Author Topic: My GT-G40  (Read 112538 times)

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #75 on: October 29, 2010, 08:11:15 pm »
Dropped the car off at Perkins Automotive for its winter refurb today - it'll be weird not having it around but it's for the best! I'll keep you all updated with pics of the progress.

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #76 on: February 02, 2011, 01:06:52 pm »
Long awaited update?

Some of you are probably wondering why I've not updated this for just over three months. I won't bore you with details, but as you probably know Max Power closed down in December. The announcement went out two weeks, to the day, after I dropped the car at Perkins and so we took the decision to leave it be until I knew where I was and what I was doing job wise.

New year, new start. I'm now freelance, writing for a wide range of mags (my first PVW feature is on the shelves at the moment) and so I've decided to get the project moving again. Unfortunately I don't have the internet at home (STILL) so I've tagged this update onto a little McDonald's WiFi leeching session. :)

Now some of you may be wondering why I'm refreshing my car. It's hardly a wreck.

Well, I've spent most of the last five years sorting the way it goes and handles. In the meantime, while I've hardly neglected the bodywork, it's become an old car. It'll be 20 in June! I had a quick respray back in 2004, which gave it a new lease of life, but as a cheap job the bodyshop masked around the windows, vinyl and bodykit instead of stripping it. That's fine, it didn't need much more than that at the time, but it's always bothered me that there are a few visible masking lines on the car.

But in the meantime it's spent time in a wet garage while I was getting press cars, picked up lots of stone chips and the paint has gone flat in a few areas. So it really wanted a tidy up.

Yesterday, I started the process of stripping the car. Now, before anyone comments, yes it is filthy. It's been sat inside a bodyshop overnight for the last 3 months, wheeled in and out to make room for customers' cars. Hence the mud and the dust.



The easiest place to start was removing the plastic trim. I've had the arches off before, back in 2001 when I lowered the car on its original Spax kit, but the rub strips and sill trims were still as they left the factory. So I spent yesterday afternoon carefully removing these, they need to go back on afterwards. And the relief is, all four arches have only light surface rust (coming from the rivet holes). A chunk of paint came off with the front passenger side arch but that's it. Bear in mind this is the original, untouched, 20 year old paint underneath.

 

The bit I was really dreading was the sill trims but it's the same story under there, all solid. A big relief, as I've seen a few Polos rotting badly here.
The area behind the filler neck is solid (despite the compost I found back there) and the bottom of the doors haven't gone either. The worst bit of rust I've uncovered so far is this, under the trim on the passenger side rear quarter, and there's some more in the boot on the suspension turret. I'm assured both are an easy fix though.



Removing traces of trim tape and the stuff I used to bond the arches on took most of yesterday afternoon so that's all I've got to report. I'm back next week for the next step - removing the windows, door handles and the rest of the trim. It's pretty much all bolt-off stuff from here, so no more gunk to remove.

The windscreen will be interesting. My A pillars were solid until I had my windscreen replaced, but they've since bubbled up. The seal is FULL of sealant (which actually stops it working properly) so we're going to cut it out and fit a new one. The rubber seals which go along the bottom of the door windows will be replaced too, as they're a bit shitty.



More next week!

Offline breadman

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #77 on: February 02, 2011, 08:07:48 pm »
I'll be following this with interest. It'll be superb with a 'proper' respray as it's a great spec car already.
Good luck with it Alex.

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #78 on: February 03, 2011, 12:18:48 am »
Thanks mate!

I'm really looking forward to getting it back here finished. All the delays have meant instead of collecting it in the next week or two read for UD it'll probably be ready in March sometime now. The Perkins guys have been great, so understanding and haven't taxed me for storage or rushed me to make a decision. It'll look awesome when it's done, just a shame I'm not getting my wheels now :-(

Might paint the Speedlines black for this year. They're ok but will look tired next to fresh bodywork.

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #79 on: February 04, 2011, 02:30:32 pm »
Just been on the Perkins site looking for some old build pics for a car of there's I'm trying to get featured. Found some stuff to show you!

Finish wise, imagine that rich grey but painted by one of the country's best bodyshops. They're quite well known for modified stuff but they're also in the classics game. As an example, here's one of the cars they painted before:



This is one they're working on now - the wing isn't bolted on at the bottom in this picture. It's a 1969 Porsche 911E Targa top. Full resto job.


And another - this was indoors at the NEC Classic Car Show:


I can't wait to get it back looking better than new! :) I've got a tub of Celeste Dettaglio wax waiting for it too...

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #80 on: February 08, 2011, 11:24:22 pm »
More progress today, though it'll look like I've done close to naff all.

First steps were getting a good idea of how good/bad the underside of the car is. So we pushed it outside and jet washed under the arches, behind the bumper and as much of the dirty bits as we could get to. Pushed it back in, up on the ramp and blow dried it with high pressure air to see where the rust-proofing was peeling off.



I had no idea the underside of my car was white until this morning!



Rust proofing is still pretty good, a few flakey bits but they'll be easy to clean up and re-cover. I'll be getting it all undersealed again next winter (budget doesn't stretch that far at the moment).

Rear valance is surprisingly solid too.



With that done, I got back to cleaning up the bodywork. The trim tape came off easily enough with a fudge wheel, but the bits I've removed and attached again (arches) had some stubborn stickaflex stuff to remove. Smelled awful when it was coming off.

I also had a go at the remains of the rivets that used to hold the sill trim and arches on. And, while I had the sander out, I decided to see what that spot of rust on the rear quarter looks like. It could be worse, but it's gone through in a couple of small spots. An easy repair, I'm told. Made me a bit sad when I saw them though. :(



Most of the afternoon was lost to the fudge wheel unfortunately, so the windows are still in. I found some interesting history under the passenger side door handle though. Someone tried breaking in outside my parents' house about ten years ago. You can still see the screwdriver mark.



