Hello all, new guy here. I have ended up here over the years while researching. I figure this place is a good fit for my project, goal is to have a competitive car to take to The ridge and pacific raceway road courses as well as local autocross. Ultimate goal is to just get behind the wheel and have fun. I already had my engine, olds 215, just needed a car to put it in and was looking for a Vega or something similar and stumbled upon Opel’s. Anyways as of right now I have the engine and tranny fit, custom headers. I wanted to do a quick intro and will add more details and pictures next chance I get.
Lots of European opal have used the 2.2 ecotec engine convetsions,with great success. Might be a better option.you can make hp with a 2.2 ecotec engine, call c.b.m. motorsport in l.a.
My first car was a '75 Kadett. I was 15 and the mech FI kicked myass. My second car was a '71 GT. I have a soft spot for Opels.
Once I get through one of my many projects I will be making a GT or a Manta drag car using a 5cyl vw/audi and a snail power adder.
I look forward to this build.
agp1956
New Reader
2/2/19 2:20 p.m.
I have a soft spot for some of these cars. My first car was a 1972 Opel 1900 2 door sedan. Light weight, good looks, good handling. Then a friend of mine had the little station wagon model of this series during our college days.
In reply to Alfaromeoguy :
I have seen ecotec swaps as well as others. But I do not do 4 cylinders, my dad drag races so I grew up around v8’s and that’s what I have to have. And I have a strange/strong fascination with the 215’s.
Young-olds, have you seen ecotec engines on a drag race they are quick.
Opel Mantas was the car to have for all the racer boys in Germany , lots of hop up articles , just a lot harder to do in Germany as everything needs to be TUV approved and put in the cars papers , even something as simple as changing rims......
I have a hard spot in my heart for any Opel. Some of my first working on cars for money involved trying to get a Kadett, a Manta and a GT running correctly. Total pain in the ass. Replacing the engine in the Kadett was my introduction to the German affinity to make things that should be easy hard. The Manta clutch replacement was a reminder that cast iron transmissions weigh more than aluminum ones. We don't speak of the GT in polite company.
Hopefully, YMMV...
In reply to Alfaromeoguy :
I have not but that is beside the point. I am a v8 guy, I do not do four cylinders. The engine has already been fit( i have had it put together enough to test drive it already) it would not make sense to redo it to fit a four and if I did it would be an Oldsmobile quad 4 but again I do not do four cylinders. My engine and tranny choice actually saved me weight as compared to stock 1.9cih and 4 speed.
Here are a few pictures.
These pictures are from last summer(June), I had to put it away for a while but moved in to a new place recently and have been able to work on it again.
Here it is in its current state of disrepair.
I pulled the engine back out to finish the engine bay( welding holes shut, washing, painting, etc) and do a bit to the engine. The engine is an all aluminum 3.5 v8(olds 215) with Buick heads( with the olds flat top pistons and the Buick heads I get a bit over 10:1 compression, 10.16 iirc) an erson tq20 cam, performer intake, tri y headers and an aluminum flywheel. Transmission is a borg Warner t50( aluminum 5 speed). Suspension is all stock with the exception of bilstien shocks and I bent the Pan hard so will likely replace with a wishbone. Stock rear end with redrilled hubs( 5x4.75). Front brakes were changed to Pontiac grand am(2000) with the use of gm a body drum brake hubs( got the idea from a chevette forum). As of right now I have 15x10 wheel in the rear and 15x8.5 in the front but found my dad has a pair of 15x10 wheels that match my rear so I am trying to get him into a trad so I can do 10’s all around.
Here is a little eye candy I have been able to pick up over the past few years.
I was able to work my way back through previous owners of this engine and made my way to the guy who pulled it out of a land speed car(bonneville) he bought from Jim lattin. I do not have the shortblock anymore but I kept everything else.
I picked up an engine that had the hilborn mechanical fuel injection, Mickey Thompson front cover( designed so you can use cam drive), with the engine I received a dry sump pan and a billet stroker crank(sold). I was able to pick up a weber downdraft intake and a dry sump tank( I got the tank from work for $50 new). I can’t afford to use most of it now but as funds allow I will build a nice engine. The seats I was able to pick up for $80( they were trashed) and had them re upholstered.
Oh, it's a Opel Manta, not the Opel 1900
Ian F
MegaDork
2/3/19 12:31 p.m.
It would be awesome if that intake can fit under the stock hood.
As cool as the Hillborn is, if you want to drive it, do anything else. Hillborn will make power, but not driveability, and you will likely have oil dilution issues if you try to run it slowly. When we ran them on F5000 cars we called it a "controlled leak", and we did not need low speed. I hope your stock rear can take the torque. These are one of the best looking cars of their era.
pray tell what's the name of the Chevette forum. Nice build by the way. 
In reply to John Welsh :
It is a 1900, coupes are manta or 1900 sport coupe and the ascona is the sedan
In reply to Ian F :
The 4bbl only fits under the hood with out an air filter unfortunately. Hoping to recreate this te2800 hood.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
I have done quite a bit of reading on hilborn have not decided how or if I will run it, I have read that running a dry sump system helps keep the oil clean( I will not use hilborn until I can afford dry sump as well) do you have any experience or knowledge on that?, I bought the weber intake so I can more easily run IR. stock rear end is supposedly only good for 200hp. Going to run it until it blows then plan is to run a quick change so I can easily change rear gears for different tracks.
The dry sump systems we ran on 5.0 SBC engines with Hillborn held 11 quarts of oil. So it takes a lot of gas to dilute it! Also we were changing it after every event, maybe 100 miles, and race speeds only. Yes it was diluted some, every time. If you are going to trailer it to the track you may be able to run it successfully, but (much as I dislike all carbs) even the Webers are better for the street. Electronic port injection with a Megasquirt is where I would go if I had your project. That will make more power, good driveability, and easier tuning. I suspect that you could adapt on some manifold from an EFI equiped Rover or Land Rover. I do not know for certain that the bolt pattern remains the same, but all other basic dimensions except displacement remain from the Buick throughout the life of the pushrod aluminum V8 in those cars, as well as MGB V8 and Triumph TR8.
Some cool parts there. Hilborn can convert their old mechanical FI manifolds to modern EFI, but it's not cheap.
Also my understanding is they kept good records. You can give them the serial number of your manifold and they can look up who originally bought it.
