Opel Kadett C Coupe Bodywork & 16V Conversion
Project Undertaken 2nd November 2009 & Completed 7th July 2010
Chris Ripley's Kadett had previously been converted to 2.0 CIH power using Manta running gear, and following some over-enthusiastic driving by a friend, has also had a front end rebuild, with new front panel, wings and sections of inner wing replaced. The rear arches have also previously been repaired, but the bodywork needs finishing to a good standard and painting.
We will also be converting the car to C20XE power.
First job was to strip the car down to a shell. This revealed some rotten areas around both front and rear screen apertures, but the bulk of the shell, although cosmetically tatty, is actually very solid.
The window aperture rot was taken care of by butt-welding in fresh metal. The sills had been previously repaired, but not to a good standard, and the unrepaired sections were very thin, so we decided to replace both sills completely. This was about it for structural metalwork, as most of the work had already been done.
The car had already been converted to take a vertical type, Corsa master cylinder/servo/brake pedal arrangement, but the pedal was too low, so we fabricated a raised section to correct this. The engine bay was then sand blasted, ready for prep & paint.
Following sand blasting the engine bay has been smoothed, and treated to a coat of Zinc primer before having seams sealed with Polyurathane sealant. At this stage we have started to prep some of the running gear.... The front suspension has been stripped down and blasted, and the crossmember will receive the modified engine mounts neccessary for the 16V conversion. The components will then be repainted in 2k Acrylic paint.
Here we can see the modifications to the engine mounting points on the crossmember to position the 16V engine correctly, and the crossmember following paint and fitting of the wishbones. The steering rack is in front, just awaiting new gaiters and the rod ends fitting.
Going back to the bodywork, the next step was to get the front wings fitted. These are new replacment panels - the early (indicator under bumper) type wings are hard to come by, so these are later type wings with the smaller headlight area grafted in from the old wings. All the wing mouting faces were liberally coated with zinc primer, and then the wings were sealed in place and bolted up. Following this, the bonnet, boot and door shuts were cleaned up and primed, before being sprayed, along with the engine bay, boot, and exposed interior metal, in Ford Sea Grey pearl metallic. The finished car is going to look stunning in this colour - an excellent choice by the owner, Chris.
With the 'hidden' areas painted, these were then masked and the prep of the rest of the shell begun. The rear arches had been replaced before the car came to us, and although the welding was good, the fitter clearly had no regard for the shape of the quarter panels. It took a good few days work to get this area roughly 'kadett-shaped' again! Also note the removal and smoothing of the side-trim mounting lugs.
Next, attention was turned to the removable panels. The bonnet appeared a little tatty, and a quick flash with the sand-blaster confirmed our concerns - it had a good 10mm of filler on the front, had previously been repaired, rotted again, and was basically knackered! A quick phone call around, and within an hour we had located a replacement bonnet (thanks Pete, Curt & Jonathon). The following day a 7 hour round-trip to Cumbria retrieved said bonnet, and re-homed it to our workshop. This bonnet was then blasted on the inside before being smoothed a prep'd on the surface.
Meanwhile the rear axle was cleaned up, and converted to disc brake operation. The calipers have been bead-blasted and the axle casing painted with 2k gloss black. The engine was put on the stand to begin inspection, cleaning, and building up.
Back to the bodywork, the doors and boot have received more than their fair share of knocks and dings, so they required a fair amount of attention to get them back to shape. The worst damage was on the drivers door, which was presumably pushed back by the wing when the car was crashed. It had a vertical kink right near the front, where you can't get to the back to knock it out. to rectify this, the rear skin of the door was drilled through, and the kink punched out through these access holes.
Once the shell and all panels were looking Kadett-shaped again, it was time to spray all the outer surfaces with 'Reface' polyester spray filler to give us a better chance of ironing out as many of those ripples as possible. The inside of the doors, bonnet and boot were also primered at this stage.
Next the Reface was flatted back, and the whole lot sprayed with grey primer. The insides of the doors, boot and bonnet were then sprayed with the 'sea grey' basecoat and lacquered before being fitted. Once these panels were fitted all the primer was flatted in readiness for the final paint application.
Four coats of Sea Grey base coat, and Three coats of lacquer later and it looks like this. Just needs flatting and compounding to give it the final finish.
the sun was out today, so I put the shell outside for a few more snaps - the colour looks stunning, it seems to sparkle with rainbow coloured particles in the sunlight.
Engine checked over and detailed, gearbox crossmember fabricated, and then all the running gear is fitted up, and the engine installed.
Paintwork now flatted back and buffed up. Golf Mk2 'smoked crystal' headlamps installed. Rear panel repainted and fitted. Wiring loom tidied up, repaired and re-loomed and doors reassembled (new chrome handle on the nearside from our stock of parts).
Corsa, vertical-type master cylinder/servo and pedal arrangement fitted. Throttle pedal and linkage modified and cable fitted, along with clutch cable.
Old dash was a little tatty, so was given a new lease of life with an Alcantara trim.
Moving to the outside, we weren't happy with the front bumper. The original bumper is quite straight, and does not follow the pointed front of the car. We decided to customise this.... First a wedge was cut from the centre and the bumper bent and rewelded at this point. The sides were then cut off, and then wedges cut from top and bottom at the sides, allowing the edge to be curved at a tighter angle, before curving the top and bottom in to meet, and welding it all up. Slots were cut in the front for the new motorbike LED indicators to sit behind, and brackets to hold these spot-welded on to the back.
The bumper was then painted with 2K gloss black and the indicators smoked with tint spray - very pleased with the result.
Manta steering wheel refitted, the boss has been previously modded to take the old Kadett horn push - nice touch! Brand new headlining fitted, allowing the screens to then be fitted. The sun was out, so took the car outside for a snap!
Mk1 Golf GTi chin spoiler modded to fit. really happy with the look of the front end.
To complement the custom stainless exhaust manifold, we also fabricated a full 2.5" stainless exhaust system...
...and Clive made up a stainless header tank to finish off the engine bay nicely.
Then followed an extensive plumbing, wiring and cabling session, before firing it up, checking everything over and taking the car for an MOT. A road test and double check over everything, and it's ready to go. Here are the final snaps!
