91 ABF Track Project........Six weeks in

[mr.brown]

Day 14

Had to give up on the backplate bolts. Oil, heat and bolt extractors all failed so it was back to old faithful - the angle grinder. Stuck a wire brush on and gave them a bit of a clean once the backplates were off. I'll be running without backplates hence didn't attempt to remove the studs.

[mr.brown]

Day 16

Talking of angle grinders, I'll have to smooth this bit off - bit jagged edgedy



And who has ever removed their seats and found it clean. Not me..

[mr.brown]

Day 17

So, finally got round to installing a new freeze plug and putting hose clamps on the new radiator hoses. Put some (cheap) coolant in as a test and was greeted with a familiar sound - drip,drip,drip...
It turns out there's a hole in the metal coolant pipe on the side of the engine. The part is £61 from VW but is "backordered" with no expected date

[mark1gls]

Is the metal pipe like the one fitted to a 8 valve engine?

If so £30.74 and in stock! (other places may sell it)
http://www.gsfcarparts.com/179vg0020

[mr.brown]

Is the metal pipe like the one fitted to a 8 valve engine?

If so £30.74 and in stock! (other places may sell it)
http://www.gsfcarparts.com/179vg0020

Similar but different. However, I may have to resort to getting one like the above and "modifying" it.

Luckily I have a complete working donor car - hopefully the pipe on that one is in better condition.

*It turns out that the 2.0 8v (AGG) engine pipe may be the same but with different fixings - GSF part no 179VG0060.

[mr.brown]

Day 18

There's snow way anything's getting done today...

[mr.brown]

Day 20

So, it turns out that the metal pipe for the ABF is no longer available. However, thanks to folks at CGTI, I learned that the AGG (2.0 8v ml3 Golf) pipe is very similar. It needs a small pipe blocking off (bottom left) and the mounting point doesn't match up (centre of pic) but essentially its the correct length and shape.

[mr.brown]

Day 23

No outdoorsy stuff so I'm looking for jobs I can do indoors. The p.o. very kindly gave me some Febi goodies he'd been intending to fit -



I'd already removed the old 'bones and so swapped the Powerflex bushes over. Refitted with liberal dose of copper grease -

[mr.brown]

Day 25

Wheel bearing housings made to look a bit more presentable and postie brought some goodies. Still waiting on other bits so I can start re-assembling the front suspension and the cooling system.

[mr.brown]

Day 25 pt2

Bored + new heatgun =



And for future reference - don't bother. Seriously. All the crap I've removed is only 2.5kg. And now I have to grind/clean all the remaining crap, primer and then spray it. Sooooo not worth it.

[mr.brown]

Day 27

Lot's of puzzle pieces turned up today.

I'm sure I ordered black



The first one came two weeks ago but it took ages to find another matching one

[Rusty dan]

Looking good sean and do you have any plans with the ABF tuning wise?

I get the pointless sealant removal so I went one step further and intoxicated myself with a fumes from the plasma cutter and voila! No more floors lol

[mr.brown]

Looking good sean and do you have any plans with the ABF tuning wise?

I get the pointless sealant removal so I went one step further and intoxicated myself with a fumes from the plasma cutter and voila! No more floors lol

No tuning plans with this engine but I do have a spare so who knows?....

If I had a plasma cutter I'd probably cut the car in half!

[mr.brown]

Day 33

3 hour round trip to get my new hubs and bearings pressed in. Mmm...shiny. Also, trial fit of Epytec adaptors for G60 brakes - and sneak peek of coilovers that cost more than the car!



Grooved/drilled discs from my Ibiza - got to love VAG parts compatibility



New wishbones, balljoints and strut brace also on

[Bill]

Looking good, where did you get the strut brace from.