Tell Me About: Opel Monza 3.0 GSE

There is (or was) a club for these I think, it`s called `Autobahnstormers` (check spelling first!) and would be worth a look to see if they have a tinternet forum?
I reckon the price is good for a classic car especially considering it`s got full MOT and they are supposedly really nice to drive and own.

*EDIT* Here`s a lin to them, just found on an internet search...


www.autobahnstormers.co.uk/

Sounds cheap but isnt that aginst employee rules*?

*Go bag it it ASAP

trader vultures are there as soon as the book comes out

BC and Pheonix C will tell you what to look for, check the inner wings indepth, as god as if not better! than a XR i gather... but bigger?

Right five mins to spare - Rust and a Monza

Starting from the front

Engine bay rails

rot out - often below the brake servo - check carefully and be on the lookout for wag slapped in holes and a liberal dose of underseal on top (they are not flat topped )

Turret tops

- the monza killer - ABS equiped cars wear better but any surface rust in this area should ring lots of bells - any plates should ring more as most repairs are patches on top of rust and they just rust more underneath the patches till finally you get the dead monza pose

"Bonnet line swells by the turret tops, camber looks a bit racey and the only thing keeping a gap above the front wheels is the fact the bonnet is shut"

Bulkhead

Check behind the brake servo - the main loom passes thro here and it's a water trap

Front inner wings

- big triangular plate has been known to perforate but more worring is what happens out of sight behind it. Trick to checking this is feel under the wing for corrosion but more importantly does the car smell like a damp dog and is the carpet in the front drivers/passenger footwell damp!!!

Please note and this is important - there are several layers of material underfoot in a monza

1. Carpet Mat

2. Carpet

3. Rubber backed foam sound deadening

4. Tar pads

5. Paint

6. Steel

1 is normally fitted to cover a wet 2

A wet 2 means a soaking 3 and it's probably been like that a while

a soaking 3 means water has got under 4 and rust has destroyed 5's ability to protect

6 is probably a bit thin!!!

Front chassis rails

Where they bend up and meat the bulkhead/engine bay/inner wings - normally OK unless poor accident repairs have taken place at sometime in it's life

Sills (Covered by some nice plastic trims so hard to spot when they are getting crusty)

- Front - just behind the front wing - the front two sunroof tray drains terminate here!!!

- Middle - just behind the door shut - the rear 3/4 window drain point is here

- Back in front of the rear arch - the water from the above ends up here!!

Rear Chassis rails

Normally had a patch or two in their life - no big deal as long as thay are solid

Spare wheel well

Rarely cleaned or inspected - often has a few holes in it - not structural but it is an indication that tinworm has taken hold

Rear valance

Basically both corners and the back section - The back two sunroof drains terminate here as does the steel.

Hope this helps

BC`s the man when it comes to info about monza`s but just to add my two penneth.

I`ve owned both an XR4x4 and currently a monza, I`ve never driven a 2.8xr4i, but I have driven a lot of 2wd sierras including a rally car and for me the monza is a better handling car. Its a little quicker than the xr4i, but in an out and out drag race I don't think there will be much in it. The biggest difference is the torque available from the monza engine which makes it quicker on a day to day basis and much more fun in sideways action way ;D The monza also has much better fuel consumption, driving like miss daisy in my XR4X4 I managed 19-21mpg, driving quickly I could drop it down to 14mpg. With the monza driving hard I get 18-22mpg and steady away I get 25-30mpg.

Main dowside to the monza is there are not too many around to choose from. Parts availabilty is ok, but it doesnt compare to a sierra, and modifed and performance parts are not really available off the shelf.
The monza still wins though ;D