My Golf Project

[L1J]

They look like pretty good welds, A little large, but at least they'll be strong!

Thats what flap disks were invented for

Tonights update

Welds dressed and covered in a *very* good coat of primer to ensure it ran into the seams for protection. All this will be covered in seam sealer once everything is rubbed down.

Then I started on the cambelt on the Leon engine

Marked the top and bottom timing marks

 

[L1J]

Tensioner unbolted, old belt and water pump removed

New tensioner, tensioner pulley, water pump and belt fitted

Lower and middle belt covers fitted

Top plastic cover fitted, needs a good clean and possibly a coat of paint

 

[L1J]

That is going to one STRONG golf. Work looks good, keep it up. And please, when you're finished, dont put on some cak back lights and ruin the whole project.

What is the final colour going to be?

LMAO You have my permission to burn me inside the golf if you see any non standard bits on the outside

Final colour is going to be Ford Radiant Red. Exterior has been resparyed just the engine bay to do now.

i dont know what id need to be honest... looking at mig welders in machine mart and im always after bits that could be fabricated in metal so easily if i could weld.

A friend of mine is doing a welding evening course at a local college, he's learnt loads. Should give you the confidence to start and know what you need.

 

[L1J]

Nice....!

And the wheel choice?

It was that colour when I got it

Wheels will be BBS RAs as VW intended.

 

[L1J]

With stretched rubber, rim extruding a little I hope?

Wheels will fill the arches due to the widetrack setup. Tyres wont be streched, I'm more interested in how it goes compared to how it looks

 

[L1J]

I had to upgrade my Photobucket account yesterday, it's just hosting the pics on this thread and done 9.5GB in 3 weeks!

Started to rub down under the bonnet this morning, got to here

Will finish rubbing it down over the next two days and hopefully get it sprayed at the end of the week.

 

[L1J]

Carried on rubbing down and started to clean the engine bay

Example of an awkward place that needs to be prepared prior to painting

Left it soaking in degreaser will be continued tomorrow.

 

[L1J]

Hmm that parts degreaser tub thing looks interesting!

Any pictures of that out the box!

Will sort some out for you tomorrow

Parts washers are well handy.

Yup, we have one in work very useful. Need to order some degreaser for mine, hard to find decent stuff these days, everything seems to be environmentally friendly and less effective!

 

[L1J]

Mini update

More stuff has arrived from bilthamber, from left to right rust converter, rust killer and wax

The wax came with an applicator

Which has 4 sets of holes at 90 degrees apart on the nozzle to spray it everywhere!

Need to get the rust from these hubs

So made a Deox bath and left them

 

[L1J]

Assembled the parts washer, degreaser is going to arrive at the end of the week hopefully.

 

[L1J]

You fill the tub with degreaser then switch the pump on which constantly recirculates degreaser through the nozzle on to your parts. Use a brush of some kind to agitate whatever your trying to clean!

 

[L1J]

Not much done today

Gearbox before

Used this, which I got today Much easier than elbow grease!

Ended up like this

Hubs are looking much better after a soaking in the deox bath, need a few more hours I think

 

[L1J]

Little update

Springs after they were powder coated

Tab for throttle cable bracket welded on to inlet manifold, will be taken to be powder coated along with some other bits soon

Need to carry on with the paint prep tonight, hopefully it will be sprayed with primer over the weekend.

EDIT

updates?

You should have waited 1 minute

 

[L1J]

You have more toys than me! No fair!


The bath looks good, what solution have you used with it?

I normally just use gunk+brush lots!

Getting the solution tomorrow or Saturday, it not quite as harsh as some available, I was getting headaches with the one I used to do the gearbox! Once I have some I'll update.

Is it all going according to your timetable m8?

I'm off for a month starting on April the 27th, I would like it to be finished by then. Failing that May the 12th for the rolling road meet in Powerstation and then ready for the 'ring trip starting May 15th.

Painting should take a week
Engine and suspension - 4 days
Wiring etc - 2 days
Interior - 2 days
Bumpers, exterior and arches etc - 3 days (needs a good polish and the plastic needs restoring)
Rear drivetrain needs overhauling - 2 days
Brake pipes, bias valve - 1 day
Misc bits and bobs - 5 days

I have 16 off days before April the 27th!

I *should* be done by the first week in May barring any major disasters. The next two weeks should see it look like a car again and move under its own power

 

[L1J]

Spent most of tonight building a "spray booth", used some plastic sheeting and ended up with this:

Front end of the car is now completely enclosed to keep the dust away when spraying.

Should have its first coat of primer in the next two days

 

[L1J]

It's amazing how properly done projects can fascinate people who would not normally be interested in cars like this.

I hate Mk1 Golfs but this is just something else. Can't wait to see it at the RR day

Its a Mk2

Thanks for the comments

 

[L1J]

Update:

All the surfaces under the bonnet cleaned with panel wipe and the seams given a coat of hydarte 80 just in case some rust was missed. Once it's dry in about 3 hours its going to get a good coat of seam sealer. If the seam sealer is dry by tomorrow it's going to get it's first coat of primer.

 

[L1J]

Again, looks great mate.

Question - What are you going to do when you've finished this project?!

Erm good question!

If all goes as planned i guess the answer to that is "Rag the nuts off it!"

I like that option

I'll wait until it's finished before making plans, still lots of work to do before May!

Once it's painted it should go back together quickly.

I sourced/ordered a few bits today:

Steering rack boots
Track rod ends
New shock covers
Thermostat
280mm caliper carriers
ECU should be posted out Monday

The only sticking point at the moment is that the Peloquin diff is not going to be dispatched until mid April. That means the gearbox cant be rebuilt until it arrives. I might try and source another gearbox just to get it running and moving and fit the one with the diff at the end of April.

 

[L1J]

how on earth do you build up such a wealth of knowledge to know exactly what to do on every step of the way, for every little detail. you seem to be speeding through the work so you can't be spending hours researching your next move.

i want to do a project like this one day so how do i start off building up the background knowledge?

Before starting I spent a few weeks researching what was needed to be done. Once you know all the steps that need to be taken it's a matter of putting them in some sort of logical order. Best way, as Leon says, is to get stuck in, ask for help when you're stuck and research as much as you can.

Someone once told me "You cant expect to know everything, but I expect you to know who to ask"

Just to give you an idea of how much planning went into it prior to starting:

Back to the car

Applied the seam sealer late last night:

Hopefully it will be dry enough to paint over this afternoon.

 

[L1J]

Seam sealer wasn't dry so no primer today. Should be done tomorrow night.

Painted the plastic cam cover tonight

Before

Cleaned it using degreaser and then panel wipe

Used Halfords Vinyl Paint (thanks to Leon for the tip)

Ended up like this, it was a nightmare to try and get a decent photo of it, the finish is really good, looks like new black plastic!