167 replies to this topic

[stradacab]

Gosh, it has been a long time! Thought I had better update as its been quiet on here but work has been underway...

I've just about cleared up the mother of all chest infections now, but have to were a mask in the garage for fear of agrivating my poor chest. They don't make bugs like thet used to, this one could have killed a batallion- or I'm getting old!

I have reached a bit crossroads with the body welding that I may elaborate on further over the coming weeks....

But!.... I hate to see a project languish so I changed course and decided to do something and get to work on the engine. Many thanks to Darren for coming over the other week to manhandle it out (I mean manhandle!, rope, a bit of wood and a hernia and the thing was on the floor- so were we, and not a steel toe capped boot in sight)

So far I have replaced the water pump, painted rocker cover, engine block, pulleys ancilliaries gaskets etc and fitted and electronic ignition distributor (thanks Paul). Work to do includes new front and rear main oil seals, new fuel pump, clutch and skim the scored flywheel. Apart from fluids that should see it ready to drop in.

As the engine bay will be repainted, I have decided to go a bit "concours" and detail the bay- it's something I have never really been bothered with before, but I thought if I'm doing another resto I may as well go to a different place and stretch myself.

Here are the pics tonight.......

[Devil Fish]

you need two black dots and a black thin curve on that cap:



Such a tart!

[stradacab]

I'm amazed you can say that.


Lets take a look at your ebay purchase history...

Polished Cam cover
Polished and engraved exhaust heat shield
Braided fuel hoses
Ally catch tank
Ally radiator
Adonised radiator infill panel............

If anyone is the bling tart round here I think you need to look a little closer to home!

[stradacab]

Weld, weld, weld! Must get some pics up!

[Andrew65]

You've probably seen these pages before, but if not they are from a Feb 1982 Manta brochure.

I'll try one pic, if it works I'll add the rest.

Edited by Andrew65, 05 May 2012 - 12:22 PM.

[Andrew65]

The rest...

[stradacab]

I have the earlier brochure, yours is slightly different with the 400 on the back page. What a great color to choose for the brochure- Grey (not!)

[MANTAMAN]

The grey colour may not be a bad choice, remember back in the seventies most promotional material, like addverts in magazines, was in black and white.
a car set aside for promotional duties had to photograph well in both colour and more importantly black and white because a majority of the published pictures of it would be in that medium.

My friend Richard Watt owns 'LOU' the MK 1 Cavalier used by Vauxhall in all promotional material when the Cavalier was launched in 1975, this car is painted in signal yellow, a Manta A series colour that was not part of the Cavalier colour range, only available by special order. on the face of it a strange move to piant your promotional launch car in a colour that would not normally be available. but i think this was done because the colour worked well when photographed in black and white, if they just wanted a bright colour to attract attension then there were two other yellows in the normal Cavalier colour range, Jamaica and Pinapple.