Opel Monza GSE 1985 - Project progress

[bstardchild]

haha last person I expected to fit a BGW! 

BGW - Bloody great wing?

Yeah probably right - not normally my style - less is more and all that but it needs something back there

I have a plan B but waiting on weight and price for a rare monza tailgate lip

Look on the bright side - there is a honda that now looks a heck of a lot better so I've done the world a favour

[colonelk]

haha!  nice reasoning

BGW = Big ghey wing / bloody great wing etc

[stemo]

Just read through this thread, can't believe I haven't before. Super car, loved it when I was camped next to it at RRG last year. 

[bstardchild]

Just read through this thread, can't believe I haven't before. Super car, loved it when I was camped next to it at RRG last year. 

Thank you - I'm always a bit busy at the RR Gatherings - nowmally get involved in the track stuff so sorry if I didn't say Hi or owt

Anyway with a trackday this weekend I'm on the final stages of the diet process - NOT!!

Everything I was taking out got lobbed in the back



Including rather a lot of wiring



Still got some issues on the wiring front



I hate electrics!!!

Anyway I can't fit the plastic windows and tailgate till all the cuttings finished - no before pics sorry I'm a div!

Rear end pass side (Finished)



Rear end Drivers side (Finished)



Rear Quarter internal (Finished)



Rear Qaurter Internal Pass side (Nearly done)



Driver door (Just needs a bit of welding)



Passenger Door (Needs finishing and welding)



So once the witching hour arrived (no power tools after 10pm) time for a tidy up

Plastics to be weighed



Wiring to be weighed



Metal to be weighed



Heater to be fitted an plumbed



Electrickery to be finished



Once I finish cutting I can start to fit the windows (I made the mistake of welding and grinding with glass still in the car 5 years ago - not doing that again with new plastic)

Not much to do then!!!

[bstardchild]

Anyway more progress - still doesn't run mind!!

Drivers side all plastic windows in (can't do pass side easily till I turn the car round - can't do that cos I've fiddled with the electrickery stuff)

Polo 6n Heater and fan unit roughly fitted looks to be an easy jury rig - cable ties and duct tape should see that sorted (not joking)

Rear lights back in - just with brake lights (Can't test yet - electrickery stuff))

Tank fully fitted plumbed in and fuel pump and level sensor wired up (Can't test yet but it worked when I tried it before I fiddled with the electrickery)

Tailgate nearly ready for plastic treatment - next job

Wiring pretty much worked out what I need to do - labelled the key wires that I know what they do - I've left wires unlablled that I don't know what they do - probably nothing now) (old fuse box is now in the to be weighed pile)

Going to bed now -shattered and there are two more days of this to go yet

[Dave the Builder]

Extreme weight loss program 
will removing sections of inner shell not weaken the structure to the extent it won't be MOT able or worse if it's just a track car now,not pass scrutineering 

[bstardchild]

Extreme weight loss program 
will removing sections of inner shell not weaken the structure to the extent it won't be MOT able or worse if it's just a track car now,not pass scrutineering 

The modifications shell wise I knew would take me outside the MOT rules - hence no longer a road car - just track - I wasn't prepared to compromise just to keep the car on the road so it's a trailer queen now 

They are also based on a Monza that has been used in many races series since the late 80's and that's never had an issue with a scrutineer so I'm pretty safe on that front 

[bstardchild]

Right I know tomorrow will be a later finish than tonight was

It's been a night of electrickery

- Fuel pump - Check
- Heater Fan unit and speed control - Check
- Brake Lights - Check
- Starter motor turns engine over - Check
- Some Dash Display - Not quite there yet
- ABS - Nope
- Spark - Nope

Dash sort of back together  - heater box needs more cable ties to stop it moving about

New rear shocks - Bit of a nightmare as both the mounts are thread stripped!!

Still two windows to fit but if I fix the lack of sparks - fix the knackered threads I can drop it down and drive it out and back in again the other way round - then I can do the last windows and tailgate in a couple of hours - sounds do-able tomorrow evening

[colonelk]

Epic stuff Hope you make the trackday!

Ive learnt to only tackle big wiring jobs when you have a fair chunk of time! 

