[car_overhaul] The Cherry Red Project

[gti-si 0]

What choice have I got here? The panel has gone through? Or just weld some sheet on the headlight panel where the metals gone through?

Edited January 7, 2008 by gti-si

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Lets see a decent picture of the affected area.

[Alastairh 47]

So the main rot issue is the bit at the bottom of the drivers front panel here: Or is there more?

 

 

Id be tempted to go to the scrappy with a portable disc cutter (not that expensive) and cut the panel off a base model (or i suppose if you do buy a new panel you can use sections of that). Cut the cruddy bits out and just repair it. If your welder man is good enough im sure he will find that no bother

[gti-si 0]

It's not a very good picture, but it shows where the rust is. Once I went at it with a wire brush and the grinder, the rust was all the way through really, the metal became so thin on the panel you could just roll it up. So bar changing the panel, im not sure what I could do? Im at uni now so can't get a picture. I will be home tomorrow. Another problem is the inner wing rust behind it. Is it possible to cut out and repair this with the panel in situ?

Edited January 7, 2008 by gti-si

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Need some better pictures really. But I agree 100% with alastair that removing the wings is opening a can of worms, and if you can possibly leave them undisturbed I would do. From the picture I'd say it would be possible to just weld in the sections required rather than change the lot. I could certainly manage that as could any experienced welder.

[gti-si 0]

I might take it to a body shop then, as i've no practice and this definatly isn't an ideal practie project

[Alastairh 47]

Is the car dry stored, and do you have a welder man lined up anyway?

 

Grind the paint and rust back on that section to the height of the iron bumper arm.

 

Then you can see what you have to play with. With the bit that ripped of corrosion, cut that out, and trace the shape of your new panel and cut that out. With the prep work all done, your welder man could be in and out the door within the hour, and then its just a case of you grinding the welds, skim of filler to look stock, then stone chip and red paint.

 

Really isn't that bad. As long as you stop it rusting and looks half decent then thats what matters. Its not everyday you look behind your valance is it?

 

Al

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Good advice above.

[gti-si 0]

Right, that does sound a good idea. Perhaps better to not buy a full panel and just get a headlamp panel. The car is outsidea tm unfortunatly, and I cant move it untill I get driveshafts. Im gonna have to get it recovered from my house by my mechanic tomorrow really. The treated areas where ive taken the paint off are starting to surface rust so I need to get it done ASAP. I wish I could find someone to weld it in situ

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

How much are you offering, I'm not a million miles away but its a lot of upheaval to move my welder and tools out of my garage to bring it all to you so you'd have to make it worth my while.

[gti-si 0]

Well i'm not too sure to be honest, don't know how much to offer as I've no experience with this before. If you give me a price that you would be happy with i'd appreciate it. Can you PM me? Cheers

[GLPoomobile 958]

The treated areas where ive taken the paint off are starting to surface rust so I need to get it done ASAP. I wish I could find someone to weld it in situ

 

If you are concerned about rust developing while it's outside and have no immediate solution on the horizon, just slap some primer or something on it in the meantime. Or you could waxoyl. Hell even vaseline smeared all over if that's all you have

[gti-si 0]

Good idea that is. I might as well primer the bits that don't need welding

[gti-si 0]

Just an update really. Its been a long 4 months since the last one and time has been hard to come by with Uni. However, been very busy this week and managed to get her sorted ish. I got hold of an RS2000 mount, lowered the engine by 10mm all around and had the bottom arm extended by 7mm. I didnt do much documentation but I have a few photos. I've also got quite abit of wiring info if anyone whos carrying out this conversion needs it. Although mines not working at the moment, I know the wiring is pretty much correct.

 

I think I must have a stuck relay or some fault elswhere. The basic problem is that my fuel pump is recieving a constant live from the relay, and continues to prime permanently. Going to have to try and source a relay elsewhere. If anyone in the northwest has a gti-6, any chance I could meet and just try your relay?

 

I still need to get the exhaust fitted at DES and also need the front end wleding up before the MOT still. Gave a few spots of rust a sort out in the bay before the engine went in, just got the inner wings to be welded and then ill spray those with a can. It wont look terrible and most of the rust is behind the headlights anyway so it wont be in clear view.

 

 

[gti-si 0]

Quick Update

 

Project is still on going. Got to a point now where I'm nearing time to MOT her. I've now got the engine running, it was a dead ECU in the end, took a lot of trial and error to get to that conclusion and ended up pretty expensive . I'm now waiting for an ICV to arrive as the current one is knackered! Air bypasses straight through meaing the engine runs very lean, as soon as you touch the gas, the revs shoot right up and stay there. Blocking off the ICV completly and feathering the gas to keep it running, the engine sounds awesome, runs very nice, no untoward noises so I'm happy about that!

 

Phil (pip470) has been a star during this project with various things. He's currently letting me use his exhaust from his XU10J4R drag 205 while it's off the road so I can get her on the road, I'm then going to take it down to DES to get a downpipe mated to my Group N. So i'd just like to take this oppertunity to thank him!

 

Next little bit i've been getting on with is sorting out the suspension/steering. I've got a full set of AVO adjustables to go on and have just refurbished the subframe and anti-roll bar, there looking pretty swarve . I've bought new drop links, track rod ends and i'm waiting for a new track rod as the offside has a small amount of play in. Added to the renewal, I've bought some 309 wishbones and driveshafts in pretty much new condition. Hopefully the handling should be bob on now, will cope alot better with the extra weight and should drive like it's on rails!

