Caddy V4.0 - glutton for punishment

[autocross16vrocco]

Mmm High Life. That is what my projects are sponsered with.

Looking good so far.

[grizzlyone]

High Life sponsors most of my car work these days

Well I got V2.0 of the extended strut mounts made up today.

Before welding:



All done:



V2.0 is a 1.25" rise, vs my first pair (in white in the pics) which were a 1" rise

[91jetta_mike]

Keep up the work

*subscribed

[grizzlyone]

Ever wonder what the 'guts' of a MK1 control arm look like? Well here you go:



Cut them apart for the front and rear bushing portions to use in some new arms I had an idea for the other day. Here is the frame work of the first arm, and I used the wood table and screws to outline a jig for the 2nd arm to match:



And with both arms near done, one more than the other:



Still have to make up the bottom plate for the ball joint on both arms and weld that one.

Why?, you might ask did I do all this?

Well its hard to tell from the pics but the ball joint mounting location is angled a fair amount. And will position the ball joint parallel to the ground with the end of the arm 2.25" higher than the bushing mounts. Bascially this will set the ball joints parallel to the ground with the stance of my Caddy, vs with the stock arms the ball joints were fully maxed out at the end of their travel/movement. My hope and plan is that this will help out with the bump steer and twitchy handling due to the large static drop of the caddy. As a side note they weight about 2lbs less ea than the stock arms.

[deathhare.]

Hope it works.
Looks very cool regardless.

[_WCHLVR_]

Man... those arms look awesome.

When I was working on my "Z'd" arms I noticed something very interesting. All of the measurements I took showed that the ball joint mount is parallel but not perpendicular to the inner control arm mounts. It seems to be slightly forward of the front/inner control arm mount. Your new ones look to be perpendicular to the inner mounts. This may cause your front wheels to be moved back in the wells a little.

Just an observation... nothing more! Keep up the great work!

[grizzlyone]

I think that is the pic angle and the nature of not being able to see the arms 'stock', as all the points line up exactly with a stock arm.

Also spent yet another day sanding, filling, sanding, touch up, sanding, spot filling..........





Its amazing how long it takes to get this done right, I have so much more respect for those body guys and shops that do this all the time

[_WCHLVR_]

When I take a square, run it down the leading edge of the arm and line it up wit the control arm mount it will shows otherwise.

No worries!

[grizzlyone]

I meant that about the arms I made, not the stock arms

[grizzlyone]

Well after god knows how many hours of sanding, filling, and priming finally got some color on the bay:





Need to mask off the rest of the bay and get it all under color then can put the motor in and get going on more 'fun' stuff

[sk8ordie]

bays looking good dude. are you doing the firewall?

[_WCHLVR_]

I wish I had the patience to pull this off!

[Nashty Rabbit]

I wish I had the patience to pull this off!

funny, cause i'd have never used the word "patience" to describe anything about adam... guess working on his truck is what calms this grumpy old man...

looking good adam...

take care,
nash

[grizzlyone]

yes firewall and front core support are next, just wanted to get the sides where all the time was spent in color finally for some kind of payoff. The paint is single stage factory Mojave Beige and I cant express too much how happy I am with the color and flatness of it.

And Nash, I got your number son....and your Mom's

[grizzlyone]

Raintray holes are no now more, well all but the few I will still use:

[grizzlyone]

Well yanked the dash, seat and carpet. Both to clear the way for welding the lower firewall and to add more/new sound deadening

[grizzlyone]

Begun motor assembly,striaght out of the crate and on the stand:



lots of new and shiny to go on:



Head off with ARP studs and SPA spacer headgasket on:

[grizzlyone]

And now all together awaiting transmission:

[MicroCADDY]

loving all the custom work

[_WCHLVR_]

Really cool cam pulley. Who makes that beast?

[grizzlyone]

Really cool cam pulley. Who makes that beast?

Its a brand new piece from SPA Brazil, all billet alu

[airbornejet]

nice work....

[sk8ordie]

yeah that pulley looks gnarley

[grizzlyone]

Well new pics wouldnt show much, in detail mode at this point. Back to sand,fill, prime repeat mode on the last few holes in the firewall. I did decide to ditch the heater core hoses, and associated holes in the firewall. The final call to remove the heater core was sealed when I found a near perfect set of rado leather seats w/heat.

Engine is a little more compelte as well with some more details, basically the hold up now is finding a decent 02a/j to finish the assembly and get it in the bay to move forward with plumbing and wiring.

[grizzlyone]

And as much as I wondered if I would ever get the bay 'done' it finally is:





Now I can get the motor in, well that is as soon as I can get an acceptable 02a or 02j trans.....

[mk1daily]

There was some trading involved as well as cash money, but all in all ~$325 for this:

Jealous.

Truck looks good, keep it up!

[melmer]

And as much as I wondered if I would ever get the bay 'done' it

It turned out better than I thought it would

[grizzlyone]

Just got some new shiny from the machine shop:

[grizzlyone]

Finally sourced a B3 16v passat 02a trans, so now i can put the drivetrain in and begin the building of the trans mounts.

[grizzlyone]

Cut up a stock upper trans mount to get the 'ring' to use for making my 02a trans mount bracket. Also made some progress on my version of a crossmember support, its a piece of 1/8" SS:





Still need to add a few holes on top for the rad mount and to bolt the support in on the top, as well as fine tune the vertical portion and front mount holes.

[Nashty Rabbit]

hadn't been online in a while and glad i peeked in...good stuff adam...

can't wait to shower you with love and affection in 2 weeks...

take care,
nash

[grizzlyone]

hadn't been online in a while and glad i peeked in...good stuff adam...

can't wait to shower you with love and affection in 2 weeks...

take care,
nash

Aww shuks

Well motor is finally back in!






Now I can make up some trans mounts and get back to working on the wireing and plumbing

[grizzlyone]

The beginings of the upper trans mount:





I need more magnets,

[_WCHLVR_]

Lookin good!

[grizzlyone]

And one upper 02A trans mount all dont, well cept for paint:







Now on to the lower transmount