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Opel Kadett Ongoing Project!


Retro Power
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No, its not a manta, but thought it might interest some on here anyway!

A friend (and customer! ) of mine had a Kadett C Coupe which is "well used" rather than show material, fitted with a fairly thrown together LET conversion, using the typical manta 1800 box, A series axle etc etc.

He's into RWYBs and general fast road stuff plus the odd track day.

Unfortunately the manta running gear was nothing like strong enough. The gearboxes were lasting two 1/4 mile runs before losing gears and smashing bearings, and he sheared the manta prop clean off at the torque tube, smashed the diff, broke a halfshaft, and numerous other failures. He then asked what i thought might be do-able to make it useable rather than a mobile transmission assembly training stand!!

We came up with the plan of using the omega R25-R28 gearbox from an Omega v6, plus 5 linking the rear end and using the 4HA axle from a Reliant Scimitar SE5, fitted with a jag powr loc diff, all linked with a custom made sliding spline single piece prop. This was all done last year, and the car was straight away reliable, and considerably quicker!

Here are a couple of vids from USC at Santa Pod a few weeks back. The times were awful, but we were still quickest car for the first two days, before being beaten on day 3!!

The car has now run 12.00 sec dead at 127mph. The 12 sec is very slow, but the 127 terminal gives a clue, traction on 6" wide wheels is the problem now.

We also have another 10psi of boost yet to run, plus nitrous.

target is high 10's next year!!!

Latest work I have done was to make a full 3" stainless steel downpipe and exhaust system for it, to actually use the exhaust tunnel I put in the car last year!

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A bit tight under there!!

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Over axle bendy section, too tight for my liking! Oily underside of the car is down to the omega box breather, its crap! We've now made a piped breather in aeroquip that goes to a catch tank, the box just kept chucking oil out till we did that. You can see the 5 link setup as well.

sept09_018.jpg

Watch out for the car next year. Hoping to get it on the dyno again soon and get it mapped to the full 28 psi boost. 475hp is the target, plus 75hp nitrous............its a lot on a stock crank and rods!!!

Edited by Retro Power
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Not a Manta as you say - but Awsome - did you fit the exhaust pipework - it's a really neat job - NICE WORK.

Checked out the vids - looks like a load of fun. I hope you don't mind me saying that you need some weight and bigger rubber over those rear wheels tho'..... :o

Looking forward to seeing what breaks next - the engine or the bodyshell ;)

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  • 1 month later...

Did you bend the pipes on the exhaust system or did you use standard parts and weld the together ?

Very impressed with the exhaust what ever way you did it :thumbup

The exhaust is made up of standard stainless 3" bends, and Tig Welded up. Ends swaged where necessary for joints. Thanks for the kind words :)

Here is the vid of the 12 sec, 127mph run, again only on 195 road tyres.

It's best with the sound onB)

Edited by Retro Power
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'using the 4HA axle from a Reliant Scimitar SE5, fitted with a jag powr loc diff,'

How is the axle for width ? ie. would it fit into a Manta B, and does the Scimiter not already have an LSD fitted std ?

Liking your exhaust welding skills a lot, need mine sorted for clearance issues so going down the same route before going back to the Nurburgring.

Cheers, Colin.

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'using the 4HA axle from a Reliant Scimitar SE5, fitted with a jag powr loc diff,'

How is the axle for width ? ie. would it fit into a Manta B, and does the Scimiter not already have an LSD fitted std ?

Liking your exhaust welding skills a lot, need mine sorted for clearance issues so going down the same route before going back to the Nurburgring.

Cheers, Colin.

Hi Colin, the SE5 (1968-1975) Scimitar had roughly the same width axle as the Manta A (which is roughly the same as the Kadett and Chevette). The SE6 (1975-1986) had roughly the same width as the manta B. Both are made by Salisbury and take the jag Powerlock diffs which can be found in all V12 Jag's.

