[juicedz4]

Rolled the car the other way a few days ago and nearly finished the undercoat scraping.

Then yesterday finally made some real progress.

I rolled these bars months ago when the car was still together to be sure they would clear everything so it was mostly a matter of notching and cutting them to length.

The rear cross bar will be welded to the LCA / swaybar mounts. I was out of tubing so Ill need to grab another piece this week so I can finish.

Trimmed the drain holes on the lower rocker so that the tubing could fit tight along the entire rocker. (no pic), and tacked the tube in place.

Notched the OE subframe brace for the x brace tube. Im going to brace that area with a U shaped piece of 12ga to tie it all together so its not just welded to the edge of that OE brace. It looks like the x brace will be able to weld to the floor in quite a few areas, which was the plan.

Dan

 

[juicedz4]

Finished tacking up the front brace last night. Still need to add some flat stock in a couple places to beef up the OE LCA/swaybar mount that I welded to, but I need to blast the rest of the powder off first.

Then I tackled the large X brace. The basic structure is all tacked up. Im still debating if I want to add a front lateral tube or just leave it as is. Up next I need to add jacking plates and some plates here/there to tie it into the floor.

Switched gears and went back to working on the engine bay since I really want to get it in primer before the middle of winter so it will be easier to keep it hot for 24 hours.

I only have one pic but I did all sorts of random stuff including:

-removing more undercoating/chip guard
-grinding smooth OE spot welds
-welded up a couple holes in the trans mount
-grinding smooth the edges of panels that didnt align 100% correctly at the factory (for example inside the holes for the tie rods - the inner and outer panels were misaligned by 1/16 to 1/8" in places , not now ) or that were deformed near the edges from overzealous spot welding etc.
-hammered out a few of the square recesses in the firewall and other random dings etc
-stitch welded a few small seams
-and put a few dozen more tacks on the lower core support panel. Which is my only pic.

Finished playing connect the dots on the lower core support piece and ground it smooth.

Then tackled the top side.

Still need to do two small pieces on the vertical part of the core support under the frame rails, as there are a couple holes there I dont need or want seen, then I think it will be ready.

Up next I need to pattern the wiper box / heater area so I can sheet over it in one smooth piece.

Dan

 

[juicedz4]

Worked on the wiper box a bit last night. Trimmed the lip off of the heater box hole, and cut out the one bump above the pedal area.

Created a paper template and transferred it to a piece of steel. Hopefully if we have enough dies Ill bend the edge today after work.

Finished welding the other end of the core support to the frame rail. Didnt get a chance to do the small pieces under the frame rails yet.

Overall shot looking forward.

Nearly finished up the rain tray last night. I just need to go back and blend the bottom side of the welds along the firewall and it should be good.

I need to mount up the wiper trans and figure out if Im going to put the factory support back in (that I already modified) or fab up a new one.

This is the side I had to add a ~1" piece at the end as it wouldnt fit in as one long piece. Turned out good enough I think.

Up next I have a little work to do around the shock towers and I should be really close to sandblasting and priming.

Dan

 

[90zcar]

Damn Dan you are bringing back memories of when I did the cavs bay. Looking very good man. Much easier to make a new top panel than filling in all this bulk holes on the top of the firewall area. Can't wait to see it in mudded up.

 

[juicedz4]

Thanks man. Its been quite a bit of work, but hopefully its worth it.

When you did the filler, did you do filler over metal, or do an epoxy primer first and fill over that?

Im not sure what I should do as I dont think I can keep (or want to keep) the whole shop at 70 degrees for 24 hours to let epoxy cure.

My other thought was to use the Master Series Silver first as it doesnt need to be hot to dry (or not for very long) but cures with humidity.

