Topic: Senator A Build (Read 8624 times)

andyc · « **on:** 09 January 2014, 22:14:14 »

Ok been meaning to do this for a while as i've been adding bits into the "What have you done to your car" post so lets start

Car in question is a LHD, series one Senator A in green and by green i mean green. Green paint, Green Carpets, Green Seats, Green Dash etc etc. The car came over from Germany via a contact in Holland which we then collected from Harwich, oh what fun to drive a car that size onto a trailer thats still hitched to the van and has a slipping gear box, had to rev the nuts of it go to it to more then jam the brakes on to stop it from hitting the back of the van.

Although the box was slipping the car did run well as we used it the year before in a fact finding trip to Opel Classic Parts in Germany, over taking plod on the autobahn was an eye opener.

So the Car

Oh and its sister arrived the following year

but more on that later.

First job was to start stripping the engine bay out as this was where most of the metal work was going to be done

So of the problems
Inner wing

Head Lamp Panel

Inner wing / Chassis leg Lip

Right side A Pillar Flitch Panel

So first jod to get stuck into was the replacement of the inner wing although it took a few months to find an inner wing but after having a Rekord one arrive which is a four pot we finally got the correct one

Inner wing fitted with the battery try

Next job is to tackle those headlamp panels

Cheers
Andy

jonny2112 · « **Reply #1 on:** 09 January 2014, 22:23:58 »

Looking good Andy

Andy B · « **Reply #2 on:** 09 January 2014, 22:37:33 »

Quote from: jonny2112 on 09 January 2014, 22:23:58

Looking good Andy

+1 ..... it does

b4ndit · « **Reply #3 on:** 09 January 2014, 22:41:10 »

henryd · « **Reply #4 on:** 09 January 2014, 22:55:00 »

very nice indeed

tunnie · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 January 2014, 16:00:31 »

Very nice

BazaJT · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 January 2014, 19:23:32 »

I used to have one of those,mine was RHD in Helios blue and was a late one with some bits of the later series two cars-dash,seats etc.,but still with the chrome bumpers and original body style.Come to think of it I still have three rear light units that would fit it although they're actually off a Royale[dull red centre strip not the chrome-stainless steel?-ones on the Senator.

omega3000 · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 January 2014, 20:10:13 »

Nice one , they were a bit over the top with the green . Nice classic shape

Webby the Bear · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 January 2014, 20:16:37 »

This is sweet!

tigers_gonads · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 January 2014, 20:22:40 »

Grandad had a Monza 3ltr in that colour
Drop dead gorgeous

Field Marshal Dr. Opti · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 January 2014, 20:24:52 »

Quote from: tigers_gonads on 10 January 2014, 20:22:40

Grandad had a Monza 3ltr in that colour
Drop dead gorgeous

I always loved the Monza.

Keith ABS · « **Reply #11 on:** 11 January 2014, 16:37:47 »

Still have my series 1 1/2 as they were known with the later dash etc and chrome bumpers. Bit of a sorry state at the moment though. Had a series 2 in green, and yes everything is very green. Needed sunglasses to take the edge off it while driving

. Bet that inner wing cost a pretty penny though Andy?
Keith B

belldarr · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 January 2014, 10:06:51 »

I had a 1984 Opel Senator in that exact color and yes it had the same green velvet interior, I had a big accident in it where the car rolled onto the roof then back onto the wheels again, the roof was remarkably still in shape afterwards and I could even drive it!

Great to see one being saved

Darren

2woody · « **Reply #13 on:** 12 January 2014, 22:43:13 »

Andy,.....

I don't suppose that you'd be able to use a Monza GSE on a C-plate for spares maybe ?

its pretty ropey but complete - and its local to you ( Spalding )

and its free, provided I can have the gearbox back.

hoofing it · « **Reply #14 on:** 13 January 2014, 20:00:17 »

Going to look good when its done have fun

My senny A (in red) was like your one about 17 years ago then its previous owner spent about £5500 doing exactly the same as you then wax oiled every crevice and its never out in the rain.

