Rescuing a Commodore GS . . . in Kuala Lumpur!

[tekenaar]

About three months ago I received a PM from axxmann69 (Daniel) in Malaysia for help to rebuild his friend's newly acquired Commodore GS 2.8 CIH engine.



He could not locate any source for oversize 2.8 (92mm bore) pistons there and was at a loss for other sources or how to proceed. Knowing that the 2.8 has the same stroke as our 1.9s, I explained this to him and suggested that he look for standard 1.9 pistons instead . . . just buy six of them and have the block bored to 93mm instead.

A week or so later, he PMed me again saying,

hi Tek,

My friend managed to source 4pcs(1set) of 93mm standard piston, and another 6pcs(5sets) of 93mm 030 pistons, they ain't cheap. Do you think it is possible to make use of the 030 since the std size he can only find one set.

Best Regards
xman

The next day I replied,

Yes, take the "93mm 030" pistons to the machine shop for reference and tell machinist to bore the (92mm) block to 93.75mm in two steps. First to 93mm, then to 93.70mm and finally finish-hone to 93.75mm. You want to do this in steps to avoid heat warping the cylinders by removing too much metal at one time.

You will need to check with a new 2.8 head gasket after boring is finished to see if the gasket sticks out over the edge of the new 93.75mm bores. If not, 2.8 gasket is safe to use. If it does, use the 3.0 head gasket instead . . . all the rest of the gaskets of the 2.8 and 3.0 gasket sets are identical.

A few days later he said "Thanks" . . . and then I heard nothing more from him for about a week or so until curiosity got the better part of me and a few days later I sent . . .

thanks tek,
rgds
xman

Just curious, any progress on your friend's engine rebuild?

Another few days later - we are talking about the other side of the world, after all - he replied . . .

Hi Tek,

Just met my friend yesterday, he managed to source all 6 pistons, gaskets, clutch plate, pressure plate, valves and 3 new complete water pumps, most of the parts were quite similar to other Opel models, this made work a lot easier for him.
Everything has been dropped off at the mechanic's garage and, if not mistaken, all the cutting and milling have been completed, only waiting for reassembly.
Will keep u guys updated, maybe will get some pictures uploaded soon.

xman

. . . and I replied a couple days later . . .

Great to hear from you . . . sounds like good progress is being made too! I think your friend will be very happy with the results when everything is finished. Opel CIH engines use very many common parts, internally and externally and even between 4- and 6-cylinders.

Externally, almost everything interchanges too, even mounting brackets for alternators, starters, pumps, etc. A 6-cylinder CIH engine is just a 4-cylinder with two additional cylinders added! This is why you could use 4-cylinder pistons in your 6-cylinder . . . it's just two extra cylinders!

And yes, when you get a chance to make some photos, do post them here . . . many will be very interested.
Greetings from Texas,
Otto

At this point I didn't expect to hear anything further until the mechanical rebuild was completed and engine was, in fact, running again . . . I was not to be disappointed . . . until . . .

. . . about three weeks ago, I received another PM from Daniel after the engine was running and they discovered some more problems with the two Zenith carbs on the engine . . . car was stored and had not run for about 10 years!

They had disassembled the carbs and found some corrosion problems internally that could not be fixed . . . hmmm, humid, hot, damp climate . . . 'stored' (not started) for ~10 years, who could've guessed it! Replied that I'd look and see what, if anything, was out there.

Logged onto German e-Bay a few days later and 'searched' for Zenith carbs . . . there's two needed, remember! Let me just say this again, "TIMING is everything!" There was only ONE listing "Zenith Vergaser Mercedes 280 S (W108-W113)" . . . I hadn't expected ANY, to be honest.



Even though listing is for a Mercedes 280S, their 2.8 6-cylinder engine of that time is very similar to Opel's, joined intake/exhaust (non-crossflow) manifolds and using the same pair of Zenith 2-barrel progressive carbs. Passed link on to Daniel so he could bid directly on it . . . and e-Bay "International" bidding rules reared their ugly heads when he tried to contact the seller directly, as I had suggested, about only shipping the carbs and linkages (manifolds useless to him and weigh a ton) to Malaysia . . .

Hi Otto,
I have already done that, but to complete "asking seller a question" I have to verify my credit card on ebay, it's a rule when buyer and seller are off two different countries and secondly it 's also a rule if I used a free email service provider such as Yahoo.com.
I also just found out from my credit card issuance bank that I need to verify my online pin number with them before I can use it online and this can only be done in 3 to 4 days.
It will be difficult for me to get your help I suppose, but I have to ask anyway, could you please ask Leocrat for me how much it will cost to have it sent to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for me. The final question is if I cannot bid for the item, could you bid the item for me? Do not worry as I do not want to tarnish your good ebay account record and for payment do not worry as I'm a good paymaster although I'm buying this for a friend.
Regards
Daniel

. . . looked like I was to be 'middleman' a bit longer than I'd planned originally. Ah well, "In for a penny, in for a pound!" . . . replied to Daniel the next day . . .

