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What did you do to/with your Opel(s) today?

Question: 
178K views 2K replies 122 participants last post by  Lazzerkick 
#1 ·
This is a popular thread in another car forum that I frequent, so I thought I would try it out here, and see if it catches on.
In that forum, it is a "sticky" so it stays near the top of the thread list and has about 180 pages of replies. :cool:
Basically, just a few words or whatever you want to contribute about your daily interaction with your Opel or Opels.
Perhaps you finished wrapping your interior in authentic synthetic alligator skin, or just brushed the spiderwebs off the gear
shifter and drove up to the hardware store.
I'll get it started. Today I...
sat in the drivers seat of my GT and debated on whether I wanted to pull the instrument panel to fix the
4-way/brake/fake fog light switch which was come unmoored from one of the posts (after trying to reach it from
the side panel where the flasher sits) Should I fix it, or just wait until something else breaks?
Cheers,
Ron in Indy
 
#2 ·
Hi Ron,

Wait until something else break !

OK since I'm next. Threw 0.5 liter coolant in my slightly leaking radiator, (it is leaking just under the filler neck so I'm not worried for a major disaster,) and went for a nice drive in Tropic Denmark thinking if about how I managed to fxxx up my signal-horn on my MOMO steering wheel. I had the steering wheel and horn button off a couple a days ago, but at that time the horn button did function.

I have checked, and Horn button itself is OK. horn is also OK, which leaves me with a wire problem...- but what the heck, how often do you actually use the horn ?

Cheers.
 
#4 ·
I just finally registered the car and put license plates on it. Furthest distance I have driven it is about 150 ft in my driveway and I am contemplating putting a couple or three gallons of gasoline in it to test it around the block, and then, if it runs okay, go get the tank filled. But first I have to finish slopping paint on the house...
 
#5 ·
Last Sunday:

Moved my SUV out to the street. Opened the garage, drove my Solstice out from under my 4 post lift and parked it in the street also. Lowered the lift, detached the battery charger, attached the ramps, drove my GT off the lift, then drove 3 blocks to the local diner.

Ate dinner. Flirted with the waitresses. Left too large a tip.

Drove the GT 3 blocks home and onto the lift. Raised the lift, reattached the battery charger, removed the ramps. Walked out to the street and drove the Solstice back under the lift and closed the garage door. Walked back out to the street and drove my SUV up my driveway and parked in front of the garage.

Oh boy, I can't wait to get my yellow Opel Wagon! Then my merry-go-'round will get really interesting!

:veryhappy
 
#7 ·
Last Sunday:
drove my GT off the lift, then drove 3 blocks to the local diner.

Ate dinner. Flirted with the waitresses. Left too large a tip.


Oh boy, I can't wait to get my yellow Opel Wagon! Then my merry-go-'round will get really interesting!

:veryhappy
Ohoooooo,Nice memories still there with Collingswood Diner:veryhappy

Aha, I must look at Philly-Airport for a yellow Opel Cab:haha::drive:
You will wait at the VIP zone parking area?:lmao:
 
#6 ·
I have two sets of wheels and tires and I like to rotate from one to the other. Today I took the stock wheels off and put on the WETs. Lowered the car down from my lift and two of the tires went almost flat. Lifted the car back up and added air. Lowered the car to the concrete and waited about three hours. I just checked.....They all seem to be holding the air. Tomorrow will be a better test.
 
#10 ·
This is a sticky on the Tacoma forum it has almost 4000 pages of replies!

Moderators please make this a sticky!

I played around a bit with Keith’s AC kit. Unfortunately I can’t mount the compressor because of the ARA AC adapter I have on my lower radiator hose. I guess I’ll have to order up a normal lower radiator hose from OGTS. It’s a shame because that cast aluminum adapter is pretty neat!


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#11 ·
Working on another Opeler's engine Overhaul. I picked up 3 Opel camshafts from the Cam grinders last week. Dropped off an Opel Cylinder head for Chevy guides, seats & valve work and picked one up that was finished. Trying to keep these guys busy with work because it's hard to find great machine shops that can do quality work.

