Paul's 89 Mk2 GT2

[mark1gls]

Looking good, glad I could offer some encouragemnet with fitting those bushes, they are a right pain but sometimes you just need to leave these things over night and come back fresh and give it another go.
Keep up all this good work your are doing because I enjoy reading this thread.

[pajsh]

Only minor progress this last couple of weeks as "kids" need ferrying to and from Uni's.

However acquired some 2nd hand bones and bushes.



Cleaned up as much as possible





But the welding needs a lot of tidying



If they don't work out I will just buy new as they are cheap enough.

Front bearings arrived and new ball joints too.



Now I have a lot of small jobs to do before I can put the suspension back on including plumbing the tank and piping up the rear brakes plus sourcing a load of bolts for the various parts.

Oh and one big job which is deciding on what coilovers to buy

Off to Santa Pod tomorrow and Bournemouth on Sunday so no work this weekend.

[Mr Funk]

Good to see it fella.

Coiley wise i'd really get the best you can afford. People might say there's no difference but there clearly is.

[pajsh]

Good to see it fella.

Coiley wise i'd really get the best you can afford. People might say there's no difference but there clearly is.

Yeah I've read all the threads about cheap e-bay ones but I don't think my budget really stretches to what I really want which is adjustable damping.

My kit car was great on the track but most of the "B" roads are just too bumpy for a decent drive with the exception of a few. I don't want the car banging around on the roads but I do want to firm it up on the track. Most of the cheaper end seem to be geared against low ride and bling rather than practical use and I'm not to bothered about slamming it.

My budget is probably £500 but this is a bit low for adjustable damping on coil overs so it's a tricky one. I can't really go the Spax route as I (foolishly) binned all the stuff I took off.

Decision required soon though

[pajsh]

Off this week so trying to make some progress although not doing too well.

Brakes are still a minefield as I have thrown the calipers and carriers away so all I have to work with is Mk2 hub carriers. Still not decided if I'm going 256mm or 280mm and as parts seem to be hard to come by it will probably be whatever I can source. Seems the servo is too small at 8" (unless possibly I use the original calipers with adaptors) so I'm going hunting in the scrapyard on Friday. It's a shame as I've refurbished it and it looks really smart.

Went to VW today with a long list of stuff and basically it's all obsolete. So when I got back I had a good root around and salvaged what I have including the washers for the rear pivots. Sourcing the bolts for the rear pivots (which I cut into a bit when removing the washers) and the bolts for the front suspension (the one with the offset welded washer which snapped on me) is proving tricky so again I'm going to see what the scrappy has.

Finally spent a while on Vagcat checking parts and part numbers and downloaded loads of schematics for later reference.

Anyway, nuff of the words, progress in pictures as follows

20mm master cylinder which could be no use.



Recovered parts from rear pivot brackets. All obsolete at VW.



Did some tidying of the crappy welding on the bones and then primed and painted. Not great, but good enough.







Then used up the remains of the Epoxy Mastic on the rear mounts.





Hopefully the weather will be kind on Friday. It's always a s41t hole down there at the best of times, but like a scene from Mad Max when it's been raining.

[pajsh]

Not a bad trip to the scrappy today although it's not the place it used to be. Last time I went there were cars piled 2-3 high and 100's of them, now less than 50 and they all pretty much go straight in the crusher.

Still, as luck would have it, in only 40 odd cars was a green "E" reg Mk2 Scala that offered up a few bits. I could have had loads including all the headlights and a nearly new radiator but I was getting cold, wet and fed up. I tried for the rear bolts but after struggling for a bit gave in. Should have stuck at it really as the mounts would have been worth having but it will have gone by now :(. Thinking back the rear door seal and a few other bits might have been worth scrounging.

Still I got some useful bits I really needed for only £10:





Compared with the shift lever bolt I ordered from VW for £7 .



On the way back I called in at a local engineering shop and they supplied me with these:



They are obviously not plated, 12mm too long and a higher grade, but I happen to have some stainless spacer tubes and with a lick of a paint and some grease they will probably see me out. I've also got some plastic caps left over from the kit car that will keep the ends tidy. Unless I can actually find the "real thing".

