1960 Opel Rekord V8

1960 Opel Rekord with engine from a 1957 Simca Vedette.
Fitting the V8 engine in the small engine bay was a real challenge. To get it road legal I could not alter anything on the car itself. The engine bay was too short so I had to invent and build an extremely short water pump. The radiator is also specially made for this application with an electric fan as there was no room for an engine driven fan. I also had to make a special engine starter as the rh steering idler link is where where the original starter is located. I made exhaust manifolds from water pipe to avoid the tin-can sound from thin pipe headers and also made a new mechanism to operate the Vedette gearbox with the original Opel gearshift. Have used it for 8 years now without any problems at all but the performance is only marginally better than the original 4 cylinder. Battery had to be moved to the trunk and brakes are modified to power assisted disc brakes.