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Thought it was about time I got my ar$e in gear and shared this little project with you all! It's nearly finished now, so the final pics should be added in the next couple of weeks  Starting point was not too great! The car was dragged from a field, where all manner of wildlife had decided to take up residence in it! Rat eaten interior, birds nest behind the headlight, and so many horrible bugs behind the trim we barely dared touch it!!      First job was to strip the car down and inspect the rot. We had already had a bit of a look over the car and knew it wasn't as bad as it looked. Only significant rot on sills and rear arches.     Sills are fairly straightforward as you can still get repair sections...      Didn't take any pics of the finished sills for some bizarre reason? Anyway, on to the arches which was a tad harder as 4 door repair panels are no longer available! The nearside was not too bad, so just the lip section from a 2 door repair was butt welded in and lead filled. On the offside, the rot extended in to the door shut area, so this section was fabricated from scratch in steel, and lead filled. Very Nat (my brother, who does all the fabrication work) did an awesome job here, there was virtually no filler needed to get the final shape, it was almost bang-on in the bare metal!        The Battery is moving to the boot to give us a bit more space in the engine bay, so this area was refabricated (with a slope to allow water to run off) and then the engine bay sandblasted and coated with zinc primer.     |
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nice, love the wheel arch repair, shame you have no more sill repair photos, got the same to do on my kadett coupe.
whats the plan or do we have to wait and see?
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OK, on to assembly. Obviously we aren't going to stick with stock suspension/brakes. OE spec Bilsteins up front and Boges rear to give it a bit more precision, without being too hard (it's going to be a daily driver!) in combination with slightly lowered and uprated Kadett C springs from Germany. Lost track of how many times I've seen recommended astra discs redrilled to fit the back of the hubs, and astra calipers as the std chevette upgrade, but believe me, it doesn't work, as the caliper hits the wishbone with the suspension on droop. We've machined the hubs to allow the astra discs to fit on the outside, with the caliper mounting faces milled down slightly, and mounted to the outside of the mounting lugs. Sorted!       Engine is (not suprisingly) tight with the standard injection system. Pug 106 master cylinder has been used, on a fabricated mount to get it tight in to the bulkhead in order to clear the inlet manifold. Reservoir mounted remotely on the old throttle linkage bracket. Exhaust manifold is an Ashley RWD XE one, modified to fit, and with the powdercoat burt off and replaced with VHT paint (when will ashley stop putting a non-heat resitant finish on their manifolds!!!!) Gearbox is Manta B 1800 with a custom x-member. Prop is Manta B automatic which is the correct length     No room for std SFI box or indeed a 'powercap', so we've fabricated a stainless induction pipe. May not be quite a smooth at low revs, but no worse than a powercap.    Rad is a VW polo jobbie, with leccy fan infront. And yes, as you can see we have managed to keep the standard heater arrangment (obviously this is a late, dizzyless type XE). |
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Back from the dead! look forward to seeing the finished artical  |
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Ooh, nearly forgot to mention the fuel tank arrangement. Return line union soldered into the level sender cap, and a Golf GTI fuel pump (with integral swirl pot) used. Moving to the inside, it's all being kept very 'classic' looking. Dark green leather seats come from a Rover 400, and door cards are being retrimmed to match. Alpine speakers fitted behind rear armrest and in front kick panels. Thatcham cat 1 alarm also fitted at this point plus wiring for guages..... Original dash modified so that a Manta B rev counter sits where the fuel and temp guages once did. Manta B fuel, temp, oil press and volt guages are being fitted to dash where the central speaker used to go..... It's all being made to look like O.E. Snaps of the aux guages will be added later as I've not taken any yet.      The whole car is being 'aged' with the pre facelift parts (headlamps, c-pillar vents, chrome trim etc) which look a bit smarter imo.... You'll have to wait to see the finals pics ;D |
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nice, love the wheel arch repair, shame you have no more sill repair photos, got the same to do on my kadett coupe. whats the plan or do we have to wait and see? Cheers The sills shouldn't be too tricky.... We've got a Kadett coupe in at the moment, and have just done the sills, but sadly no detailed snaps.... www.retropower.co.uk/projects_kadett_16v.htmAlso don't know if you've come accross our Kadett Coupe Turbo..... Bit of a beast! www.retropower.co.uk/projects_opel_kadett_turbo.htmFinal pics of the Shuvvit will be added in a couple of weeks. |
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bmw156
Part of things
Posts: 796
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looks liek some great work.
and so using the manta box, prop and axle with a few welded brackets basically bolts up?
also what engine mounts did you use? any part numbers?
and trhe billy suspension. was it specifically for a chevette? as I'm going to use mine daily. is it their OE spec suspensions?
