[car_overhaul] Project Cherry Gti In Need Of Tlc

[gazzamec 0]

Firstly im fairly new to the site but have found it extremely helpfull even if ive been of no use myself, i wanted to put this in projects but it wont let me, this is my cherry red GTi i bought her late last year with the intention of stripping it, fitting a cage and an Mi16, since then a lot of factors have changed and it has sat on my driveway getting done very very slowly.

 

i ntend to get it back on the road for january at the latest as i want to take my other car off the road for some fettling

 

heres how it looked when i got it

 

and as it stands now

 

its a straight non PAS non sunroof H reg with 113K, so far ive gutted it fitted a pair of buckets with harnesses aswell as upper and lower front braces, im now working on bodywork as it really needs some TLC the paint is mismatched EVERYWHERE and theres loads im not happy with.

 

hope you like it and ill try and keep this updated as the bodywork gets done.

[Goliath 94]

Nice, looks like it could be a nice little project. Personally i think if your going to use it as a track day car i would spend more on the performance and leave the cosmetics till last, we dont worry about mis-matching paint if your car is nice and quick! lol

Good luck with it.

Edited August 15, 2008 by Goliath

[gazzamec 0]

paint is truley shockingand is the cheapest thing for me to work on (halfords trade is great), im going to be concentrating on the engine when the summer starts to give out, ill probably end up walking everywhere during winter if my other car comes off the road too (which it probably will too quick for wet roads)

 

ive not really made my mind up on the engine yet, ive been toying with the idea of keeping it 8v and going with a lairy cam pocketted pistons ARPs bike bodies and some aftermarket management but to be honest ive not decided anything for certain yet.

[hodgy 0]

well if you want some red gti arch&door trims i have some from when mine was red

[gazzamec 0]

15/08/08

 

started stripping out the engine bay today, ready for removal, couldnt believe the state of some of the clips and pipes, also the stat housing was leaking so will have to sort that when its out.

 

some pics of what ive done, most for reference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2008 by pugtorque
Image filesizes, & quantity. 800 x 600, 120k & 6 max or use thumbnails like these have been converted them to.

[gazzamec 0]

some more work done over the weekend refurbing some bits.

 

started ripping more bits out

 

laid everything out so i knew what i needed most is pretty ok

 

 

got a helper working on some bits

 

while i started on some other stuff

 

check out the corrosion blocking that pipe, absolutely nothing was going through it, not god

 

 

tried to take out the bleed nipple which sheared so drilled it and tapped the threads clean

 

 

some of the after pics, getting good at this refurbing malarky

 

 

 

 

check out the paintwork

 

apologies to the mods, i dont know how to make thumbnails sorry.

 

Thumbnail pics & how to do it.

Edited August 18, 2008 by pugtorque

[Ormy 0]

Good work there chap, how long did all that take you? What did you use to get such good a finish on those parts, especially all the nooks and crannies!

[gazzamec 0]

took a few hours to do what is there, started by scrubbing most of the bits with ahem washing powder ahem that really scrubs in the dirt and helps lift it straight off then used loads of houshold detergent soap (by far the best low priced degreaser ive found), i removed as much as i could and cleaned everything out, polished up all the sensors and sprayed all the alloy with ford moondust silver then laquered them, i wouldnt usually recommend this method to people not used to using car paint on bare metal as if its not sparkling clean the paint spreads and reacts.

 

so far the only "bad" bits ive found is the dizzy cap, rotor arm, leads, and a load of jubilee clip

 

so far so good.

[gazzamec 0]

20/08/08

 

only had about an hour a day for the past few but got some little bits pulled off and cleaned out, first off i had to get a new oil cap as id broken mine on the narrow breather

not the best quality but itll do the job

got the inlet off and gave it a good degreasing and jetwash, it was thick muck in there

soaked the injectors in degreaser for a while

and how i left it, mmm mucky

[platty 1]

Good Stuff Gazza,

 

I'll be starting on mine after the weekend.

[gazzamec 0]

22/08/08

 

got quite a bit done over the week now, got pretty much all the pipes out of the bay and soaking in hot soapy water, have finished getting the engine bay ready to pull the lump so ive left that as it is untill i get back from my holiday next weekend.

