16V Turbo VW Cabriolet Build (for the wife)

[juicedz4]

I thought some of you would like to check this out. This project started a few years ago (and has been sitting idle for about 16months). Ill get you guys up to date on this project. It might read a little funny at first, but after the first few posts it will be up to date. Im hoping to get back to in shortly.....



Picked this up in Feb for $650 for a project car for the wife. Finally brought it home yesterday to gut the disgusting fn carpet and interior and get the clutch swapped out.

I managed to get almost all of the interior out minus the door panels and dash (which will probably stay in anyway) and the trans yesterday after a really late start.

So far the car seems to be rust free minus the one big blister on the drivers rear quarter. I was pretty nervous about the rear floor and spare tire well as the top was less than water tight. However, I have yet to see any rust inside, phew.

Here are a few higlights.







Apparently cleaning EVER wasnt one of hte previous owners strong points.











After pulling the carpets and vacuuming up what wasnt stuck to the floor from all the fn pine sap. Im guessing there is still $1.53 in change stuck down there.








The exceptionally maintained motor and wheels (yes that is like 5 years of rusty brake dust on an aluminum wheel).







Siqq brakes



And the super clean trans, complete with what looks like bubble gum sealing the fn speedo cable





And my sweatshirt pwnage



Im hoping to clean up the trans and get the clutch swapped tonight.

More to come.

Dan




Didnt get much done last week as my wife was away and I was on monster watch for three days. I did manage to get the trans degreased and "desanded". I swear someone smeared it in grease and rolled it in a sandbox. Its not perfect, but I can work on and touch it without getting filthy.







Then tonight I got the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate off. The damn clutch like "poured" out. All that on the floor is JUST from the clutch. Anyway, the clutch is pretty toasty it seems. I need to see about resurfacing the flywheel and/or just getting a lightened one.









I also managed to get the new rear main seal in, and the new pressure plate mounted and torqued. I still need to do the throwout bearing etc in the trans but I ran out of time.









I need to order the parts to rebuild the shift linkage. I figure now is the time while I can actualy get to it all. And for $18 it cant hurt.

I almost have the clutch back in. I was going to finish the other nite but my help didnt show so I pulled more of the interior apart instead. Then tonight I snapped some pics and cleaned the one center console piece quick.

Yes, this car is fn nasty inside. Hopefuly sooon to be "was nasty".

Few pics

[juicedz4]

Clean and shiney.





A bit more cleaning to go, but at least the dash (minus the fn glove box door) is in nice shape. Sounds like a buddy of mine may have a new glove box for me. I also pulled off the sunvisors and noticed the dome light is broken. Im sure Ill find alot more.

No new pics at the moment. I soaked most of the vents and **** in hot soapy water a few times, and managed to scrape like 1/16" of nicotene out of the ashtray bits (fn gross). Doing so ruined the foam seals on all the vent doors so I orded up a sheet of something from McMaster to make up some new ones.

I also ordered a "few" new parts for it:

Top and all the cables for it (old top was really faded and cracked in a few spots)
Jetta rear door handles (just so I can have no key holes, plus stockers hardly worked)

Front suspension and brake parts:

Bilstein HD strut inserts
Autotech lowering springs
strut mounts, bump stops, dust boots
ball joints
wheel bearings
control arm bushings
swaybar bushings
motor mounts (TT front mount and I may fill the others)
rotors
Mintex Red box pads
SS braided brake lines

I pulled the springs, and the stock strut inserts out of the housings and got almost everythign apart. I just need to press out the wheel bearings and the one bushing in the control arms. I also figured while it was all apart that Id stich up the control arm seams quick (mainly since I havent played with the sand blaster or welder in a while). WIth any luck Ill get the rest of it apart tomorrow and get everything to powdercoat on friday.

Also some of the new goodies showed up today.

Old junk




"clean" brake fluid










Few new parts


I got the wheel bearings and the control arm bushings pressed out. Everything is now torn down and ready to go to powder coat tomorrow am.
I also got the calipers off and attempted to get the soft brakes lines off the car. They wouldnt budge so I thought id let them soak for a day or two. The calipers are pretty beat, so I figure ill just replace them with some rebuilt units

I dropped all the parts off at the powder coater this am. Hopefully Ill have them back fri/sat.

Tonights progress:

I got the TT front mount installed along with the starter and all of the wiring that I unhooked to get the trans out. So basically the motor is back where it should be. I just need to press out and replace the trans mount and reinstall the lower and the motor and trans will be all set.

