AT LAST! Hairys Resto!!

Oh well, I'm sure it will handle well  

Nice meeting you at the agm Andy. 

Yes,  nice meeting you Andy.

I trust the trip out spurs you on with the resto.

Clever fancy dress to!There must be a picture somewhere??

Cheers Greig - likewise and I did get a quick sneaky look at yours at Aston Marina - looked very nice - really glad you got it done and the chance to enjoy a good long trip in her at the weekend.

Yes, likewise too Graham - and thanks so much for the shotgun ride - I was grinning inside for the rest of the day and I'm glad to see that you drive your pristine example as VW intended - that tyre squeal as we flew over the hump back bridge was excellent!!      

It did spur me on and I had big plans of hitting the garage yesterday as had taken the day off work. Sadly woke up full of cold so lounged on the sofa sneezing and snorting!! lol

I've not seen a pic of my fancy dress - wouldn't mind one as no one believes me that I wore it! I did pee my y-fronts though when I saw yours, fantastic!!  

Not so good that you've ended up with the cold. You've obviously not consumed enough alcohol over the weekend   
Thanks for the comments on my car. It did over 700 miles that weekend and Fraser and I had a hoot giving it a slight ragging during the drive out. Look forward to seeing your golf finished next year at the agm.

I think you're right there - I took a bottle of Vodka, JD and my son bought me a bottle of Arberlour (cask strength   ) for my Birthday and none of it got touched, only the beer - what's that all about!!  

So having not worked on the car since the beginning of the summer, thought best I crack on again as time is running out.

I'm still in need of fitting the OSR arch tub which has been a right pain - it's genuine VW from VWH but I guess from a later City Golf or something as it's not quite the same as the original. I spent hours before trying to get it to fit and this morning I think I may have just cracked it. This is the main area causing the issue;



You may see at the front of my foot the panel curves in towards the outer arch more so than the existing floor line, leaving too much of a gap and this is the main area it wont fit.

I worked out if I slotted the inner arch in this area I could hopefully get it all to fit, with some minor patching up after



In the end, due to the random hole seen above that's not needed and the requirement to cut a slot for the fuel lines to come through the arch panel, I decided to cut out this whole part, then welded a disc in to cover up the part of the hole that I don't need





I'm hoping now that the arch tub, with a lot of force and persuasion, will fit and I can then weld in the section I removed, 'fettle' the area for the fuel pipes to come through and jobs a good-un

Off out later so need to stop now but hopefully next installment is the tub being welded in to place  

Nice work Hairy.    

That tub does look different to the one I got. I think you've gone about it the right way as well, the main thing is getting the thing in there in the right position and like you say, you can patch it up afterwards.

Hairyarse said

 Off out later so need to stop now but hopefully next installment is the tub being welded in to place  

Haven't you finished this little job yet?!!!!!

You can't rush these things

GBMk1 said

Hairyarse said

 Off out later so need to stop now but hopefully next installment is the tub being welded in to place  

Haven't you finished this little job yet?!!!!!

Erm…. not quite!    

Yomp said

You can't rush these things

Exactly what I keep telling myself!  

Melteddrummer said

That tub does look different to the one I got. I think you've gone about it the right way as well, the main thing is getting the thing in there in the right position and like you say, you can patch it up afterwards.

Yep as long as turret for suspension is in the right place, then the rest can have a little bit of artistic license I guess!  

Artistic license is the way to go!!  

Matt

Keeping my eye on this one  

Well I'm ready to fit the tub now, finished the prep now - just need to address some of the flanges once I have a willing helper here to put some pressure on the tub to hold it in position.

I forgot to take a pic of the tub in situ', will do that next installment but had it clamped in, cut a bar to length between the two top suspension mounts and marked the required dimension of 1020mm +/- 4 and it seems bang on, got a level on it too and the height relative to the near side looks good too.

All flanges and areas likely for welding stripped to bare metal and zinc sprayed;





Hopefully my sons going to help me this weekend and if all goes to plan I can have it fitted, which will be a relief as it's been a bit of a pig to get right, plus I can't do anything else on this rear corner until the tub is in place. Good times  

Well today's check list was flap, flange, hole!    - namely check fitment of the fuel filler flap panel with the new arch tub clamped in to place, dress the floor flange to line up with the arch tub as best as possible, ready for welding and check to see if any holes need to be drilled still to plug weld through.

All done, here's the filler flap panel cut to size and in place;



…now with all black paint removed and zinc primed ready for welding in;



I decided to do this panel before the arch tub so that I can access the rear of it to zinc the area and paint it for rust protection. I'll then start welding in the arch tub.

Just stopped for lunch whilst the zinc primer dries, can't wait to get this in now!  

Looking good, Andy. I have to re-do my fuel filler repair as there was a gap between the the tub and the new panel and when I've welded it, it's shrank back and has warped the rear quarter. Just make sure the tub is hard up against the fuel filler before you weld it so it can't pull in and warp the rear quater

Melteddrummer said

Looking good, Andy. I have to re-do my fuel filler repair as there was a gap between the the tub and the new panel and when I've welded it, it's shrank back and has warped the rear quarter. Just make sure the tub is hard up against the fuel filler before you weld it so it can't pull in and warp the rear quater

It may be too late for that!  

Wanted to have full access to the rear of the panel to paint it for rust proofing so thought I'd do this first. I did leave some time between welds but not sure if it has warped in a little. Will re-look tomorrow. In the meantime, the rest of today's events…

Panel in place, not fully aligned but ready to go;



First tacks;



Joined the dots! ;



and finished;



Main issue I have now is when I was grinding the welds back I inadvertently ground a little on the lower edge of the wasteline, so the nice radius ended up a little flat!    I've 'tickled' it a bit but will wait until I skim the area with filler to sort it properly - hopefully it will work out ok.

Plan for tomorrow is to weld the arch tub in - hopefully the rear quarter hasn't warped at all though!