Sportwagon from hell...header pics

[RallyBob]

Here's the crossmember and some of the mods done to it. Most notable is the addition of the steering quickener to the mix. I mocked it up while the front suspension was still in the car. It was actually very straightforward. It's a Howe 1.5:1 quickener, so the steering goes from 3.9 turns lock-to-lock down to 2.6 turns lock-to-lock. Plus the factory sloppy u-joints and rag joint are eliminated, making for far more precise inputs at the steering wheel. While doing all this, I tore down the steering quickener to re-pack it with synthetic grease (Redline CV-2). So I took the opportunity to polish the housing halves at my friend's chrome shop.

I also extended the upper spring perch sleeves in order too allow for shims to be used above the coil springs and spring seats, without the coils falling off the seats. I used 3.25" exhaust tubing, it aligns nearly perfectly with the OEM spring guide.

The upper bump stops on the a-arms were essentially cut in half to alow for more travel before they strike the crossmember, but given that this is a real car that will see real roads (not just a race track), I opted to create even more travel by moving the upper a-arm stops on the crossmember upwards. I just sliced a 5/8" pie-shaped wedge out and bent it upwards, then re-welded it. You'll note that as the a-arm travels upward it also arcs inward, so I tried to match this arc.

I came up with a far simpler bracing method for the upper a-arm pivot tubes in the crossmember. This stabilizes the tube for less deflection, and hopefully prevents them from being bent in case of a small impact. It's easier to replace an a-arm than it is the entire crossmember.

Lastly here are the solid upper crossmember mounts I fabricated. I used 6061-T65 aluminum bar stock, and cut and sanded it to fit into the upper crossmember 'holes'. Then I drilled and tapped the aluminum for some new hardened 10mm studs, and added a piece of 90 durometer 1/4" silicone sheet material for some sound deadening qualities.

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[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by oldopelguy Those sure are some nice pictures, is that camera still holding out or did you get another?

Same camera Stephen. Still working fine, it's just a bit touchy in low light situations. I need to set up a tripod for the longer exposure times, otherwise it gets blurry from my hands shaking.

We also need to get you a plasma torch, those outer ball joints would have taken seconds to cut for the new mounts.

I have an awesome 50 AMP plasma cutter, still have no air to run it, that's all!

Did you recess the sway-bar mount some up into the "L" bracket, or is the notch always that "deep"? I don't remember it being so is all.

That is indeed stock.

I've been planning on swapping out the rubber sway bar bushing in the lower control arm with a load-rated spherical mono-ball, and looking at those pictures makes me wonder if swapping out the inner one might not be a bad idea too. The outer sleeves typically used with them are so much thicker than what's in there stock and it might help keep the arms together. Sure the ride would be a bit rougher, but it wouldn't be on a DD car anyway...

I've done this before on race cars. The down side is that it can cause a bind (believe it or not) due to the sway bar arm and the lower a-arm traveling in different arcs. On a lowered car especially, the sway bar draws the lower a-arm rearward. This does two thing primarily, it changes caster (reduces it) and it binds the lower a-arm bushing. On a pure race car with very stiff springs (700 lb or so) and maybe 2-3" of total travel you can design the bind to be 'outside' the normal travel window, but on a longer travel street car it will show up somewhere during your driving and can wreak havoc.

Bob

[RallyBob]

A little rust repair work. The jackpad was totally shot. I thought the frame was 100%, but it had a bit of blistering, so I cut away some of the outer skin and the bottom skin. I didn't have and mild steel in the proper gauge to weld back in, but I had some stainless steel, so I figured, 'What the heck!'. The underlying 'real' framerail section was in good shape other than some surface rust, so I ground that rust away and painted it over with some high zinc weld-thru primer before capping it.

I also started to patch the rust hole in the floor and to re-create the driver's side jack pad, but the recent heat and humidity has cause me to neglect this for the past few weeks, so I haven't gone any further on it. I did pick up some 1.125" chromoly round tubing with .083" wall thickness which will work perfectly as a jack 'tube' on my re-created mount.

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[RallyBob]

Looks like we're gonna go all out now. On this past Sunday I received a front clip from a Manta, to be grafted onto the Sportwagon. Unfortunately I have my work cut out for me, there's a bit of the typical New England rot on everything!