I'll contact him today and let you know. I'll track the items and bid on it close to the end of auction (how I always do it!). I'll keep you up to date on how it goes . . . also keeping my fingers crossed that we get this as it's rare and hard to find. We were just lucky that someone had one listed when you needed it . . .
Otto

. . . and immediately to the seller to see if he would ship just the carbs and linkage, check on shipping costs to Malaysia, accept direct bank transfer in Euros from Daniel's friend and send us his bank acount info after we won the auction. Seller replied to me in the affirmative . . .

Dear tekenaar,

Hallo Otto, natürlich kann ich Einlaß- und Auslaßkrümmer wegbauen. Kann aber nicht sagen, wieviel er dann wiegt. Momentan sind es 19 kg. Zu den Frachtkosten kann ich leider nichts sagen, aber wenn er die auktion gewonnen hat will ich mich gerne um die günstigsten Frachtkosten bemühen. MfG Leo

. . . the rest of the week was spent just making sure "all the ducks were in a row" with both the seller and Daniel so there wouldn't be any problem after the bid. I discovered one thing in this, intra-US messages are mostly at least "same-day" . . . NOT!! at all the same as dealing with the other side of the world and very dependent on "time-of-day" . . . sometimes just hours, but sometimes days!

Time marches on and we arrive at "Bid Day" . . . closes 05:45 . . . AM! . . . I'm getting too old for this! . . . bid . . . end-of-auction . . . win!!

Celebrations rampant in Malaysia . . . well, at least two guys in Malaysia anyway! He sends . . .

Hi Otto,

I see that you have won the bid at 61 Euros, now should I pay directly to Leocrat or do you want me to pay to you. I will need to know the total amount to be paid and the below particulars

Name of receipient:
Bank Account Number of receipient:
Bank Name:

Thanks again
Regards
Daniel

. . . I reply . . .

Daniel,
Probably best if you pay leocrat directly, but he has to remove the carbs and linkage and package it for shipping cost to you. I'll contact him regarding payment details (seller name, total amount, bank account # and bank location) which I'll forward to you. I'll also ask for his personal e-mail once this is done, so you can communicate directly with him for final details, OK?
Otto

. . . and we wait for shipping cost and banking info from Erich in Munich. Several days later Erich replies . . .

Dear tekenaar,

Hallo Otto,
hier also die Versandmöglichkeiten:
Normal: 8-12 Tage, € 52,00
Premium: 6-8 Tage, € 94,00
Je nach Überweisungsbetrag wähle ich den entsprechenden Versand.
Die Konto-Daten: Nr. *********, BLZ ********
MfG Erich Kadner

. . . and in the same day, about an hour later, Daniel replies to me in e-Mail . . .

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Christy [mailto:danchr69@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 3:45 AM
To: Otto Bartsch
Subject: payment made


Hi Otto,

Have just made payment to
Erich Kadner
Account Nbr: *********
Routing Nbr: ********
Deutsche Postbank AG, Muenchen Branch.
Amount in Euros = 113.

Money should reach him in less than 3 days, hopefully.
thanks.

Regards
Daniel

. . . and now we're all just waiting for the money to clear, the carbs to be shipped from Munich and their arrival in Kuala Lumpur! All in all, it's been an interesting triumvirate - Kuala Lumpur/Plano/Munich - can't get much more international than that!

Opels Rule!

[BQS4]

Geez, Otto!!

[namba209 (R.I.P.)]

Nothing compares to Opel folks helping Opel folks, even if it is worldwide. Congrats Otto on a fantastic job and being an interpreter, too.

[hallgeir]

Well, Otto, I already knew it, but this confirms it: you are the best.

[2 Fast 4 U]

[David McCollam]

Nice job, Otto. I just dropped a box of parts in the mail to Norway. I've got some ready for Portugal, but I can't get them into the flat rate size box. Those are handy, $37 for 20 pounds to Europe.

[heimue]

. . . All in all, it's been an interesting triumvirate - Kuala Lumpur/Plano/Munich - can't get much more international than that!
Opels Rule!

You could have added Newnan, GA, to make your triangle a rectangle with payment by PayPal/bank transfer...

Dieter

[tekenaar]

. . . All in all, it's been an interesting triumvirate - Kuala Lumpur/Plano/Munich - can't get much more international than that!
Opels Rule!

You could have added Newnan, GA, to make your triangle a rectangle with payment by PayPal/bank transfer...

Dieter

??? . . . uh, but Daniel made the payment by direct bank transfer from Kuala Lumpur to Erich in Munich . . . without involving either me or PayPal . . .

[axxmann69]

Otto has been a great help, anyway thanks again.

[heimue]

??? . . . uh, but Daniel made the payment by direct bank transfer from Kuala Lumpur to Erich in Munich . . . without involving either me or PayPal . . .

That's exactly my point. He payed about 40-50 bucks on fees for the transfer. About 1/3 of the actual transfer value...

Dieter

[tekenaar]

That's exactly my point. He payed about 40-50 bucks on fees for the transfer. About 1/3 of the actual transfer value...

Dieter

Dieter,
That would be great if both parties had PayPal accounts . . . neither does. Oh yes, he paid €8.00 for the transfer . . . not bad, considering . . . must have good bank connections. Believe that fee was on the German (receiving bank) side.