1985 Opel Manta 16V and '09 BMW E92

[ChrisT]

Getting closer to starting, not sure that the 5 year old fuel in the tank will be any good for it though......





I have been cranking it over (ignition lead remover) to get some oil round it but the oil pressure light never went out, wondering if being stood for so long the oil pump needs priming???

[ChrisT]

Low entry jack, an essential piece of kit for a lowered car.....


Squirted a bit of oil into the pump and cranking the engine resulted in oil pressure!

Not ready to start yet though as one of the fuel pipes has perished, going to replace them all just to be safe...

Filled the cooling system to find a leak from between the rad and the top hose, hoped it was because the rad outlet was deformed so sleeved it to try and sort it but to no avail, must assume there's a crack in the rad housing



Also noticed the fuel pump has stopped working since yesterday, got to hope it's just a fuse...

Not sure the battery is in very good condition either, goes flat quite quickly after charging.

It's all going really well.....

[ChrisT]

Today I decided to ignore the lack of fuel, oil pressure and other problems.

I got these in the post yesterday.....



New aluminium brake fluid reservoirs to replace the plastic ones, was expecting a bit of game fitting them as I assumed the thread would be different but it wasn't so they fitted straight to the hoses. Do need to make a new bracket to hold them though as the outlet is central rather than offset on the old ones....



Thinking about fitting an expansion tank, didn't know whether to go with the JD bottle - which is probably a bit clichéd now



Or go with an aluminium cycle bottle (thanks blackpopracing and nalesutol for the idea)..



Think the cycle bottle is probably best, would look better black though.

Quick modification to the top....





In position with temporary bracket...

[ChrisT]

Made a new bracket (right) to hold the fluid reservoirs.....





Fitted new fuel lines too, not sure on the hose finishers, they looked ok with braided hose but no so with rubber....



A little bit of probing with a multimeter found the reason the fuel pump was not working, the feed wire seems to have failed somewhere between the centre console and the relay in the boot, temporary wire run between the two has it working again...



Still won't start though, doesn't sound like it's sparking now and there's still no oil pressure

Took the radiator to a local radiator repair place yesterday but they were shut so been thinking of other options, looking at the dimensions I think one for a mk1 Escort will fit, with a little modification to the mounting brackets, and there's a lot of reasonably priced aluminium radiators available for them.....

[ChrisT]

As I've not got enough jobs already to do on this I decided the other night that, despite tucking most of it away, I didn't like how the wiring loom looks in the engine bay and it's a bit of a mess at the front.

So, unwrap all the wires, cut some of them so they can be extended...





Pull the other ends out the front, removing any surplus ones....



Drill large hole in inner wing through to wheel arch and insert wires....





To be continued.....

[Sinky]

Crikey! I'm glad you know what your doing. Do you?

[ChrisT]

As with most things on this car, not really.....

[Rusted Pistons]

Good to see this getting some progress again!

[ChrisT]

The loom extended and two halves joined back together, all soldered and heatshinked...



Went well, think i matched all the wires correctly

[maxypriest]

I loved my old sportsnatch, was a 1.6, ended up a 2.2CIH
keep up the good work - a great car!

[maxypriest]

[ChrisT]

Aug 17, 2017 23:25:31 GMT maxypriest said:

I loved my old sportsnatch, was a 1.6, ended up a 2.2CIH
keep up the good work - a great car!

I used to have a hatch, unsurprisingly it looked a little different to that one
Had a 2.2 in this one for a while many years ago too.

[maxypriest]

Aug 19, 2017 6:52:23 GMT ChrisT said:

Aug 17, 2017 23:25:31 GMT maxypriest said:

I loved my old sportsnatch, was a 1.6, ended up a 2.2CIH
keep up the good work - a great car!

I used to have a hatch, unsurprisingly it looked a little different to that one
Had a 2.2 in this one for a while many years ago too.

I've just seen a GTE in white - hatch too. Have not seen one for 10 years minimum!!

[ChrisT]

Can't remember the last time I saw one out on the roads

Still trying to get this started, seem to be lacking a spark, replaced the crank position sensor with no effect so checked the coil - primary coil should have a resistance of 0.35 Ohms, I've got 1.0/0.9 so that points a problem...



Before the layup I was having a problem with random misfire I couldn't locate the cause of, could have been the coil starting to go.
Local parts shop have, with a bit of searching, found a replacement that looks about the same, with me on Tuesday.....

Working on the brake the other day and decided I needed a new master cylinder, ordered one from Germany that should fit but what turned up was slightly different to what I expected but I'll make it fit, just needs the bolt spacing changing....



Looks better, just need to order some braided hose to replace one of the lines which wasn't long enough to fit...

[ChrisT]

MK 1 Escort Vs Manta radiators, near enough for me....



Inlet/outlets are 32mm rather than 35mm so need a silicon reducer for the top and replacement reducer elbow for the bottom.....

[ChrisT]

Radiator requires a bit of fabrication work to fit, aluminium angle bolted in to attach radiator to via isolation washers....



Looks at home



Inlet not too far from lining up, should be enough flex in hose rather than remaking angled joiner...

[ChrisT]

Local car parts place found me an ignition coil similar to the one I had....



Unfortunately, on getting it home, realised the connection to the HT lead was a different type.
I vaguely remembered, when buying my Magnecore leads years ago, the king lead supplied was wrong for my coil, so had a dig around in parts boxes in the shed and found I still had it.....



A bit short but at least I can try the coil.......

[westbay]

"Inlet not too far from lining up, should be enough flex in hose rather than remaking angled joiner..."

errmm ... is that going to be a potential failure point when the flexi is hot, pressurized and under stress ?

Great build, more please.

[ChrisT]

They're fairly sturdy silicone hoses and amount I'm bending it is minimal, should be fine.....

[ChrisT]

Sept 3, 2017 10:00:13 GMT westbay said:

Great build, more please.

Thanks, there'll be more, this is a long running project..