Paul's 89 Mk2 GT2

[pajsh]

Bit more progress although present jobs are quite time consuming with not much to show for my efforts. Mostly cleaning and painting.

I'm trying my best but unfortunately short of a complete respray she is always going to be a little bit tired on the outside. My aim is to get all the mechanicals sound and the paintwork is just going to be what it is. I want to enjoy the car on the track but also have it road legal.

I decided on yellow for the drive shafts. Probably a poor choice but hey ho I had some yellow spray left over from the lower strut brace.



Gear shift heat shields done in Halfrauds high temp paint.



Engine mounts all cleaned wire brushed and painted with Rustbuster Epoxy Mastic. No cheap but seems good gear.



Couldn't resist bolting a few things in. Brake servo is back in and linkage all put together and bolted up. I'm thinking of re-using the master cylinder but have left it off for now till I get some further info. Missing 1 felt washer which is a pain.





Having given the car another good clean underneath ready for the suspension, fuel tank and rear beam, this rubber button fell off from somewhere. If anyone knows where it goes please tell me?? I'll scour my photos to see if I can see it before it came off. My guess is somewhere around the gear shift, steering rack etc.



Now my current big problem is brakes. I have restored the existing hub carriers but binned the old 239mm callipers (doh!!!) so following discussions at the National Meet, that leaves me with a problem. How to upgrade the brakes with existing carriers as I don't really want to change them. I may have to design some adapters and get a friend to make them for me. More research required.

The big buy is next week and then it's all going to start coming back together.

[ianaudia4]

The little rubber buttons are from underneath the bonnet, there should be 2 and they are stuck in the front corners.
I'm sorry I don't have a picture as it would explain better.

[pajsh]

Great, thanks for that.

Hopefully the other one is still there to give me a clue where to put it back.

[pajsh]

Another day of highs and lows.

The lows first as I tried to re-fit the rear ARB only to have the new super pro bushes I bought fail on me. Now something is not quite right and I can only think it's a build up of paint that has caused the bushes to not fit where the did before





If anyone has any better ideas please tell me as I've just wasted £15 on bushes. Even the Eibach originals do not fit which leaves me to think I've got to clean the paint off all the surfaces and start again. Not a happy bunny!!





I'm really scratching my head over this one. It just does not make sense.



Anyway, meanwhile I fitted my new tie rods and gaiters together with some cleaned up gear shift parts and a re-furb kit.







If anyone has any ideas on the ARB please let me know. Those spring clamps are not the best VW design for sure.

[Risocco]

Are the ARBs standard? Some after market ones are slightly thicker.

[pajsh]

Both front & rear ARB's are Eibach and the rear is 25mm. The original rear Eibach bushes are shot so I bought some Super Pro ones of the same dia (25mm).

They are quite a bit thinner at the base though hence the tear I think. Also they seem to be tapered slightly and I probably didn't notice this till I got them on.

A new set of Eibach bushes is over 100 squids!!

[ianaudia4]

If I remember rightly, the standard ARB are 20-22mm, hence the tightness and splitting.

[MacColl]

Great work on this

If it's any help the Superflex ones seem to have size options and I believe they aren't as hard/brittle as some of the other makes..
http://www.superflex.co.uk/products.php?cat=403

I also made my own rear arb clamps previously which would make things easier with the larger arb..

[pajsh]

Quite like the look of those brackets. Certainly the VW design is pretty agricultural to be polite.

All the bushes are 25mm ID (more like 1" actually) to match the ARB's. The red (inner) ones are the originals which did fit before so it can only be a paint build up I think. The epoxy mastic is great stuff but possibly too thick.

The new blue Superflex ones are also 25mm ID but they are thinner between the ARB and the beam. This increases the angle of the ARB to the beam (which is not in the slightest bit parallel) and hence, I believe causing them to split.

Option 1 is to try again with new Superflex having taken some paint off, Option 2 is to splash out on all new Eibach bushes (why can't I just buy the rears ) Option 3 may be new brackets as per MacColl unless anyone is making them already.

[pajsh]

Mmmmm not a good day. :(

Weekend started with promise having taken delivery of some nice new parts. Amongst other things new boots and bushes.







Made some good progress on the rear brakes. Pretty much all new except back plates and axles.



Next the steering rack, complete with new tie rods, gaiters and poly bushes.



Installed with gear shift parts. Before



After



Then things started to go Pete Tong!!

Award for Numpty of the day I sheared the step bolt on the gear shift link. So bloody cross with myself for being so stupid. Now where am I going to find one of these!!!



Anyway put a temporary bolt in for now and I'll try and source one or get a new one made.



Now I went for Superflex one piece bushes instead of the two piece Powerflex as I thought they would be better and having watched Ed China drawer in countless front suspension bushes, I thought how hard can it be!!

But the final straw on the day was spending ages trying to get the Superflex bushes into the rear brackets. Bloody annoying, every time time I tighten them up one side slips out. Unless I am doing something wrong or someone has a better plan, it will be out with the Stanley knife and converting them to two parts. Even with a press I just can't see how you stop them slipping out. Aaahhhhhhhgggghhhh!!!!!



So spanners thrown in the cupboard it was off down the flying field for some R&R.

Regroup tomorrow for some work on the brakes and some flaring practice. Also going to try and drive in the rear bearings which are currently soaking in the freezer.

[the edmundator]

You see, the problem you have is that you clearly haven't used enough profanities or drunk sufficient tea.

[pajsh]

Tea schmee! A few anglo saxon word were tried but the magic failed.

I'd probably had one too many weetabix (other breakfast cereals are available).

[mark1gls]

I had the same problem getting the bushes in, what I did was hold the bracket in a vice and like you used a long bolt to pull the bush in, there should be some special grease which came with the bushes put some on the bush and inside the bracket and slowly do up the nuts a bit so its tight and I used a VERY BLUNT large screwdriver (you dont want to poke a hole in the bush) or any other blunt poking item you can find to push the edges of the bush into the bracket while some one else slowly tighted up the long bolt. It did pop out a few times but it did go through easy once all the edges were in.
Then grease the metal tube and push that into the bush once it's fitted in the bracket.

Keep at it, it is possible to do. Good luck

[pajsh]

Thanks Mark I'll try again soon.

I was going to see if 4 welding rods (1 at each quarter) might guide it in and then pull them out once the end is in.

But I'll try your plan too.

[pajsh]

Better day today, was going to go for a ride on the bikes but it persisted it down all day so cracked on with a few jobs.

Firstly sorted out the loads of Chinese dinner trays I've got with bits of metal, pipes, rubber etc in, to stuff I do need and stuff I'm going to hang on to till I'm sure I don't. Also removed the rad cowling (as it wouldn't fit in the parts chest) for a spot of primer and paint. Still not sure if it will go back in where it came out when the ABF goes in but I'll re-furbish it anyway.



Nice N tidy.



Then my eldest came round and it seemed a good idea to try and get those bushes in. Deffo a 2 handed job this one but, thanks to Mark's words of encouragement they are in and looking rather spiffing.









Then out with my new flaring kit for some test flares on the old brake lines. I think these will do the job.



Finally removed the rear bearings from the oil in the freezer and persuaded them into the rear drums.





That together with kegging 22 litres of home brew and a couple of hours thrashing on the "6 string noisy thing" made for a very productive day.

Thanks Mark.