1976 Opel Manta coupe. A long haul project. She moves!!!

[sutty2006]

I have used a loom from a later 78 berlinetta, so the earlier alternator setup isn’t present on this. 

[sutty2006]

Chucked another gallon of go go juice in the old girl today along with a shot of lead replacement and the fuel gauge definitely works! 
 

 

[Snake Charmer]

10 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

I have used a loom from a later 78 berlinetta, so the earlier alternator setup isn’t present on this. 

I honestly don't remember the wiring, can't have been that difficult if I did it as a kid!! I remember driving home from Wraysbury one night and noticing the lights seemed bright, the voltage had gone high so I switched everything on possible to load the alternator up. That was when I fitted the '76 alternator and it may have gone into my '85 GTE Coupe with the Ascona engine and fuel injection that was an easy retro fit to an Ascona B.

[sutty2006]

More done tonight. 
 

had to cut the captains rear shocker off as the bolt was seized in the metal bushing. 
 

chop chop
 

 

 

luckily the metal bushing has a pre-made slit, good enough to jam a screwdriver right up there and then hammered the bolt out. 
 

 

new on. 
 

 

and also chucked the new cylinder and shoes on. 
 

waiting for new drums now. 

[Snake Charmer]

7 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

had to cut the captains rear shocker off as the bolt was seized in the metal bushing. 

Just sat and read through the whole thread again, I see you did the drinkers side previously. 

My memory needs refreshing, does the electronic ignition still use the ballast wire buried in the wiring loom? 

[sutty2006]

23 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

Just sat and read through the whole thread again, I see you did the drinkers side previously. 

My memory needs refreshing, does the electronic ignition still use the ballast wire buried in the wiring loom? 

I’ve no idea, when it comes to ballasts etc I start getting confused but I’m fairly certain the electronic ignition doesn’t need a separate ballast. I’m not great with lightning side of things. 

[sutty2006]

Last night I temp fitted the drivers seat. I will have to mark up and re drill the right rear clamp mount holes this week. 
 

I forgot they were fixed, hopefully I get on with the position, otherwise I’ll be fitting the recaros out of my other one. 
 

in a bid to get dash lights working, I now need a brake reservoir cap. Which is proving hard to find. 
 

 

 

@Snake Charmer I don’t suppose you have one in your huge box of spares? 

[Snake Charmer]

3 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

@Snake Charmer I don’t suppose you have one in your huge box of spares?

There are a couple of master cylinders in there, it will be a while before I pull all that lot out again though. You can check the light works by shorting the wires, the switch only makes contact when the level is low. Do you have the clutch and handbrake switches?

[sutty2006]

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

There are a couple of master cylinders in there, it will be a while before I pull all that lot out again though. You can check the light works by shorting the wires, the switch only makes con when the level is low. Do you have the clutch and handbrake switches?

Got to connect the handbrake switch, I will bridge it until it I’ve found a suitable cap. Just need to find out which wires it is now. I hate the Haynes manual it’s so hit n miss 🤣

[bobdisk]

@sutty2006  This might give you some idea how a ballast-ed ignition feed works. The ballast resistor can be as shown, or be a thin resistance wire within the wiring loom, connected between the coil and ignition switch.

https://blog.simonbbc.com/ballast-resistors-resistance-and-coils/

https://www.erareplicas.com/427man/wiring/ignition.htm

As @Snake Charmer says, the switch in the brake master cylinder floats on the brake fluid, so stays open circuit, and the warning light stays off. If the fluid level drops to a certain minimum, the switch will close, so the light will come on.  Shorting the wires together is only a test for the light, they normally are open circuit when connected to the cylinder cap. Test the switch by connecting it to the cap as it should be, then lift it out of the cylinder, and fluid. (careful with fluid drips!) The light will come on. Push the float up, and the light will go out. 

[sutty2006]

I’m still trying to find out which wires they are, but I’m hindering towards the fact that it might not be fitted with the warning system. The Haynes manual wiring diagram doesn’t have a “brake reservoir warning light” option. 

[Snake Charmer]

I think my '76 Manta and '77 Cavalier had a normal cap with no float, that may have been introduced with the 2ltr cars.

This is a Ford reservoir, ATE I think.

If you have fitted the 6 dial dash and a '78 loom, does your steering column stalk have the 3 position wiper switch?  My '76 did not have intermittent wipe just two speeds.

[sutty2006]

3 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

I think my '76 Manta and '77 Cavalier had a normal cap with no float, that may have been introduced with the 2ltr cars.

This is a Ford reservoir, ATE I think.

If you have fitted the 6 dial dash and a '78 loom, does your steering column stalk have the 3 position wiper switch?  My '76 did not have intermittent wipe just two speeds.

I still have the original wiper switch, on, and on fast. But not intermittent. Fast doesn’t work though. 

