Restoration of my Ascona B rally car

[oppositelock]

I'm well into the restoration of my 1980 Ascona B rally car and I thought I would document it here. First, a little background. This car is an original Irmscher Sport Ascona i2000. The original colors were white over yellow as seen in the pics below but somewhere along the way someone had repainted the yellow dark blue and that's how it looked when I bought it. The last photo shows my car in the 1985 Olympus International rally.
So anyway, the car was prepared in England as a rally car when it was still fairly new. I really have no idea of it's history before it came to the U.S., though. It was prepared to Group A specs, actually Group 2 which turned into Group A. It has a bunch of Irmscher parts, of course, including the Solex 45 ADDHE dual carb setup which could be used in Group A because this car was originally equipped as it was a homologation special. The car was brought over to the U.S. in 1984 by Trevor Hadley to do the Carson City International Rally where it finished 14th overall. Jerry Hines, the guy who helped bring the car into the country acquired it and rented it out after that. It did a couple of regional events and also the '85 Olympus International and '86 Olympus WRC rally. Since 1986 was the year that the homologation ran out on the Ascona B and the Olympus was the last WRC rally that year that makes my car the last Opel Ascona B ever to compete in a WRC rally! Canadian Martin Kaspers drove the car on the 1986 Olympus but did not finish because the right rear wheel studs sheared off and the wheel went flying off into the woods! It was in this state that I bought the car in January 1988 with the brake rotor in the trunk, the caliper tie-wrapped between the axle and the bumpstop and the wheel through bolted to the axle. Jerry was the organizer of the AlCan 5000 Winter Rally and since it was a week before that event and he needed cash I was able to score the car for $2300.
<more to come>

[Gary Sullivan]

I'm an Ascona fan and haven't seen any B's stateside. Sounds like you have quite a rare one. Thanks so much for sharing your pix. Look forward to seeing any additional. It doesn't seem to share much sheetmetal with the A's.
I think that's a great looking car.

[oppositelock]

So the first thing I did when I got the car was paint it. It was then I discovered the yellow underneath the blue. Because white rally cars are so common I had to go and paint mine black, just to be different. Never again! Too hot and doesn't photograph that well. I ran it for a couple of years, blew a motor, and then rolled it at the last event in 1989. I had just installed the Ascona 400 bodykit right before that event. It was a light roll and I was lucky I did not break the windshield! I beat it out a bit and ran a couple of events with it in 1990. Then my friend John VanLandingham was over in Sweden and went to a junkard and cut out a quarter panel and shipped it over along with a rear window and some other stuff. In 1994 I repaired the bodywork and ran a couple of events and that was the last time I drove it.
Over the past few years it's been sitting in my shop slowly getting torn apart. I've basically stripped it down to the bare shell and decided to give it the restoration it deserves. (Especially after seeing the prices people are asking for these in Europe. I've seen cars not even as good a spec as mine for 8-12 thousand Euros!)

[oppositelock]

Which brings us to the present century! The first photo shows the state of the car about a year ago when I really started tearing into it. Out came the old bolt in Matter rollcage as it wasn't legal for anything anymore. Front suspension out to get cleaned up and gone through. I decided to completely strip down the engine compartment and wheelwells and seam weld the seams that had never been done.

[oppositelock]

First photo shows engine compartment stripped and mostly seam welded, some of it primed. Second photo shows wheelwell seamwelded, third photo shows painted wheelwell. Last photo is the hovering Ascona!

[oppositelock]

Next, I started on the dual master cylinder conversion. One thing I was never satisfied with on the car was the brakes, so I will be doing a complete brake makeover. Call it a brakeover!

[oppositelock]

Once all that was done the front end got painted. Looks better, eh?

[oppositelock]

The front crossmember got cleaned up, some extra welding and strengthening, and painted. The crossmember rear legs got some extra gusseting and painted.

Now I've got to upload some more photos!

[Gary Sullivan]

Yes!! A lot better.
There are some interesting braces on the inside of those front fenders.
As I look at your shots I am still struggling to see the parallels between your car and the Ascona A's either inside or out. Sorry I am green on the B's. Now you have me curious about looking up the exact specs on your B (wheelbase and the like).

[oppositelock]

Originally Posted by Gary Sullivan Yes!! A lot better. There are some interesting braces on the inside of those front fenders. As I look at your shots I am still struggling to see the parallels between your car and the Ascona A's either inside or out. Sorry I am green on the B's. Now you have me curious about looking up the exact specs on your B (wheelbase and the like).

The B's (both Ascona and Manta) are a bit bigger than the A's. Wheelbase for the B chassis cars is 99.1" as opposed to 95.5" for the A chassis cars.
Track is wider, too, I forget exactly how much. I'll have to check but I think about 3-4 inches. Rear suspension is all the same but the front is a bit different. It has wide base lower a-arms with a separate sway bar and the shocks mount off the top of the upper a-arm. The braces you see in the wheelwells were added the reinforce the shock mounts. The shock mounts were also double skinned. The B cars share no sheet metal with the A cars but except for the front suspension pretty much all the mechanicals are the same.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by oppositelock Track is wider, too, I forget exactly how much. I'll have to check but I think about 3-4 inches.

Dave, I believe it's closer to 2" wider. I have a Manta B rear axle I used to run in a race car in my barn, I could check for sure. I had it in my street car for a while, and it fit a stock-bodied Ascona A, although it pushed the 13 x 6 MSW wheels (4" backspace) right out to the edge of the fenders.

The car is looking awesome BTW! Glad you're working on it again, I've been following on the rally forums and hoped you would post pics here. Porn for the Opel motorsports enthusiasts....

Got any rollcage pics yet?