Dan

 

[90zcar]

I did my filler work directly over the metal. All my welded joints in the bay I went over with duraglass first before I layed my filler down.
There was one spot on the cavalier bay where the strut tower joins the firewall where I was concerned with flex and it's an odd lap joint. I taped off a little thing area on that joint and used a 2 part self leveling seam sealer to cover that corner to cover any slight flex.
The whole time I was doing the bay I was worried about flash rust so when I would finish one area I would go over it with a spray bomb sealer(think it was a transtar brand sealer) then would move onto the next area. When I was all done I scuffed the entire bay and went over it with a sealer.
That has been done now since summer 2010 and I haven't had any issues with the bay except a little spot where I smoothed the trans mount onto the framerail/tower I have a hairline crack.
My biggest concern was the actual strut towers themselves where the joint is that goes the whole way around a couple inches down from the top. That I stitched all the way around but it still concerned me. No issues yet

 

[juicedz4]

Cool. Ya, Im a little concerned where the firewall meets the inner fenders. I too was planning on using some 2K seam sealer along there , and in the pinch weld seam where the firewall meets the floor (i wish theyd put that seam inside), as well as a few other suspect spots.

Dan

 

[juicedz4]

Lots of progress last night.

First, I thought Id see how the OE master cylinder brace looked with some dimpled holes. I was going to make something new but I think this will look nice cleaned up and coated.

Next I tackled the seams between the upper core support and fender.

Orig

Much better

Drivers side

Filled this random "dent"

And this groove or whatever by the pass shock tower

The lower piece was fun

Much better

Next, there was this huge molded in dent (for who can remember what) at the base of the drivers shock tower. I failed miserably at trying to pull it out with the spot weld puller, pounding it out from a hole i drilled in the wheel well (its double steel here), so I finally cut out a piece of metal, hammered it into roughly the right convex shape and welded it in.

Finally, to try and get an idea how its really coming along, as its very hard to see I put a light coat of rattle can primer on..

Dan

 

[juicedz4]

Back to work after a week in FL and Thanksgiving etc.

Started on my makeshift paint booth this weekend. For reference its 16x12x8.

And started on the fire wall smoothing. So glad I decided to do this, its going to look so much better.

Still need to do a bit of welding along the wheel well but for the most part its good to go.

------------------------

Got a good start on the passengers side last night until I ran out of wire. Lame. Should finish up thrusday night.

Before

Cut out

Tacked

So much better

I did get the top, one side and part of the bottom welded before running out of wire. I managed to get a little smoothed out before quitting time.

-----------------

Finished up the firewall last night.

I welded up two holes in the pass side motor mount (no pic)

Then I tackled the uneven lip on the inside edge of the core support.

Before there were multiple widths which were quite wavy:

After. Now there are just two widths, but nice and straight:

I think about all thats left to tackle are the 4 holes in the frame rails near the firewall, and a couple on the lower and upper core supports and it will be ready for real primer.

Dan

 

[juicedz4]

Spent some time cleaning up the shop yesterday and unearthed the unfinished lower x brace. Decided it was time to finally weld it up. I think my shifter parts are finally done at the coater, so ill probably pick those up and drop this off for powder today or tomorrow.

I also spent some time figuring out what lenght wheel studs I need. Turns out I already have one set of ARP's in stock, just need to order a shorter set for the rear.

Dan

 

[juicedz4]

I havent updated this in forever. Not sure if anyone cares but Ill get you guys caught up.

Picked up the shifter parts from being E-coated last night. Dropped off the lower subframe brace for some textured red powder. They are also going to redo the strut tower brace. There were some thing spots I wasnt 100% happy with.

Assembled the shifter stuff on the bench just to be sure it all fit together nicely. I did have to remove the E-coat from the ball studs, but otherwise, everything fit and moves well. Just need a couple piece of ss hardware and a shim to finish it up.

My daughter and I rebuilt the shift lever assembly, basically just cleaned up all the old grease and reassembled. Protip: when teaching a kid how to use snap ring pliers be sure to tell them how MUCH to squeeze before you start. She ended up squeezing them the whole way and basically destroyed the snap ring, haha. Luckily I had others.

I received reman'd Corrado front calipers and was bummed to find one of the inlet holes had been retapped on an angle. Thats probably not gona seal. So that has to go back for a new one, yay.

Also the 22mm master showed. I swapped the old square reservior on (yes I still need to clean up the inside some)

And the wilwood brake bias unit.

