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CIH Engine

CIH Engine

First Oil & Filter Change

So it was time for the first Oil & Filter change today – 58043 miles on the clock (I don’t think that is the original mileage 🙂 Filled her up with Vavoline VR1 20w – 50 oil and some of the COMP CAMS Break-in additive as recommended by the engine builder. Now we can have a bit of full power mode to see how she goes and then hopefully later in the year if we don’t enter another lockdown i might be able to get up to Northampton Motorsport for a final full power run and tune-up, fingers crossed!!

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CIH Engine

All run in, time for an oil change!!

I have been running about in the Opel these last few months on any trip I can (to get the shopping, click and collect etc..) to get enough miles on her so everything is all run in and now I can change the break-in oil for some proper stuff. I’m going with the Valvoline VR1 Racing 20W-50 and some zinc additive to protect the cam. I will also be giving everything a check over just to check nothing has worked loose or moved while I have been running about.

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CIH Engine

Fitting Mesh Filters to Alpha Throttle Body Poly Trumpets

Thought i would post this in case anyone else is looking for a way to fit Fitting Mesh Filters to Alpha Throttle Bodies that have the Poly Trumpets when there is not enough to fit a full filter box. I have the Alpha throttle bodies with the poly trumpets                 and don’t have the space to fit a full box air filter and i have been scratching my head as to how to fit some mesh filters and came up with this cunning plan 🙂 I bought some Webcon Mesh Filters to suit…

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CIH Engine

Engine all setup!

Finally, the Omex loom is all setup and everything tested and now we are all balanced and setup and ready to go. I think there will be a few little tweaks needed to the balance once we have had a run but i think its good enough for a test run! I need to sort out why it looks like the alternator is not charging the battery? could be a loose wire so that is the next thing to sort out and then we are all set for the first run out for a very long time!!!!     https://www.theopelproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Opel-Project.mp4

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Opel Manta fitted with Omex 600 System
CIH Engine

OMEX 600 ECU Fitted to Opel Manta

This is going to be a bit of an ongoing post as i have started to prepare to fit the Omex 600 System to the Opel Manta and thought it would be good to update this post as i go along with diagrams, setup etc.. in case anyone else is looking to do the same thing as its quite hard to get much info. So i bought the Omex 600 to replace the Webcon Alpha system as they no longer make or support it 🙁 so long term it would have to go at some point as it would just…

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1973 Opel Manta A Series
CIH Engine

Close, but no cigar!!

After a very long day on Wednesday taking the car up to Northampton Motorsport, we are so very close, but still not there just yet!     Some good news, the car fired up first turn and ran which was great to see 🙂 It was running quite rich with the Alpha system, but that was just a base map. Troy then connected up the Omex ECU. It fired straight up and after a little adjustment to fine-tune it we were then able to run the cam in 🙂 A couple of small little things that need sorting (A little…

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CIH Engine

GM/Opel CIH Engine Timing Chain Guides & Potential Problems

Im writing this little post on some of this issues i have encountered when building my Opel Manta CIH engine due to the differences between the Original GM/OPEL timing chain guides and the aftermarket ones. It started off with me finding it very hard to fit the top chain sprocket onto the cam end and thinking was it the aftermarket chain? or the banana guide?, so sourced an original chain and the long guide. The banana one does not seem to be available as an original one only aftermarket ones, but i did find an original one for the chain…

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Opel Manta A Series Cylinder Head. Wrapped for storage
CIH Engine

Cylinder Head Rebuild

If you happen to pass by my blog every now and then you will see that i have not posted for a while, mainly because if have not been up to much on the Manta. After hassling the engine builder to get the cam bearings in and the head back to me, i got the head back and was ready to build up the head and then i got side tracked into trying to sort out my Seat Altea as just a week before the MOT was up the passengers door lock would not release the deadlock. So weeks of…

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Chevy S10 clutch fitted to Opel Manta A Series
CIH Engine, Clutch

Fitting the Mighty S10 clutch

I had always wanted to fit a bigger clutch, just to be on the safe side. So when i had the chance to get an S10 clutch from Opel GT Source in the US, i took the chance a bought one (I was lucky enough to have someone bring it over from the US as the postage would have been more than the clutch!) and thought one day i will fit it to the car. But as i had to have the engine out to sort out the piston i thought now was the perfect time. Using the Monza flywheel…

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Opel CIH oil pan dipstick alternative option using Ford 7.3 V8 pan adaptor
CIH Engine

Dipstick alternative option

Not wanting to have to drill the block to locate the dipstick hole where it should be for the manta in the block, i did a bit of searching and found the the US Ford 73L V8 Diesel has an oil pan dipstick!! So after a bit of measuring and checking i reckoned that this would be just what i needed. So i ordered one on ebay and when it arrived measured it and bought a metal hole punch to cut a nice clean hole and as i has a spare oil pan i thought i would give it a…

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