The Project Pad

scubagli wrote:One broken spring one blown damper...that might do it....

Haha - no kidding hey. The seals in both dampers are shot but when the spring started failing, things really went down hill. The front two dampers were already replaced once too! ...And the back springs had already failed and I swapped them out with Eibach ERS's from Ground Control... which are nice.

PRY4SNO wrote:Mega bummer.

You going to try talking to Vogtland again? Or just look for replacements?

No way man. The offered to send me replacements for a reduced price and so I asked about getting coils for a 4motion Bora instead and they stopped talking to me. I want something that will last anyway

These TT/R32 Bilstein PSS coils showed up just before the weekend though...

PRY4SNO wrote:Have some propshaft measurements for you. Taken from end of flange face to centre of bearing.

CQ: 600mm x 963mm
B5S4: 550mm x 570mm +/- 2mm (flanges were wrapped in plastic)

Thanks for grabbing those... way too short unfortunately. My transmission is transverse compared to your longitudinal so I guess it's no surprise.

This is normal for early September right?



The summer snowstorm didn't last long thankfully and I finally got moving on stripping the TT again. Didn't get a lot done but the floor pan is officially free from the surrounding bodywork. I've just been drilling out the spot-welds with a 1/4" bit and using a mallet and chisel to break the remaining weld free. Chiseling the welds from different angles, after drilling, worked well in minimizing the damage to the surrounding panels.

So here's a shot from just before I hammered the last bit of panel off the bolts between the frame rail and bumpter - those were a bit of a pain but I don't know which pieces need to stay back there yet so I just left them in place for now...

Gonna be a big push to get this done before winter sets in...

But driving awd thru the winter is so worth it!

Looks good man!

Had to shift my attention away from the TT floor pan and over to the chipping paint around my wheel wells. It's borderline too cold in the evenings for the paint to cure so I grabbed some supplies from a local body shop supply store and jumped in like I knew what I was doing.

I took my time getting going and was running out of daylight and warm weather so I didn't fill and sand the blemishes along the rim of the wheel wells (pulled them a little to help prevent rubbing) like I had wanted to but I got a pretty good primer base under a few light coats of paint. That should keep corrosion levels down at least.

Both sides were in disrepair but here's a little proof on the driver's side...


Step one - admire the chipped paint & oxidization...


Cleaned up the surfaces with a flapper wheel and then some sandpaper...


Masking was really the worst part of the event - used a couple 2x4's behind the open door as newspaper backing...


I used an etching primer that was recommended by the supply shop, although someone else suggested primer surfacer?...


And finally - admire the VW supplied touchup paint that doesn't match...



I don't see the point in getting too particular with the finish when the colour doesn't match, so I'm not going to bother with a clear or anything else really... aside from wet-sanding to get rid of the ridge where the paint and tape met. Good enough till I can go widebody and then the fenders will be getting cut anyway.

DAY ONE

Well... I've been planning on using rivets instead of spot-welds to put the TT pan in the GLI but I really don't know what else I'm going to run into once I open everything up so I picked up a little mig welder on sale the other day - which was sweet, but it also meant I've run out of excuses not to get this show on the road.

Got the car set up and pulled the back bumper off along with the fender liners, springs, dampers, brakes and beam...

Off to an auspicious start I see!

I have a four day weekend coming up for the holiday so if you're still in the midst of the swap maybe I'll come down and help watch.

Cool... never hurts to have a "you're doing it wrong!" hanging around

DAY TWO

Got a little more done today - it stopped snowing by the afternoon which was nice... bought a creeper so I could just roll under the car instead of the usual worming technique. Does that ever make life easier!

Pulled the exhaust, heat shields, unclipped fuel & brake lines, removed the gas tank, etc...


Nice and clear underneath now...


Notice how far down the spare tire well hangs down - the TT pan & well is quite a bit higher...

I've unfastened the side skirts but need to hit them with a heat-gun and maybe dental-floss to pull them away from the shell. Then it's time to get to the fun stuff... scraping seam sealer

Looks good man!

A wire wheel on your grinder will make short work of the seam sealer.

It does but it also flattens out the dimple where the spot-welds are so I can only do that in certain areas. A body-shop supply store recommended a heat-gun which has worked well. I've noticed some people using torches but things tend to catch on fire pretty easily. With the heat-gun providing slower heat it also heats up the surrounding metal better which helps a lot in colder weather.

DAY THREE

Got the seam sealer off the outside of both wheel wells along the frame rail / wheel well joint...