[bstardchild]

Epic stuff Hope you make the trackday!

Ive learnt to only tackle big wiring jobs when you have a fair chunk of time! 

I've learnt that too now

I'm in france 

It runs and drives

I have nearly everything working electrically

Tacho - check
Speedo (cable drive)
Oil pressure - Nope
Oil warning - check
Fuel Guage - Reads full all the time - swap leads time I think
Engine coolant temp - check
Alternator charging - check
Oil temperature - check
ABS - not connected yet

just a couple of strange ones - fuel guage and oil pressure to sort out

Plastic windows all fitted and the wiring loom rats nest is getting smaller - nearly got it sorted tonight before bad light and a struggle with a torch stopped play

nice 3 course evening meal for 12 Euro - first time I've eaten a proper meal since Wed night - off to bed shortly

Up at 0630 - breakfast at 0700 - fuel up and be at circuit by 0800 for sign on and briefing - track opens at 0900

So another 30 mins fiddling should have it sorted - unless the brake balance is horrible without the ABS involved I'll live witthout it - if it is horrible I'll try to fix over the one hour lunch

[bstardchild]

Pictures from the French Track day

Monza on track (yeah even in that short time it spent on track a couple of shots got taken)





it was wet 



Monza in pits (hundreds of these!!!)





Meh - next year 

Next List of jobs to do for Marham track day (including any not completed in time for the French Track Day)

Not completed and carried over

1) Fix heater box better
2) Change Oil Cooler for GSI type and locate in bumper aperture
3) Swap round fuel level sensor wires – DOH – or it may be an earth issue
4) Fit dummy headlights
5) Change Brake Fluid – brakes aren’t good

Some of those may be modified and changed for the "New Plan" for Marham

1) Remove front bumper
2) Modify grill to suit flat front look (means bracket for holes for lower mounts)
3) Fabricate and fit dummy headlights (less angle)
4) Indicate tow points
5) Remove rear bumper
6) Weld up mounting holes
7) Fit tow eye (s)
Fit Bias pedal box
9) Fit tandem master cylinders
10) Modify bias pedal box to suit cable clutch arrangement
11) Remove ABS modulator unit
12) Remove ABS loom and sensors
13) Remove ABS ECU unit
14) Remove dash fit new dash pack and control ECU as well as wire in new sensors for oil temp, oil pressure, coolant temp
15) Remove scuttle panel
16) Weld up scuttle panel holes where not needed
17) Modify scuttle base to allow heater box to be raised and moved closer to fire wall
18) Modify heater pipes to reflect new scuttle arrangement
19) Weld up old heater matrix pipe hole
20) Close area up around heater fan intake to stop rain ingress and water entering car
21) Order plastic front screen
22) Revise wiring arrangements to make a better job and neater (with fuses as required)
23) Replace electric mirrors with non electric (Monza A?)
24) Replace interior mirror with roof mounted one
25) Make template for sunroof (to be made in plastic) send with revised quarterlight template to ACW Motorsports plastic
26) Remove more of the original dash as required – leave just the windscreen demist vents
27) Make up new pod with sunshade for new dash display unit
28) Get car to weigh bridge for final weigh in and review saving

Still I have untill April to get all that done so it won't be a last min rush will it.......

So in summary track day was a disaster but I'm looking forward not backwards  

Some pictures of how the Monza looks now - cos it's not staying like this



Quarterlights with venting - actually works well





Front windows



Big gay wing (needs adjustment - it's pretty much flat right now)



Boot catches




Centre console command module - look no rats nest (OK it might have a really small one but there are definately some more wires to remove if I can work out which ones  :roll: )



In case anyone didn't know I also like Polos so one (MKIV or 6n) donated it's heater assembly - bloody brilliant heaters - and nice and compact with just two wires needed to run it - everything is self contained in it's own loom



Chequer plate r us



Oh and it needs lowering again - need to speak to a mate about BMW 3 series rear springs to get it's arse back down to level again - front I can lose another coil to correct that  

[bstardchild]

removed 11 Kgs more tonight - front bumper assembly  :lol:

Looks dreadful but I can improve on it (I think) Not my car - too dark to take pictures but think of this in dark grey and you've got it  :wink:



