1989 Tornado Red 3dr Gti 16v

Tis a fair point.. I can't weld for sh*t with a MIG and would like to learn to use a TIG properly as it should be a lot better for neat welds on panel work etc.. it's a skill I quite fancy cultivating and the car seems like a good application.

I'd also like to resurrect the old man's spraying equipment to do the paintwork.. as much as I hate bodywork, I'd like to do as much as possible on the car myself; since I'm skint and have generally never been happy with the standard of other people's work on my cars in the past..

 

Not sure where I'm going to put the relay box yet, I'll have to have a look before I order anything. Thanks for the info though

 

MIG will be fine!

 

Cool - will be interested to se how it turns out. If you're planning on using the same box as I did, I've got a reasonably comprehensive bill of materials if you'd like a copy

We shall see..I might have a play wih the mig on some old panels.. suffice to say on this occasion I'm going to content myself with rust treatement and proofing. Hopefully as the summer approaches I'll pull my finger out of my a*se, sort a job and get some equipment sorted

 

If you wouldn't mind that would be great

 

Mig is fine if you use it on the lowest setting and use spot weld/blobl technique. Just done this myself on my filler car with very good results - almost professional! Require minimal filling now and the welds ground down really nice.

Where abouts are you? I am in Leeds you can borrow my welder if you don't have one

 

No problem - want to PM me an email address and I'll send it over

Cheers; I was only reading about the blob technique last night as it happens

Thanks for the offer of welder lendage - fortunately though the old man has a MIG that I could use, should I decide to have a go

 

you have PM

 

Cheers - have sent the spreadsheet to your Yahoo address

 

Got it

 

Hope it's of some use

Took the car for it's MOT today; fully expecting it to fail on the windscreen damage (see my rants elsewhere on the forum if you really have nothing better to do with your time..).

Much to my surprise it passed, with the only advisory being the "damage to windscreen outside of zone A and smaller than 40mm"

Whilst the car was on the gas analyser our sound MOT tester let me tinker with the mixture a bit, bringing the idle CO down from a legal but very rich 3.2% to a more frugal and environmentally friendly 1.25%.

All in all a far better outcome than I'd hoped for

 

Good news

 

Have you checked/adjusted your fuelling up the range? (adjusted fuel control pressure via WUR)

I thought 2% was considered the "ideal" KR setting at idle?

I use 2.5% combined with tweaked fuelling on mine being it's a 2L

 

Nice outcome. I was suprised by how un fussy they are on windscreens too. Mine has at least 4 five p sized chips and a crack in one corner and it still passed.

Look forward to seeing the red machine out on the a4260 again soon!

Cheers

Dan

 

It is indeed

Nope; would like to take it to stealth but there are far more pressing issues to attend to before such luxuries are considered

I'm aware of the 2% figure, however I think VW state 0.5-1.5% and as long as the car runs well I'm happy to set a value lower than 2% in the interest of fuel economy.

It still goes very well (an enthusiastic squirt along the mile straight outside the test centre felt better than before adjustment, bit it might have been psychological). Am I correct in thinking that the idle mixture adjustment provides a "base" setting that's then altered by the WUR according to engine temp and manifold vacuum - so the idle mixture will affect the running mixture somewhat..?

Thanks - yeah, I'd read up on the regs and thought it would fail; however our MOT tester is straight as a die so I don't think he was being overly lenient. Your screen sounds like it's got more than it's fair share of battle damage - I'm quite impressed with mine that it took such a hit and hasn't cracked any more - even through all the snow and cold weather

Likewise - it's always good to see you out and about in the shire

 

Today's post is brought to you in association with the word "F*ck".

Pulled the screen out of the car earlier to sort the rot under the rubber. Quickly found that the worst case scenario I'd prepared myself for would have been a rather pleasant discovery compared to what was actually under there

Upon removing the screen I was greeted by this:






Plus a few smaller bits nearer the centre of the screen. After vacuuming out a large amount of rusty cornflakes I was left with this:




Somewhat puts into perspective the tiny perforation in the front face of the scuttle






After some abuse with the wire wheel - note the gaping gash in the A-pillar on the driver's side:






After a couple of coats o BH Hydrate 80 (which seems very good so far):




So, that's turned out to be far more of a clusterf*ck than I'd planned for. I've looked for replacement scuttles but obviously they're obsolete form VW, and pattern parts only seem to be available for pre-87 wipers.

I've still got the whole screen surround from the old car so can plunder that for bits although the scuttle isn't complete and there's rot around the wiper blank, so I can't use it as a straight swap.

Thinking so far the best bet (when I have the ability) is to cut out the rotten bits at the ends of the scuttle / A pillar; hopefully giving enough room to get inside the d/side A-pillar and replace the skin in there, since that's also gone through

The seal lip on the bukhead will also need building up on both sides of the car.. then I'll have to weld repair sections onto the scuttle / outer A post from the old car.

For now though it's just getting covered in cavity wax and a new screen is being fitted tomorrow. I was going to use the seal off my old car, but I think I'll just stick the original back on for now since there might be some sharp edges left (depsite the fact that I've smoothed it all out with a die grinder).

At least it looks like I've found the source of my water leak

 

Get the wings off and investigate the rot that will be present at the A pillar top asap.

 

Ouch. That hurts too look at Mike, sorry it's in such poor shape. Hope you can get it sorted soon

 

your just fitting a screen over the holes? will it not leak like a mofo?

thought bbt does scuttles

 

Thats nasty, I can't imagine how you are feeling right now.