1987 Opel Monza GSE

[MonzaPhil]

Well, computers have been causing me so much trouble recently but one outcome of that is my ability to post this up here. All has been quite from me of late due to being at work quite a lot anyhoo..

Once, I bought a nice Monza GSE, I was having a 21st Birthday and needed to treat myself and having obsessed with the GSe since seeing one from my schoolbus window on a used car forecourt I thought it might be time. Having looked at lots and budgeted £1750 for a nice anthracite manual one I did the decent thing and got one from a Renault dealer for £4000 in polar white with an auto box. Good skills huh!

This was 1997 and while most of my mates were impoverished from uni and driving crappy Fiestas and the like, I was rolling round like a boss in a top of the range motor, and it was a good one!

After a while though I had a slight indescretion with a magnetic Renault and got a bit upset. Parked the not very dented Monza and just got a new car. (I'm still miffed about it)



Next on the repair list finally!

Several years later I decided to get a donor GSE and sort it out. I found a cheap cheap one in Gatwick and bought it one night.



Sadly (happily) it turned out to be really good (B660 RRW)so I did the decent thing and cleaned and polished it lots, Peter Maiden Components lowered suspension and eventually some Compomotive lattices. Sold it to a mate and it has since been resprayed and cropped up on fleabay a couple of times.

Then this turned up:



then, with mojo reinstalled I was granted another donor GSE (I have a thread somewhere)



This has gone to the Opel dealer in the sky now.

Moving on, serendipity (or Ian actually) brought me this:



It's a slightly scruffy/ropey/unloved D reg GSE auto with exactly the same spec as my original ie: ABS, air conditioning, electric roof and auto box. Well, what are the chances?

A non runner with several choice modifications and some less so it promised to be a fairly easy fixer upper to get me back into Germanic straight six motoring, woop woop and all that.

[MonzaPhil]

Moving on... obviously the first priority was to get it running so filled with enthusiasm I went on holiday, got engaged to MonzaNikki and (sneakily)did some eBuying:



See, the key to successful engine operation is SPLIT RIMS!!!!!!!!

Strangely, this didn't help, however a new fuel tank was required. Monza ones are not easy to come by but Carlton estate ones are cheap and plentiful and only require a filler neck cut from the original tank:



Nice.

Having some fuel in the car also did nothing to convince it to work so I dived headlong into the horrible wiring issues:





don't ask how many times the dash and fuse box have been out, I've lost count....

With still no sign of it running despite 4 engine ECUs and air flow meters etc (good job I have a good parts department) I did the decent thing and bought some new tyres and some centre cap badges as I didn't want people to see the BMW wheels...





Yeah, I got Panthros' centre caps, bring it cat-boy...

As if by magic (by the way, this may not be in exactly the correct chronological order) I made headlights:


from cruddy....

to spangly


Yay.

[darrenh]

headlights came up great ! remember that style on my mk2 cavalier, still got a bunch of clips in the "just in case" drawer !

[MonzaPhil]

With it still not running and it's "quite" heavy, priority was moved to getting it running,






so I set about buying up every 1980s and early 1990s Alpine stereo I could find along with a smashing Rockford Fosgate "landmine"...

There is a particular feel I want for this project.

In the meantime, I got my spare interior out and fitted the correct grey doorcards and a passenger seat as the empty space that was there was boring and empty and spacey.



not:







anyone done exterior trim on one of these?
Look, I SAVED one!


Mysterious apertures in the doors....


Anyhoo, there are several things about this car that I like and a few that have been on my imaginary wish list:

Spax adjustables
Lowered springs
Stainless poo chute
The tailgate is actually supported fully by the gas struts, seriously, really actual working gas struts that don't suddenly drop the 150kg bootlid on the back of your head!!!!!!!!!

It's also had a large air intake fitted and the airbox has been cut (and a bit more now )

After getting a sunroof switch to replace the gap in the headlining, the roof works fine, the windows are a little lethargic but they work, the central locking and rear wiper have sprung back into life and I bought an A/C glovebox (they are different to the normal ones) from Derek at GM6 (as I went to Stives in Cornywall for holiday purposes and it would have been rude not to drop in)

[MonzaPhil]

Again, none of this was really making it run any better, or at all so I bought another few Monzas:




FINALLY, a nice die cast GSE is available (in a slightly suspect colour, Mr Colon Elk is probably the culprit)








Raiding my stores once again netted me all the necessary exterior plastics:



This means the car park at work doesn't look "quite" like a GM breakers yard and hopefully makes my long-suffering boss a bit happier



Then I had a great idea, surely to get it running it would need a gear lever surround! Yes! and with it being a 4 speed I needed to cut a hole for the 3/4speed switch.

[MonzaPhil]

The welding! Good god, what horrors must lie beneath a Monza that's ben in a field for years!!!!



Just that bit, about 2 hours with complaining about having to do it, tea and losing my glasses and the repair panel...

Oh, did I mention that essentially the car is solid like the rock? OK it's a bit challenged around the rear valance but it's not going to be difficult!

Anyhoo, DeadDave popped in, as he sometimes does and said I should make it run. This seemed like a plan so distributors were swapped, fuel pressures were tested, tea was drunk and it was suggested I should swap the injectors. Obviously this was a stupid idea as Bosch injectors NEVER fail.












So we swapped them and it runs.

There was much wooping and tea was drunk.