Finally I dug out the fuel sending unit as Im hoping to start plumbing the fuel system this week. Turns out its a disaster. Looks like new is NLA, and used go for a pretty penny, so I think Im going to attempt rebuilding this one. Started pulling it apart, I dont think it will be so bad. Ill just need to get the steel bits re-plated.

I also pulled the front strut/knuckle/ brake assemblies all apart in order to swap to the bigger 11" Corrado brakes and install wheel studs. Unfortunately it looks like Ill need to press the hubs out of the knuckle (hopefully without destroying the brand new bearings) in order to get the studs past the knuckle.

Finished up the shifter rebuild. Sand blasted, primed, and painted the baseplate.

The "bucket" or whatever you want to call it that sits under the car is a bit rusty and really greasy so Ill prob drop it off to be coated vs messing with it.

MK4 rear aluminum calipers showed up

As did parts for the 044 fuel pump surge tank. The machined piece I purchased from Integrated Engineering. It allows a 044 pump to be submerged in a tank, while allowing the outlet and wiring to be external to the tank. I opted to build my own tank to save $100. The aluminum tube I sourced from McMaster. Should be pretty simple, just a few welds around both ends and some brackets.

This is their version, mine will be similar, but obviously have mounts to attach to the subframe bracing.

Ive also spent about 12 hours this week on the OE wiring harness. Took about 6 hours to finally really learn how to use the factory VW schematics and plan out every wire, relay, fuse etc that I would no longer need. Ive since stripped out everything that I identified. There is still a lot to go, but its a great start.

Luckily I happened to have a pin extraction took that fit the smaller fuse box terminals perfect. The larger ones I used a tiny screwdriver.

What was removed.

Then really late last night I got a wild hair to pull the column apart to get it cleaned up. I was worried about the column bearings, but luckily all was in great shape so they will not need replacement.

I literally found a hair ball in the column switches. The switches were pretty hammered so I orderd up some new Meyle ones.

Everything apart. Im going to drop the pedal arms off for textured red powder. The tube and pedal bracketry Im just going to clean up and spray bom matte black.

Finally I cleaned up this guy. A little 320 on the end of the key cylinder.

Picked up the lower subframe brace from powder this am. It turned out awesome. They also put another coat on the upper strut brace as it was a little thin in spots, no pics.

I dropped off a few more things which should be ready next weekend.

I also received the new black delrin bushing for the shifter rod, and assembled it on the coated bracket with ss hardware.

Had to press the hubs out of the bearings to install the wheel studs. Of course it broke both of them, so now I need to replace brand new bearings. At least they are only $25 ea.

Got both hubs drilled and the studs pressed in.

Next I tackled disassembling the brand new rear calipers so I can have them powder coated. I was a little nervous about pulling them apart because of the parking brake assembly, but it turned out to be pretty easy. It did require buying a set of master cylinder snap ring pliers to reach down inside the bore, but they worked perfectly.

Finally I primed and painted the column tube as well as the pedal box. And the new wiper and turn signal levers showed.

Im glad I decided to replace the levers, just look how worn the horn contact is.

Pedal arms should be done friday so I can get this assembly together.

Pedal box and steering column reassembled with new ignition switch, turn signal, and wiper levers. The column bearings were in great shape so I just cleaned and re-greased them. I will be adding a collar to keep the lower bearing from sliding out before we start driving the car again.

MMP caliper brackets showed yesterday for the Corrado brake swap. Tested one on the knuckle just for fun.

Corrado calipers vs Cabby oem calipers

Re-positioned and re-bent the ebrake cable tubes to allow more room for exhaust, and so they arent dangling so low.

Been tinkering on the fuel system. Had to pull one bar out of my x bracing to be able to get the surge tank in/out. Im working on some mods for the brace to accommodate it as soon as I can get over to use the bender at a friends shop. I also "tweaked" the edge of the gas tank and the floor to allow the fuel lines between the in-tank transfer pump and the surge tank to be routed easier and more direct. The surge tank is ~ 4x4x6", 1/4" wall aluminum.

And approx where the surge tank will be located.

