Uniquely American from Europe. Why did i do this?

So i bought a GM, thing. (Opel Ascona)

The body is incredibly straight with only a few small dings and close to zero rust, paint for the most part is clean with some fading and scratches. Interior is in surprisingly good shape, seats have good cloth with no rips or tears, door cards are reasonable, though the roof lining is a little beat up but in decent shape. The motor seems to run like a top from a cold start, clutch works and brakes are shot.

That brings me to the bad. Every bushing is shot, brakes need replaced on all four corners, one door handle doesn't work, windshield has a huge crack and all the little stuff isn't perfect.

Once the major stuff is repaired wife and I plan to make it a show car. Here is the picture dump that's still being uploaded, I'm planing on going out so I'll let it sit. Figured y'all might enjoy.

http://imgur.com/a/J0mUK

Why did you do it? Because you wanted to change your user name?

Welcome to the forum. You'll fit right in!

Nice. Cleaning up the wheels would do wonders for the looks.

Linky to pics

I hate you.

That said...

Clean/detail it, lower it, exhaust, silver minilites/panasports, done.

Looks like that's only about €10k and 10k hours shy of being a showcar. Well on your way!

Im a military brat and spent 6 years at Ramstein. What base are you at? I still dream of goulash and veiss bratvurst mit pommes. On brotchen with mustard of course.

Does it have the round hvac vents? My mom had one of those when I was a kid. I lost many a Matchbox cars to those vents ... my mom never knew

4-door Asconas are almost impossible to find in the U.S. I have a wagon and a couple of Mantas myself.

They are great handling cars, and the CIH motor is pretty darn reliable with a little maintenance.

Y'all are a funny bunch lol

Cleaning it up is the top of the list because it's mostly free (or the cheapest) and would help looks the most.

Beyond that I'm having a little difficulty finding all the bushings I need. I've spent so much time in the focus that I know all the nooks and crannies. The El Camino back home basically has parts at Walmart, super easy to find anywhere. This car in a place I don't speak the language well in, kinda tough.

-Pattyo, it's the only big base community in the area lol German cuisine has nothing on doner. Though brawts and fries are pretty good. Belgians do the fries the best so far

-Slippery, don't stick any of your toy cars in my AC vents. They are the round ones

-Old Opel guy. Glad to hear my car has a good motor, I was really worried about that the second I handed over the money because I'll be honest, I didn't research the car a whole lot. Wasn't super worried about bringing it back to the States. There is enough room to fit just about anything in the engine bay. Do you suggest any forums to creep onto? Places or key words to get the parts I need? Brakes, windshield, bushings and interior panels?

Do these share any running gear with the GT/Kadett or Manta? If so, check out OpelGTSource.com

Cool car. I had a Kadett for a while that was a massive project I never got running. Wish I had it back now that I have a little more knowledge.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, looks like the Ascona shares a chassis with the Manta. Definitely check out GT Source, they've got all the bits. Most bushings available in Polyurethane too.

Windshields were still available at regular glass places last time I checked, and if Gil at Opel GT source doesn't have the bushings then Dr. Manta (dr-manta.de) should. Between the two you should be able to keep it on the road reliably. Brakes should be readily available through any parts place local to you.

As to interior panels, well that will be tougher. I was able to get the headliner and carpet through eBay, but door and back side panels I had to make myself. I would imagine an upholstery shop could do it better, but Opel owners are cheap.

oooo, make my own? THAT seems fun.

awesome help btw, ill update if anything happens. thank you

In reply to TurboFocus: Parts for your Ascona B can be found here: Rexbo.de and O-T-R.de

I love this place.

Making a door panel isn't as hard as it sounds. Made both of mine for my Opel GT. The Ascona should be a little easier.
<img src="" />

I have the general idea for making a door panel. What's the best material for the base? The cardboard stuff like OEM? Wood? Expensive plastic? I'm assuming you got the arm rest from eBay?

Anyways crawled under the car and got a detailed list of things to replace or fix.

I'm doing all four corners of the brakes now.

REAR END PROBLEMS

-Diff is leaking

-Pan hard bar bushing (maybe get an adjustable one because I want to lower it in the future?)

-Driveshaft bushing thing right before the diff

-Take it all apart for rust resistant paint.

FRONT END PROBLEMS

-possible motor mounts

-adjust/jet carb

-air filter

-oil change

-Spark plugs

-Valve cover gasket

-Shock tower bushing

-Sway bar end links

-Tie rod ends

-Every bushings on all four control arms

-Windshield

-windshield washer bottle.

-clean engine bay

Biggest issue is a sad one :( found a hole in the frame about 3"x1.5" that needs welding. Luckily that's it for rust beyond surface that I found.

Y'all are a helpful bunch, thank you all

If you want to use the oem-like backing board (that dense fiber board stuff), a good cheap source for a panel is a cheap poster frame. That should cover all but the largest door. I have a few of them that I've salvaged for just such occasions.