Next, I thought Id try to get the soft lines off and clean up the wheel wells. I managed to strip the hard line nut on the pass side, even after soakng it and using the right sized flare nut wrenches. So now I need to find a new M10x1mm bubble flare nut (anyone have a p/n :)).

FInally, I scraped a ton of dirt and aftermarket, waxy like, undercoating off, cleaned it up with a ton of paint thinner and rags, and put some black spray on bed liner over the factory undercoating. I know its a little hack , but the factory coating seemed pretty intact and removing it isnt on my hot list. At least its clean and one color now.

I got another pile of parts in today as well. Now IM just missing the springs which wil be in on thrusday.

Todays pics:

TT front mount, was a nice tight fit, comared to the sloppy ripped stock one.


New stuff


Orig wheel well


After scraping and scrubbing


All paitned up


Tomorrow or wed's plan is to get the new trans mount in, clean up the other wheel well and paint it, and try to fix the one brake line (if I can get the right nut). If so, I should be able to get the new ss brake lines on and be ready for the supension to go back in sunday or early next week.

Didnt get too much done tonight. I finally finished disassembling and scrubbing and reassembling all the nasty vents.

Original


All apart


Cleaned up and back together




Next update should be a bit more exciting.

[juicedz4]

Progress has been slow as of late as I am still waiting on the poweder coat stuff to come back. Now they are saying thrusday, oh well.

I did have a chance to get the new foam put on the doors of the vents and get them all back together as well as clean up a few more interior plastic parts. I think all I have left is the various dash switches and the column trim and a few parts around the top near the back seat.

Vent foam





Cleaned up dash pieces









The dirtiest window switches ever, even dirty inside.





and cleaned up



I also painted the edges and hub section of the new rotors, the tops of the new strut mounts and the ball joints. Hopefully to keep things from rusting as long as possible.

I just need to fix the one brake line and clean up the other fender well before thursday and I should be able to get alot of the new suspensin and brakes in by the weekend.

Picked up a few goodies today. All but the front strut tubes which will be ready sat am. Im hoping to have it all back together sunday.







Finally some more progress. Sunday I got the new wheel bearings pressed in as well as the control arm bushings. I got some stuff on the car but didnt get any pics until today.

Today I finally picked up the strut tubes from powder. They coulndt match the bilstein yellow exactly, but its close enough considering how far awaay the rears are. I also got both strut assemblies together, both control arms on, passs side complete brakes and new ss braided line on, both struts in, and the sway bar on.

The damn swaybar had no grease left in the bushigns at all, if fact I almost had to use a pair of pliers to get the center ones moving again. A little prothane grease and all is well again.

I did run into a snag. One of the rubber boots in the new caliper is wrong. The damn guide pin wont fit thru worth a ****. So I need to order anoter caliper and pull the boot out of it and return it. Also I keep forgettig to order the new tie rods so thats on tomorrows list with the caliper.









I still need to put the axles in and do the final ball joint bolting. With any luck Ill have the car back on the ground and out of the garage on sunday.

A little bit of news on this, no real progress tho.

I picked up a 2.0 16v saturday to swap in. I was thinking about doing an aba swap, but this seemed like a better idea :shrugs: At $250 bux for everything I couldnt complain



Also I think I decided on a color scheme for the car. I had a buddy pchop a silver cabby (sorry to whoever's pic I stole :))




I decided to just pull the motor now, since Im doing the swap eventually anyway, and I dont need the car done for summer as my wifey can drive the Avant now.

Plus I need the room in my garage to work on a buddys car etc.

Im so glad I pulled it now, what a fn disaster the engine bay is.







I think Im going to do a bit of shaving on the engine bay, keeping the wiper box etc, but at least patch up any unused holes etc.

More to come, probabably in a couple weeks.

Wow, its been a while since I posted anything, since well I havent done anything.

Earlier this week I pressure washed the engine bay, sicne I happened to have the pwasher out etc.

It cleaned up pretty decent for how caked on the grease and dirt was.









Started cleaning up the 16V. I got most of the accessoires etc stripped off and spent about 2 hours tonight scraping and cleaning off the super thick layer of oil/dirt/whatever.

Coming along slow but sure.









After some cleaning.







Sine Im going to use ITBs and wanted to swap to a serp belt setup, and non a/c ABA brackets are nearly impossible to come by, I came up with my own setup.

I got an ABA alternator from my buddies yard for $20. Eventually it will need to be pulled apart and blasted etc.