Finally I decided to pull the rack apart to get it cleaned up and painted, and to refresh the grease. I would love to have the housing powder coated, but I dont have a puller to get the bearing out in the housing (tiny little bugger), unless I can find a blind puller for a fair price. So we'll see.

Picked up some parts I forgot at the coater today. And dropped off a bunch more which should be ready next week.

Im a bit skeptical of the e-coat holding up to fuel, even though he claimed it would be good. Im going to soak the small piece in a cup of fuel and see what happens over the next couple weeks.

I also lined up some fuel safe epoxy that Im going to use to seal wires through the hole where the connector once was in the flange of the sending unit.

I seem to be waiting for parts for several different projects so last night I decided to mess around with the motor mounts, and the lower radiator hard line I made years back but never finished grinding smooth.

Rad hard line made from SS weld els. I put a few little tacks around the lip in place of a bead. I think it should work well enough

Had to grind the inside a bit as I didnt have (and still dont) a back purge setup. Someday.

Ground all of the stamping marks off the edges of the front motor mount, and smoothed the factory welds a little.

Welded up and smoothed the unneeded holes in the top of the trans mount.

I didnt like the two little V notches in the master cylinder brace so I welded them up and ground them smooth as well.

Orig (ok the orig pic sucks, but its all I have. see the two tiiiny little V's i the middle of the bracket? ya, those)

Much better

Nothing much to report unfortunately, Ive been swamped with other nonsense.

I picked up a pile of parts from the coaters a week or three ago.

Last night I managed to get the rack back together.

I also ordered a bunch of parts so I can finish up the surge tank fabrication. Most are due today.

Decided to say F it and go forward with one Girling and one Lucas front caliper for now.

Spent about an hour last night sanding off the visible casting lines on all 4 calipers and hangers. I just need to pop the pistons out of the fronts and they will all be ready for powder.

-Cleaned up a bunch more parts this weekend and put them on the "done" shelf, which is getting quite full. Mainly just dirty OEM parts that Im reusing.

-Welded up a dent in the charge piping, and buffed out all the mandrel tooling marks in prep for powder.

-Worked a little more on the floor mods to allow clearance for the surge tank and piping. Pics tomorrow.

-Repaired a broken tail light. Also razor bladed scraped then wet sanded the words off of them. Im going to be attempting to get the amber to look red using some translucent candy grape paint, then a light tint and good clear to finish them off.

-Painted the IC black. Several coats on the tanks, just a few light coats on the core itself.

Yesterday my daughter and I finally started working on the VW pedal car we picked up a couple years ago. She did most of the work documenting and disassembling it. The plan is to paint it to match the cabby at some point. Ill be dropping off the frame parts to powder tomorrow. The body is going to need quite a bit of work. And we may have to either source or custom make a windshield and turn signals, else attempt to fill the holes.

Finished modifying the floor for the fuel system. Removing the pinch weld here allowed more room for the surge tank and for the lines to route to the rocker area.

I failed to get a before pic but it looked just like the drivers side shown here.

And after. Was difficult to get a good shot of, but oh well.

I have a solid plan for the fuel filter mount. I should have that and maybe the surge tank mounts done thursday.

After more time than I care to comment on I finally have the fuel filter in place and the surge tank welded up and the mounting brackets done. Now I can finally order the hose ends I need to get it all plumbed up. I did get some 3/8" NICOPP to make the new hard lines with a couple weeks ago. Probably start on that later next week after I make a tubing straightener.

Fuel filter bracket. Trimmed a little of the lip off the pinch weld, cut a notch in the bracket, and slipped it over and welded in place.

Finished up the tubes for the subframe bracing and mounting tabs for the surge tank. I still need to bend up some plates for the front supports I sectioned as well as to tie into the floor pan in a few locations, but at least the tubes are set.

In order to route the fuel lines from the rocker area, instead of their normal routing I had to flatten a section of the one rib in the floor. Was really hard to get a decent pic of this.

Surge tank. Im a little rusty welding aluminum but it turned out ok and should be plenty good enough. On the mounting bracket I also did a 3/4" plug weld in the middle to the tank, just ground it smooth after. The crazy angle of everything makes for clean hose routing and clearance for the chassis etc. It wasnt my first choice but I think it worked out in the end.

