. I really need a little more oomph from it. is the motor tired or is this pretty normal for the 1.1? I havent done a compression nor a leak down test yet. I wont be interested in major engine swaps. but would like to know what can be done to make better power, but keep it looking basically stock. I do know the engine smokes with every gear change but doesnt smoke other wise which will be valve seals.


if anyone is interested there is an Opel Manta advertised with 6,500 miles on the Roanoke VA craigslist. it looks sweet but no way for me to afford 1971 Opel Manta 1900 like I said it took nearly all I had to buy the $400 wagon

lastly any members close to the VA & NC areas?

Thanks everyone,
Randy

[anastosmotors]

Wellcome to the OPEL club Randy.
Petronix ignition and dual carbs out of Opel GT is a good upgrade.
Pete

[wklopf]

I looked at a GT in Illinois, near St. Louis, a couple of months ago. The guy said that he had a dual carb set-up for a Kadett laying around some where. If I did some digging I might be able to find his phone number, if you are interested. Bill

[knucklepanshovel]

Originally Posted by wklopf I looked at a GT in Illinois, near St. Louis, a couple of months ago. The guy said that he had a dual carb set-up for a Kadett laying around some where. If I did some digging I might be able to find his phone number, if you are interested. Bill

it wouldnt hurt. as I know I found a keeper with this car. but I want to find a way to increase power just for the mountains. if a dual carb will help I would be interested if affordable, but I do figure my engine is tired. thats why I was inquiring about higher compression. maybe 10:1 or so. & a water alcohol injection can let a person slip by on the street with high compression & cheap gas. I know I did that with my hot rod 60's muscle cars all through the 1980's plus the whole airplane fuel & racing gas, plus octane booster, I also traveled in 30 states by Harley with 12:1 compression. so too familiar with trying to run high compression on street. personally would prefer to keep it 10:1 or 10.5:1. alot easier at fill ups.


Thank you,
Randy

[TallyOpel]

Dual carbs like these?

1968 1969 1970 Opel GT Intake Manifold Solex 35 PDSI-2 :eBay Motors (item 150376344133 end time Oct-11-09 18:00:00 PDT)

I know I don't have anything similar hanging out in my bins o' parts. All the GTs I've purchased and parted out have come with the original Solex singular carb, or a Weber.

[wklopf]

In 1966 I bought a new Kadett. I bought the one with the "Super Kadett Engine", 1.1 liter S engine. It had a CR of 8.8 and put out 60 HP at 5600 RPM, compared to 7.8 and 54 HP at 5600 RPM for the standard engine. WE put about 100,000 miles on this car, including mountain driving both in the Rockies and the Alleghenies/Appalachians. With five of us plus luggage, it would be necessary to downshift, but I don't remember ever pulling it down to 18 MPH on any mountain. My guess that a simple overhaul should do wonders for your power.

I have started looking for the phone number of the man with the dual carb set up, but no luck so far. Bill

[knucklepanshovel]

Originally Posted by wklopf In 1966 I bought a new Kadett. I bought the one with the "Super Kadett Engine", 1.1 liter S engine. It had a CR of 8.8 and put out 60 HP at 5600 RPM, compared to 7.8 and 54 HP at 5600 RPM for the standard engine. WE put about 100,000 miles on this car, including mountain driving both in the Rockies and the Alleghenies/Appalachians. With five of us plus luggage, it would be necessary to downshift, but I don't remember ever pulling it down to 18 MPH on any mountain. My guess that a simple overhaul should do wonders for your power. I have started looking for the phone number of the man with the dual carb set up, but no luck so far. Bill

on some grades I was barely able to maintain 35mph even in a 55mph zone. the hill I was down to 18 mph, my Isuzu, nor my Toyota nor my wifes Mitsubishi will do much over 45 mph... it is hard switch backs straight up side of a mountain maybe 10 miles from my house. but I got down to 35mph several times in 75 miles on 55mph zones.

I do figure the engine is weak. it is registering 77,000 miles but unknowm if tripped, probably. lol.

the engine is running on all 4 cylinders & is running smooth. just no power. it is alot weaker than my old VW which had a 1500 in it when I bought it, but I did some work to it & had a decent 1641 & I was totally pleased & I still have the motor today. I know the Opels engine is a 1100 but will have to do something for more reliable oomph. otherwise. great little car.

Later,
Thanks,
Randy

[kevinfier]

Randy,
Welcome to the world of Opel's.
I have a '69 Kadett wagon that is slightly modified .
I used Vauxhall valves, 34/30 they are from a 1256cc motor. They were recommended by a German engine builder. I also had it bored out to 77.8mm for 1159cc using Vauxhall Viva pistons.
These parts were sourced on UK ebay. I also am running a DCOE 40 sidedraft Weber w/ an intake I found on German ebay.
It takes the mountains in PA just fine, and I have no problem keeping up. Very reliable, and gets ~27 mpg on the highway.
Am in the process of collecting parts to install EFI w/ megasquirt and DCOE style throttle body.
good luck,
Kevin

[opelnut10]

Originally Posted by wklopf In 1966 I bought a new Kadett. I bought the one with the "Super Kadett Engine", 1.1 liter S engine. It had a CR of 8.8 and put out 60 HP at 5600 RPM, compared to 7.8 and 54 HP at 5600 RPM for the standard engine. WE put about 100,000 miles on this car, including mountain driving both in the Rockies and the Alleghenies/Appalachians. With five of us plus luggage, it would be necessary to downshift, but I don't remember ever pulling it down to 18 MPH on any mountain. My guess that a simple overhaul should do wonders for your power. I have started looking for the phone number of the man with the dual carb set up, but no luck so far. Bill

The difference between the 1.1 S motor and the SR motor is 67 HP instead of 60 and that is due to the SR having the twin carbs. I have seen 1.1's make 80HP with a cam change and re-curving the dist. along with tweeking the carbs. But the 1.1 car is about 250 pounds lighter than the 1.9 car that put out 103 HP so performance is very close.