Vectra a from belgium - full rebuild

[Maikel]

Heya i’m maikel
So to begin, I bought a 1991 Opel Vectra 1.6 with only 70000km (40000 miles) last year for 120£.
And since I sold my previous project car, I decided to go even further with this one. Pictures will follow soon.

A pic from the previous one

[Maikel]

So to start with, I removed the whole rear end and started with the gas tank.


After rinsing it and sanding it down, it was time for primer


And next, the final coating


The brackets have been powdercoated

[Maikel]

Cleaned the underside and checked for rust, and surprisingly it had none (apart ftom the wheel wells, but those get treated when i start bodywork), so applied a new coating


And refitted the gas tank


Next up: rear axle

[Maikel]

Rear axle ready for powdercoating


Bushings have arrived


New bearings


And because of the five disc conversion, the bearings wouldn’t fit the axle, so I had to make adapter plates

[Mk3alan]

Welcome - I can tell this is going to be nice!

Alan

[Maikel]

Rear axle parts are back from powdercoating, so time to put them together

[Maikel]

Rear axle is fitted, unfortunatly I don’t have any pics yet. So next up is the front suspension and engine bay

Removed everything in the bay and got rid of supports wich won’t be used anymore or wich will be relocated (battery, windscreen wiper fluid) and started to remove the sealant in the corners and seams


I started to sand everything down to bare metal, but decided to sandblast the whole engine bay



And then covered everything in Etch primer


Oh, and inbetween had to make some room for this one

[Robsey]

Another Cavalier Turbo conversion

Doing some good thorough work there.
You should have a good solid car when it is finished.
Removing wipers, battery and ABS.?
Interior mounted battery and single wiper conversion by any chance?

Sounds like a weekend track car project.

Keep the write-up and pictures coming.

Welcome to the forum by the way...

[Maikel]

Thanks

I’m keeping the wipers, it’s just the fluid reservoir wich is going to be relocated.

Interior mounted battery indeed, but it’s not my intention to build a real track car. More a Sunday cruising sleeper

[Maikel]

Today most of the engine bay got covered in primer, only the the windscreen wiper area and the underneath of the chassis beams left. Time to pick a color

[Maikel]

Robsey, you’ve got me wondering, do you maybe have some more info about a single wiper conversion?

[Mazza]

Welcome and some super work done so far.

I’ll be interested to see how this project works out.

I think the hardest part is finding the best parts at the right price - originals are a bit thin but can be found.

Where about in Belgium are you based - I work near centraal station.

On the other note as a few here know I’m fixing my cavalier turbo .. so will be following on your progress....

[Robsey]

A quick google found this...

http://www.autotintdesign.com/singlewipers.html

If you click on the exterior body tab, then you can download a catalogue of Vauxhall modifications and parts.

I am a bit too old for this stuff now, but if it interests you, then have a good look.

In the UK, the single wiper kits often get an advisory at the annual safety test.
They are not illegal in the UK, but they are not approved either.

It would be good to check the legal situation in Belgium before going too far with this conversion.

Regards,
Rob.

[Maikel]

@mazza

I’m from limburg, and I’m not in a hurry, so I’ll Take my time to find reasonable priced parts

@robsey

Thanks, i’m going to take a look at this.
And engine swaps, disc conversions, powerflex etc aren’t legal in Belgium either, so adding wipers to that list won’t make a big difference xp

[Maikel]

Today I removed the subframe, getting it ready for powdercoating



Does somebody know how to remove these bushings?

[iangsi]

The drop links on the anti-roll bar you can just knock / cut off as they are only made of plastic & rubber as they look worn out anyway, you may be able to the same with the wishbones as well if your replacing them by removing the blade from a hacksaw put it through the hole in the mount then put it back into the saw & just cut away until you can remove the bush.

[Maikel]

Thanks, I took them to work and used the shop press. So they are off to powdercoating now.

Also today I went color picking, finally made a decission, they’re mixing it up. This saterday painting time if everything goes right

[V6BOY]

Wow you really have gone to town on this, you have to appreciate the time and effort gone into it great work!

[Vladanman]

Oh man. This looks great! Nice work so far

[Maikel]

[Robsey]

Excellent work.

I must admit that I was not expecting pale green for a colour choice -
I was expecting the usual White, Diamond Black or Smoke Grey.

I have seen a few similar coloured Vectra-As on Dutch websites. They look very smart.

Looking forward to seeing this progress.

[Mazza]

Love the colour... something different
Great progress!

[James McGrath]

Amazing work.
I love the colour too, reminds me of some of the MK2 Cav/Ascona C colours.

[Robsey]

Amazing work.
I love the colour too, reminds me of some of the MK2 Cav/Ascona C colours.

Agreed the first Cavalier mk2 SRi ( Ascona C GT) that I ever saw was that shade of green fron the swage line up, with anthracite below the swage line.

[Maikel]

it’s been a while since I posted an update, but my daughter was born last week, so didn’t have much time the past months. But I did manage to get my hands on a set of cav 16v alloys. And these are being cut up at the moment to make them 3piece. Also, does anyone have a cav turbo airbox for sale?