 

soooo i decided id have a crack at lowering the rear beam and give it a geneal tidy up, all way going well working from the passenger side, it was mint and i mean immaculate, then onto the drivers side....hmm a bit stiff...shock out.....hmm its a bit seized b****cks, so beam off sledge out... managed to get it budged slightly then clunk off pops the trailing arm...leaving the tube firmly wedged/corroded/STUCK inside the cross tube.

 

this left me sitting for a while contemplating the future of the car, in the end i just thought in for a penny in for a pound, guess ill have to source a beam, so i stripped off the disk hub bits from the arms and stuck the rest of the bits to one side for salvage.

 

hopefully ill be able to fit a base model beam and transfer over the bits....hopefully.

 

this left me with nothing to do for the rest of wednesday and all of friday so out came the filler and papers and i cracked on with the body prep.

 

pcs to come tommorow as im stuck at work

Edited August 22, 2008 by gazzamec

[gazzamec 0]

some pictures of the progress from this week

 

rear beam off, drivers trailing arm seized

 

after some persuasion, as you can see not quite what was supposed to happen.

 

so cracked on with the bodywork

[gazzamec 0]

01/09/2008

 

not much progress to report, have got some work done on the drivers side rear removing trolley dents and filling some of the deeper scratches aswell as finally removing the stub axles from my knackered trailing arms.

[gazzamec 0]

03/09/2008

 

polycarb windows temporarily fitted to check gaps etc, not cut the quarters yet, need to get some base model rubbers and make a template, ive still enough material for about 3 sets of rear quarters, not bad for £40 eh

 

[gazzamec 0]

10/09/2008

 

while my pile of new parts is growing ive been doing little bits here and there, this is turning into a full overhaul now

 

so todays work, total strip down of the engine bay, no point pulling it out yet as i found out today i dont have a socket for the hubnut doh, so thats been left in place but with all the bolts crack for ease later.

passenger side flooring painted up and wiring loom P clipped down, the battery box will be going here too.

also got sick of the door springing back off the bush in the flower bed so that got lopped off, loadsa room now.

[gazzamec 0]

forgot to add this pic, speaks for its self really, repaired a small patch next to the old repair but the front panel was too far gone, new panel and bottom member have been ordered just awaiting delivery.

 

[gazzamec 0]

new parts update

 

[felix2566 2]

Who did you get the replacement front panel part from, is it a good fit?

[gazzamec 0]

beevers panels, i havent fitted it yet so cant comment on fit but i will post up the pics of fitting here when i do so.

[gazzamec 0]

little update, cage arrived, dummy fitted.

 

terrible fit tbh lmao

 

few big pics (sorry)

[gazzamec 0]

been doing quite a bit over the week on the shell been stripping loads of seam sealer off the inside to make sure ive got no nasties lurking below the surface, good news is i dont , have finally got the cage fully welded and all the plates welded in, have dont the first coat on the floor will give it another going over before the cage goes back in, also got to take out the dash to get the matrix and all unneccesary weight.

 

the paint arrived today too, wont be going Cherry red again as its too orangybrown even brand new, soooo enter ford radiant red!!

 

looks orange in the pic but its very very red!

 

some pics

[gazzamec 0]

have'nt been able to get many hours in on the pug nor money, so i'll do a small update of what i have done.

 

my corsa needed a new turbo so of course that needed sorting first nad cost me an arm and a leg

 

then i got down to some pug loving

engine finally out 113k minter, going to need to sell to raise some funds lol.

 

got the dash and heater gubbing out, going to smooth off the dash and have it flocked, then i decided i dint want a car that needed T cut every week so made a big decision and went for it.......

 

WHITE!!!

 

got hammeriting all the high traffic and hard wearing areas

this pic shows the frankestein style weld on the headlight panel lol

as you can see there is a few little patches of surface rust for me to deal with but nothing major

 

stripped off the subframe and checked it over, both ball joints seem fine but the bushes were a bit shot so am gonna get some poly ones for it (only a track slag so not bothered about ride comfortness)

shenpar are selling quickracks now so depending on fucds i might have myself one of those aswell

[gazzamec 0]

totally neglected this thread, heres a few pics of what's been happening this year.

 

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/da...06/DSC00100.jpg

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/da...06/DSC00099.jpg

Bit of carbon fibre

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/da...ve_2006/5-1.jpg

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/da...06/DSC00247.jpg