joe - Golf Rallye

[topher]

 

[...joe]

Right, next project! I got this about a year ago, but it has seriously taken me this long to actually get it into my unit and make a start on it.

I've always wanted a Rallye since i knew what one was, i love JVs, Gibbys, Tophs and a whole bunch of others, so when I got offered the right one at the right price, even though I couldn't afford it I had to have it! So what do i mean about the 'right one'? Well I wanted it to be a full on project, so didn't want a minter, I was never going to keep the G60 engine as I've never been a massive fan and to get some proper power they are an expensive way to go. So getting offered a rolling shell, mostly stripped with all the important stuff remaining... it was an easy decision!
This car has been planned in my head for ages, but having started my own business I soon realised I don't have the time or money for a project, recently, work has been going well and I've got the urge to do something with it. So now I find that I've actually accumulated a fair few parts over the year, and in the last week I have sorted an engine so time to pull my finger out!
I can't see this being the fastest moving project but hopefully I've learnt alot from that last one and this one will be done to a higher standard and will be a more 'complete' car. The idea I have for it is to be a retro version of an S3, by that i mean that I want it fast and comfortable... getting too old for a harsh noisy car, I actually want to drive this when its done!

[...joe]

So here it is!







It looks a complete shed but like I said its the 'right' one, being mostly stripped with all the important parts remaining. It was full of stuiff when I got it, like old sleeping bag, spare parts etc and nicely a puddle of water! I took everything out of it, carpets, sound proofing, the lot. Then got a wet vac in there to clear out the stinkin' puddle, then put a de-humidifier in there for a while to dry it out. Fearing the worst i had a good poke about and was happy to say the floor pan, sills etc are all solid!.... Aaaand thats how it stood for another few months! The photo shows all the crap removed, there was quite alot!

Then into my unit it went. Bit more of a strip down and a few more parts accumulated but nothing too special. One tuesday night i decided to have a poke at the seam sealer in the engine bay. I want to smooth the bay out, but rather than making it too smooth and shapeless i really like all the factory seams and pressings so will keep all them and just neaten them up, cut off any unwanted brackets, weld up any un-used holes etc.
So after poking the seam sealer and scraping a bit off I got a knotted wire brush on an angle grinder and it came off easily and left the metal underneath in good shape.









Unfortunately one of the front wings had some rust bubbles so decided to have a go at it and see how bad it is. It turns out its not great! Showed it to my painter and he said its fixable, but I might get on the hunt for a new wing anyway, in fact I've found a pair of wings, I just dont really have the cash right now.... Annoying!



Thats it for now, here's how the poor b!tch looks!

[...joe]

Well I managed to get a bit more done tonight, finished removing all the brackets and studs I didn't need and have got most of the bay smoothed, just deciding if I want to remove the rain tray as well. It would definately look better but I'm not sure if I'm happy with the lack of fresh air? I might have to duct it in from somewhere else.

Also managed to get the front subframe, suspension, brakes etc off to send a few bits off to get powder coated and to fit up the new brakes etc. I plan to build it all up off the car and lift it into place. No piccies I'm afraid!

[...joe]

Well I decided to have a bit of a planning session. I always knew I'd have to have the wheels on and the car sat how I wanted, before it went to paint, plus I'd always planned on putting the engine in before i got the bay painted, so I could see what I needed to do to it. So after taking the subframe etc off last week, yesterday I decided I should put it back on! Still it was a good chance to strip stuff down and clean it up. I need to start making a list of things I'll need as I go along so I don't find myself waiting about for parts.





So I cleaned a few more things up in the engine bay, had to remove the dash to get some of the sound deadening off before i could pull the wiring out of the bay, which was a bit of a mission. Not sure if its a Rallye thing or a LHD thing but everything seems 'better' than in any of the other golfs I've messed about with!



Then stripped down the front end, the wishbones are knackered so will get new ones, the front hubs will be replaced by early mk3 16v ones as I want it to be 5 stud, they will also probably need refurbing on some level. The suspension is getting replaced so the only parts worth putting back on are the subframe and steering rack. You can't get a new steering rack for LHD golfs any more so my one had to be reconditioned but it looks like they did a good job of it. realised I'm missing the mountings for it though... one more thing to add to the list! Cleaned up years of filth off the subframe and bolted it back up.









I also offered up the intercooler and radiator, the cross member and slam panel.. just to see how it looks! But I guess it also helps me to work out what goes where and what I still need to find.



Then had a good old tidy up and dragged the engine over so I can bolt the gearbox, diff, driveshafts etc up next week and lift it into the engine bay.


The engine is an AGU which i got for reasonable money, but i'll be ditching the turbo and manifolds to get some proper power out of it! I cant see the point in doing it with anything less than 300bhp but its a good starting point and its a solid engine from a trusted source so should be fine.
Its funny, in some respects I can see this project moving quite quickly, but in others I can already feel the headaches coming on! There must be a million things I haven't accounted for yet but I'm sure I'll work it all out as and when I need to.
It doesn't help that the guy in the unit next door to me is/has building/built some stunning and well executed cars with ridiculous levels of detail and thought. It makes me want to do something to his level, but ultimately i don't have his skills or knowledge so thats kinda depressing!

[...joe]

Tonight I uncovered the gearbox and diff, bolted them on the engine and removed the old turbo and all that jazz. Boring update but so what!

