Scary week..

[GoinManta]

My son Ben has his license and is now daily driving his Manta ..

Charles

[Aardvaark]

Originally Posted by GoinManta My son Ben has his license and is now daily driving his Manta .. Charles

Hey Charles,
How far did the acorn fall from the oak?

-Mark

[Jerry C]

That is too good. I wish my kid would get into the Opel thing.

[GoinManta]

Need to find a picture I have of him helping in the restoration..

Of course being a newbie driver of a 34 year old car.. first repair is already upon HIM..

He has a bad habit of holding the ignition a little longer than neccessary.. so one week in a we have to replace a starter.. (I HOPE.. Otherwise we have to replace the flywheel..needless to say I am hoping for a bad starter.. (

I will get a picture of him fixing his Opel..

Asked him today what the comments were from his friends that havent seen it.. and a HUGE Smile pread across his face.. "They all want to buy it... "

Had to ask it if it was beeter than a 2002 Honda Civic.. or something similar.. and his response.. "Its better than even a 2006 or 2007 Civic... because it's mine and no one else can have one like it... "

Spoken like a true Opeler

But he is inquiring about AC.. (hmm 95 in October in a black car with balck interior.. why the need for AC ?)

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by Aardvaark Hey Charles, How far did the acorn fall from the oak? -Mark

He loves his Opel.. so not far..

Although... I have to say his talent with a clutch isnt quite as good.. and he doesn't seem to have as much lead in his foot as say I do... But this is a good thing..

I am planning on getting him into some local NASA or SCCA or other such classes if I can find them locally.

Charles

[tekenaar]

Originally Posted by GoinManta He loves his Opel .. so not far .. Although ... I have to say his talent with a clutch isn't quite as good .. and he doesn't seem to have as much lead in his foot as, say, I do ... But this is a good thing .. I am planning on getting him into some local NASA or SCCA or other such classes if I can find them locally. Charles

. . . at least, not when he's around you! . . . perhaps a bit smarter than you thought?!

[BQS4]

Originally Posted by GoinManta But he is inquiring about AC.. (hmm 95 in October in a black car with balck interior.. why the need for AC ?)

Hmmm, seems to me like I should know where there is an a/c unit.....hmmmm

[David McCollam]

Sounds like he's great at tearing up perfectly good stuff. Sort of like you. I heard that you tore up Dallas' GT at Route 66. Any truth to that one?

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by BQS4 Hmmm, seems to me like I should know where there is an a/c unit.....hmmmm

You aren't counting my two are you?

Harold

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by BQS4 Hmmm, seems to me like I should know where there is an a/c unit.....hmmmm

I have two inside units (an ARA and a GM) just got to test them..

The debate is how or what to install.. I.E. stock, or go with a smaller newer HFC compressor off of a Saturn or something.. I think we will probably go that route..

After all it does have Nissan Mirrors, Toyota Seats, Isuzu Disc Brakes, BMW Front Brakes, Toyota windshield squirters.. and a smattering of other "borrowed parts".

Charles

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by David McCollam Sounds like he's great at tearing up perfectly good stuff. Sort of like you. I heard that you tore up Dallas' GT at Route 66. Any truth to that one?

I didnt tear it up.. at least it was in good running order when he left..

Now, I did get those big tires to leave a patch at a stop light

But I was driving it to compare it to other Opels.. so I had to drop the clutch to get a good comparison.

As for tearing it up.. I actually fixed a oil leak and a vacuum leak.. The hoses on the valve cover were open to the engine bay and the vacuum connection wasnt plugged..

Charles

[cherokee]

Originally Posted by GoinManta He loves his Opel.. so not far.. Although... I have to say his talent with a clutch isnt quite as good.. and he doesn't seem to have as much lead in his foot as say I do... But this is a good thing.. I am planning on getting him into some local NASA or SCCA or other such classes if I can find them locally. Charles

I am a big fan of sending new drivers to auto-x, it teaches you what your car is going to do when you do (X). Good for you.

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by cherokee I am a big fan of sending new drivers to auto-x, it teaches you what your car is going to do when you do (X). Good for you.

Went myself twice.. once when I was 19 in Seattle and in the army.. and once when I was like 21.. learned a lot.. May have caused a bit of leadfootitis but I like to think it made me an equally good defensive driver.. Althoguh when driving in I-95 traffic.. you have to go on offense and drive like your road racing to not get run over or in a accident.

Anyway, thats exactly why I want him to take a class.

