Awesome work as always make me a 6 point cage please :)

more progress

so i started by fitting the rear diff back in place which i hadnt done since moving the mounting 3 inches further up into the car

then fitted the rear suspension and hubs to see where the driveshafts sit which is now level :) but now they sit level the hubs sit a further 2 inches outwards :/

so i needed to redo the tca and compression strut mounts and they needed to sit lower from the rear frame and further out than before

level driveshafts

heres where the hub face now sits and I've had to alter the top mount so it now sits further out to stop so much negative camber still quite a bit though

rear diff all in place so hopefully the tunnel bracing makes abit more sense to people now

now todays work i got the rear bottom doorbar ground to shape and welded in on both sides

also made an extra upwards roof brace to tie the rear upper section into the main cage hoop

now the rear tca mounts made and tacked into place for now until the compression strut mounts are done and the bracing between them is finished then i will fully weld it all in

also made some extra braces which i had been meaning to do for a while that go from the main rear side hoop to the furthest rear seatbelt mount points where a welding a plate months ago ready for it these tie the main shell into the spaceframe more

more to come after i get back in the garage tomorrow hopefully the snow F's off and i can get in the front of the garage and get all the bracing for the front end done that i have cut ready they just need grinding to shape and welding in

Edited 23 March, 201313 yr by StinkyPete

Your frame has come on a long way, the more I see the more I get impressed.

The frame is the structural chassis now so i need to make sure its strong and i would rather over engineer it and have a few too many braces then not

glad your impressed alot of this is a learning curve for me

I was just thinking to myself earlier 'I wonder if he will ever stop welding the thing'. I'm half expecting you to come out of the garage one day and realise you've made a polo shaped block of steel

What do you reckon your final weight will be when the car is finished?

I'm hoping for 900kgs at the most or alot less if I can

900 sounds achievable, saying that how thick is this tube?

You've a heavier box, diff, more running gear, turbo conversion, all this tubing.. 900 would be good but yeah. What does a bready weigh from the factory

About 730-750 from factory

So 900 is definately achievable for me

How is a mk3 so much heavier?! Lol

mk1 is 550

a little more work done today just little odds and sods really

cut inner wheel well out for more access and also because il be redoing it when i put complete new arches in

also sorted the front tunnel bottom brace out just needs welding in but weathers still crap so didnt get loads done

made the mount for the rear compression struts just need some more tube to mount it to the rear frame

then i can add supporting braces for them and fully weld it all in

To finish the main rear end sus parts i just need to sort the tie rod for the rear tracking need to work out where i will be mounting them and then make up the tie bars

also have a brand new mk2 golf 100mm cv O/S driveshaft coming this week that i will try and shorten at work this week too

I have the N/S driveshaft in the car ready to take work and shorten it this week too

and il be making a little tool that will help me line the new engine block up on the quattro gearbox so i can see what mounting holes match and what mounts il need to make to get them to fit properly

Stop making this and come make my cage.

Brilliant work mate, but that is some proper negative camber on the rear!

I know but I haven't got the rear hub bolts locked up yet so I could pull the top of the hub out and lock the bolts to get rid of some :) hopefully that will sort it better lol

Looking wicked Pete! Still haven't got that 5 speed box in that you sold me lol. Good luck with the rest of the build (Y)

Thanks mate going to need it as its a long way off still

anyway quick update

got some more machining on my itb manifold done getting rid of the excess material

more to come on this to make it look prettier

got the front bottom tunnel braces tacked into place tonight also

also got the rear compression strut mountings tacked into place

also got a few new tools for the milling machine

got a set of flycutters

some ball nose cutters and carbide cutters no pics though yet

had some parcels turn up today and this weekend:

so i now have a starter motor for my quattro Gbox

brand new complete drivers side mk2 golf driveshaft will be getting shortened

mk2 golf steering rack

6 speed cable change linkage

so slowly gathering parts to get it all in and fitted

also made an adapter that fits on the gearbox input shaft and has an external shaft the other side that locates into the crank so i can fit the BCB block to the Gbox and see what bolt holes actually line up

right driveshafts started

i parted them both in half for a start then i parted off the excess close to the overall lengths i wanted them

i then faced them up to the final lengths and centre drilled and drilled a 3mm hole for a locating roll pin

finished lengths

then afterwork got back on with the block as i also de glazed the bores today

tried out my ARP headstuds to make sure the headbolt holes i drilled and tapped out are ok and they seem to be perfect :)

also checked all the ring gaps on my new piston rings before fitting them to the forged pistons

tomorrow night il be sorting out the rear tie rod mounts and getting the rose jointed tie rods I'm making made

then all the rear TCA mounts etc will be fully welded in and then braced to make like a mini subframe

then thats all the major parts of the back end done and a long bank holiday this weekend to start getting the engine and gbox mocked up in the bay for sorting mounts and braces