Oh, and if you need it (torque specs, etc), I have a Manta B Haynes workshop manual.

Bob

[oppositelock]

Originally Posted by RallyBob Dave, I believe it's closer to 2" wider. I have a Manta B rear axle I used to run in a race car in my barn, I could check for sure. I had it in my street car for a while, and it fit a stock-bodied Ascona A, although it pushed the 13 x 6 MSW wheels (4" backspace) right out to the edge of the fenders.

Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I seem to remember the B axle is about 57.5" flange to flange and the A is about 55.5". Something like that.

The car is looking awesome BTW! Glad you're working on it again, I've been following on the rally forums and hoped you would post pics here. Porn for the Opel motorsports enthusiasts.... Got any rollcage pics yet?

I've got to load them up, still. They are on the way.

Oh, and if you need it (torque specs, etc), I have a Manta B Haynes workshop manual. Bob

I've got it, too. Ebay is a wonderful thing...

[Ricky Slade]

The dual master set up looks like it would fit close on a GT firewall. Where did you find this equipment? I was hoping to stay away from vacuum assist also.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by Ricky Slade The dual master set up looks like it would fit close on a GT firewall. Where did you find this equipment? I was hoping to stay away from vacuum assist also.

Ricky, you can get separate racing master cylinders from places like Wilwood, Tilton, AP, Alcon, and Brembo. The Tiltons and Wilwoods are very affordable, the others...not so much! You'll need a pedal cluster with the balance bar as well to set front/rear bias, but the whole setup should cost about $350.

Bob

[IT Manta]

The restoration looks like it is coming along nicely Dave! Reminds me of the rebuild and update on my ITB car a few years ago. Some cars you just can't part with and are really woth all the sweat. Maybe I will see you at one of the Pacific Raceways races next year?

[oppositelock]

Originally Posted by IT Manta The restoration looks like it is coming along nicely Dave! Reminds me of the rebuild and update on my ITB car a few years ago. Some cars you just can't part with and are really woth all the sweat. Maybe I will see you at one of the Pacific Raceways races next year?

Thanks, Peter. Yeah, I don't really ever plan on selling the Ascona and would probably regret it if I did.
You know, I spend a lot of time at race tracks around the country (I work for an ALMS team) but I don't get to PR much. I do try to make it out to the Historics, though, and made it this year. Who knows, maybe I'll see you out there.

[oppositelock]

Here are some interior shots from the start of the project after the old cage was cut out. Third shot shows the hydraulic handbrake setup and proportioning valve to the rear brakes. Last two shots show the front floor areas and you can see the old rollcage foot I had to cut out. I had to replace large sections of floor around the cage mounting areas because of some rust (not so much) and holes from cutting out the cage foot pads and in the rear the floors were so beat and there were patches over patches. This car never had any underbody protection and the floors and under structure are beat to death. Something that will get remedied but it meant a bunch of extra work when doing the cage.

[oppositelock]

Here's the old rear seat back/ deck panel I cut out. This not only looked ugly but I wanted to tie the new cage into the rear shock towers. The easiest way was just to cut this whole mess out. Plus I'm trying to save weight wherever I can since the new cage will be heavier than the old, outdated one. This rear panel weighs 35 lbs! As you can see from the trunk side in the second shot there's a thick steel plate that the old shoulder harnesses mounted to between the two tubes. Those tubes are what connected the cage to the fenderwells as the old cage bolted to the top of this panel. I will replace this panel after the cage is done with an aluminum panel that should weigh less than 5 lbs.

[oppositelock]

And now the moment Bob has been chomping at the bit for. Here are some pictures of the progress so far on the new rollcage.

[oppositelock]

Here are some detail shots. A pillar, B pillar gusset, bottom of V brace at tunnel, rear brace foot where it mounts to shock tower.

[oppositelock]

Windshield gusset, rear X brace gusset, main hoop to rear stay leg that runs along the rear wheelwell. Those with a keen eye may notice some of the cage is MIG welded and some of the cage is TIG welded. There are a couple of reasons for that. The first one is the Ascona isn't exactly mobile right now and it's off in one corner of the shop. I could'nt quite reach it with my TIG welder but then I found a way to get it to just barely reach. Also, I don't have a hand controller for it, only a foot controller and it's a real pain in the ass to operate the foot controller when you are contorted into the weird positions you need to be to weld a rollcage (Bob knows what I mean!) That's why not all the TIG welds are as pretty as they could be. Plus it's just faster and easier to use the MIG welder. But for the detail stuff like the gussets I try to use the TIG.

[jordan]

Very nice cage work!

[Gary Sullivan]

Love the cage. That cost some work!!!!!

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by oppositelock And now the moment Bob has been chomping at the bit for. Here are some pictures of the progress so far on the new rollcage.

Very nice work! I expected as much, I just wanted to see it myself! From what I can see I presume it's built to current FIA article 253 standards. A lot more work than just a few years ago.

Bob

[oppositelock]

Thanks, guys. I have paid the rent the last 15 or so years specializing in building rollcages so you tend to learn how to do it after all that time. The ironic thing is this is the first time I've ever had one of my own race cars with a cage I built in it. The cobbler has no shoes, as they say. The Ascona and the Omni rally car were already caged when I bought them and my first Manta rally car I put together in 1987 back before I was building cages. I paid the princely sum of $350 to have the cage for that car built. It costs that much just for the tubing now! My Omni circle track car actually has the front half of the cage I cut out of the Ascona tied together to the rear half of a Safety Devices rollcage for a VW Golf I've had laying around for years. I call it racecar recycling!

It will look a lot nicer once it's all painted up. Here's some pics of a cage I built for my friend's Mitsu Evo 8 rally car. This is not my Opel but it's my thread so I get to hijack it.