1978 Vauxhall Magnum (Isuzu 1.7TD)

I actually got my bum in gear and started work on the Magnum!!! *cheer*

the back end was pretty siezed up, not suprise really sitting with the handbrake on and its nose in the air for 3 years

slung the front end on the engine crane

and the rear end on skids


and dragged it into its new home!
the plan is to get it on a rollover jig so I can strip off the underneath and sor out any nasties hidden underneath all the gloop down there. I'm hoping that its pretty sound as there seem to have been some extreme anti-corrosion measures taken by the previous owners - when I took the front wings off I found that they had been literally stuffed full of rags soaked in oil!! It certainly prevented tinworm but fire hazard or what

before I can mount it up on the jig there are a few repairs to be made to the front end. when taking out the engine and subframe we found that its been crashed at some point and this has pushed the subframe at an angle borking the subframe-to-chassis lower mount on the passenger side and bending the front of the chassis leg on the drivers side.. it's been repaired (read: bodged) basically bashed back into shape ish and welded up

to try and make it drive straight the caster arm was wound up to the max on one side and almost not done up at all on the other side?!


the progress so far

drilled out a lot of spot welds

roped in my dready mate Dave for some hacksaw action


say goodbye to the bent half of the front panel!


new section of chassis leg welded in - thanks to the old man! I'm still learning to mig but hes an old hand (Vauxhall mechanic most of his younger years then accident repair centre manager)
Looks like I'll be able to get plenty of practice as this build goes on and even more on the frilly Firenza!


next job is to get this n.o.s half-a-front-panel in

Used to have an 1800 Magnum back in the day. Seem to recall is was a 2 door though?

Good to see you're making some progress.

That is very nice indeed...!

This Avon 'Safety Wheels' just look bloody brilliant...

Love it! Great to see you found the motivation to continue after a few years rather than wave goodbye to it on a trailor.

Nice. The more viva action the better. I like the idea of diesels too. But next car i want to re-engine with a diesel will be a rx7 ( really upset people...)

Handy for you having dad that was a Vauxhall mechanic! What was it like behind them bonnet hinges- rusty?....

whoops.. been a while...

acted like a total jessie and downed tools while it was snowy n cold!

@ yoeddynz - suprisingly solid around the bonnet hinges a little surface rust but thats all, infact apart from the old accident damaged areas on the front inner wing where the paint broke up and a patch in the corner of the drivers footwell, its amazingly rust free. My old man said that judging by a the neat layer of black "stuff" inside everything including the doors it looks to have been given the "ziebart?" treatment fairly early in its life

the sun came out and a bit more progress was made in the last few days..

had the front half panel blasted and zinc coated

looking a lot less sorry now thats in!

hopefull the bonnet catch will help to hide the join, though I'm bloody chuffed with the quality of my old mans welding! even without the catch on it looks really neat!

widened but shortened battery tray in (yes it does clear the master cylinder!) will take a modern battery without that sketchy overhang that you get on the original tray


also got on with stripping out the remainder of the interior, here you can see some of that "stuff" it looks kinda purple in theis pic - was suprised to find little rust under the carpet, just a few patches of scabby surface rust (what looks like a big patch of rust on the side by the door trim is actually a completley bonkers amount of trim glue!)

one thing I did find though is the pretty grim job by whoever fitted the speakers in the door, a real hack up to make the hole in the door and removal of all the plastic sheet from the inside of the door... that would be why the front doorcards have gone all wonky then

to try and rectify the wonkyness, I've chopped off the moulded bit at the top of the doorcard in the hope that I can save this bit and only remake the lower section, haven't quite figured out how I'm going to join the two sections together yet.. I'm thinking that as the top section joins all the way along the top of the door (it also has the inner window rubber attached) and the lower section fits with all the studs - so long as the two sections are attached securely (with strong tape or something) it shouldnt matter if there is a bit of flex?

old top section

making new bottom part of doorcard

Trial fit


planning to keep the original vinyl with just some vinyl dye spraypaint to tidy them up as i'll never be able to reproduce the mouldings in the vinyl where its been pressed - the deal breaker was that the holes cut for the speakers go through both the bottom plain vinyl and the basketweave bit in the middle so I cant just replace the plain section

I think Ill have to just fit speakers again, maybe paint the grills the same colour as the doorcards to make them less obvious..


last bit of update.. I'm going to look at a donor car on saturday ;D '95 Astra 1.7 TDS - owner says its got the ISUZU engine (fingers crossed eh)
One owner from new, full history, 109k on the clock - lets just hope its all its cracked up to be!

now I've just got to silence the nagging voices in my head trying to convince me to keep the Astra as my daily and put the b204 lump out of my current daily into the magnum!!

