1.8 berlinetta coupe

[steelman75]

last had a manta 20 years ago regret selling it and  wasnt looking for another having 4 minis in th stable 5 bikes  and a toota celica al neding varying degrees of attention but this turned up on a selling site before i knew it the deal was done and i once again have a rwd 80s sports coupe let the project commence

[steelman75]

[steelman75]

[steelman75]

[jjeffries]

Those are handsome cars IMO. Do the photos suggest this one was originally red?
Best of luck, John

[steelman75]

i beleive it was always gold but i will know more tomorrow after a thorough assesment of the works needed really looking forward to this build i have to say

[steelman75]

just dropped off ime buzzing to own a manta again theres nothin i could find to dampen my enthusiasm for this car

[WheelsonCanvas]

The first ‘proper’ car I had after several Mk2 Escorts was a 1.8S hatch - and what an eye opener that was! They’re a really nice drive, hope you enjoy it 👍

[steelman75]

so today i stuck the battery off the daily drver on the old girl and at the second time of asking she started and ran sounded lovely [has a stainless full system] not bad considering it hasnt been started in at least 6 years so today i chopped of the front panel completely it was rotten to the core

[Alpina99]

Looking forward to following this one,
Always loved these since their rallying heyday,

[paul99]

Nice, brother had the 2.0 GTE back in the day. 115 bhp seemed a lot back then Accident prone though, and we talked about moving the running to my Mk1 Cavalier. Never did though. What's the plan?

[gtviva]

I'm amazed that's not been robbed of its gearbox/sump/engine mounts by now for some red top/turbo conversion!

You may find its going to be a bit rusty underneath when you start poking around!

[ovimor]

Theres a Utoob of the factory 'spotwelding' these....

All the panels are jigged/latched by a couple of geezers and massive hand guided spotwelders dance about, like Mayflies lol



Mebbies 6Spots >> hmm, mebbies 7!!

GR8 score with this.


OVIMOR

[steelman75]

i actually have a rebuilt redtop with twin 45 webber carbs sat in my lock up

ok so the whole nose cone was rotten so off it came theres plenty of rust on her but the only are of concern to me is the A post it haas an inner and an outer skin the inner has the hinge welded to it the outer skin wich is available just goes over the top and is spot welded to it you have a triangular plate in front of the a post wich is rotten thats fine

but te rot has extended back to just in front of the lip the door seal sits on so it will need replacing completely now this is a bit of a ballache as there are 3 panels here that converge on this corner ao i will have to unpick them or cut of the ends and drill spotwelds on the outer few inches of the panels to remove and get a good fabricated panel as you cant get theis section

[steelman75]

heres a few more picsyou should be able tosee the rot on the inside panel the steering column xmemeber is in the way so is the inner windscreen x member

[steelman75]

panels


indicated will need to be reomoved or the ends cutoff with a thin cutting disc and drill the welds then refit after repairing the troublesome section [pic is justfor refernece not mine ]  it is going to need new floor pans at the front swan neck and outrigger/jacking point repairs

[steelman75]

oh yes i got offered this for a very good price

[steelman75]

so rebuilt upgraded [meant for a safari racer truck rover v8 or vauxhall red top motor icant decide theres also a lexus 1uz motor in the mix obviously thats down the road but worth consideration

[teaboy]

I like the 400 kit.

Eight headlights might be a bit much though.

[Darkspeed]

Jun 14, 2020 20:46:36 GMT teaboy said:

I like the 400 kit.

Eight headlights might be a bit much though.

Meh......