Mk2 Gti Restoration/Customization Project

[vdubbervt]

Not much to report- been super busy with work

Helped out a friend of mine with his vr-swap (still in the works). It's a Jetta diesel coupe and should make for a very nice daily!

Sandblasted my lower rad. support, patched one of the mounting holes and sprayed it with engine enamel.

Welded in some studs for the hood-release mechanism a la vwjodi

...then I made a panel to cover all unnecessary holes

That's about it for now, wish I had more time to work on this project, but duty calls

[1broknrado]

either way ur doing great work on everything you touch!

[MyCarIsRed]

that rad support is going to be fun to sand haha

i shaved mine a while back and the sanding part nearly made me kill myself. it's got so many tiny areas that fillers like to sit in and make air pockets.

here is mine:

[vdubbervt]

Quote, originally posted by MyCarIsRed »

that rad support is going to be fun to sand haha i shaved mine a while back and the sanding part nearly made me kill myself. it's got so many tiny areas that fillers like to sit in and make air pockets.

...looks good, though!
With such little time to work on this car, I keep finding ways to make a lot more work for myself

[1broknrado]

check out my thread, got the engine bay painted a few days ago..working on entire car right now... just not sure what im going to do with the window seals because i cant afford to replace them all

[MyCarIsRed]

Quote, originally posted by vdubbervt »

...looks good, though! With such little time to work on this car, I keep finding ways to make a lot more work for myself

don't i know it man. i have the time, but no steady income so i'm fighting the other demons trying to not spend more money than i already have into it.

[vdubbervt]

what do you think would help to eliminate the "air pockets", use a lighter filler like metal glaze?

[MyCarIsRed]

i ended up using duraglass first over the welds, then a light filler like rage gold. seemed to work okay. i don't have a latch though, so i don't know how that area will flex or anything.

[1broknrado]

Quote, originally posted by MyCarIsRed »

i ended up using duraglass first over the welds, then a light filler like rage gold. seemed to work okay. i don't have a latch though, so i don't know how that area will flex or anything.

perfect. i used only the rage if i needed to build a hole, but for pinholes and MINOR work i used Evercoat Icing. works/sands/spreads amazing.

[MyCarIsRed]

Quote, originally posted by 1broknrado »

perfect. i used only the rage if i needed to build a hole, but for pinholes and MINOR work i used Evercoat Icing. works/sands/spreads amazing.

i never really got into icing. i know it's supposed to work really well, but i really have never had any issues with pinholes in rage. i usually shoot everything with a few coats of highbuild primer before i wetsand it all down anyway, so even if i did get pinholes it would be pretty easy to sand them out. not arguing with your choice by any means, i've just never needed it. i've considered giving it a shot... maybe one of these days. to cut down on sanding time, with most of my fillers, i only let them set until they're just hard enough to not clog my sandpapers. that way, even the heaviest of fillers is still pretty easily sandable with a 180 grit.

[zRockstar]

Wow man, this is what it's all about right here-- the true meaning of a project car. Not something you buy as a piece of crap and just drop off at someones shop and come back a couple months later and it's done. It looks like a lot of work, but I can't imagine how fun it would be. I am getting ready to take some classes at my college that get in to welding, and I was wondering if most of the skills you are using are pretty basic or advanced. I know a lot of it simply has to do with the ability to envision something first, but like the seatbelt delete patches, would something like that be easy for a beginner?

[vdubbervt]

Quote, originally posted by zRockstar »

Wow man, this is what it's all about right here-- the true meaning of a project car. Not something you buy as a piece of crap and just drop off at someones shop and come back a couple months later and it's done. It looks like a lot of work, but I can't imagine how fun it would be. I am getting ready to take some classes at my college that get in to welding, and I was wondering if most of the skills you are using are pretty basic or advanced. I know a lot of it simply has to do with the ability to envision something first, but like the seatbelt delete patches, would something like that be easy for a beginner?

Hey, thanks for the support- this is a lot of fun for me, but it's hard for me to spend time on this build as I don't have much money or time to devote to it at the moment.....

Welding classes are great- I would suggest it to anybody, even if you think you are an expert, you will always learn something new from working with other people.

Some of these little details don't require a lot of skill, but experience and the right tools always helps. I find taking the time to make something fit right before welding makes a HUGE difference, even if you have to make it two or three times. That way you can save time, energy and resources when applying filler.
The seat belt patches, for example, I spent most of my time making the pattern. Once I was happy with the pattern, I transferred that to metal, cut it out and then had to figure out the exact radius to make my bend. I actually made two pieces before getting the right radius on my bend just right- I "bump bent" the piece in three stages on my bending brake to get the piece where I wanted it. Then did some slight trimming to get the patch to sit just below the plane of the existing area- that way I knew I wasn't going to be too high, but not too low so that I would have to add a lot of filler...Sounds like a lot of work for a little piece, but that is my process- make it right the first time!!!!!

[vwmk2vr6s]

Car is looking good! You have alot of great ideas. Shaved rad supports are a pain but worth the work. here is my shaved rallye rad. support.

[vdubbervt]

[QUOTE=vwmk2vr6s]Car is looking good! You have alot of great ideas. Shaved rad supports are a pain but worth the work. here is my shaved rallye rad. support.
QUOTE]

Looks great! Well done, sir!!!

I can't wait for my car to be at that stage, gonna be a while, though

[No post counting]

Awesome work man! I actually think I was at your shop sometime last fall (I think). I remember you showing us this build. You had the rear hatch lip done and maybe a corrado dash installed; something like that...

I had bought a pair of crosshairs off of you. My cuz and I came; I'm Jake the big guy and Matt was the tall/skinny guy. Oh ya, and there was a sick light grey/baby blue corrado 1.8t there w/ a shaved bay that someone had been working on for a show.


