Ramstadtech's Opel Frontera Sport 2.8TDI Mistral (Mu/Amigo)

[RamstadTech]

Hi guys. Two months ago I was bored at work and had to take a 5 minute break to get the spirit back. By accident I found an ad for an Frontera Sport in mint condition which I found damn awesome. Had never noticed that car before, something that is quite strange cause I am quite into cars, but they are very rare as 3 door here in Norway so that could be the reason. Anyway, I went back to work but after some time I just had to have another look at the ad. I got addicted.

It seems as most people at the forum got a Isuzu branded car so here an introduction to the European market:
At the late 80's small GTi's dominated as youths car preferace in Europe. Based on insurance companies' evaluations this was the reason for to many accidents so they increased the premium to a unbearable level. Car companies had to find another type of cars to tempt youths with. At the time GM owned both Isuzu and Opel/Vauxhall. Opel were no big on terrain vehicles and Isuzu were not a trusted trademark in Europe so GM decided to brand the car as Opel Frontera. In the Isuzu markets the car was branded as Wizard/Mu or Rodeo/Amigo, but in Europe it was only called Frontera with the ending Sport when it had 3 doors. To suite youths economy they equiped the 3 door with Opel's 2 litre 115hp petrol engine C20NE. From what I can see the sales numbers were not high and it seams as they tried another approach in 95' when they introduced the Mistral model. I guess this model should try to hit the yap culture with purple bullbar, side steps and stickers, and a heavier taxed 2.8 litre diesel, the Isuzu 4JB1-TC. In difference from the other markets they had a factory installed intercooler and another air filter box at the engine compartments right and the battery at left, and were pumping 113 horses.

At the time I found the mint condition Frontera I had a BMW E39 I had to get rid of so before I got money to buy the Frontera it got sold.
The one I found first had the C20NE, probably an under-powered engine for the car. When I got rid of the BMW I found a Mistral. It had a shabby body, but the chassi without rust, it had only done 237000km and the rust on the shabby body was not worse than that I can stop it with some evenings' effort. So it's not the sweetest rig on the forum, but I share it with you anyway since it is the Opel version.

Modifications and Accessories: Increased the boost from 0,7bar to 0,9bar(13psi). A quarter turn + on the fuel pump.

Suspension: Original
Body Lift: No, think I will keep it this way
Tyres/Wheels: Enkei at summer (quite proud of these, Enkei is bad ass), black painted white-spoke rims at winter.
Traction Aids: (LSD, auto lockers or Air/electric lockers etc) Not sure, but the back is working hard when turning full at solid ground with the 4 wheel drive engaged.
Bullbar: Original Mistral bar, bad black paint. Have to redo this.
Spot lights and Lighting: A pair of extra high beams
Communications/GPS: No
Dual Batteries: No
Engine: 4JB1-TC
Exhaust: Original. Will make 2,5" with free flow silencers as soon as I get some time to weld it.
Sound system: Have to put in some stuff before the winter.
External: (any other bits you've done,snorkle, rock, sliders/bar work, roof rack, boonet scoops flares etc)
Internal: (any interanl mods, like false floor, water storage, storage slide etc)
Others: Mistral sidestep painted black. Have to redo this cause the previous owner did not grind it before putting on the paint.

Future plans: The first thing I will do is to grind and put on some acid and paint on the bodywork's rust. When I get on
a 2,5" exhaust I will install a exhaust temperature sensor and increase the fuel pump some more. Am considering to
give it a complete paintjob next summer cause I think they are quite neat in red. But the winter is coming and me I my girlfriends other
car is a Opel Calibra with a body kit. That's useless in the winter so we have to depend on the Frontera the comming 5 months. Therefor my first concern is only to make sure that the rust will not grow during the winter.

Pictures:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-onAy ... AG0634.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QOT6 ... AG0635.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y1d- ... AG0637.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X6cF ... AG0636.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nIuL ... AG0638.jpg

[Captcol]

Nice little truck, I look forward to your progress

[turnturn]

RamstadTech.
Regarding your description below.
"Traction Aids: (LSD, auto lockers or Air/electric lockers etc) Not sure, but the back is working hard when turning full at solid ground with the 4 wheel drive engaged."
Isuzu's of this era are considered to be "Part Time 4wd" and shouldn't be used in 4wd on hard surfaces. The transfer case splits the power front to rear 50:50 (it is not a centre differential) and does not deal well with the forces generated by wheels turning at different speeds while turning on a hard surface. Only use 4wd when on surfaces that will allow a wheel(s) to slip if necessary to prevent wind-up.
And good luck with your vehicle....

[geeves]

Looks good. It will come up nicely with not much work.
To back up turnturn Never use this in 4wd on hard surfaces. Mud gravel its good Ice snow its good Wet tarmac maybe dry tarmac never. The isuzu gear is very strong so you are unlikely to break it but it will chew up your tyres.
Toyotas and Nissans break transfer cases if you run them in 4wd on the road

[RamstadTech]

Didn't expect feedbacks saying that it looks good :p Thanks. I will do my best to take care of this rare piece of car.

I thought it was something like that's mentioned about the driveline, but it is good to have it stated so that I know how to use it.
The day I did drive it with the 4 wheel drive engaged on the asphalt I did it cause I was driving down a narrow steep road with several tight curves and I got to a house there someone were unloading a lorry from a furniture shop so I had to revers it all the way back. This was at night and it was raining also so I put it in reduction gear to don't have to burn the clutch to drive slow enough to follow the road

[geeves]

does it have manual hubs? If so you can put it in 4wd but not lock the hubs effectively giving you 2wd low range

[RamstadTech]

No, mine have auto hubs so I can't do that.

How is it with the back diff on the MU, does that have some kind of LSD?