John
 
#14 ·
My GT is complete except the wiring. Just sent a bunch of wire rolls to the mechanic that is going to wire it. I gave up, rigged a temporary set up to make a car show in Redding, CA. I trailered the GT to Mt. Shasta and drove it almost 100 miles to Redding and the car show. Wouldn't you know the solenoid gave out at the car show. Had to have the GT towed back to Mt. Shasta. I talked to Gil and he sent another solenoid to my mechanic. No charge I might add. I told the mechanic that if he had to move the fuse block from under the dash, go ahead. He said it would be a lot easier to wire it that way. I don't care, I drove the GT in April, and I just want to drive it again and have everything working. The mechanic is a former Opel mechanic in his younger days, now he is known in the area as the go to guy for any problems on classic cars. The only bad thing was that he was going to trash my license plates because he didn't think they were real. I have "OPEL GT" in Nevada, I couldn't believe that it was available until I asked. The lady at DMV said it had not been used for 10 years. So I got it. Can't wait to drive the GT again, this time with everything working.

Bob
 
#15 ·
Not on mine, but Catherine's GT. Now that it's finally driveable there's a ton of little stuff to finish up. Today it was the rear lights, tire pressures, and mostly the steering wheel and all the crap covering the key switch/turn signal mess. I finally figured it out and it's nice now, except the horn because I am missing one part.

Finished off the day getting here a new shift knob. (Hers was missing.)

Mike
 

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#17 ·
Called Dave McCurley today, invited him to bring his GT out to lunch on Friday with some of the local British Car Club guys. Chris Bron who is active with that Group is now trying to get a 73 GT back on the road. Been getting some things done on my GT and figured Friday would be a good excuse to get it out.
 
#18 ·
Went for a short cruise around town in GT with my youngest son (16 yrs old). I pulled over and told him to switch places with me "to practice his manual transmission skills"- he did pretty good. Occurred to me while watching Griffin drive (he was a little nervous, but very excited/content) that I was also 16 the first time my dad let me drive this GT over 30 years ago...and recalled having that same excited/content feeling! Reflecting now how quickly the years pass by.
 
#19 ·
OrangPeEL, you are right, I am turning 72 in October and I often wonder where all the years went. I actually listened to the folks around me saying save for your retirement, the years pass quickly. It reminds of a song and one of the lines is: "Gheeze ain't it funny how time slips away?" Enjoy the moments like your son driving your GT. It's moments like this that create memories. I have two daughters, although they never drove my GT, they always said they loved the car. The memory that I have was picking up the two daughters at my mom's house after work. The oldest (6) in the front seat, and the youngest (3) on the luggage tray. Right now I would be put in jail for child endangerment now.

Bob
 
#20 ·
I did the DNA thing and am working on a family tree. I got a DNA match for a "first cousin, twice removed - 2nd cousin, once removed" and a name. The surname was the same as my grandmother on my mother's side so I responded. About a week later I got a response that the person said "Thank you", but her FATHER really wanted to talk to me! It was over 50 years since Mike & I last saw each other and after chatting a while on the phone we arranged to meet the next time I was in So. Calif. as he lives about an hour from my daughter. We met for lunch and memories were flying when I asked if his father used to drive a '55 or '56 Chevy. He wasn't sure but thought so. I told him that his father gave me my first "you drive" experience in that car (around the fair grounds parking lot at age 14)! A really good memory!

Ain't it funny ...

Doug
 
#21 ·
Dropped a 1.9 crankshaft, a connecting rod, and rod bearings at a machine shop today. Getting a prototype stroker CIH engine process rollling along.
 
#23 ·
Got it on the road fro the first time since I acquired it three years ago, and first time in at least 20, as it had been sitting in a garage before I acquired it. Needs some adjustments: steering alignment (no surprise, as the entire suspension & steering came off in 2015); carburetor has a flat spot on acceleration; left-side turn signal not operative (Damn! thought I checked all those lights!); Heater motor not operating -- wire must have come off when I reinstalled the dash; and the pinion seal leak is picking up steam. Not a bad shakedown
 
#27 ·

I gave Mira a bath to get ready for a car show. Also gave the new rev limiter some testing on the highway. It works great! I have it set to 5700rpm right now, which is way too low! I’m bumping it up to 6k now. It’s nice to blast the carbon off of these engines every once and awhile. My engine loves high revs with the single side draft tuned like it is and the headers + 2” exhaust. I can’t wait to dyno it again.


