1983 Manta and 1980 RS2000

[mjsrb5]

Hello folks,
This is my first post here, great forum!
I recently bought my first proper retro motor, a mint Opel Manta Berlinetta. I always loved Mantas when I was young, never thought I'd actually own one
It's totally standard, I'm only going to make a few modifications, ride height, exhaust and wheels.
Anyway, here's some pics, you might notice a subtle Capri in some of the pics, thats my brother in law's 3.0s

[luckygti]

Very nice, had a Manta many moons ago, one of the few cars I've had which I don't have any photo's of Anyway, plans sound good and that Capri needs a thread of its very own

Welcome of course

[mjsrb5]

Apr 14, 2012 21:29:26 GMT luckygti said:

Anyway, plans sound good and that Capri needs a thread of its very own

Welcome of course

Cheers mate! I'm sure the Capri owner will stick a thread up when he's got time, he's been a bit busy fixing it recently, Fordys eh? ;D Needless to say the V6 sounds awesome and it's one of the coolest cars I've had the pleasure of driving.

I gave my Manta some loving today, a vigorous wash and polish, it scrubs up really well. Typically the sun disappeared when I took some pics but it is nice and shiney now.
I'm patiently waiting for my lowered suspension and new exhaust to arrive, I ordered them a week ago

[little feat]

Very nice , quite a rare car now , most of the 1.8's have been destroyed for their parts that are required for a 16v conversion.
I've owned one for a long time so if there is one piece of advice I could give you is to soak it in Waxoyl ....everywhere .
Use a compressor and schutz gun to get it into chassis esp. the swan necks , doors, above front headlights , inner rear arch wells and tailgate bottom. Wash under wings weekly with a high pressure hose getting up into corners and i'll stay as nice as it is.
Don't go too low as it makes steering heavy and keep the changes subtle.
Hope you enjoy it ..

[mjsrb5]

Apr 16, 2012 19:12:25 GMT little feat said:

Very nice , quite a rare car now , most of the 1.8's have been destroyed for their parts that are required for a 16v conversion.
I've owned one for a long time so if there is one piece of advice I could give you is to soak it in Waxoyl ....everywhere .
Use a compressor and schutz gun to get it into chassis esp. the swan necks , doors, above front headlights , inner rear arch wells and tailgate bottom. Wash under wings weekly with a high pressure hose getting up into corners and i'll stay as nice as it is.
Don't go too low as it makes steering heavy and keep the changes subtle.
Hope you enjoy it ..

Thanks mate, you would not believe the amount of waxoil that's been used on my car, the previous owner has put it on everywhere underneath, inner wings, bottom of the doors, under the bonnet ect, all credit to him as it is solid.

I totally agree about keeping the changes subtle, I'm only dropping it 40mm all round and swapping the wheels probably for ATS cups. The exhaust is blowing a bit so I'm replacing it with a sportex system.
That will be it, I love the way it looks and it's in such good condition I wont be changing anything else.

[mjsrb5]

I've had a chance to do some work on the Manta today so I thought I'd share some pics, it's nothing compared to some of the amazing project threads on here but I'm enjoying myself getting stuck in .
First up was fitting the new Sportex exhaust, an easy and worthwhile task as it now has a nice note about it, nothing too intrusive though.



I'm lucky enough to stay on a farm and we have a great fully stocked workshop with ramps ect.

After my exhaust was done I turned to the brakes which had a fair judder when pressed hard, turns out someone removed the slider seals at some point probably due to them being seized. I cleaned them up and fitted new sliders and seals, after a few problems I've finally got decent working brakes.


Next jobs will be near side wing mirror, rear seatbelts fitted and lowering springs on.

[woodenspatulas]

very very nice, glad to see its in the right hands!

[mjsrb5]

I spent a couple of days underneath the Manta this week, fitted new lowering springs and shortened my front bump stops. I'm very pleased with the results, it sits much lower than before

[mjsrb5]

Here's a wee update, I've been bombing about in the Manta for a couple of months now and I'm loving it.
Loving it so much that I went out and bought a friend for it, a 1980 mk 2 RS2000 custom. Needs a fair bit of welding but I'm up for the challenge.
Here's some pics, first up is the Manta because it's ace


Here's my new Escort, I just love the colour and the brown vinyl roof but it's fitted with a daft electric sunroof which is bound to be leaking so a new roof skin will be going on I think.






Here's some of the bad rusty bits, theres heaps of ancient filler all over the inner wings and lots of old welding and bits of tin so first job will be investigating the bodywork. One good thing is the floor , boot and sills are in really good condition so I'm reasonably confident I can do most of the work myself, this'll be my first ever restoration woohoo





I'll update this thread as I work on the car, could be a long term project though.
Any advice, help, tips criticism or comments are very welcome.
Cheers!