Modified by No post counting at 1:39 AM 6-11-2009

[vdubbervt]

Quote, originally posted by No post counting »

Awesome work man! I actually think I was at your shop sometime last fall (I think). I remember you showing us this build. You had the rear hatch lip done and maybe a corrado dash installed; something like that... I had bought a pair of crosshairs off of you. My cuz and I came; I'm Jake the big guy and Matt was the tall/skinny guy. Oh ya, and there was a sick light grey/baby blue corrado 1.8t there w/ a shaved bay that someone had been working on for a show.

Yup, I remember, that was right before the Johnson Show. How'd the lights work out?

Thanks for the bump

[vdubbervt]

I had an hour to work on my radiator support today...
Filled some more holes and decided to do some lead filling around the hood-catch area to minimize the use of bondo...
Lead blobbage...

then a quick sand...

Had a nice dent to contend with...

...hammered most of it out and filled the hole next to it and laid down some more lead

That's about it for today, I've got the first light layer of bondo setting up right now, I'll get to sanding that tomorrow morning if time allows...Should be pulling another Passat vr6 motor on Friday- stay tuned for more, I'm dying to get back into this build!!!!

[No post counting]

Quote, originally posted by vdubbervt »

Yup, I remember, that was right before the Johnson Show. How'd the lights work out? Thanks for the bump

Ya that's right. The lights worked great right up until I lost a rear wheel on the highway in NJ. I ended up leaving the car in NY and selling it to a local. But the lights looked great

I'm now working on a s2 scirocco...

[vdubbervt]

Quote, originally posted by No post counting »

Ya that's right. The lights worked great right up until I lost a rear wheel on the highway in NJ. I ended up leaving the car in NY and selling it to a local. But the lights looked great I'm now working on a s2 scirocco...

Are you still in VT? What are you doing to the scirroco?

[ur faster]

Nice Work!

[No post counting]

Quote, originally posted by vdubbervt »

Are you still in VT? What are you doing to the scirroco?

Yep still in VT. I'm in Morrisville... And right now I'm just driving the rocco but this fall/winter it's going under the knife. It needs either 2 patch panels or 2 entire rear quarter panels welded in; then some misc shaving and a respray.

It has a built 2.0 16v w/ a 9a trans and lsd.

[vdubbervt]

Quote, originally posted by ur faster »

Nice Work!

Thanks

Quote, originally posted by No post counting »

Yep still in VT. I'm in Morrisville... And right now I'm just driving the rocco but this fall/winter it's going under the knife. It needs either 2 patch panels or 2 entire rear quarter panels welded in; then some misc shaving and a respray. It has a built 2.0 16v w/ a 9a trans and lsd.

Very cool, you should swing by next time you leave the sticks

[zcxerxes]

nice work. i wish i'd have found this a week ago so i could have had you make me flairs instead of cutting some off another car and welding them in.

[vdubbervt]

Thanks- I responded to your IM

[No post counting]

Quote, originally posted by vdubbervt »

Very cool, you should swing by next time you leave the sticks

Haha will do

[vdubbervt]

Another quick update on the radiator support....spent some time yesterday and today throwing some filler at it and some sanding- it went pretty easy although there are a lot of little dimples and voids due to the factory spot welding and such, but overall, not too bad.

Here it is in all its rose primer glory!

It feels good to check this off the ever-growing To Do List, I just hope it looks good after paint, and most importantly, I hope the solder does the trick of preventing any cracks down the road...

I'll try to get more done in the near future and post more pics....

[vdubbervt]

So, been busy with work so not much happening with the gti resto, however I have been acquiring some more parts lately- I got some half-smoked tails with bulb trays, a B&M short shifter (already installed in the shifter box), clean door cards, and other misc. items all for $200!

But......the big score as of late is my new daily ! I've been looking for a clean 4 door golf for the last two months and finally found one in Hartford, CT. It's a '92 Golf, one owner, with 61,000 original miles, no rust on the undercarriage whatsoever and the rest of the body is in descent shape.

Here are some pics of my new daily....

Only plans for this thing is clean it up a little- needs a good wax and eventually a respray, but that'll have to wait. Going to put some passat or mk3 springs on her to jack it up a little, and maybe replace the sweet factory stereo

[koko5869]

funny as it seems, thats my dream car...but only slightly altered

just cant find any of them around these parts worth buying.

[vdubbervt]

Quote, originally posted by koko5869 »

funny as it seems, thats my dream car...but only slightly altered just cant find any of them around these parts worth buying.

I looked for months all over the Northeast, unless you want a two door or a Jetta, it's gonna be hard to find a clean 4-door. But you are in PA, there's gotta be a clean 4-door around your area......don't look on Vortex, it's hard to find a good deal on here 'cause most people know what they are worth, look on Craig's List, maybe you'll find an old lady that needs to get rid of her car for next to nothing?

Good Luck!!!!

[padubbin421]

sick stuff

[DUBsportGLX]

cool project. I did an MK2 GTI a few years back if you need anything let me know.

[We.B.Dubbin]

Quote, originally posted by vwmk2vr6s »

Shaved rad supports are a pain but worth the work.

why would one shave his rad support in the first place

[65dunebuggy]

love the car as well as the garage art I am a HUGE Simpsons fan awesome work

[vdubbervt]

Thanks for the bumps, folks!

I hope to have some time to get back to the build soon, but work is taking all of my time and I gotta make some money while I can.....

I did, however put my old blaupunkt stereo in my new daily and also threw in my recaro trophies for added comfort- four door 8v, lovin' it!!!!

[We.B.Dubbin]

you must really love that car. Oneheluva project you've taken on here. stay on it!!