Hi Folks,
Some of you may or may not remember my blue '78 Kadett Coupé that got smashed on the way home from "Built" show in Titanic Exhibition Centre a few years ago. Was a great show but on the way home a pensioner pulled across the dual carriage way in front of me in a Ford Mondeo. Long story short after stint in Antrim Area, The Royal and then the Ulster I made it home with a head injury, 14 breaks, 6 Titanium Plates, 25+ Screws and a written off Kadett. Not the Sunday afternoon I'd had in mind but sure these things happen. Good news is I'm sweet now although a bit creaky/still at times.
As a wise man once said "I'm not as good as I once was, But, I'm as good once as I ever was" =)
The Kadett was Written off CAT A which means it was to be crushed and never to be repaired. Fortunately though I did manage to salvage some parts from the car that were important for the c20xe conversion I had in it. (Back Axle, Driveshaft/Gearbox etc.)
I spent the months after the accident recuperating and eventually returned to work 6/7months later. (I'd left a Teaching post in St Malachys the year before to be self employed so not ideal to be off for 6 months)
It took me a year after the accident to find a replacement Kadett, which wasnt bad going considering theyre now like hens teeth. Randomly this one was sitting at the side of the road near Dungannon and thankfully hadnt been advertised online otherwise there would have been the whole owners club bidding on it. Thankfully the guy selling it was sound and we struck a deal even though I gave what I thought was really strong money for it. 4 years later I realise it was buttons compared to what they sell for now.
I couldn't have found a better example, completely original 1.2s RHD coupe with 70k miles. Bodywork was really solid from what I could see.
It was so clean I was almost reluctant to strip it. Id always planned on rebuilding the Blue coupe into a Works Style build so now I had the perfect shell. It was almost too good to take apart but I had to remind myself. Its a build for me and a car I'll never sell so why would i preserve it for someone else when ill never part with it.
Work Began and I got it stripped back to just a rolling shell and dropped it off at Steven Wisharts place (Wishart Motorsport Fab) Anyone in the rally world knows who he is and the standard of his work. Wishart produced an awesome full 6 point cage and and tubbed the rear arches to accept the Grp4 Wide Arch kit I had picked up. Heres a couple of photos of his handywork:
After Cage and Strengthening bits welded into the chassis legs, turrets, floor, crossmembers and a small unexpected inner sill repair I dropped the car off to get blasted. (Arse about face really but we were pretty confident she was solid!) Oh and wishart also fitted a replacement roof skin to complete the webasto sunroof delete!
Got the car blasted with Alan Harkness in Ballymena as he has a reputation for having a lighter touch than most. Thankfully only a few tiny issues that are super common in these old opels. A bit of pitting round the window rubber areas in the back window, a small patch on the front window where it meets the scuttle panel and a once inch square patch pitted in the footwell. All things we could have left but weve come this far and I wanted the car to be immaculate. Thankfully the previous owner(one owner from new) had injected the sills and cavities with wax which had helped the car avoid the normal pitfalls of sills and inner wings. My uncle Seamus who's possibly the most experienced welder in the country landed over to help with the smaller repairs and to weld in the seat rails.
So that brings us to the current state of play, The car is now with Colm Quinn to get prepped and painted. Colm took the car back to bare metal and fitted the Grp4 Arches for me.
Was getting frustrated as the car had been with Colm since the start of December there and it took him till March really to lay hands on her but now that he has I'm super impressed with his
attention to detail and how particular he is not to overlook anything. Even down to making sure he used seam sealer basically anywhere that two panels met. He used counter sunk rivets so he could fit the arches without leaving the usual open rivet shapes in the paint. Pleased so far and hopefully he will be laying colour on it next week.
Engine wise, I have Jonny Law building me a new C20xe for it.
Spec is as follows:
Bored out 2.1
Forged Rods and Pistons with compression ration to suit.
Cams/Solid Lifters
Ported/Polished Head
Bottom end standard only Polished crank and better bearings.
Set of 45 Webers Rebuilt by the one and only Roy Brown (these were actually on the Xe in the blue coupe but had been filled with fire extinguisher powder and needed a serious rebuild and jetting.
We reckon if completely fit and healthy we should be tickling 240bhp on the dyno.
Yeah I know, way more power than you need in a biscuit tin like the Kadett but sure its nice to have.
The Blue coupe had an Xe on 45s and made about 180 or so, which was plenty and great fun considering all the car weighed but this should be a little livelier and offset the weight of the cage.
Heres a couple of Photos of Jonny putting the bottom end together:
More Photos will follow as the project progresses for anyone who may be interested.
I think its important to also acknowledge that I appreciated the well wishes of everyone that got in touch when the accident happened. I've seen it mentioned in the Build Show thread and appreciate the comments from folks saying they loved the car and hoped I was alright. Thanks.
Here's to a new chapter, a new Kadett, and the fact that I'm now worth more in scrap value than my car lol
Stay Tuned....
