Project: Restoration of GT Series-2

[opelspyder]

I am in the process of beginning another GT Restoration of a 1972 model as well. It is factory Chrome Yellow, with ET wheels and has had previous body work performed years ago. I actually prefer this color from the factory than all of them, but seems like they have all been red or orange that I end up with. My customer wants the car to (of course) run and drive great, have a nice custom color interior, and is talking about a body kit with wheels. This project will take a little different of a path. We are not doing a rotissorie restoration, and there will not be anything powdercoated, unless the valve cover or other dress up things are coated. I will be doing strictly mechanical at this time with no promises of interior and body, until we have completed that stage. I do not want this to get out of hand, and quote it low and end up with something crazy, so this will prevent the car from being immobile just in case a budget is reached. I don't want the customer to have to take it home in pieces. Anyways, you all know the rules...well my wishes at least. Please post all your comments in the comments section I will make for this thread. Leave the project forum open for my posts and the owner's if he wishes to comment. It will make it much more enjoyable to read this way. I have pretty much all the new parts in stock to build the mechanicals of this car. I will be doing a rebuild of the motor into a 2.0 liter. I will show some other things in depth such as the tranny disassembly and maybe more of the rear end. The engine will be covered as well. No surprises here though, the car will be painted back to Chrome Yellow, with or with out the body kit. I will have to paint the engine bay first and then the body later. I have adopted a few engine colors that will be my trademark-if you will- that are possibilities for this car. Kind of like a chevy engine is always Orange, or Ford is Blue...well my cars usually have the same colors as well. That is weather they even match or not. Usually one of the 2 will work, but I will always do a Black if that is preferred. What are they??? That will be discussed later. For now here are some before pics to enjoy.
Keith Lundholm

[opelspyder]

Seems like GTs all have the same problem areas in common as well, so here are a few I've noted. Large dent on front nose area. Rust in passenger rear fender lip, rear panel was replaced at one time, lower lip is in bad shape from previous repair. The belly pan was replaced previously, but is rusted out bad, and needs a real battery tray other than angle iron welded in. Muffler has 3 clamps on one connection...good thing new exhaust will be used. The rear end has been into, or at least the pinion seal replaced as the bolts have been changed. Torque tube donut is wasted, and underneath is like being in a cave full of oil and undercoating. So tonight I began draining of all fluids.
Keith

[opelspyder]

Well it seems that some previous "Billys" have been into this car. I noticed some bolts were missing from the bellhousing and that other bolts have been replaced. I also found a new Crafstman socket tucked away in the passenger heat shield that was a standard-meaning that possibly someone didn't have a good set of metrics to work on this car with. When pulling the engines from these GTs, I remove the main items from the engine bay such as the radiator and the intake/exaust manifolds, heat shield, alternator, and wiring. Don't forget to disconnect the speedo and clutch cables from underneath as well. Then I remove the whole front end suspension as the engines are removed from underneath as an assembly. Here are some pics of it coming out.
Keith

[opelspyder]

Notice in the previous post the creative hose plumbing that was used. I suspect this car was parked due to vacuum issues, as the engine seems to be in good shape, really smooth when turning over, oil looked nice and clean as well. I removed the engine and transmission together with a home made stand. This can be made several different ways, and doesn't have to be pretty to be functional...maybe one day I will make it look a little nicer. I noticed that one of the cam bolts was replaced with a zinc plated bolt from an autoparts store. This made me worry about where the bolt went...well my questions were answered when it came out during the oil pan removal. Fortunately it was un touched by anything internal, and it didn't get rung through the grinder. I also notice a through bolt for the timing cover was a little odd. It appears to have been a rod bolt for another car???? I was happy to see it was too small to have been an Opel one that was possibly mixed up with one of these rods. This engine was supposedly regasketed at one time, and still leaked. Probably due to all the slim left on the motor. I went through about 20 pairs of gloves today. I also lay everything I take off on a table or together on the floor. I will then come along and tag-n-bag everything. This is important to stop and do this, or later on it makes for quite a chore figuring what goes where. Here are engine coming out pics
Keith

[opelspyder]