Wanted to make a little more room for a battery in the trunk.

Cut a hole. This took quite a while to get a nice fit.

Found some 14ga steel in the scrap bin at work. Made it into this.

It fits!

Need to do a little work on this edge to tie it in, but shouldnt be too bad.

Battery box is 3/4 welded in now. Im probably going to put the car down to do the other side so Im not welding it all upside down.

Couldnt just leave the battery tray a big flat box, so I extended the ribs from the well into the box. It was a quite a bit of work that no one will ever really see, but it was worth it. Im going to seam seal the edges to round them up a little more, plus Im chip guarding the whole underside so I think it will look pretty seamless once done.

Stopped by the powder coaters friday. Not much was done, just the charge pipes in wrinkle black, and some of the pedal car parts in ecoat.

I also picked up some 2.5" 0.125 wall square tubing to use for the subframe braces.

Sectioned in half, which was a pain. Had to do two passes on the band saw as half was a little tall still.

Perfect fit

Cut some notches

Turned this mess

Into this

And made some plates to tie the rear into the floor

Then it was time to weld everything together. First though, I desperately needed to change my welding helmet shields. Slight difference...

Welded up what I could while it was on the car.

Then removed the whole thing, which slid off easily. Total weight is 36lbs, which I didnt think was so bad.

Then I spent a couple hours finishing the rest of the welding, including some dome caps for the rocker rails

Still fits!

Some time this week I hope to get it welded on once I get it and some parts of the car primed.

Feels good to be close to having this "little" project nearly wrapped up.

Dan

 

[Brad91Z]

Love it, thanks for the update.

Brad

 

[benz88]

Any Updates Juice?

 

[juicedz4]

Some. This update gets this thread up to date.

Forgot that I also picked up the fan shroud from powder a couple weeks ago, found it in the truck the other night.

Built a dolly to roll the body around for when I start priming and doing bodywork etc.

Finally removed the rear windows, window trim, and roll bar padding / trim etc. About all thats left is the windshield and door strikers.

And FINALLY I got the calipers powder coated. Since they required a little masking and care to be taken during blasting (bores) I did them myself using our small setup at work. To mask the bores during blasting and powder I bought some big tapered silicone plugs, they simply pressed in and worked great. My powder guy was nice enough to give me a few pounds of powder to do this and whatever else I might need. For my first time coating something they came out really nice, but its so simple really.

Dan

Lots of progress this weekend. My girls were busy with dance and work and what not so I had more or less the whole weekend in the shop.

Assembled the calipers.

Fronts are super simple.

Rears take a little more work to get the internal ebrake assemble back in. Its not hard really, just a little annoying.

Then I decided it was time to test fit the MMP big brake adapter brackets. Turns out they typically require a little rework of the knuckle, mine were no exception.

After some careful grinding and filing.

Then, because I cant leave well enough alone I spent 30 mins smoothing the mold lines on the knuckles. Now I can drop these off to be powder coated (again) this week.

Next it was time to try out the Master Series Silver primer that I got for the subframe and other parts of the chassis.

First I spent an eternity scuffing the entire thing with 80 grit. Then brushed on two coats. I didnt need it to be perfect as Im going to be chip guarding the entire bottom of the car including the brace. Im super impressed by this stuff. After just a couple hours I tried to scrape a little off with my knife. I really had to work at it just to scratch down to metal. :tup:

Finally, as its about time to start on the hard fuel lines I whipped up a tubing straightener.

I got some cheap acetal pulleys from mcmaster, then turned them on the lathe to fit the 3/8" tubing, drilled a few holes in two pieces of aluminum angle, and bolted the whole assembly to my bench vise. It likely wasnt necessary for the NICOPP tubing, but Im sure it will come in handy in the future as well.

And it looks like Im going to need a better bender for this NICOPP. Probably going to order a Ridgid instrument bender today.

Dan

Last week I stripped the first section of the floor and applied two coats of the master series silver prime. Im still very impressed by this stuff. I actually hit the subframe with a metal faced hammer getting it in for a test fit and it didnt chip.

