74 Manta build

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta I can't decide on the color the car will be, so it'll likely end up multi-color...

Vintage paint scheme, or modern?

Bob

[Rally Manta]

Most likely a olderish type theme, since I'm trying to do a period correctish car.

many Opel cars seem to be yellow and white, (factory colors?) so probably something combo of yellow and white and black, kinda like this:

really I'm just not sure yet.

[costasa]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta Most likely a olderish type theme, since I'm trying to do a period correctish car. many Opel cars seem to be yellow and white, (factory colors?) so probably something combo of yellow and white and black, kinda like this: really I'm just not sure yet.

Hi great project you have.

If you want to see the manta colors
Opel Manta A series colour chart

I like your signal blue and a black hood like the SR it will be amazing

[Rally Manta]

Thanks.


I couldn't open that link, sorry.

Might stay with the original Signal Blue (it's grown on me) and then some GTE stripes and a black hood.

too many options.

[costasa]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta Thanks. I couldn't open that link, sorry. Might stay with the original Signal Blue (it's grown on me) and then some GTE stripes and a black hood. too many options.

Sorry for the link
try this one
Opel Manta Owners Club (UK) Homepage

And go to history and archive, then select the Manta colour chart.

You can see there the opel publicity and look to the SR version.

[Rally Manta]

Nice.

I'll have to see about possibly where to get Signal Blue here in the colonies...

I was actually strongly leaning towards the $50 paintjob a la Mopar forums... I played around with the following process on an old car shell last summer and it was quite impressive!

....it would look as good as you've got the patience for (I need to work on that personally) and how much wet-sanding you want to put into it.

caution: loooong thread but very, very interesting (to me)- read all the first page and then it's up to you how far you read after that.
moparts: paint job on a budget!?





.

[Rally Manta]

RustOleum.com

What do you think is closer to Signal Blue... R: 'Sail Blue' or 'Fresh Blue' ?

[costasa]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta RustOleum.com What do you think is closer to Signal Blue... R: 'Sail Blue' or 'Fresh Blue' ?

It looks to be sail blue.

I'm to start to restore my manta 1.9luxus from 1973 and the color is grey with blue
1237_Imagem1.jpg DSCN0356.JPG
I was looking to the VIN plate and in the reference off the color i have is "L"
I bougth some books from amazon, to learn about automotive paint, and i not decide what colour to paint, but i like very much the signal blue and signal yellow (and signal yellow with a black hood and black stripes it will be amazing)
Manta_SR%20%28Medium%29.jpg

[Rally Manta]

Yes, I am "torn" between blue and yellow- Yellow and White would look more "Opel Motorsport" ish, and I like Yellow, but sticking with blue, even a real close Blue like that "Sail Blue" would be much much easier and allow me to just clean the doorjambs and interior stuff and it matches.... a total color change is much more work to get to look right as we all know.

..maybe a mostly blue car with some yellow/white stripes or something.

I'm at the point where I need to make a decision on getting fender flares or not before going forward with bodywork.

Can anyone who's done the Manta flares tell me what's involved/ the best way to attach them properly and securely to the car?

Thanks.

[MantAscona]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta I'm at the point where I need to make a decision on getting fender flares or not before going forward with bodywork. Can anyone who's done the Manta flares tell me what's involved/ the best way to attach them properly and securely to the car? Thanks.

I used flares on the Ascona I'm building for hillclimbs. I can tell you from experience that the fit is truly horrible and they require much work to make them fit anywhere near well. I will add though, if you are using them on a race car as I am, I would certainly not mold them in as would be done on a nice street car. You just know they will get damaged in a racing environment, especially rallying, and will need to be repaired or replaced at some point. I used tech screws to fit mine temporarily and they will be fastened with aluminum rivets after being painted. The tech screws are nice for fitting purposes as they drill a hole and fasten the flare in one step. After fitting, simply remove the tech screws and drill the holes one size larger to fit the rivets. Using aluminum rivets for final fastening will allow the flares to be removed easily for replacement as they drill out much easier than steel rivets. They also exert less force on the fiberglass when installing and will not crack the flares like steel rivets.

I am using flares for no other reason than to accomodate wider wheels and tires for mechanical traction and to provide a wider track width for handling purposes. Rally cars, however, normally run a relatively narrow wheel and tire combination and probably would not require the use of flares unless you will be getting into radically altered suspension. I personally like a stock bodied car from an appearance standpoint.

Duane

[Rally Manta]

I agree with you that the flares are in eminent danger on a rally car.. This is one of the points in my arguing with myself against them. Also, if I damage one flare, can I get just one flare?? Probably not.

also, as you stated, I wouldn't be running super-wide tires, and have told myself I'd need to get a different back-spaced wheel for things not to look goofy.

