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Opel Manta A Series Hot Rod (Beast)


DiMarco
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Hello Guys and Girls,

I thought i might as well start my project thread of my A series Hot Rod i have called Beast i know sad but what can you do :P.

She is a 1973 A series which was built as a Drag car so has nice chunky tires :D and a nice American V8 under the bonnet. I saw this car when i was 14 at school and said to myself i love that car and want it. 10 years go by and totally forgot about it until i went to see a friend and there she was looking all sorry for herself but still looked like a beauty to me :D. As soon as i saw her again i spoke to my friend about it to see if she knew if he would sell it but she didn’t know. So after thinking about her none stop for about a month and talking to a couple of members on here i put a note through the door to see if he would sell. After about a week i got a text from the owner saying that he would so after that i knew i wanted to buy her. With a big thank you to Chris for coming to look at it and put my mind at rest with the condition me and the owner sorted out a price which we were both happy with and now i have the beast :D.

Spec:

Ford mustang Cleveland 351 V8

3 speed Auto box FMX

1971 Camaro rear axle to take the power

Full road cage

Straight through exhaust very loud

NOS

Race tank in boot

Race seats with harnesses

IMAG01711.jpg

IMAG0303.jpg

IMAG0306.jpg

IMAG0308.jpg

IMAG0314.jpg

As you can see she does need some work but what Manta A doesn’t. But i am so looking forward to the build and i really can’t wait to have her on the road to drive and bring to shows and meet you all with her :D.

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Thank you guys I am very grateful with all the positive comments.

Awesome looking car. I know it might sound daft, but surely it's not still on standard front brakes? It looks well enough sorted that whoever did it first time round must have thought of that.

I am not sure what brakes she is running but once she is stripped down we can look to see what we have and the options if they need upgrading.

Whats your plans?

Straight resto from where it is? (but with better brakes :D )

Put up plenty pics, Im sure i'm not the only one keen to see how this one gets on!

Trust me mate there will be loads of photos going up of her as I cant wait to start working on her and doing everything. The plan is I strip her totally down once Chris is doing all the welding I am thinking I will clean up the engine and spray it Blue along with the gearbox. All the pulleys will be black and the old exhausts you see there will be going back on but only till she is on the road then she will be going down to a hand made exhaust place so they can cut back the manifolds as they are to low and make a hole new twin exhaust system tucked into the body. The wheels I am hoping to keep as they look the nuts but will have to see on the front brakes. But if all is well I am thinking of getting them polished :D to give it the mad max look lol. The car is going to be sprayed in a lovely orange with a nice black strip but will not be metallic as I want her to look old skool hotrod. The huge bonnet scoop is getting taken out or cut down as she is to big for my liking but on the outside she will look pretty much the same. The inside will look the same also but will look new and with full carpet same with the boot also, the race tank will also be sprayed blue and will polish up the NOS bottle so all neat and tidy. So hopeful she will look a million times better and have the old skool look but hotrod in there as well. After that she will be my weekend car plus taking her to meets and shows I would really love to get her in a magazine as that will top everything and be so worth it.

What do you guys think?

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Thank you guys I am very grateful with all the positive comments.

I am not sure what brakes she is running but once she is stripped down we can look to see what we have and the options if they need upgrading.

Trust me mate there will be loads of photos going up of her as I cant wait to start working on her and doing everything. The plan is I strip her totally down once Chris is doing all the welding I am thinking I will clean up the engine and spray it Blue along with the gearbox. All the pulleys will be black and the old exhausts you see there will be going back on but only till she is on the road then she will be going down to a hand made exhaust place so they can cut back the manifolds as they are to low and make a hole new twin exhaust system tucked into the body. The wheels I am hoping to keep as they look the nuts but will have to see on the front brakes. But if all is well I am thinking of getting them polished :D to give it the mad max look lol. The car is going to be sprayed in a lovely orange with a nice black strip but will not be metallic as I want her to look old skool hotrod. The huge bonnet scoop is getting taken out or cut down as she is to big for my liking but on the outside she will look pretty much the same. The inside will look the same also but will look new and with full carpet same with the boot also, the race tank will also be sprayed blue and will polish up the NOS bottle so all neat and tidy. So hopeful she will look a million times better and have the old skool look but hotrod in there as well. After that she will be my weekend car plus taking her to meets and shows I would really love to get her in a magazine as that will top everything and be so worth it.

What do you guys think?

Agreed will look a lot better with out the scoop and i'd be tempted to make it solid roof again also but the rest of it looks ace! :thumbup

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Thank you guys I am very grateful with all the positive comments.

