[Manta Rallier]

Supervisor and the real genius behind all of this... LOL

 

[Mercougary]

Rebel is BullMastiff. He's a good boy. Kind of slobbery though.

 

[Mercougary]

Front sway bar mounting is simple compared to the rear. Don't care for the suggested u-bolt fasteners at the frame though.

 

[Mercougary]

The pinion depth is set to the numbers for the starting point. It became obvious that it is too high. The teeth ate dragging the center carrier and tooth pattern says I need to move away from the ring gear as well. Start now making adjustments to it in .005" increments. I may blueprint the corners of the teeth for some more clearance.

 

[Mercougary]

Entire drivetrain has now been rebuilt and I'm taking advantage of the absence of the torque tube and rear end housing to start on the 2 1/2" up and over tail pipe. Removed all the plastic fuel lines and replacing with aluminum tubing. Cleaning the undercarriage and prepping for spray undercoating is really a chore.

 

[Mercougary]

Just got a package of high temp insulators so I can finish all of the exhaust hangers.

 

[Mercougary]

A face mask doesn't cut it. I'll have to get an organic vapor respirator. I got a little goofy last night spraying undercoating.
😵

 

[Mercougary]

Progress report. Kinda nice to put alot of this restoration process behind me.

Amazed that the rear lower valance is double walled construction of the unibody. Guess it will have to be straightened from the exterior.

 

[Mercougary]

Tail pipe nearly done with fabrication work and getting ready to tack it all up. Have to hang the rear end to check all clearances. Can't wait to get the front end in the air. What I wouldn't give for a hydraulic lift. My days of rolling around on a creeper are limited.

 

[Mercougary]

Sorry forgot to upload the pics.

 

[young olds]

I’ve been thinking about finishing my exhaust, still need to go over the axle and do a tail pipe. Yours looks good, waiting for pictures with rear end installed.

 

[Mercougary]

First time I've worked on the Opel in months. Plug welded the holes in the Isuzu backing plates. Following GoinManta recipe.

 

[Mercougary]

All the mounting holes have officially been relocated. Have to get these up on the mill to shave off the welds on the outer face and clearance the parking brake plate to accept the Opel bearing retainer plate. It is going to fight with the foot of the cable guide a bit. Still remodeling but getting closer to having this disc conversion put to bed. Hard lines for the brakes appear to be a little short.

 

[Mercougary]

Disk brake conversion is nearly complete. Having to monkey with the emergency brake cables a bit, but i think its going to work nicely. Going to bolt up the rear wheels and get this thing back down on the ground.

 

[Mercougary]

Got my 2 1/2" tail pipe assy tacked up. Have to lower the rear axle considerably in order to snake this back into place.

 

[Mercougary]

Played around with varying thickness of washers and determined that 3mm is the ideal offset to get the rotors to travel through the caliper brackets properly. Got these spacers for a 318i but they are oversize. They must be ground 2mm all the way around to match the hub face. Too large to fit inside the hat.

 

[Will I. Finish]

Really like what I see regarding the undercoating of your car. Wish you had not shown that now I may have to follow your lead and the prep-work does not appear to be much fun.
Great job documenting your project. Keep up the good work.

 

[Mercougary]

Back half is complete. No more unknowns, mock-ups or guesswork.

 

[Mercougary]

My Manta is now very similar to setting up the floater 9" rear under my racecar. Rear trailing arms and the panhard bar are infinitely adjustable. Had to elevate the car and plumb down from the centerline of the chassis. Snap lines through those points and another perpendicular to that near the back half. I measured the stock trailing arms at 16.25" ctr to ctr and installed the new ones there. Plumbed down again from centerline of the axles and found the left rear to be leading by a sixteenth of an inch. The heim joints are coupled by 5/8-18 hdwr so it needed to be lengthened by one turn. There is undoubtedly some variation in where the mounting brackets are welded within the uni-body. Got everything squared up so it will track straight.