Andrew(34k) 1992 VW GTI

[03Indigo]

OMG...that is looking soooo hawt!!!

[ianacole]

Did the power steering lines get worked out?

[34k]

Yeah, Hardey made a custom bracket for the reservoir out of a mk3 battery tray. That's what the bottle is mounted to in the mk3 so we ended up cutting it down to fit where we needed it. The line that runs between the reservoir and the pump is going to have to be replaced since it's about 4" too short. No biggie since it isn't a high pressure line, I'll just get it from AutoZone or whatever.

You can see the completed bottle and bracket in the 11th pic and then the top of the bottle in the two engine shots. I'm may have to paint the dip stick handle, pwr steering bottle top, and coolant tank top to match some kind of color theme.

Big Items left before it drives:
Finish up the rain tray / ECU wiring
Fix the wiring on the hatch
Install a windshield
Wire up tail lights
Add fluids, bleed and add more fluids
Wire up headlights
Put the dash back together
Alignment, big-time

Anybody know where to find the sound deadening pads that run across the underside of the dash? I'm guessing an interiors shop should be able to sort that out for me.

[03Indigo]

you can actually find some sound deadening padding at a hobby lobby.  Or, if you need some dynamat stuff, I have about 50 square feet left, I can give you some of that if you want,....but need some myself for the doors of the subaru if I ever get around to putting my new speakers in it.

[ianacole]

You can come cut some of the deadening out of the remnants of my car.

[34k]

:lol: I'm surprised you still have any left in there, Ian.

I'm really just looking for the pads since it keeps the harness from rattling against the firewall.

Thanks for the tip on Hobby Lobby Jon!

[ColoradoB5]

Nice Andy!  I had no idea you were getting married!  Congratulations.  Is that the girl I met with you that last time I came to town at Christmas?

The MK2 is looking great.  All of those shiny new parts really look great on that car.

I would love to take on a project like that.  Maybe when my boys are a little older, we can.

[34k]

Haha, thanks for the support guys. Well of all the things I've learned doing this install, probably the single most important is don't do this without a donor car sitting right there.

The deal is, without a donor car, I've found myself missing key parts that basically bring progress to a halt. Granted, it's given me time to dink around with other little projects on it, but it has slowed the over-all progress way down. I've had to go back to the shop to get parts like, the dip stick assbly, clutch slave and master, power steering reservior, battery cables, etc, etc, etc... some of which I've had to pay for and some of which I've had to find on my own, which is a little bunk since I paid for a "swap" and clearly didn't get everything. Anyway, that's not really the main issue, the main issue is that it's taking a while to get stuff done.

There has been progress almost every Saturday, just not really photo/update worthy type things.

Last weekend we got fluid in the brakes and bled, fluid in the pwr steering, clutch bled, front bumper on -or at least I got the rebar cut to fit and the front tow hook off. Weekend before I finished wiring the hatch, got the roof rails on, started trimming the dash for the mk3 cluster and some other little things.

It's getting close though. The last big thing is getting the wiring behind the dash done so I'm hoping we'll be burning some gas tomorrow. I'll be sure to post on how that goes!

[92UrS4]

Thanks for the update! I understand that nothing ever goes as planned. Glad it's coming along though and definitely keep us updated. I really can't wait to see the car in person and go for a ride.

[SweetVW]

Ditto.  Thank you.  I can't wait to see the finished product. 

[Spicoli]

Andrew... think you'll have it done for DATR?

The work and quality you have done it would probably do very well.

[34k]

Andrew... think you'll have it done for DATR?

The work and quality you have done it would probably do very well.

It should be, but who knows, lol. As soon as we're done with the motor install, etc, i'm going to find someone who can re-cover the front and rear seats as well as the door cards to match.

I've been working on polishing a bunch of stuff including an extra intake manifold, the sun roof air deflector, hood and door latches etc.

I'm still not building it as a "show car" but it's definitely going to be my tinker toy for a good long while. If people like it, that's awesome -but I'm truly building it for fun and the love of the build process.

All in all, it's reminding me of the Porsche. Just working on it is a real pleasure.

I guess there are a few things I forgot to mention:
Braille 15lb battery is installed
New windshield is installed
Happich Pop-Out windows arrived
MFA Wiper Stalks arrived
Eibach Strut Brace arrived

These are the sex:

[03Indigo]

are you going to be able to pop those out while sitting in the front, or are you going to have to reach in the back to open them?  I think you should automate them with some high tech thing and have a remote button on the dash

[Spicoli]

are you going to be able to pop those out while sitting in the front, or are you going to have to reach in the back to open them?  I think you should automate them with some high tech thing and have a remote button on the dash

You've seen Andrew right?  He sits pretty far back and he has long enough arms I could see it just reaching back and opening them without much trouble.

