Bariman82's 1998 Jetta restoration

[Bariman82]

I hadn't heard of Ospho. Thanks. The plan is to use the whole POR 3-step process. I hear you can do it on clean metal, but you have to use their converter/etcher stuff.

[DukeDKT442]

Ospho isn't a paint, just an acid (similar to POR's Metal Ready), but works 1000x times better, since it is designed for much harsher marine environments. Spray it on, walk away; come back in a half hour, rust is gone.

When using POR, I always try to avoid getting to completely clean metal; but when I do, I'll take course sandpaper to it to manually etch it before applying the metal ready.

[mhjett]

I'm almost tempted to do the heater core just because I've got everything taken apart. (

Having just done the heater core on my mkIII, I would strongly recommend doing it while the car's that far apart.

[cabriosnap]

ospho is the ****. i use that on just about every midl steel substance before paint prep. it will seal off rust and help with keeping cancer of the metal to a minimum. kinda ****ty to apply, smells terrable, but well worth the coin

use it right after you wire wheel the surface

[Bariman82]

Is Ospho a top coat, or do I need to topcoat it? What do I use?

[cabriosnap]

use while the metal is clean and bare, then primer over it

[harlequin80]

WOWWWWWWWWWWW

I thought my car was bad

Good luck on those floors/rocker panels.

[shuttle pilot]

So you're saying to use POR on the panels, reachable areas and seams that haven't opened or rusted, and then use rustproofing oil in the rusty seams? So I don't seal over the rustproofing oil with anything?

The best way to put it is that POR15 is not the full cure. They advertise it well. At the end of the day, it is thick paint that tries to shield the underlying metal from oxygen. If the seal is ever broken, bad things start to happen again.

Clean everything and apply your paint over everything. Afterwards, apply rust proofing oil to all the seams because that is where POR15 will crack first. Double protection. Reapply rustproofing oil yearly before winter.

[Bariman82]

Thanks for the clarification. I was going to use seam sealer on all the seams, but if I did that, then I can't ever get to them.

Didn't work on the car yesterday. I spent most of the day running around trying to get a '64 Bus roof shipped out. Today's not looking good either.

[DukeDKT442]

http://www.ospho.com/

[LucidDisarray]

Sub'd

[Bariman82]

It's been awhile, but I've been hard at work. It's a lot of wire wheeling, but I'm almost done. On the underside, I have both floorpans, the backseat, the trunk, the spare tire well, and half of each inner fender done. Now, I'm about halfway done with the tunnel. This week, I want to finish the tunnel, inner fenders, front frame, and wire the garage for 220V so I can use my dad's welder. Next is to start on the inside!

I've come to terms with the fact that the rust has gotten into the seams and a little into the rear frame. I just want to do my best to treat or convert what I can't see and hope for the best.

I need a good chemical stripper to polish off the primer and undercoat that the 4" wheel can't reach. I bought some Klean-Strip aircraft stuff yesterday and it seems worthless on paint and primer. It just barely softened the undercoat. I have Eastwood's Undergone and a few cans of their Internal Frame Coating on order. Anybody use a good one? I need the nastiest one I can get.

[Bariman82]

I found a great chemical stripper today; Mar-Hyde Tal-Strip II. It just wrinkles paint and primer right up. It's not too effective on undercoat though.

I'm almost done wire wheeling the tunnel. I sprayed some stripper in there and we'll see how it looks tomorrow.

[Bariman82]

These pictures come from the tunnel. They show why I have to grind the thing down to metal. Rust starts UNDER the primer. These cars were doomed from the start if that's how the rust starts.







I finished the tunnel today, and work continues on the front frame horns.

[Mk3newb]

Good Job! keep it goin

[Bariman82]

The past two days have been filled with something that's not MK3, but we'll get to that in a minute. I got the exhaust manifold off today. I have been plagued with a 3000rpm rattle from the heatshield since the day I bought the car. Today, I got sweet, sweet victory.


Rare split two-piece exhaust gasket


...and another picture of my crusty block.


But the real news is in the house. I'll give you a hint: I have a hot tub in the yard, but it is no longer wired up. I cut the tub wiring, and on the electrical box end, I put a receptacle. See that black plug in the upper right?


That black plug goes to this receptacle in the garage...


Ding ding ding! I now have 50A service to the garage! Let the welding begin!

[bagged_hag]

I am glad to see that you are still plugging away at this car man! You are making more progress then I would ever have even considered doing on that car!

[optiks]

NICE ! i actually am using a brand new miller 211 autoset for my resto thats

[dankvwguy]

this is the reason why im replacing all of my floor plugs before winter hits and here is a reason why im glad my mk3 golf is from atlanta georgia (in the pic thats just dirt..no rust)

bought my jetta in SC and thankfully it had never seen winter. the thing is still 99.9% rust free 14yrs after it was made

[Bariman82]

bought my jetta in SC and thankfully it had never seen winter. the thing is still 99.9% rust free 14yrs after it was made

Yeah, shut up.

[Bariman82]

Here's some more engine block crust. I'm disassembling it for blasting and painting.

[Bariman82]

I rolled the engine outside this morning and got started around 9:30. I got it pretty well stripped.


There was lots of cleaning and bagging of parts and such, so it took all day. I'd like to blast the block clean and paint it. With the white car, and the soon-to-be black engine bay and frame, I need contrast. My high school hand-me-down car was a '70 Impala with a 350 under the hood. I sure liked that Chevy Engine Orange. Hmm....

I'm torn on digging into the engine further. It smells a little like burning coolant through the interior vents. It was especially noticeable last winter with the heater on at a stoplight. I can't see anything leaking between the head and block, but I suppose that doesn't mean that it isn't burning it. I'd like a new headgasket and studs. The other reason I'm considering this is because the engine has been overheated a few (probably three) times, all my fault. I'd like to get a surface machined onto the head, just in case. I don't need to touch the bottom end at all. It doesn't burn oil and just runs too dang well.

