Thanks guys.
Spent some time cleaning up the shop yesterday and unearthed the unfinished lower x brace. Decided it was time to finally weld it up. I think my shifter parts are finally done at the coater, so ill probably pick those up and drop this off for powder today or tomorrow.
I also spent some time figuring out what lenght wheel studs I need. Turns out I already have one set of ARP’s in stock, just need to order a shorter set for the rear.
Dan
Picked up the shifter parts from being E-coated last night. Dropped off the lower subframe brace for some textured red powder. They are also going to redo the strut tower brace. There were some thing spots I wasnt 100% happy with.
Dan
I must have missed it along the way, but what motor is going back in to this? A 2.5L 5cyl would be an absolute riot in here.
Turbo 2L 16v
Dan
Assembled the shifter stuff on the bench just to be sure it all fit together nicely. I did have to remove the E-coat from the ball studs, but otherwise, everything fit and moves well. Just need a couple piece of ss hardware and a shim to finish it up.
My daughter and I rebuilt the shift lever assembly, basically just cleaned up all the old grease and reassembled. Protip: when teaching a kid how to use snap ring pliers be sure to tell them how MUCH to squeeze before you start. She ended up squeezing them the whole way and basically destroyed the snap ring, haha. Luckily I had others.
I received reman’d Corrado front calipers and was bummed to find one of the inlet holes had been retapped on an angle. Thats probably not gona seal. So that has to go back for a new one, yay.
Also the 22mm master showed. I swapped the old square reservior on (yes I still need to clean up the inside some)
And the wilwood brake bias unit.
Finally I dug out the fuel sending unit as Im hoping to start plumbing the fuel system this week. Turns out its a disaster. Looks like new is NLA, and used go for a pretty penny, so I think Im going to attempt rebuilding this one. Started pulling it apart, I dont think it will be so bad. Ill just need to get the steel bits re-plated.
I also pulled the front strut/knuckle/ brake assemblies all apart in order to swap to the bigger 11" Corrado brakes and install wheel studs. Unfortunately it looks like Ill need to press the hubs out of the knuckle (hopefully without destroying the brand new bearings) in order to get the studs past the knuckle.
Dan
Finished up the shifter rebuild. Sand blasted, primed, and painted the baseplate.
The “bucket” or whatever you want to call it that sits under the car is a bit rusty and really greasy so Ill prob drop it off to be coated vs messing with it.
MK4 rear aluminum calipers showed up
As did parts for the 044 fuel pump surge tank. The machined piece I purchased from Integrated Engineering. It allows a 044 pump to be submerged in a tank, while allowing the outlet and wiring to be external to the tank. I opted to build my own tank to save $100. The aluminum tube I sourced from McMaster. Should be pretty simple, just a few welds around both ends and some brackets.
This is their version, mine will be similar, but obviously have mounts to attach to the subframe bracing.
Ive also spent about 12 hours this week on the OE wiring harness. Took about 6 hours to finally really learn how to use the factory VW schematics and plan out every wire, relay, fuse etc that I would no longer need. Ive since stripped out everything that I identified. There is still a lot to go, but its a great start.
Luckily I happened to have a pin extraction took that fit the smaller fuse box terminals perfect. The larger ones I used a tiny screwdriver.
What was removed.
Then really late last night I got a wild hair to pull the column apart to get it cleaned up. I was worried about the column bearings, but luckily all was in great shape so they will not need replacement.
I literally found a hair ball in the column switches. The switches were pretty hammered so I orderd up some new Meyle ones.
Everything apart. Im going to drop the pedal arms off for textured red powder. The tube and pedal bracketry Im just going to clean up and spray bom matte black.
Finally I cleaned up this guy. A little 320 on the end of the key cylinder.
Not enough thumbs up to show how great you work is…
:tup:
Thanks!
Probably no updates for a couple days. I have some work to do on the GTI this weekend.
Dan
Looking great. It will be awesome to see this car finished and complete.
Thanks!
Picked up the lower subframe brace from powder this am. It turned out awesome. They also put another coat on the upper strut brace as it was a little thin in spots, no pics.
I dropped off a few more things which should be ready next weekend.
I also received the new black delrin bushing for the shifter rod, and assembled it on the coated bracket with ss hardware.
Dan
Had to press the hubs out of the bearings to install the wheel studs. Of course it broke both of them, so now I need to replace brand new bearings. At least they are only $25 ea.
Got both hubs drilled and the studs pressed in.
Next I tackled disassembling the brand new rear calipers so I can have them powder coated. I was a little nervous about pulling them apart because of the parking brake assembly, but it turned out to be pretty easy. It did require buying a set of master cylinder snap ring pliers to reach down inside the bore, but they worked perfectly.
Finally I primed and painted the column tube as well as the pedal box. And the new wiper and turn signal levers showed.
Im glad I decided to replace the levers, just look how worn the horn contact is.
Pedal arms should be done friday so I can get this assembly together.
Dan
Pedal box and steering column reassembled with new ignition switch, turn signal, and wiper levers. The column bearings were in great shape so I just cleaned and re-greased them. I will be adding a collar to keep the lower bearing from sliding out before we start driving the car again.
Dan
Please insure this car with some sort of agreed upon value when you’re done please. Amazing work as always man :tup:
MMP caliper brackets showed yesterday for the Corrado brake swap. Tested one on the knuckle just for fun.
Corrado calipers vs Cabby oem calipers
Re-positioned and re-bent the ebrake cable tubes to allow more room for exhaust, and so they arent dangling so low.
Been tinkering on the fuel system. Had to pull one bar out of my x bracing to be able to get the surge tank in/out. Im working on some mods for the brace to accommodate it as soon as I can get over to use the bender at a friends shop. I also “tweaked” the edge of the gas tank and the floor to allow the fuel lines between the in-tank transfer pump and the surge tank to be routed easier and more direct. The surge tank is ~ 4x4x6", 1/4" wall aluminum.
And approx where the surge tank will be located.
Finally I decided to pull the rack apart to get it cleaned up and painted, and to refresh the grease. I would love to have the housing powder coated, but I dont have a puller to get the bearing out in the housing (tiny little bugger), unless I can find a blind puller for a fair price. So we’ll see.
Dan
would a pilot bearing puller work? not sure what the ID is of the bearing but not sure if you thought of that or not. you can usually rent them too
http://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tools/pilot-bearing-puller-attachment/oem-pilot-bearing-puller-attachment/230517_0_0/?checkfit=true
Ya thats what id need. I would guess its approx 1/4" ID, maybe a lite bigger, which makes it more difficult ( I think)
Dan
Ended up using grease and a shaft fashioned out of a bolt wrapped in some aluminum tape to drive the 10mm ID bearing out of the blind hole. It probably took 5 “re-greasings” to finally drive it all the way out, but its out.
Im dropping off a big pile of parts for coating today and picking up a few things I forgot last time.
Dan
Going back to page 1 all your picture links are broken. Only noticed because it’s a slow Friday at work and I wanted to skim through the progress.
Sigh ya. Something happened when either we upgraded the version of gallery, or migrated the site to a new host. Its way down on my long list of shit to do.
The pics are still on my site, but the links changed name. Im going to have to manually fix each one…
Updated the first post!!
