1974 A Series Opel Manta Blog

The Opel Project blog has been setup to record the rebuild of my 1974 A Series Opel Manta.
OPEL
1974 A Series Opel Manta Blog
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Cam timing info

CIH Cam and Ignition Timing  Originally Posted by GTJIM . . . Timing the cam is one of Opels little endearing foibles! Even the Factory Service Manuals cam be misleading as the drawing of the engine is actually WRONG in some of them – nice huh! Fortunately the picture of the crankshaft keyway position and the text is correct. The keyway in the crankshaftMUST face upwards and #4 cylinder be at Top Dead Centre with the camshaft turned so that the valves for #4 cylinder are closed ( the cut outs in the cam for access to the head bolts will be in the correct position as this setting). Once the cam wheel is…

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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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Opel Manta Halo Eye Lights
Lights

Opel Manta Halo Eye Lights

I just had to post this image of the Opel with the Halo Eye working at dusk just so you can see how they really suit the car 🙂 There is a previous post that explains how i setup the lights.  

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Opel Manta CIH Exhaust
Exhaust

Manifold Fitted

The manifold is now back on the car and all i need to do now is connect up the system and that is the exhaust all done. I can now connect up the steering and fit the inlets and throttle bodies.  

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Opel Manta CIH Exhaust
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Manifold all painted and ready to go back on.

When i went to have the car tuned it was clear that there were a few issues with the manifold not seating properly so i took it off and had the face machined flat and while i was there i thought it would be a good idea to get the manifold painted at the same time. I was going to just get a can of high temp paint and do it but as usual, after a bit of reading up on the best paint i came across quite a few reviews for POR15 High Temp Heat-Resistant Paint that were very…

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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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Opel Manta A Series
OPEL

As ready as we can be!

As the title says, the car is as ready as it can be for its trip to Northampton Motorsport for the initial startup and cam run in. Everything is checked as best i can so its fingers crossed when we get there. The plan is to get the engine checked and setup by Northampton Motorsport as they know their stuff so im told. Then all being ok they will get her started up and the cam run in and then setup the map so the car is ready to run in. Then if everything is all ok i will bring…

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Opel Manta CIH Exhaust
Exhaust, Steering

Steering & Exhaust finally finished

Well, it’s been a long and winding journey to get the Exhaust & Steering sorted on the Opel! Finally, after getting the steering all in and routed around the manifold as best, i could i realised that i would not be able to keep the manifold exactly as standard and would need to modify it. after a little bit of a mock-up myself, i then took it down to my local welder to get him to finish it off properly. I have to say its come out pretty good and there is hopefully enough clearance for it not to knock!…

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Opel Manta A Series
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A Busy Bank Holiday

Its been a busy weekend on the car this bank holiday. Its was nice to have a sunny bank holiday as it gave me lots of time on the car. Now a have a date to aim for its full steam ahead. So: first job was to check all bolts and nuts to make sure they were torqued up ok, adjusted front wheel bearing, filled up the diff oil, gearbox oil, changed the wheel studs on the back (but only did one side as i could only find 7 studs, there must be one hiding in that safe place!!) connected…

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1973 Opel Manta A Series
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The Countdown Begins!

I have taken the decision to take the Opel up to a proper tuning company in Northampton (Northampton Motorsport) to do the initial start-up and then all being ok the set up so the car is ready to be run in. Then all being ok i can then head back up for the full tune-up. That is planned in fro the start of October so i now have just over a month to do the last final setup on the cam, fill up with break-in oil, check that everything is all tightened up properly and get the brakes and clutch…

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