[Snake Charmer]

I remember a chap phoning when I broke the '76 car asking if the wiper motor was two or 3 speed as he was having trouble locating one and that was probably 1986.

[sutty2006]

Turns out the wiring isn’t there. 
 

light works as it should when the switch wire is earthed. 
 

 

so I took the lever out and the switch is toast. 
 

I knew I had one spare somewhere. 
 

ohh… 

 

 

now on the hunt for a handbrake switch 

[sutty2006]

A package has arrived. This could mean that the brakes are completed this weekend, which also means the clutch can be tested….. and you know what that means right?

[Snake Charmer]

2 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

and you know what that means right?

Burnout time. 👍

[sutty2006]

39 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

Burnout time. 👍

Light up those 40year old Goodyear tyres 👌🤣

[sutty2006]

Well brake bleeding didn’t go to plan today. 
 

Turns out I’d flared the rear pipes wrong into the cylinders. Or, it was correct for the old cylinders but not the new. So double flared them. 
 

have gone round and bled everything up. Got a leak from the chassis rail. Master cylinder pipe leaking. Looks like I’ll be reflaring that tomorrow. It’s made a right mess of the chassis paint on the swan neck! 

[sutty2006]

Not only have I flared another pipe into the master cylinder, re-bled all the brakes, adjusted the clutch and tinkered with a few bits n bobs, I’ve only gone and driven it out of the garage!!! Nearly 35 years since its last tax disk ran out. 
 

 

 

I left it running for 10, to make sure the temp gauge works. And it does! 
 

 

i know the speedo gauge works, while it was up on stands I put it in gear and ran it to 20mph to test. 
 

milk try to upload a video soon. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

31 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

Not only have I flared another pipe into the master cylinder, re-bled all the brakes, adjusted the clutch and tinkered with a few bits n bobs, I’ve only gone and driven it out of the garage!!! Nearly 35 years since its last tax disk ran out. 
 

 

 

I left it running for 10, to make sure the temp gauge works. And it does! 
 

 

i know the speedo gauge works, while it was up on stands I put it in gear and ran it to 20mph to test. 
 

milk try to upload a video soon. 

Great work. These, along with the mk1 Cav coupe and the Opel Kadett coupe from the same era are up there amongst some of GM's best looking designs.

Is it only me who always thinks of this scene whenever anyone mentions running up a car on axle stands though? 

 

[sutty2006]

 

[sutty2006]

I haven’t had much chance to work on this recently. Broken landrovers and family have halted progress.
 

I’ve made one good indicator bracket out of two rotten ones.
 

 
 

 

welded it on, but due to previous poor repairs from the guys that did loads of welding on it, I had to measure the drivers side from the floor and just glue it in a similar area. 

 

now that that’s on, I want a bumper on it. It’s not correct, as it’s a Berlinetta bumper with headlight wash and over riders, but I like it and it’s complete. One bolt was snapped off in the bracket so that was drilled out and a nut welded in. 
 

 

before the headlights and bumper go in, the bowl needs filling where they’ve welded the front end and missed a bit. 
 

didn’t take a picture after, but it looked fine, trust me. 
 

then fitted headlights and bumper. Will test lights tomorrow. 

[sutty2006]

Headlights work. Need to fit new bulbs and charge the battery though. 

[sutty2006]

Small amount achieved this afternoon. 
 

new hand brake lever arrived. Fitted it, still no light. Back to basics again. Remove it, check continuity down the wire all ok. Clean up all connections on the lever and body to ensure good connection. Refit, still not working. Retest light to ground, lights up. Recheck continuity through wire, nothing. Ah-ha!?! Remove lever and double check wire, no continuity this time. Bastard must have been gradually getting worse. 
 

I have no brown and white wire, so I picked the next best thing, which is blue! 
 

 

and hey presto

 

working warning light. 

[sutty2006]

In last nights episode, I started working out how the boot latch goes back together. It was taken apart when the troublesome two put the new rear end in. I found all the catches and latch in a box. Which was a relief. 
 

 

I also found a complete lock set with one key, only the boot lock has been butchered. 
 

 

not to worry, the key operates the original lock anyway 🤣

 

which is lucky!

tonight, I’m going to bolt in in and hopefully have a working tailgate.

 

I also started cutting the overspray off the front nose cone. That nose cone was also welded in place years ago. But it’ll look better shiney than oversprayed 

 

[sutty2006]

Now has working tailgate. Unfortunately the current ignition key doesn’t fit this lock, so I might swap the barrel out. It would be nice to have a “one key fits all” car. 
 

struggled to get the panel gaps right maybe the boot lid is mis-shaped 

 

 

[sutty2006]

Ordered a horn.

 

 

[sutty2006]

Left corner is too low, right corner is too high. 
 

unsure if I can adjust it any more. 
 

 

[Jenson Velcro]

Is it one of those situations where some brut force is required? Open the boot, grab the corners and twist the panel slightly?