I will probably replace the top valance with a carbon fiber part. I have a mold already made but I have no vacuum bagging equipment so I'll send it to a friend in Vermont who used to do a lot of composites work for race/rally cars. Carbon is extremely stiff so unless the part being made is flat you must vacuum bag it or it will not fit the contours of the mold. I will be making a custom front airdam as well, so I will pull a mold from the metal prototype and do the same thing, although it will probably be a carbon/aramid hybrid fabric for more impact resistance. And I'm seriously thinking about doing the hood as well. If I can gain the aero advantages of the Manta front end yet make it lighter than the Ascona front end the payback would be better top speed, better mileage, and better handling.

Unfortunately, in order to repair the rust that IS there properly, I have to disassemble the entire front clip. I went through 2 cobalt spot-weld bits, having un-done about 400 spot welds to get it to this point! and I'm not quite done yet either.

BTW, Castrol 'purple' cleaner works awesome, it removed 34 years worth of grime from underneath the hood in just two applications.

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[RallyBob]

Oh, and a special thanks to Mach1Tom for searching out some Shiner Bock beer and bringing it to MantAscona. And of course thanks to MantAscona for bringing up to CT! We can't buy this stuff up here. It has made the hot humid days much more tolerable for me...

[Hiro]

Originally Posted by RallyBob Here's the crossmember and some of the mods done to it. Most notable is the addition of the steering quickener to the mix. I mocked it up while the front suspension was still in the car. It was actually very straightforward. It's a Howe 1.5:1 quickener, so the steering goes from 3.9 turns lock-to-lock down to 2.6 turns lock-to-lock. Plus the factory sloppy u-joints and rag joint are eliminated, making for far more precise inputs at the steering wheel. While doing all this, I tore down the steering quickener to re-pack it with synthetic grease (Redline CV-2). So I took the opportunity to polish the housing halves at my friend's chrome shop. I also extended the upper spring perch sleeves in order too allow for shims to be used above the coil springs and spring seats, without the coils falling off the seats. I used 3.25" exhaust tubing, it aligns nearly perfectly with the OEM spring guide. The upper bump stops on the a-arms were essentially cut in half to alow for more travel before they strike the crossmember, but given that this is a real car that will see real roads (not just a race track), I opted to create even more travel by moving the upper a-arm stops on the crossmember upwards. I just sliced a 5/8" pie-shaped wedge out and bent it upwards, then re-welded it. You'll note that as the a-arm travels upward it also arcs inward, so I tried to match this arc. I came up with a far simpler bracing method for the upper a-arm pivot tubes in the crossmember. This stabilizes the tube for less deflection, and hopefully prevents them from being bent in case of a small impact. It's easier to replace an a-arm than it is the entire crossmember. Lastly here are the solid upper crossmember mounts I fabricated. I used 6061-T65 aluminum bar stock, and cut and sanded it to fit into the upper crossmember 'holes'. Then I drilled and tapped the aluminum for some new hardened 10mm studs, and added a piece of 90 durometer 1/4" silicone sheet material for some sound deadening qualities. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3223/...fa5c635d_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3287/...f4228a69_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/...17187813_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/...de2fed15_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/...6f7c67bf_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/...4b1acb23_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3237/...07911424_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/...a1b0360e_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3269/...8309ee47_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/...07278fd6_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/...a9e61d6d_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/...1294dc8d_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3095/...d737737a_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3277/...8b25e52e_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3065/...b0cd017f_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/...7e945d2c_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/...0f9717f7_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/...4590ec4d_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/...91c2cb6c_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3208/...5ec6449b_o.jpg

tremendous work Bob!
the mods you make are so clean they would look "stock" for a race marshall here,
very important when passing the tech visit before each vintage race...
superb!
Hiro

[opelnut10]

The two that we did was cut just forward of the top of the inner fender panel, we found that it matched up better with the contour of the Manta inner panels. After the pieces were grafted together and ground down it was very hard to find just where it was done, it was tigged and done a small space at a time and allowed to cool in order not to warp the metal. We also fill the front header panel with spray in foam to stiffen that panel to keep it from looking "wavy", worked very well. I always liked the look of the small bumper Manta front end on the wagon, Opel should have made one

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by Hiro tremendous work Bob! the mods you make are so clean they would look "stock" for a race marshall here, very important when passing the tech visit before each vintage race... superb! Hiro

Glad you like it Hiro. Maybe it will give you some ideas for your racing?

