I rarely come over to this forum, but I've bookmarked this so looking forward to the updates, awesome work and I'm loving the jig Hope it all goes smoothly man
HTML: Thanks guys so far so good, will hopefully start getting the roll over jig built over the next couple of weekends so can really start to crack on then
Happy Christmas All! Update time Some progress at last, have had a few days off work to crack on with a few things on the Golf. A Friend of mines Dad now builds roll over jigs in built and kit form. I opted for the kit/self build option as I wanted to get it before Christmas. Took a couple of hours to weld it all together and get the Golf up in the air! Test fit Also treated myself to some new toys, was sick of having to recharge my old drill every 10 minutes. This ones 18v and 4AH. Plenty of torque and lasts an age! Set to work removing the now redundant bits inside the shell, 64 spot welds later. Got the car back inside the workshop late Christmas Eve with the help of 2 friends to lift the bugger on the roll over. James seen here doing his best Aladdin impression in the floating golf. Farther Christmas bought me exactly what I was after! Can you believe that! Snuck away this morning to get the final measurements checked and double checked. Simple plumbline and a few datum points. Within 1mm each side and end to end. Cars straighter than I thought! Stripped the front subframe off And the rear Set to work removing the stone chip and underseal. Possbily the worst job in the world, cars looks really solid though. Couple of small repairs to be done around the drainage holes/bungs but nothing major. Packed up for tonight and quickly got a temporary coat of primer on to stop it flash rusting overnight. Hopefully can rope a couple of mates in over the coming days to get the rest stripped off. Certainly wont be easy but I can get on with seam welding the shell before I remove any more panels.
Those wire wheel attachments for the grinder are brilliant aren`t they ! you certainly need proper arm / face protection with them though. I`ve picked out loads of bits of wire from my gauntlets and neck..
Been using them with my welding gloves, certainly wouldn't wand a strand in the eye that's for sure. Still going to take a while though
yup certainly is the worst job in the world, nearly threw the towel in doing mine, especially when the wire brush on the grinder kicked back and went over the top of my hand, still now i have a scar from it, it would be rude not to complete my project - great skills on the job there, difficult way to convert to 4wd rather than using a syncro rear axle but if you have the skills (and i dont hence going the syncro axle route on mine) then well done mate.
Thanks guys, I was initially going to use the syncro running gear but future engine plans will certainly put some stress on them.....watch is space. My other issue would be locating bits when I break them, decent syncro and rallye components are getting harder and harder to find now where as the majority of this running gear (apart from the prop) will be off the shelf to some extent. Think I'd go stir crazy if couldn't drive it because I can't find something simple. By using the TT front subframe and engine mounts, means I can use standard 02M drive shafts to begin with rather than getting custom ones made to suit. (Again future proofs it for the engine I have in mind) A lot of work but will save a big chunk of money. I hope.
interesting thoughts, whilst I'm using a syncro rear axle the diff is haldex, nothing on the rear will break under hard use, its not like you will twist axles or bend trailing arms (unless its crashed i guess) my rear section prop is stock 4motion, the front is a little shorter, but then the shortened section wont break, just might need to change the CV and rubber coupling from time to time, front driveshafts are custom of course but then they still use stock S3/4motion inner and outer cv's. You won't be able to use a std 4motion prop without shortening it as the wheel base of a mk2 is shorter than a mk4, and i assume you will be using wide arches to compensate the track width if using stock 4motion driveshafts upfront When building something not factory available there will always be many different ways to do things, thats what i love about it all, seeing how other people do things
Progress! Its taken the best part of 4 full days of possibly the most soul destroying task ever to get to this point. Still have the engine bay and interior sound deadening to strip off yet. Looking better now though. Massive thankyou went to a couple of my friends who stupidly volunteered themselves to help with this one. Let the fun begin. Heat, Scrape, Grind, Repeat. Jacking points are both a bit rough so will replace these once I find a supplier that can do both repair panels. Drivers side is a little worse, again not the end of the world Finally getting somewhere now Finally at a stage now where I can get some temporary primer on it and get the jig mounted up ready to start fabricating the new sub frame mounts.
Apparently those repair panels are quite hard to get now. Mines been done and was a pain! the rest of it looks ok. Kind of wish i just cut the rot and welded on some 3mm thick steel
