1984 c20xe vauxhall chevette, big update 11.12.10

some info on the car,vauxhall chevette, 1.3 auto, 26k, 1 lady owner, no rust, full years MOT, months tax, original v5 and new v5, one scratch along one door. need i say any more lol

opel badge on the front, because the vauxhall one got nicked.

ooo looks a lovely project.... HOW THE HELL u get a coscast xe for 70 killer bargin

sleeper fun! keep us updated mate

Super clean chevette you got there, gonna be a goodun.

good deal @70 quid

wee car looks well also

cheers gents,

yeh the chevette is a sexy little one.

paid 650 for the chevette with a years MOT!

gearbox I'm using a type 9 ford box, with a SBD conversion bell housing, standard XE flywheel and clutch. custom prop shaft, and not sure what axle yet probably a english or a baby atlas.

just need to find one!

and thanks retro power. now checking out the thread

and lol, yeh the engine was a bargin. thats why i bought it

ok, last night I discovered a manta axle on ebay, like 5 miles from my house for a bargin price of 50 quid. I hit the BIN. and went and picked it up today.

a mild case of win.


and also nicked my mates engine crane. so engine out next week.

looks clean car.
its exactly the same as my first car i had 20 years ago, same colour etc.etc!
if the manta axle is from a manta B you will have clearance problems on the arches tho..
have you measured the width compared to your axle?
and those arches look too nice condition to be flaring them?
lovely condition car you got there, and a good price!

That cross brace near the input flange bolts to the floor, and has a rubber bush in it which acts as the pivot point. It's not an ideal arrangement on a chevette/kadett because of how short the prop becomes, but it works .
I didn't like it when I had that setup, as when the rear is un-weighed and you're on power, the splined gearbox end of the prop slides and grinds over the end of the gearbox tail shaft, ends up wearing your tail shaft bearing

very nice project btw it's going to be good fun
early redtop with coscast head for £70 though you are a lucky mofo lol! The coscast brigade buy them heads for £200+

i used to have a kadett coupe running the manta 1.8, manta 5 speed getrag, and manta a axle.
the prop was shortened and balanced by someone who made it ever so slightly too short, and i too had the tail shaft bearing problem you refer too.(the amount of slide that the prop has along the gearbox shaft has to be just right)
however, my kadett coupe now with redtop/1.8 manta box and manta a back axle does not have any problems. (done around 6000 miles so far, and plenty of thrashing involved)
the ideal prop is from the manta auto i believe, as this is supposed to be a perfect bolt on fix.
the manta guys have done this many times and it is a good set up if everything fits right. i certainly wouldn't put people off.
changing the axle set up is certainly a lot more work, which is ok if he has the facilities/abilities, but is it worth it?
manta axles are supposed to be good for 200 bhp, and i think the biggest problem with the kadett or chevettes running powerful engines, is the weight of the back end of the car. if anything they're a little light for big bhp, which wouldn't be altered that much by changing axles.
had my back end skipping a few times when i hadn't meant to! maybe i need to soften the suspension...
aside from the tail shaft issue, how does your kadett handle now with the bmw axle set up? this is what really interests me.