Thanks :)

The last couple of weeks have really had me thinking that finally we are getting some where :) but as we haven't even really looked at the passenger side then I know were are not even half way though it. And as the car as been with them since the start of Sept 10 you can gauge how long its taking.

I think I need to put completion dates as I need a date to focus on and keep my spirits up :)

I am conflicted though between keeping as much original body work as possible and getting rid of all the rust. This panel has to come off just to assess how much rust there is due to the breather pipe!! :)

What ice you planning on adding?

What ice you planning on adding?

Nothing major just a Sony Head unit and Focal Speakers. And if its needed a small slimline active Sub. Something just to keep me occupied on long trips! :)

Nice one Mark, keeps my vision going as well. Time as ever is the limiting factor, only getting small strip clean paint jobs done at the mo.

Good to see brave people chopping things about for the greater good!!!!

:) Thanks..

Made a start on my door pods!

Its such a daunting task fibre glassing, i tried and failed on using it on my door pods lol

Big insparation this car now. :-D

Its such a daunting task fibre glassing, i tried and failed on using it on my door pods lol

Big insparation this car now. :-D

Cheers... :)

I must admit its not the most fun job that I've done, but they are getting there!

Well another morning in the body shop!

Car is definitely looking sorry for its self.. especially with its bandages on! :)

After finding all the spot welds it was time to get the thing off!!

Humm not great but could be worse!

Swapped the wheels so I can get the old ones refurbished

That made me cringe haha

Ditto, it went something like this:

Scroll down...

Scroll down...

Scroll down...

Eeeeeep!!!

Least once its done you know it will be good for another 20 years!

Is this getting a cage whilst you're at it?

Awesome work mark , hopefully the book made it a little easier! Inspirational Cheers Mark

Makes me worried what's lurking under the deep!!!!

Good work on the project impressed at the commitment, look forward to the next installment.

Nice wheels!

Really a labour of love this isn't it? I mean full on one of the most in depth restorations i have seen on here. Cutting off rear quarters and horrible things like that Most people would have opted for a cleaner base but you learn nothing from that. Well done. I cannot wait to see this finished.

Not nice to see but at least theres a nice fresh quarter to go on :-)

It wasn't fun pulling the 3/4 panel off and seeing what was there! But it will be fine when the new panel gets put back on.

Yeah this is not really a restoration that your head would pick. But its my car, its been in the family for 13 years and it came from my families VW dealership so it has quite a bit of history which is nice to keep going! Plus it will never be sold and will make the trip back to the US with us :)

Made the second back mould for the speaker pods

Spent and hour this morning at the upholsterers dropping off the interior and going through everything we wanted. Should be done and dusted in a few weeks :)

headed to the bodyshop afterwards..

Removed the offending pipe and cleared out all the crap that was in it

Cleaned up all the surface rust

And zinc primed it all up

ready to back under the cover

The inner wing is not available from VW so we will be using mk1 polo arch panel to re-create it :)

The middle of that breather pipe has had it on mine. It's as crumbly as yours. It feels like there's a rubber tube going through, does that come out with the fuel tank?

I need to seal mine up from the inner wheel arch and, looking at yours, the bit by the fuel tank. The metalwork around it is solid, thankfully.

The middle of that breather pipe has had it on mine. It's as crumbly as yours. It feels like there's a rubber tube going through, does that come out with the fuel tank?

I need to seal mine up from the inner wheel arch and, looking at yours, the bit by the fuel tank. The metalwork around it is solid, thankfully.

You actually have to take this pipe out/off before the tank comes out. Its a plastic/rubber pipe that connects at the top of the tank by the fuel sender and that runs to the neck of the tank. The rusty pipe just encases the breather pipe. I guess it was a safety thing so if the breather pipe splits it doesn't pour fuel/vapors into the cabin.

The problem with this metal breather pipe is it rusts from the inside out so I would try and clean it out if possible :) As you can see I've removed mine and I'll be replacing the rubber breather pipe with a braided pipe with a heavy duty plastic outer.

The middle of that breather pipe has had it on mine. It's as crumbly as yours. It feels like there's a rubber tube going through, does that come out with the fuel tank?

I need to seal mine up from the inner wheel arch and, looking at yours, the bit by the fuel tank. The metalwork around it is solid, thankfully.

You actually have to take this pipe out/off before the tank comes out. Its a plastic/rubber pipe that connects at the top of the tank by the fuel sender and that runs to the neck of the tank. The rusty pipe just encases the breather pipe. I guess it was a safety thing so if the breather pipe splits it doesn't pour fuel/vapors into the cabin.

The problem with this metal breather pipe is it rusts from the inside out so I would try and clean it out if possible :) As you can see I've removed mine and I'll be replacing the rubber breather pipe with a braided pipe with a heavy duty plastic outer.

Yep I plan to clear out the rest of it before putting it back together, not entirely sure what to do with the rubber pipe but I'll probably just seal around where the metal bit used to go for now. It feels pretty thick. If I can seal up each end where it goes back out to atmosphere then it should be ok for the time being. I'm tending to the underside in a big way next winter (new rust proofing etc) so I'll sort a more permanent solution then.

It's a bit shit on VW's part that they've got a metal pipe that can trap water inside the wing and rot without you noticing. Surely it would've been easier to either encase it in a tough plastic or something?

Tell me about it.. A strong plastic pipe is whats going in mine! :)

Continued with some speaker pod making last night

Tell me about it.. A strong plastic pipe is whats going in mine! :)

Continued with some speaker pod making last night

makes millions of difference having the speakers in the doors its really easy to do as well i know you said you liked mine on my build thread ! plus with a good amp and some sound proofing your sound system will be 1000000 times better than the crappy standard speakers

i also pulled the crappy old fabric off and put some alcantara on mine looks so much nicer in the car now

Edited 24 February, 201115 yr by darkartist_13

makes millions of difference having the speakers in the doors its really easy to do as well i know you said you liked mine on my build thread ! plus with a good amp and some sound proofing your sound system will be 1000000 times better than the crappy standard speakers

i also pulled the crappy old fabric off and put some alcantara on mine looks so much nicer in the car now

Yeah I currently have the in the doors but in a rather bodgey way.

The actual door cards are with the trimmers at the moment together with the rest of the interior so I hope to have it all back in a few weeks! :)

Always keep an eye on this thread since its early days. now I'm confused though, i had you down as making this car a fast road/track car. now i see speaker pods being put in

Either way it will still be brilliant, keep it up!

Always keep an eye on this thread since its early days. now I'm confused though, i had you down as making this car a fast road/track car. now i see speaker pods being put in

Either way it will still be brilliant, keep it up!

When it started out if was just going to be a track car. However I started to realise that I want it to be more of a weekend/GT Car with us taking it on road trips into Europe and the rest of the UK. If I stripped it out and had no creature comforts it would be more annoying on the road which means I wouldn't want to take it on these trips. And at the end of the day a set of speaker pods are not going to make it any less fun on the track it just means I can listen to music on the way back :)

Plus I also have this to make into a pure track thing!

Picked up and black uncut parcel shelf :)

didn't do much at the body shop this week.

found another hole.. worryingly at the rear seat belt mounting point

Cleaned up the inner arch

and found another small whole in the rear chassis rail. this will be patched up

Started to make up some repair plates to fix this

so these where knocked up

which should look like this when all made up

Also found so rust on the chassis rails.

This was cut out and a plate welded in.

Also have a mk1 arch to rebuild the inner arch

As you can see it follows the mk2 arch quite well