Right, time for an update. The car is booked in for a full respray along with a number of bodywork repairs that need to be made. Started stripping it down today. Everything will be coming out of this car and it is going in as a bare shell. The guy who is going to do the painting for me is a chap near Hungerford who has painted one or two VWs that are pretty well known in the scene, including the spaceframe shell for the All Smiles carbon fibre MK2 and also a magazine featured Polo that I can't remember the owner's name at this point, and also one or two Rallyes etc, so I am confident about entrusting this chap with the car. It isn't going to be a cheap job. Didn't have a great deal of time but I stripped out the back including all the door cards and stuff and took all of the plastics off the nearside. There's a bit of a scabby bit on the sill but it probably won't need to see the welder. The rear arch looks scabby and it looks like it has been rolled by someone. But when I was on the Edition One stand at Edition 38 a few other Ed. One owners felt the arches and explained to me that G60s (or at least Edition Ones) came from the factory like this. I don't believe it really so would like confirmation on that. Looks too untidy to be factory. At least it is rolled and not cut! Most of the plastics will be replaced with new (unless anything is unobtainable, which I know some bits are, like the 90-spec door trims and things). I've already got brand new G60 arches and stuff so the old ones will be retired. Will show some more pictures as I strip it more tomorrow, including a lot more rust that's around the fuel filler flap! This is going to be repaired with a repair panel and properly lead-loaded.
poor old girl looks sorry for herself now trev nasty bit under that window rubber, hope they do a good job mine has what im 99% sure are factory rolled arches...it was 1 elderly owner before me all standard , standard size rims when i got it and the arches were rolled nicley
Yeah, a few people have questioned why I wanted to strip it down and give it a complete overhaul in the body shop. It looked fine on the outside but I knew that underneath there were many areas needing attention. I knew this before buying it. The window rubber part probably looks worse than it is. Think it is just surface rust. But I'll show some pictures of much worse bits a little later That inner wheel arch area shows what happens when some berk just screws in a CD-changer without bothering to protect the metal. Some of that area is just total rust so it will need welding. I remembered your advice about lead-loading Steve, which was one of the reasons why I chose this chap.
Lovely car Trev, very nice, with a respray it'll be awesome. Jealous! I've got to do the fuel-filler panel on mine, few bubbles creeping through behind it - only place the car has any corrosion - what causes it? Cack build up behind the panel? Did you buy a repair panel, or cut it from a good donor?
if he can lead load thenhe must be pretty skilled, not many people can do it these days you're gona need to step up the cleaning routine once its done
looked good before the strip, but tbh i'm not suprised at the rust spots (apart from the inner arch ) those bloody window rubbers on 3 doors always trap water in. Every time i wash mine i always run my finger along the lower edge of the seal to get out as much water as possible. Has the potential to be an amazing car, great colour and one of the best variants-much rather have one of these than a rallye and imo they look better than the limited. looking forward to seeing it done and if you get chance, would be interested in seeing pics of the lead work. oh, and as for your 16vG60, personally i'd stick it in this one and give it the go it should have had from the outset. I'd probably ditch the ac too but thats just me.
I would much rather have one of these then a rallye to be honest. The perfect mk2 spec in my eyes. Still I'm happy enough with my G60 lol Looking good though
Funkbaron: This is the problem you have on the back of the MK2: You have plastic arch liners at the front, but not at the back. Remove the rubber piece from the top of the fuel filler neck and you can see your back wheel. All the sh*t chucked up from the rear wheel is coated around the fuel filler and inner arch metalwork. This is why the area around the fuel door goes crusty, and why the inner arch behind the door can get very rusty too (picture taken by holding camera right inside the rear quarter panel). To repair this I am going to hand over a good section cut away from a scrap MK2, but new repair panels can be had off eBay I understand. Fortunately the sill on the far-side looks quite good and the rear arch isn't so bad. The entire interior and all bits I've pulled off are now just sitting in the back of the car. Next time it comes out of the garage the engine and fuel tank are coming off and then it goes straight onto a trailer to the body shop. I would love to really go to town on this and unbolt the rear subframe together with the differential, and get the rear subframe components powder coated and stuff. Actually it'll be worth it because the bushes could be replaced at the same time. Ideally they'd come off before it goes to the body shop but I suppose it'd be a pain to move the shell around if I did that. So far I think that bits to be welded are: Repair panel in fuel door area and inner arch behind, another area on the inner wheel well inside the boot where some trog screwed in a CD-changer in the past (my screwdriver went right through that bit), and er, um actually hopefully that's it. I think the crusty bit I found on the sill is going to be okay. Not sure about the arches. Steve, do you still reckon those arches on mine are factory rolled then? The rust bubbling looks to me like it has been caused by someone rolling the arches and damaging the paint maybe. Beaniegti: Still can't decide over the 16V G60 you know. It would be awesome but I'm swaying towards keeping this thing original. Vealage: If I get it looking anything like yours mate, it'd be ace...
yeah id imagine they are factory rolled...most mk2s are getting scabby under there now and the syncros seem to rot faster, id guess its the rot making the lip look uneven where its begining to swell
Good luck Trev, was a stunning looking car, once you get all the rust sorted and the car restored it will be fantastic again, this has to be the best looking of the G60 variants.....love it
Exterior wise... pretty much, yeah. Only change will be wider outers on the RMs. I'm really into the standard MK2 look. You may have noticed I binned the single wiper - literally... Although I do have a set of doors with Audi 80 handles on which I would so love to make use of because they would look great on this car, but I know it would be wrong!
You could have it, just realised it's still in the garage. But, your car would need to be LHD to use it.
Absolutely beltas car mate, the ultimate mk2 in very way, rather that then some 5 dr limited tonk. Nowt better than seeing an original car with a decent lump in though, id only worry bout the `originality` if you were gona sell it on, if i had that id be keeping it for goods and that 16v g60 would be goin striaght in.
It went to the body shop today. No more pictures as yet but I shall take more when I visit next weekend, as there are a few more bits I have to remove from the engine bay before they can paint it.
Two months he reckons, based on the amount of time they've taken to do a similar amount of work on a Rallye they currently still have sitting in primer (owned by Richard of All Smiles). I certainly don't want it back any sooner than that. I need time to get all the engine components to the standard I want them, ready to go straight back into the shell the moment it comes back. The place is only about twenty-five minutes away from me so I shall be able to get regular pictures. It was interesting to look around because they happened to be working on someone's E30 M3 at the time. So quite an interesting range of cars they have in there at the moment! Hey Steve - what's the score with regards to obtaining a new windscreen and seal for the G60? Mine will obviously have to come out and it'll possibly break due to a stone chip. I need to let him know that a replacement can be obtained (and where it must be obtained from) before he dares to take it out. I assume that VW should still be able to supply one. Is it the same screen as that used on a Rallye, do you know? Trev
trev its rallye/U.S spec...the dealer or any windscreen firm should get one no worries, my local fitter said it wont be a issue to get one quick afaik the screen comes with one trim bonded on and the outer just pulls off and can be re used if its in good order