Ronan
Some of you may or may not remember my blue '78 Kadett Coupé that got smashed on the way home from "Built" show in Titanic Exhibition Centre a few years ago. Was a great show but on the way home a pensioner pulled across the dual carriage way in front of me in a Ford Mondeo. Long story short after stint in Antrim Area, The Royal and then the Ulster I made it home with a head injury, 14 breaks, 6 Titanium Plates, 25+ Screws and a written off Kadett. Not the Sunday afternoon I'd had in mind but sure these things happen. Good news is I'm sweet now although a bit creaky/still at times.
As a wise man once said "I'm not as good as I once was, But, I'm as good once as I ever was" =)
The Kadett was Written off CAT A which means it was to be crushed and never to be repaired. Fortunately though I did manage to salvage some parts from the car that were important for the c20xe conversion I had in it. (Back Axle, Driveshaft/Gearbox etc.)
I spent the months after the accident recuperating and eventually returned to work 6/7months later. (I'd left a Teaching post in St Malachys the year before to be self employed so not ideal to be off for 6 months)
It took me a year after the accident to find a replacement Kadett, which wasnt bad going considering theyre now like hens teeth. Randomly this one was sitting at the side of the road near Dungannon and thankfully hadnt been advertised online otherwise there would have been the whole owners club bidding on it. Thankfully the guy selling it was sound and we struck a deal even though I gave what I thought was really strong money for it. 4 years later I realise it was buttons compared to what they sell for now.
I couldn't have found a better example, completely original 1.2s RHD coupe with 70k miles. Bodywork was really solid from what I could see.
It was so clean I was almost reluctant to strip it. Id always planned on rebuilding the Blue coupe into a Works Style build so now I had the perfect shell. It was almost too good to take apart but I had to remind myself. Its a build for me and a car I'll never sell so why would i preserve it for someone else when ill never part with it.
Work Began and I got it stripped back to just a rolling shell and dropped it off at Steven Wisharts place (Wishart Motorsport Fab) Anyone in the rally world knows who he is and the standard of his work. Wishart produced an awesome full 6 point cage and and tubbed the rear arches to accept the Grp4 Wide Arch kit I had picked up. Heres a couple of photos of his handywork:
After Cage and Strengthening bits welded into the chassis legs, turrets, floor, crossmembers and a small unexpected inner sill repair I dropped the car off to get blasted. (Arse about face really but we were pretty confident she was solid!) Oh and wishart also fitted a replacement roof skin to complete the webasto sunroof delete!
Got the car blasted with Alan Harkness in Ballymena as he has a reputation for having a lighter touch than most. Thankfully only a few tiny issues that are super common in these old opels. A bit of pitting round the window rubber areas in the back window, a small patch on the front window where it meets the scuttle panel and a once inch square patch pitted in the footwell. All things we could have left but weve come this far and I wanted the car to be immaculate. Thankfully the previous owner(one owner from new) had injected the sills and cavities with wax which had helped the car avoid the normal pitfalls of sills and inner wings. My uncle Seamus who's possibly the most experienced welder in the country landed over to help with the smaller repairs and to weld in the seat rails.
So that brings us to the current state of play, The car is now with Colm Quinn to get prepped and painted. Colm took the car back to bare metal and fitted the Grp4 Arches for me.
Was getting frustrated as the car had been with Colm since the start of December there and it took him till March really to lay hands on her but now that he has I'm super impressed with his
attention to detail and how particular he is not to overlook anything. Even down to making sure he used seam sealer basically anywhere that two panels met. He used counter sunk rivets so he could fit the arches without leaving the usual open rivet shapes in the paint. Pleased so far and hopefully he will be laying colour on it next week.
Engine wise, I have Jonny Law building me a new C20xe for it.
Spec is as follows:
Bored out 2.1
Forged Rods and Pistons with compression ration to suit.
Cams/Solid Lifters
Ported/Polished Head
Bottom end standard only Polished crank and better bearings.
Set of 45 Webers Rebuilt by the one and only Roy Brown (these were actually on the Xe in the blue coupe but had been filled with fire extinguisher powder and needed a serious rebuild and jetting.
We reckon if completely fit and healthy we should be tickling 240bhp on the dyno.
Yeah I know, way more power than you need in a biscuit tin like the Kadett but sure its nice to have.
The Blue coupe had an Xe on 45s and made about 180 or so, which was plenty and great fun considering all the car weighed but this should be a little livelier and offset the weight of the cage.
Heres a couple of Photos of Jonny putting the bottom end together:
More Photos will follow as the project progresses for anyone who may be interested.
I think its important to also acknowledge that I appreciated the well wishes of everyone that got in touch when the accident happened. I've seen it mentioned in the Build Show thread and appreciate the comments from folks saying they loved the car and hoped I was alright. Thanks.
Here's to a new chapter, a new Kadett, and the fact that I'm now worth more in scrap value than my car lol
Stay Tuned....
Ronan