The Project Pad

ringbearer wrote: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!

Thanks, It's been a fair amount of work but not too bad when you're just at it a couple hours a day. Putting things back together will be the fun part!

80 hey... well yesterday it was about -14*C (7*F) including wind by the end of the day. Right now it's -23*C (-9*F) which is a little nippy - time to take a few days and plan things out I think

All wheel drive will be a little ways behind this part - still need to sort a few odds n ends but man I can't wait!

Good work you should have picked up a spotweld drill bit.

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scubagli wrote:Good work you should have picked up a spotweld drill bit.

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Thanks - ya I suppose if I had drilled through the donor pan will a regular self-tapping bit and then used a spot-weld bit to take out the existing panels, I should have ended up with a little plug to weld to and fill the holes in the donor panels... next time I guess.

DAYS TEN - FOURTEEN

Too cold outside - hibernation time...

DAY FIFTEEN

Finally have an update - drilled out the spot-welds at the back of the frame rails where they're joined to an extension just before the bumper. Same spot as the previous pic with the tape measure. Also got busy on the back seat area - this spot has quite a few layers of metal that overlap so I just cut, drilled and chiseled out one section at a time being mindful of the areas of the frame rail and floor-pan that are staying as well as the seat brackets that I'll need to transfer over to the TT pan.






The sides near the doors are tricky to remove nicely because of the lip that holds the weatherstripping so I've just cut the top portion of the seat area away and peeled the metal back as spot-welds were removed...




The floor-pan is officially out and just the frame rails are left. I did drill out the spot-welds in the rails today too (you can see some of them below the passenger door) so hopefully those will be out tomorrow...

You should put a V8 back there too.

DAY SIXTEEN


Drilled out the remaining spot-welds where the front and back frame rails join and dropped both sides - 5/16" bit worked much better than 1/4"...




Had planned to keep this piece of frame rail in tact but the new pan won't slide up into place, like this, so I removed both sides...




Positioned the TT pan and found out part way through fitting it that the back portions of the pan (by the bumper/wheel well) will need to be trimmed. No biggie but I ran out of daylight so this is approximately how she sits...

PRY4SNO wrote:You should put a V8 back there too.

Well... we'll have to see how close I can get this thing to 50/50 weight distribution, first, and then if that's what it takes - then that's what it takes

DAY SEVENTEEN

This is where things slow down... the pan is a snug fit for sure and trimming without overdoing it takes time. A couple pics up you can see the inner lower portion of fender by the back piece of frame rail - that needs to be trimmed to get the TT pan in place. I've got some of it removed and cleaned up but will have to shave into the upper portion of back corner to match the profile of the new pan... seems like about 5cm needs to come out - each side is a different length though.




I had taken rough measurements the other day and thought the GLI pan was 159cm compared to 139cm for the TT - this is the case so the difference between the two is 20cm. This is why I kept the GLI frame rails in tact when I took them out - should come in handy to bridge the gap...

Awesomely tedious detailed work!

DAY EIGHTEEN

I was having trouble getting the TT pan to slide into position and after having a closer look I noticed the way the GLI and TT pans connect under the back seat are a little different. Thankfully I still had the appropriate Audi piece in good condition - here's the difference...




I've been avoiding cutting into the frame rails but I really don't see a better way to accommodate the new pan so after measuring, and remeasuring, each frame rail I marked a line at 4.5cm from the foot pan joint on the top of the frame rail and cut all four...




4.0-4.5cm keeps the new joint as far away as possible from the existing joint in the rail without hitting this internal brace in the TT rail...




No internal brace in the GLI rail but I didn't know that until it was open. So I got the top and sides free tonight and will endeavour to drill the bottom welds out and tack in the TT rail tomorrow...

oil_me wrote:Awesomely tedious detailed work!

Haha, no kidding... this type of modifying is a first for me so no doubt it's a little more tedious than it needs to be. During the week I only get about 1-2 hours a night to work on it so I think that keeps the frustration levels low.

DAY NINETEEN

Finished removing the incompatible sections of frame rail on both sides... cleaned up the areas and trimmed the new pieces to fit. Will do touch ups tomorrow and hopefully weld the TT rails in - here's a test fit...

DAY TWENTY

Finished trimming and fitting both pieces of TT frame rail and tacked them into place. Then I moved the pan into position, as if I was going to install it, just to make sure things look ok - and they do but fitment will be nothing short of SNUG so next step will be fully welding the rail seams and then cleaning and priming any bare metal...

Awesome [FACE WITH OK GESTURE] thank goodness you decided against rivets.

DAY TWENTY ONE

Today was the same as yesterday really - stitched some of the new frame rails seams together. Might have to break down and buy a proper helmut though...

scubagli wrote:Awesome [FACE WITH OK GESTURE] thank goodness you decided against rivets.

Had you worried hey... I would actually still prefer rivets to fasten the pan to the other panels but I didn't get the spot welds out cleanly enough. No sense in riveting some and welding others now. Either way, I bought a welder in case I had to mess with the frame rail in the back seat area... kind of came in handy

All_Euro wrote:Might have to break down and buy a proper helmut though...

So the one I lent you is no good, comrade?

DAY TWENTY TWO

Welded up the frame rails today and then gave them, and other bare bits, a coating of weldable primer. It's copper based , hence the colour. To get the TT floor pan in place, the frame rails need to slip into the joint at the foot well - simple enough but it's a pretty fussy process.

It's a tight fit and every other thing wants to catch on the way in so there was a ton of making room and readjusting but I was able to use ratchet-straps to hang the front of the pan off the roof which worked well as you can set the height and then push from the back...



Here's a shot of the frame rail joint - there's a horizontal section on the other side under the door that needs to line up as well...



The pan needed to be pushed forward while the back was jacked up so, after adjusting the ratchet-straps, I slowly jacked up the back while pushing the pan forward with my feet - and then made room for things, readjusted and repeated...

After a while, the steel channels behind the upper portion of the back seat were getting in the way so I cut them near the top of the bracket that joins the channel to the inner fender - I think that was a little high though. The back portion of the fenders needed trimming too...



Solidly resting in place, finally...



No need for the straps at the front now - more trimming around the fenders to come...

PRY4SNO wrote:So the one I lent you is no good, comrade?...

LOL - it was great while it lasted but the nose piece burnt up and I don't know how to fix it

DAY TWENTY THREE

Today I cut and trimmed the backs of the fenders enough to allow the pan to move up into place. The fenders are out of the way but not shaped yet as I haven't decided on what I want to do with them. It looks like snow and cold weather is coming this week so I spent some time cleaning and organizing the worksite - but the floor pan has been levelled and squared, down to the millimetre, and tacked it into place...

Very nice...

This is honestly insane. All fer a jetta. lol. Kudos to you, sir.

scubagli wrote:Very nice...

Thank you sir - home stretch... although snow and cold are forecast to roll through town this week so I'm expecting the remaining fender and floor pan modifications to be drug out a little.

chaloux wrote:This is honestly insane. All fer a jetta. lol. Kudos to you, sir.

Ya, it's funny... the last Jetta I bought was just meant to get me going until I could get an S4. Then VW came out with this 1/2 year model just before switching body styles and I couldn't get it out of my head - sold the last one for this.

These cars are similar in size to a Coupe and not too bad weight wise so with all-wheel-drive I thought it could be a pretty good sleeper... traction first and then we'll see about a few extra ponies.