Suspension and brakes

The front struts are in and the brakes are now installed. The rotors got a little rusty sitting around for the last couple of months, but after a few brake applications, they should be good. Mechanically things are progressing quite well. The electrical harness still looks like a dogs breakfast and would cause Frank to pull out his hair if he had any! The center of the radiator support has been painted black so that it doesn't "shine" through the grill later on. While I was there, I grabbed the emblems off the parts pile so I can refurbish them. The "Volkswagen" , "Golf Gli" and "Karmann" badges are no longer being produced so you really need to try and restore them. On VW enthusiast site www.vwvortex.com, I found a number of suggestions on how to go about restoring the metallic finish to these badges. I'll probably try the silver paint pen technique first.

Setback...

I dropped off the alarm system and the power door lock actuator parts today and Andre had a bit of bad news. The close ratio transmission that he sourced earlier is toast. Frank fired up the engine yesterday and the transmission sounded like a bucket of bolts. Solution: in order not to delay the project too much, the original transmission is going back in until Andre can find a good Gti transmission. It's possible that his supplier sent him the wrong unit... so we'll see.
Front strut update: going with Sachs instead of Bilstein. Still going to use the Eibach springs.

Fuse box, cooling system...

Stopped in with my wife to take a look at the progress since Friday. The engine is looking like it's ready to fire up and Frank was going to be doing that this afternoon.


The fuse box is in and the new rear speakers are also bolted in...easier to do this before it's all sealed up. Tomorrow, I'll bring over the alarm system and the door lock actuators so that Frank can get those in and put the door cards back on.

A unexpected (not really) extra expense is that the right front Macpherson strut is damaged beyond repair and the Tokico gas strut cartridge inside it is also dimpled. While it's not leaking, it probably would fail in short order.
The difficulty is in finding a front strut in decent condition as most are rusted to within an inch of their lives. Andre and I decided to just go with a whole new set of Bilstein HD...ah , it's only money, right?

Alarm system

Just picked up this alarm system locally for $100. It does everything I need; starter disable, shock sensor, visual and audible confirmation, and it comes with 2 keyless remote fobs. I added 2 options to it:
1-door lock actuators ($40) so that the car will have keyless entry not so much for convenience, but so that I will know that the alarm is being set every time my daughters lock the doors with the fob!
2-infrared proximity sensor ($45). Being a convertible, this will make the alarm sound a warning chirp if someone gets too close or tries to stick their arm inside with the top down. If they linger too long, then they get the full blast.

I also have a Bluetooth handsfree kit that I will be adding later. With all that, "red" is moving from the '80s and into the 21st century.

Engine is in.

There are always some interesting cars at Bero Motors when I stop in. For a car guy it's like being a kid in a candy store; you could spend all day watching them work on Volkswagens, Audis and of course, Porsches. Today was definitely "Porsche day" there, so our little project car was in prestigious company. Andre certainly has some neat cars on his lot: Audi quattro coupes, 911sc's, 944's, 928's, etc... But back to our little cabriolet.






Progress continues at breakneck speed. Frank, got the engine and transmission out of old "white" and into "red" in less than 24 hrs. That includes finishing up with the electrical harness removal too. While he was busy bolting up the Gti transmission, he noticed that the clutch was pretty much done...so a new clutch kit went in. I watched him install the short shift kit in less than 5 minutes. The kit is adjustable with 2 settings of throw reduction: 30% or 50%. We'll start out with 30% for now. It also features a weighted shifter linkage to take some of the slop out of the shifter.

Interesting to find out from him that this isn't his first transplant but rather his 3rd. Back in the day, his own vehicle was a 1981 Rabbit convertible with an Audi 4-cyl engine...apparently it was quite the little monster. Another interesting cabriolet transplant for a customer involved a diesel engine...hmm, pretty unique!



Frank admitted that he just loves this kind of project and it shows in his meticulous workmanship. The most frustrating part of it was not having both cars stripped down at the same time. Now that he's got the parts from both laid out on the floor, it's more like putting together a puzzle or building a model where he can pick the best parts from both.




