The Rad Caddy Build Thread W/ New & Improved ABA 5spd Swap & Slammage!

[boraIV]

Well, I've had this truck for about 3 years and I haven't had a lot of opportunity to work on it until about a year ago. I had a build thread for it but all the pics are dead so I thought I'd start fresh. I have a lot of parts collected for it and now its crunch time. The goal is to get the truck running by February and then completed for a show at the end of March. I don't have to worry about cold temps because... well, we don't have cold temps in Phoenix!

A little background on the truck. Its a 1981 and came with a 1.7L 8v gas motor with an automatic trans. When I bought it in Sacramento, it had a bench seat from a '64 bug and already had been converted to rounds. Lets get on with the pics.

Day one when I brought the truck home:

After lowering and some work on the fenders:

And now let's just you up to date:

Dirty drum brake before:

and after!

Dirty nasty floor before:

annnd after. There will be carpet... just haven't decided if I should do it before or after the truck is painted.... probably after.

[boraIV]

Old lump out:

and its empty!

I've pulled off all the suspension:

I'm building a hovercraft!

the bottom of my hovercraft (its in excellent shape and pretty clean for being 27 years old):

and then the brake booster and wiring came out (point of no return)

a/c, heater, blower all gone. this will be a weekend cruiser, so i don't need that crap. I also found some guitar books in there!

these pieces are going to powder coat soon, but i need to weld some spring perches on the axle first...

and finally, the new motor. rebuilt ABA w/ 0 miles.

Excuse the crappy cell phone pics:
Dirty!

Clean!

[Chrom0sexual]

lovin those mk3 seats

[boraIV]

POR-15'd

Powdercoated goodies

Thanks to the guys at Volkwerks, E-klusiv and Grunion all the unused holes are welded up and ready for smoothing.

Before:

After:

The guys at Grunion also notched the frame for optimized slammage

Rear suspension is back under the truck as well as the fuel tank. I coated the rear leaf springs with Graphite Slip Plate to keep them nice and quiet. I also put in new poly bushings for the rear suspension. Axle is flipped with spring perches that were welded on by yours truly, then powdercoated. Overall drop in the rear is ~4" and load adjustable with corvette air shocks. I have some lowering plates if it still isn't low enough.

New rear stainless steel brake lines from Apex Tuning that I assisted in developing.

[boraIV]

Starting to lay down and sand filler... this stage will take some time, patience, and a big learning curve.

Motor all stripped and waiting to be prepped for paint. I'm thinking satin black with color matched accessories. <IMG NAME="icon" SRC="http://is.rely.net/2-64-38734-l-yH6MqWv48NW9sxLXcSnMA.gif" BORDER="0">

semi-clean trans that will also be satin black

saaaaaanding

[midwesta]

Who makes APEX Tuning's Lines?

[boraIV]

Everything here is currently at powder coat to be black of some sort :

The head is also there and will be coated in bright aluminum

Valvetrain waiting to go in:

Goodies waiting for a home:
TT 276* cam
TT HD Springs
TT high flow valve guides
Lightweight lifters
mk4 Exhaust manifold

Bad iPhone pic:

Updates as of today:
Block and Trans Painted Satin Black
OBDI Head shaved .040"
Eurospec lightened flywheel w/ Sachs Sport clutch installed

[boraIV]

I have no idea, i just sent them my old lines to help them out and they sent me those back. When I contacted them about returning them, they told me to hold on to them.

Well... everyone should be up to date. I should have some more stuff to add this week.

[boraIV]

Quote, originally posted by Chrom0sexual »

lovin those mk3 seats

Those are actually UK spec Scirocco seats

[diive4sho]

what kind of paint did you use on the trans and block?

[boraIV]

Quote, originally posted by diive4sho »

what kind of paint did you use on the trans and block?

Dupli-Color Engine Enamel w/ ceramic. Semi-Gloss Black. I prepped them both like a mother****er so I hope they hold up.

[35i 2000]

Quote, originally posted by boraIV »

Those are actually UK spec Scirocco seats

they look perfecttt in the caddy... super old skool

[diive4sho]

thanks!
I did an alternator bracket and a few other engine bits in the duplicolor stuff too... they held up pretty well but none of the parts were subjected to high heat

[Muffler Bearing]

looking good.
good job beating the typical em kay eye vee owner stereotype.

[wantacad]

diggin it!!

[WCHLVR]

Quote, originally posted by Muffler Bearing »

looking good. good job beating the typical em kay eye vee owner stereotype.

Which one (in no particular order)-

Broke?
Haters?
Non-creative?
Non-motivated?
Angry?
Anti-Social?
Cheapskates?
Kings/Queens of shortcuts?