[03Indigo]

ROFLMAO....I forgot, he has arms like a giraffe has a neck

[34k]

Oh come on they aren't THAT long. I can however reach the ground sitting in the drivers seat out the window

Here's the official latest update:

Last weekend Hardey and I pulled the brakes to get the rotors on the correct sides. I noticed the venting was pointed in the wrong direction, which was a product of too many people around when we put them on. We also lubbed everything up and gobbed on some anti-squeal.

Next, I started tackling the dash and working on how to get the mk3 cluster in there but looking good. I ended up doing a lot of cutting and cleverly miss-cut the mk3 bezel I had so I had to find a new one at the junk yard. Luckily an easy part to find. I also found an extra sun roof metal wind deflector which I started sanding down to polish at home, an extra set of rear hatch plinths to work on smoothing later, the rear defrost connectors which were lost at the body shop which Hardey and I wired in, and we finally got the rain gutters pushed in correctly. I still need to put a bead of silicon in there to seal a couple spots where it has separated, but that's easy enough.

After that, we blead the brakes and clutch and put her back on the ground for the first time in a long time.

Last week at the yard Wendy and I found a '90 G60 Corrado which I promptly snatched the power steering reservoir out of. I know we did a lot of work getting the mk3 one fit, but this one looks much more factory which I like a LOT. When I pulled the old bottle out, we found that we had a leak on the line running from the bottle at the pump. The metal hose connector on the pump has a sealing ring that doesn't run the complete circumference of the connector and Hardey thought the hose clamp may have been on top of that creating an imperfect seal. When we reconnected the line I made sure to not put the hose over it and make sure the clamp wasn't on top this time and I hope we keep that seal this time. We also ran the vac lines and replaced one of the brittle plastic fittings.

Dan, Mark and Hardey worked on the dash/fuse block wiring which should be pretty much complete now. We plugged in the battery and started testing everything but ran into a snag where the starter motor started kicking even without the ignition on. The guys think they know why and we'll be tackling that next weekend and hopefully firing it up.

After finishing up the power steering, I pulled the struts off the hatch to see if the extra set of polished hood struts would fit back there and they do! They are a bit shorter than the stockers, but they look so nice, I don't mind.

Next we looked at the intake a bit and while I'm STILL looking for a Corrado VR Air Box(?! ANYBODY !?) we'll need something on there for now so I grabbed my extra cone filter for my mk4 and stuck it on there. We also deleted some of the case venting so I slipped an extra small filter on that for now.

The new windshield is in too. I got a great deal on some really nice glass, and it looks superb, except that they didn't ask me if I wanted the eyebrow tint on the glass, which I didn't, but I got it anyways... I'm not really happy with it since it really doesn't work with the rest of the car, but I can live with it I suppose.

This week I also found a euro Golf CL console on the Vortex which matches my minimalist interior to a T! Mmmm, rare parts

[92UrS4]

Lookin good, that hatch strut looks great!

[gragravar]

that is looking awesome.

you can really touch the ground?  damn.

[34k]

The swap meet at RS Motorsports was yesterday. They did a great job making the space and providing food via the grill and beverages. I sold my GTI red stripe seats for $50, a pair of speaker grills for $10, my red stripe grille and a pair of headlights for $50 and a set of rear door cards for $20. I made an easy $130. The fellow next to me with his kickin little brown Dasher that arrived packed to the roof with parts for sale also hooked me up with a set of four chrome Audi door handles for $50, so I still managed to walk away with $80 dollars net.

I already have a set of chrome door handles, but three of these came with the chrome latch triggers mine don't have and since it looks like I'm going to have to modify the handles just a little bit to get them to sit flush with the door, I'll have an extra set to play with if need be and I can always sell the extra two sets and at least get back the money I just spent. Plus, since these handles came off of a four door, two of them have no locks and I'm thinking I will use one of those for the passenger side.

MORE CRAP TO POLISH! :eek:
No work directly on the car on Saturday since Hardey was busy with his dad and Dan must have been too but Wendy suggested we go to the junk yard. (Can you believe this girl?!). We pulled a set of good looking door latches that I'm going to started polishing. We couldn't find a golf hatch latch, but we will. I also grabbed a set of the early style oh sh!t handles, the clips I need to hold the hood release cable and vac lines, a new plastic under hood grill piece to replace my sagging one, a set of four Fox door handle centers I need to play with putting chrome strips in my chrome handles (which are normally black plastic) and a few other odds and ends.