[...joe]

Well its been a while and I haven't done a massive amount or taken any pics of the things i have done! Me and my girlfriend have just bought a house and with december being a bad month for me work wise..... I'm skint!
Things I have done though are to finally get the remaining parts owed to me from when i first bought the car, most importantly being the headlamps. I also managed to do a trade for my old badged grille with a new de-badged one. the guy also might be swapping a few things with me but they're nothing too special. I also got hold of a replacement wing for the rusty one and a set of H&R coilovers for it.
I also got a recently re-conditioned K04 turbo and inlet manifold plus injectors for a bargain price so just need to find a decent exhaust manifold.
Workwise I have stripped the rear subframe, cleaned it up and pressed the bearings out of it. This is where I have got to before needing to buy new bearings, bushes, top mounts etc and get powder coating done. Which is where my severe lack of money is coming into play. I might treat myself to the odd part now work is picking up again just to get it on its wheels again as it looks pretty sad at the moment.

[...joe]

So since the last update not a lot has happened! But work has picked up nicely so it means I should have the money to sort a few things out now.
Recently my Rallye has become a dumping ground for any crap I want out the way so it was full of junk! I have always liked Corrado dashes in mk2's as they still look right for their age but a bit more modern, if that makes any sense! So after trying to find a LHD Corrado set up for a while a mate found a guy half hour down the road breaking a G60. So yesterday I picked it all up, brought it all back to my unit then realised I have no space to store it.
I decided to empty the Rallye again and this time strip out a few more bit, like the ABS ecu and wiring (there is alot of it!), the seat belts, parcel shelf support etc. I figure anything that isn't going to be of any use might as well come out now. So, empty car again!





LHD Corrado dash



I knew from looking at this conversion before that its not a straight swap. The Corrado dash is wider and deeper, the curve by the windscreen is also different so knew there would have to be some cutting. Also the bolts that screw through to the engine compartment need removing and re-positioning so removed them first off.



I cut the windscreen edge with a jigsaw with a rough guess and offered it up for the first time.



To be honest I was pretty surprised how easily it went in. The mountings on the side are pretty far off as you can see so I knew I had more cutting to do.



but after a few more cuts it fitted pretty good, the centre console was also trial fitted.





After being pretty pleased with the days efforts I sorted out all the old crap and but it in the back of the car and went home to do some more research on these conversions. It seems there are alot done, not alot of info on them, alot of people have bodged them in, but found a link to a Spanish site where a guy with a Rallye had done the swap and done it well. I definitely dont want to bodge it so will refine it over time as it'll be in and out plenty of times I'm sure.

The main thing seems to be that you need to use a mk3 golf steering column at the top as this allows clearance for the Corrado clocks and a bit more tweaking so we'll see how it goes. I just want it to look and work like factory!

[...joe]

God this is depressing.

I never realised how long it has been since I last did any kind of update. I have been doing work on the Rallye, as and when I have had the chance. To look at it, it doesn't look like much has happened but stuff has!
First off, I had to move it into a different workshop. When I moved it, I got all the rest of the undercarriage off and started to dismantle it.
Secondly I started making more effort on the engine bay. To cut a long story short I stripped off all the seam sealer and all the other crap and tried to find someone who would do all the welding up of superfluous holes etc. This turned out to be more of a mission than i thought. Most of the body workers I know, know what a mission it is and weren't that interested. I spoke to several fabricators, who couldn't really grasp what I was trying to achieve so iwasn't sure I wanted to use them.
In the end I borrowed a welder, taught myself to weld and did it myself. Now I wouldn't say I'm any expert, but I did a pretty good job and baring in mind all the welds were getting ground down it was all good. Tedious, but all good.
The actual grinding down of the welds was again, tedious and there were a few rusty bits that had to be plated over so it hasn't ended up as 'original' as I wanted. I'm not sure it matters too much as the whole car is going to be pretty custom.
Anyway, after all the grinding came the even worse task of filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding boring! I hate doing any kind of bodywork and on something made up of stupid shapes is a massive ball ache.
However its mostly there, needs a bit more work, then some nice thick primer, then paint!
Some random pics from the engine bay progress:





















I also welded up and smoothed out the slam panel:





Away from the engine bay, all the undercarriage was sent away, blasted and powder coated satin black, with powerflex bushes and stainless bolts replacing the necessary bits. I have no pics of any of this though.
The only bits not done are the front wishbones and the front hubs. This is because I bought new wishbones, had them seam welded and they weren't done in time to go off with the other bits.
The hubs need stripping down and cleaning up and I just haven't got round to doing them yet.

Lastly I managed to buy a set of seats for it. They are the seats I always wanted for the Rallye, but because of their rare-ness and associated cost I never figured I'd get a set. But I found a set local, in good condition, for reasonable money and i was feeling flush... so I bought them! They are Recaro A8's, again, no pics but will get some soon.

[...joe]

Over the weekend I carried on with the engine bay smoothing, pretty much finished, jut need to lay on some heavy primer and see how bad it looks!

I also had the powder coater drop off a few more bits so dragged the other bits out and took some pic's:

Front engine mount bracket, steering rack bracket and anti-roll bar clamps:


Anti roll bars:


Parcels of joy:


Wishbones:


Seam welded, probably didn't need this doing, but I could, so I did!


Exhaust hangers and brake bias mount:


Front hub carriers:


Radiator support:


Front cross member, fitted with powerflex bushes:


Fitted together (upside down):


Rear beam:


Rear beam:


Mounts to fit to the car, with powerflex bushes:


Rear anti-roll bar mounts


Rear trailing arms:


Another angle:


Beam fitted up:








and how it looks now, pretty sad but actually the cleanest its been in ages! All the progress is not the most visual on the shell but I'm happy that I'm steadily working on it.



The biggest ball ache seems to be getting the rear to be 5x100. I've rear as much as I can find on the subject, the simple answer is to use VR6 syncro rear hubs.... try finding a set! I've been playing with various hubs, outer c.v. joints and all sort and am running out of ideas! At the moment its looking like the original hubs will be welded up and re-drilled. not how I'd like to do it but seems to be the easiest option right now.