[Mountaineer]

Started lurking this forum a while before I picked up a GT, and I am forever grateful for the wealth of information on here.
Project here is to bring this into the 21st century.

 

[Mountaineer]

Dropped off the majority of the suspension components for sand blasting this morning.

These will be powder coated to an undecided color. Cleaning up the steering rack as well, new inner & outer tie roads. Poly bushings all around, and new ball joints. Throwing in the Koni RWD shocks as well.

Driver’s side upper control arm held up to its reputation. Angle grinder took it off, and an evening on the vice pressed it out. I’m weighing the options between Teflon grease or anti-seize to lube those bolts on re-assembly.

I went ahead pressed out the outersleeves on the lower control arms in order to completely remove the spring cradle/crossmember bracket. I ended up cutting off (carefully) the inner sleeve from that same bracket.

I am not looking forward to pressing those sleeves in, but c’est la vie.

Lowering springs all around, as well. The front spring didn’t give me too many issues, I took my time and kept clear of it’s swing.

 

[Mountaineer]

Here’s the game plan:

1) Complete suspension.
2) Electronic ignition (Pertronix I, with their coil)
3) Master cylinder, booster, and brake lines all around.
4) Relocate battery, and thoroughly inspect all electronics.
5) Irmscher intakes, with twin Weber DCOE40.
6) Drive the heck out of it, and decide what’s next.

 

[okieopel]

'70 model White GT with Red interior looks awesome, the Sparco wheels are a nice touch.

 

[G.v.Mainberg]

Here’s the game plan:

1) Complete suspension.
2) Electronic ignition (Pertronix I, with their coil)
3) Master cylinder, booster, and brake lines all around.
4) Relocate battery, and thoroughly inspect all electronics.
5) Irmscher intakes, with twin Weber DCOE40.
6) Drive the heck out of it, and decide what’s next.

That's an awesome plan! Good Luck and lotsa fun with it!

Dieter

 

[rrossjr]

Here’s the game plan:

1) Complete suspension.
2) Electronic ignition (Pertronix I, with their coil)
3) Master cylinder, booster, and brake lines all around.
4) Relocate battery, and thoroughly inspect all electronics.
5) Irmscher intakes, with twin Weber DCOE40.
6) Drive the heck out of it, and decide what’s next.

Welcome to the community.
Item 6 is your reward for items 1-5.
Have fun, and keep us posted.
Cheers,
Ron in FL

 

[Manta Rallier]

Where do you live? In WV? (Hence the 'Mountaineer' moniker'...?) The question is if you have rough roads or not. If rough roads in your area, poly bushings will tend to put a lot of shocks into the rest of the suspension parts as well as the poly may have issues, so rubber is better for rough roads.

(If rubber bushings: Antiseize on the bolts. When rubber bushings are installed properly, neither the bolts or anything around them (like the bushing inner sleeves) will rotate. The rubber in the bushings twists as the arms move. Make sure you leave the bolts a bit loose as you assemble the front end, and do the final tightening only when the car is setting at final ride height. Otherwise, you wil tear the rubber in the bushings by overly twisting it.)

Good plan on the brakes for a 50 year-old car! 100% renewed end-to-end.

 

[Mountaineer]

Where do you live? In WV? (Hence the 'Mountaineer' moniker'...?)

Working outside of DC now, so it’s more an homage, only back there to offroad, and take the switchbacks up the mountains.

 

[aserpa]

Here’s the game plan:

1) Complete suspension.
2) Electronic ignition (Pertronix I, with their coil)
3) Master cylinder, booster, and brake lines all around.
4) Relocate battery, and thoroughly inspect all electronics.
5) Irmscher intakes, with twin Weber DCOE40.
6) Drive the heck out of it, and decide what’s next.

This was almost exactly my plan about 4 months ago - now i'm staring at a mostly stripped shell wondering why i didn't heed all the warnings on here Best of luck with the renovations

 

[Mountaineer]

Picked up my items from sandblasting last week, then an evening measuring every bolt I took off and put an order in to the local Fastenal. Thanks to OGTS for sourcing the trickier items, like the UCA alignment washers, and the sleeves. Also a shout out to Todd at Opels Unlimited for the LCA outer sleeves that are on the way to me now.

I’m planning on assembling the suspension on a bench after I get it back from powdercoat and installing it as a whole unit.

Anyone in the Baltimore/Annapolis area, shoot Sam at Chesapeake Soda Clean a call for any small items you need media blasting; quick turnaround, great price, and was able to give multiple recommendations on coatings, and let my choice come and pick the items up from his shop.

 

[okieopel]

They did an super job of blasting, really cleaned up well. I am not a fan of powder coating a street car, water can get behind the powder coat and rust never sleeps. I like black chassis paint.

 

[Will I. Finish]

View attachment 432310 View attachment 432311
Picked up my items from sandblasting last week, then an evening measuring every bolt I took off and put an order in to the local Fastenal. Thanks to OGTS for sourcing the trickier items, like the UCA alignment washers, and the sleeves. Also a shout out to Todd at Opels Unlimited for the LCA outer sleeves that are on the way to me now.

