upk Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Kev First off great thread! Second, thanks for the inspiration, i have not touched mine for several months due to rally car build........time for a change, manta hear I come!! Keep up th great work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary6303 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 very nice work mr abbot its been a very long time since i last looked at this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted June 5, 2012 Author Share Posted June 5, 2012 Todays progress was a little slow due to stopping WW3 in the house and then doing homework on Russia I looked at the rad crossmember on the car and it's in very good condition, so I decided to just change the drop mount. This bit needs cutting out in the middle It left some distortion due to the heat put in while welding the modified mount on so the slide hammer was unleashed Spot welds drilled out of the new rad crossmember Then added to the old one No time to weld it on now as the missus is just going to work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary6303 Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Do you keep volcanic laver in your pit, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 Do you keep volcanic laver in your pit, lol. Yea its like the scene from pulp fiction where you never see in the case but it may hold everybody's soul Progress I was feeling a bit flush so treated myself to some Bilt Hamber and some Clecos 200 quid later I wasn't so flush The rad support was stripped of primer and prepared for clamping, treated in SAS weld through primer. Was told by the bloke I personally bought it of " It's the best, everyone rates it" Welded in and dressed off, for the really Manta anal ( who? me?) out there you will see I've changed the rad support by grinding it into a more aesthetically pleasing shape So the next job will be spot welding on the rear quarter I don't use the spot welder that often so I needed to find the parameters of the weld and test the integrity of them . I also am using an unknown weld through primer.... Test 1.... spot welder and a piece of Manta panel Cut Manta panel and treated with SAS weld through primer I clamped the SAS primered panels together and put the spot welder on max. Not a single brrrrrrrssssstttttppppp from the welder! Weird? Again and again I tried, nothing. The small test panel in the same picture above was squeezed with the same spot welder on the same power and it stuck hard. The weld through primer doesn't seem to be a weld through primer.......... So I stripped it off and reprimed with the Bilt Hamber electrox.. Bssssssppppppttttttttttt, it went through the Bilt Hamber stuff I tested the weld strength and it was stuck so hard I had to crack out the spot weld dril l Next thing is to find out why my compressor isn't working and it's in a real tight space!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manscoob Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 looking good kev, keep it going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robah Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 The rad support was stripped of primer and prepared for clamping, treated in SAS weld through primer. Was told by the bloke I personally bought it of " It's the best, everyone rates it" Welded in and dressed off, for the really Manta anal ( who? me?) out there you will see I've changed the rad support by grinding it into a more aesthetically pleasing shape Hope your not going to put your car in the standard catergory at Billing....................LOL.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chappers11050 Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 looks like an interesting project! will you make it billing this year with it? Im thinking not by the looks of it at the mo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Not done any Manta work as the compressor was broken so I decided to take a good look at it and remove the heads to see if anything was broken What I found was that one of the valves was split and part of it was missing The spring was also NS so I nipped to work and got my orthodontic pliers and wire and made a new spring I made a new valve from 1mm stainless and set it an after giving the heads a full strip down and inspection clean New headgaskets made from gasket paper and built up Up and running and a full power:clapping: It just shows how quality engineering doesn't have to be thrown away and can be fixed :hug: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymanc Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 good repair on the compressor kev , good to see your getting your teeth in this again 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted July 4, 2012 Author Share Posted July 4, 2012 I need to change the motor position on the EPS so it was time to remove it and also look and the bottom column bearing Old pedal box off Servo and MS off Ready for the new bias pedal box and EPS bottom mount Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted August 5, 2012 Author Share Posted August 5, 2012 Yesterday I was cutting up a hatch that had most of it's useful parts removed by Rutts ( so don't blame me ) I gassed out the tunnel And I also need to replace the 'ears ' for the radiator as I have a radtech racing one Replacing this and making them look factory again is going to be loads of fun Horrible sierra tunnel top cut off ( I should of been shot doing THAT to this shell Used a new panel removing chisel on the air hammer, worked a treat! You can now see the remains and notice I've stupidly cut through the seat belt mounts and the Manta handbrake hole/ bulge too Also because I like to do loads of jobs at once, I started to strip the roof rails for the roof inner 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 (edited) Well, I've managed to put about 20 hours into the car over the past couple of weeks, time just gets burned soooo fast in the garage First I fitted the EPS mounts supplied my manta sport, great fit and highly recommended Trimmed a spare dash to trial fit The whole thing fits like it was made for the Manta originally Next job I trimmed the last of the horrible sierra tunnel off and started to strip down the replacement Manta tunnel. It took