I machined a block to mount the top of the alternator over the waterpump housing, utilizing the top two bolts. Then came up with an adjustable link, attached to the ps pump bracket, using some spacers that I turned on the lathe at the alternator end.

The belt is a 33" Dayco (01 Infinity Q45 waterpump belt). The crank pulley is the ebay underdrive pulley that I machined the V belt drive off the front and 1/2" off the back. It lines up nicely with the VR6 waterpump pulley that I pulled off my old GTI motor.

I dont have any competed shots of it out of the car yet (since I dropped the motor in quick on sunday to measure for the radiator and oil coolers).

All of the pictures can be found here: http://clubhousecustoms.com/co...m.php

A few highlights:

My first mockup out of wood.... easier to cut than aluminum.


First pass with the aluminum (I forgot to add extra to the one dim, hence the washers).


The adjustable link and spacers.


All put together using a junk 5rib belt from our Audi, cut and taped together


Installed on the motor with the real belt and the extra parts of the ps bracket machined off, cleaned up, blasted etc. Also the Rev2 top bracket is in there now, notice no more washers.




I will probably pull the motor back out tonight, then I can get some better shots of the entire setup.

Next, once the custom 36-1 trigger wheel Im having waterjet cut arrives I will be mounting that to the back of the crank pulley and working on the mount for the VR sensor.

Also I got the GSXR TBs in a couple weeks ago and have begun to mod them. Pics soon of that project.

All for now.

So I havent updated this in a LONG time. I was planning on running ITBs, which I spent a decent amount of time on, but recently decided to do a mild turbo setup instead.

Anyway, Im going to try to get this post up to speed by posting in some updates I did on a local forum. It might read a little funny, but after this post I will start updating this regularly.

[juicedz4]

Picked up the waterjet cut 36-1 trigger wheel yesterday, turned out pretty sweet. Should be test fitting it on the back of the crank pulley tomorrow nite.



Little more progress last night. I pulled the motor back out quick and test fit the trigger wheel. I had to just file a tiny bit on the inside hole to get it to slip over (Which was the plan since its easier to make the hole bigger than smaller). I actually did first put the trigger wheel in the toaster and it slipped right over the hub, which had been in the cold garage all week, but I needed it to come off again so I went with the file.

Couple pics of how it will mount to the crank pulley.





Next I need to mount the VR sensor. I have a piece of square aluminum tubing on order to make the bracket.

Aluminum came yesterday for the VR sensor mount. Was pretty simple really. I may clean up some of the edges a bit more, and I need to finish drilling the second sensor mounting hole yet, but otherwise its basically done.









I also got the waste spark coil that I plan on using (newer ford dealeo). Should be a nice fit where the stock distributor once lived.



Cleaned up the edges of the bracket today at work and bead blasted it quick. Its done now. I double checked the VR sensor to wheel clearance and its 1.75mm as shown in the picture below.





I just need to time the trigger wheel to the crank pulley and bolt it down.


I also finally took a picture of the exhaust flange that I got about a month ago. $36 shipped from a guy in Canada I found on Honda-tech.






Few new goodies came today: oil cooler, some -8an weld bungs for the oil lines and the connector pigtails for the VR sensor and coil pack.







This week I finally managed to machine the holes in the fuel rail blank from RMR and got it cut to length. I just used a 17/32" endmill for the counterbores which are 0.40" deep, and then a 0.25" thruhole. I cleaned out the burrs inside the rail with a 12" long 1/2" bit we had in the shop. Now I need to TIG on the FPR cup and the -6AN bungs and create some mounting tabs.





Stock injectors fit nicely.


I also cut the plate for the coil mount and distro hole plug. I had one of the guys in the shop cut the groove for the o-ring to seal around the distro hole, and made my own o-ring at home with some cord stock I had. I still need to drill the mounting holes... hopefully this weekend.

Groove (1.92" centerline dia) and o-ring.


Close up of where I glued the cordstock together:


Perfect fit



Got the bare radiator late last week from Howe. I need to trim about 5" off the top of it and fab up some tanks, mounts etc. Prob start on this early Jan as I have another radiator to do for someone else. Its going to end up being a 10x24" dual pass, dual 1" row.





And yes, Im making my own radiator.....

----------------------------------------------

and this is the most recent bit of work that I did on friday nite, which brings us back up to date.

Some progress.

I have been collecting parts for the turbo setup since the last update.

