[Jim Branham]

I am sure Kristi's sad to see her GT go down the road, but I am so excited to be the GT's new owner! My Dad (bless his heart) drove from Illinois to Iowa for me and picked up what he said was a really nice Opel GT! He's trailering her to his home and going to take care of the brake problem for me and then I'm flying over and driving her home to NJ. I am not sure how long I can wait to bring her home, it's going to be difficult waiting.
I allready bought a 70 GT parts car with a complete air conditioning setup that I plan to install in Kristi's ex GT. The console needs 2 of the long vent inserts and I hope they won't be to hard to locate or maybe find a close match in an junkyard car. Anybody dealt with this issue?
And for all reading this, Kristi has been so nice to deal with. From talking to her on the phone and e-mailing her, plus from what my Dad says after picking up the GT and meeting her in person, I'd say she is a very high caliber person with a lot of integrity and honesty. Thank you very much Kristi, it has been a pleasure doing business with you.
Whoohoooo, I got my Opel !!!!!! Yes, yes !!!!!

 

[Gary]

Congrats Jim! So that GT went from Boston to IA to NJ.
Hope to see it at Carlsile next May.

 

[opelgt722002]

I allready bought a 70 GT parts car with a complete air conditioning setup that I plan to install in Kristi's ex GT.

You can only use the ARA console with that 5 speed. Call the Source and see if they have the vents you need.
Congrats on rejoining the ranks of the GT world.

 

[Jim Branham]

Thanks for the tip Bob. What is the difference between an ARA console and others? I think I've only seen 2 types of consoles for the air, one that is symetrical down both long sides and one that is not. Mine has 2 vents and controls up front by the dash and 2 vents down the long symetrical sides. It is identical to the air console I had in a 70 GT which I thought was factory equipment. I did a search for ARA console air conditioning and it brought me back to this thread. Thanks.

 

[opelgt722002]

There is a ARA console and a GM console. The GM console is higher in the front than the ARA and keeps you from shifting into reverse with the 5 speed that you have.
This thread has a picture of a GM console .
http://www.opelgt.com/forums/showth...1197&perpage=5&highlight=console&pagenumber=3

And this is a picture of an ARA console.
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~blustc/opel/interior.JPG

 

[Opelover]

It should be mine!

It should have been my car! I kept thinking that if my Dad was buying me an Opel! I told him to buy her, did he no! All I got was a Mercedes its not fair! Its good to know that the car went to a good home . . . even though it wasn't mine . . .

 

[Jim Branham]

console

Well, if the picture of the console in the GT with the white interior is an ARA console then I am lucky because that is the style I've got! So then the GM one is the asymetrical one on the red GT. Who makes the ARA console? Is it an aftermarket product then if it's not GM? And does it lessen the value if it's not GM?

 

[opelgt722002]

You do have the ARA console. Opel GT Source has those vents I've heard. I don't think value of the systems is much of an issue now. The ARA console is in more demand. Are you going to use a new compressor?

 

[Jim Branham]

compressor

The compressor that is in the parts GT is big and square and the clutch pulley is sitting so close to the wheelwell I had to look close to see if it was actually against it or not. It made me wonder if it would rub when the engine was revving. The whole A/C system is all there but it sat a long, long time. I would imagine most of the old components could be replaced with different current compnents but what are my choices for a different compressor? Is the old one worth rebuilding?

 

[opelgt722002]

Some are using a Sanden 505 on the passenger side of the engine. I don't think it would be worthwhile to rebuild your old compressor. The mount will be useful in being modifed to hold the new compressor. You will still need to remove the air filter mount bracket.
Bret Brummitt might have a picture of a modified mount or he might actually be making them. There was a recent discussion about air conditioning on the classicopels site.

 

[bret brummitt]

ara vents

you can replace those vents with some out of various Jeep CJ's with under dash units.
now the circles, those are tricky