I'm starting to get excited about the project again after a long lull, so following the leads in the Roadster and Coupe forums, I thought I'd ask "What did you do to your GF today?".
I bought some parts:
K member - $75
VR6 spindles - $60 each
Audi TT front calipers and mounting brackets - $50 each
I *think* that's all I need besides the kit to make a roller. (I may have to buy wheels also because of the TT brakes).
My goal on the first weekend after I get the kit is to do the cuts and make it a roller so I can move it out of the garage again.
I also got the turbo pistons in - they're at the machine shop with the block. Things are starting to happen!
Took all the rotating bits to the shop to get balanced today. I couldn't find the pressure plate bolts so I had to go to the dealer and special order them.
Oops, I guess I should have been posting here for the last 10 days.
I stripped the car out in late October as we were scheduled for a kit pickup on Nov. 4. Externally, I only stripped out the rear doors, and the front clip as I wanted to keep it a runner for transport to the build site.
The car finally arrived at the second build site on Feb. 21. We moved the car in the morning, and removed the rear axle, fuel tank, and exhaust that afternoon.
Removed the engine the next day, and cleaned up the engine and body.
Four days later we removed the front and rear glass, lowered the dash, and cut out the deck lid frame. Then we cut the roof off, just to get it out of the way.
The kit shipped Thursday (3/1) and we are expecting it to show up Monday or Tuesday (3/5 or 6).
The rear cut is scheduled for tomorrow, and if the kit does not show up, we'll do the front cut as well.
I need to catch up on my picture taking.
Since the car needs to move to another garage bay, we're hoping to have it re-rolling by the end of the week.
Finished the front cuts, and waited for a while for our parts skid to show up, and finally gave up. I thought the parts were shipped last Wednesday, and discovered late today they were shipped yesterday, so we'll be taking a couple of days off as my builder is off to Florida for a car show ( Fernandina Beach) and I have parts to order (TT Bushings) and an Intake Manifold to switch out.
I hope we will be able to fit the Engine Cradle on Monday.
We were so excited to get some parts, we bolted up the engine cradle immediately! That lovely black frame sorta' clashed with the Blue Lagoon chassis, so we pulled the cradle, and cleaned and painted (black) all of the exposed Blue Lagoon metal. I had already primed with rustoleum all of the exposed bright steel from the cut process. Now all of the cuts have 3 coats of Rustoleum on them.
Had we followed Clint's lead on painting, we could have done this long ago. We didn't lose a lot of time, the cradle came out a lot easier than it went in.
Will re-install the cradle tomorrow, and then wait for more parts (rabbit parts for the top of the coilover towers)
Pulled the wiring from the trunk into the cockpit, removed the trunk lid, exhaust & heat shields, removed some more stuff from the engine compartment, cleaned everything from the cowl area.
We received the Rabbit strut seats today, and found a pair of VR6 front spindles, and calipers delivered to our door by a friend.
Got everything installed, and put the wheels back on the front.
Could have put the back wheels on, but we are awaiting the tie rod stops for the rear K frame. She is ready to roll once again when the stops arrive.
Next chore will be to make the final front cut to accept the windshield frame, and then do some painting to cover up the Blue Lagoon original finish in the old engine compartment.
The rear engine cradle uses Rabbit (MK II I think) strut caps. If you look where the coilover's rest in the cradle there are three holes (10 mm). The strut bushings use two of these holes and bolt up from the bottom.
The TT bushings are an adaptation used by the guys over at TDI club to improve handling, and better power transfer to the ground. They replace the lesser quality VW bushings in the control arms. We put them in both ends. I got mine from Metalman Parts ($39 a pair and free shipping). Use a hack saw or a jig saw to cut the old ones out, and press in the new pair.
The rear engine cradle uses Rabbit (MK II I think) strut caps. If you look where the coilover's rest in the cradle there are three holes (10 mm). The strut bushings use two of these holes and bolt up from the bottom.
The TT bushings are an adaptation used by the guys over at TDI club to improve handling, and better power transfer to the ground. They replace the lesser quality VW bushings in the control arms. We put them in both ends. I got mine from Metalman Parts ($39 a pair and free shipping). Use a hack saw or a jig saw to cut the old ones out, and press in the new pair.
Not control arm bushings. I crushed one trying to press it into the lower control arm. Subframe (K member) bushings maybe.
This was the first I heard about Rabbit strut caps. Is that documented somewhere or did it come word-of-mouth?
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