Last night and today I finally tackled the fuel hard lines. About all thats left is to do a couple small bends at the rear end and flare them. Im not running them all the way to the back as there isnt a great spot to connect them to the soft lines going to the surge tank because of some additional bracing im planning for the subframe, and with everything so tight back there I wanted a nice easy spot to access them. The soft lines should be more than well protected in the rocker area and above the subframe.

If I hadnt mentioned it before this is 3/8" NICOPP and im using stainless rock guard over it.

I really wanted to use two straight fittings here, but there just wasnt room. Also I obviously still need to work on some clamp mounting for the soft lines.

Dan

Finished up the fuel hard lines over the last couple days. I ended up putting a small bend in the "upper" line so they would be staggered along the rocker. It was easier that trying to put an S bend after the mount. To mount the lines I welded a small piece of steel at an angle between the rocker and floor. All thats really left is adding nutserts to the floor and bracket for the mounts (vs just screwed into the sheet metal).

A while back I posted a pic of the shaft collar I machined to retain the lower steering column bearing. I finally thought to take a pic of it installed last night.

Finally I started considering the brake line routing. To keep things super clean Ive decided to run the front lines through an existing hole behind the strut and run them through the frame rail and then into the cabin. The two lines from the master cylinder will be braided stainless and run to a flat spot on the drivers side of the brake booster through bulkhead fittings. Sorta like this on the routing. Ill use the stainless rock guard on the lines as well as grommets where they pass through the holes to keep things safe. I think it should work well.

Dan

Super boring update. Had a little project ADD.

Got the car back "wheels down".

Spent about 90 mins scrapping the sound deadener

and then a bunch of time with thinner cleaning up some of the glue on the floor and firewall areas, as well as cleaning up the welds and remants of welding fires. The firewall is almost ready for some master series silver and seam sealer.

Dan

Stainless -3 bulkhead fittings for the brakes showed up monday. They look very nice.

Got them mounted to the firewall and held some random lines I had lying around in place. Ill need to get a set of custom ones made at some point. If possible Ill stop by the place this week and see if they have metric bubble flare ends, or if I need adapters for the master.

No pics, but I spent a couple hours getting the inside of the firewall cleaned up and ready for primer and heat barrier coating.

Dan

Got two coats of master series silver on the area of the firewall where I did all the welding and cutting. Also cleaned up a bit more of the glue off of the floor, its almost good enough.

Between coats I worked on a couple other little projects.

Picked up a 6" carbide burr a couple months ago to clean up the weld on the lower radiator "hose" since I still dont have a back purge setup. Now its in my pile to take to the coater.

Had one more groove near the shock tower I wanted to fill, so I welded it up and ground it smooth.

I think that about finishes up the welding in the engine bay. Ok, other than I still need to revisit the oil cooler mounts and I cant decide if I want to mess around with the top of the rack mounts or not (thoughts on closing them in?). I sprayed a little rattle can primer on quick to get an idea how its going to look...

Dan

 

[heartbeat1991]

I love the textured red.

 

[wera]

I had a mk2 golf once. Wasn't really my cup of tea, but man that thing handled good and went anywhere my k10 would go.

 

[wera]

Just read this entire thread, way to much going on here good job. You do some quality work.

 

[juicedz4]

Havent updated this in a while. so here goes....

Been a while since Ive done any work on this project or updated anything. Ive been busy on a house garage remodel, getting the lift installed in the shop, etc.

Back at the end of sept I tested out the dolly I made to roll the chassis around on. It works well enough for the handful of times Ill probably use it.

I also finally scored a matching Lucas front caliper (thanks Kevin), got it cleaned up and powder coated, and reassembled with new seals. I still need to source some new bleeder screws.

Picked up the ARP hardware for the diff ring gear

Got the smoothed out knuckles and hubs back from the coater and assembled them with ARP studs, new bearings, ball joints and hardware, and the MMP big brake adapters.

Also finally made the rear stub axle spacers. I picked up a pair of aluminum "coins" from McMaster for $14 and drilled a few holes, using a transfer punch to, well, transfer the holes. A few places sell them but for this thickness with hardware it was approaching $70. For $20 with hardware (still need to order) these should get it done. Ill probably clean up the saw marks before I have them coated.

