1973 Opel Kadett B coupe - making panels & Welding

[david]

Hello everybody,


I pretty much followed Koen to this place and saw some of the most amazing stuff so i'll post my project here too.

about a year ago I bought a 1973 Opel kadett B, 1.1N F coupe

This is what it looked like at the seller and when I got it. That together with first superficial inspections!

I've gotten further than that but will post progress over a couple of days to keep it exciting

actual work on it is quite slow atm. winter'n all and no proper floor to work on, no heat etc...

Hope you like this car, I certainly do


Greetings,
David, another belgian bloke

(pics removed, they were broken)

[qwerty]

I don't think I've ever seen one of them before. Looks really good.

What are your plans? Standard restoration or modified?

[david]

Thanks

you'll see pretty soon that its pretty rotten in some places. but compared to some other restaurations i've seen this one's in the middle on the best-to-worst scale.

its a car that was never imported into the UK

plans are a pretty standard restauration, then do belgian MOT thingie. After that its all up to the budget. Slight drop, stabilizer bars, and an engine tickle are what come to mind.

[coggers]

Awesome

Saw this one at Billing in 06



What are parts like to find over there ?

[david]

that red one is nice i like its ride height.

parts are pretty common except for some rarities (like the 3 meter thingie under the dash). most stuff is available from repro shops. But fresh metal is becoming harder to come by every day. I'm glad i got everything i need for this one. All the rest is going to be home-made

[thechevetteman]

Wow! Thats rare. Makes a change from all the 'c's. Nice

[grizz]

Welcome David.

I have no doubt that I would also have bought your car, based on just the way it looks now.

[HoTWire]

Lovely Kadett.. it is a shame we never got them in the UK. I've seen some really nice ones from European shows.

[david]

thanks!

Beeing young and impulsive... i should have had a better look at it before i bought it. But still... compared to other restauration projects, this one is still in proper shape.

coupe's are becoming a bit rare at the moment. sedans are all over but i like coupe's better This also means that specific coupe parts are getting expensive. But i'm lucky that not much falls into that category.


some more pics... mostly of dismantling. I'll leave the horror part for tomorrow



stripped dash. took me about 4 hours. Some clips were hard to get to...



some new parts... changing from 4 drums to front discs and adding a brake booster




more stripping/loose parts














first sightings of rust are for tomorrow

[travellinbob]

such a cool shape to these cars! don't htink i have acually seen one before!!!

[david]

time for some rust...

compare these to the previous images... it was hidden under a thick layer of fiberglass & resin...







outer sills (looks worse than it is in this pic)




Left side

[david]

working on the front suspension and brakes




Got out the front spring out with a home made spring compressor (cot me about 2 euro and 10 mins of fiddling to make it)

[david]

Finished front brake:



on to cutting the chassis!




This is yet to be welded. The hinges aren't properly in place so i'll need to sort out that before I can get that on.



Outer sill, or what's left of it:





First actual welding! (this was actually the 2nd try at this part... first one failed miserably.)







I hope to get back to welding soon... I want to drive that damn thing!

[xbo11ox]

excellent work! I have often been tempted by '4-dr coupe' ones of these on French eBay, they seem cheap and look very cool.

[david]

thanks

4-doors are quite rare. They were never made in a coupe version though. But a model that looks quite alot like it.
jinx.koendd.be/?page_id=46 --> look at the type 96 its a 4 door sedan but looks alot like the type 92 (which is the one i have)

They are indeed pretty cheap. a fully restored model with a 1100-1200 engine goes for 4000€, if that.
original 1900 cars go for a lot more than that, rarity and more HP

[david]

nut much to explain...just lots and lots of pics.

i've come to love 2pack epoxy primer (beats red oxide any time). And i think thats the color the suspension is gonna be... (i'm too cheap to cover it with some other color)


first of all... new wheels







and then some general work on front and rear axle/suspension bits

[leigh]

Pretty cool car right there! My Opel GT is based on the chassis of these as far as i know, well i recognise most of the bits you've stripped of there anyway!

[Deleted]

love the kadett b's good luck with the coupe .
the red coupe belongs to opel fruit on here he has an estate one as well he's also one of the nightmares ;D

[Knugcab]

Aug 22, 2009 17:37:13 GMT leigh said:

My Opel GT is based on the chassis of these as far as I know,

Correct.

[david]

Aug 23, 2009 10:59:59 GMT Knugcab said:

Aug 22, 2009 17:37:13 GMT leigh said:

My Opel GT is based on the chassis of these as far as I know,

Correct.

yup, running gear is 90 to 95% the same. which is pretty handy because parts for a GT are sometimes easier to get hold of (and a tad more pricey but its better than not having parts)

Do you have a link to the red kadett? i've only seen Ferry's kadett and that one's yellow