Charles

[RallyBob]

Amen to that. When I was 21 I did my first auto-x (oh man, has it been 20 years already?). It happened to rain too. I learned more about how to drive my vehicle in the rain in +/-6 minutes of autocrossing than I did in the prior 5 years of driving on the roads.

You can't expect to react to a car at the limit of adhesion in an accident situation if you've never approached the limits before!

[David McCollam]

I heard that you "took off" after a 'vette at a traffic light and thrashed the car prettyhard. It came up running a bit rough.

Must have gotten bad info.

There's no way, you could have possibly been in the wrong, right?

And you didn't install a windshield wiper motor incorrectly and run wipers across the new paint job on that Manta? Must have gotten bad info on that one, too.

[opelspyder]

Now Charles I hope you installed the hard air line in those fittings on Dallas's valve cover-as they are not made for vacuum hose, but high pressure air line. I saw he was missing the main line to the air cleaner. Those fittings were high dollar so I hope you left them or I'll have to cretique your work.
Keith

[opelspyder]

Also a side note, Dallas did call me to ask a few questions on why his car was stumbling mid throttle now after the show at Springfield. I stated what would fix it, but I said it was probably from someone doing something stupid in it. Usually that is why they break down...someone doesn't know what to do when they are in a real car, or they weren't supposed to in the first place
Keith

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by opelspyder Now Charles I hope you installed the hard air line in those fittings on Dallas's valve cover-as they are not made for vacuum hose, but high pressure air line. I saw he was missing the main line to the air cleaner. Those fittings were high dollar so I hope you left them or I'll have to cretique your work. Keith

High dollar? I think the bill was less than $25.. and that included some other pieces. The more expesive parts were the large grommet for the toyota, molded heater hose and 1/2x5/8 adaptor.

The GT came to the show without the fitting for the air cleaner. It also came without any hoses in the valve cover (they were open to the engine bay and he was having to wipe oil off the inside of the hood and the engine). Also had no hose connected to the 90 degree elbow at the manifold (also open to the air - i.e. vacuum leak). Any problems he may be having are probably in the carb adjustment as the carb and ignition was adjusted with a vaccum leak at the manifold. I didnt want to adjust it as I didnt have all my tools and it seemed to run well enough. His biggest problem was hard starting and flooding at start up.. (hmm vaccum leak maybe.. )

As for what I did.. I used a system I have on all my opels and a few others recently.

A Toyota PCV valve grommet and a 1/2"x5/8" hard radiator hose adaptor. You install the grommet into the valve cover and lube the inside and then force the 1/2" side of the adaptor into the grommet . This provides a NICE TIGHT LEAK FREE connection to the valve cover. You then get a 5/8 preformed heater hose with a 90 degree bend in it and connect the short side (usually the ones they have in stock is 4" long on one side and about 20" on the other). Then you (after you trim to fit the other end) into the air clear nipple.. since he didnt have the nipple I couldint do the last part.

For the small hose.. I use 2 - 1/8 x 3/32 vacuum line adaptors (which is what I used). Then you cut about a 6" length of hard 3/32 emission line and heat form it with a lighter. You then cut the soft end off the vaccum line adaptor and force the emission line into the 1/8 side. Then you fit the fat end into the vavle cover, and on the other end you slip it over the 90 degree elbow. THis provides a clean and again NICE TIGHT LEAK FREE connection..

All the parts are either.. emission parts, or in the case of the heater hose components. strong enough to deal with a little warm engine oil.

I am going to get the parts numbers and do a write up on the system.. for the forum.. It works well and has been installed on over 6 Opels since I designed it none leak oil and probably about 30,000 miles combined on the cars.

Charles

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by opelspyder Also a side note, Dallas did call me to ask a few questions on why his car was stumbling mid throttle now after the show at Springfield. I stated what would fix it, but I said it was probably from someone doing something stupid in it. Usually that is why they break down...someone doesn't know what to do when they are in a real car, or they weren't supposed to in the first place Keith

If dropping the clutch and grabbing a little tire at a stop light caused problems.. Then I think a lot of Opels here would have a lot more problems. Not only that.. a car that ran as strong as his does can't be that fragile. As I mentioned.. I would have him check the carb and ignition adjustments. Since the previous mechanic left it with a huge vacuum leak.. I assume that since I fixed the vacuum leak some of those adjustments maybe in question now.

[GoinManta]

Anyway.. if you're all done busting my balls..

Here is Ben with his car, and installing a starter..

