I rebuilt my 2.2 motor for my 1970 GT about 3 1/2 years ago (2015/2016), which you can read about I this thread:
https://www.opelgt.com/forums/6f-engine-rebuilding/56650-2-2-motor-need-rebuild.html
Unfortunately, due to life circumstances (having kids, changing jobs, moving, building, etc) I am just now getting back to working on the car. And even more unfortunately, I have several things that I need to tackle in order to be able to enjoy my car again.
Car Overview:
1970 GT, automatic transmission, 2.2 motor with dual 45 DCOE carbs, custom ISKY camshaft (specs: intake duration 222 w .455 lift, exhaust duration 228 w/ .448 lift, lobe separation of 112) 1975 distributor, pertronix electronic ignition module.
Carbs:
Weber 45 DCOE 152 purchased from Pierce Manifolds. They jetted the carbs based on the specs of the motor rebuild and transmission of the vehicle.
Motor: 2016
The motor was rebuilt without issue and went through the 20-30 minute break-in period at initial start-up, which took place in the April/May 2016 timeframe, also without issue. I took the car to a shop to have it detailed and buffed out after sitting for a while in various shops and my garage for a year or more. While driving it back to my house from the detail shop, I gave it some throttle to pass a car and it stumbled. I let off the throttle, feathered the pedal a bit and all returned to normal. I drove it a few more time for short distances (10-20 miles at a time at most). Then one day while out for a drive, I tried to take off from a 4 way stop and the stumble was there again. However, this time, i couldn't get it to go away. I called the guy who built the motor and he came out to do a house call. Compression was 180+ in all 4 cylinders, he camera scoped the cylinders and all looked good. We got the motor to "run" by it was rough and sounded off. We used a temp gun to shoot the header pipes and #4 was colder than the rest. By this time, it was time to move and start building a home and the GT went in to storage.
Motor: 2019
Last week my dad come over to give me a hand firing the car up for the first time to see what we could figure out with the motor. First, we adjusted all the valves, zero lash then a 1/2 to 3/4 turn. I recently changed to a new carter 2-4psi fuel pump and ran new Gates Barricade fuel lines. The tank was drained and filled 1/2 up with zero ethanol fuel. Brand new Optima Red Top battery. We finally got the motor to fire, but unfortunately it is still experiencing the same, if not worse issues. It is still running cold on #4, based on thermal temp gun shooting the exhaust header pipes. We performed a compression test, all cylinders were between 180-185. We verified spark at each plug. The motor would only start & "run" with the distributor turned counter-clockwise until the vacuum can was hitting the motor. Additionally, the car was backfiring out of the carbs at seemingly random intervals. Cylinder #1 was the primary culprit of backfiring, but the engine almost sounded as if it was cross-firing. I went and picked up a new cap and rotor, and the cross firing didn't seem as bad but it still happened. I have both my original pertronix unit and a new pertronix III with new matching coil. We swapped out both units and coils to see if that made a difference, but it didn't change the result. We finally walked away from it because as we were giving it throttle, we returned the throttle to the closed position and the engine started to surge and take off to higher rpms. In fact with the throttle closed to the idle position it surged to nearly 3500rpms and remained there. We shut the engine off and called it a day.
Interior:
After 15 months in storage I went to pick the car up from the storage garage. As I took the car cover off and opened the door, my heart sunk.....nearly the entire interior of the car had molded over. Carpet, seat belts, dash components, even rubber hoses in the engine bay. Luckily, when I redid the interior of the car years ago, I selected marine grade vinyl for my seats, door panels, headliner, etc, and none of that stuff was affected by the mold. So I've currently got the interior out of my car and will be ordering a carpet kit from OGTS to redo all the carpet.
Metal:
When first doing the dual carb conversion, I had a guy offer to help me out with making room for them in the engine bay. Well, unfortunately with all the stuff going on, I wasn't totally aware of what had been done until i have recently been going over the car to see what needs to happen. This guy "helped me out" by doing a hack-job in the engine bay and using spray foam and the black spray paint to fill in some gaps! Additionally, he had taken the dash out and center console pieces...but when we tried reassembly, he didn't get them lined up properly and the only was he could get them to stay was to put some screws through them in new screw locations. So needless to say, I need to remove the entire dash and console pieces to ensure that they are put back in correctly; plus it wouldn't hurt to check behind the dash area for mold growth to make sure i don't have that in the car.
After taking the carpet out, I realized that I have a rust hole under the package area behind the center console and some rust in the drivers side rocker area. The previous owner had done some metal work in the floor board area of drivers side and added fiberglass rocker skirts to the exterior. In my opinion, those two areas need to be repaired prior to the interior going back in the car.
Conclusion:
So that's where I'm at with my beloved GT. I'm overwhelmed and not sure what to do with the motor. The interior and metal work need addressed, then I'll need to see what else may need some love after the car sitting for almost 5 years in total. And then, I figure since I'm going to have the whole car apart for this stuff, I might as well take the time to address some things I've had on a wish list, like A/C. But first thing first and that's getting the motor running on all 4 cylinders.
My little boys just want to hear the car run and go for a ride, and I'd love to be able to make the happen for them and myself sooner than later.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated! PM me for my number, in the event anyone is willing to talk to help me figure this out. I live just north of Indianapolis if any fellow Opelers may be in the area.
