Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread

[Andy]

Started with the seam sealer on the newly repaired battery tray. I'd decided to paint it up first, so that any metal that didn't get fully covered with sealer at least had paint and lacquer on it. Once this has all dried it'll get primer, paint and lacquer again. Probably creating more work for myself, but meh.



Did the underneath too, looking nice and messy - prime aim here is to make sure it's fully sealed and lasts for another 20 years. It'll be hidden behind the dash, so I'm not aiming for pretty!



The underside is now primered, painted and lacquered too - will stick up a photo later. The battery tray side is getting seam sealer built up in the corner to level out the battery tray and ensure water doesn't puddle at the front. Taking my time to do that so it builds up a layer at a time.

Also removed the original B pillar trims and fitted brand new VW ones both sides. One side is obsolete, but I managed to get a NOS part from eBay - and the other side is still available through VW Classic Parts. The originals weren't bad, but as I'd got new door seals etc. too it made sense to freshen up all the trim!



Got the door vinyl trims to fit next - if anyone's got any fitting tips I'd love to hear them please!



Also weighed some wheels this morning too. The bathroom scales aren't the last line in weighing accuracy, but they'll do for now!



Results are:

Wheel	Approx Weight /kg
14x6" Golf Steel	8.5
14x6" Compomotive MO	7.5 (just under)
14x6" BBS RA	7.5 (just over)
185/50 R14 Yokohama A539 (new)	7.5

Thought that was interesting, conventional alloys saving about 1.5kg of unsprung mass per corner - which is useful, but not amazing!

[Andy]

Had treated a few rust spots on the boot floor back in the summer, so primered; painted and lacquered that yesterday.



Underside of the battery tray now painted too. Looks awful thanks to the scaggy welding and repair patches, not helped by the seam sealer - but it's water tight and welded up solidly now which is better than it was when it left the bodyshop.

[Andy]

Put the DKnight door trim stickers on tonight:




They look pretty good. I would worry about them not perfectly aligning with the B-pillar trims thanks to my application skills, but the originals weren't perfect either - and my new (OEM VAG panel!) door isn't quite milimetre perfect. The first photo is of the original passenger door, unmodified, and you can see that the lower swage line aligns perfectly - but the upper one doesn't. The second photo shows the new OEM driver's side door, which is aligned as a compromise between the two.

For those of you buying these door trims and worring about how to apply them, the vinyl seems to be a really decent thick quality so little air bubbles really aren't a concern. You can be pretty ham fisted and they still fit nicely, air bubbles are easily pushed out.

The rounded edges are for the window surround side, and the 45° edges are for the door edge side. I found it easy to fit if you get the first 5-10mm stuck down at the top door edge, and then work down slowly; peeling the backing paper off as you go and paying attention to how central the vinyl is on the door pillar. Worth noting that the vinyl is slightly stretchy, so you're initial starting point doesn't need to be 100% perfect.

So in summary, DKnight might be an agoraphobic hermit with a microphone head, but his stickers are reet bo - so buy them.

[Andy]

Cracked on some more with this at the weekend.

Painted up the driver's footrest thing. Wasn't going to bother, but there were a few bits of surface rust so it got Vactan'd and satin blacked.


Now all the painting in that area is done, I could put the servo back into position. Battery tray is still to do, but I'm waiting for some seam sealer there to dry as I've had to level out the corner of it with seam sealer to stop water puddling. Given the recent temps it's taking ages to cure!


Which meant that the pedal box could go back in, along with the steering column. With those done, I put the bulkhead sound deadening back in too (after a bloody good hoover out!). It was tearing in a few places, hence the gaffer tape.


Bumper iron bolted back on.


Secondary door seal bits were a pain to put back on, but only because the double-sided tape I've got is really narrow so it needed lots of strips of tape. Bodyshop had lost a few of the clips, but I'd remembered to nick some off one of the many cars Yoof's broken recently!


Started putting some of the trim back on. That's after a dose of heatgun too, so thinking I might need to shell out for new trim - or buy shares in Back to Black!


Powder coated engine mounts got the rubbers re-installed. The rubbers are pretty much brand new, so haven't replaced them. Forgot to take photos of the pikey puller I made to reinstall them - it was basically some 10mm bar with big lumps of metal acting like washers either end and a couple of nuts to tighten it all together. Worked a treat with some silicone spray and didn't damage the powder coating.




Finally, the tailgate got its badges back - for the second time in the rebuild! When it went back to the bodyshop for the battery tray 're-work'/bodging they repainted the bonnet and tailgate as they had a few blebs in them.

[z3i]

Enjoying reading this good work there
i did exactly the same with my batter tray. had a 6" by 2" hole!!!!! welded it all up and squirted an entire tube of terason seam sealer in there brushed it around, waited about 2 weeks for it to dry haha. primed, based then lacquered, then pumped an insane amount of cavity wax in there! i dont think it will rust, ever!!!

[Andy]

So, made some progress on this over Christmas...

Found a random bit:


Forum geekery identified the location for the missing part in the steering column - so that came apart:


Carpets went in, and I started tidying and re-routing the dash harness. The heater box foam seal was all knackered so I cut some automotive adhesive foam I'd got knocking around to shape and fitted it:


Reminded myself to sort a bigger oil cooler, mine's only a 13-row which with a turbo probably isn't enough. I think I've still got a monster one from my Saab 9000 Aero, so will have to dig that out.


Powder coated accelerator pedal installed, shite photo but it's nice and shiny!


Battery tray got its final colour coat. It's not quite the standard I was hoping for when I asked a bodyshop to sort it, but given the circumstances I'm fairly happy with the outcome. Just hope that it doesn't bloody rust again! Now lacquered too, but no photos.


