US VW Cabriolet 85

[Madone_si]

1 front seat done.

[Madone_si]

added the BBS wheels to cab to figure out how much I can lower the cab and figure out metal required to be notched out. Really like these wheels. my originals will go up for sale, if interested PM or look on C-list.

Before


during


after!


Nice part is the wheels fit nice inside the arches so the drop can be really good. Some work to do on inside arches and front notch for the drive shaft clear metal

All covered up again!




Original ones, will clean them tomorrow and then up for sale....

[Madone_si]

last month I have been working on the interior. Took out the complete front and rear seats, door cards for complete overall.

Taking everything out was easy, don't think anything has ever been taken out before, everything is solid, just covers of seats worn out and cards need refresh.

Door damp covers still working and foam at bottom still there!


Rear speakers still work... will be upgraded later


Trying out the mk2 recaro seat base, make sure it works (had to do some slight welding on them)


with everything out, time to strip down seats - so can use material for pattern to make new interior.


All part (forgot to take pics of front seats)


Well after copying the current cloth and many many hours of helping someone managed to have complete front and rear seats redone in leather with red


and little insight to front recaro seats


Next up is work on redoing the four cards and then I will install everything and show end results. lots to do, but having fun doing it

[Madone_si]

my seat frames are all redone now too

before


after


before


after


heated seats parts


and managed to get these for a complete bargain:

[Madone_si]

more goodies turned up - European mk1 bumpers


4 screws soaked for few days with WD-40 and out comes the metal structure of bumpers. I don't think these screws have been undone since production line 30 years ago.




Both metal parts of bumpers is now off to be powder coated. Areas in white on metal part of bumpers is rust treatment as I wanted to see how bad surface rust was.

the plastic part of the bumpers are in outstanding condition, just need a good clean and restore to bring black plastic back to its former glory.

waiting on few parts to arrive to complete my interior.

[Simeon]

Great work as always mate, looks to be coming along well

Is interior finished now?

[Madone_si]

Great work as always mate, looks to be coming along well

Is interior finished now?

Nearly done on interior.

Big update in April, been slowly doing bit here and there and so will then do one big update.

Primary delay due to Grandson arrived on 7th Jan and so spending time with family right now is first priority.

[Madone_si]

Part 1 of VW Golf/Rabbit interior restore work done - rear seat area - repainted under the seat area, painted door cards and new leather, powder coated all metal and fixed foam.

Video can be viewed here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s81N_7yX2H4

Before


After


Next update, euro bumpers restore complete and installed on car, part 2 of interior and coilovers on!

[Madone_si]

Actually finished up my European bumpers refurb.

Taking mk1 bumpers apart is easy and painful.

1. Painful - front bumper
2. Easy - rear bumper.

Here is why;
Each bumper front and rear have a outer and inside part, primary outer is plastic part you see and inside is metal structure.

Painful: The front bumpers are plastic pressure welded from factory to hold the plastic outer to metal structure inside which is used to bolt to your VW.
There is no easy way of getting the plastic and metal apart for the front bumper other than drilling plastic out and then its a pain to try and reproduce the OEM method. So of course when I tried it I tried the lets see if I can pry out the plastic, it worked for 1 of 4 areas of plastic weld. The other 3 broke and so now I had to come up with another solution. My idea was to use plastic weld make up mold, but I don't think I could get the pressure to hold the bumper in place, so I went with the bolt, washer and nut solution and I have to say it worked very well. I used a high pressure plastic weld to hold them into the existing holds and let set for 48 hours. Bumpers have been on the car week now and I've tested them out and solution for front bumper is working. I will keep on eye on this and report on this in 6 months and year to see how it holds up over time.

Easy - The rear bumpers are great and easy as there is only 4 screws you undo and the outer and inside parts come apart lovely!

I ended up having metal parts restored properly and powder coated and then got all new bolts, washers and screws.

If you want to see more in-depth video of process view here: https://youtu.be/tcwNPTbW8HQ

Before




After







Next update is on Part 2 of interior and some additional exterior changes.

[Madone_si]

More progress on interior refurb

Completed the front door cards.

Before:


Cleaned up and painted them using vinyl paint - 4 thin coats is perfect finish


Installed. Just one screw plastic cover waiting on arrive.


Really like the finish with few items with chrome.


Moved onto Recaro seat rebuilds - (Looks like these are not well documented online). These are taking far too long, but I want them perfect. I am recording every step to put into a video for others usage.


only one area that requires repair


The side bolsters are being replaced with new and base and back foam will have a layer of 1/2" added to them to bring the shape back to what OEM is. Foam over time will always flatten down.

The key on doing seats is getting the right foam and this doesn't seem to be documented well online, so I will add this into my video.



and why I am using new bolsters :eek:


and back base rust repaired and painted ready for usage. I am working on base unit as that is really rusty. I basically treat rust, metal prepare, prime and P15 it, so it never rusts again!



I also stripped my original seats down for parts as Recaro seats and cabriolet seat parts are nearly the same. I was planning to use part of foam to fix my Recaro seat, but they are in near perfect condition I will be selling foam from original seats as they are perfect. Look out for those in sell sections or Flebay




Hope everyone is enjoying your VW projects?

In other news, my GMC truck is now pushing 580BHP, who knew trucks can be so much fun!