hours and hours and hours, hundreds of spot welds to remove hmmmm spot weld drills are rubbish and expensive so I made my own following the tutorial on retro rides from tonybmw ( check out the thread it's fantastic!) It works better than my Presto ones! Seat mount removed for access to spot welds holding handbrake mount Old handbrake remains removed with spot weld drill and chisel and replacement one removed using spot weld drill ( see where this is going!) Old seat belt mount I'd cut through for the sierra handbrake mech so I removed the old remains using the spot weld drill and removed the replacement from the replacement tunnel using? Yep, the spot weld drill Pic of replacement inside tunnel Trail fit of the replacement tunnel, still need a bit of adjustment but getting their. Then I decided the replacement parts need blasting before I put them back on but my blaster is in a right PITA place and need lifting up and down every time I need it, so I decided to play with my new toy.. Plasma cutter Made some plates for the bottom of the legs Cut some legs and welded them on but I didn't realise until I'd stared welding that the plates were galvanised steel! What a pain to weld with goggles, and a mask on! Added some industrial bin castors ( thank you baycrazy for the 99p rollers!!) Only thing to do now is to add some cross bracing that will give me a shelf but it's so much better now as it's at the correct height and easy to use.. Time to put the glass bead in? ARRRRGHHHHH where's the bung gone from the bottom!! Ah well there's always tomorrow Edited September 11, 2012 by Kevin Abbott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opelmantagsi Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 good to see an update Kevin, like the spot weld drill bit, nice and long too for getting into those hard to reach places. spot weld removal is a pain, but worth it in the end mate. nice job on the steering, looks factory! keep the pics coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couperman Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Bloody hell Kev, you're building you're own car there - never seen so many mods in one car! Will it still look like a Manta when you're finished??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 Blaster now on proper legs and base It's the little things that keep moving on Torque tube off so I can position and grind tunnel top Hoist into position on gantry Engine up And in Really tight at the back This was to see how the new T5 bellhousing and getrag 265 box fits Hmmmm this in in neutral Arrrghhhh... I will now have to do a few things Engine will come forward an inch, that's not bad as I have this much clearance I will move the holes in the mounts forward by an inch or so This will lead to some fun with the crossmember It's tight as here The lever then will come into the centre of the hole by an inch, but I need two or more to centre it I'll take an inch out of the remote and move it all forward by an inch I'm going to have to make some adjustments to the gear lever remote 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opelmantagsi Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 holy shit that's gonna be an interesting few tweaks to get that in there, seems that every adjust causes issues elsewhere, very challenging puzzle and not the easy cook book solution. I think its going to be incredible if it works out and I am pretty sure others will learn a lot from this thread, your leading the way on this one I think. I love the gantry crane - handy tight squeeze in the garage tho mate, don't envy you there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opelmantagsi Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 is dry sumping an option? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Barrett Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 i was going to say dry sumping it would be good solution, but costly, notch the sump? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opelmantagsi Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 mate of mine here did a cossie turbo conversion in a Mk1 Escort rally car for a guy that had plenty of money, he kept telling the guy to dry sump it (not sure what the reasons were) but he didn't and it all ended in tears, the other thing that sticks in my mind is him saying its an awesome package when its dry sumped. I don't know too much about it but I would say its probably well worth looking into Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_d Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 That's the problem I kept having with the engines in my Chevette! Ibthink the easiest way will be to modify the sump. Might nit be the cheapest, but would be better/safer than cutting and modifying the crossmember i think. It's a good project, and was good to see it in the flesh, lots of work gone into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) edit double post! Edited October 31, 2012 by Retro Power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 It'll fit Kev!! If this fits!! and Re. Chevette, have a look in this project diary on our website, a turbo XE with standard manta sump and Omega gearbox fits a chevette very nicely http://www.retropower.co.uk/projects_LET_Chevette.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_d Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 and Re. Chevette, have a look in this project diary on our website, a turbo XE with standard manta sump and Omega gearbox fits a chevette very nicely http://www.retropower.co.uk/projects_LET_Chevette.php I did find out about the big wing sump and XE/LET engine. I put up a post on here looking for a big wing sump, and that led to me buying a full rwd setup off Kev! His 20LET, and everything I needed! Had the engine in within 2 days! I have been looking through your website and build logs to see what you have done, and how, has been very helpful :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ascona400r Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 The cossie yb in a Manta engine bay is a tight squeeze at the back alright.... Though they do fit ok thankfully with out having to do any butchering with the angle grinder which is a bonus...... Nice work, keep it up.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.