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CPO 451L - Manta A V8 Modified
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Owner: Paul
Holtom
| Restored and modified over 5 years.
Many people have
commented on how stock/ unmodified the car looks, yet hides so much,
with none of the original drive train left. |
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| Engine:
Specification; Rover 3.9V8 engine stage one cylinder
heads, Piper 270/2 fast road cam, Webber 4 barrel carb., Mallory
Unilight distributor, Main bearing stud kit, Duplex timing chain and
gears, Rover P6 water pump, crank pulley and alt bracket, the flywheel
and engine bottom end have been lightened and balanced.
Cooling:
The radiator is an Opel Monza heavy duty (air
conditioning equipped) item, with the bottom hose outlet moved from the
side of the radiator to the rear to suit the application.
Exhaust:
Custom manifolds, with custom single pipe
system in stainless.
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| Drivetrain:
The gearbox also came from a Monza, its a 5 speed
Getrag on a modified Rover bellhousing, The clutch is cable operated to
keep bulkhead modification to a minimum. The gearbox was chosen as it is
shorter than the Rover item, strong enough and its easy to modify the
gearshift to suit the Manta tunnel position.
The propshaft is modified Carlton.
The rear axle was taken from an Opel Commodore B
GS/E, which is equipped with the same axle as the Manta 400, and comes
complete with LSD and rear disc brakes. Fitting is not straight forward,
new brackets have to be fabricated for welding to the axle and the rear
chassis legs.
The axle case was narrowed as the Manta is
somewhat narrower than a Commodore, new halfshafts were ordered through
Hauser Racing and made in the USA by Moser engineering.
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| Brakes:
The braking system is all Commodore B GS/E with a
23mm bore master cylinder and after market cross drilled and vented
front disc's.
Remote servo and master cylinder.
Suspension:
The upper control arms are rose jointed and
adjustable. The lower arms are stock Commodore B with new bushes.
The front hubs and stub axles have also been
changed for Commodore 5 stud ones.
To keep the 70's and unmodified look I have used
the original Commodore B GS/E sport steel wheels.
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| Electrics:
I have modified the instrument panel to
incorporate a complete set of Autometer instruments, including an
electronic speedo, which can be calibrated form the driving seat if
necessary on changing wheel or tyre size.
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Additional
information:
The engine has torque and
power in abundance, which can cause some surprise to the hot hatchback
drivers who try to be first away at the traffic lights. The manta A is
rare car on the roads in the U.K. today. I have been asked by young
people (too young to remember the Manta A) if they were all V8's. |
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Driving home one evening
I over took a VW golf on a quiet stretch dual carriageway. The driver of
the Golf was having none of this and put his foot down to overtake, as
he pulled along side I waited until he got level and floored the pedal
leaving him trailing far behind.
This must have come as
some surprise to him, as he followed me home (about 8 miles) to find out
what I had done to this old Manta to make it faster than his beloved
Golf VR6!!!! |
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| If
you need any more information about this conversion please contact me at
paulholtom57@hotmail.com |
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