1978 Vauxhall Magnum (Isuzu 1.7TD)

[matty2300]

new years resolution - must get my 78 Magnum back on the road

been saying that since 2009 - but I went and bought a Firenza in 2010 and it never happened

this first post is going to be pretty long to get up to speed.. but I'll keep it updated with progress

So here is the Magnum as I bought it, in Summer 2009
sporting cool Avon wheels and a crazy paving paint job conspicously abscent from the ebay advert pictures


So I brought it home, and took it apart (as you do)




broke some stuff along the way..


I decided since the engine looked pretty good, I'd get the head converted to unleaded, give the running gear a quick spruce up and then get her on the road..

well, the head got converted and the engine got put back together
the front subframe got refurbed and polybushed with HPF springs and Spax shocks



it was all going so well...


then winter came along


Next spring I bought a Firenza so there the Magnum laid (under a cover) for the last 3 and a bit years

silly hairstyles came and went..



then.... it happened...

[matty2300]

I actually got my bum in gear and started work on the Magnum!!! *cheer*

the back end was pretty siezed up, not suprise really sitting with the handbrake on and its nose in the air for 3 years

slung the front end on the engine crane

and the rear end on skids


and dragged it into its new home!
the plan is to get it on a rollover jig so I can strip off the underneath and sor out any nasties hidden underneath all the gloop down there. I'm hoping that its pretty sound as there seem to have been some extreme anti-corrosion measures taken by the previous owners - when I took the front wings off I found that they had been literally stuffed full of rags soaked in oil!! It certainly prevented tinworm but fire hazard or what

before I can mount it up on the jig there are a few repairs to be made to the front end. when taking out the engine and subframe we found that its been crashed at some point and this has pushed the subframe at an angle borking the subframe-to-chassis lower mount on the passenger side and bending the front of the chassis leg on the drivers side.. it's been repaired (read: bodged) basically bashed back into shape ish and welded up

to try and make it drive straight the caster arm was wound up to the max on one side and almost not done up at all on the other side?!


the progress so far

drilled out a lot of spot welds

roped in my dready mate Dave for some hacksaw action


say goodbye to the bent half of the front panel!


new section of chassis leg welded in - thanks to the old man! I'm still learning to mig but hes an old hand (Vauxhall mechanic most of his younger years then accident repair centre manager)
Looks like I'll be able to get plenty of practice as this build goes on and even more on the frilly Firenza!


next job is to get this n.o.s half-a-front-panel in

[ghiabox]

Better late than never mate. I had two of these years ago a 1.8 coupe and a 2.3 two door saloon.

[Mark]

Used to have an 1800 Magnum back in the day. Seem to recall is was a 2 door though?

Good to see you're making some progress.

[matty2300]

cheers guys, yep your right better late than never! luckily it doesnt seem to have suffered to badly from its few years of neglect!

mr MIB BMW as far as I know all big engined (1800/2300) vivas & Firenzas (except HPF) were renamed "Magnum" in 1974 regardless of body style / number of doors, so quite likley yours was a 2 door

Plans have changed somewhat from when I first got the magnum, I would really have liked a two door at the time but now I have the Firenza I'm pretty happy with a more door - it fits perfectly with the plan to follow in B8Ds footsteps and put an Isuzu diesel in it
*hides under desk from angry purists*
I figure a good MPG and reliability combined with four door practicality will mean I can use it as a daily and also the added bonus of allowing me to ignore any notion of economy when it comes to the Firenza (big plans for that which I'll keep under me hat for now) ;D

[grifterkid]

That is very nice indeed...!

This Avon 'Safety Wheels' just look bloody brilliant...

[ianboyd]

Jan 16, 2013 22:15:59 GMT matty2300 said:

cheers guys, yep your right better late than never! luckily it doesnt seem to have suffered to badly from its few years of neglect!

mr MIB BMW as far as I know all big engined (1800/2300) vivas & Firenzas (except HPF) were renamed "Magnum" in 1974 regardless of body style / number of doors, so quite likley yours was a 2 door

Plans have changed somewhat from when I first got the magnum, I would really have liked a two door at the time but now I have the Firenza I'm pretty happy with a more door - it fits perfectly with the plan to follow in B8Ds footsteps and put an Isuzu diesel in it
*hides under desk from angry purists*
I figure a good MPG and reliability combined with four door practicality will mean I can use it as a daily and also the added bonus of allowing me to ignore any notion of economy when it comes to the Firenza (big plans for that which I'll keep under me hat for now) ;D

Except they still made the 1800 auto Viva!


I had those same plans, but have ended up with a cavalier 130 seh engine, and it's a weekend toy anyhow, still got the dizzel burner though!

[Stuart-c]

Love it! Great to see you found the motivation to continue after a few years rather than wave goodbye to it on a trailor.

[matty2300]

aha, I'm guessing you must be slimjim over on the viva owners forum then ianboyd?

yours should go lovely with the cav 130 engine, are you using a carlton or manta box on it?

strangley it never occured to me to keep the engine out of my cavalier when some numpty crashed in the back of me

[yoeddynz]

Nice. The more viva action the better. I like the idea of diesels too. But next car i want to re-engine with a diesel will be a rx7 ( really upset people...)

