Laser Green gti6 engine bay tidy .. or thats how it started ...

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

While i've been cleaning all the electrical connectors this week i decided to put the grille back together along with its new  badge that's been sat in the 'part cupboard'  for the last 2-3 years.

Power steering pump relocation kit turned up from pug1off  as that will all need to be fitted to the engine before it goes back in  (less messing about).

Also  before the engine itself goes back in ill need to swap over the steering rack .. the subframe and a few other bits all awaiting fitting (You would think i had a plan).

Final pic of current state ... shes winking ,

Definitely subframe and steering rack to tackle this weekend, as i need the bottom arms off to fit to my miami shell ... which needs to be moved in 2 weeks so the concreting i have planned can be done. 

Or thats the plan at least ...

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

So its been a little while since i've updated this, took a week off last week to get a few things done 205 wise and also house wise which will help with future storage... 

 

Finally got the subframe swapped over and tbh didn't look as bad as id first thought. 

 

Also as you can see it now has a 306 PAS rack fitted and all the various gubbins needed, very very close fit !

Edited May 13 by chris 417 mi

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

Once the rack was fitted and powdercoated subframe ( and brand new 309 gti arms which actually fit compared to the delphi units id bought months ago) work had to pause to get a little bit of car tetris on the go .....

 

The blue L reg gti shell i have ( Next years project excuse the 'junior' door ) which was currently sat in the space at the side of my house needed to be moved asap as this area was getting concreted the next day ... old laser subframe and arms on ... and shes out the way ! 

 

Before and after of the space ..... hopefully a timber workshop will be build here by this time next year ... should be enough space for 3/4 cars parking dependent. 

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

A few wrong belts led to the final 'perfect fit ' with the relocated PAS pump bracket from pug 1 off, seems no one else has done this or documented it well ... so if anyone else needs the belt size .... with that setup that's what fit mine !

And finally .... literally yesterday with the help again of @Richie-Van-GTi the engine was back in on sunday morning  .... the afternoon saw me fit shafts ... hoses ... clutch cable ... and a few other bits .. flying in ! 

Next big job will be sort this power steering pump high pressure hose  ....

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

whilst things had got to a good point with the engine bay side, thought it was best to play a bit of catchup with the rear beam. Luckily i have access to a decent press at work and various equipment.

 The new trailing arms were pressed into the arms with the help of the 120 ton hydraulic press, needless to day it didn't struggle .

New rear hubs fitted with the bench mounted press and onto thread checking, powder coating looks good ... just a nightmare to get out of certain areas once its in.

Which in this case was the caliper mounting points. 

 

Shiny shiny arms !

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

The concrete on the new pad had also got to a point where it was strong enough to take cars .... so car tetris was played one night after work ! 

Little bit smaller than needed ... might have to add a strip to it next year.

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

And a bit further on with the engne bay as of this sunday, High pressure PAS pipe from the rack to the pump was a major issue due to the routing and the fact the pump had now moved, however a bit of bending ... a few well placed brackets and P clips ... and use of the hydraulic hose that came with the relocation kit ... she was in ! 

Radiator and cowling strait in ( After a little bit of adjustment of the radiator outlet pipe). 

Next job will be engine wiring look to check and tidy before the inlet manifold goes in !

 

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

Ive had a few days off from this but with a car show looming it was time to get back at it.

 

The engine loom was next to be fettled, however with plans for throttle bodies to be fitted this winter and thus replacing the full loom a quick check of the connector ends and a tidy up was all that was needed. 

 

I also decided to give the inlet manifold a decent clean ... which didnt look like much had changed after id attacked it with all sort of cleaning tools ... time for some paint then ! 

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

Now that the wiring was in ... time to sort out the little niggles with the radiator fitment ( Direnza alloy unit which is slightly longer than the original nissens unit ).

 

Unfortunately this means the thermostat to radiator hose is now right infront of the air inlet and blocking the filter form fitting .... something to sort out .

 

Got the bumper brackets into place and fitted ( wish i had some sliders )with everything else bolted up and ready for the bumper fitment. 

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

And final pics of her current state, literally few small jobs left in the engine bay to sort ( fuel lines and clips and the front end is pretty much needing the bumper fitting ... time to turn her round and get the rear beam swapped over ! 

[Leslie green 109]

Getting closer all the time , will be a beast with throttle bodies and that engine   Bit of hose and aluminium/stainless tube to join the throttle body to the air filter and jobs a goodun.

Edited June 3 by Leslie green

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

17 minutes ago, Leslie green said:

Getting closer all the time , will be a beast with throttle bodies and that engine   Bit of hose and aluminium/stainless tube to join the throttle body to the air filter and jobs a goodun.

Hopefully !! Got another lieu day from work due this week to push on with the rear beam and start any little jiggly jobs … just hoping it starts with no issues 

[jord294 92]

Whether the pics are deceiving, I'm not sure. But it doesn't look like you've pressed trailing arm shafts to correct depth

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

11 hours ago, jord294 said:

Whether the pics are deceiving, I'm not sure. But it doesn't look like you've pressed trailing arm shafts to correct depth

What depth are they supposed to be ? Id followed the guide on here by wurzel which had said press them back in the depth they came out as some are different  ? 

when i pressed the inner and outer bearings into the beam tube id measured the shafts to ensure they would be sat at the right points on the arm when pressed home. They fit fine and have zero play or movement ? 