[geeves]

If it has "G80" on the options plate under the bonnet it should have but a better check is with the car on a level surface with front wheels chocked and in neutral brakes off Lift one rear wheel if it turns easy its not lsd

[RamstadTech]

Some weeks ago I wrote that I was going to stop the rust before the winter sets in. But when I first started to grind the rust, I could help myself. I just had to do a proper job.
So I ain't just considering to do a complete paintjob anymore. Now I have to go thrugh with it. I am planning to paint it myself. Have done some paint jobs before, I am difinitively not a pro, but I am thinking that the more jobs I do the better I get. Right now I am considering red RAL-3002, but time will show.

Here are some pictures from the process:

Got the door off. Have some stickers to remove.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PnmM7zo1tpg/TqxOOUuV9uI/AAAAAAAAAKM/CYVptpr2evU/s912/IMAG0669.jpg

That's such a boring job I got a friend to do it. I helped/teached him how to swap the engine in his car, so now he owns me one.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GhCOKwewnpQ/TqxORjWL8tI/AAAAAAAAAKU/TQ0wrcNArpk/s912/IMAG0683.jpg

Stickers gone
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f_pxPtfZ1y0/TqxOWUkFn6I/AAAAAAAAAKc/zzTCjzKzANY/s912/IMAG0686.jpg

I have a hard time deciding if I should keep the original sidesteps. I think it is awesome that I have a original Mistral with sidesteps, that's a reason to keep them
But I think they take the focus away from the wide squared fenders which I think is the coolest design on the car, and that's a reason to get rid of them.
With
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-fAH6ohrxc6w/TqxOkQI6OxI/AAAAAAAAAKk/If09iqx7pq0/s912/IMAG0700.jpg
Without
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dDj-XeFCsdU/TqxOlZeGiJI/AAAAAAAAAKw/3hJ66P09Qnk/s912/IMAG0701.jpg

The sidesteps were mounted to the car with aluminum cylinders in these holes. Was not easy to get of, the holes got pulled outwards. Will take some time to straighten them.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-eI60gJec_Wg/TqxOkvVtm1I/AAAAAAAAAKo/Ztxi6ZKu6tg/s912/IMAG0688.jpg

Some places with rust or dents:
Roof. This is cause the windshield's moulding have ginded it's way through the paint
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-k7c11LUp5m8/TqxO7Fc48mI/AAAAAAAAALA/TOi79Qc7vcM/s912/IMAG0691.jpg
Close to the railmounts. Guess the previous owner have had some waight up there. A deer maybe.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-10z-l4OwaWg/TqxO7UggZ6I/AAAAAAAAALE/Kwz6QS24OI8/s912/IMAG0692.jpg
Have filled the dents on the hood. Still some to do on the fenders.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l7jcsiLbjPY/TqxO8OppxpI/AAAAAAAAALM/3EyJP4vg6vY/s912/IMAG0708.jpg
The doors, almost finished with them.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WwSQWXXSV1Q/TqxO8VbE2kI/AAAAAAAAALc/Wd6J0bml9e8/s912/IMAG0711.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qGss4JtfS48/TqxO8tugi7I/AAAAAAAAALY/ZIag5rSzz2g/s912/IMAG0712.jpg
The right rear fender was nothing to brag about. There will be some mm of compound when I am finished.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RFtBY9MD_pM/TqxO7At59LI/AAAAAAAAAK8/2VZw_HuHwYY/s912/IMAG0713.jpg
The back door was a toltal mess. Someone have driven the spare wheel into something. I don't have the tools to pull that back into position, but the spare wheel will
cover the damage so I think it will look okay.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1ezaPpv_zjc/TqxO9IROBdI/AAAAAAAAALg/Zk12pMYHPzY/s912/IMAG0690.jpg

I am sorry about the image URLs. When I tried with IMG I got the message "It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image" even though they are working on other forums.
What do you guys think. Should I go for red? And should I get rid of the sidestep?

[Captcol]

I would get some custom side steps made up but it depends on your uses for the vehicle

[sleeker]

Looks like your having fun

[RamstadTech]

I guess I don't need sidesteps for the protection. I am not using the car in any heavy offroad tracks. Must for cruising in the city and once in a while on alpine pasture roads.

It is fun restoring it. But sceary at the same time. I don't know if I do a good job untill I get the paint on and can study if it is possible to see grinding grooves throuvh the paint. And since I am planning to put the paint on myself I am shit nervous for the paint to eather sag or get orange peel. I hope I get to see the result within a couple of weeks

[geeves]

Go to a car wreckers and buy an old panel to practice on.

[RamstadTech]

Now it is red. Put the paint on last weekend. Started on the assembly now, but got to a problem after just 10 minutes. My plan was to put on the door mounts. Thought that it was only one type that would fit everywhere, but there was two different types that would fit both at the upper and lower. Therefor I am afraid that the mounting angle on the door will be wrong if I put them in wrong place. Could some of you do a picture of yours, so that I get to see which mount is at the top and bottom?

In red
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b4qs6mEKzIM/Tse22Sof5uI/AAAAAAAAANk/telIxXkeM5A/s800/IMAG0745.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u6CGBdCOnbQ/Tse2wOhb4VI/AAAAAAAAANY/55Hf6u-WAHE/s800/IMAG0742.jpg

Door mounts
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jc4cEUgu3f8/Tse2wCV5mrI/AAAAAAAAANU/aZxDFy9ToLw/s512/IMAG0764.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cS0aIDXfSUs/Tse2swgqW2I/AAAAAAAAANM/0191g_WKv6M/s512/IMAG0765.jpg

[pig75]

The top hinge in image IMAG0764.jpg goes on the bottom of the door

[RamstadTech]

Cheers pig75, then I can continue tomorrow