[car_overhaul] The Cherry Red Project

[jimistdt 1]

Looking forward to this Si. Bad news about your circumstances, seems to be a lot of it about.

 

Good news about the repairs though, I'll be taking an interest in this as I've got a couple of patches to treat myself.

 

Laud on the pics and the step-by-steps.

 

Good Luck

[GLPoomobile 958]

Sounds like the driverside front wing has been replaced at some point. There was certainly no lacquer on it as I was getting a lot of red on the cloth when I polished it (the only time I polished it ). I think the whole car was resprayed at some point though.

 

Glad you are sorting the rust out though

 

Did you ever get to the bottom of the lumpy running 1.6 before you stuck the '6 engine in?

[gti-si 0]

Well, the wing is in excellent condition, no rust on it at all so it must be a genuine replacement, but the lack of sealant and laquer ties in with that. Glad I took it off now! Not really, I just put it down to the camshaft, possibly wrongly so. However, I did sell the engine on and I didn't have any complaints about it, it ran perfectly apparently! Might of been a management (or lack of) problem. I remember taking the dizzy cap off and it was shot though, the rotor had burnt through. That must of been a new problem though, so it remains a unsolved mystery

 

Pics

 

Here's the whole i've cut in the boot

 

 

Rust behind the wing

 

 

After a cleanup, just need's a tad more work.

 

 

Inner wing cut out. Need to dremel this to tidy it

 

 

This is the back of the headlamp panel. Do I need to remove all of the underseal? Whats the best to use when it comes to replacing it?

 

 

 

 

Here'es the album, there not in order like, but feel free to have a gander

 

Body work album

[djinuk 2]

looks like your tackling that just fine mate, with regards to the inner wing its on surface, so jst get it back to good metal , etch primer it, then get some shutz or underseal or similar on it.. If you have a look in members works section on this forum you will see my project where ive recently had the inner wings welded if you want to copy that

[willmounsey 1]

I would advise on removing the sealent at the back of the headlight panel to ensure you have as much rust treated, i know the sealent can be a pain in the arse to remove but you would be better off in the long run mate.

[gti-si 0]

Cheers lads. I was expecting to have to take it off, like you say, in the long run it'll be much better. I'm done with bodging it now haha, it just means I'll have to do it again. I'll have a look at that thread djin, sounds just what I need.

 

Am I right in thiunking it'll be much easier to get rid of the sealant with a heat gun?

[djinuk 2]

stick a wire brush attachment on a drill mate, it will still take a while, (prob 45 min or so a side) but it will do it with relative ease, and once it gets thru to metal it wont be aggressive enough to do any more other than scratch at it.

[willmounsey 1]

I'd use the heat gun mate and a wide flat headed screwdriver or similar, would be less messy to

 

Will

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

HAve a look in the Members Works section for a thread by me where I reshelled my track car. I had to do some fairly heavy duty rust repairs then so may give you some inspiration.

[gti-si 0]

Found that thread very intersting cheers Tom. Did a little more yesterday. I won't have access to the welder for a few days, my mate who owns it is buy prepping another banger so I'll have to wait till he's done.

 

I started to scrape the underseal from the arch and headlamp panel but it's an absolute nightmare, I'm going to have to get hold of a heat gun. Some of it's about 6mm thick.

 

Got behind the wing back down to nice clean metal and gave that some etch primer

 

 

 

Then gave it some WaxOyl underbody seal. The stuff seems alright, the nozzle didn't last 1 coat though, then it started blocking and throwing out blobs of underseal everywhere, so I cahnged the nozel again....and then again....and then again, I did about 6 minutes of vigurous can shaking too. Definitely not the best stuff but it'll do the trick in this instance. I'll go for some plastikote Schlutz type for under the arches I think

 

 

 

I then started to prep the offside panels for paint, sanding with various grade of wet and dry. I was abit anxious to find bubbling paint on the rear wheel arch but again, was pleasenty suprised to have caught it very early and there was a tiny amount of surface rust, this cleaned up in no time!

 

 

After some prep work it's looking like this:

 

 

Alot more to go on this side yet

Edited April 21, 2009 by gti-si

[gti-si 0]

Finished at Uni now so started back on the car. Filled all the dings and dents now. Got some pictures at varying points.

 

This is the car with some more prep work done on the offside. Filled where I ground away some rust on the rear quarter to smooth it. Needs alot more taking off, there's not actually that much filler needed at all.

 

 

I finished off the inner wing this morning, got rid of all the rust and protected with etch, another coat of primer and then plenty of Underbody sealer. Will get the arch sealed back on tomorrow

 

 

Most of the tailgate prepped now, small bit of rust on the n/s bottom corner of the window, treated and filled. Need to take the window out now. Should I be concerned about finding a replacement window and seal?