I also need exhaust studs. Maybe new crank and intermediate shaft oil seals too. I'm kinda having fun. It was nice to get away from the body for a day.

[dkashbmx]

9 years in Illinois and the car managed to rust that much? We have a 95 California Jetta GLX and it doesn't have one spec of rust on it. Our 97 Trek has a bit, but only from where all the dings are (it was a city car in the North East).

What are you guys doing over there, salting the roads for fun?

Thats why you should never buy a Chicago Native vehicle. No matter what, your gonna find rust. I refuse to head that way for a car.

[Bariman82]

My first attempts at welding a patch in the backseat failed pretty good. I have no trouble laying a bead on the panel itself, but when I try to tack the butt joint, it blows through. I need to practice.

I went back to the engine and got it on the stand. How does this look to you guys?

The debris fell in when I took the headgasket off. The gasket came off in two parts. It seems deteriorated.


There's some carbon on this piston. What is the discoloration between this cylinder and the one to the left?


The exhaust valves are a little ashy. I'll be getting the head resurfaced. How many of this parts can I reuse? Springs, seals, intake valves?


I've built a few air-cooled VW motors, including the hi-po one I'm driving right now, but this is my first foray into water-cooled.

[Bariman82]

I haven't posted for a month, but I've been busy. The block and bottom end parts are at the machine shop. They are measuring the journals and bores and baking the block in the oven. When it comes back, I'll paint it and order bearings and pistons.

I also really had to work on my welding the past few weeks. Doing this thin metal is tricky, to say the least, and even made worse by trying to buttjoint the pieces together. What seems to work best is cranking the power up and tacking around the entire piece. On my practice pieces, I got the welds looking pretty good. On the car, not so much. Part of this is because I used the grinder to clean the metal instead of the wire wheel. This is a problem because the grinder removes too much metal, making a bad situation worse. It's a learning process.

Onward. They're ugly, but they penetrated and won't be seen under the sound deadener and seam sealer. I've since turned the power down a little. There's a lot of burn-through; that's why the tacks are all over the place.
First one! This and the next one were two of the studs that the brake line clips screw onto. Luckily, I still have a few studs and clips to secure the lines with.


Another.


This is in the backseat where the two rubber plugs are. I did it in three sections, the right, the left, then the middle.


This is the middle section that I made.


I have three more floor patches to make. Then, onto something else, either the driver's rear fender or the driver's rocker.

[dubbinslowly]

MORE

[Bariman82]

I went back to the very first patch I made, not yesterday's, but a month ago. The one that told me that I needed A LOT more bench time before I tackled the car. It was a lap joint with about 1/2" overlap and 1/8" gap. Snotty and piled high.


I made a new one.


Welded in.


This little template has been helping me get the curve of the floors correct.


There are some areas where it seems like I'm getting better. I've turned the power down, so there's less spatter. It's a fine line on this thin stuff between not getting any penetration and blowing right through. Get as tight a fit as possible between the patch and the panel, and you're better off.

During the last month, the scope of the project has changed. This is not going to be a pristine resto show car, nor will all the rust be gone. It has gotten into the seams. What I can get to, will be wirewheeled down or replaced and what I can't get to (short of drilling out spot-welded panels) will be treated/coated and hope for the best. I just want another five years out of it.

[vr6dubnut12]

awesome work, keep it up!

[bagged_hag]

I am amazed at the work you are putting into this car, I hope you get 15 more years out of it! After all this work you would deserve it

[Ilich]

attitude

subsctribed

[Stealth_TDI]

Nice work!

I'm almost tempted to do the heater core just because I've got everything taken apart. Honestly, I guess it wasn't that bad.

Some would say, "Don't fix it if it ain't broke." I'm one of them. But it's way too easy to swap that baby out while it's staring at you than have a leak form after you button it back up. I'd even go for a factory part, $136.88 at 1stVWParts!

Scott

[Bariman82]

Thanks, folks. It's nice to hear. Stealth, you haven't been the first to mention the heater core. I admit, it's very tempting. On the other hand, if it breaks next year, the job will go more smoothly because I've already taken the dash apart once, and all my wires will still be marked.

[Bariman82]

I thought I'd show my process for patching rotten sections, for those that might not know.

Identify the rotten section and cut back to good metal. Obviously, this will vary depending on your situation. This particular piece had some pinholes and heavy pockmarking. I just cut the whole thing out instead of welding over them.


Cut a section of metal larger than the hole and clamp it in place. I used Volkswagen special tool number 867-5309WTFOMG to hold it.




I assign my pieces an orientation so that when I cut and test fit, I always test fit the same direction.


Take an awl and scribe a line around the perimeter.


Here are your lines.


Cut on the outside of the lines. Remember, safety glasses and earplugs. Seriously.


What you don't see is the countless test fittings and trips back to the grinder. This section of floor does have a curve, but it was so slight that I just hammered the floor to meet the patch. Eventually, you have a piece that fits. Wire brush the edges clean and hold it in place with a magnet.


Weld it in.


Weld quality is still snotty, but there's penetration, and like I said, this won't be seen. The rockers will be another story.


The end, for now...

[harlequin80]

Looks like a bunch of pinholes in the welds. If I were you I would be lap welding the pieces in. Doesn't make sense to be butt welding something that thin especially in an area it wont be seen.

You are further than me.......all I've done is cut holes, haven't gotten to welding them back shut yet hahaah

[Bariman82]

I appreciate the good eye. They're not holes, but rather an imperfection that showed up today and not on the last one I did. I'm about to weld in another patch; we'll see how this one turns out.