Other new bits arrived yesterday and today courtesy of Ebay.





Together with a 16v master cylinder that should be on it's way I've now got plenty to do.

Just got to take the plunge with some coil overs and hopefully find some callipers and brackets. Then the front and rear suspension will pretty much be ready to go back on. Except for the fact that the tank will have to go in first and I want to run the brake lines inside the car. Doh, still loads to do!!

[pajsh]

Right, I'm still having trouble with brakes so I thought I would work on something else this weekend. I did begin by spending a fair amount of time studying gearboxes on the internet and trying to find 90mm C.V. joints or 100mm diff flanges but really didn't get very far. So I thought I'd try and replace the bumper I bought from the scrappy a couple of weeks ago.

When my eldest was using the car for college some tosspot reversed into it and bent the front bumper. He drove off but fortunately someone saw him and gave his Reg to my son. The insurance didn't want to fix it so they made me a feeble offer and as I'm a bit of a soft case I accepted it. Not having really looked too close at the time I was surprised how bad it was when I took it off and stripped the bumper. Looks like it may have been a tow bar but still a fair old whack. I could have been well out of pocket but seeing as I got the spare bumper for £10 with a bit of spray paint on top I should be quids in. Well I would be if I hadn't spent it ages ago.



It all came apart pretty easy (I find all sort of uses for McD coffee sticks) and whilst some of the tabs were broken I'm sure there are enough to get it back on OK. Only problem is I have yet another thing to clean and paint so back down to B&Q for some more paint!



Back to the hubs I have had the bearings pressed in and have now fitted the adaptor brackets. I have a small issue here as the calliper to hub carrier brackets are supposed to be torqued to 70Nm but I didn't feel that a 6mm hex was going to be up to that, so I used some threadlock and did them up to about 50Nm and marked them in case the look like moving.



Hubs look good but I initially thought I should have put the back plates on first before the bearings were pressed in. Apart from the fact that the adaptors work on the inside of the hub carriers so I couldn't really fit them anyway. So it would seem for anyone trying G60 brake conversions, forget about back plates. Seemingly another item for ebay along with the Mk3 master cylinder and servo







I also have some issues with the new flexi's that are too long and so I've got to come up with something to pack them off the plates. I could use a zillion washers but that's a bit rough. so I'll see what I can find.



I still can't make up my mind whether to run the brakes through the car or underneath as the designers originally intended. I was going to go inside but can't really decide where to make the entry. I'm guessing for MOT it has to be visible for inspection so the obvious place in the bulkhead above the fuel tank is probably out.

Soooo many questions and so few answers......kind of feel this is going to take forever!!

Still apart from the frustration of finding information and parts, I'm really enjoying it and just hope I can finish it before she rusts away on the stands.

[pajsh]

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT POST SO I'LL START BY TYPING IN CAPITALS.

I have a habit of trying to keep my garage tidy and clearing out anything I don't need but I have had to restrain myself with this project as I've learned that some bits are hard to come by.

Having finally bought new C.V. joints I've been re-building my drive shafts and the outer ones went on fine.



Not so the inners when I found the concave thrust washer just slid over the drive shaft.



Now I did a bit of reading around and some inner C.V. kits seem to contain a serrated washer and I began to wonder if I had thrown them away when I took the old C.V.'s off. I searched in all my parts trays (courtesy of the local Chinese) yet found nothing. Things were starting to look a bit gloomy.

Fortunately I had not thrown the old C.V.'s away so I went to check if they were with them. Now one boot had fallen off and there was no sign of the washer but the other was stuck fast so it simply could not have fallen out. Taking it apart however, it was not stuck to the C.V. as I had hoped.

Anyway after a bit of head scratching I thought of looking in the depths C.V. boot and sure enough there it was stuck at the top end where it went when I pulled the shaft out.

So, happy days, both washers retrieved and problem solved.





