Author Topic: Mk1 G40 Turbo  (Read 74849 times)

Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #30 on: August 17, 2012, 02:13:49 pm »
Finished the 14" Jetta rim refurb at work (mucho de-scaling & rubbing down) then they got fr-fr-fr-fr-freshened up with some Mercedes 'Iridium Silver' paint and a generous coating of laquer..... It's a bit darker than your average wheel silver with a bit of a dark flip in it (the flash didn't bring it up that well), and I reckon it's gonna look mint  8)   well chuffed.  I'll get into some R14/185/50's in Yoko's A539 compound later on in the project. Planning on just crowning them with the original Mk1 hubcaps (in the true sense of the word) and black wheelnut caps.

RET-RO!!!



Offline Andy

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #31 on: August 17, 2012, 08:54:46 pm »
Yes my son. I'm liking the way this is going, correct tyre choice too! ;-P

Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #32 on: September 04, 2012, 10:28:56 pm »
Cheers Andy - I've always been a fan of A539's, had them on my GT and have got them on my Mini too and it corners like a housefly  ;)

So I've made some progress and spot welded the sills top & bottoms + finished all the sequence stitch welding and grinding around the whole of the rear corner. This was signified by the standard spray of primer across the finished areas!



How satisfying.

I went out tonight to have a look at starting the next corner on the hit list (front left) and first up was a nasty couple of holes on the front face of the 'A' pillar, where (on a Mk1 at least) a 'Z' shape piece of metal bolts to, which holds the back edge of the front wing. The problem was, that the whole front surface had been made thinner by surface rust right across the whole face. Wanging a finger through the hole seemed to find sound metal on the back face but the front face was badly pitted. I've seen & tried welding to this metal before, and most of the time hitting it with a MIG weld obliterates it, and you end up with a larger hole than you started with and chasing it around before giving up, cutting out and replacing the whole panel.

So I was concerned. I only wanted to replace the front face in it entirety as a last resort as the metal is still thick enough and the holes small enough to patch - if it'll take. Nevertheless, it was the next hole round and so the next to be tackled.

For the first time on this bodyshell, things went my way. I cleaned the pitted metal up locally with a wire-brush cup on my grinder (violent thing, but doesn't half clean sh1t up!) made a patch, let it in & held it with magnets, crossed my fingers and hit it gingerly with the MIG. It took, patches done, 'A' pillar finished, bish bash bosh. I'll rust kill the rest of the face tomorrow. What could of taken a month (with the amount of time I get to spend on the project) took an hour.





Anyway with my good luck used up it's time to get into inner front wing and front panel. Lot's to go at there - it looks bad from the outset so I can't see there being many surprises there!

first picture is a view from the 'A' pillar looking towards the front LH corner...





It's looking like I'll get a bit of time this weekend, knowing me most of it will be used as thinking time working out what order to do it in and what to remove first! As the saying goes.... measure twice, cut once.






Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #33 on: September 16, 2012, 08:01:57 pm »

So last weekend I made a start on the inner wing top (the face the outer wing bolts to) as there were some pieces rotted away & such. I patched it up, as 75% of it was 'aight and it was simple enough to let some bits in.





Then got back today (Sunday) early afternoon to finish off what I'd started in the week and pulled it back from this....



to this!





I'm making progress with the front end.

Our lass is away this week, so I'm hoping to get the other side to the same state - as it looks in slightly better nick to start with anyway (arguably - let's see what the grinder reveals; as you know, it's not been very kind so far) then I can shut the new lower front panel on next weekend. THEN, my friends, I can see the light at the end of the bodywork tunnel!!!! (of course when I say this, I'm only talking about getting it back to being a solid shell. I'm leaving out all the other stuff like stitch welding the legs & turrets, welding in seat mounts and messing about with the bulkhead for massive servo action.)

In other news, a while ago I picked up a Passat configuration K03 for the build. It never looked great to me - bit dirty, some bolts missing which hold the cold side ally housing on, and the odd sheared stud - but for £36 I wasn't arguing, I can sort it for that. Anyway, reading Yoof's thread and seeing the troubles he had with his Garrett AiResearch monster and the route cause, I revisited said turbocharger for another look....



Mr. 'Slightly bent blade end' looks like it would make it wail like an ambulance and not achieve the boost I'm looking for. Who knows. Anyway, it was enough for me to sack it off in my own mind and look for another when one popped up - which it did this weekend and I won for 41 notes on eBay! S'all good, as I wanted a sh1tter I could play with anyway as I'm not going the rothe route - not enough space for a decent FMIC on the Mk1 so I've got other plans - watch this space, bit of R&D coming your way! Hopefully this one will be a bit better. Fingers crossed - it's looks all good and it's not a chinese copy. If it's not I'll try and construct one good one of the two. Shouldn't come to that.


Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #34 on: October 05, 2012, 06:25:00 pm »
YEAHMAN - new turbo's a beaut  ;D £41 well spent. She'll easy be rate, so I'm pleased with that. Gives me some spare components too if 'sh1t' ever turns to 'happens'.

On the body front I've patched the top of the drivers side inner arch - it turned out to be mid-way between better & worse than I thought it would be (Meh.) so that's sorted too now.

Long & short of it is that I'm now onto the front panel. So I measured the vehicle centreline and looked where to shut it in, which will be just below the row of spot welds fixing the inner & outer together, defined my my sketchy blue line...



Then I attacked it with a slitting disc and began to remove it in sections. Believe it or not, I found filler down here too. This car must literally be 3mm longer & wider with all the filler I've found. FFS. Anyway, the fecking lot's coming out, as you already know.



So the central section of the inner panel will be ok and came up 'aight with my cup brush on the ode angle grinder after this picture was taken, but both sides need patching - standard  :-\  so I've patterned, cut out & tacked in the first side - will hopefully do a bit more a bit more tomorrow. The 'first' side I've done is the passenger side (LH) and it's all a bit strength critical there as inner inner panel I'm shutting into forms part of the engine mount 'box' where all the panels meet so I've done a good deal of prep and stabbing with a screwdriver to make sure it's all sound down there. It is, luckily. While I'm in there though, I'll STITCH IT UP GOOD!


Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #35 on: November 01, 2012, 07:05:50 pm »

Alright, cool - so here's the deal.

Patched the inner front panel after taking all the old spot welds out then hit it with primer and paint. As it's boxed in, it just needed protecting from the elements. Then I shut the front panel up to it - all gravy. The next thing to do was to have a decent look at the sides of the front panel, below the headlamp cavities and above the new lower panel. Once I'd hit it with my trusty cup-brush it looked like this.



It look 'aight from the outside if you squinted, but from the inside...



Na-uh. It's coming off. So I got my lop-saw out.





I made two patches, as both sides needed doing. so I cracked on and to cut a long story short got the first side tacked up. It doesn't look like the light-lines match up but I can assure you they do.



Sweet. Then I did the other side too. Part of the original face where the outer wing will butt against it remains on this side, so I only shut the front piece in.



Before I weld the whole shi-bang up (lower front panel and both side patches) I'm going to hang both doors and newly patched outer wings, front grille and bumper. The last thing I want is to piece it all together after it's been painted looking like it's had a stroke. It'll be a major line-up / cut & shut sesh to get it all picture-perfect. I'm not looking forward to it, It was a nightmare with the Mini.

Anyway, here's how it looks at present...



Then I set about stitch welding up the chassis leg & suspension turret on the L/H side, also strengthening the gearbox mount. Unfortunately, all the gobbo (also know as weld-through primer - fine with spot welds, not so much with MIG stitching) and underseal melts as soon as you hit it with a welder, making it very hard to pull off nice tidy welds. Maybe you don't have that problem with shoddy Spanish built Mk3's but Wolfsburg when a bit mental with the whole e-coating & sealing on the Mk1. It's a pity they didn't role out that philosophy to the edges!!!

Smokin' !



One side all done...



Chassis leg strengthening A LA Yoof...










Offline dan182

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #36 on: November 01, 2012, 08:59:27 pm »
Nice project mate mini looks great cant wait to see it done

Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #37 on: January 13, 2013, 03:47:07 pm »

Hi Guys, happy new year  :)

So after a bit of a break (and tinkering with the Mini over Christmas) I thought I'd best get on with the Polo. So before Crimble I'd finished strengthening up both chassis legs and stitching the engine bay. I hung the doors & wings and then altered the bottom of each wing (from my initial patches early on in the build) to get the fit as best I could to the new lower half of the front panel (not being a bodywork man really) and I'm pleased with the result. Any small differences there are will easily be rectified with minimal filling.





So along with the doors & wings, I dressed it with headlamps (+ took the opportunity to re-drill the holes that were in the metal I'd replaced) grille - again, putting the retaining slots back in the new metal and hung the bumper too.

Then checking there were no chavs & scallies about, swung open the big garage door briefly so I could look at it head on and make sure it all looked straight & true before fully welding up the new lower front panel.

She's a little minter....





So I'm happy enough with that. The eagle eyed of you will notice that as we look at it, there's a larger gap between the grille & bumper top on the left-hand side (once the bumper is hung.) I'm not worried about that - it's a bumper setting issue. once I took the bumper off & checked it again it was all sound, and it measures up the same each side.