I have to get this engine broke down by this week, as I will be traveling to where I will have the engine machined. We are going with 2.0 liter pistons, new bearings, and a few mods. I will request that the deck be cut only as a truing cut. The shop will plug the rear oil plug, as they are used to building the Opel blocks. I will have the head machined locally, and I will assemble both. I hope to have the crank polished and run standard size bearings. We will be running an Isky Combo Cam as well. The weber 32/36 will be retained. Here is a picture or two of the new parts being used. Everything from exhaust to a master cylinder rebuild kit.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I recieved my soda blaster and decided that the engine bay would be a great test for it. It did an excellent job in deed. This car is one of the grimmiest Opels I've worked on and it really did a great job of cutting the sludge. I did it on a few other items as well, like the weber carb. It made it look new again as it does not take off the plating. I held it on the front windshield as well and only cleaned it. It will cut paint off, and in the darker areas of the engine bay it is actually bare metal. I can see original spot welds with ease, and actually see the heat marks in the metal. I cut away paint and bondo on the belly pan attaching area with the blaster to reveal an aftermarket seam, which I figured as much. Notice the wiring and hoses are still in the engine bay as well, the soda will not hurt them either. I also noted that a front clip was possibly put on this car as well. The driver's side headlight bucket has been replaced on the inner side. How do I know??? I see an open seam towards the rear, and the obvious NOS Opel sticker was still on it. They never repainted that inner side. I will be removing the wiring and such shortly. I've sent the engine to the machine shop. I noted the rings just crumbled as I removed the pistons, so it desparately needed a rebuild. I marked all my rods and caps in order as well. I use a dremel engraver for this, as pin punching them can cause the caps to move out of round. I will try to retain stock size on the crank at all possible.

[opelspyder]

I have been lacking in my posts, but here is an update. I have been in the middle of wiring my shop, as time change and weather has persuaded me to make this priority. The engine machine work is done now, and I will be assembling the 2.0 shortblock. I don't know how far in depth I want to get into this, but we will snap some pics of fitting the crank and plastigauging the bearings. The specs on the engine are as follows:
Cylinders bored and honed to accept 2.0 Pistons
The deck (top of engine block) machined with a truing cut-only the bare minimum was removed to ensure flatness.
Freeze plugs replaced, and rear oil gallery plug has been tapped and plugged.
Crank has been machined .010 undersized on main journals, and .020 on rod journals
Machined with a honing/boring plate
Rods installed on pistons
Pistons matched to cylinders

I have only had the necessary thing done to ensure a relible engine. Nothing crazy was done during the machine work, like the deck cut way down or pistons extended out of the block. I just had everything machined for a good reliable engine. So please note this. I would consider this the way to go on a stock rebuild, not just a hopped up engine. I've seen other things done and machined, but I feel this is a good overall rebuild to follow when having yours done. Have them machine each piston to it's bore. Some shops will bore the block out to all the same size, reguardless off piston deminsions. Also you can have the machine shop balance the pistons and the rods, and blueprint your engine a little more. Then balance the rods and piston assemblies. Pistons are usually balanced with the use of a drill bit, slowly removing material on the inside of the piston. (NOTE: I recommend the use of a ball-end mill for this procedure as drills have a sharp square edge they will leave inside the piston that could develop a crack.) Ask my father how he knows this when rebuilding a Mopar block, as the crack was tough to find. The shop I use is pretty reasonable, and the work that comes out seems to be in good quality.

[opelspyder]

I enjoy assembling my own engine. Most machine shops will do this for you, but their is no fun in having everything done for you, so I begin with the crank. When installing new bearings on the crank, you need to install them twice. What do you mean? Fit the bearings completely dry. I do not use any oil at this time, as I want a dry fit for measuring. Yes the machine work has already been done, so why check it? You never know if you have too much permissible slop until you check. I begin by installing the bearing halves into the block. I will then set the crank on the bearings. I noted the main cap-the very rear big bearing, was tight on the sides(thrust sides) I am told when the bearings are oversized, this is how they are. So I will stop for now until I can lightly sand the bearing sides to allow for a smooth fitment to the crank. I noted that the main bearing caps are numbered from the factory, be sure to keep them in that order. Here are some progress pictures
Keith

[opelspyder]