Handy for you having dad that was a Vauxhall mechanic! What was it like behind them bonnet hinges- rusty?....

[ianboyd]

Jan 17, 2013 20:00:57 GMT matty2300 said:

aha, I'm guessing you must be slimjim over on the viva owners forum then ianboyd?

yours should go lovely with the cav 130 engine, are you using a carlton or manta box on it?

strangley it never occured to me to keep the engine out of my cavalier when some numpty crashed in the back of me

Yes that is me ;D

The gearbox is a manta box!

[matty2300]

whoops.. been a while...

acted like a total jessie and downed tools while it was snowy n cold!

@ yoeddynz - suprisingly solid around the bonnet hinges a little surface rust but thats all, infact apart from the old accident damaged areas on the front inner wing where the paint broke up and a patch in the corner of the drivers footwell, its amazingly rust free. My old man said that judging by a the neat layer of black "stuff" inside everything including the doors it looks to have been given the "ziebart?" treatment fairly early in its life

the sun came out and a bit more progress was made in the last few days..

had the front half panel blasted and zinc coated

looking a lot less sorry now thats in!

hopefull the bonnet catch will help to hide the join, though I'm bloody chuffed with the quality of my old mans welding! even without the catch on it looks really neat!

widened but shortened battery tray in (yes it does clear the master cylinder!) will take a modern battery without that sketchy overhang that you get on the original tray


also got on with stripping out the remainder of the interior, here you can see some of that "stuff" it looks kinda purple in theis pic - was suprised to find little rust under the carpet, just a few patches of scabby surface rust (what looks like a big patch of rust on the side by the door trim is actually a completley bonkers amount of trim glue!)

one thing I did find though is the pretty grim job by whoever fitted the speakers in the door, a real hack up to make the hole in the door and removal of all the plastic sheet from the inside of the door... that would be why the front doorcards have gone all wonky then

to try and rectify the wonkyness, I've chopped off the moulded bit at the top of the doorcard in the hope that I can save this bit and only remake the lower section, haven't quite figured out how I'm going to join the two sections together yet.. I'm thinking that as the top section joins all the way along the top of the door (it also has the inner window rubber attached) and the lower section fits with all the studs - so long as the two sections are attached securely (with strong tape or something) it shouldnt matter if there is a bit of flex?

old top section

making new bottom part of doorcard

Trial fit


planning to keep the original vinyl with just some vinyl dye spraypaint to tidy them up as i'll never be able to reproduce the mouldings in the vinyl where its been pressed - the deal breaker was that the holes cut for the speakers go through both the bottom plain vinyl and the basketweave bit in the middle so I cant just replace the plain section

I think Ill have to just fit speakers again, maybe paint the grills the same colour as the doorcards to make them less obvious..


last bit of update.. I'm going to look at a donor car on saturday ;D '95 Astra 1.7 TDS - owner says its got the ISUZU engine (fingers crossed eh)
One owner from new, full history, 109k on the clock - lets just hope its all its cracked up to be!

now I've just got to silence the nagging voices in my head trying to convince me to keep the Astra as my daily and put the b204 lump out of my current daily into the magnum!!

"well they both fit on that manta box you got hanging around.. you know it makes sense"
Shhhhh!!! this is meant to be about economy!

[oli8925]

YES YES YES B204 ALL THE WAY PLEASE! I never use caps lock but that was called for. I take it the B204 is a turbo version? I have most of a spare 234 if you want it but you'll have to be quick as it's due for the scrappy.

We might have been through this before, but where is West Sussex are you? It would be quite nice to have not only a fellow Viva fan but also Saab owner within a localish area, and I might camp outside your house and leach off your dads experience and knowledge too.

A couple of things, are you sure a bigger battery will fit in without fouling the master cylinder or servo? Maybe things were slightly different on the OHC but on my OHV I've measured and looked everywhere but can't find a battery that would fit well. I'll probably go down the route of making a reverse battery tray that fits to the other side of the engine bay so I have more space.

Secondly, really nice work on the door cards. I was going to leave mine as they're in good condition, but some speakers in the door cards would be more than useful so was thinking of making some new ones and getting a custom trimming company to recover them and try to replicate the same vinyl design, don't know how possible it is but I guess it must be. I doubt mine will come out as well as yours though, I've never been able to get on with woodwork.

Keep at it, looking forward to seeing the progress!