So far I have a 16G T3 turbine turbo, bosch green top inectors, OBD1 VR6 throttle body (found in my shed hah). Wed I got the weld els for the turbo manifold and the turbine inlet and outlet flanges are due this coming tuesay.

Anyway, fri nite I was finishing up a radiator Im working on and decided to do some work on the manifold and fuel rail.

This is what I have done so far:

I V'd the tubing out almost to a point. It took two passes to fill it in this far. I will be grinding these smooth later.





Progress, now with some pics.

Intercooler hanging about where its going to go. I had to cut out the bracing for the upper core support and I also modified the latch to be about 1/2" shorter so I could mount the IC up as high as possible (all but one ambient air row will be above the lower metal).



Progress on the intake manifold.

Runners squished to match the factory lower intake that I milled down flat. The fit is near perfect inside, some simple porting should make it a perfect mate.



Runners in place on the cut lower intake



The plenum is a 4" tube which I sectioned a 3" strip out of in order to fit a flat plate for the runners to intersect. I will be flaring the mani end of the runners and welding them on the inside then grinding smooth to make a nice transition.



And approx location of the plenum on the runners, and a shot of the radiator that Im making.




Finally Im almost done with the coil mount / distributor hole cover plate. I just need to find some M6 flat head screws for the mount to the motor, and round up the edges.




Im hoping to cut the runners to lenght and flare the ends today. Also should have the TB plate and plenum end plates cut. Im also going to be playing with a way to mount the fuel rail to the intake.

Made the oil cooler mount today. I still need to make a tiny scoop for the bottom of it, and some metal mesh to protect it from road debris. But the basic shape and placement is done. I will add real hardware to bolt it to the car once the lower core support work is done. (the little single phillips screw wont stay).

I may also add a small strut at the bottom to keep it from swinging around.

And it doesnt hang low, its acutally about 1/4" higher than the front lip spoiler.

[juicedz4]

Finished welding the AN bungs on the fuel rail.



I machined the threaded part of the RMR cup off and bored it down so the bung would sit almost flush before welding as I needed the clearance to the head.



I also finished welding up the exhaust mani. I still need to clean it up inside where the flange box meets the tubes.







I welded a Vband ring to the turbine housing outlet... F a flange.



Also, made a mounting plate for the WG actuator. I needed to move it back some so it could clear the shock tower (also hides it nicely under the compressor). Its sort of held together with random bolts right now (and missing a couple) I just need a couple standoffs and the correct hardware. I then cut, rebent, and rewelded the acutator rod, which seems to work nicely with the hand vac.





Mani and turbo mounted (notice the nice wg clearance now). Also you can now see how the charge piping is going to route.





Next up is finishing the intake manifold. The 2.5" live center that I bought to use as a flaring die for the runners is due in today or tomorrow. Once I have them flared I can more or less weld the whole thing together.

Lots more progress tonight. the live center I ordered to use to flare the tubing showed up. I flared them all so they would be JUST big enough not to go through the hole in the flange. Here's how in pics:





With that done I tacked the runners to what is left of the lower intake and then welded the runners to the flange on the inside.





welded the outside to hide the penetration from welding hte inside and to add more strength



and then ground them down wiht a carbide burr and sanded with 80 then 120 by hand.





And how its gonna look on the car





I think itll be good. :)

Its almost done. I just need to add a bung for the IAT, weld on the fuel rail straps, and figure out how Im gonna handle vac lines.

Welding to the old cast aluminum sucks.





















Finished the intake up today. Basically just welded on a few bungs for IAT, BOV (crap, forgot brake booster) and FPR. Also got the fuel rail straps cut down and welded on (hate the cast alum).













I also made up these as part of a project to come. :)



Finished up the oil cooler lower mount and rock guard.









I also cut out the new support for the upper core support, and finished modifying the latch assembly. No pics of that just yet.

Got the new core support bracket welded in with a provision for the hood latch release (hell with a cable). Was pretty simple to mod the hood release for a lever. Just welded a little piece of steel to where the cable normally attached.







I shortened the hood catch thing so that the IC could be mounted as high as possible. It will be a litle trickier to open the hood, but oh well.






Then the angle was off so I had to mod it more. ugh





I also have a good start on the IC mounts. I just need to finalize them once the radiator comes in tomorrow and I can test fit that as well.







Lower mount. Ill weld this to the IC once the placement is fixed.



And the wg actuator mount



Radiator showed up yesterday. I said F with making one now that I dont really have to. I have that set in place and finished up the IC mounts (just need to tap the lower mouting hole in the steel strap). Also got the IC piping welded up, all two welds.

