1969 Opel GT 

Step #1 - The discovery stage

First you must figure out what you want? There are many options out there; Side Draft Webers, 2.2L to 2.4L German blocks, Big Valve heads, or just rebuild the 1.9L motor with bigger components. I've run Side Draft Webers in a '71 Ascona, and they are a kick in the pants! There's nothing like having more under the hood when you need it, and when others are not expecting it! But I was looking for a new edge, something fresh and new... I've seen from time to time, Opels with more radical conversions. Yet, I had thought them to be too extreme.

Thus, I decided that I wanted to go with a newer motor, so I didn't have to deal with hard to find parts. I didn't want to hack up my car too much, because I wanted to stay with the idea of more muscle under the hood without compromising looks too much... My goal is to keep everything under the hood!

After figuring out what I wanted, I took some measurements. I needed to figure out the area of the engine compartment and what kind of space limitations I was dealing with. I took those measurements and talked to a mechanic friend, and asked him what I find to fit in the given space allotted. He suggested we go down to a local recycler and take a look at what motors that had available. Then, I stumbled across this article about a GM V6 in a Opel newsletter, and it sounded good; better yet, doable. So I focused on that style of engine. I was in luck, they had one... I went home with all kinds of measurements; height, width in several points, and length. I found that it was quite similar in dimensions. The length was actually 1 inch shorter than an Opel engine, it's just a little wider at the top. Not only was this a great match, it also had all of the wiring harness and computer brain box along with it. It was time to wheel and deal, before someone else swooped down on the engine...

The Opel article mentioned above was printed in the OANA Newsletter. The article was written by Mike Pilkenton, who successfully completed this conversion. Much thanks needs to go to him for take out most of the guess work on this project. The articles can be found on the OANA website, under the library section and available in Adobe .pdf format

• The Opel Exchange Vol.7 No.5 - Sept/Oct 1999 (OANA75.pdf) Part #1
  The Opel Exchange Vol.8 No.2 - Mar/Apr 2000 (OANA82.pdf) Part #2
  The Opel Exchange Vol.8 No.3 - May-Aug 2000 (OANA83.pdf) Part #3

After searching high and low, I found what I was looking for! A 3.4L 60º V6 from a 1995 Chevrolet Camero. It was a package deal; motor, transmission, brain, wiring, and block accessories for $1250. After quickly realizing it, the Camero 5 speed transmission was way too long. So I quickly shifter gears to figure out what kind of transmission will work. After consulting a couple of people, I found out that a 1992 Chevrolet S-10 would work. It is smaller in length and the shifter with line up with the Opel GT shifter hole. I was in like flyn!