The HVAC unit is in as well which necessitated installing some of the carpeting. The carpet starts to make the project look more and more finished. It's nice to see the clutch pedal and manual transmission shifter in there too.

The wiring loom certainly looks daunting, but one of the fringe benefits of this is that lots of extraneous wiring has been removed from past installs of various radios, fixed cellphones from the '90s and the remote/stealth radar detectors of the '80s. Of course, the various installers would leave the old wires in place and layer on more cables, fuses and various connectors for their installs...what a mess. Hey, maybe the car will weigh less now!

Old "white" is pretty much done giving up its organs now. It's sad to see it in such shape, but at the same time I'm happy that its soul will live on in "red".

New stereo

Just picked up a new receiver for the car. Since nobody seems to listen to cassettes or even CDs in the car anymore, I decided that full ipod connectivity was the most important feature to have. Alpine seems to have a good interface with the ipod and I've always been satisfied with the quality in the past. I looked online and then went to the local BestBuy and managed to get a better price vs. online: $199 for the Alpine iDA-X200 digital media receiver. I think most head units have become rather tacky looking with too many flashing colours and lights (am I sounding like a geezer now?), this unit is fairly restrained. The ipod cable can be routed into the glove box and the faceplate is detachable; the old Alpine unit that was in there is removable, but it's the whole unit that comes out...like carrying a mini suitcase around!
I also picked up a set of 4" Alpine SPS-400 speakers for the rear of the car (that's as big as will fit without making a mess of the trim panels). The front speakers (don't remember the brand) are still sounding good. Later if Stefanie (or her sister Michele) want to add amps and subs, they're welcome to do it on their dime.
Now to order an alarm system. Commando Alarms in the US seems like a good deal for a basic noise maker and starter kill system. I can get a system that will added keyless entry with door actuators and a sonar proximity sensor (it's a ragtop after all) for $127 USD shipped...just got to make sure they can ship by any other means than UPS!

Fuel tank, suspension and exhaust

The tank is now in "red" and required a few custom mounts to be fabricated. The fuel tank in 1982 was smaller than in 1987 and the mounting points were a little different. The fuel pump also had to be relocated. The rear suspension cradle complete with the rear brakes is in as is the exhaust system. The engine will be moving over in a couple of days once the electrical harness is in.
The white one is looking pretty sad now and the extend of the damage is even more evident. Any fleeting thoughts that it could have been repaired are long gone now; the floor sill is actually cracked. The UngoBox alarm system with it's awkward dial in security code, will not be going back in. Same with the Alpine cassette deck. The wiring is a mishmash for those and it's a good opportunity to upgrade to something more modern and user friendly. The rear speakers are damaged so they will have to be replaced too.

"Red" starts to take shape

The red car is back at Bero now and the guys have begun the long process of moving everything from one car to the other. The top is in the process of being refitted complete with about a million screws and fasteners! The biggest pain will be the electrical harnesses. There were enough changes between 1982 and 1987 to the systems that it's simply easier to retrofit the entire 1982 harness to the 1987 body. The fuel tank is also being moved over since the '87s was rotted out.

More dismantling

Meanwhile back at Bero, the dismantling continues in earnest. Andre wants the red car back asap so the colour sanding will have to wait until the reassembly is complete.

Paint!

Laki worked on it late into the night to get it done. He decided to go with a 2 stage process in the end (base colour and clear coat) so that he could get a smoother finish with colour sanding and polishing later.

Primer

The car has primer and will get into the paint booth in the next 24 hrs.

Body shop progress

Laki and his crew have made some significant progress on the car. The ugly US side markers lights are gone and the holes filled in. The lower sills are having some new steel welded in. The rust proofers holes are also being filled. All the little dents are being pulled and repaired. After some long discussions with family, friends and pretty much anybody that will listen to me, we decide to keep the colour red for the "new" car. My reasoning is that, no matter how good the paint job is, I would always know that it wasn't the original colour. Laki still needs to get the BBS front spoiler off the white car before he can paint it all.