So, this is how it looks now. Bumper, gutter trim, indicators and door handles came off today. I'm removing the windows, badges, headlights and front bumper on Thursday.


Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #81 on: February 11, 2011, 09:18:44 pm »
More progress today (a day late, I know)

But not a lot of pics. Sorry.

First step was removing the windows and stripping the vinyl from the b pillars.


The windscreen seal was knackered. I had the screen replaced on my insurance a few years back and the company who did the job made a real hash of it. The first screen leaked, badly, so they took it back off me and squirted silicone inside the seal. Made a real mess all over the screen and the paintwork too, so I made a scene in front of their other customers and got another screen out of it. But the seal was still full of crap, which blocked all the drain holes along the bottom of the screen. So I decided it wasn't worth salvaging and cut it out.


This unveiled a bit of surface rust all along the bottom of the screen, and these two blobs which I already knew about. Getting bad, but not holes (yet).


I spent the rest of the afternoon stripping the tailgate of its last few bits, then removed the rear lights. Looks like this now...


While the windows were out I removed the door cards in the back to see what it's like in there. Apart from the spots in the last post, it's solid as a rock in there. But the breather hose from the fuel tank is very crusty. I'm going to seal that up (as advised) to keep the inner wing waterproof. I'll vacuum the crap out of there too.

I'm heading back to Perkins on Monday, to remove the front bumper and headlights, strip the remaining vinyl and tidy the shell ready for prep, primer and paint. So from here on in, things will start to look better (rather than worse!).


Offline Justin14100

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #82 on: February 13, 2011, 02:57:58 pm »
Alex I really do love this car - cant wait to see it back on the road! I think its my favourite G in the country and the fact it was originally a GT is no shame on this example!
We will have to go to Ashby Folville when its done and its sunny.
Some pics of it here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antsphoto/3748696029/in/photostream/

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #83 on: February 13, 2011, 05:16:36 pm »
Thanks :)

And yeah I'd be well up for that - I'm keen to get it out as much as possible this year! Should be back with me in March, though I reckon it'll just miss UD unfortunately. Only because I'm doing a lot of the stripping and re-fitting of trim/windows etc. I reckon it'll be painted in the next fortnight, there's not much bodywork restoration to do. A collection of rust spots to rub down to bare metal, a couple of holes to fill, then it'll be primed, painted and ready for me to rebuild.

I'm dreading finding out how much a new window seal will cost. It's one of those annoying parts that will probably be a small fortune. :(

Offline Andy

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #84 on: February 13, 2011, 05:39:20 pm »
I don't reckon it'll be that much. I paid around £70 for a screen from VAG 3 years ago, so can't see a seal being silly money!

Offline NeilG40

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #85 on: February 13, 2011, 05:40:47 pm »
I bought one last year, I can't remember it being that much.

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #86 on: February 13, 2011, 05:42:49 pm »
I've set my limit at £20. Above that and I'll start to class it as a rip off.

The whole windscreen seal saga annoys the hell out of me. The people who fitted my replacement made such a hash of it, and then had the cheek to say it was leaking because it's an old car. FFS, it never leaked before. Bah!

It'll be nice to have one that isn't wrinkled because of all the gunk inside.

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #87 on: February 15, 2011, 07:17:19 pm »
Monday turned into Tuesday, I had a meeting yesterday so didn't make it up to see the car.

Today was a short day, but productive. It's now as stripped as it needs to be, ready for the bodywork to start.

Took out the headlights and the grille, then removed the front bumper. The bumper iron is filthy but it's not too haggered so I'm going to leave it where it is for now.


Since my last visit the guys had been around the car picking out dents and tiny rust spots to sort out. Marked here in masking tape, and there are a handful more on the other side. You can see in this pic I've finished removing the b pillar vinyl too. Baby smooth paintwork underneath.


Dropped the headlining and took the aerial off, then stood back to admire the bare bodywork. Here she is among the other projects at the Perkins workshop. Quite a mix!!


I've also got a fresh windscreen seal, a brand new one. There are a few packages on their way here over the next few days, and a few more to pick up from the local VW parts department tomorrow. :)

More pics later this week, but they won't be mine. I can't get back up until early next week, but Perky and Adam will be taking photos as they go along so I'll keep you informed.

Offline xandyx

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #88 on: February 21, 2011, 02:11:44 am »
Alex, are you still searching for a windscreen seal?

I found this one on ebay, it's brand new!

http://cgi.ebay.de/Dichtung-Frontscheibe-VW-Polo-86c-G40-GT-/160517840846?pt=Autoteile_Zubeh%C3%B6r&hash=item255f9bdfce

greetings

Offline Alex

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Re: My GT-G40
« Reply #89 on: February 23, 2011, 01:31:14 pm »
Only minor updates today. I'm up to my eyeballs in work, which has stopped me getting back over to the bodyshop.

Parts collection mostly. First up, a trip to Kettering VW to collect these - it's the trim for the driver's side seat mechanism and all the rivets I need to put the arches and sill trims back on. OE FTW.



Of course, OE doesn't always come up trumps. So I got Dan at Volkswagen Stickers (volkswagenstickers.co.uk) to make me a full set of factory vinyl warning stickers for the car. They're exact replicas of the originals, most of which are pretty haggered now. All in the details!



You may have spotted I'm not renewing the vinyl that goes inside the number plate tub. I'm not sure whether to bother so I'm leaving it. I think it makes the biggest difference on lighter coloured cars anyway. You can just make it out in this picture:



The tube the stickers came in made the postie blush too  :lol:


Aiming to head over for bodywork prep late this week or early next. Probably the latter, but I'll keep you posted.