MK4 GLI 1.8T _ a daily driver experiment...

[PRY4SNO]

Looks like a flush transition, things are coming together nicely!

[All_Euro]

Thanks - I just cut both panels a touch big and then bottom flushed them and trimmed the tops after they were tacked into place. I installed the driver's side panel tonight and then filled and ground some random holes - I see lots of tedious bits of finishing work in my near future...

[All_Euro]

DAYS FOURTY SIX - FIFTY

Been chipping away as I have time and have been focusing on the back seat area - I had just tacked things in place so now I'm kind of working front to back. Filling lots of spot-weld holes, etc... very time consuming.

Today I got the drivers side wheel well partially trimmed and welded to the TT pan. At the back of the wheel well you can see a piece, that's attached to the TT frame rail, is sitting forward of the original well shape - not sure what to think of that yet but it may need to be massaged...

[All_Euro]

DAYS FIFTY ONE - FIFTY NINE


The buffing wheel wandered off course and got acquainted with the loom by my back passenger door - Oops...




Dustin came by to help watch for an afternoon - put him to work welding seams...




I was out yesterday trying to get some final seam welding done before priming and sealing (when it warms up) but it was too cold - the thicker metal would puddle up with a little persuasion but by then the thin pieces that were getting joined to it were too hot and wanted to self-ventilate. So I tacked a few areas, did a little smoothing and called it a day - it's supposed to warm up this afternoon, though, so I'll be back at it in a few hours...

[90quattrocoupe]

Coming along nicely.

Damn, I wish I could still sit like that.

Greg W.

[PRY4SNO]

Never been so happy to lay down hamburger beads in my life, haha

[All_Euro]

Coming along nicely.

Damn, I wish I could still sit like that.

Greg W.

Thanks - most of the exterior seam sealing is done and there are just a few welding touch-ups to do before reassembly. Should have some pics tomorrow.

Hmm, sounds like a little calisthenics each morning is in order... you'll be parkouring before you know it

Never been so happy to lay down hamburger beads in my life, haha

Some of those seams were tough going for sure - mostly from lack of prep before I installed the floor pan. That panel was still holding nicely when I seam sealed it today so I'd say we're good

[All_Euro]

DAYS SIXTY - SIXTY TWO

While the carpet was off the floor I though I'd remove the sound proofing - I was kind of avoiding doing more important things at the time but this did seem like the perfect opportunity to do the job. I just tapped the area with a hammer first to loosen the adhesion and it came up nice and clean...




The driver's fender was a pretty easy to match to the new floor pan; all it took was one cut to allow the extra metal to fold over itself and a bit of trimming along the bottom of the wheel well side...




The passenger fender was a lot more work as the curve of the floor pan is more extreme but the same approach worked on this side as well. I have the TT fenders as well but decided to keep the originals to retain the extra suspension mounting point...

[All_Euro]

DAY SIXTY THREE

Quick shot of the underside - thankfully I finished nearly all of the priming and sealing before the weather turned nasty, but since it was still cool out I used a torch to preheat the relevant areas first and then followed up with a heat gun afterwards...




I test-fit the gas tank today to see how the filler-necks line up. They are in-line with each other but the TT neck is a couple inches forward of where it needs to be. The fuel-hose I have kinks a bit as it bends around the frame rail to join up with the TT neck, so I'm looking at some other options - should settle on one by tomorrow. I'd really like to clean up/simplify the tank venting while I'm at it...

[scubagli]

Super nice job!

[All_Euro]

Thanks, I'm pretty stoked to finally be putting (not welding) things back together.

Found some polyethylene adhesive today so I'll test it out and then, if it does what it claims, join the filler necks together. The two gas tank vents don't need to be routed through the gas cap area anymore as the EVAP was removed and coded out years ago... thinking of VTA for now but wouldn't mind plumbing them into a charcoal canister or something to keep the fumes/smell down. Will have to look into that.

[All_Euro]

DAYS SIXTY FOUR - SIXTY EIGHT

The hardware store type adhesives I've been finding and testing aren't cutting it so I'm just going to seal the filler neck joints with fuel hose and clamps for now. When I find some fuel resistant polyethylene adhesive, that actually works, I'll use it to bond the sections of filler neck together and keep the fuel hose in place as a little added insurance.

