Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread

[Andy]

is your baby giving you the finger?

Yeah! Got her to pose for Uncle Yoof.

[Andy]

Did possibly the world's slowest oil cooler installation.

Started by making a bracket to mount the cooler matrix:


Hung some angled aluminium off the bobbins I used to secure the intercoooler at the top.


Scalloped out the angled ally so the airflow over the matrix isn't obscured:


Tapped the ally and stuck bolts in from underneath. Made it easy to stick the matrix on top with washers and nuts without having to get a spanner on the bolt head.


Pipework routed from take-off plate to matrix. Took me ages to find a route I'm happy with. There's velcro on the edges of the intercooler just in case the hoses rub, and then a couple of P-clips to the bumper iron to stop the pipe flapping.


The finished product:


Crankcase breather hose routed along the inner wing next to the boost hose.


The hose then pops through the inner wing into the cavity behind the front bumper, where yet more angled aluminium came into play to mount the catch tank. Need to get the catchtank modified to fit a drain plug, but should work well as I've got the fog lamps cut-out, so will be easy enough to drain.


PPP exhaust system fitted to my turbo downpipe. Put an extra clamp on the downpipe so I could still use the original downpipe bracket hanging off the back of the block.


More aluminium bracket used to hold the airfilter in place. Drilled the end of the filter and stuck a bolt through the end so I could easily secure it to the bracket. My previous arrangement used cable ties, which took about 5% of the time to make fit - but used to pull the turbo inlet hoses around as the filter could still flap about - and had a few split because of it. Hopefully no such issue now.


Bolted the ECU back in, currently tidying up and re-wrapping the wiring looms.


All new washer hose etc. plumbed back in. Added an inline non-return valve which should hopefully help the washers work a little more quickly.


Whilst trimming the front bumper to fit around all the new front-end additions, I remembered that 2 out of the 3 upper bumper mounting features had snapped off. Whipped out the soldering iron and picked up some bumper trimmings from the floor to use as filler, and plastic welded them back together.


Re-fitted clutch and throttle cables, and various odds n sods including the wipers. It's been taking ages as I've taken to cleaning stuff up and painting things before re-fitting, which really isn't like me!

Filled the engine and gearbox up with oil earlier too, so really just wiring left to do...

[Andy]

MOT tomorrow...

Few more bits to do, got the roof gutter trims and door rub strips to re-apply, but they can be done after the MOT. Also got it booked in for a full geometry setup on Thursday - as long as it passes the MOT!

After that I need to re-fit and re-wire the gauges and then spend some time mapping it properly.

[Yoof]

Man this looks fecking awesome.

[gaz g40]

Two words     Pure stealth!
Looks bloody awesome man!

[breadman]

Looking superb Andy, it's a real sleeper.
Good luck with the MOT too.

[Alex]

Stunning! I love it!

[Robin]

Looking great there Andy.

You taking it to CoG along with yoof?

[z3i]

Looks awesome! Ultimate sleeper!

[Etches]

Great job Andy, looks class!

[samg40]

Let us know how the MOT goes.

[Andy]

MOT'd. 

Now off to the tax shop.

[samg40]

Nice one! Will it be at pod in a few weeks then?

[Andy]

Possibly! Planning on using it a bit to sort any teething issues with the new setup, so will see how it goes. Should have more confidence in it after taking it to Centre Gravity tomorrow for full geometry setup tomorrow.

[Tav]

Bay looks great!