[Muffler Bearing]

Quote, originally posted by WCHLVR »

Which one (in no particular order)- Broke? Haters? Non-creative? Non-motivated? Angry? Anti-Social? Cheapskates? Kings/Queens of shortcuts?

was thinking more of the ones that get a stock rabbit with clean og paint and rattle can it, put cheap coils on it with a tacky headliner, then give up when it comes time for its first oil change because they don't want to get their pre-torn designer jeans dirty

[wantacad]

Quote, originally posted by Muffler Bearing »

was thinking more of the ones that get a stock rabbit with clean og paint and rattle can it, put cheap coils on it with a tacky headliner, then give up when it comes time for its first oil change because they don't want to get their pre-torn designer jeans dirty

Same guys with BIG PLANS and orange painted wheels on a blue emkay.

[Muffler Bearing]

Quote, originally posted by wantacad »

Same guys with BIG PLANS and orange painted wheels on a blue emkay.

1.8t, 16v on carbs, or vr6?

[wantacad]

Quote, originally posted by Muffler Bearing »

1.8t, 16v on carbs, or vr6?

VRT with AWD

don't forget the plaid cloth interior from Walmart.

[midwesta]

The guy who made my lines probably made the lines for Apex as well. I had the same little block you had but since my whole truck is stainless lines I cut the adapters off of it and just ran the lines how I wanted to with less slack cause my truck is slammed.

Crappy unfinished pic of them:

[caddy 2 dope]

its about time you posted that caddy over here in the mk1 forum

[boraIV]

Quote, originally posted by caddy 2 dope »

its about time you posted that caddy over here in the mk1 forum

haha. I picked up my mk4 tubular exhaust manifold today. I'll take it to get ceramic coated as soon as I find some mk1 motor mounts.

[Muffler Bearing]

Quote, originally posted by midwesta »

Crappy unfinished pic of them:

please tell me that's not what it looks like, because it looks like your only running one circuit to the rear brakes.

[andrew1984]

nice truck keep it up!

[livingez123]

please tell me that's not what it looks like, because it looks like your only running one circuit to the rear brakes.

Why not? I ran a single line to the rear on my track car with a nice bias adjusetr on it and all worked fine.
if he was going to use the little truck as a truck I would run both lines but if its just a weekend car and not going to haul anything he should be just fine with one line to the rear. You can also Tee both rear lines when they come out of the MC to one line also and be just fine.

[tobiwonkonobi]

Great wrk thusfar
nice execution of details and color choices

[boraIV]

Quote, originally posted by tobiwonkonobi »

Great wrk thusfar nice execution of details and color choices

Thanks Tobi, that actually means a lot coming from you! I was inspired by your all black motor, but there will be enough differences so I don't bite your stylee. Plus the truck won't be white.

[boraIV]

I just got a call this morning that my parts at powdercoat are done so once my 276° cam gets here from TT, the head will go back on along with the motor accessories.

I went to the JY this weekend and pulled some motor mounts but I still need the rear mount bracket that bolts to the tranny. Anyone got an extra laying around?

[Muffler Bearing]

Quote, originally posted by livingez123 »

Why not?

safety.

if anything happens to one of the front brakes and you loose pressure, both front brakes are gone and your left dragging your rear wheels trying to stop. they ran diagonal circuits from the factory for a reason. even if you loose one complete circuit, you will still have one front and one rear brake and you will have a better chance of stopping.

i only mention this because brakes only go out at the worst possible time... like when your flying down a hill towards a busy intersection at rush hour and your light is red and there are dozens of cars stopped in front of you and you just passed the last street that you could have turned down to try and scrub off some speed. this happened to me in another car that came from the factory with its brakes hooked up like in the picture above. it now has diagonal brake circuits.

[boraIV]

Got all my stuff back from powdercoat! It looks great. Pictures really don't do it justice with the polished bolts!

I'll try to get some better pics this weekend when i can roll it out in the sunshine

Since I got the head back, I also lapped the valves since the seats on this head were a bit rough and the valves didn't come in this one. It was pretty easy and actually kind of fun. Didn't take long at all.

Vid of lapping valves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHZC-h8EbqY

Just waiting to get my cam so I can button up the motor

[tobiwonkonobi]

Looks like you are trying to start a fire versus lapping
Texture and attention to detail looks great..keep at it

[AchtungA3]

Whoo! Looks great. Keep it movin'!

[eskimojoe]

my inspiration to get my truck in this shape!!! keep it going!

[boraIV]

Bolted on the head tonight and installed the rest of the valve train including TT HD Dual Valve Springs. Pretty easy to do. TT 276* cam should be here on Tuesday!!!!

Its starting to look like a motor!