This site is a tribute to the dedication, skill and engineering abilities of Opel Manta 400 members who build race or restore these cars.

You can join our free club for ALL REAR DRIVE Opel Competition drivers, builders and enthusiasts by following the link to the right.. Also use our free REAR DRIVE FORUM

The Opel Manta Owners Club Ireland     www.manta400.com

By Nelson Stewart

Add your car here by emailing pictures and details to:

pictures @ manta400.com

This is my 400. I already had it running on a 16v calibra engine with nitrous, so most of the fittings are there already. Note the VW polo heater unit to clear the distributor on the 16v.

I had a fairly substantial bracket made to hold the huge supercharger. The observant of you will notice that it is upside down in the above photo. The charger sits nicely to feed the air plenum and take its drive off a modified crankshaft pulley. This is a Vortech supercharger, geared at around 12 to 1 so its spinning at 48000rpm when the engine is at 4000rpm. It is 280mm diameter with a 100mm air intake.

Above I am using a 16v turbo air plenum, which was a quick fix until I got another made, pointing the right way. You can see the fuel pressure boost valve above and the blue water bottle in the pic below is for the Aquamist Water Injection. I never modify the GTE radiator in any of my cars as the 16v calibra/astra/kadett ones fit in easily when the radiator mounts are removed and they are far superior with a stat and fan to match the powerplant.

The engine had a Courtney Turbo spacer to reduce the compression, but I dumped it later with no ill effects as it just encouraged oil leaks. I have video footage of the car putting enough torque through the 17” yokohamas to start a donut on the spot on dry tarmac (mail me for the 6min RM file). The car has very smooth acceleration right off the clock and is lots of fun to drive. The 16v cambelt cover and heatshield (16v plug cover on Davy and Simons as well) are available from trevor at Rallytech.