Barn Find Laser Green 1.9 Gti.

[Leslie green 81]

Today was a new day , I had a little puller on consisting of an angle grinder backing washer and an 8mm bolt , I was using this yesterday too as well as heat and battering it with a nylon hammer so I left it under as much tension as I dared with wd40 soaking all night , I changed the washer for an m10 nut as the washer was deforming and when I cranked up the tension it slowly moved , it could only go 3 mm or so before it hit the plate but I now had it beat , 30 secs whacking with the hammer on the arm with the other end on a piece of wood on the ground as hard as I could and it was out .Splines were cleaned and its now perfect .

 

I them tried taking the wheel bearings off  , both needed a puller and one which was running very rough anyway the inner come was stuck and needed heated , also the big spacer behind it was stuck solid and needed heated too and after a bit of levering to come off. . Took the torsion bar screwed in ends in the axle off too  these were very tight and needed lost of heat. 

 

One stub axle does now have a slot to knock the nut into to lock it , the other does and had a hex on the back so I guess its the original one . It really should have one for safety so I may need to buy a new one , guessing these are tight as hell too and need pressed out ? 

 

Puller 

IMG_20220817_113330 by Leslie, on Flickr

Bearing off 

IMG_20220817_135346 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

Good bearing 

 

IMG_20220817_142911 by Leslie, on Flick

 

Different stub axles.

IMG_20220817_150521 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Too late now, but you could have left the screwed in caps alone really. I’ve only ever needed to change about 2 or 3. Beware it’s a very fine thread, 30x1 I think, and you will probably need to tap it out to get new caps to start.

[Leslie green 81]

I probably wouldn't have bothered only I have 2 new ones bought ages ago . apart from not being shiny anymore they were ok but the slot has taken a little bit of damage to get then out but they are still usable if needed , the slot is just for to install them by the looks of it .and I was surprised just how little thread there was in there looked like about 4 threads . A bit of googling to threads on here and it seems 1.9 stub axles are fairly expensive new so I might just add a little slot to allow the nut to hold why it doesn't already have one I dunno as otherwise it seems fine , one bearing is as rough as hell though .

Edited August 17, 2022 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 81]

Car is in with a painter to get epoxy primer , then today I seam sealed it ready for 2k topcoat on the floorpan . Unfortunately he forgot to do the triangle behind inner wing but will be done after seam sealer needed applied today . The green looks a little dark but I'm assured it will be ok , not much I can do about it , it wont be lacquer over base like the outer panels will be but a more rugged 2k paint with some metallic added for extra sparkle , laquer tends to come off in sheets if it gets a stone chip so this makes more sense for a car that will be driven. There will be gravitex going underneath before the topcoat soon. The sealey air operated seam sealer gun earned it's money today as tigerseal can be very hard to apply manually. Of course I was covered in the sh*t by the end lol

 

IMG_20220823_125246 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220823_125455 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220823_144021 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220823_144030 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220823_144216 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220823_144210 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220823_144036 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited August 23, 2022 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 81]

Just got the shell back from getting the gravitex  then 2k primer and colour on the floorpan . It's looking pretty shiny !!!!!!!! 

 

IMG_20220827_123321 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220827_123029 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220827_122719 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220827_123139 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220827_123335 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited August 27, 2022 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 81]

Taking the car of the jig as its its a bit unstable for transporting , I had this trolley for moving cars about and made some new legs for to fit the 205 but when I had the legs on it was clear it was far too narrow and unstable to go on a transporter trailer ,tit would fall though the centre deck , I had some spare castors so welded some plates on the ends of the cross beams and then a long bar to tie the front and back together otherwise there is a danger it will bend the floor as the legs are unsupported , It all feels nice and solid now  . The next task was getting it down of the jig which is always a bit dodgy , loads of spare wheels helps a lot and an engine crane and when it was down I refitted the doors and wings . Of course it rained the only time this week for the 10 minutes when I was trying to get it off the jig and wet my new paint , weather has been mint all week and had the car out to get some heat and sun while it lasted .

 

IMG_20220902_134111 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220902_153052 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220902_153104 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220902_162253 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220902_153043 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited September 2, 2022 by Leslie green

[hoody_g 4]

Looking great Leslie using your pics to push me to work more on mine. 