I also found some metal polish I actually like so far: Mothers Incredible Billet Metal Polish. It puts the Eagle One Nano-Nonsense stuff I was using to shame. Here's pics of my Eibach strut bar, folding sunroof wind deflector and intake manifold.

Pics of polished parts is tricky. I'll see if I can find a way to get some even diffused light and try again. I'd still like to get more of an even finish on the pieces, and I'm looking into buffing wheels to see if a machine and wheel can do it a bit better and I'll be trying the Dremel on the latches when I get to those.

As always, more fun to come!

[34k]

Update time? Youbetcha!

Fuel has been burnt! Of course, it was really old, crapy fuel, but we fixed that. First time we fired it up the heater core sprung a leak. No surprise really, but that had to be addressed as we couldn't get it up to operation temp leaking coolant.

Got a new heater core put in last Saturday and fired it up with the nasty fuel and here's the first tid-bit video.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3784171163244917446&hl=en

Needless to say, it was running very poorly. We found an intake leak and removed all the old gas and filled her up with some fresh stuff and she ran b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l-y!

Off to get the alignment done this week and she's coming home with me to take care of putting the rest back together!

Next step, seats and door cards go off to interiors shop to get refinished. Yum!

[ianacole]

Hooray for a running car!!!

[jayryan]

Awesome Andrew, just AWESOME!

[34k]

Hooray for a running car!!!

I really wish I'd gotten a video of it after we fixed the fuel and air problem. Engine sounds mean and the TT/Borla exhaust sounds just tits!

I'll post up another one soon running right!

[03Indigo]

so cool.  Let me know how the interior's shop does, I think I want to get my seats re-done in the MINI

[SweetVW]

Wahoo!  Great news.  The car is really looking good.

[ColoradoB5]

That thing looks great!  I can't wait to hear how it sounds now.  Nice work!

[34k]

Wow, okay time for a pre-DATR update.





Here we are, just getting the front end back together at Hardey's to take my first drive and bring her home. We aren't in the new house just yet, so the mk4 is going to have to sit on the street for a week or so until we get keys.

She ran just beautifully, and sounded great!













It's been a rough month getting the car ready and moving Wendy and I into the new house and the rest of the family into the new garage and prep for Dubs Along the Rockies which has become our first, i dunno "unveiling" i guess. The list of to-dos is not short, but nothing to do but get on with it.

My buddy David helped me get the euro tails wired up as well as figuring out the "fast blinker" issue. Turns out the bulbs that ship with the euro small bumpers don't have enough pull to let the circuit think there's a bulb in it. Since I'm using single filament bulbs and foregoing the running lights for the time being I ended up using the bulbs out of my old big bumpers which worked the treat.

On to tackling the list of things to get ready for DATR next Sunday, i pulled the rear wheels to test fit the Porsche wheels with their new Yokohama S.Drive tires all mounted up and finish spraying the undercoating in the rear wheel wells. Spraying went simply as seen in the pics. I just did a lot of masking to be sure and went to town. The wheels turned out to be a different story. The lug bolts that secure the spacer/adapters to the hubs use conical 6mm alan bolts, some of which are slightly stripped. If I'd known these things wouldn't take the torque i wanted to apply to them I would have ditched these, sold them and bought a set of the H&R adapters. I'm waiting to see if someone can get ahold of a set of them for me before Friday... I'm going to check the local hardware stores for new bolts but I may need to get these things torqued as best I can with some releasable Loctite for this weekend. I'm not happy about that, but i'll just be taking it real easy on the way down and back.

I also got the dash back in and a few bits of the trim repainted. I'm not going to have time to modify the bezel to work with the cluster this go-around at DATR, but that's okay -this is meant to be a work in progress. Hell, i may not even have the headliner in.

Last few things on my list of wrap up include getting the Happich windows put in, installing the Eibach strut bar, fitting the wheels, finishing the dash and tons and TONS of cleaning/detailing.

In the final pic, finally enough room for both cars in the garage. 

[ianacole]

Very nice Andrew!!  So where's the new house?

[34k]

It's in Slones Lake. Just West of downtown. It's a cute little Victorian that's been updated a bit and imho features that two-car garage. It took us something like six months to find something we both liked.

We'll be having a small House Warming GTG sometime mid Sept or whenever we get most of the last crap out of boxes. I'll be lettin' ya'all know!

Quick OT ian: I have your dollys still that I need to return and Wendy wants you to let Megan know she wants to get together to work on the book she gave her sometime soon.

[92UrS4]

Holy cow the car is looking just awesome! I can't wait to see it this weekend.