It felt good to work on a fun car project for a change. It also clears a ton of half finished parts off of my bench. Now that the garage remodel is pretty well wrapped up Im hoping to get more time on this in the next several months.

-----------------------------------------

Finally getting back to this after a busy fall: remodeling my attached garage, work trip to Italy, and a week in Phily at Thanksgiving for my daughters dance competition, typical holiday bs, and finally picking up what seemed like months of random project nonsense in the shop.

Picked up the powder coated surge tank weeks ago

Got the car flipped up the other way and finished welding in the battery tray.

Ive been avoiding trying to clean up the area around the back of the spare tire well and what Im calling the rear roll pan for basically ever. I finally decided that the roll pan added no value and it would be easier just to remove it. I got a good start on it, about half done right now. Likely Ill finish the final trimming of the lower half once its on the lift later this week.

The mess I started with

And after. So much better. I may weld in a small piece near the bottom of the wheel wells, still undecided until I can get the bumpers on.

-----------------------------

Finished up removing the rear roll pan.

The subframe is now completely welded to the chassis, which was a pain with all the dripping paraffin and fires. But its on there!

This pic was taken before i rolled the car the other way to finish the other floor tie in plate and rocker welding.

I think I mentioned it before but Im taking time to grind any misaligned uni-body panel edges. Im sure no one will ever notice, but I just cant help it. Here is one example from the rear frame rail / wheel well area.

Also manged to get the last of the undercoating stripped, aside from a few small spots still stuck in tight corners. And finally, started striping the rest of the OE primer in order to do the Master Series Silver coating and then regular primer. Im hoping to have the bottom all stripped and primed in the next week or so.

----------------------------

I was just going to "see how much it would suck" in a few spots. A couple hours later I stopped and had done pretty much the whole floor pan. Now I feel like I should do a few spots inside....we'll see. It wasnt too bad, but it def took a certain technique to fight the fires and smoke from any seam sealer or wax left between panels, especially the ones where gravity wasnt helping.

--------------------

More progress!

Thrusday I finsihed up any stitch welding and did more primer removal, weld cleanup etc.

Inside welded up. Its fun to see all the welding from the outside.

Good penetration (maybe too good?)

All cleaned up and ready for primer.

Sat brushed on two coats of Master Series Silver

Sunday the wife and I got the "booth" set back up and wrapped in plastic.

Ready!

Primed with two coats of 2k primer.

Super stoked to finally have this at least in primer. Now I can get it on the rolling dolly and get back to the engine bay. Im hoping to start doing filler later this week.

Dan

 

[juicedz4]

Looks like I havent updated this in a while, so here goes:

Did a little more work on the "booth". Scored a 24" dog tunnel on amazon and cut it down to use as a fan duct. It works pretty slick and is easy to pop out of the window and move out of the way when Im not using it.

A guy that I work with has a small CNC at home that hes looking to get some practice on so I had him make me this. Its a simple block to keep the brake line fittings keyed on the firewall. I have a few other things lined up that hes going to be cutting for me as well. Ill prob have this nickle plated along with a few other things (door and hood latches etc).

Ive been working hard the last couple weeks trying to finish up the last of the fab on the engine bay, getting it stripped down to bare steel, and primed.

Welding and grinding done, stripped down bare.

Coated with Master Series Silver

And today put a good coat of 2k primer over the MSS.

Tomorrow Im starting on the filler, should be a ball of fun.

Dan

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Almost done with the firewall, still need to do the final glaze coat.

I started on the shock towers/ inner fenders.

Passenger side is pretty close, got the first coat of duraglass on the drivers side.

Where Im at as of last night.

If all goes well this weekend I may prime the firewall and pass side.

Dan

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Reached a pretty big milestone last night. Finished up filler and primed the engine bay. There are a few spots Im going to need to address. The biggest being on the upper part of the drivers inner fender (the wavy line there), and the areas around some of the oe "grooves" on the frame rails. But overall Im very happy with how its shaping up.

And just a reminder as to what I started with

Dan