 

Do you have a closer pic of the rotisarie?

[Leslie green 81]

9 hours ago, hoody_g said:

Looking great Leslie using your pics to push me to work more on mine. 

 

Do you have a closer pic of the rotisarie?

That's what its all about getting that motivation going after a few years lying about I decided it needed to make real progress this year ,it's been on that rotisserie over 4 years , it's one I made for restoring a mk1 fiesta a good few years ago. there are some pics on page 3 of this thread when I first made the mounts for front and back to fit the 205 , I tied the back one into the  towing eye  and drilled a hole for that as I thought it might bend the back panel as I could see the flex even pushing up on it and also into centre bumper mount.  As it was already made I found a few issues it isn't quite high enough to spin upside down completely but can get past 90 degrees which is enough for most things , also where the tube it spins on joins the box it really needs braced there as its under huge strain , I towed this 15 mile to the painter on a transporter trailer and I was worried it might snap off with flexing but it was grand , I put 2 right angle bits of box either side of the rear that slide into the rear mount to act as end stops so it can't go too far round or the roof would hit the ground.

      Its beautifully balanced when the glass it out and doors and boot off but beware with the glass in and door on once it tilts the glass weight is all on one side suddenly and it is impossible to hold back , luckily I had a thick mat and sofa cushions below the roof  so it only touched down softly but I couldn't hold it back due to the balance being wrong. At the time it pinched a tin of wd40  between the frame and leg and sprayed it all over me when I was holding it lol 

       Its held by 2 bolts that push down on the tube through welded in m12 nuts either end this works just ok but isn't very secure  a better way would be a round disc with holes drill so a pin could go in and lock it ., You can buy pre made jigs on ebay either welded up or weld yourself  and these could be a better buy , once you have used one you would never go back to lying on the ground.Once you are done you could sell it and get a good bit of money back again .

Edited September 3, 2022 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 81]

Got the Auto bonnet out of storage to try and make it fit , Spend absolutely ages trying to figure out which way the hinges went  as they sat way too high above the wings and it;s been years since I took them off , I had another pair blasted and proxy primered and there were no witness marks so got the original set which I though might be bent , they are ok , found to see which side was which by the rust marks . After that the bonnet was too far forward and even moving the striker forward all the way the bonnet was still too far forward, was a lot of head scratching  I realised the slam panel it was bending down as unsupported and once I held it up again  it engaged ok. Doh !!!!!!  The wings to bonnet gaps are huge at the minute especially passenger side where you could fit a finger down  ,hopefully wings a can come in a bit as I just put them where I thought they were before and this isn't the original bonnet.Making slow progress ....

 

IMG_20220905_165907 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited September 5, 2022 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

The slam panel as you’ve found is very flimsy, the rad cowling of all things stiffens it up when fitted.

[Leslie green 81]

Thanks Tom makes sense no way you could latch the bonnet the way it is .  Today I heated the trailing arms then bashed out the stub axles to get a proper measurement , I had bought one for a 306 which  appears to be correct 105 mm one.  I took the arms for blasting this evening and blaster was there so done right away . I have adjusted the doors wings and bonnet to get the best fit , the doors and wings now look reasonably good now but the wing to bonnet gap is still too big  and the wings are in as far as they can go , I think when the wings were removed the vertical bit above the bolts  has taken a bit of a bent  and is messing the gap up. Not sure if I can sort this but something needs done . 

      One of these rivnuts that holds the windows in is spinning round so a bolt cannot be tightened , Will try and drill it out but with it turning that will be fun .........anybody know what size the actual opening behind this is don't want to drill it too big . oh and busted my head open again on the studs that hang down from the steering column mount while adjusting the doors ..ouch ! must tape some foam to it ..

 

IMG_20220908_115243 by Leslie, on Flickr

3 stub axles top no recess to stake the nut not great , middle looks original but has a wear ridge where it looks like the bearing cone has spun round due to siezed ball bearings , bottom new 306 (105mm) replacement

IMG_20220908_171312 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220908_171323_BURST001_COVER by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220908_171333 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220908_150109 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited September 8, 2022 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Id be more tempted to carefully linish the head/flange off the rivnut until you can poke it through the hole. It will be hard to drill as you say as its spinning. Although it may be worth if you have a rivnut tool to see if you can crimp it a bit tighter so it holds and does not spin first of all.