[matty2300]

Hi Oli, yeah I think you might have asked me over on the viva owners forum? I'm in Warnham, near Horsham
It's always good to know other Viva people nearby, there are a fair few of us in the West Sussex/Kent area, not that there seems to be many local meet ups
- I'll PM you my mobile number, give us a shout if your passing by and fancy popping in to say hi, as for viva knoweledge - old cars is a subject that both me and my father are willing (and able) to talk about all day long so feel free!!


yep the b204 is a turbo 2.0l vs the b234's 2.3l
my current daily is a 1999 93 SE.. It certainly would go well in a viva!

realistically though my aim is to have the Magnum as an economical daily and the Firenza as a gas guzzling fun car - this way I only have to own two cars at a time and NO MODERNS!! The trouble with putting the Saab lump in the magnum is I do a lot of trundling about and short trips so it only returns 24mpg - thats basically no better than I get out of the Firenza!! Plus it would probably mean brake upgrades, stronger rear axle.. all that guff that I want to avoid with this particular build..
Anywho I've got a friend who's on the lookout for a Chevette.. might see if I can convince him that a Saab lump is the way to go ;D


as for the battery, I've got a modern battery (halfords calcium jobbie) in the Firenza and it clears the master cylinder as long as its right at the front edge (headlight end) of the battery tray - the only downer is that the modern batteries are a lot wider than the tray and overhang into the bay.

I'll see if I can find a decent photo of it & I'll let you know the part number for the battery I'm using - but your right there might be a different physical size of master cylinder on the OHV?

your other option is of course putting the battery in the boot? I plan to do this on the Firenza as I've got a set of new inner wings for it that have never had a battery tray / washer botttle mount welded on and I want to keep that clean look

Lastly...
really don't bother putting speakers in your door cards!! if you look at this photo you can see how the door itself has to be chopped out to fit the speaker - the only reason I'm fitting them again is because the damage is done and I don't have a hope of doing a tidy repair to the door card so I may as well fit them in again


glad peeps are enjoying the build - hopefully once the donor is here some of the more fun oily stuff is going to be happening

[ontheedge]

I had one as well - It was a 2200 TC very fast but always had an oil leak (some little o ring so I was told)

[droopsnoot]

Not sure why the door had to be cut like that for what seems to be quite small speakers - I've just re-fitted front speakers in the Firenza and done no cutting at all. I already had a set of old door cards with holes in, in case you wondered. Granted, they're only 4" speakers, but an improvement on just having them in the rear quarters, though filling the 1/4" gap between the door seal and the body will probably help more.

On your door trim, as the top edge hooks over the edge of the door and has the lock button through it, there probably won't be much movement at that end. At the lower end, you could always do as the earlier cars did and have some kind of tape or self-adhesive velcro to hold it to the inside of the door, then clip the lower section in afterwards. On mine there is a black plastic moulded section that covers the area you have salvaged, the lower edge sits underneath the trim panel when it's clipped in place, and has some bits of tape to hold it to the door.

[matty2300]

2200? think it must have been a 2300 (early OHC cars were 1600 - 2000 later ones were 1800 - 2300) unless it had been swapped to the lotus 2.2 lump?

and yes... they all leaked oil pretty much from new!

[matty2300]

suffering a little wind noise POWER ROAR eh mr droopsnoot?

Having another look, your right I don't see why they have had to cut the door? if you fit the speaker a bit lower and further towards the back of the door you shouldnt have to cut for a 4" speaker?

perhaps the genius cut the doorcard and fitted the speaker before he realised it wouldnt work without cutting the door! the old measure once cut twice jobbie

good idea on the door card i think some velcro along the edge of the bit ive salvaged is probably a smart thing to do!
I didnt know that early ones were a two-part affair (never taken my Firenza door cards off but I guess as they are the ones with the chrome trim along them that this is how they are done)

[oli8925]

I've always wanted to do something very silly with a very rotten Firenza (thinking flared arches etc) and a B234r would fit in perfectly. That's a long way off though. I want to keep my saloon light and nimble so sticking with the OHV and then looking into a Duratec.

I've thought about putting the battery in the boot, may still do. I just thought putting it on the other wing would be an improvement yet keep it OEM looking. Battery will go in the boot for the Duratec though so not sure what I'll do yet. I have plenty of time to think about it.

Wouldn't have thought cutting the door is necessary at all, although I'm putting 4" comps in the dash pockets so would be looking to fit at least 5 1/2" speakers in the doors. I'll measure the gap in my door tomorrow and see if it would mean cutting the door. If it does I won't bother.

[matty2300]

well, nothing magnum-ish got done today..

collected the donor though! 1995 Astra 1.7td


yes, its got the Isuzu engine


it ticked over 109k on the way home, so thats a little over 6k a year for its 18 year life, ran sweet as a nut and fired up first turn of the key even though it was sub 0 temperatures and hadnt been run in a while

I do feel a little mean about removing it's heart as its a 1 owner from new little old lady special. It came with every MOT certificate and a hand written log of every service and every replacement part fitted that was meticulously kept by her late husband (ex-mechanic) - right down to a new cam cover because the old one had a little split in the plastic!

but, hey I bought it for a reason and its perfect for the job (was a bit of a bargain too)

also, they had this in the garage - image nabbed from interwebs as I totally failed to take a photo of it while I was there (my excuse is that it was snowing and I was freezing my bits off)

It's a 1925 Singer 10/26 saloon - the only one of this body type surviving, had the same lady owner from 1925 until 1975.
has quite a snazzy engine for 1925, an OHV crossflow.. needless to say, as my old man is a singer nut (hes got a 1933 singer 9 sports) we very nearly went home with two new cars instead of one!