 

 

Took down all the little spots of rust behind the arch trim, treated, filled and sanded back. Going to go over all the areas of filler with some knifing putty to make sure it's a nice smooth finish. Got to fill some on the other side and then that's done. Before and after photo. You may wonder what all the sh*tty dark red paint is, this was red hammerite I'd just sprayed on to check the dents. It's a lot harder to see when it's matt, so after I'd filled them, I put a gloss(ish) finish over to check. All prepped back now

 

 

 

And finally, the arse ache that was the sunroof removal. God only knows how I'm going to get those drain pipes back on without taking down the roof lining :/

 

 

Will start hard on getting the car prepped now. Just need to remove the windows, handles and door locks then get it all ready for paint. Booked in the body shop for 2 weeks on Saturday. Plenty areas to attent to but it's starting to get there now. Will have all the welding done then painted whilst in the body shop.

 

Thats it for now...

[GLPoomobile 958]

Si, don't worry about the roof lining, they are pretty easy to remove. Just means taking out some of the interior trim, but I'd have thought that was worth doing anyway before getting it sprayed.

[gti-si 0]

Ahh OK Steve, cheers. I'll get that down tomorrow most probably.

 

Did some more work today. Finding it very hard to stay focused on one job ATM, feel like I've so much to do I'm trying to do it all at once. I have finally become a lot more organised though! One thing I can't recommend more to anyone is food bags. know this is common knowledge to most, but the first time I started stripping the car I ended up with bolts everywhere. A few shelves put up in the garage and some food bags, masking tape and a marker pen and the job becomes 100% easier, especially when it comes to putting things back!

 

Got some knifing putty over the filler today to smooth it out a little more, wasn't great quality stuff to be honest, and being 1k, can't help but feel it hasn't gone off properly. Will see what that's like tomorrow.

 

Whilst I was wating for that to dry I started stripping more out of the engine bay and removing rust again. Ground away loads of surface rust and got it all primered ready to spray. Still a few more patches but no more than half an hours worth. Got pedal box out and cleaned up the bay with some bug and sap cleaner from Tesco, brilliant stuff is that.

 

Also finished off a reconditioned rack with some new gaitors and plenty of grease. Feels silky smooth now. Got a new (used) lower joint union from Miles as well, steering should be A1 when I put it back together.

 

Managed to lug out the windscreen in 1239 pieces...one small chip was all it took, game over as soon as I applied pressure.

 

 

Steering rack ready to go.

 

 

Got the N/S chassis leg clean and primered. Few other little rust spots sorted. More to go yet...Still need to cut a reverse 'L' from the n/s inner wing, you can see the hole. Then it's getting welded and the bay will be ready to paint

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

your pictures are too big, please post them as linked thumbnails.

 

thanks.

[gti-si 0]

Sorry about the picture updates. They were on the hefty size, will make sure I use thumbnails from now on.

 

Well, again, got quite a lot more done since the last update. Found a little rust under the windscreen seal and at the bottom of the drivers B pillar. Got this ground back with the grinder, treated and then smoothed over with filler, then etched over to protect. Took a couple of photo's half way through. I also resealed the rear quarter on the drivers side as the old stuff had cracked. Know the sill looks quite messy but it'll be easy to clean up, especially when I get the remains of that sticker off! I then need to take off the rear wheel and finish shaping the rear arch.

 

A few photo's of the windscreen, B pillar and rear quarter.

 

 

 

 

 

I've prepped a lot more of the car now and took off the doors and hatch. I'm prepping these seperately in the garage atm, gives me something to do when it pisses down! Got the wing's resealed with seam sealer. Not the prettiest of jobs but it is sealed all around, so I'm not too fussed.

 

 

And this is how the cars looking atm.

 

 

 

Can someone just have a look at this picture of the O/S driveshaft please? If you look at the boot just before the intermediate bearing it seems to be startched? It returns to how it should be if I push the shaft in slightly but then returns like that as soon as I let go. Is this knackered? There is a tiny amount of play I think also.

 

 

 

More to come

 

Si

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Shaft looks fine, they have springs in. When fitted to the box it won't stretch the boot.

[gti-si 0]

Lovely, cheers Tom

[fast_eddie 0]

Si, I have just made one of your pics my desktop as it gives me inspiration to get mine finished which is probably 90% complete compared to yours!!

 

Finger out of ar$e seems to spring to mind!

 

Good luck fella.

[gti-si 0]

Cheers Ed

 

Gonna have a late one in the garage tonight..Just seeing to the bonnet, there's lot's of small stone chips right at the front, for the best finish what shall I do, sand back the area around it to flatten it out or just fill them all with knifing putty and smooth it back down?

[gti-si 0]

Just realised, would of been much better to continue updating this thread rather than have two project threads for the same car? What a dummy...

 

Mods, is there anything you can do, such as join two topics and carry on from here? Seems a waste of space having two that's all, plus the body work I'm doing is probably more fitting under this topic

 

Sorry to be a PITA.