I am not sure what brakes she is running but once she is stripped down we can look to see what we have and the options if they need upgrading.

Trust me mate there will be loads of photos going up of her as I cant wait to start working on her and doing everything. The plan is I strip her totally down once Chris is doing all the welding I am thinking I will clean up the engine and spray it Blue along with the gearbox. All the pulleys will be black and the old exhausts you see there will be going back on but only till she is on the road then she will be going down to a hand made exhaust place so they can cut back the manifolds as they are to low and make a hole new twin exhaust system tucked into the body. The wheels I am hoping to keep as they look the nuts but will have to see on the front brakes. But if all is well I am thinking of getting them polished :D to give it the mad max look lol. The car is going to be sprayed in a lovely orange with a nice black strip but will not be metallic as I want her to look old skool hotrod. The huge bonnet scoop is getting taken out or cut down as she is to big for my liking but on the outside she will look pretty much the same. The inside will look the same also but will look new and with full carpet same with the boot also, the race tank will also be sprayed blue and will polish up the NOS bottle so all neat and tidy. So hopeful she will look a million times better and have the old skool look but hotrod in there as well. After that she will be my weekend car plus taking her to meets and shows I would really love to get her in a magazine as that will top everything and be so worth it.

What do you guys think?

Agreed will look a lot better with out the scoop and i'd be tempted to make it solid roof again also but the rest of it looks ace! :thumbup

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Agreed will look a lot better with out the scoop and i'd be tempted to make it solid roof again also but the rest of it looks ace! :thumbup

Hi dave i would make it a standard bonnet but with the air filter on the V8 she sits to high and the bonnet wont close. So would need a scoop but im not planning on having one that big. Might get a new one cut a hole in it just the size of the air filter so you can open the bonnet and put one just over that and mould it to the bonnet.

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If you wanted standard bonnet you could lower the engine, but that'll be quite an undertaking.

Unless you can get away with a different filter, which would be the easiest solution.

I have thought of that but dropping the engine even lower one small pot hole and the sump will come clean off. she is just about in the right position so that would be able to be done. I am happy with a small air scoop nothing like is on there already but something a little more suttle that just covers the filter gives her more hotrod look. Never know later on might go one stage bigger and get a supercharger on there so she would be more mad max :D but that will be a few years if at all.

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Have a look at 6.6 trans am bonnet scoops, they have that reverse facing one that looks cool and are very efficient too. With forward facing scoops they actually dont work too well because of the turbulance coming off the front of the car. If it was higher than the roof it would work but turning left might be a problem :)

Another filter option may be a "hat" on the carb witha pipe going to a cone type filter in a housing near the front if you have room.

Im only 5 mins from Chris so ill pop over and be nosey :)

Tony

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Have a look at 6.6 trans am bonnet scoops, they have that reverse facing one that looks cool and are very efficient too. With forward facing scoops they actually dont work too well because of the turbulance coming off the front of the car. If it was higher than the roof it would work but turning left might be a problem :)

Another filter option may be a "hat" on the carb witha pipe going to a cone type filter in a housing near the front if you have room.

Im only 5 mins from Chris so ill pop over and be nosey :)

Tony

Bet you will tony lol be nice to meet you and have a chat about your yank tanks :D. I dont know about the cone air filter as i love it as it is and wouldnt like that set up so i will have a look at the scoop you where on about and see what happens sounds good though.

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Just an update the tyres are here and as you can see from my hand they are big :D cant wait to see them on the car. Looks like 2 weeks till she will be for the first time in almost a 10 years she will be moving :) cant wait.

tyres.jpg

you are looking at x2 185 70 13 and x2 295 50 15.

Been looking online and i can still get the wheels that are on the car so if needs be i will get a bigger set for the front if i need bigger brakes which is more than likely.

Edited by DiMarco
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Hey Nick

Those tyres look nice :-)

If you need to get the wheels refurbished speak to steve at Rhino Alloys

http://www.rhinoalloys.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/RhinoAlloys they do an amazing job and are super helpful.

They sorted out my OZ racing wheels for my A and even put the tyres on the so i didnt have to let some monkey at quick fit put them on.

They can arrange carriage for your old ones.

Got some before and after ones of mine here http://www.theopelproject.com/?page_id=267

Andy

ps. im with Tony on the bonnet scoop, nice trans am 6.6 one would look nice

http://www.powerful-cars.com/images/pontiac/pontiac77firebird3a.jpg

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Thank you very much for that I will look into this more when the car is getting worked on. With the willwoods I will have to see what brakes the car can take with 13inch wheels but worse comes to worse I will buy some 15 inch ones to put a good set of brakes on if it needs bigger.

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