Tomorrow Im going to make up a shroud for the rad fan and some straps for the upper radiator mounts. The bottom mounts are just pins that sit in the lower core support, factory deal.

[juicedz4]

Cold side, needs BOV flange and the ends beaded.




Still not super sweet, but they work




I was out in the garage tonight replacing change over bushings on the GTI and decided to finish up the radiator shroud quick.

Next up, upper radiator mounts. Then finish up charge pipes and make some radiator lines early next week.









Apparently I didnt make an update monday nite. I have the BOV flange welded on and it mounted. Charge pipes are all cut to lenght, just need beading. Down pipe first bend cut and tacked in place. Filter sitting more or less where it will be. (ya, I hate the turbo outlet too)

A few shots of all that.








Then tonight I welded up some ss weld els for the radiator lines. I just didnt think Id find hoses to fit. The top one sorta blows, but its the only way I could get it around the intake. It wont be seen and it should flow just fine.






I also dimpled and mounted the upper radiator shroud piece. I think I might round the inside corners so its not so square.





A little more progress.

I hated the way the upper rad hose turned out so I got the A2 upper rad hose, made a few adjustments, one splice and it fits much much nicer.







I also got the IC pipes beaded. For the 2" hot side I had to come up with a new inside die for the bead roller as the std roller was just a bit too large. Its pretty crude , but the results are quite nice.







And there is all the piping :P



Started on the wiring.

All of the MS fuses, relays and the MS itself will bolt to this panel (after I mill out a couple holes today).



The fuse/relay panel I bought is completely configurable. It can hold 10 mini fuses and up to 5 micro relays. It does have a buss that I will be using for the switched power fuses (the M6 stud). The mini fuse block is for any that require constant power.



I also cut to lenght all 24 wires for the engine harness and gauges. I drilled the firewall for the connector, and temporarily mounted the bulkhead to the firewall (eventually I will mount from the inside to allow the inside harness to be removed).

Where possible I bought bare connectors and terminals to minimize the number of solder joints in the harness, see the injector harnesses below. The VR sensor pickup and ignition trigger wires will be done with separate shielded cables, run through the same harness.



And started making the injector subharness.





Holes cut and drilled for the fuse blocks and MS mounting this afternoon. Then tonight I got all but two wires finished for the megasquirt and two of the power wires into the fuse block. Other than running out of time I left my updated schematic at work. I really like this fuse box. The terminals that you crimp onto the wires directly interface with the fuses and the relays vs. some other cheaper boxes.





I also got all the AN pushloc hose in from Jegs today. It fn blows. Dont ever buy the Jegs brand, spend the extra like 35% to get Aeroquip. So that has to go back tomorrow. Apparently its a Gates product p/n LOL PLUS 10LOLA+. Brent thought we should call it LOLLERHOSE...

Spent most of hte night doing some maint on the GTI. I did manage to sleeve and shrink the injector wires.



So Ive been busy buying parts, but havent had much time to get any real work done, well not as much as Id like anyway.

Stuff that has come in:

Wheels and tires :)
Walbro fuel pump
New fuel filters
Rear shocks and mounts
Rear axle beam bushigns
Scriocco ebrake cables (already had the rest of the disc swap parts)
Smoked headlights
H4 Hi/Low HID kit

I have the rear suspension completely out, stripped down and in the back of the GTI. Im dropping it off for powder tonight. Rear calipers are all sandblasted and ready to be rebuilt and painted.

I worked on the engine wiring harness a little more, but nothign to see.

Few pics of the new stuff and progress:

16"s from DTD with 205/40 Azenis .... $614 total after rebates


Yep, Ill be that guy to put HIDs in a non projector housing. Truth is she'll prob rarely drive at night anyway.


Empty, except for that stock exhaust that I need to get off soon.


Stripped beam with one caliper test fit.


Things I need to order soon:

Rear braided brake lines and adaptors
Plug wires (will have to be custom - Magnecor?)
Gaskets and timing parts for motor

Im hoping to get the walbro and the new fuel stuff in and also the rear undbody painted up before the suspension comes back from powder.

Then I need to pull the motor, pull the dash etc out and start on the engine bay work.

[juicedz4]

Saturday I picked up the axle beam, spring cups, etc from the powder coater.

Yesterday I pulled the gas tank, fuel pump, filter etc. Also got the stock exhaust off.