The hole in the frame doesn't sound too scary, but I know the MOST inspection (or whatever it's called) can be vicious over there.

id rather not risk it at all and just have it welded up. kill the disease before it spreads, found all the parts i need

control arm bushing kits:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/buchsensatz-va-ascona-manta-b/

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/daempfungsbuchse-ausleger-ascona-manta-b/

endlinks:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/va-stabisatz-ascona-manta-b/

tie rod ends:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/spurstangenkopf-ascona-manta-b-2/

upper and lower ball joints:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/fuehrungsgelenk-ascona-manta-b/

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/traggelenk-ascona-manta-b/

brake rotors: (bought pads locally)

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/bremsscheibe-vorne-ascona-manta-b-246-mm/

brake lines:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/bremsschlauchsatz-ascona-manta-b/

brake seal rebuild:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/bremssatteldichtungssatz-ascona-manta-b-nk/

brake drum puller (if it ships to me):

https://www.amazon.com/OTC-6980-Heavy-Brake-Puller/dp/B004CGOGFS/ref=s9_cartx_gw_g263_i1_r?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=PTFWEC2E776851PTM6QA&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1cded295-23b4-40b1-8da6-7c1c9eb81d33&pf_rd_i=desktop

weld in fix for the frame: (ill figure out which one i really need later)

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/laengstraeger-vorne-oben-rechts/

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/laengstraeger-vorne-oben-links-2/

rear diff gasket:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/hinterachsdeckeldichtung-ascona-manta-b-12-13n/

valve cover gasket:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/ventildeckeldichtung-12-liter-motor/

carb rebuild kit:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-b/rep-satz-vergaser-ascona-manta-b-12/

oil filter, spark plugs, distributor cap, point thingy and wires:

https://www.o-t-r.de/shop/ascona-manta-a/service-paket-10-11-12-liter-motor-delco/

TurboFocus wrote: I have the general idea for making a door panel. What's the best material for the base? The cardboard stuff like OEM? Wood? Expensive plastic? I'm assuming you got the arm rest from eBay?

I used some thin particle board from the local hardware store. Traced the old panel on the particle board and cut it out. Don't forget the fastener clip holes. A thin piece of foam between the vinyl and wood as padding. The vinyl wraps around and glued to the back. The arm rest came off the original door panel, just recovered. Along with the door handle and window crank. I used new clips to install. OpelGTSource has them. The top part next to the glass is metal and salvaged from the original door panels too, recovered in vinyl. New window seal, again OpelGTSource has them. OpelGTSource has my credit card on file. The back cargo area panel was done the same way. Kinda proud the stripes line up. Not stock appearance as I can't do the embossing on the original but looks good, my personal touch. Original was way too red and the black strips tone it down some. No padding under the black stripes as double layer vinyl.

As mentioned OpelGTSource.com is a wealth of info and parts. Some parts interchange between models. I know Manta, Kadette, Ascona (1900) & GT w/1900 engine the engine is interchangeable. The only difference w/GT is cast aluminum valve cover & oil pan. May have some internal but again interchangeable. I believe the trans is too.

opelgt.com has a bunch of tech info but the site is overloaded with advertisement and hard to navigate.

http://classicopels.com/ is a new site gaining popularity w/Opel crowd but new and not a lot of tech data loaded yet. Affiliated with the European Opel club as the American chapter.

Also several pages on the book of faces, including a sale site.

Yours has the 1.2L motor? They only came here with the 1.9L. For the 1.2L a lot of Vauxhall Viva 1.3L parts can be adapted for increased performance.

The Kadett I had in high school with the 1.1L was one of my favorite cars. It came with 4.11 or so rear gears and and tiny tires, but that motor would sing.

im guessing I have the 1.2 S motor. got a whole extra 5hp over the normal 1.2 LOL

also for the small hole in the frame, is this something I should attempt or suck it up and pay a professional?

other minor issues to take care of:

minor divots in the shoe, can only see in the right light and barely feel when you run your finger over it.

caliper tear in the seal, plan on replacing but how long can I get away with it?

this seems rusted together or do the wheel studs hold it together?

wheel bearing just fell out. the bearing part is still together and fine. is it ok to keep using? yes I cleaned the crap outta it before I put it back in. no dirt in there :b

y'all are awesome btw

I'd probably recommend paying the man if you're inexperienced with rust repair, there's a lot going on in that spot. Shoes look fine, caliper seal is a dust seal, hub comes off rotor with the 4x triple square bolts in the backside (soak in penetrating oil first). The bearing that fell out is supposed to fall out, you packed it with fresh grease after cleaning, right? Bearings should be packed and the air space in the hub about half full of grease. Do you know how to adjust the big nut to set bearing play?

Damn, now to find a shop that'll do the work. How much do you expect that to cost?

If it's just a dust seal I'm assuming no need to replace?

Nope, didn't know I was suppose to put new grease in there.. nor do I know how to set the bearing play.