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Last Edit: Jan 9, 2010 15:35:22 GMT by bmw156
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Engine mounts are std manta 1.8 ones, though its dead easy to fabricate them, only used them as I had them already!
The mount points on the crossmember are moved though, to be precise, assuming your chevette had the engine mounted on the centre one of the three holes, the mounts move 47mm forwards of that centre hole and 15mm inwards towards the car centreline, plus a total of 16mm upwards, which I do my usng 6mm plate to extend the mount, then a 10mm thick threaded boss to screw the mount bobbins into. That's using standard Ford pinto "large" bobbins as available from rally design very cheaply. That won't allow room for the stadard XE distributor but WILL allow room for the standard cam sensor used on the later dizzyless XE engines. Done that way, the manta 1800 sump clears the steering rack fine.
You will need to space the front antiroll bar out of the way downwards, as it will clash with the oil filter and the sump. I use machined ally spacers I make up to suit, can't remember how long they are!
Dampers are specific to chevette, just go onto the Bilstein website, they still list it all and sell direct. They are std road units, just gas pressurised. Together with the slightly uprated, slightly lowered Kadett C springs from germany its perfect for daily use.
Message me if you struggle on engine mounts, can make anything to order!
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PS the manta "A" axle is NOT a cheap option unless you get one in perfect nick.
You will need a mortgage to afford the bearings to rebuild one!! Just the bearing set, at trade price, is over ÂŁ300, so bear that in mind!
If you were thinking of 5 linking anyway (you'd have to to use the ford axle) then use a reliant scimitar 4ha axle out of an SE5 scimitar, exactly the right width and takes 500hp when properly screwed together. see our turbo kadett on the website for details
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WOW !!!
Great transformation.
I think the birds nest ics should be included in the "Abandoned Ones" thread.
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PS the manta "A" axle is NOT a cheap option unless you get one in perfect nick.
You will need a mortgage to afford the bearings to rebuild one!! Just the bearing set, at trade price, is over ÂŁ300, so bear that in mind!
If you were thinking of 5 linking anyway (you'd have to to use the ford axle) then use a reliant scimitar 4ha axle out of an SE5 scimitar, exactly the right width and takes 500hp when properly screwed together. see our turbo kadett on the website for details
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Tim
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,340
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Thats brilliant!
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Jan 10, 2010 10:27:36 GMT
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cheers |
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Jan 10, 2010 15:32:35 GMT
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 Wow.
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Jan 10, 2010 16:49:35 GMT
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Very well done sir! I like alot. |
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1992 Sierra XR4x4
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Jan 10, 2010 18:34:51 GMT
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wow, wasnt expecting that ! amazing job superbly done.
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Jan 10, 2010 22:10:14 GMT
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Looks fantastic, cant wait to see more pics. I really like the idea of adapting the gauges so it looks oe / period.
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Jan 10, 2010 22:26:45 GMT
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ooo I'm very jealous, exactly what I'd like to do with mine, interesting to know the Manta Automatic prop fits!
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Jan 11, 2010 13:09:19 GMT
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Holy cow!!!! That is something else, stupendous work!!!! So neat. I am going to have to do an old car/new engine project, its the way ahead.
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1974 Lancia Beta Saloon
1975 Mazda 929 Coupé
1986 Mazda 929 Wagon
1979 Mazda 929 Hardtop
1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica
1977 Toyota Carina TA14
1989 Subaru 1800 Wagon
1982 Hyundai Pony 1200TL 2-dr
1985 Hyundai Pony 1200 GL
1986 Maserati 425 Biturbo
1992 Rover 214 SEi 5-dr
2000 Rover 45 V6 Club
1994 Peugeot 205 'Junior' Diesel
1988 Volvo 760 Turbodiesel Saloon
1992 Talbot Express Autosleeper Rambler
2003 Renault Laguna SPEARS OR REAPERS
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Wow.