So, memo to self....DON'T THROW ANYTHING AWAY TILL YOU HAVE RE_BUILT IT!!.

Meanwhile the brakes are coming along and the next job will be to refurbish these calipers and put on new seals.

[pajsh]

Inching closer to getting the suspension back on.

First the new fuel tank and old filler pipe. Just need to find something to secure the pipe in the original holes and replace some of the less than quality jubilee clips. (does anyone know why they are called Jubilee clips ??). Bodgers law of car building says no matter how many Jubilee clips you have in your garage you never have the right size and always have to go and buy them to fit! As the ones you have are never the right size you always have a good stock though.





Then spent Sunday cleaning the paint off my callipers and brackets and giving them a coat of paint. Next jobs is to replace the seals and boots. They are not pink by the way it's just the flash.







Also tidied up the replacement bumper and gave it a coat of black ruststop primer and then black Hammerite because I've a tin I want to use up. I wonder if I am the only person who thinks Hammerite is like painting with cream cheese The bumper will be back on next weekend.

Picture is before the painting of course.



Finally did some more research on coilovers this morning and I think I now know what I'm going for. Also enquired about copper fuel pipe to run the lines forward and was quoted £75 for a coil of Nickle at my local motor factors. Needless to say I declined the gentleman's kind offer and think I'll just buy some micro bore from B&Q.

[Mr Funk]

How much do you need?

I have about a metre and a half sat in the garage from when I did mine

[pajsh]

Thanks for the offer but I need a fair bit more.

I'm running 2 lines from basically where the tank hatch is through the car to the front bulkhead.

Initially only 1 line may be in use as I'm starting with the Weber 45's on Megajolt but I hope to upgrade sometime (way) in the future to throttle bodies and Megasquirt.

I confess I'm not 100% sure on size but for now I'll probably go with 1/4".

I certainly don't need 25ft for £75 though LOL.

[jimmy h]

Paul,

I appreciate the car is the star but,I like the pics with the Planes in, WOT 4 great model! I used to fly RC for many years, I had an Acro Wot with an OS 45FSR for a long time untill radio failure reduced it to kit-form

I realise you can now get Chris Foss stuff ARTF, but, I still can't face that pain when you've spent hours on the thing - and in seconds it's fit for bin

Jimmy.

[pajsh]

Hi Jimmy,

Building has always been the buzz for me really. Learning, planning and doing.

First it was plastic models when the kids were small (F1, sports cars, planes, tanks, ships etc) along side RC flying and then the kit car.

Having been out of flying for about 15 years I bought a FoamE Wot 4 and it's brilliant. Only £115 and all you need is batteries and radio gear. Can't tell you how much fun it is to fly. I'm getting all the old glow models out again slowly but as most of my hanger I built from plans I'm getting plenty of stick time in first. The FoamE Wot 4 is such fun though, it's hard not to fly it.

Lipo batteries and brushless motors have totally changed electric flight but you can't beat the smell of burnt castor in the morning.

I also race radio yachts but that's another story.

[pajsh]

Spent most of today refitting the front bumper. Not a job that was on the original list and was a bit of a pig to fit the cover back on the metal frame but the end result is a lot better than it was.







Second coat of paint on callipers and carriers and them started to replace the seals. One piston blew out fine with my 12v tyre compressor but the other is stuck fast so I've soaked it in WD to tackle it another day. Thought I had some Dot 4 around but didn't so the re-build will have to wait.





Finally took out and admired my new coilovers. Ordered last Weds arrived Thursday and so far I'm well chuffed. Thanks to Venom Motorsport. If anyone is wondering what you get with the RSX586 kit, this is it. Funny how the surprise of finding a free hat in the box was more rewarding that all the expensive metal bits. Nice touch there Spax.

[pajsh]

Brakes are now completed, fully painted with new boots/seals and dummy assembled.

A fair bit of work, I hope they work OK when all piped up.





Pretty close now to bolting everything back on the front end. Just need to clean and paint the old bolts and then spanner it up.

Hopefully a day this weekend will see it done.