Doing this has posed a question though. My plan was to run the original grille & bumper combo with a Mk1 golf GTi duck-bill spoiler below. But It might look pretty sweet with just the grille & duck-bill....

This raises a few issues though. 1) What would I do with the back, as it's a bit pig-ugly without the bumper there? 2) Any imperfections in my repaired front panel would stand out a mile, so it would have to be bob-on. Don't get me wrong folks - it's not far off but it's not a brand new panel, as it's easier to get hold of rocking horse sh1t.

Will probably revert to plan 'A' and run with all the original kit. It's what I had planned in the first place. That bumper weighs a tonne though. There's a massive steel member behind the plastic exterior, so it might get put on an intense diet before it goes back on.

Yeah man, I'm pleased. So I've stripped it back down and have started to fully weld on the lower front panel. Once that's done, there's only a few finishing bits to do on this side before turning it round and getting on the home straight!


Offline Yoof

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #38 on: January 13, 2013, 04:20:07 pm »
Looks sweet, amazing how a pair of lights and grill make it looks almost complete.

What's that awesome piece of engineering resting on those steel wheels??  :D

Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #39 on: January 13, 2013, 05:14:33 pm »

Haha yeah - makes me want to throw an engine in it and call it a ratty!!!

Hey, y'all can't f%ck with BL's finest 5 porter!  ;) Just a head to dimension for some draughting work I'm doing.

Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #40 on: December 29, 2013, 07:48:49 pm »
Yeah that's right guys, the last post was in January. Dang. The good news is, i've sorted the bathroom since then and done a whole lot of other work which keeps our Lass happy too, so I can now update you with the Polo and what's been going down.

So I turned it round. Now it's easy street - lets tart up the 'good side' then throw the engine at it for a dry build! This should be easy, this side is much better; besides, i've been using this drivers side as a datum for the passenger side.

It didnt take long to be thrown back into the depths of despair (and blaming my brother for gifting me a sh1tter.) In fairness, Jess sat me down and told me i'd done too much to scrap it (although I felt like it) so the build continues in the same way - cutting it all out, doing it right.

Picture time. So upon tackling the 'good side' I brushed a grinder across the panels to find out how much bog was kicking about...



Turns out a lot more than I thought and suddenly my 'datum' was looking a bit shakey. Anyway, the inner sill was fine on this side but the front of the outer was a bit gnarley. The whole lots didnt need replacing, so I just shut the front portion in instead.



A tiny section of floor needed patching - no great shakes.



Hey - there's nothing new here, I did the other side too - BOOM! (and the rust was gone.)





Anyway, that was a bit of fun compared to the next bit. Without going into war & peace (which I'm sure a lot of you think this is anyway!!) where it's fair to say I didnt need to replace the inner sill on this side, it still had it's own set of nightmares which involved cutting good metal away to get to the bad stuff behind. Here we go again.

So basically I wound up cutting a whole corner off again after finding such delights as these on closer inspection....





and wound up with this. Yeah - only cut this much away when you know where your datums are. Mine is the new inner sill flange you see. It all starts & ends there. New chassis legs goes to it on the inside, inner & outer sill go to it on the outside.

Thought it was best to support the floor at this point!



I cut this rascal out first (good metal to get to bad behind it) knowing she'd go back in easy enough.



Then I caught a cheeky glimpse of the other chassis leg I'd made for the first side and it spurred me on boys, it spurred me on.



So I knocked out this BEAUT.



But as when looking at the axle mounting plate it was blistering with rust a bit, I had to cut some of that away too! And more importantly, put something proper solid back in and make sure it all ties together. One of those plates in there is high-tensile. I know this because it turns out you can't weld to it! Lukily I didnt need to it was ok, but I slammed it a 3mm brace piece to make sure shiz was tied up nice & tight before capping it off with the leg. You can see what I cut out of the mount plate in this picture, and the 3 mil badboy. I dont f*ck about.



Yeah, so things were coming on and slowly sh-aye's coming solid again after years of neglect. Well, maybe not neglect. When these repairs were done it wasn't a classic so no-one really cared if there were a couple of cheap year's motoring in the bargin! You see, the problem is that as it's been patched - twice on this side too, my repair panel wasn't big enough as they'd obviously used the same one in the past!! So I cut it out, and extended my new repair panel upwards...



And with the inside sorted, it was time to crack on with the outside starting with the patchwork quit which is the inner rear-quarter panel. Once that was made good, then I could weld the good metal I cut out, back in!



YEAHMAN - now we're getting somewhere. Could probably ditch the floor-supporting jack but nuts to that - it's doing no harm and i've got other stuff to do!

