Themen-Opel für das US-Treffen in Carlisle, PA in 2020

I worked a little on the bracket to hold the A/C Compressor, and tension the belt. The yellow arrows are pointing to the mounting points on the engine, and the screws which I just put through the bracket holes. The belt will be tensioned by a simple screw, the slotted latch can pivot as well so it is always parallel to the bracket.
The pump for the power steering will actually be mounted on the top of the compressor, but not before sometime later this week. I'm contemplating of 3D printing a bracket on Monday or Tuesday.

Dieter

The front brakes are done!
After a lot of discussions on the German Opel RWD forum (Anmerkung: "Opel Hecktriebler Forum"), with lots of very knowledgeable people involved, here's the documentation:

• My Rekord was one of probably only a few dozen (or few hundred) Rekords with ABS. This was offered in 1986 for the first time from Opel, in the last year of the Rekord before they replaced it with the Omega. This ABS cost about 3,000 German Marks, while the car itself was only priced in the low 20,000's.
• This ABS version had different (larger) front axle spindles, hubs (with included ABS ring), wheel bearings, and brake rotors. While the rotor diameter and thickness was identical to the regular vented non-ABS version, the hub connection had a larger diameter and 6 bolts to the hub instead of 4. Nobody in the whole wide world has any of the ABS-version brake rotors. They are not even available as unobtainium, they just plainly don't exist anymore.
• I ended up converting to the front brakes from the Omega B / Cadillac Catera. Not a single dimension of them is identical to the Rekord (besides the hole pattern of the caliper), but I was able to make it work. My old calipers, and the new rotors and pads (non-ABS and not fitting my Rekord) were sold here.
• The Catera rotors have a hub center dia of 70 mm and needed to be turned up to 94 mm diameter.
• The Catera rotors have 5 holes (which is the 5/110 mm wheel bolt pattern) of the Catera. This comes from the completely different mounting concept of these rotors. While the Rekord rotors are bolted to the inside of the hubs with the hubs having studs inserted to attach the wheels, the Catera's rotors are going over the outside of the hub, and the wheels are held by wheel bolts going through the wheels and the brake rotors, to screw into the hubs. Plus, there is a 6th hole in the Catera rotors to screw them into the hubs so they don't get loose when taking off the wheels.
• After opening up the center dia, I drilled the six 11 mm holes (for M10 screws) into the flange of the rotors. It is astonishing that it was possible to do that without any interference to the existing holes. The rotor flange looks like a Swiss cheese now!
• The rotors are a great deal larger in diameter than the ones from the Rekord (296 mm vs 246 mm), the thickness is 28 mm vs 23 mm. I had to cut off quite a bit from the dust shield, to get them rotating freely without touching anymore.
• The axial position from the calipers to the rotors was off. When bolting the rotors on, they touched and blocked the inside of the rotors. I fabricated some spacers out of 316 grade stainless steel (German equivalent: 1.4401, aka "V4A") in 1/8" (3.18 mm) thickness.
• Of course, all bolts were tightened down with the specified Loctite and torque.

I might have forgotten something, but the neighbors just arrived, it's time for pool, beer and music now!

Dieter

I received a new batch of V-belts (Anm.: Keilriemen) yesterday, the calculated length for driving the A/C compressor and the power steering pump was off by one size each on my first try.
So today, I finished my bracket for installing the power steering pump and tensioning its belt. The bracket is not pretty, it is the result of cutting, welding, re-cutting and re-welding the bits and pieces together. Maybe I could send it to RallyBob (Anm.: Ein sehr talentierter Metallbearbeiter im US-Forum), and had him make me a good looking substitute But hey, it's doing its job. Before putting it in finally, I will sandblast it to at least have a uniform appearance on all sides. Rust won't be a problem, it's made of 316 stainless steel.
Anyway, the main accomplishment here is that I can tighten both belts (engine to A/C, and A/C to pump) independently from each other. The PS pump bracket is sitting on top of the A/C compressor, and moves with it when the belt is tensioned. Yes, the angle of the PS pump can change a little over time when the belts stretch, but right now the pump angle is just slightly tilted to one side off vertical, and with the stretched belts it might just move a few angle degrees to the other side of vertical. I'm not expecting a lot of belt stretch in the first place, since both belts are very short to begin with (32" and 29").

And now, it's POOL TIME!!!

Dieter

Gutes Auge!
Der Kompressor war in meiner ersten Version 40 mm weiter oben, da hat meine Servopumpe aber ihr "Veto" eingelegt. Also den Kompressorhalter durchgeschnitten und nach unten verlängert soweit ich mich getraut hab, er ist jetzt immer noch 20 mm höher als die Vorderachse in diesem Bereich.

Dieter

Work goes a little slow again. This weekend, On Saturday I changed the brakes on my truck, and on a Super Duty F-550 these pads are the size of an Opel's front axle. On Sunday, I did ... nothing ... but spend time with my wifey in the pool. Today (Monday) was my first regular day back at work since some time in early March.

Being back at work, I got my little bushing from the 3D printer for the (Lokar) throttle cable. It replaces the rubber bushing which was holding the original cable in place. The rest is patchwork from what was included in the Lokar set, my original cable, and the spring with plastic clip got "borrowed" from another Opel because I dropped the spring from the Rekord cable. Was looking for it for 10 minutes, then gave up. Adjusting the cable to the throttle was child's play, just cut the braided housing to the needed length, put the cable back in and cut it too. It is then clamped with the set screw, and you can make fine adjustments where it sits in the bracket.
The stainless steel lever on the throttle body and the holding bracket are home made as well, and the bracket also holds the cable from the cruise control (Rostra, servo-driven). It all fits together great.

And before I forget, I temporarily put the K&N air filter in place. I was amazed how great it all fit together, the black hose is originally from the Rekord, and the 70 mm aluminum pipe is a leftover from when I bought it 15 years ago for the exact same reason for my "Walter Röhrl" Rallye Kadett!

Dieter