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70 Opel GT

Thommyknocker

Thommyknocker

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Member Number
1902
Messages
18
Loc
Stinkypoopyville CO
My son picked up this Opel GT.
It was sitting in a garage for at least 4 years.
Nice father son project for us this winter.
I'll snap pics along the way.

The PO had some yahoo put a clutch in it, and it was undrivable lol. 10 minutes after rolling it in the shop my son discovers the missing bolt on the shifter.
This type of BS will be a theme.

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We dorked around for a weekend and making a list of parts it needs.
We got a bunch of stuff from Opel GT Source
Very nice folks there. M.C. and booster, hard line kit, micro switches for the headlights, ECT.

Unfortunately our biggest task is fixing some rust.
There are 4 bolts holding the front suspension in lol
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Im doing the structural stuff, my son is taking care of the light duty stuff.
Like move the battery to the back, it's a PITA to dig it out of the front nose lol
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Cool project. I girl I knew in high school had one that she was very proud of, it was trashed but she loved it.
 
More parts have arrived and installed

Re-ran all the hard brake lines, and the rust is taken care of

Elcheapo Amazon civic radiator fits
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More fuckery found. No wonder it banged around at idle LMAO
That's where it was hitting the axle , have to figure out what sizes to get and redo it
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In for the ride...

Vette suspension would make that thing handle... can use the brakes too.

More common parts, too.
 

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Whipped up a new tail pipe with some scraps I have. My son got the bling glasspack lol
It sounds great.
Too damn cold and snowy to get it out this weekend
 
Always wanted one of these. Grew up, mom had a 1970 Opel Kadet, (Cadet, don't know how it was spelled) and that's what I learned to drive on. She sold it in 1980 and got a Toyota, and I was massively disappointed, as it was implied that would be my first car. ..

Anyhow, if I ever come across one of these, I'll strip it down to basics and drop a 4.8 aluminum LS in it and make a little go-fast toy. Probably spend way too much effort getting the chassis able to hold up to a V8, but I've got time.
 
There is this little right angle adapter for the speedo cable.
What's left of the little straight piece in it is fubar.
I think I can make it from a universal cable kit.
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My dad had one, he also had corvettes. The opel got some good attention. He called it the “poor mans corvette “
 
Got to drive it around town this weekend.
Nothing more fun than driving a slow car quickly LOL

It reeks of gas in the cabin. I dug into the tank which is in the back under the plywood.

Replaced the breather hose, reset the filler neck, and dug the fuel level sender out.
It still had the original cork gasket lol. Made a new one and cleaned the sender so that works now.
 
I've owned 11 Opel GT's and still own 2 now. I've had some very rare models also including a 1968 1.1L w/dual 1 barrel carbs. You want to talk about slow, 1.1L !!! Had a Blue 72 with Factory air and automatic ... almost as slow as the 1.1L. Had one with a 289 4bl that was insanely dangerous to drive. Not so much because it was fast more because it was poorly built and would twist too much. The shock towers were very prone to rusting and I had one collapse at 90mph. Changed it the next day on the side of the road where I left it over night. They were pretty easy to change, 5 Bolts (including the steering shaft nut in the rack). I had a Black one I drove off the side of a road into trees at 6am, low morning sun white washed the windshield on a country road. Totaled it, no injuries to me... had that car for a total of 16 days. Replaced it with a primer gray one with BFG 50's on the rear and a Weber 2brl, it would put down 2 tires of rubber for about 30' and out ran a 70's Camaro at a top speed of 130mph. The Camaro front end was floating over 120 and he backed off. Had 4 people in one, 2 different ways. Me and my girl in the drivers seat and my friend and his in the passenger seat. Then later that day the 2 girls rode in the back.

My current 2, 1 is rusted beyond saving and is going to be used for mock up and testing. The other I want to mount a 4cyl turbo FWD drivetrain in the rear behind the seats. Make it a mid/rear engine. It's a project I haven't started to tackle yet but have a lot of it designed in my head.

I could go on for days with the stories but really just wanted to say Very nice looking little car.
 
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Nice car. I wouldn’t have wasted my time moving the battery. That thing probably makes 80 horsepower at the back wheel.
 
Thommyknocker said:
I didn't want to fix the rust on the battery tray up in the nose
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The batteries always leaked and rotted away the lower valence and battery tray. But you mentioning it reminded me of another story LOL. The black one I mentioned I totaled, on the first day I owned it, driving it home after buying it, the battery slid on a corner and shorted out to the front brake line. The brake line welded itself to the battery terminal and caught the battery on fire. Smoke coming out of the hood and no brakes I managed to stop using the emergency brake. Now on the side of the road I was throwing handful's of sand on the fire trying to put it out and a guy in a Corvette stopped and asked if I needed help. I ask if he had a fire extinguisher and he did and grabbed it and put out the fire. The car, now owned for 3 hours, was broken down on the side of the road and still warm. I hitchhiked to town and bought a battery and battery terminal and got it running again. Try hitchhiking with a car battery LOL. Drove it home with no brakes and fixed it later that day.

I still have the battery terminal with the welded brake line someplace but I haven't seen it for years. If I ever come across it I will post a picture. When I looked at the car and decided to buy it there was a bungee cord holding it down. The guy selling the car decided he needed it more than me and removed it before I picked up the car. This was in the summer of 1984, 39 years ago! I'll have to look for the battery terminal.
 
I didn't realize that they are MIata sized. Dad had one when I was young. I was little so my memory of scale is faulty.
 
I would love to get one of these or a kadett rallye and do a modern repower while keeping it reasonable for a DD. Maybe like cobalt SS ecotec with working AC and such and a modern suspension\brake setup swapped over from something similar weight like miata or just full miata drivetrain swap to keep it all paired together. hmmm :idea: it could be a good use for that 1.0 turbo 3cyl I have laying around...
 
My folks had two Opel Kadetts when I was young. A 1968 and a 1970. The 1968 was a fastback, the 70 a sedan. One had the dual carbs. I learned to drive in that 1970, it was a rusted-out shitbox but fun.
Both cars lived in Illinois too long and were totally rusted out. Long gone now. Good memories.
 
Love these and the KarmaGia, I know different but very similar oddball. Would love to do an EV conversion in one that got 200 mile range for bombing around town.
 
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