"well they both fit on that manta box you got hanging around.. you know it makes sense"
Shhhhh!!! this is meant to be about economy!

Hi Oli, yeah I think you might have asked me over on the viva owners forum? I'm in Warnham, near Horsham
It's always good to know other Viva people nearby, there are a fair few of us in the West Sussex/Kent area, not that there seems to be many local meet ups
- I'll PM you my mobile number, give us a shout if your passing by and fancy popping in to say hi, as for viva knoweledge - old cars is a subject that both me and my father are willing (and able) to talk about all day long so feel free!!


yep the b204 is a turbo 2.0l vs the b234's 2.3l
my current daily is a 1999 93 SE.. It certainly would go well in a viva!

realistically though my aim is to have the Magnum as an economical daily and the Firenza as a gas guzzling fun car - this way I only have to own two cars at a time and NO MODERNS!! The trouble with putting the Saab lump in the magnum is I do a lot of trundling about and short trips so it only returns 24mpg - thats basically no better than I get out of the Firenza!! Plus it would probably mean brake upgrades, stronger rear axle.. all that guff that I want to avoid with this particular build..
Anywho I've got a friend who's on the lookout for a Chevette.. might see if I can convince him that a Saab lump is the way to go ;D


as for the battery, I've got a modern battery (halfords calcium jobbie) in the Firenza and it clears the master cylinder as long as its right at the front edge (headlight end) of the battery tray - the only downer is that the modern batteries are a lot wider than the tray and overhang into the bay.

I'll see if I can find a decent photo of it & I'll let you know the part number for the battery I'm using - but your right there might be a different physical size of master cylinder on the OHV?

your other option is of course putting the battery in the boot? I plan to do this on the Firenza as I've got a set of new inner wings for it that have never had a battery tray / washer botttle mount welded on and I want to keep that clean look

Lastly...
really don't bother putting speakers in your door cards!! if you look at this photo you can see how the door itself has to be chopped out to fit the speaker - the only reason I'm fitting them again is because the damage is done and I don't have a hope of doing a tidy repair to the door card so I may as well fit them in again


glad peeps are enjoying the build - hopefully once the donor is here some of the more fun oily stuff is going to be happening

Not sure why the door had to be cut like that for what seems to be quite small speakers - I've just re-fitted front speakers in the Firenza and done no cutting at all. I already had a set of old door cards with holes in, in case you wondered. Granted, they're only 4" speakers, but an improvement on just having them in the rear quarters, though filling the 1/4" gap between the door seal and the body will probably help more.

On your door trim, as the top edge hooks over the edge of the door and has the lock button through it, there probably won't be much movement at that end. At the lower end, you could always do as the earlier cars did and have some kind of tape or self-adhesive velcro to hold it to the inside of the door, then clip the lower section in afterwards. On mine there is a black plastic moulded section that covers the area you have salvaged, the lower edge sits underneath the trim panel when it's clipped in place, and has some bits of tape to hold it to the door.

suffering a little wind noise POWER ROAR eh mr droopsnoot?

Having another look, your right I don't see why they have had to cut the door? if you fit the speaker a bit lower and further towards the back of the door you shouldnt have to cut for a 4" speaker?

perhaps the genius cut the doorcard and fitted the speaker before he realised it wouldnt work without cutting the door! the old measure once cut twice jobbie

good idea on the door card i think some velcro along the edge of the bit ive salvaged is probably a smart thing to do!
I didnt know that early ones were a two-part affair (never taken my Firenza door cards off but I guess as they are the ones with the chrome trim along them that this is how they are done)