Tonight I started cleaning the rear underside of the chassis. I got the drivers wheel well basically ready for paint. I just need to sandblast and prime a couple tiny spots of surface rust. I pulled the filler neck and scraped all the dirt and crap out of the passenger side and thought about how to mount the new walbro inline pump.

I pulled the rear sections of the clipper kit off along with a couple pounds of sand and dirt and rocks.

Oh, I also got the Reiger front lip from WRD. :tup:

Empty


Only a couple little spots of surface rust.


So not clean.






This weeks goal is to get the rear end cleaned up, painted, and maybee the new fuel pump and filters etc back in.

Id love to start assembling the rear suspension too, but we'll see.

Busy nite tonight. I got the rust cleaned up and primed well. Finished cleaning up the drivers wheel well and almost all of the rest of the underside. I just need to really wash behind the tire well super good, degrease and finish the paint. Ill probabaly finish that up once spring comes and I can roll the car outside. At least now I can get the gas tank, fuel system and suspension back in!









Managed to get the rear shock/springs assembled tonight.



And the rear stub axles, bearings and discs all on and ready to go.



I planned on installing the gas tank tonight as well, but when I got it out of the shed and took a close look at it, the seams arent looking too good. I may just bite the bullet and put a new tank in now while its already out etc.

Probably make a decision in the am.

Ordered the gas tank today. Hopefully it will be here before the weekend.

Finished bead blasting the calipers, rebuilt and painted them up along with the carriers.





Also cleaned up and paitned the hardware for the axle beam and assembled that.

Acutaly had time to get the tank and rear suspension in today. Up next, rear brakes, lines and ebrake cables. Tomorrow nite.

New gastank painted and in.


Rear suspension in




Got the rear calipers, pads, and ebrake cables on last night. Also got the tank vent lines, etc all back on. I also started working on the fuel pump filter etc.





Got the drivers side rear brake line in , finally. The new, shorter, lines were just right.

I couldnt get the pass side soft line off, the nut was fn frozen solid. I ended up cutting off the hard line. I will replace the nut and reflare the line tomorrow night so I can finally button up the brakes on this thing.



The plug wires came in friday from Magnecor as well as a few new silicone couplings to replace some of the older Turbonetics ones I mocked things up with.

[juicedz4]

PHEW!

There, all up to date. Like I said (in case you missed in) I havent done anything on this in about 16 months. Hoping to get back to it soon.

Dan

[TS3g]

Holy crap dude! Awesome job on everything, especially the intake. Looks like a much funner project for the wife than honey-dos.

[juicedz4]

Thanks!


Dan

[DJPyro]

Absolutely love it.

[GrandZJ]

Great build!

[AndyLynne]

Awesome!
I wish my wife would let me work on that kind of project for her!

I saw how you said its a bitch to weld the intake runners to the cast aluminum, I was wondering if you did anything to clean up the cast, or how you prep it for welding? I tried to weld on some cast al in my garage for practice and had no luck despite several different attempts at cleaning it....

[juicedz4]

Its baaaack! I havent touched this in almost 18mo. Feels good to be getting back to it finally.

Good progress tonight. Only got a couple hours in, but made good use of it.

Removed:
-Dash
-Cruise control wiring
-a/c wiring
-speaker wiring
-heater box

I also figured outa bunch of wiring that I didnt have labelled. Still a bit more to go through, but Ill work on it little at a time.



Dan

[juicedz4]

Good progress again tonight.

Removed the factory wiring, fuse box etc
Throttle, clutch and speedo cables
Master cylinder and booster
Hood
HVAC box from the rain tray area
Wiper motor, arms etc

Then I started grinding spot welds on what remains of the rain tray that I cut out long ago. I worked on that for about 45mins, and have most of it removed.









Dan

[Iridium]

Whats the reason for removing the drip tray area?

[juicedz4]

Just that it looks nicer / cleaner.

Dan

[billyrb]

very cool build!

[juicedz4]

Thanks!

LOTS of progress this week. Tues night I finished removing the last of the rain tray and started filling in some holes on the firewall. Last night I welded shut 28, yes 28, holes in the upper core support, and got a decent start on the one seam near the drivers shock tower, and the drivers side trans mount.













Dan

[Graham08]

Wow! Great build. Aren't the Howe guys great? I have bought several cores from them for exactly what you're doing. I imagine if you talked to other radiator manufacturers they wouldn't even discuss selling a bare core.

What are you using for the stainless screen on your rock guard? I've looked at McMaster for the stuff, and get lost in the many types of screen they sell. Also, did you TIG every strand to the tube frame?