Author Topic: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread  (Read 51290 times)

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #15 on: April 21, 2012, 05:10:01 pm »
Progress! Mint tailgate sourced - £65 seemed cheap compared to nearly £300 that VW wanted...


Masked up and had its first blow over of primer:



Next week it should be fully rubbed down and in primer ready for top coat.

Have been spending far too much time on t'internet trying to source little odds n sods for the rebuild. Am a bit shocked by how much is obsolete these days, 'til I remind myself this is a 20 year old car. Anyway, some fairly hefty orders are going into TPS and VW Heritage this week while I crack on clearing out the garage ready for the car's return.

Offline PeteG40

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #16 on: April 22, 2012, 12:39:01 pm »
nice one!

Offline cheys03

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #17 on: April 22, 2012, 03:09:32 pm »
Looking good there! Keep us updated :)

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #18 on: May 01, 2012, 09:17:57 pm »
Feeling very poor having just spent a fortune with VW/TPS and VW Heritage. Still waiting for the bits to arrive, and even then I've not been able to get everything I wanted!

New tailgate seal came from eBay:


Was supposed to be genuine VW, but it's about as genuine as the stuff you get from GSF these days... Anyway, the seal is the right profile and length, so it'll do!

Odds n sods
Time for another lambda boss in the downpipe. Unfortunately it's warped during welding, so waiting for an M18x1.5 tap and 16.5mm drill bit to arrive to sort it. Can't complain, a mate welded it for nowt.


Have never been happy with the old probe location as a probe there always seemed to read 0.5-1.0 AFR richer than at tailpipe. Meant for trouble come MOT time, so will see if this sorts it or whether it's a leak in the ancient Tube Torque pikey exhaust. Ultimately not too arsed as I'll be getting a custom downpipe made once it's back on the road to mate up to a shiny new PPP system I've got.

Cleaned the gearbox up with alloy wheel cleaner - before and after:



Cleaned up the water pipe from the back of the block and painted it in stove enamel (I knew there was a reason we paid a fortune to have a fancy wood burner fitted - free paint!):


Decided to get a load of bits powder-coated though, and threw this in with them. Should've been ready today, but have to wait to the end of the week.

Electrolysis for de-rusting
Promised to post some info on the electrolysis process to de-rust stuff. This is my setup:


Basically a big bucket filled with water and soda crystals. Then a sacrificial anode is added and connected to the positive of a power supply. I used an old steel baking tray for the anode which needs regular cleaning off with a grinder, but stainless steel works even better - though I think it makes the water a bit more toxic at the end.

You then insert the item to be derusted as the cathode and connect it to the negative supply. In my case I wired the rusty items up, wrapped the wire around the block of wood, and clipped on my negative supply lead.

I measured the current from the power supply, and found moving the parts closer together to get a current of approx 1.5A @ 14V worked well - otherwise you're waiting for hours and hours. Makes lots of pretty coloured scummy bubbles, but gets the rust off.

If you've got utterly fucked parts, this won't save them as it can't magic metal back that's no longer there! But it will save hours with files/wet n dry etc. trying to clean mildly manky stuff up. Might need to repeat it a few times with scraping down inbetween to remove the scabby bits, but worked well. Sadly no pics, as I forgot before dropping things off for powder coating!

Bodyshop update
And finally some more progress from the bodyshop. Was hoping to have it back this weekend, but I think that's unlikely now - should hopefully be in a final coat of primer when I see it on Friday again though!

First up, the 'Yoof' chassis leg re-inforcement:


Secondly, the VW repair manual re-inforcement plates on the inner wings - can't hurt, and made sense while it was in bits:


And finally, some stitch welding:

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #19 on: May 05, 2012, 08:24:01 am »
Few more pics from this Friday's trip to the bodyshop. Should be done by middle of next week! Pics of it in primer to follow.

Weld and filler, final bits of rust are fucked off:





Some higher resolution pics of the stitch welding and battery tray repairs, still in the process of being tidied up ready for primer. Metal used is plenty thick enough, so hopefully that battery tray will last at least another 20 years before deciding to rust to bits again!














The only brand new panel that I bought, and although it's not rusty, it's dented to buggery. Not initially apparent from the satin primer, but looks like warehouse staff or the couriers have played football with it. Still, it'll only require very very minimal filling, but it's still annoying! The secondhand tailgate I bought is utterly mint though and ding free.



Got some bits done by ASAP powder coating and blasting in Coventry. Turnaround was just over a week and was £60 for a big box full of brackets and things.





Sorted the lambda boss too. Time for the big shag drill bit and tap. Considering the bung that'd seized in there wouldn't shift I was expecting to be unable to resurrect the threads, but came out okay.




Offline cheys03

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #20 on: May 05, 2012, 10:34:56 am »
Great work Andy, really is steaming along

Offline breadman

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #21 on: May 06, 2012, 10:35:47 pm »
Coming along nicely Andy. :)
What did you use to remove the factory wax from under the bonnet in preperation for paint?

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #22 on: May 07, 2012, 07:51:54 am »
Seam sealer was scraped off with a sharp tool and heatgun - bodyshop did it uber quickly!

Offline djtez

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #23 on: May 07, 2012, 10:47:48 am »
Is this all going original colour again andy ?

Really liking the work done here.!

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #24 on: May 07, 2012, 11:58:45 am »
Yep, metallic mint again! Should look like a different colour given how much it's faded.

Offline djtez

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #25 on: May 07, 2012, 12:15:03 pm »
Awesomes!

should be a really strong shell.. like all the updated welds ..

The end results should be fantastic, keep up the good work the progress is brilliant

Offline breadman

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #26 on: May 07, 2012, 07:53:20 pm »
Seam sealer was scraped off with a sharp tool and heatgun - bodyshop did it uber quickly!

I did mean the factory wax as opposed to the seam sealer - that's fairly easy.
When originally applied the wax was sort of translucent but it normally ends up black as it attracts the dirt due to being slightly sticky. Can it be dissolved/washed off with thinners etc?

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #27 on: May 07, 2012, 09:14:38 pm »
What factory wax?

Offline cheys03

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #28 on: May 07, 2012, 10:14:54 pm »
That explains the battery tray!
In some spots around the engine bay there's some translucent-yellowish wax knocking about. At least in mine and the gf's bready. Personally only ever really noticed it around the alternator/engine mount and battery tray area. Before I knew what it was I cleaned some off with petrol.

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #29 on: May 07, 2012, 10:33:05 pm »
An F-reg Coupe S I had was covered in waxoyl type stuff under the bonnet, but the C-reg one I recently had didn't seem to have it anywhere.

Mine's never had paint in the engine bay before, and I'm not really one for cleaning stuff - so I assume a previous owner cleaned it off (12 years ago!) or that it never had it?