 

This is how the car was a few days ago, back on the stands now as I've dropped the running gear to repalce. Will have most on tomorrow, then just waiting for the track rod. How do these fit btw? Do I just unclip the boot and screw it in or what? Sure i'll figure it once I take the boot back I guess

 

 

 

Subframe nice and shiny! Appologies for the terrible bakcground. It's a shame that I forgot to get the bush plate powder coated really

 

 

And this is with the 309 wishbones and a droplink (mid build)

 

Edited June 27, 2008 by gti-si

[gti-si 0]

Ignorant B*stards

 

Well, the conversion is complete now. Everything hooked up and where it should be! Offered up the new subframe and got the engine mounted in it's final resting place! Got bags of clearance around the exhaust so I'm pretty chuffed about that! Spent a day yesterday tidying around the engine bay, I completed the wiring properly using permanent connectors and managed to finish wiring the lights and earth points back up. Result is the engine bay is looking very tidy. It's such a relief seeing her sorted after so long! Been a few very worrying moments where I've been almost certain I wouldn't finish!

 

Anyway, with the bay tidied, it's now looking like this

 

 

Also put some spotlights on her. Know this isn't to everyone's taste but I personally think it set's the car off really well... anyway, few pics again

 

[gti-si 0]

 

 

 

You might notice I have a bolt in that breather I'm just waiting to source a reducer pipe like the original as mine cracked...But that's how she stands. New suspension and brakes to go one tomorrow..Then time for that first test drive!

[welshpug 1,661]

big round spots look ok, sort the lower ones though they do look naff!

 

Have you driven her with the new powerplant yet?

[gti-si 0]

Yeah I've got a set of OE ones to go on, there on my original valance. Just dreading the brackets!

 

No not yet! Been one thing after another, naff ECU, naff CPS, naff ICV...it's like someone just filled her with broken parts before sale...

 

Gonna fill up the coolant, bleed it then fit my new shocks and go for a quick boot down tomorrow hopefully

[miamichris 9]

nice work there matey, tidy job..big round spots are'nt my cup of tea but each to their own!! who am i to judge anyway, my cars a pile of parts at the minute! just refurbing my subframe at the minute too, yours turned out well!

[gti-si 0]

Another quick update.

 

I've not managed to sort the ICV issue out yet, still proving to be a pain. I think there's something wrong with either the part of the ECU that controls it or the plug itself. For now I've manually set the ICV by trial and error. I get a nice and solid idle now at around 950 and strangely it seems to behave well both cold and warm, splutters for around 10 seconds, give it a small amount of gas and it'll then sit there solid as a rock. Obviously it's no long term fix as performance and fueling will be out I've no doubt!

 

I got the suspension back on along with a nice reconditioned steering rack from Miles. Fitted all that tonight with new TRE's. Steering feel's so tight it's unbelievable, can't find any play anywhere on the running gear now! Car's sitting pretty nicely IMO.

 

 

Filled her up with coolant and bled it yesterday, had a few leaks but soon sorted those out! Then had a slightly more serious leak! I'd managed to strip one of the bolts holding down the fuel rail, so very quickly ended up with fuel pissing out of injectors 3 and 4! Was not very good. Decided to take it down to work with me this morning and get it sorted. Took a few pictures as I've got a reliable camera phone for once!

 

Can see the thread is pretty well mashed

 

Set the manifold up on the piller drill, the manifold squared up nicely with the assistance of a block of 3"x2" underneath it

 

Drilled it out, and re-tapped it to M8, increasing from the original M6. Didn't cause any problems, plenty of room and can't do much but help being a bit sturdier. Had to use a center and adjustable rather than a dye as the manifold got in the way

 

Good as new!

[jimistdt 1]

Excellent, Lots of good work there Si! Good luck ironing the creases mate, home run now.

[gti-si 0]

Well, today Phil (pip470) came over so we could have a look at the front panel rust situation and maybe remove the original. After a few moments weighing up and contemplating removal, it was obvious that it was going to prove very very difficult.

 

I was planning to take the car to Tom Fenton after seeing pcitures of his handy work, was impressed and thought it'd be a good route to go. This all went out of the window when Phil came down with a welder. We started grinding back the rust and found it really wasn't that bad atall, as per the comments at the start of the whole thing.

 

So I went about cutting a piece of door out while Phil ground down the headlamp panels removing all the rust. We tried to tack up the big cut you can see in the before picture but that gap was just too large too weld (might have something to do with our welding skills, or lack of ). We cut out the worst affected area and plated that with the clean metal from the door. I say we, I let Phil do most of the welding as I was absolutely shocking at it. Once that was one, we put a little filler across to give the panel it's shape back, sanded down and went about priming painting.

 

All in all I'm very happy with the results and can't thank Phil enough for his help today!

 

From this:

 

 

Can see the big cut in the left panel where it was nearly removed early on, can't really see the rest of the rust there, A: Because there's not as much as I panicked about and B: Because I'd prepped it

 

 

Can see the areas of rust a little more clearly here

 

Both me and Phil, got pretty much all the way through the work before realizing we hadn't taken a singe photo, so I got the camera out just after putting the first layer of primer on!

 

[gti-si 0]

My first coat of cherry red on the left headlmap panel was a disaster, I sprayed it completely retarded. Got plenty of runs but then soon changed my technique drastically for the better. Then got the hang of it very quickly. Flatted it all back down again and gave it another coat.

 

First coat done:

 

 

 

 

After flatting back I gave it a final coat, and I think it look's alright, will certainly do the job!

 

 

 

Opinions?

[eddie bullit 37]

looks fantastic mate.. good work there...give us a shout when you're up and runnin and I'll pop over and have a nosey if you dont mind..maybe grab a lift and see how quick these gti6 pug really are...could be tempted