GastronomicKleptomaniac · « **Reply #15 on:** 17 January 2014, 19:43:27 »

I really like that

andyc · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 April 2014, 00:28:49 »

Ok so i'm now back on the Senator as the Manta is waiting to go to the paint shop, these pics might interest Webby after his post about rust

While moving the car i noticed some rot around the rear seat belt mounts

And some rot in the rear chassis legs

After cleaning back and cutting the rot out i'm left with this

New repair section made

Couple of hours with hammer and dollies to get the shape, must of trial fitted a dozen or so times to get the shape correct

Seat belt reinforcement plate had gone very thin in a couple of places so a new one was made, the nut was salvaged from the old mount

Repair section and reinforcement welded in

omega3000 · « **Reply #17 on:** 13 April 2014, 18:50:58 »

Looking good

GastronomicKleptomaniac · « **Reply #18 on:** 13 April 2014, 21:19:49 »

Top work! Might have to see it in the flesh if I ever manage to get down that way with Zeke...

andyc · « **Reply #19 on:** 05 September 2016, 22:52:06 »

My god the time flies, got time on my hands at the moment so here goes, two years of updates.

So with the inner wheel wells sorted it was time to get all the rear suspension off the car and start work on the rear chassis legs. Both legs showed signs of old repairs and they were just patches over patches so the rot has just carried on, time to cut out the rot.

New chassis legs are just not available anywhere, even my contacts in Europe could not locate any so I'd need to re-build using 2.5mm plate for the inner sections and 1.00mm plate for the outer sections.

The first job was to find out how far the rot went so disc cutter in hand i started cutting the outer skin off and removing it from the inner section until i hit good inner metal. I got the outside & underside outer skins cut back and then attacked the inner skin starting with the lower section first.

Now this wasn't the easiest part to make and it took an hour or so to get the profile correct by hand and once it was the correct shape i welded a couple of bridging pieces into each end of the leg then seem and plug welded the new part in place. This was then repeated for the two inner side section and the outer skin. The right rear leg was i bit more involved as i had to remove the spring seat plate as the rot had got underneath that.

This is the hole i started with

Inner & outer skins removed

Inside view of the leg, This will be pumped with a couple of litres of cavity wax in the end

Old inner skin removed

New inner skin, zinc coated ready to go in. You can't see it in the pic but the narrow end also has a longways kink in it as well

Under side fitted

Better View

Outer section all welded in

Outer skin of the right rear leg removed

Spring seat plate and outer skin removed

One of the repair section ready to be cut out.

Next on the list was the inner wall of the spare wheel well. The seam had started to go so that was marked out and repair section made up

Marked ready to cut

There's a hole in my wheel well

New Panel

Fitted, welder has having a hissy fit at the time so welds not as tidy as normal but cleaned up ok

Finished view from the inside all painted

Thats it for now
Andy

andyc · « **Reply #20 on:** 05 September 2016, 22:53:13 »

As you can see from the next pic repairs were required to the bottom of the left quarter panel and also to the base of the parcel shelf support.
The only way to gain a good access to the base of the shelf support was to go in through the bottom of the quarter panel making nice straight cuts so a new section could be made and fitted. The bottom of the support is also profiled so this had to be made

Access hole cut in the quarter panel and bottom of support removed

better view from the outside

New lower support on the left

Fitted

Outer filled

I had to tidy up a few small spots around the bottom edges of the rear panel and the other quarter panel. It was at this point things got busy. The original plane was to strip the lower half of the car to bare metal and paint up to the body mouldings, which once re-fitted would hide the seams.

So out with some proper paint stripper but as i started to remove the paint from the lower section of the left rear quarter i found out that it was full of filler which reacted with the stripper, bugger. I later found out that the car had had a new quarter fitted at some time in the past so i ended up stripping the whole panel back to bear metal and starting again which ended up with the shell being taken back to bare metal as well.
The reason i ended up doing this was due to the amount of coats of paint, there was twelve different coats in the end and as we had no way of knowing what the paint was we didn't want to take the risk, i did talk with the painter about using a bar coat but if you cut through the coat while keying you won't know until the paint goes on and reacts.

Once all the doors, bonnet and boot lid had been stripped and repaired, they and the shell were treated to a coat of 2k etch primer followed by four litres of high build primer

Four litres of primer done.

The shell as now ready for paint but would not get the final key of the primer until its in the body shop but to get it there all the front and rear suspension had to be stripped, repaired, painted and re-built but first there was a matter of the oil cooler to sort. The Senator never had one fitted as standard but the Monza did and as this car is going to North Carolina the summer temps can top 40+c so the old CIH is going to need all the help we could give it.

Right, going to finish there as i need a cuppa and i'll pick up on the cooler mock up next time
Cheers
Andy

Andy B · « **Reply #21 on:** 05 September 2016, 23:01:01 »

Great job s far

Kevin Wood · « **Reply #22 on:** 05 September 2016, 23:17:20 »

Great Stuff.

migiestate · « **Reply #23 on:** 06 September 2016, 00:04:27 »

Really great looking cars

.I wish I could weld

. The work you have completed looks great.