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#751 ·
I watched your video, a couple weeks ago, on how to change out the seals on the transmission - speedometer cable and wanted to say thank you. That could have been a real disaster as it is everything went smoothly, thanks to you. Funny my speedometer jumped after I made the change but then settled down. Wish there were more videos and more pictures.
 
#28 ·
I had a motor party.

I got them all out, dusted some off and oiled them to prevent rust, then bagged them.

I got the Tinyvette's green motor back out, onto an engine stand, and into the garage. It needs a redo, a fresh crank.

I did a little work on the 19E block. It will be assembled later this week, an uncle-nephew project. He' studying at RPI to be an aero-space engineer, so he needs to get his hands dirty.

Disassembled one engine, harvesting the front cover for a fried who is now addicted to Bitters. I harvested the crank for "Green". It has high-compression pistons and forged rods. They'll go in bags for safe keeping.

Sorted other parts and cleaned the garage. Too many spider webs.

In total I have seven engines (not all complete), plus three in the four GTs that are here. Stage 4 opelitis, I'm pretty sure.

Mike
 
#29 ·
Got up this morning and gave the GT a bath and a wipe down. Sprayed down motor and under hood area, which I understand is verboten in a lot of state's. Later met up with Dave McCurley and Chris Bron for lunch with about 35 local British car guys. A few of them had stories of owning Opel's a some point in their lives. Finally got Dave his Award from the Mother Road Fest I had been holding for a couple of years. My GT ran well and it was a nice day, just wish I had thought to take pictures.
 
#30 ·
I unwrapped a 2.4 engine and Frontera LSD that were on a pallet and rewrapped them individually so they can go to the store room. The storage unit is overflowing with Opel stuff just waiting for my new shop to be built (3.5 years and counting....)
 
#31 ·
Germanpalooza 2018 @PIR Portland, Oregon

Last night I ran across event notice for Germanpalooza (all German car show, track day, swap meet social German Palooza | BMW CCA Oregon Chapter) at Portland International Raceway- 53 miles away. This morning I crashed their party and found on arrival it was pretty much organized by area clubs representing the big 4, with no orphan/Opel category parking. I circled the field a couple times (getting looks like a swirling turd) and then the Audi guys waved me in. They had lots of extra room in their area and let me park in an away corner. That was nice of 'em!!

LOTS of great German cars there- unique to common, but no other Opels showed. I just parked it- expressed some "thanks" at the Audi booth, and walked away (occasionally checking in on it from a distance). UNBELIEVABLE to me what an attraction it became! In the 4 hours I wandered around, it probably didn't get 10 minutes alone without having to pose for photos or be the center of someones curious attention.

This might be good destination for some of us Opelers in the area to meet up at next year?
 

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#37 ·
Last night I ran across event notice for Germanpalooza (all German car show, track day, swap meet social German Palooza | BMW CCA Oregon Chapter) at Portland International Raceway- 53 miles away. This morning I crashed their party and found on arrival it was pretty much organized by area clubs representing the big 4, with no orphan/Opel category parking. I circled the field a couple times (getting looks like a swirling turd) and then the Audi guys waved me in. They had lots of extra room in their area and let me park in an away corner. That was nice of 'em!!

LOTS of great German cars there- unique to common, but no other Opels showed. I just parked it- expressed some "thanks" at the Audi booth, and walked away (occasionally checking in on it from a distance). UNBELIEVABLE to me what an attraction it became! In the 4 hours I wandered around, it probably didn't get 10 minutes alone without having to pose for photos or be the center of someones curious attention.

This might be good destination for some of us Opelers in the area to meet up at next year?
If I had known, and was in town, I would have been parked beside you. My car still isn't pretty but it would sure make yours look amazing.

Next year I'll look for the show. I have no reason to be out of town next year at this time.
 
#32 ·
The car show was one of the worst I’ve been too. I left early and went home work on my car instead. The best part of the show was driving back home on I35 with no traffic. That DCOE loves 4000+rpm on the highway. It’s unbelievable how much power is on tap at 85mph. And it is sooooo smooth. I never got this smoothness with my downdrafts.


Went home and had a nice shop day with my friend . I worked on installing a rear sway bar for my truck. And he changed his oil and replaced injectors on his MR2.




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