Project Baby Hauler - 4 Door VR6

[I haz cheezeburgerz]

looks like its coming together nicely

[Grumpy-Smurf]

September 28, 2008
2130 hrs

Today was a pretty exciting day! We encountered some issues with the new harness which took us a bit of diagnosing to figure out. The wiring for the clutch safety switch was screwed which prevented the starter getting the signal to start. After addressing that issue, the actual starter had a bad ground connection due to the painted surface. After all that crap... we discovered the starter had a bad bendex which required some hammer therapy to make it properly engage. :wall

While flushing the fuel lines out, we discovered that the fuel pump was not functioning. After a bit of brainstorming, Alexi discovered that the pump was seized and it's housing/rubber seals were 100% deteriorated. In order to solve this issue, we all jumped into a non-standard driving DSG Mk5 GTI . Our destination... to raid Alexi's garage for his spare fuel pump. (God only made these for people like Bryce who wish they knew how to drive a manual transmission. :rofl

After a bit of slave labor moving cinder blocks by Alexi's dad, we returned back to the garage where Alexi discovered his fuel pump was also fubared! He was able to disassemble both units to produce one functioning unit.

In the meantime... Bryce, Mike bled all four brakes.

Now it was finally time to fire up the car but up came yet another issue... :no: The fuel pump relay was not receiving it's trip signal. After more diagnosing, the culprit was an internal break in the actual fuse box. We simply just jumped the relay and magic happened with a swift turn of the key... the car came ALIVE! :rockin: It sounded so bad ass because there was no exhaust with an open header. It was like a unicorn ****ing a mermaid!

Click the link below to see a video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vqSXWq8wlk

[audindy]

sounds awesome. congrats

[jhayesvw]

sweet!!!!

[less.than.jeff]

very nice. I've been following your log since you started. I'm very interested. Congrats on getting it to run xD

[Grumpy-Smurf]

October 3, 2008

We've taken petty much a week off from working on the car. The build team was getting a little tired. During the time off, I managed to find a set of new winter rims for my mk3 VR6 which were located in Seattle. You all know what that meant... ROAD TRIP!

Here we go... it all started with Alexi looking like he was on a mission...

It took us a few hours and some fun times stuffing our faces at a Taco Bell. None of us ordered extra cheese... well except for Mikey. His cheese smelt moldy! We arrived in Seattle and met up with a fellow vortex'er Anton who sold me the mint set of Montreal II's with freshly mounted tires.

Of course we spent some time bull ****ting around until he introduced us to his best friend. LOL

After a shot of Vodka and some fresh air, we began our trek home. The plan was to hit up Krispy Kreme for some fresh doughnuts and coffee. Unfortunately the shop was closed when we got there. So we did the next best thing... bought munchies and Red Stripe from Hagens.

Modified by Grumpy-Smurf at 11:02 AM 10-4-2008

[VWSportCompact96]

Really really impressive work man, love the build. Can't wait to see it 100% finished

[I haz cheezeburgerz]

you guys are funny.

[Import_RaGe]

Seattle is pretty sweet.

[root beer]

Way to party.

[pubahs]

Red Stripe, Cheetos and MiracleGrow! Swweeeeeet hah.

Great build, subscribed

[daniresch]

**** yes!

[acidbaby]

subscribed

[96744.5]

cool build,your friends keep it real,reminds me of my dub buddies

[JarrettJettaVR6]

i'm jealous..my 0 miler..probably from the same guy..has been sitting in my garage for about 2 months now...sad sad

[G535]

great work

[Grumpy-Smurf]

October 5, 2008
2200 hrs:

We saw a lot of progress in the garage as the car is getting ever so close to completion. Even though it appears nothing has been done, Alexi and Jon spent the entire day trying to finish up most of the interior wiring under the dash. I would say we're at 80-90% done. While they worked under the dash, Bryce and I scrubbed down all the dark beige interior plastic panels as we will soon be installing them into the car. We also began removing and re-installing the electrical wiring for the doors in order to add all the power options.

I've got some photos which I'll throw up once I get home from work this afternoon.

[Grumpy-Smurf]

October 13, 2008
2230 hrs:

It's been over a week since my last major update. We got back at it this weekend with our focus primarily on completing the installation of the power windows, mirrors and locks; and doing a little bit of work relocating and concealing the engine harness. My buddy John came over on Saturday and taught Bryce and myself the basics regarding the power window regulators. Despite several chunks of missing flesh on my hands, we finished all the windows at 1:30 in the morning.