I thought i recognised your name while reading this so i went to page one, and twigged i remember reading your build thread a couple years ago it's come a long way since i last read it! fuck! amazing work bud!

driveshafts done for now heres progress pics

driveshafts at actual finished length pic in last update was wrong i forgot to take one of them all finished lengthwise

i hard turned a 30 degree angle on the end

the driveshafts are case harndened to a depth of about 6-7mm it looks like then they are quite soft in the centre

this is so they are strong but not brittle

the angle needs to go down to the soft core so when they are welded you can run a root weld round that penetrates the soft core

you then filler weld the rest of the gap

i then put the shafts together using a silver steel dowel in the middle of each

put into the lathe with a revolving centre at one end pushing that end firmly against the other to keep concentric

i then welded them all and quenched in coolant to cool them down

then i turned the excess weld off

here the the semi finished driveshafts so far

i can now use them this weekend to work out where the front hubs will sit and where i need to mount the tcas and compression struts for the front

i will be sleeving them for extra strength before i use them but i will get to this when i have more time

just needed them doing upto this stage for setting up purposes of other things

Just a quick question mate how do you weld up the shaft and stop it from bowing with the heat once welded

thats why i welded it up in the lathe it was kept under constant pressure from the tail stock revolving centre

i also tacked it in four places around the centre before running the root weld round

and when filler weldiing you dont do it all as you move round you do some one side then do some the opposite side to counteract

Edited 28 March, 201313 yr by StinkyPete

Sweet one mate i understand you.

Also keep up the hard work as i see you have you work cut out on this build

more updates bloody hell these are getting frequent lately

so i started off the day picking up my engine crane from my storage unit

then decided to go scrapyard to see what was there and managed to find a mk2 golf

so i had the steering column and UJ out of it for a pricely sum of £10 which beats the prices on ebay of nearly £50 for both parts

also only took me 20 minutes to get them out as someone had already had all the dash and interior out :)

then when i got back home thought i would get on with making the engine block fit the quattro gearbox

this is the BCB block gasket on the quattro gbox and 3 holes line up perfectly

you can also see in the centre the little bit i made that sits perfectly over the gbox input spindle and has a male spindle coming out of it that fits perfectly into the crank to makesure both are lined up correctly when I'm trial fitting

the block was catching on the transfer box so wouldnt sit perfectly

so after a little bit of fettling and grinding the block

after this little bit of modding i tried it again and it fits :) 3 bolt holes will be ok but i can modify the bell housing slightly to make a 4th bolt line up out of the total of 5 which is more than good enough tbh

somethings are abit close but i can make it work

so now the engine trial fit in the bay can begin to mock up engine and gbox mounts

as soon as i get the rest of the main braces finished hopefully this will be tomorrow

mk2 golf steering column and UJ another piece to the puzzle

mk2 golf steering rack

more later on this weekend

coming along nicely :)

Wow, this is a lot of work here, where abouts are you, I would love to come and see the work in person, if you don't mind, I'm thinking of undertaking a similar project but not to your spec.

Keep up the good work pal.

Sham

I'm in Corby mate pm me if your interested at coming to have a look and can sort something out

right update time been a very busy day today looks like i got alot done but i also got alot of the nitty gritty done yday too

6 speed gear linkage turned up yesterday morning then i cracked on with work

so work done yesterday got alot more of the front braces done to tie the front end together better more more strength

frontal view of fram now

inside view

outside front side views of chassis rail tie braces

also cut the excess bit of plate of the engine mount plate and fully seam welded along the top of it

that was yesterdays work

Edited 31 March, 201313 yr by StinkyPete