Grill has been modified to look less Roman (it sits on the bumper std so no bumper = beaky look) Chopped of the lugs drilled holes and cable tied the bugger on - sort of flush with the steel work  :wink:

Now the question is how do I make the front end look right

Plan A

Fresh steel and some rattle can black (match the bonnet)

I always wanted a look like this (saved in my inspiration file)



I assumed it was track orientated but I recently found another picture which seems to indicate a short track with no corners



Still looks great mind

Plan B

Cut old bumper up so i just use the lower section and fix that to the steel - yeah like that's gonna work

Oh and that big gay wing jury is still out - I'm going to cut the brackets and drop it's height and that will also give me a bit more attack angle - might look better then - still might look shite who knows

In other news

Made some new templates for the replacement headlights

Removed Senator B oil cooler

Trial fitted Carlton GSI oil cooler hoses need some work  :roll:

Found the rear hub pulling tools for ABS member who is going to replace his rear wheel bearings - ha ha ha what a chuffing faff that is

Removed the old trim from the rear tailgate (another plan here)

And generally smoke tabs - drank tea - and listened to a John O'Kane CD

The alternative to all of tonight was continue to tile the kitchen  :lol: Might be in the dog house soon if that isn't finished

[bmwtourer]

project and a half .!! just had t add that i love the roof design .. certainly gave me an idea 

[bstardchild]

project and a half .!! just had t add that i love the roof design .. certainly gave me an idea 

Feel free to co with the idea - I'm sure I did a thread on here when it was in the planning stage and it wasn't popular in concept but it worked out well - microblisters are on all of the panels mainly due to a car cover in winter

[mapblue]

What weight is it down to now Ian.

[bstardchild]

What weight is it down to now Ian.

Pretty sure it's somewhere between 1250 and 1275 - but not finished yet and I'll have a weigh in before Marham to give a final number

[mapblue]

250 kilo to go.

What does a standard Monza weigh.

[bstardchild]

250 kilo to go.

What does a standard Monza weigh.

smidge under 1600 kgs according to my info

Or way to bloody heavy 

never ever gonna get to 1000 kgs - not imposible just unrealistic - the engine is 350 kgs - I have a spare box and dif as well as a prop shaft somewhere but wouldn't mind betting that the lot hits close to 450 kgs.

1100 kgs is do-able (and been done) but the effort involved requires serious dedicication and you have no idea when and where the failures will occur as some of the suspension components need to be relived of metal

[bstardchild]

Nothing to lose and everything to gain

It's a bit Pikey - not finished and oil cooler cable tied as a mock up



I reckon an old chrome bumper - cut down to quarters and satin blacked would improve the look (and maybe cover the joins)

[bstardchild]

RIght had time tonight to weigh up some of the stuff removed but didn't have time to evaluate

Dash Plasitcs 10 Kgs
Heater Assembly old 7 kgs
Steel removed from shell 15kgs
Plastic and ally window trims and seals 7 kgs
Wiring 6 kgs
For various reasons I had to put headlights back and some other stuff will never get weighed due to being binned but it probably didn't ammount to much.......


This enabled me to chuck it all in a spreadsheet and work out what the total weight removed was before France was 180 Kgs!!!

However I did add back 30 kgs in various bits so it was 150 kgs lighter in France and I didn't think I'd got as close to the 200 kgs target

I'll convert the spreadsheet detail into a jpeg and add it in here when photobucket decides to be friendly

So seeing as the diet was a success I've carried on in preparation for Marham

So recently removed

Front Bumper, Iron and fogs   -12 kgs
Rear Bumper (Iron already removed)   -9kgs
Headlight & Indicator Pass   -4.25 kgs
Headlight & Indicator Driver   -4.25 kgs

Brings me to a total removed of 209 kgs and total added of 31 kgs

Net weight saving - 178.5 kgs - I reckon I can hit the 200 mark for Marham and hopefully confirm the weight loss accurately on a weighbridge before the event

There is still a list of other stuff to work on

ABS modulator, loom and sensors - 30 feet of brake pipe linking it all can be replaced with 15 feet I reckon

Oil cooler replacement etc etc

Now back to the grouting!!!