I really like the way they look though... makes the car seem lower, wider and more aggressive.... decisions, decisions.

[Rally Manta]

Well, I slept on it and think that the fender flares are off the list... I can spend the time, effort, and money towards other things.. I can get them later I suppose. I have a month and change to get a cage in and a bunch of other prep to get this thing ready by May. I'll have to do something about every day to get it done.

Last night I bead-blasted a bunch of little parts and hardware and that was about it.

[MantAscona]

I think that's a wise choice, at least for now. I know exactly how you feel about trying to get it done by May as I am trying to finish three projects by May also. I'm starting to think I'm not going to be able to get them all done in time.

Duane

[Rally Manta]

Car is now "Sail Blue" First coat doesn't look too terribly bad= encouraging!

pics of the color and some cage pics coming soon- got the main hoop and front hoop bent and tweeked. Hopefully backstays and rear "x" tonight. Trying to get everything bent/cut/notched so I can tack together and then take, complete, to a pro welder to do the final welding. Got a few things back together in the E-compartment from having it apart for head-gasket job. Even with taking the car mostly apart and pressure-washing the whole thing top-to-bottom, I'm still finding RallyCross dirt in the darndest places.


Bob, Dave, Harold, Mark, et al: What is your take on 5.2- A-piller reinforcement? I know I don't have to do this, but I'm looking at trying to do a cage that has ALL the bells and whistles even discussed. Sill bars, gussets, mostly 1.75/.095 throughout, rear X, roof X, and everything else extra I can. I don't want to worry about any grandfathering in the near future... I want a cage that will be 100% okie-dokey for a looong time. I hate that every year it seems there's cage work to be done and you have to chase the carrot, but I digress.
For the Manta specifically it really doesn't seem that the front hoop would gain very much strength at all and this bar would be very, very, very difficult to install with the "<4" from top and bottom requirement for this particular bar.
http://www.nasarallysport.com/rules-...Appendix-B.pdf

Thanks, John

[Rally Manta]

Well, yesterday became April, the crunch month- I got so much work to do on this thing, but glad to have a tiny bit of momemtum going.

Here's a couple pics from last night..

you can kinda tell the color- I think it looks pretty fair. getting rid of the surface rust and having the car all one color increases the overall appearance factor greatly.

[Rally Manta]

Originally Posted by hrcollinsjr By the way John, since it looks like you might actually try to start that thing up before I get back down there. Don't forget to adjust the valves that I left loose. Seems like there is/was something else I left loose. Hmmm, maybe it's http://www.opelgt.com/forums/opel-ti...ignitions.html. Just hook the two wires up per Otto's detailed instructions and you should be good to go! Harold

HC, valves adjusted and everything buttoned back up... for now I "closed the loop" on the heater core and have it running back into itself. I followed this step-by-step last night to hook up the Petronix, and= nothing. The starter spins the motor but no fire. I ran out of time and had to hit the sack. What should I check this afternoon? I'll double check 12v coming out of the blade-connected wire I connected to the fusebox. You only had the two wires coming out of the dist. red and black... I found the leg on the furebox, 3rd in from passenger side no problem, blade connector went on fine and I thought "cool, that was easy".... the other wire was black, and I didn't see where the green wire was on the coil so?? There was a "+" and "-" on the coil so I'm pretty sure I didn't hook to the positive side of the coil or anything... I guess I'll have to take detailed pictures if you can't come down soon so we can figure this out. I hate wiring exercises, it's not my thing- this is a good example of "idiot proof" clashing with a bigtime wiring-idiot haha.

[Rally Manta]

O Harold, where for art thou? I need help adjusting these valves

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta O Harold, where for art thou? I need help adjusting these valves

Since this is your 57th post and you're wanting to rallycross a model 57 Opel I suggest to the moderators that they lock you permanently at 57!


Looks like this weekend might work for me. I should have the KYB shocks in by then for your car.