[MonzaPhil]

Marrrrrrrrrrrvellous

[MonzaPhil]

But you see, there is more. There has been much grafting and swearing. I've cut my hands to shreds in the dark recesses of "behind the dashboardland", been covered in fuel so, so many times, I've had to do quite a lot slightly injured, I've had to remember stuff which I'm not very good at, in fact I had to make a list to make sure I tightened the passenger seat. It's had a water pump, I've re-plumbed the engine bay as everything was wrong in there, EVERYTHING! Fortunately, having an identical car helps greatly.

On Wednesday I stayed on after work to get a few things done without interruption. MonzaNikki is away so my time is, umm, mine.

This is 01:00hrs at base


which is commitment on a car that I'd not driven more than 30 yards or over 20mph. I got home about 03:00 Insomnia is totally my curse word now.

The reward? All my dash lights work, all the little vent lights work, the lighter and ashray light up, after 4 attempts I finally remembered the reason I'd take the instruments out was to replace the ABS warning bulb with one that works and some new front speakers were fitted along with a nice head unit.

I did a complete stripdown and rebuild of the instruments a few weeks back but the pesky mph/kmh switch is misbehaving.

I've unwired all the horrid modifications where appropriate and am left with just a couple of miscellaneous extras to do, still won't make up for the fact someone drilled a hole throught the front of the dast to fit a bloody alarm sensor..........

[MonzaPhil]

Hmmmm, that last pic is a bit of a teaser I guess.

There are certain things I really like about Monzas and a few improvements that can be made. he black headlamps really make the car look more modern, in a nice way, and the body coloured (approximately) mirrors are a nice detail. I've added a small lower splitter and Carlton headlamp wiper arms. Still a couple of jobs to do! The engine bay has been considerably satin-blacked so I'm gradually cleaning it up and making it good. They already have clear indicators but orange repeaters, not decided what to do yet.

I've spent some time getting all the exterior lighting sorted as it's kind of a legal requirement, there's been some relay swapping and testing, lots of contact cleaning and bulb replacing, even a bit of water emptying!!!!!

Anyone not sure about these cars?

3.0 straight six EFI
180hp
RWD
LSD
full electrics
Recaro interior
ABS
A/C
Alloys with, and I quote, "ultra low profile 205/60/15 tyres"
Digital dash which is amazing and everyone should have one and if you don't like it, you are WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
one of the most 80's cars evarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and rare as you like!

Oh, they are rather cheap, at the moment.......

[MonzaPhil]

Today was a big day. Fridays usually are, despite an influx of frankly horrible Land Rovers, I dropped D454 off for an MOT.

I have put hours, days into this car... kept a bit quiet about it mind you but it's almost ruled my existence for the last couple of months.

I am pleased to report a pass

Woop and indeed WOOP!

MonzaPhil back in a Monza! (almost, need a V5 to tax it), insurance is very cheap, £180 fully comp!

For your enjoyment, some pics of the not yet resprayed but largely put back together and essentially finished article:



















*goes to find the pictures he clearly hasn't uploaded to Photobucket* Doh!

[MonzaPhil]

Found this while I was on the dunny...












and just because this made me laugh quite loudly while I was in the physio waiting room:



and to make me feel better, I got rid of my shonky old yellow toolbox and got one in my favourite shade of chest infection bogey green:



My life is complete.

Just that other GSE to do then!





TTFN

[V8Vitesse]

Phil: This thread is useless without a sound clip!

[MonzaPhil]

I don't have the technology..... the Bulgarian State Laundry Service have more computing power than me!

[MonzaPhil]

It does sound verynice under light (hard ) acceleration toward and away from MOT centres though....





Verynice......

[V8Vitesse]

I KNOW! That's why you need to invest in the technology...

[MonzaPhil]

I feel a GoPro/Contour/Drift Cameras situation in the near future.

Hope the Doovla hurry themselves into sending me the reg docs! Bored, bored, bored.

If I get too bored, I'll start painting bits of it, I have a selection of offensive colours.

Wheel centres gold in the trad BBS stylee or anthracite in a mock GSE fashion, please can you photoplop me some choices?

[V8Vitesse]

Aug 30, 2013 22:00:49 GMT MonzaPhil said:

If I get too bored, I'll start painting bits of it, I have a selection of offensive colours.

Step AWAY from the dayglo green!

[spineynorman]

Looks awesome, love Monzas. I've been having great fun hooning about in my dad's new 24V Carlton the last few days, the GM6 engines are just superb.

I've got a pair of those front seats sat in my spare room. I haven't got a use for them really, I just bought them because they were cheap, they're really comfy and I'll find a use for them one day. Probably

[bstardchild]

Aug 30, 2013 20:13:44 GMT MonzaPhil said:

anyone done exterior trim on one of these?
Look, I SAVED one!

Never bothered - still avaliable new from Vauxhall

[bstardchild]

Aug 30, 2013 21:03:08 GMT MonzaPhil said:

Anyone not sure about these cars?

3.0 straight six EFI
180hp
RWD
LSD
full electrics
Recaro interior
ABS
A/C
Alloys with, and I quote, "ultra low profile 205/60/15 tyres"

Amen to that Brother

Aug 30, 2013 21:03:08 GMT MonzaPhil said:

Digital dash which is amazing and everyone should have one and if you don't like it, you are WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I love it but was completely un readable when you strip all the interior and fit a glass sunroof............