Dug out the speedo cable to fit a new rubber grommet on it as the old one was fucked. Ordered a new grommet, but hadn't really crossed my mind that there's huge crimped-on lumps either end. Heated the new bit up and managed to stretch it over. Cut the old one off. Exciting stuff eh?!




After some good swearing, and a few skinned knuckles I got the dashboard back in, heater controls hooked back up and dashboard harness all clipped in. Took the time to tidy up the 'professional' immobiliser installation too. Might take a thief at least 60s to hot wire it now instead of 10s...


Have just rebuilt a set of clocks to go in, and then it'll be time to put in the chairs and door cards. Got some decent door membranes from SamG40 to fit too - cheers mate! Hoping to get an ETA from Gaz next week on my coilovers too, then I can crack on with fitting a G40 rear axle; rear discs and my 256mm brake conversion up front.

Now have a firm finish date for the project too, needs to be done by May - when this arrives!

[Alex]

Looking good! Seeing this and Mark's has made me want to get my interior and bay done. Think I'll be pulling everything out of mine once I've got a garage again, binning the shit bits and tidying everything up. Engine bay can wait a couple more years though.

My alarm installation was terrible at first too, I'm loathed to let another alarm fitter touch it because of the mess the first lot of VSIB-approved monkeys made. Slashed the door membranes, broke bits off the dashboard, lost loads of screws and drilled holes without painting the bare metal afterwards. The shock sensor was cable tied to the wiring loom, loosely. Great when you live next to a bus stop. That was the first clue that it was a bit shonky.

[Andy]

More progress at the weekend.

Bit of tinworm that'd got missed on the inside of the passenger door - had just given it a dose of rust eater, but it was a bit too deep for that, so got taken back to metal before re-treating.



Followed that up with a top coat of colour to protect it. Dropped a bollock and got some overspray on my newly repainted metal carpet strip, so will have to repaint that.

Got the 'refurbed' (ish!) speedo cable installed with new clips into the back of the dash, and new grommet.





Removed the masking from the battery tray area finally. Doesn't look too bad in the end.



I kept the aerial hole. I know most people don't, but I always liked the fact that my car looked pretty standard - and a whippy ancient aerial adds to the image of poverty-spec shopping car cheapness. So anyway, aerial back in.



Whipped the heater matrix/blower assembly apart to clean it. This bit had been removed whilst the car was painted, but for some reason got left inside whilst the car was sprayed - so it was covered in paint dust etc.

Cleaned the lot including the motor in solvent, and then used electrical contact cleaner on the motor before re-greasing the bearings. Going to need to back-to-black the plastic I think, but worth a try as a new assembly is £165ish! I did order a new matrix though, as hopefully it'll save me a job in the future if/when the originally finally decided to let go.







Re-glued the headlining into place wherever it was coming loose. Bulldog clips easily hold it into place while the Evostick dries and are easy to remove afterwards.





Managed to rescue my original door card membranes in the end. A clean up with solvent, touch of tape on a few small tears, and some double-sided tape and they were good to go. Can't seem to buy new ones any more, and I could've just cut up a bin bag - but it'd have been a pain to get the right shapes and cut-outs sorted, so I was pleased how these turned out.



Door cards on front and rear, and rear chairs in. Leaving the fronts out 'til I've got clutch and throttle cables installed. Makes installation easier and saves them getting dirty!





Going to be back to doing some oily bits soon, will do cambelt and some other odds n sods on the engine whilst it's out - and hopefully by the time I've done that my new suspension will've arrived.

[PeteG40]

- 1 point - should've painted steering rack mate!

but overall quality looks top.

[Andy]

Rack's coming out later, Kiz has a powder coated one for sale.

[Andy]

Tarted up heater unit back in, complete with new matrix and foam seals.



Front wiper linkage and motor back in too. Didn't feel flush enough to buy a new motor just for the sake of having another new shiny bit.



Door mirrors back on. The bases need some back to black!



Brand new door seals installed. These were fecking expensive for what they are, and a bit of a pain in the arse to fit perfectly - but I got there in the end. I'm hoping that having new seals will cut down on the wind noise!



Looking more like a car again - at least inside!





And a late Christmas present finally arrived. Shame that they've omitted the helper springs I spec'd, but hopefully they'll post those on to me.

[Yoof]

Front seats need a clean- too many brown trouser moments on them.

[dub-disaster]

what spec did you choose for your front collies in the end? i had to fancy around and pay twice to have them remade in the end to get mine spot on the measurements i wanted, they even kept my final drawings i asked for them back but they wouldn't let me have them! be interested to see if there now using my lengths for total body length and piston length as there original design had so little travel in it that a minimum of 275lb springs to stop it riding on the bump stops.Did you spec  these lengths yourself ?

I also had alot of problems getting the springs i wanted they have told me that they don't believe in helper springs they think there a waste of time, but the first set of collies i had went loose on full droop!
hope your gaz are correct first time.
love the work on the car and hope to see it soon.

[Andy]

I'll take some measurements Antony and PM them to you to compare. I asked for helpers with mine, but didn't get any - so (hopefully!) they're now posting some on to me. My setup clearly would need them to avoid the spring going loose in the seat on full droop. Currently not too impressed with Gaz, but the proof of the pudding will be in the driving!

[Alex]

I didn't get helper springs with mine, but I got them on a "special deal" so I posed the question but didn't moan much. I have the same issue though, the springs are loose when it's jacked up and the fronts clonk when I'm manoeuvring into spaces.

The fronts on mine are 275lb 7in springs, and they are hard, which I'm alright with, but I'll be interested to see how you get on with them. Quality wise they seem good.