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That is one 'el of a Kadett!!!

as for the Scimiter axle they are near perfect, the axle is a Salisbury type axle that was fitted in varying sizes to many different 'British' cars.

i have one out of a scrap yard Scimiter that i have stashed away for future use,the axle is about an inch narrower/wider than a Manta B axle if i remember correctly, it has disc brakes, four forward links, watts linkage on diff cover, limited slip differential and i am told this type of axle is good for 500 BHP!!! on the face of it the perfect axle!

As for Kadett's and Chevett's if your really lucky you might find the Salisbury type axle out of a Jaguar XK 120/140, these are around the same width as a Kadett/Chevett.

Oh, and being a Salisbury type axle there are many different ratio's available,even 6:1 !!! and where would get such a low ratio, (great for ultimate acceleration upto 100 mph or so) out of a Thwaits Dumper truck!!! yes they used standard size Salisbury type axles.

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That is one 'el of a Kadett!!!

as for the Scimiter axle they are near perfect, the axle is a Salisbury type axle that was fitted in varying sizes to many different 'British' cars.

i have one out of a scrap yard Scimiter that i have stashed away for future use,the axle is about an inch narrower/wider than a Manta B axle if i remember correctly, it has disc brakes, four forward links, watts linkage on diff cover, limited slip differential and i am told this type of axle is good for 500 BHP!!! on the face of it the perfect axle!

As for Kadett's and Chevett's if your really lucky you might find the Salisbury type axle out of a Jaguar XK 120/140, these are around the same width as a Kadett/Chevett.

Oh, and being a Salisbury type axle there are many different ratio's available,even 6:1 !!! and where would get such a low ratio, (great for ultimate acceleration upto 100 mph or so) out of a Thwaits Dumper truck!!! yes they used standard size Salisbury type axles.

CheersB)

Not sure you spotted this on my last post......

.......Hi Colin, the SE5 (1968-1975) Scimitar had roughly the same width axle as the Manta A (which is roughly the same as the Kadett and Chevette). The SE6 (1975-1986) had roughly the same width as the manta B. Both are made by Salisbury and take the jag Powerlock diffs which can be found in all V12 Jag's.....

The axle you have is not standard if it has discs.

Edited by Retro Power
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Retro Power, i think i was taking a long time typing my post as you posted your reply,hence i didn't see it before i posted my reply.

One thing i forgot to add is the stud PCD is ford so unless you alter the front hubs you'll need two different sets of wheels,not a problem if your using wider tires on the back.

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One thing i forgot to add is the stud PCD is ford so unless you alter the front hubs you'll need two different sets of wheels,not a problem if your using wider tires on the back.

The nice thing is these days is that when I was looking at fitting a ford axle to my old V8 the wheels I had would have fitted being "multi fitment" also as I work on my current Manta the wheels are again ford and GM fitment (can't find smug smiley)

Edit, oh yeh er nearly forgot.. TIGging aint too bad there mate Speak soon buddy, and apologies for letting you down on your work but life is not too good at mo mate

Edited by opel2000
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...

been a long while since I mentioned the little white rocket, but Ian has been tinkering away quite a lot over the winter.

First off, the bottom end has been rebuilt with all steel bits, balanced etc. A lightweight billet flywheel is on there now, as well and a sintered twin-plate helix clutch.

Also, a critical upgrade has been fitting wider wheels. It's about on the limit of the std arches now, with 8" wide Rota RB's and 215 Toyo 888's.

There have been a lot of ups and downs along the way, with virtually nothing going to plan, but today, finally everything seems to be working as it should! The car went to the local rolling road for a power run. It behaved impeccably, nice quiet top-end, temps stayed low despite several runs, and ran 399BHP and 362 LB/FT of torque, which was about what we were hoping for. Ian will be running the car (weather permitting) at USC this weekend, so fingers crossed!

Still running a totally standard XE head and cams, so more to come yet, and there is of course the 100BHP Nitrous, which has not been used yet.

Watch this space!!

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Edited by Retro Power
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