Heat gun on my knee while slowly prying the skirts off with a chisel & free hand worked really well...


It's dark here by 6:00 now but thankfully my light has a magnet on the handle & I was able to light up the work areas pretty well. Got most of the seam sealer out in the trunk area as well - pretty tedious but I'm trying to keep the GLI pan in good health so parts of it can be donated to the cause.

Ahh tedious details. haha

Looking forward to more progress, is that floor pan cut out yet?

DAY FOUR

Didn't get a lot done tonight but scraped some more seam sealer off and drilled spot-welds until my battery died...





Need the seat brackets from the GLI as the back seat in the TT is different...

DAY FIVE

Weekdays are tough as I'm really busy at work and daylight is at a premium these days but tonight was basically another seam sealer and spot weld party... except I did a little grinding and cutting I suppose. Feels weird to move past scraping and drilling to cutting - a good weird though

The bottom corners going into the trunk area are reinforced with brackets that are welded in and pretty tough to get out - but they need to go as the new pan height is quite a bit higher to accommodate the haldex drivetrain... I tried grinding the welds but couldn't get at all of them so I thought it made sense to just cut along the top of the bracket towards the fenders - and then along the floor pan to the frame rails.

I have to be nice to the seat brackets as the ones from the TT are different so these will likely get welded to the new pan. The seat/gas tank area was the trickiest area of the TT pan to pull apart nicely so it probably makes the most sense to remove the back part of the GLI pan first and get busy on the seat area afterwards... we'll see...

DAY SIX

More of the same except once my drill batteries ran out I finally pulled the front seats and console extension... what a difference - glad I finally did that. These batteries run out fast - I might buy a corded drill so I don't waste a weekend not being able to do much.

I tried drilling the welds just through the first layer of metal and then prying the metal apart with a chisel but it's pretty tough to get all of the weld out (unless you want to drill a giant hole) which is ok some of the time but other times the metal rips apart and causes quite a bit of damage. So I think drilling right through is better overall - way quicker and at least the holes that need filling are nice and tidy.

DAY SEVEN

Had a closer look at the frame rails on the TT vs the GLI where they tie into the bumper... the TT rails drop down a fair amount at the end of the trunk and they might just tie into the same spot as the GLI rails. In view of that, I'm going to try to pull the pan off the frame rails to see if I can just splice the TT rails into the existing ones. My drill batteries died right away again though so I didn't get a lot done - going to buy a corded drill in the morning!

You can see in the picture where the spot welds are that hold the pan to the frame rail - two in the bottom corner have been drilled out along with two more by my key... finishing that will be the priority tomorrow.

PRY4SNO wrote:Ahh tedious details. haha

Looking forward to more progress, is that floor pan cut out yet?

Well, ask and ye shall receive I suppose... been working hard to deliver

DAY EIGHT

Finished drilling the welds that hold the pan to the rails yesterday. There are two rows of welds along the inner fenders - the upper row is for the frame rail and the lower row is for the floor pan itself. Along the pan floor, the driver's side frame rail welds are up top whereas the passenger side welds are along the top of the wheel well most of the way and then curve up by the back seats...




From the other direction you can see the why the passenger side welds run along the upper well and curve upward - this side uses the wheel well as part of its structure...




Belle and Aston Martin checking on progress. Facing towards the back you can really see the difference in rails and how they attach to the bumper area - notice the seam near the back of the rails...




The location of these seams, which are on both sides, is about the difference in length between the GLI and TT floor pans; so I'll drill out the spot welds and finish removing everything forward of them... after I get the back seat area out...

DAY NINE

Was a little lazy today but did sweep my car off and shovel the work area so I could get a little done at least...




Here you can see where the frame rails join just before the tub for the foot well area - I've already drilled and separated the seat area from the tub which makes it easier to see how the joints come together. BTW, the upper /vertical portion of seam above that doesn't need to be scraped - so unless you enjoy heating and scraping seams, don't bother...

How's the new drill working out?

Looks like you could use a small propane heater to get some heat bouncing off the metal while you're in there...

The corded drill is awesome - wish I would have had it from the start. 8 amps @ 2500 rpm makes short work of the spot welds.

Ya, I've got snow and wood boards up along the front and sides now too so it's not too bad actually. Heat would be a bonus! This week coming up is supposed to be pretty chilly but seems tolerable.

That is a lot of work, then you put up the pic with the snow!

It was 80 here in CA today, that looks cold. Keep it up, you do need Quattro!