[welshpug 1,657]

shafts should be 2mm in from the outside face, gives room for the yellow seal ring.

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

Well it was now time to turn her around and work on the back end  !

 

First job was to remove the spare wheel and cage which id not touched in the 5 years id owned her, and did take a bit of ac90 to persuade it to come out ! 

 

As you can see the Spare wasn't the youngest or in the best of condition ... check the age on the DOT code , headed strait for the bin.

 

Removal of the rest of the beam was pretty strait fromward as id changed the rear mounts a couple of years ago and were still in really good condition.

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

Once the old beam was off id laid them out side by side, hoping to make sure all the brackets etc could be orientated correctly before the new unit was fitted. Of course id missed two being sent to the powder coaters  !

 

Shiny new rear calipers rear for fitting including new gaz gas dampers . 

 

The only part of the process which was spoilt was the colour match to the car for the underseal, nowhere near unfortunately and as it was already in primer had no option but to use ( Although very half heartedly) with plans to remove the beam again next year and correct the mistake.

 

Plus the rear bumper mounts weren't looking their best so this was all looking to be an all in one job.

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

Now the rear was done for now  ( but not fully finished ) it was time to get the brakes bled up and front bumper back on, at this point i was 4 days away from a local car show id been aiming for attending all winter and time was seriously running out.

 

Bleeding was all going smoothly until the passenger front caliper appeared to pop the rear seal taking he front dust seal with it, not a great time as we were now at tuesday and i still had tracking to sort and she hadn't even been run out onto the roads  yet ! ( would there be anymore issues ....).

 

Luckily the guys at Bigg Red shipped out a new seal kit next day and it showed a small defect in the original seal had caused the issue .... caliper back on  and bled up ... brakes done !! 

 

Final engine bay prep and battery back in .... she fired up pretty much strait away and ran ! 

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

Finally once all little leaks and drips had been sorted, the fans had been tested and all ran up to temperature with nothing untoward occurring ... the bumper was fitted ... old brackets had to be carefully removed with an angle grinder as there was no way they were undoing. ( free plug for Stu B there )

 

And after a small ' play in the steering rack' scare ... which turned out to be a slightly loose bolt ..... she made it to the car show !

 

It did begin to torrentially rain about an hour after the photos were taken which was a shame, but at least she was finished on time. 

 

Last photo back home and for now ... letting the rest of the fleet have a little attention as she had taken every spare bit of time up for the last 3-4 months ! 

 

The L reg miami gti shell under the sheet right at the back of the photo will be the next to be done ... but that's for next year ... i need a rest .

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

On 6/4/2024 at 6:43 PM, welshpug said:

shafts should be 2mm in from the outside face, gives room for the yellow seal ring.

yep everything fit perfectly cheers @welshpug 

[Leslie green 109]

That's brilliant you got it finished in time , I bought new rear calipers too and not expensive either .

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

9 hours ago, Leslie green said:

That's brilliant you got it finished in time , I bought new rear calipers too and not expensive either .

Yeah it was very close though ! at one point on the Wednesday morning id resigned to the fact it wasn't going.

Were those the Febi branded ones off ebay ? yeah they made sense to me as well, all basically new and strait on no messing about for under £55 each, definitely something ill do for the next one.

 

Time to get yours finished 

Edited June 19 by chris 417 mi

[Leslie green 109]

Yes febi ones on ebay , my car hasn't been looked at for a month or so now  , both my daily's were broke , one blew a turbo and needed a new inter-cooler too and its mot ran out  and it was a cheap run around and has cost far too much  just moted again last night and the other had a stuck caliper and destroyed its pads . To much bills for one month !

     I haven't managed to get the pistons of the connecting rods yet , the guy I left it with couldn't get them to shift so I am stuck , I have made a little jig to make it easier next time and I will heat the rods too before pressing . Id nearly reuse the old pistons as these have been a right pain so far but new ones are there so i want them fitted. The main bearings  I fitted in the block wouldn't let the engine turn , I had checked clearance beforehand and them were right but someone was at the centre cap with a chisel and didn't realise the cap is held by 2 external screws and had battered it and I thought the block might be scrap . I ordered new shells and it spins now after several refits but the old shells have rub marks so will need changed . I was getting very fed up with it so left it before I break something lol

[chris 417 mi 34 2 Cars]

10 hours ago, Leslie green said:

Yes febi ones on ebay , my car hasn't been looked at for a month or so now  , both my daily's were broke , one blew a turbo and needed a new inter-cooler too and its mot ran out  and it was a cheap run around and has cost far too much  just moted again last night and the other had a stuck caliper and destroyed its pads . To much bills for one month !

     I haven't managed to get the pistons of the connecting rods yet , the guy I left it with couldn't get them to shift so I am stuck , I have made a little jig to make it easier next time and I will heat the rods too before pressing . Id nearly reuse the old pistons as these have been a right pain so far but new ones are there so i want them fitted. The main bearings  I fitted in the block wouldn't let the engine turn , I had checked clearance beforehand and them were right but someone was at the centre cap with a chisel and didn't realise the cap is held by 2 external screws and had battered it and I thought the block might be scrap . I ordered new shells and it spins now after several refits but the old shells have rub marks so will need changed . I was getting very fed up with it so left it before I break something lol

That's a shame and seems to be always a thing with older cars ... who's been at them last . Cant anyone off here help with the rods ? 

Hoping i don't have this  with the turbo engine i've bought for the Miami shell as its a total unknown at the moment.