 

Just looking back through this topic to the start, really shows what's happened with this project...In my mind, bugger all, but:

 

I'm going to get rid of the rust up front, in the boot and under the seats - PENDING

Refresh major suspension bushes - DONE

Replace suspension (my nearside front dampers leaking I think) - DONE

Paint the engine bay, on harder thinking, i'll leave the interior as it's perfectly fine - DONE (as of tonight)

Have a respray done - PENDING

Replace knackered wheel bearings - DONE

Find and fix the water leaks to the cabin - CAN'T FIND THE BASTARD

Convert to a GTI6 engine - DONE then UNDONE...soon to be DONE again

Refurbish wheel - Should have a nice set of Team Dynamics on

Get door decals replicated - Need to get hold of the pictures I took on my friends cam and get them made up..

 

Other job's that have been done along the way:

 

309 shafts and wishbones

AVO Adjustable suspension

Refurbished subframe

New steering rack, TRE's and droplinks

 

All things considered, the car is still but a mere rolling shell sat in the garage, but probably the closest to being 'done' it's been...well, bar before I started to dismantle the poor girl. Still, I've come along way from the start, looking back I was VERY naive and it really shows I didn't have a clue. So I'd just like to say THANKS to everyone who's helped over the last year or two with my many meithering topics asking daft questions, really hope it will be testament to the nature of this forum when it's done, without you lot I wouldn't of been able to change a wheel (slight exaggeration).

 

Ar*e licking over and back to business. I've finished all the body repair work, sorted the nightmare that was me let loose with an angle grinder on the rear quarter, got it smooth as a baby's deriere. Finished getting rid of all the little dings and dents and just need to feather in the high build primer and then it's ready to paint.

 

I'm going to have a mammoth task putting it back together as I'm sure I'm going to run into millions of parts I'll need to finish. Luckily for me, but terrible in general, is that my friends just smashed his GTI and will be buying a new one, so I should be able to pinch a lot of bit's and bobs of that, mainly I'm hoping his windscreen's intact, they don't seem to pop up very often.

 

And yes, I am going to be renewing the engine bay with a 6 engine... t's going to be no more problematic than installing the 8v I have...I'm familiar with the wiring, have most of the bit's I need still, bar a VSS sensor, so there's nothing holding me back really. Would just be a finishing touch.

 

Hopefully I'll get her into the body shop at weekend, then I can start rebuilding. Will update with some pictures when it's back rather than now

 

Edit: Anteas, if your still wondering, no I can't find the leak. I've had excellent oppertunity to look around the bulkhead area to find the leak but haven't had any luck. Steve, if your reading, where did you say that area was to check? Under the scuttle panel or at the top of the bulkhead in the engine bay? I think it could have been a dodgy seal on the windscreen. One of the screw on the lower dash on the passenger side was very rusty, saw it today, leads me to believe water is trickling down there, but from where, I have no idea

Edited June 16, 2009 by gti-si

[GLPoomobile 958]

Find and fix the water leaks to the cabin - CAN'T FIND THE BASTARD

 

Edit: Anteas, if your still wondering, no I can't find the leak. I've had excellent oppertunity to look around the bulkhead area to find the leak but haven't had any luck. Steve, if your reading, where did you say that area was to check? Under the scuttle panel or at the top of the bulkhead in the engine bay? I think it could have been a dodgy seal on the windscreen. One of the screw on the lower dash on the passenger side was very rusty, saw it today, leads me to believe water is trickling down there, but from where, I have no idea

 

Of course I'm reading

 

Ironically, had you had to remove the passenger side wing rather than the driver's side, I reckon you would have solved this. I can only speak of what I've read on here over the years, NOT from direct personal experience - but I reckon the culprit is shrunken seam sealer on the bulkhead. I saw a photo of this weak point ages ago, and can't remember what it looks like, but it's sort of a corner in the bulkhead right up behind the dash, and I guess below the scuttle panel. I think from outside it's only visible with the wing off. In fact I remember looking at pictures of wingless 205s before and I'm sure it's quite obvious where this corner is.

 

On the other hand, it's perfectly feasible that it could have been coming through from the windscreen.

 

It was never a bad leak IMO. Or to put it another way, it was never obvious to me, until one day out of the blue I found a very small amount of water collected in the glovebox. It only happened once But as you know, the soundproofing was completely water damaged, and when I was investigating the leak the bulkhead was obviously damp where you peal back the rubber below the dash.

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

More stripped than my one at the moment

 

How much you getting the paintjob for?

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

Tried PM'ing you but your inbox is full, any chance you have a cam sensor around spare aswell?

 

Cheers bud

[gti-si 0]

Sorry mate, haven't got any cam sensors, dobt a cam sensor will be the problem, wold still delivery fuel and spark, jst wouldn't run great. Found a relay so I'll get it off tomorrow

 

Paint job's around £500, but I'm doing the prep work myself, hoping it'll be a pukker job.

 

Cheers Steve, not what I wanted to here . I'll see what it's like with the new screen put in but I'm guessing, sod's law, it'll be shurnken sealer. I just can't justify ruining a wing :/

Edited June 23, 2009 by gti-si

[Arahan 4]

Where you getting it painted mate? Somewhere fairly local?