1986 Opel Manta Coupe V8

With the colour sanding done I've moved on to the decal, I was in two minds whether or not to add these. The originals were black but I opted for red which I think was a better move.

Well I've come up with an idea on the center caps, I've gotten hold of gloss black 150mm acrylic discs 3mm thick in which I've drilled an M6 hole center so I could chamfer the edge.
Next I've welded a plate in the rear hub and drilled and tapped an M6 thread to secure the rear cover plate/disc.





I've tried to cover the central fixing with an Opel sticker. Unfortunately the only way round in securing the front covers was to drill into the wheel itself.



As a first attempt it's not a bad idea but it still needs refining, the discs need to be 10mm bigger as when I tighten the rear covers they tend to slide into the center due to being only 5mm larger than the wheel centers. They are also to flexible one has already cracked from over tightening and the Opel logo needs to be bigger. So version 2, I've now purched 3mm aluminium discs unfortunately these are 175mm dia so will need to be machined down to 160mm and as my local engineering workshop has closed down I've had to send them away today to get done, and I calculate this is going to take two weeks. Time to start looking for new logos.

Finally the alternator has turned up... and it doesn't fit! As you can see the old unit was tensioned by a bar going under the top radiator hose.


The new unit is slightly bigger and the mounting holes are further round to the left.







I've got a couple of ideas in my head on how to get round this problem, I'll have to knock up some templates to find the best method.

Thanks for the idea jpsmit, unfortunately it would work but nice idea all the same.

So I electected to use two lengths of 10mm steel bar (which I dug out of the skip at work) bent to go over the top radiator hose with 1.5mm steel sheet welded over the top, with a skim of filler to finish, a pretty solid piece of kit.

I thought I'd add some extra bling to the engine bay, I cut the D handle off the engine dipstick and welded an M6 bolt onto the end and screwed onto it a chromed bedroom drawer handle.

Love the alternator bracket!....great work all around on this!

JP

Finally got it all back together, but another problem has arisen! I've built the radiator system on the same principle as the Opel Manta, unfortunately the Rover engine doesn't like it and it has to have a header tank built in. This diagram is what I'm working to.


The only place I could put it was on top of the pedal box had to cut out the insulation and with a piece of timber and a lump hammer knock the pedal box down to give me the clearance for the header tank cap.

A piece of stainless steel plate has been bent to allow securing the tank.



22mm chrome copper tubing runs from the bottom of the cold inlet via a T piece, to the underside of the header tank.


Thankfully the cabin heater was modified earlier with a bleed valve I'm using this as the highest point as the inlet for the header tank.

The Header tank overflow is 8mm chrome copper tubing running to the catch tank. This has been positioned at the radiator and secured with more stainless steel plating bent around the radiator and bolted to the nose cone.


I've connected a T-piece here with the additional overflow from the radiator. So the header tank cap has a rating of 1 bar whilst the radiator has a 1.3 bar cap.