Seems he has a newbie habit of holding the starter key a bit longer than he needs too and could also be that it's the original starter and about 30 years old and being started by a newbie driver that was holding the starter a bit to long was the final straw..

In any case, I taught him how to replace the starter.

Have a feeling, that he will be learning to install a clutch before too long. Of course that's partly deliberate on my part. When I rebuilt the car, the clutch was obviously a bit worn and I got a new one. But since a new driver was going to be driving it.. I figured I would let him tear up the old one first and then install the new one.

Two experiences.. what a worn clutch feels like and how to reinstall it..

Charles

[opelspyder]

Hey, if all he had was a vacuum leak after 2 ++++ years of ownership, and no one touching any adjustments, I'd say that was pretty good. If he did have a vacuum leak at the manifold...was it even running when it got there? Anyways we all would be interested in the PCV system you designed, but a lot of members here have now found that having fittings machined out of aluminum and pressed in the valve cover leaves a factory look and makes the hoses problem free. As I changed to this as well on my last restoration. I was never a fan of cramming in hoses to the valve cover and hoping it would seal. As far as Dallas's Valve cover there were some stainless high pressure air fittings threaded into the valve cover and heat resistant air tubing was used for the vacuum. I liked the look of it, but this new method really cleans it up. I took the tip from some of Soybeans tests on his powdercoated valve cover. Not very simple to get the fittings custom made as buying parts from autozone, but seems the most pratical.

[GoinManta]

Oh those fittings.. I thought you were talking about the ones I used.

They should be in his trailer. I took them off, but that was because nothing was connected to them, we didnt know where to get the hoses for them and was trying to fix a vacuum leak. So I went with what I knew worked.

The system I developed came from the fact I too am not a fan of shoving hoses into the valve cover either. Its ugly and leaks oil all over the vavle cover and motor. Thats why although my system does require force fitting a few pieces into the cover, its more form fitting and clean looking. Most importantly its also leak free (both vacuum and oil) and no hoping it would seal.

It was running when it got there but he hard starting problems and it would flood really easy. Typical vacuum leak issues. Which was why I even looking at the motor in the first place.

I don't understand though, how expensive custom stainless steel fittings and hoses can be the most practical solution.

As any Opel parts seller can tell you we tend to be cheap by nature.. So being my design is simple, clean, neat and works well.. not only is it inexpensive and effective to do, the parts are available locally to most all Opel owners.. that I think is the definition of practical.

I will post pictures shortly and it is very clean looking.. But, it's hard to get pictures of it on my Kadett as I have to take the air cleaner off to show it. Same with my sons Manta, as I use the Solex adapter and stock Manta air cleaner on my cars so I can have more surface area to clean the air and duct cool air directly into the carb. I also dont like the sound of the open Weber air cleaner.

Charles

[opelbits]

Charles-

I was reminded of our conversation in Springfield. Check out the first post in my 'Opel Sightings' thread. It is the first mention of your Blue Max on the board. By the way, how rusty is it?




The talk of hose fittings also reminds me....anyone have a spare lathe they are using as a door stop that they would send me? I need one to finish up the valve cover fitting project.....!

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by opelbits I was reminded of our conversation in Springfield. Check out the first post in my 'Opel Sightings' thread. It is the first mention of your Blue Max on the board. By the way, how rusty is it?

When I got it the rust wasnl't terrible.. But the body has been dinged up and down the sides.

Currently the jack point and some of the driver floor is going faster than it should.

Also the rust under the vynil top was buldging when I got the car but not rusting through.. its broken through in a few spots since then.

Overall though for a unrestored Manta.. its fairly solid. Might clean it up.. pull back the carpets and take a good look again.

Since I got it home, it has been under a cover and on asphalt.. but yet it is still rusting.. Going to have to bring it into the garage soon, if to do nothing more than strip and patch the rust as best I can to keep it from getting worse until I have the time and money to restore it or convert it..

Starting to debate with myself the whole electric conversion of it.. May convert the Kadett instead Or who knows another Opel may be dropped on my door stop like an abandoned puppy..

Charles

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by GoinManta The system I developed came from the fact I too am not a fan of shoving hoses into the valve cover either. Its ugly and leaks oil all over the vavle cover and motor. Thats why although my system does require force fitting a few pieces into the cover, its more form fitting and clean looking.

Have the tech tip with prices, and instructions up now:

http://www.opelgt.com/forums/6e-tune...tml#post141622