Jon, Bryce and I spent the better part of this afternoon stripping the crappy tint off the windows. I'm one who believes that a car looks classier without any tint.

The finished product! Much classier looking!

In the meantime, Alexi and Jon began the task of relocating and concealing the engine harness. Alexi came up with this brilliant idea to relocated the main engine harness underneath the battery tray/frame rail. This required him to cut and extend all the wiring. We are about half way done with only the fuel injectors and a few plugs remaining. I'll post up some more photos of the engine bay tomorrow. All the photos I took this evening turned out blurry.

I tried to take some photos of Jon working... but he said that there is an unsaid rule that the general public are not allowed to take photos of union workers actually doing work. LOL

Modified by Grumpy-Smurf at 10:37 PM 10-13-2008

[Grumpy-Smurf]

October 15, 2008
2300 hrs:

It was a pretty quiet day in the garage as the team took a day off to rest. I found some spare time to work on the beige colored door cards. I discovered that the rear door cards had no speaker holes as the interior came out from a MK3 Jetta. To solve this problem, I swapped in the lower portion from the Golf. I was a little hesitant at first because I didn't know if I could live with the two toned look of beige with black highlights. I'm still contemplating the idea of putting in black handles and trim pieces. Keep in mind that I am planning to run black carpet as I have a toddler who will be in the back seat. I'll keep the beige carpet for future use. To complement the black pieces, I'm going to run the door sills and bottom plastic trim in black.

If it doesn't work, I'll just have the bottom half color dyed to match the rest of the beige. After I was done, I could not resist mocking up some of the interior pieces on the passenger side for photos.

Modified by Grumpy-Smurf at 11:04 PM 10-15-2008

[u01rwr]

the two tone looks great
great build

[UBER KUHL]

looking good guys

[Sandlock]

showroom fresh interior

[jhayesvw]

nice canader interior parts!!

[Grumpy-Smurf]

October 19, 2008
2330 hrs:

Another great day spent in the company of good friends! We spent the afternoon finishing off all the necessary extensions for the engine harness and began re-wrapping them with Tek-Flex wire covering. Also got my new and spiffy OBX headers for my exhaust. Can't wait to bolt it on! Anyways, here are some photos from today...

After dinner, we took off to visit my buddy Mark and pick up my intake manifold which he kindly did some custom welding on. I'll post pictures up once it's done. When we arrived, Jonny had his car up in the air as he was installing his new H&R Ultra Low coilovers.

I'll have another update with more photos tomorrow!

[bodybagged]

I'm interested in seeing how the wire wrapping came out. If you have a chance snap some pictures. I'll be wrapping my wires when I remove my engine.

[snoboybil]

one word.

WOW

[exjnv]

dude, that pipe is awesome. i have one like it

[vap3r]

wish i could blow that much money on my car... lol

[el_vdub]

hes not blowing it, hes making an investment to better transport his family in a reliable/fun mode of transportation

[Grumpy-Smurf]

October 20, 2008
1730 hrs

Don't you just love it when the the UPS guy delivers a wrapped parcel to your door? Nice surprise today when my mk3 chrome door handles arrived this afternoon. It was a lot cheaper than the price quoted to me from several local dealership: $25.00 each. I found these bad boys from a supplier in Singapore for $38.00 Canadian shipped to my door!

Also popped into PG Performance today to pick up the first half of my new ECS Pulley set... I'll probably install this one despite the fact that I won't be getting my crank pulley from ECS until mid-November.

Modified by Grumpy-Smurf at 5:40 PM 10-20-2008

[Mike GoFast]

good progress, its lookin' nice

[vwishndaetr]

That manifold looks dope. for commitment.

[Grumpy-Smurf]

October 20, 2008
2300 hrs

The second update of the evening... I ended up pulling the pics of the custom intake manifold and will re-post it once it's all done. We spent the remainder of the evening tying up loose ends by tek-flex tubing the rest of the engine harness and quickly installed the headers on the motor.

[96744.5]

making some progress man,looking good

[Waagenz]

In my mind, project baby hauler is a pretty funtastic project.