I've cut the sections as needed and then just routed out the inside of one piece and the outside of the other to create male and female ends...




Fits nicely so I'll clamp the joints, make sure the tank is clean and tomorrow I can instal it and do any final trimming that's needed...

[All_Euro]

DAY SIXTY NINE

I stopped by a body-shop supply store on the way home from work today and picked up some professional strength adhesive that they said would work on polyethylene. It seems to be ok - I'll test the joints, a little more enthusiastically, in the morning and we'll see...




Here's an overall shot of the filler neck from the final test fit. I still have the two tank vent connections to take care of as well - I'm planning to plumb them into their usual locations on either side of the gas cap. They both feed a single vent line on the trunk side of the gas-cap so I can then run that line through a charcoal canister or something when I get one...

[All_Euro]

DAYS SEVENTY - SEVENTY ONE

The latest adhesive I bought is strong stuff for sure but still doesn't melt into the plastic at all - just adhere's to the imperfections. It is strong though so once the joints were nice and solid I sanded the filler neck down and reinforced the joints with FiberFix - it's setting up now so I'll double check it in the morning and might add another layer. I do want to keep some flexibility in the neck so that any twisting from the chassis doesn't work the joints loose. Also got the vent connections beside the gas-cap squared away...




Knowing what I know now, I think I'd just split the GLI filler neck off the tank and have it welded on to the TT tank after it's neck had been removed. In this shot you can see the sandwich effect where the neck and tank join and then just inside is a plastic guide/fuel hose that feeds the tank. Hindsight...

[PRY4SNO]

As long as it works, there's very little in the way of points for style here... even a concours judge wouldn't spot that detail

[All_Euro]

Don't worry - it looks more prettier in person.

Plus, the filler neck still has quite a bit of flex in it so I might just wrap the whole thing - then it'll match n stuff

[Hank]

I like it. I have been somewhat contemplating a quick and dirty MK5 Jetta 2.5L with a haldex rear for a daily beater. Kinda the same concept.

Hank

[All_Euro]

Thanks - it's happening at a snails pace but it is finally happening at least...

Your swap would be a cool project. The MK5's had independent rear suspension so I wonder if there are already provisions for the haldex equipment... or at least room for it... Killer base engine in that model too - I was on the fence about swapping one into my car for quite a while but decided to just stroke my engine out to 2.1 L since it will meet my power goals and give me better weight distribution. Hard no to be temped though!

[All_Euro]

DAYS SEVENTY ONE- SEVENTY EIGHT

Nothing really happened last week, as I was too busy with work, but I did get a little done this weekend. Finished the exterior welding and sealing touch ups - there's some left inside but I'll do that after I get rolling again. Having just primer on the inside let me warm up the panels to help the sealant dry too...




I ended up wrapping the filler neck ,with more FiberFix, from the base of the neck/tank all the way up to the upper connection as there was still a good amount of flexibility in the neck. While the tank was out I wiped the inside out really well so it's nice and clean going back in. It's in place and hooked up - just need a replacement bolt I seem to have misplaced...

[PRY4SNO]

Yep, time for the ol' stand by comment...

IS IT DONE YET?

[All_Euro]

Well... I'm aiming to be on the road again by months end.

Once the back end is bolted up I can fix the brake-lines and work something out with the exhaust... then I suppose the bumper, side skirts and front seats should find their way home.

Seems simple but feels like it won't happen for some reason. This NEEDS to happen though so we'll see!

[scubagli]

Your doing great, my buddy did this on his Tdi golf last winter and just last week got the haldex wired.

[All_Euro]

Thanks - the pan swap is part.1 then I'll chip away at the rest... not sure I'm patient enough to wait for a next winter completion though

Kudos to your buddy for his perseverance

[scubagli]

He was driving it the whole time, just did not have the know how to do the wiring, another friend took care of it.

[All_Euro]

DAY SEVENTY NINE

Another late one at the office but I skipped dinner when I got home and pulled the rear-end out of the basement for a test fit. Fit like a glove - no clearance issues with the filler neck. I do need to secure the gas-cap area of the neck but it's on the to-do list...




I could tell I was a little excited to bolt his baby in as I kept hitting my head on pretty much every sharp metal edge under the car - good thing I had my safety toque on...