Bob

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by opelnut10 The two that we did was cut just forward of the top of the inner fender panel, we found that it matched up better with the contour of the Manta inner panels. After the pieces were grafted together and ground down it was very hard to find just where it was done, it was tigged and done a small space at a time and allowed to cool in order not to warp the metal.

I'm trying to understand exactly where you cut the front end....did you just snip the front end off the wagon @ the headlight area, or did you swap out the entire Manta inner fenders and front headlight area? This'll be my first front end swap so any pointers/advice are very welcome!

Bob

[oldopelguy]

There's a flat spot in the inner fender in the front on the Manta that goes out to just below the headlights, about 5" long, that's about all you actually need to cut off. (Pretty much what you have left attached to the front end.) Problem is that only the rear 3 or so fender bolt holes line up, the spacing gets different on the front half of the fender and the Manta fenders won't bolt to the Ascona inner fender wells without some modifications. The further you go back the more of the bolt holes that line up, if it's important to you, otherwise you just modify either the inner fender well or fender to use the other side's holes.

Since you have the spot-weld cutter out anyway, start drilling on the Ascona. The actual "frame" rails are the same, as is the front crossmember between them just ahead of the radiator. On the Ascona the front panel fits right up to them, on the Manta there's a tunnel of sorts for the radiator out to the nose. If you start drilling out spot welds on the Ascona you can get down to the front crossmember, leaving it in place, then line up the Manta nose with it and use the fenders to hold it all together. The gap in the inner fender will be obvious, but the inner fender piece from the Manta nose should overlap easilly enough for a lap weld, or flange if you wanted to connect them that way.

Now with a carbon fiber top panel for the nose it would be easy enough to keep it removable. With it removable it would be easy enough to cut into the air tunnel in front of the crossmember and install the radiator from the top 8" ahead of it's normal position. Then there would be a whole lot more room in the engine bay.....

If I send you the carbon fiber cloth can I get in on one of those nose pieces too.....?

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by oldopelguy The actual "frame" rails are the same, as is the front crossmember between them just ahead of the radiator.

The crossmember between the framerails is definitely different. At least on these cars it is. I am removing it altogether though, and making a tubular crossbar. Too much airflow obstruction to the lower part of the radiator IMO, and I'm fitting an aftermarket 19" tall x 22" wide aluminum radiator anyway.

If I send you the carbon fiber cloth can I get in on one of those nose pieces too.....?

I'll let you know what they cost once I send the mold to my friend in VT. Because of the 'wraparound' nature of the upper valance, the mold is a 5-piece bolt-together deal. He needs to see it to quote it. The mold took me quite some time to build, I had to do it in three phases. He probably has a bolt of 5.5 oz. carbon cloth left over from his rallycar, so he has plenty of the stuff.

[opelnut10]

Originally Posted by RallyBob I'm trying to understand exactly where you cut the front end....did you just snip the front end off the wagon @ the headlight area, or did you swap out the entire Manta inner fenders and front headlight area? This'll be my first front end swap so any pointers/advice are very welcome! Bob

The Ascona inter fender panels were cut just forward of the middle and the Manta was cut in the same way to butt up to the same contour of the clipped Ascona panels. The entire front end was removed and the Manta front end grafted on. The critical measurement is to make sure the Manta hood fits properly. Look at the Manta sedan-delivery in my photo album that is the way it was done.

[oldopelguy]

Originally Posted by RallyBob The crossmember between the framerails is definitely different. At least on these cars it is.

The whole crossmember might not be the same, but the rear most piece of it was the same stamping on both the '75 sportwagon and the big-bumper Manta I used the nose from. For me it was an easy piece to reference off of.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by oldopelguy The whole crossmember might not be the same, but the rear most piece of it was the same stamping on both the '75 sportwagon and the big-bumper Manta I used the nose from. For me it was an easy piece to reference off of.

Interesting. The ones I have are definitely different from car-to-car. 1975 Sportwagon vs. 1974 Manta however...I wonder if that's the issue? I'll take some pics to clarify.

Bob