Diamond Black Geezer · « **Reply #24 on:** 06 September 2016, 09:42:53 »

That's looking fabulous! Keep going!

Shackeng · « **Reply #25 on:** 06 September 2016, 10:24:44 »

Nice job Andy

Sir Tigger KC · « **Reply #26 on:** 06 September 2016, 11:37:15 »

That's a great looking job!

EMD · « **Reply #27 on:** 07 September 2016, 00:32:20 »

Nice job there andy

andyc · « **Reply #28 on:** 07 September 2016, 18:06:51 »

Oil Cooler Time

So we managed to salvage a cooler setup from a Monza GSE apart from the front rubber ducting which isn't available anywhere so the only way was to make one. We did look a using an aftermarket set up but there is no room at the front due to the conderser and twin electric fans, the Monza cooler is set to one side and lives in the front of the right hand wheel well

Mocking up the housing wing brackets

The front ducting was a bit of a 3D puzzle and the only picture i had was a sketch from an old parts Mirco Fiche. I did look at using sheet steel for the duct but settled on using plastic as it would be much easier to use.

First job was to build up the main body which was easy then work started on the trunk. This had to come out of the body at a slightly inwards then taper down to a square, each time a section was glued in place the whole unit was offered back up in postion and checked.

You can see from this pic how its steps down

And this one shows how it also has to go around the cooler pipes

This is looking down on the final mock up

And a front view. The leaf grill is made from the bottom of a scrapped ironing board

Once i was happy that it all fitted the plastic has reinforced will some fiber glass matting and a skim of filler both inside and out and then treated so a few coats of stone chip

Next up is getting all the suspension parts stripped, cleaned and painted

Andy

2boxerdogs · « **Reply #29 on:** 07 September 2016, 18:51:38 »

They were great looking cars, nice to see one being restored properly, 👌

andyc · « **Reply #30 on:** 07 September 2016, 21:53:55 »

Time to start pulling the rear suspension apart

One of the trailing arm spring seats, massive MOT fail. The guy who owns the car told me that the TUV tester in Germany wasn't impressed either the last time it was tested

Before starting the repairs on the rear arms they had the stripped. Home made puller to remover the inner drive flange

You can see that the rotten spring seat has been removed and the hole its left behind. Also you may notice that there is no bearing housing, with the Senator arms the bearing housing is bolted so once the inner flange is removed you can just un-bolt the housing which makes a bearing change so easy. Why did GM change this i don't know

Ah, bearing being pressed out of the housing

The hatching is everything that needs removing

Template made up

Rotten section cut out

The blackened part in the fore ground was the next piece to come out

And welded in

Ground back and painted with weld through primer

New top plated fitted

Cleaned up

New spring seat fitted

To compare. New arm on the left and repaired on the right

Fuel Tank Next

Diamond Black Geezer · « **Reply #31 on:** 08 September 2016, 09:11:26 »

With a Royale up my parent's drive, which the intention is to do up one day.... this gives me food for thought - and a sick feeling in my stomach!! I suspect I'll learn to weld! Fabulous work, looking forward to more!

andyc · « **Reply #32 on:** 13 September 2016, 22:04:21 »

Well your not far from me, if you want me to take a look at it let me know

Andy

andyc · « **Reply #33 on:** 13 September 2016, 22:32:33 »

Fuel tank all cleaned and repainted with five coats of stone chip and its also had a coat of epoxy primer just to make sure. Tank sender was taken out and tested ok and all the rubber pipes and clips have been replaced

Now the rear lower arms had been repaired the rest of the suspension needed sorting so i could get the car back on the ground and off to paint.

Now the only way i was going to get all the parts cleaned was to media blast them. I'd been looking for a cabinet for a while at the right price but nothing was coming up for sale so, i built my own.

I'd built a cabinet years ago that used to house my wash tank made from a 205 ltr drum but as i now had a proper wash tank i converted this to a blast cabinet. The gun, glass & gloves came from Sealey as you can buy spares for there cabinets and i've used Garnet as the media. This will do the job for now but once i've re arranged the workshop i'll get a proper one.

Some items cleaned

Brakes painted

The Calipers were all stripped, cleaned & painted. The rear pistons and boots were all good so they have gone back but the front piston seals & boots all need to be replaced, Master Cylinder as also good.