If you do not know how to measure bearing clearance, these next post will go into detail on the process. 1st I put all the first half of bearings in the block dry, meaning no oil or anything at this time. Install the crank and position it to where you will have easy access to all the main bearing journals(meaning you can reach when laying down the plastigauge) What is plastigauge??? Plastigauge is available at most parts stores, I use Napa's Clevite brand. I buy the green in color as it is set for .001 to .003 tolerance. Plastigauge is what it says, a plastic oil soluble material that comes as a super thin round stock, like a thick piece of hair. I simply lay a short piece I broke off onto the crank's main journal. Usually position it across with it at 90 degrees from the split of the bearing cap. Here are some pics.
Keith

[opelspyder]

After I place a strip of plastigauge on the main journal, You install the correct bearing cap onto the crank with the new bearing half installed on the cap. I do this to all the mains, and then I torque them all down to the factory specs stated in the FSM. After they are torqued, I do not rotate the crank!!!! I simply remove the caps and I will see the plastic strip has been squashed. The package that plastigauge comes in is actually the measuring tool you will use to see what your measurements are on the crank to bearing play. It should be between .001-.003, but I like to see closer to the .001 range for stock. It is important to have some gap, as oil needs to be able float between the crank and bearings. I ended up with .002-.0015 which I felt was suitable. I simply looked at the package ruler (one side metric, one side standard) And I place it up to the squished plastic and find the thickness it is closest too. The wider the better here, if you do not squish it very much, you may need to have the crank cut to the next size bearings for a better clearance.
Keith

[opelspyder]

Next I do the piston rods just like I did the main bearings. I do one at a time on these though, you can do all at once. Make sure to position the piston like you would during assembly, and that the end cap notch is pointing towards the rear. I go through the process just like the mains here too. NOTE: plastigauge is oil soluable, but I still prefer to chemically clean the residue off with a brake cleaner or something similar as I do not want anything hindering the rebuild. After I clean all the plastigauge off, and my measurements are satisfactory, I am ready to reassemble everything on the crank.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I always use an assembly lube when installing freshly machined engine parts. I have used several brands of lube, and I have no real preference, as they all have seemed to work well for me. I apply lube to the main bearings on the bearing surface only. I do not use too much, use good judgement here. I will be priming the oil system as well, but do not use too much grease to where you clog up the oil holes and such. Be sure the bearing oil holesline up with the oiling holes in the journals. If they do not, you can open these holes in the bearing up to port match them. I then install the crank and the lubed main caps. A TIP here is to use extra sealer at the rear main cap between where it seats, as oil may leak between here and be miss diagnosed as a rear main seal leak. The picture shows an abundance of sealer here. Any extra will be wiped away. I do install my rear main seal first and then the cap, you can install it after assembly, it can be done both ways. This is how the Ford guys do it as some others, I find it makes it less likely to damage the seal this way. Be sure to apply grease to the lip, and sealant around the seal itself. I then tighten all the main caps down to 30 ft lbs., I rotate the crank, and then torque them to 50 ft lbs., I rotate the crank again, and go the final torque of 72 ft. Lbs. I then make sure it can rotate without a lot of force applied. I am now ready to install the piston assemblies and rods.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I now have the crank installed. Just a note, I always do this after the fact, but you will have to remove one of the main bolts to allow for the oil pickup tube support. I install this after I am done installing the crank. Be sure to retourqu that bolt. I do use sealer on the gasket to the pickup tube mount, as oil does not need to bypass from here or a low pressure might develop. I install the oil indicator tube as well if running a steel oil pan. An aluminum pan has it built in, and a different pickup tube is used as well. This tube points to the rear of the engine. I then apply lube to the rod bearings, after I cleaned all traces of plastigauge from them. I install the piston rings (if your rings came uninstalled, there should be directions on which way to install them, if already installed like mine were, I removed and marked their position in relation to the piston. I like to pour whatever weight oil I will be breaking in the engine with over the piston rings and in the cylinder bores. I do tend to make a little mess here. I then install my piston ring compressor and watching the rod end, I tap in the piston with a rubber hammer handle end. You should not beat the piston in, just a few soft pushes from the handle will do the trick. I torque the rod bolts, and rotate the crank by hand and do the next one. You should be able to rotate the crank with everything torqued. A slight drag is desired. If you cannot turn it by hand, you may try with a tool at the end of the crankshaft, if still too tight, I would dissassemble and check clearances again.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I had several issues with heads this go around. I wanted to use the 73-75 style 12 bolt head for this build as we are using a 2.0 head gasket. I found I have been storing 3 heads for years now, and all of them were cracked. So I went back to the drawing board and desided to run what I new was the better choice. I found a 71 head with hydraulic lifters as these are less likely to crack. Took it to the machine shop and no surprise here-it was sweet. Anyways I have had to fast forward here on the engine build as I need to get some of this project taken care of. I have installed the timing cover and head. I assembled the head and such as well, so there will not be any tips posted towards that part on this thread. There is a lot of info on building heads on the site and felt it might be a repetitive thing here. I will mention when assembling the timing chain, be sure that the crank key is pointing straight up, and you are at top dead center #1 piston. Then put your chain on. The dot on the cam gear will not line up perfectly, until side tension is put on the timing chain. I usually do this by pushing the chain by hand to see where the dot lines up to. I can see why some people might get a half link off if they do not account for the tension. I'm not crazy about the way the front of the head gasket seals on these newer style GM gaskets, I guess I am too used to the cork on the felpro style
Keith