Harold

[oppositelock]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta Car is now "Sail Blue" . Bob, Dave, Harold, Mark, et al: What is your take on 5.2- A-piller reinforcement? I know I don't have to do this, but I'm looking at trying to do a cage that has ALL the bells and whistles even discussed. Sill bars, gussets, mostly 1.75/.095 throughout, rear X, roof X, and everything else extra I can. I don't want to worry about any grandfathering in the near future... I want a cage that will be 100% okie-dokey for a looong time. I hate that every year it seems there's cage work to be done and you have to chase the carrot, but I digress. For the Manta specifically it really doesn't seem that the front hoop would gain very much strength at all and this bar would be very, very, very difficult to install with the "<4" from top and bottom requirement for this particular bar. http://www.nasarallysport.com/rules-...Appendix-B.pdf Thanks, John

Some pics would help but I don't think you would need an A-pillar bar for the Manta, especially with 1.75" tubing. The A-pillar (and hence the rollcage tube) is already pretty upright. Modern cars tend to have the windshield more tilted back and so the rollcage bar will have a pretty sharp bend at the base of the winshield and that's what they are trying to support with the A-pillar reinforcement. The FIA rules spell out the measurement if it's required or not so check those to be sure. I believe I figured it wasn't required in my Ascona B (still have a few tubes left to install to finish.)

[Rally Manta]

<6 month project-pause (racing season) almost over>

time for phase 2.

[Manta Rallier]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta Car is now "Sail Blue" Bob, Dave, Harold, Mark, et al: What is your take on 5.2- A-piller reinforcement? I know I don't have to do this, but I'm looking at trying to do a cage that has ALL the bells and whistles even discussed. Sill bars, gussets, mostly 1.75/.095 throughout, rear X, roof X, and everything else extra I can. I don't want to worry about any grandfathering in the near future... I want a cage that will be 100% okie-dokey for a looong time. I hate that every year it seems there's cage work to be done and you have to chase the carrot, but I digress. For the Manta specifically it really doesn't seem that the front hoop would gain very much strength at all and this bar would be very, very, very difficult to install with the "<4" from top and bottom requirement for this particular bar. http://www.nasarallysport.com/rules-...Appendix-B.pdf Thanks, John

Hey John,

I just got back to this site for the 1st time in about 4 months myself. As for the A-pillar support, I can't see how you will meet the requirements that allow you to NOT install this. The Manta windshield support is not very flat, but it is not very straight up either. What is the fit challenge that you are running into? BTW, you can make this A-pillar support tube smaller in diameter. If it helps, I am sure we can be a bit liberal on the 4" measurement. No progress in 6 months on the Opel here, dag nab it!

Regards,
Mark B.

[Rally Manta]

Welcome back to the never-ending Manta build, haha.

Another few months have passed and not much of anything noteworthy.... except the cage is 90% done. I will try to post pics in the next day or two. The only thing lacking is a couple really short connecter-tubes on the doorbars. (upper high and lower/"sill" bars) and deciding where the A-piller bars need to be. The loss of an arrangement with a friend has led to me getting my stuff out of one of my 'stashes'- a Med sized shop housing a couple car projects and a bunch of parts, inc. the Manta.. this has forced me to organize some stuff, move a bunch, throw out some junk, lighten the load, put my hands on some stuff that I hadn't laid eyes on in a while- ya know, forced positive progress.

Another immediate unreasonable goal that has the potential to at least get some progress is to get it back together a little and looking like a car somewhat to run a local hillclimb in a few weeks just for me to say it's been 'out' and running at least once this year.

The Pertronix was a problem that is still not completely understood, so back to points for the meantime. Car seems to run well, but the 'new' mech fuel pump was not working so another one is on the way- already made up my mind to get an elec pump setup asap.

It is some other projects' turn to get back-burnered this fall so that some decent progress can finally be made to get this car road-worthy, track-worthy, and eventually stage-worthy.

John

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by Rally Manta Welcome back to the never-ending Manta build, haha. Car seems to run well, but the 'new' mech fuel pump was not working so another one is on the way- already made up my mind to get an elec pump setup asap. John

John, the new pump was NOS at time of installation. Now with that being said, I dumped the sediment out of your old pump with the screen several times before installing the "new" pump. The problem still sounds like to me that the supply side has problems. IIRC you had the tank cleaned. Is the screen still on the fuel pickup? I'm thinking you need to install an in line fuel filter before the fuel pump whether it be mechanical or electric if you want to alleviate the problem.

Harold

[Rally Manta]

H, yes, you remembered right, I did completely pull the tank and have it professionally cleaned out- 1st thing. Unfortunately this '1st thing' of cleaning the tank is nearly 3 years ago now. Also if you 'member I re-did the soft lines and blew out the hard line to the front of the car.... and the pump you put on was new... so you understand my frustration. I pulled that pump off and opened it up expecting to find a screen (IDK) but no screen inside which you know- just the diaphram... and not a bunch of trash. That pump still might be good, again IDK. I think an electric pump asap might help this problem long-term so as to at least be able to pump all gas out of the tank, rinse, repeat a couple times... install 2-3 in-line filters, run a couple tanks of gas through it, and then maybe this hurdle will be done.

[Rally Manta]

Heck, maybe I need to pull the tank again and start over.