Eric
https://www.opelgt.com/forums/6f-engine-rebuilding/56650-2-2-motor-need-rebuild.html
Unfortunately, due to life circumstances (having kids, changing jobs, moving, building, etc) I am just now getting back to working on the car. And even more unfortunately, I have several things that I need to tackle in order to be able to enjoy my car again.
Car Overview:
1970 GT, automatic transmission, 2.2 motor with dual 45 DCOE carbs, custom ISKY camshaft (specs: intake duration 222 w .455 lift, exhaust duration 228 w/ .448 lift, lobe separation of 112) 1975 distributor, pertronix electronic ignition module.
Carbs:
Weber 45 DCOE 152 purchased from Pierce Manifolds. They jetted the carbs based on the specs of the motor rebuild and transmission of the vehicle.
Motor: 2016
The motor was rebuilt without issue and went through the 20-30 minute break-in period at initial start-up, which took place in the April/May 2016 timeframe, also without issue. I took the car to a shop to have it detailed and buffed out after sitting for a while in various shops and my garage for a year or more. While driving it back to my house from the detail shop, I gave it some throttle to pass a car and it stumbled. I let off the throttle, feathered the pedal a bit and all returned to normal. I drove it a few more time for short distances (10-20 miles at a time at most). Then one day while out for a drive, I tried to take off from a 4 way stop and the stumble was there again. However, this time, i couldn't get it to go away. I called the guy who built the motor and he came out to do a house call. Compression was 180+ in all 4 cylinders, he camera scoped the cylinders and all looked good. We got the motor to "run" by it was rough and sounded off. We used a temp gun to shoot the header pipes and #4 was colder than the rest. By this time, it was time to move and start building a home and the GT went in to storage.
Motor: 2019
Last week my dad come over to give me a hand firing the car up for the first time to see what we could figure out with the motor. First, we adjusted all the valves, zero lash then a 1/2 to 3/4 turn. I recently changed to a new carter 2-4psi fuel pump and ran new Gates Barricade fuel lines. The tank was drained and filled 1/2 up with zero ethanol fuel. Brand new Optima Red Top battery. We finally got the motor to fire, but unfortunately it is still experiencing the same, if not worse issues. It is still running cold on #4, based on thermal temp gun shooting the exhaust header pipes. We performed a compression test, all cylinders were between 180-185. We verified spark at each plug. The motor would only start & "run" with the distributor turned counter-clockwise until the vacuum can was hitting the motor. Additionally, the car was backfiring out of the carbs at seemingly random intervals. Cylinder #1 was the primary culprit of backfiring, but the engine almost sounded as if it was cross-firing. I went and picked up a new cap and rotor, and the cross firing didn't seem as bad but it still happened. I have both my original pertronix unit and a new pertronix III with new matching coil. We swapped out both units and coils to see if that made a difference, but it didn't change the result. We finally walked away from it because as we were giving it throttle, we returned the throttle to the closed position and the engine started to surge and take off to higher rpms. In fact with the throttle closed to the idle position it surged to nearly 3500rpms and remained there. We shut the engine off and called it a day.
Interior:
After 15 months in storage I went to pick the car up from the storage garage. As I took the car cover off and opened the door, my heart sunk.....nearly the entire interior of the car had molded over. Carpet, seat belts, dash components, even rubber hoses in the engine bay. Luckily, when I redid the interior of the car years ago, I selected marine grade vinyl for my seats, door panels, headliner, etc, and none of that stuff was affected by the mold. So I've currently got the interior out of my car and will be ordering a carpet kit from OGTS to redo all the carpet.
Metal:
When first doing the dual carb conversion, I had a guy offer to help me out with making room for them in the engine bay. Well, unfortunately with all the stuff going on, I wasn't totally aware of what had been done until i have recently been going over the car to see what needs to happen. This guy "helped me out" by doing a hack-job in the engine bay and using spray foam and the black spray paint to fill in some gaps! Additionally, he had taken the dash out and center console pieces...but when we tried reassembly, he didn't get them lined up properly and the only was he could get them to stay was to put some screws through them in new screw locations. So needless to say, I need to remove the entire dash and console pieces to ensure that they are put back in correctly; plus it wouldn't hurt to check behind the dash area for mold growth to make sure i don't have that in the car.
After taking the carpet out, I realized that I have a rust hole under the package area behind the center console and some rust in the drivers side rocker area. The previous owner had done some metal work in the floor board area of drivers side and added fiberglass rocker skirts to the exterior. In my opinion, those two areas need to be repaired prior to the interior going back in the car.
Conclusion:
So that's where I'm at with my beloved GT. I'm overwhelmed and not sure what to do with the motor. The interior and metal work need addressed, then I'll need to see what else may need some love after the car sitting for almost 5 years in total. And then, I figure since I'm going to have the whole car apart for this stuff, I might as well take the time to address some things I've had on a wish list, like A/C. But first thing first and that's getting the motor running on all 4 cylinders.
My little boys just want to hear the car run and go for a ride, and I'd love to be able to make the happen for them and myself sooner than later.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated! PM me for my number, in the event anyone is willing to talk to help me figure this out. I live just north of Indianapolis if any fellow Opelers may be in the area.
Eric