[opelspyder]

I am also "while I've waited for engine machine work" Dissassembled the front suspension and sand blasted it. In the last restoration project I highlighted this area of rebuild, and see no need in repeating it, but I will show the progress taken on such items. I will be painting these instead of powdercoating also. I prefer the coating, but cost are a factor as well. I did remove the belly pan, as it is rusty. Its a shame too, as alot of the front sheetmetal was NOS when replaced due to an accident in the front driver nose, but they never primed the inside of the panels, they just left the E-Cote, which is not a everlasting coating. The headlight bucket is still in good shape, but a used belly pan will be used here.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I worked quite a bit this weekend to get the rest of the engine parts on, and front suspension peices sandblasted. I began painting the parts before reassembly. You could simply use spray can paint, but I like to use a self etching primer from PPG called DP 90. I then coat it with a high gloss black from the PPG line Concept, which is a single stage paint, but looks great after spraying. Really no finish work after painting. The customer wanted the engine black, so thats why I didn't paint it a fancy color this time. I wanted bright green like I did on the Spyder, since the car will remain Chrome Yellow. I will be gin assembly of the front suspension tomorrow, and maybe get a chance to add some engine acessories. The Christmas 4 day weekend has been great for catching up on the project.
Keith

[opelspyder]

Well the front suspension is together again, and I still have to get some of the steering parts prepped. A lot of nuts and bolts are going to be reconditioned, as they are a pain to sand blast each one. I will use a vibratory tumbler for this operation. I spent quite a bit of time hand sanding and scuffing the engine bay. I replaced a patch of rusty metal on the lower radiator support, along with the battery tray (OpelGTSource). This first step is the epoxy primer for bare metal. I didn't nessesarliy have full bare metal, but this will help seal as well.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I am painting the engine bay first, then installing the drivetrain, and then I will be possibly painting the rest of the car. I am doing it this way for a reason. I can make this a two step project by doing all the mechanical first, paint the engine bay, and make it a nice running driving car, then if the paint job has to come later, all the beginning work is done, and no dissassembly will be required as far as the mechanical. Makes it to where if something happens, the car is not in a million pieces. After the initial epoxy primer, I spray a build 2k primer onto the surface. This will be wetsanded and then possibly primed one more time before paint. I will at least seal any places that I sand through on. Being it is the engine bay, I will not go overkill on that part, but will sand the majority of it down pretty smooth. The buff color primer looks close to the factory color with the flash on, but it is a dull blond color. I use a closer shade of primer to what the topcoat will be at the finished end. So naturally I go with a yellow or off white. Light gray would be okay too. Black would possibly take extra coats of unnessesary paint to cover.