Ref stub axles, I'd have just cut a new stake slot in the one that hasn't got it, 2 min with a grinder would do it.

[Leslie green 81]

Looks like they are steel rivnuts which means I need a more expensive riveter tool as cheap ones only do aluminium  but good idea on trying to give it a nip up first. I was tempted to cut a slot in the stub axle but found a new one cheap enough and what sort of a one didn't have it to start with I wondered. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by Leslie green

[welshpug 1,622]

Cheap rivnut  tool sets from Amazon work fine with steel ruvnuts, I have one that does up to M12

[Leslie green 81]

Thanks but just bought a sealey short arm one last night only does to m8 but will be useful to have in the future. 

[Leslie green 81]

Got the sealey rivnut tool so tried a quick nip up on the rivnut as no new ones have arrived yet and its holding so happy days so made a start gathering up bolts for plating and wire wheeling them to get a good finish on the pillar drill , this is fairly hard work and sore on the fingers if then get in the brush ouch as they do very so often the brake brackets are a nightmare the drill snatches them out you hand and firing them at the nearest window !  I got genuine used replacement shock bolts as the other were mangled by the time I got them out and I was one front subframe bolt short so bought a used set and they only sent 5 so still one short lol as I've no idea where the others are after 5 years .Most came up as good as new new though which is surprising.

 

 IMG_20220914_162208 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

 

[Leslie green 81]

Off to see another painter today for some shiny shiny ! X5 back last night after being off a  month with a busted rear diff  ,a bill I could have done without and rear diffs are in short supply for these .Managed to dodge most of the roan on the way down . All the rivets had to come off the 1/4's for repair work so will need replaced.I saw a new genuine rear 1/4 on ebay last night but it was a left side and I wanted a right but a bit late now anyway .

 

IMG_20220915_085619 by Leslie, on Flickr

Edited September 15, 2022 by Leslie green

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

Fair play you are storming along with this now. Well done 

[Leslie green 81]

Thanks Tom might be in colour by end next week the bodyshop are held up on other projects waiting panels and parts  so they are putting 3 guys on this full time  , lots of filling done already when I was down dropping of some more bodykit rivets . I was sort of banking on a month like they originally said infact I was sure it would be longer like most things tend to take  as I need to make a space in the garage as it can't be near other stuff after it's painted plus the money to pay for it all will be needed much sooner too ,I was hoping for 2 paydays before it was painted ! # broke as feck now .It's been a flat to the mat few months for sure searching for  parts and  looking at threads too see how things go back together .

Edited September 16, 2022 by Leslie green

[Leslie green 81]

Lots of work going on 

 

306100783_1293783768043644_2549309319589432087_n by Leslie, on Flickr

[Leslie green 81]

Painting now finished got car home today

 

305956629_1813178909029434_1921163792616905011_n by Leslie, on Flickr

 

306224026_606882067597031_3392826643311402854_n by Leslie, on Flickr

 

306502555_1088228608480489_4326734231048679219_n by Leslie, on Flickr

 

306611022_626051998929751_3049008684232861570_n by Leslie, on Flickr

 

 

[Leslie green 81]

Few when I got it home

 

IMG_20220924_121042 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_140554 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_140640 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_140656 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_140705 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_142116 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_142129 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_142153 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_142211 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_142225 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_142402 by Leslie, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220924_142406 by Leslie, on Flickr

[Reebmit 51 4 Cars]

Looking great Leslie! Always nice fitting them back up from this stage…..

[Leslie green 81]

1 hour ago, Reebmit said:

Looking great Leslie! Always nice fitting them back up from this stage…..

Thanks Tim I'm just glad to get it home 185 mile round trip today  but it certainly looks as smooth as glass now but   the bonnet currently won't latch as there isn't enough adjustment in the slam panel , it was on max adjustment before it left with bonnet fully back so I suspect the actual headlamp panels are a little too far back as it's so easy to bend them if  if pushed on them when the slam panel is off , nothing can be done about that really so will have to see how it can be sorted .  It needs a while for the paint to harden so will crack on with the axle again  and see about brake and fuel lines soon as that's the next step .

[series111 21]

Looking well, now the fun begins putting it back together