Project Articles in Category “Member Projects”

The Problem: Tank with no return line, and only 1/4" vent lines.

The Solutions :

1 - Braze/Weld to tank a nipple : Not always easy to do or simple

2 - Edelbrock Fuel Sump - https://amzn.to/3eytYr4 at $340 a decent option. Requires use of a low pressure fuel pump to feed it.

3 - 2 in and 1 out fuel filter - This works BUT you can end up with hot fuel and problems with the fuel pump dying early due to pressure and heat.

4 - An In Tank setup that is available, but in my case wouldn't fit in the tank - https://amzn.to/2R2Evmc

OR

5 - This crazy idea I got from the fact I already had a 3 psi electric pump in the car and a high pressure inline pump that used AN fittings.


In theory it is very similar to #2.. I KNOW the system will work. Its a matter of reliability and how well the High pressure fuel pump handles the positive pressure on the back of it. It should help the pump.. BUT it could cause cavation. Given the inline styles of pumps I don't think that would be an issue.

What do you all think…

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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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So here we start off our journey. It was 2016 and I had just sold my 1973 Mazda Rx3 to a guy in So. CA that made me an offer I couldn't refuse. As with all projects I really didn't want to sell it hadn't even offered it up for sale - but he found me (damn car shows), money talked and the offer was well over what I had into it. So there I was, day in and day out, parking my bland reliable "daily driver" in the garage (who does that!), moping around aimlessly with nothing to do but sit on the couch drink beer and watch TV... Life was horrible... The wife says "if you want a project let's replace the front door, remodel the bathroom, redesign the backyard, etc etc". I knew at that precise moment what I had to do. I grab my tablet, beer and fire up Craigslist with my usual search criteria - 1965-1980. I'm scrolling through the list and it's all pretty plain stuff - mustang, camaro, C10, VW bug, blah... Corvair? Eh did one of those already... Vega? Nah it's chopped up for V8...…

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Moving on to other stuff we noticed rust color in the fuel filter and we weren't to sure how bad so lets tear it down and find out why.

We drained the little bit of fuel out and got to the tank. Interesting finds were the vent hoses were simply one vent hose jumped over to the other so were really not venting at all.

It would appear the fuel tank has been worked on in the past as the sock has been removed and the tank was welded back together.

so we ordered a new vent system,3 port filter and a clear filter from OGTS and a completed fuel tank cleaning/degreasing system,etcher and resealer from Eastwood.

While were waiting lets look at what else is going on OH BOY looks like the entire fuel system from tank to carb is getting replaced

I'm shocked as brittle as the return and fuel line is it hasn't broke and or caught us on fire good grief.

OK in the mean time waiting on stuff lets build something to hold the fuel tank for cleaning and sealing and get it prepped

So this is what we came up…

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Removal of the head lights and rotating gear assembly. This was a bit challenging figuring out how it all comes apart

I assume one side was out before as only one still had the rubber strip on top of it

They have certainly seen better days

This sure explains all the problems with rotating and locking into place and how hard it was to attempt to open and close felt like the handle or cable was gonna give

Were looking much better now I'm glad I was able to get these cleaned up and regreased again. I though I was gonna have to pull the completely apart and rebuild but no rebuild kits were available here in the states



As you could imagine when the lights were open or closed they flopped around like a hound dogs ears blowin in the wind. I found all kinds of P.O. attempted fixes to correct the lights that all failed miserably. The passenger side micro switch was poorly bypassed The wiring at the relays were either pulled off or cut as well as the power feeds to the main relays. I…

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Here we have what I saw for the first time was to be the 73 Opel GT I would own. Your seeing what I saw before I went to investigate this unique awesome little car I would become to love.

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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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youtu.be/mZBZ-YmRBs8

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