[opelspyder]

I worked all week to get to this point, but the engine bay finally has taken a big step forward. It is now Chrome Yellow, and it looks good. These bays are pretty tough to paint, but when it all comes together most of it is covered anyways. I can now work on putting the mechanical back in. So I will tie up some loose ends on the drivetrain, and undercoat the car. Today was dedicated to a major cleanup and organizing what parts still needed some attention. I will also paint the cowl black when I remove the front windshield.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I spent a lot of time finishing up some paint work. Calipers are rebuild and the rear end is painted. Rebuilt the torque tube and I always seem to not enjoy that task. I need to get the rest of the engine bay put together so I can install the engine back. I've done some undercoating and tying up loose ends on the mechanical. Lots of little stuff to do, and all the little bolts I decided to tumble in some media to do the work for me. Works well, and saves me the hassel of sandblasting each and every bolt. Really looking forward to the bodywork on this car, and we will be installing a body kit. Here are some updated pics
Keith

[opelspyder]

I had a chance to install the engine and transmission assembly this weekend. I still have a lot of items to install that I am waiting on, like exhaust manifold and distributor parts. I will adjust the valves and check over everything for an initial start. I am then going to focus on the bodywork, and then tie everthing together. I have been pretty tired up to this point, I spent hours just cleaning threads to bolts and such. I am ready to move on to the bodywork now. Of course I am working on nothing but mechanical at work too, and it doesn't help my motivation
Keith

[opelspyder]

I was able to do several multitasking projects in the shop these past weeks. I finished the brake work on the GT, and was ready to install the front suspension and such. It went fairly easy-of course they always seem to sit high after the suspension has been rebuilt. The last one took about a couple weeks to return down. I have removed the old rear end to install a spare rebuilt unit in...well new bearings and seals and such. I needed one trailering arm from this old rear, and the springs. I will sandblast and paint them and then install. I am temporarly leaving the old shocks until the next step when I completely remove the interior and glass. I will be ordering a body kit from GT Source in the near future and installing. I will cover this area with a little more detail. I will also be constructing a paint area in my shop that will consist of a body shop curtain that custs off about a 1/4 of the shop, but can be pulled away for access to the entire shop. I also purchased a larger air compressor. 7-1/2hp 80 gal 2 stage Ingersol Rand. That should handle anything I need to do in the shop.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I have finished installing the rear end of the car and I am now prepared for actual body work. There are a few mechanical things I still have to do, but I am still waiting on, such as intake and carb rebuild, engine bay accessories. I have worked quite a bit on my shop to increase productivity when painting. The problem is without a separate "booth" at home, overspray is hard to control. The paint dust that floats around will cover everything, and can ruin paint jobs if not careful. I have been crudely covering up things, which I will continue to do. I built a paint shop curtain that will enclose over 1/4 of my shop area to make into a paint booth. I will also build a box fan with a couple fans and filters, that will sit under the slightly opened door. The intake will be from a window convienetly located in the booth area. I will make special attachments for the curtain if I find that the bottom wants to blow around too much. What is nice about this is when I am not painting, I can fully open up the shop and use all my space. I also reorganized the work area and still working on reducing clutter. Hopefully in the next couple days, I will be ordering the body kit so I can get moving on this project. I will remove all glass and hardware this week, and carefully cover and tape all that has been refinished up, so it will not receive any overspray.
Keith

[opelspyder]

I mentioned a new compressor as well, here is a shot of it. The new Body shop curtain will also be helpful when doing a lot of grinding and such. Unfortuneatly my shop serves as car storage as well, and it makes it a little tough to do any real work around the cars. I at least have one car at the local Napa showroom, so it gets one out of the way for now. This project is about to take a large turn towards finished soon.
Keith

[opelspyder]

Body kit arrived last week and I have been a little iffy on the install. I fit it up the way it was written on the back of the panels. I do not like the fit at all and it will require quite a bit of mods to make right. Looking at pictures of the cars, I relized that they want them going in a certain direction. I then looked at the catalog and saw on the first pages that a guy installed them on a white one the wrong way. I am talking about the side skirts here. They actaully look better that way, and the fit may not be as tough to blend. The one part breaks into the door and a bit will be added to the bottom corner, but I kind of like it better that way. The pictures also show the ledge. I think now I will keep this, and just blend it on the body, but On the doorway it will have a half inch ledge protruding. I'm not 100% on this yet, but may be workable, if not I have to grind it off and mount it flush, which I may still do. You check the pics and see which you like the best
Keith