24v Ascona A Wagon Project

Part 2

One of the issues I ran into was the donor Manta nose was from a 1974 which has large aluminum bumpers. The tubes for the bumper mounts run parallel to and blend into the frame rails further back. This meant the frame rail would need to be cut further back than if a small bumper nose was used.





The main rail opening is just about the size of 2 1/2" x 2" angle iron. I ground down the edges and now have sleeves to insert into the opening which will support and align the nose during fitment.



I made the first cut on the wagon near where it would have been for an early bumper nose. This allowed for a more accurate final cut.

                         

The final cut was made on both sides, roughly 1/2 inch back from the rear skid plate mounting hole



Passenger side cut line.





I used my engine hoist to support the nose piece for the initial alignment.



Next up, do a rough alignment and then check with the fenders.

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I've been tempted to put a Manta nose on my 24v wagon. (why not? It's far from stock!)

I have most of the parts and the planning has begun.

The first issue found was the nose is from a big bumper Manta and the bumper supports are blended into the frame rails vs the '72 bumpers going straight into the frame rails.



This means the rails will need to be cut further back near the brake line brackets and aligning and blending the old and new fender wells will be more difficult. The driver's side well was modified to accept the larger booster and master cylinder. Once the Ascona nose and fenders are removed, the Manta fenders will be bolted on which will set the nose placement and hood gaps before welding the rails.

The main rail opening is just about the size of 2 1/2" x 2" angle iron. I ground down the edges and now have a sleeve inserted into the opening which will support and align the nose during fitment.

  

A wackadoodle idea that may be tried is to use a front panel piece sacrificed…

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The joys of doing custom work. I'm changing out the gear ratio in my 24v wagon from 3.73 to 3.08. With all the power it now has, first gear was useless and I wanted to drop the the highway speed RPM's.

The rear end is a Dana 30 from a Volvo.

Dana 30 parts are pretty common and I ordered a gear set and bearing kit. The kit said "Fits Volvo."

Well the O.D. on the inner pinion bearing was too small so I ordered it's Volvo replacement. Now the I.D. of the new bearing was too big and it was loose on the new pinion shaft.

After a bit of searching on the Timken site, I came up with one that had the right dimensions and was listed as a pinion bearing.

The new bearing and race arrived and the I.D and O.D. are fine. But a new issue popped up... The pinion depth is set by adding or subtracting shims from behind the race which means the race must be removed several times as the shims are replaced. I had made a "set up" race that can be easily removed by grinding down the O.D. of the original race.…

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This article will document the installation of Electric Power Assisted Steering (EPAS) into my 1972 Opel Ascona wagon.

The EPAS:

I purchased an EPAS from a 2007 Saturn Vue for a local yard for $50.

This unit requires an input from a sensor on the wheel to determine the amount of assist needed. There are several aftermarket controllers available to workaround the speed sensor. I ordered one on eBay from bruno_steering .

epowersteering sells complete kits and components for this conversion. Their accessories page include couplers and other components.

Connecting the EPS unit to the Opel steering column

Here is the Saturn EPS next to the Opel steering column. The splines on the EPS are 3/4-36 on the steering wheel side and 16.5mm-36 on the rack side.

Wheel side connection: I will be going back to the yard and pick up the upper column to use those components for connecting the wheel side. That will give me more flexibility for this mod.

Rack side connection: An epowersteering

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