In order to make the inner wing/arch, I need to have the outer on so I can pattern up for it or i'd wind up in all sorts of strife. So first port of call is getting down & dirty with the section of sill which needs to go on, which also forms the bottom of the rear arch. So this need to be spot bollock or the pattern I made won't fit and it'll look shite and need loads of bog to sort it out.

So I lengthened the top of it so it gets passed the old repair panel which you already know. As this repair panel has obviously been pressed more times than 'The Sun' the tooling is worn and although the panel fits, the style line doesnt match. It's about 5mm out. So I shut the panel 5mm below the style line to bring it down so it matches up. Usually, this would be a bit dodge as the panel would bow when you weld it up but as the cut is so close to the pressed line, the altering coutours of the panel give it strength. So that, + some sequence welding interspersed with a coffee break so it cooled between bursts resulted in a good job. You can see the sliver I cut out which I'm holding in my hand...
 


So in order to pattern up for the shut panel in the inner wing, I tacked the outer in place - she's looking good. A straight edge reveals all is well and the sill is in the right position.



you can see the reminiscence of patter fodder on the floor too - here's the shut panel. Tomorrow, that ripper'll become steel (as if by magic) and then I can put the outer sill on for real!

Here's the pattern in place. Pizza boxes make THE BEST pattern material! (Yeah I know, I still need to patch above it for the 'tank breather - but that's easy!)



You know what? Soon, this thing'll be ready for paint :-)













Offline Andy

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #41 on: December 29, 2013, 08:31:11 pm »
Epic work Ross! Glad Jess gave you the pep talk you needed, would've been a shame to weigh-in something with so much potential and so many hours in it. ;D

Offline Lionheart

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #42 on: December 29, 2013, 08:54:23 pm »
Just been through the whole thread again, great stuff! So looking forward to seeing this in the metal.

Offline dubstar

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #43 on: January 02, 2014, 05:18:23 pm »

Thanks guys  :)

Reckon i'm going back to work for a rest after this! Been cracking on while motivation is high and time is free. What a combo eh?

So as predicted, said cardboard pattern became steel and got welded in, not without tribulation, as welding to tin foil is tough! Got passed that though and found some good stuff in the end.





So in time honored fashion, the steel used is ZINTEC steel, which is coated for corrosion resistance (but not quite galvanised, as you can't weld to that - well, not well anyway) and once welded in, the welds got treated to etch primer, then the whole lot normal metal primer before a top coat of black. Granted, these are not the prettiest of welds, but they are strong, and metal is there when before there was none - so i'll take that! Anyway, I save the neat stuff for the outside  ;)



Same griff with the inner sill parts, after sealing up the inner arch panel to inner rear quarter....



Did a couple of inner repairs too where tin worm had got through - nothing drastic but needed doing none the less.



Then she was ready for some outer panel tack-on action! All that work right from cutting the chassis leg out & building it up just to get to this point. Dang brother!

So I made the outer fit on a while ago as you saw (shaped, lengthened & cut to fit) but I had to weld on a couple of bolts on the outside to use as leverage to pull it all into place, as these things seldom just sit into place naturally. The trick is to make sure the panel you're pulling to is stronger, so only the repair piece changes shape so to match the original car.

The worry at this point, is that you tack it into place but the overall shape of the panel is wrong. It's a one way trip ladies & gents (unless you fancy cutting out all your work again - no thanks!) and having cut the outer arch away, technically my datum has gone (where the repair panel meets the old arch.) As the arch was scrap too, that had to come off.

It's all about doing things in order. Be methodical - not like a did earlier in the build when I put the sill on the first time!! (It's easy to say now eh?!) So I had actually lined & checked my outer panel against the arch before I cut it away and made marks to suit. Nothing magical about that really, it's just time consuming and takes time to think about the best way to do things BEFORE picking up the grinder!





The pictures don't help it really - neither do three different colours and bog everywhere above in the original panel, but I can tell you that it looks right and rubbing your hand across the joints sees them all smooth, as all the outer panels are all  joggled and lap-jointed to minimize distortion. Note the section of outer arch missing, revealing the inner arch which needs a new lip welding on for the outer to butt up to. That's the next job - cut way the rest of the arch and make the new repair arch panel fit. I can then clamp this up and use it to pattern the inner pieces to. I plan to do what I did on the other side - use bits of good metal on the outer arch you see now as inner pieces. Pre-formed free repair panels!

Anyway, workshop needs a tidy first - it's getting ridiculous in here.


Offline Yoof

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Re: Mk1 G40 Turbo
« Reply #44 on: January 03, 2014, 11:00:59 am »
Looking good man!

Seems like everything will be easy after this  ;D Who's going to paint it?