I’m planning on assembling the suspension on a bench after I get it back from powdercoat and installing it as a whole unit.

Anyone in the Baltimore/Annapolis area, shoot Sam at Chesapeake Soda Clean a call for any small items you need media blasting; quick turnaround, great price, and was able to give multiple recommendations on coatings, and let my choice come and pick the items up from his shop.

Hey Mountaineer - your project is looking really good and coming along nicely. I am planning on doing the same to my front suspension and have a Couple of questions:

• Can you give me a ball park price for the sandblasting for your front suspension
• Did the blaster or did you do the primer coat and if so had you worked it out with the powder coat company on what type of primer to use, in advance, or is that even necessary - a novice here trying to get an idea so that I can talk like I know somewhat I am talking about
• And can you give me a ball park price on the powder coating price for the same parts that you had sand blasted

While I plan on completing the same process on my front end suspension my first powder coating project is getting the snorkel, air filter housing, and cap to the carburetor powder-coated. The reason I asked about the primer is that I would like to sand and primed the pieces prior to delivery to the power coater in an effort to keep the price down. What do you think. Thanks for you help. Carl

 

[okieopel]

This may help on the thermoplastic vs thermoset types of Powder Coat:

How to Powder Coat

Powder coating is a process of coating metal with a plastic finish applied in powder form and baked to a fluid state to bond it to the metal surface. Powder coating has many advantages over traditional liquid coating: It's better for the...

www.wikihow.com

 

[opelbits]

Here’s the game plan:

1) Complete suspension.
2) Electronic ignition (Pertronix I, with their coil)
3) Master cylinder, booster, and brake lines all around.
4) Relocate battery, and thoroughly inspect all electronics.
5) Irmscher intakes, with twin Weber DCOE40.
6) Drive the heck out of it, and decide what’s next.

...4a) Rewire headlights to keep firemen away.

 

[Mountaineer]

Hey Mountaineer - your project is looking really good and coming along nicely. I am planning on doing the same to my front suspension and have a Couple of questions:

• Can you give me a ball park price for the sandblasting for your front suspension
• Did the blaster or did you do the primer coat and if so had you worked it out with the powder coat company on what type of primer to use, in advance, or is that even necessary - a novice here trying to get an idea so that I can talk like I know somewhat I am talking about
• And can you give me a ball park price on the powder coating price for the same parts that you had sand blasted

While I plan on completing the same process on my front end suspension my first powder coating project is getting the snorkel, air filter housing, and cap to the carburetor powder-coated. The reason I asked about the primer is that I would like to sand and primed the pieces prior to delivery to the power coater in an effort to keep the price down. What do you think. Thanks for you help. Carl

Carl,

Sandblasting is typically charged by the hour, so you want to have everything done at once. In my case, that was $150/hr for a total of $100 even.

I’m not sure about all powdercoat, but mine does not require priming. The blasting also handles the sanding aspect of the normal painting process. I can’t give you a price yet, but I’ll be keeping this thread updated.
When discussing colors for the components, he mentioned he was shooting other customers in Flag Red that week, and I was able to take that option. It helps him with ordering supplies, and helps me a tiny bit on price, but mostly timing since he has a part-time outfit.

Definitely ask around. My sandblaster was recommended by another sandblaster (who was recommended by a neighbor) because my job wasn’t large enough. The first contact normally does whole cars on a rotisserie, so a handful of items isn’t worth his time or shop space, but he was kind enough to give a great recommendation.
Prices vary greatly in this realm from what I’ve heard, so get a few quotes if you’re unable to get any recommendations.

 

[Mountaineer]

...4a) Rewire headlights to keep firemen away.

Funny you mention that, because I actually realized I forgot to type that out. It’s on my whiteboard in the garage!

 

[Mountaineer]

It’s been a productive day.
The master cylinder and booster (22mm, and 9”) are in the car, and all new brake lines and hoses are done too. I’ve completed the battery relocation as well, though I have not purchased a dry cell battery. I’m not going anywhere any time soon in the car, but I did get give it a few test cranks to verify I didn’t screw up the simplest of all electronics–it’s happened before lol.

Again, thanks for the wealth of information everyone across this forum contributes! My list is getting shorter, so I’ll need to find more things to add to it!

 

[opelspyder]

A cheaper option and more thorough is to have the parts baked and then chemically stripped. Though this is longer. I quit sandblasting suspension parts years ago. For one, you will never get all the grease and grime out of a front suspension cross member. Then when they go to powdercoat it, they have to clean it again, and grease will sometimes drip out from the bake. Now my stuff comes 100% stripped and bare metal, the powdercoat guys love it because they don’t have to do a thing, and the place I have all my hardware Zinc plated has zero complaints as well. I might have a set of the lower arm cups already plated, but I have a few front suspensions that I need to assemble and reluctant to let any go.

 

[First opel 1981]

Powdercoating requires bare metal.