Some other finished items

Now it was about this time i got coerced into buying another car.......................well it didn't take much for me to say yes

andyc · « **Reply #34 on:** 13 September 2016, 22:51:10 »

So how did i end up buying another car. It started off as one of those throw away comments and snowballed from there. The guy who owns this Senator is also the un-offical parts supplier for Bitter http://www.bittercars.com/ in the US.
He'd been up to New York and collected a white rag top and sent some pics over.

I just happened to mention to him that i'd always liked the two door SC but as only 450 were ever built the chances of owning one were slim.

I then got an email back saying he had one for sale, in fact it's number 8 and is the oldest SC known.It was also the US launch car that would go round a promote the new dealerships as they opened. After a few more emails and pictures we done a deal and now its mine, only slight problem is its in NC so i've got to get it shipped over either in a container or RoRo but before that can happen we need to know if the car was registered new in Germany or the US as this will impact on import duty & VAT.

Anyway, a couple of pics

Andy

citroenguy · « **Reply #35 on:** 14 September 2016, 06:49:01 »

That´s a cool car

Goood luck with it

Diamond Black Geezer · « **Reply #36 on:** 14 September 2016, 10:23:46 »

Adore Bitters, they look stunning.

Mr Gav · « **Reply #37 on:** 14 September 2016, 10:28:28 »

Some nice work there Andy

You must also be a gluten for punishment taking on more restoration

andyc · « **Reply #38 on:** 11 February 2017, 20:01:35 »

Ok while i'm sitting here convalescing it's about time for an update on this project. Most of the work since the last up date has been stripping,cleaning, painting etc

First thing to do was to build up the rear suspension so i could get it back on its wheels ready for going to paint. The repaired trailing arms were painted with an epoxy mastic primer from http://www.rust.co.uk/ which is a real strange paint to spray but once on it does give s great finish

Rear Axle carrier

Trailing Arm

Front Cross Member

Did have a spot of trouble with the trailing arms bushes. After having a tool made to be able to compress the bushes to fit them in the arms we could get any correct bushes, seems all the Ob stock dealers in Europe are listing the Carlton bush as an early Senator bush. The bush body is the same size but its seven mil to long and still did not fit after cutting the centre tube to the correct length so we may have to go down the poly bush route.

Although this was a bit of a set back we did have a new pair of arms which were going to be used on the Monza (Next Project) so these have been employed for the time being.

Diff was all cleaned and new pinion and drive side seals were fitted so this could be fitted to the axle carrier

Back end complete, well not fully but enough to get it on the ground

One of the front struts ready for re-build

Complete and fitted

andyc · « **Reply #39 on:** 16 December 2018, 23:50:18 »

Think i need to update the tread. I'll start again with the painted shell

Andy B · « **Reply #40 on:** 17 December 2018, 08:23:52 »

Quote from: andyc on 16 December 2018, 23:50:18

Think i need to update the tread. I'll start again with the painted shell
....

It's looking good Andy

I remember looking at these when they were new cars ....

Varche · « **Reply #41 on:** 17 December 2018, 10:57:11 »

Brilliant thread.

Webby the Bear · « **Reply #42 on:** 17 December 2018, 14:56:16 »

Awesome mate. Lot of work there

andyc · « **Reply #43 on:** 30 December 2018, 21:37:45 »

In no real order

Brake Servo & Pipe Work

Rear Brake Built up

Rear Suspension fitted

Front Brakes made up

Mass of wiring to sort out

And Tidy

Interior back in

New A/C Pipe work marked up ready for crimping

Engine strip down

All in bits ready to go of the the Engine guy. Turns out the engine was in really good condition

Block Back

Head ready for build

Head Built & Painted

Crank In

All external nuts and bolts cleaned in the blast cabinet and then chemically blackened

Pistons fitted

That more or less bring the thread up to date

Andy

Andy B · « **Reply #44 on:** 30 December 2018, 21:43:34 »

Shackeng · « **Reply #45 on:** 30 December 2018, 22:43:44 »

Superb job Andy. But I have got 3 more Haynes on my shelf than you!
Happy New Year.

BazaJT · « **Reply #46 on:** 31 December 2018, 08:05:18 »

To this day I regret getting rid of my 1982 Helios Blue one.The rust killed it rather than the mechanicals as I can't weld and to have it done by someone else would have cost more than I could afford at the time.

Keep up the good work on yours

Diamond Black Geezer · « **Reply #47 on:** 25 June 2019, 11:55:17 »

Anything happen over winier on this?

Re read this thread with fascination and admiration

News:

Author Topic: Senator A Build (Read 8624 times)

omega3000

belldarr

omega3000

2boxerdogs