[teaboy]

Great pair of cars you have there mate.

Before you start welding read tonybmw's panel making thread.

retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=usetharch&action=display&thread=70135&page=1

Good luck with it.

[mjsrb5]

Cheers for the link buddy, very handy

[mjsrb5]

I had time last weekend to do a bit of investigation on the RS to see how bad the rot is. I also replaced a wheel bearing on the Manta, I've been using the Manta for my 90 mile a day commute and it's been holding up well so far.
Here's the RS and my brother in law's RS1600i


I was told that the floor was good on the RS but I was still pleasantly surprised to find that it is solid and never been welded, sills are good too as is the boot and rear inner arches.
Apparently it was ziebarted from new, why didn't they do this to all cars?



The problem areas are the front inner wings, wing rails, slam panel ect. full of rot and holes.


I stripped out the interior too, plenty of rot in the footwells and comedy botched welding on the kick plates.







I found some interesting stuff too, someone hs fitted electric windows and remote central locking, I'll be ripping it all out.

So it looks like I wont need as much work to get it back on the road as I thought, the biggest job will be re skinning the roof and I've found a mk2 expert through a work mate who is going to take a look at it to see how much of the wings and inner wings can be saved. I can realistically see this back on the road next year ..............hopefully.

This will never be a minter, I want a useable old car that I can blast about in and not worry about, I'm keeping the worn interior as it is (lots of character) and I'm still undecided on whether I should keep it beige or spray it a different colour.

[madcabby]

id keep it beige mate it looks good and is a rare colour first beige one ive seen in years, always wanted a mk2 remember them being scrap money years ago lol

[jules1200]

Got to, got to, got to keep it beige. It's by far the most valuable colour to have one in & looks just 'so eighties'.

[mjsrb5]

I know what you mean, beige is quite a rare colour for a RS and it does suit the car, however I'm not building a show car or a concours winner so originality isn't high up on my list.
Also I'm never going to sell it so value isn't a great concern.
It will need a full respray and has been repainted at least once in the past so I figured why not spray it in the colour I've always wanted. Riviera Blue. (Also a RS colour)

I've not made up my mind yet, at the end of the day it's only paint so I'll wait and see, the beige is growing on me every day

[biffy1984]

Hey, couple of lovely cars you have there. The RS looks like a great project. A guy up here has just finished restoring his one, painted it signal orange, looks more yellow to me but really really nice! I love the beige though, not very often you see them in that colour.

Your Manta looks immaculate, really smart. I have a Manta too, a white 16v coupe we use every day. Takes a lot of looking after with the salt air about 9 months of the year! I also have a MK2 Granada 2.8i Ghia x, an XR3i and a 3 door Cosworth. I would love to get my hands on an RS2000, there are a couple up here in storage, one of them the guy offered it to me a couple of years ago for £400 but I think by now it will be so rotten it will only be fit for spares.

Looks like you guys are big into your old Fords... Can't beat them!

Anyway, I will be following this thread with great interest so keep us updated and keep the pics coming. Good luck with the project and enjoy your Manta!

P.S brilliant garage you have there!!! ;D

Cheers

Peter

[mjsrb5]

Cheers for your comments Peter Much appreciated.
I've had a look at your photos, that's quite a collection you've got yourself!
I've spent a bit of time in Lerwick over the last few years (I work offshore) Shetland's a really nice place.
I've been using my Manta as a daily driver for a few months recently, piling on the miles and it's not let me down (apart from a wheel bearing)
The RS is undercover till next year when I'll get started on the resto.
Here's a couple of pics from the Scottish Capri show at the weekend.

[little feat]

Can I ask who manufactured those springs you fitted on the Manta and when the car is sitting back on the ground do the coils touch each other at all ?
Checking my car over for sale I noticed that the fronts have settled and the to three coils are touching thus making the ride rather firm. I'll replace them but I'm sure they are Spax but as I fitted them 29 years ago I guess I can't complain.

[mjsrb5]

Hi mate, I got my springs from www.losuspension.com, the fronts have settled a bit on mine too, the bottom 2 coils are touching. They are cheap, soft springs and I think I'll be upgrading them for something a bit better quality next year. I'm running gaz adjustable shocks now and I think they would be better suited to stronger springs.

[luckygti]

Manta looks great and the Escort looks like it will scrub up well I think I'd be keeping it beige personally, but hey it's your car right ;D It'll be interesting to see how much rust there is under all that underseal! Ours is in storage at the moment, but I must say it will be good to have it back!