Joe's G60 Project

Suppose I better start this build thread then!

My name is Joe Whitmore, 20 years old (21 April 8th) I ride BMX and I am a photographer from Leicester. My first car/project was a 2001 Polo 6n2. I run this as a static daily





ANYWAY I was looking to do either a mk1 or mk2 project but couldn't really make the decision until I helped rebuild my friend Clark's mk1 caddy back up after his respray. After that my mind was set on finding a good shell to start on as a project, I already had plans to change the engine/interior (if needed) and most likely a respray so I was just looking for a solid all round shell really.

After countless days on ebay and piston heads I found this little beauty.





So me and Clark hopped in the polo and headed to view it, checked it over and looked way beyond the bonnet scoop, bad purply paint job and the sun strip, she was just what I was after. A nice strong shell with only minor rust and a tiny bit of rot in the rear arches. to my luck he was buying a camper from a dude in Coalville so he said he would drive it up for me that weekend.

My plans for it are to strip it back to bare metal, respray but not sure what colour. Was going to 1.8 20vt but there are far too many on here so I decided to go down the G60 route! and a few other little bits.

So I got it on the 5th of April 2013, a nice early birthday present to myself. Here it is next to the polo.





Bought some thick tarp to cover it with so it saves it getting rusty and creating more problems.



First things first was to get rid of the useless horrid bonnet scoop that did nothing!



Got her in the air and went to work basically, me and the lads stripped it within a day.









Tea break



We had to cut the sunroof seal off due to it being siliconed shut!







This was the final outcome from that day



Started to strip the under seal to see if there was any hidden nastys











Took off the massive back box and exhaust.





Had a beer, stripped the rear 1/4 paint off to bare metal and gave it a little coat of primer just to protect it.



Picked up the Rabbits new heart from Tyrone in Northampton! was so stoked to get this!!!







Got it on an engine stand ready to start cleaning it





Some times I like to just sit in it and think about driving it when its finished haha



Apparently it won VW Action Custom Concours in 1991!!!!



Got my inner wing in primer for some protection



Started to strip the roof and went down to what looks like its original colour, Pragus blue?!



Took a polaroid of it just because then when its done ill do another one so I can say its come from this to that….



After a very long chat with Matt at Only Charged Dubs we agreed that I'd take the engine up to him to give it a check over and a nice tickle up. So I turned the polo into a van for the day!





This brings us to around October time I think. Not a lot of progress really but being a freelance photographer means that time is money unfortunately.

Everyone loves this view…



New parts!! haha bought my new water plate engine mount rather than cutting mine up as I can't weld at all.



Did some filler work on her on one sunny sunday and stripped the other rear 1/4…







Called up my good friend Tim who runs True Paintworks around the back end of October and spoke to him about painting it and he said yes but due to high demand of show car resprays for UD ect it wouldn't be in until around april 2014!! but that was cool because it gives me time to carry on with mods, so I booked in with him.



Was really stumped for interior ideas, loads of things flew through my head, just a standard GTI interior or retrimmed in tartan like the real old ones? Then I thought about the Vabric fiberglass seats with a tartan padding trim, then I went the other way and thought about a mk5 GTI interior. Anyway after much debate and ebay searching I came across these little beauties that only had a day left with no bids! So I sat and watched them and snapped them up with the only bid on them. Located in London I picked them up that weekend.

Mk2 Golf Rallye Seats!







Got myself a thinner belt tensioner bracket too



Started to delete some bits from the engine bay, started off with the washer bottle





The battery tray soon followed





I still need to delete the expansion tank but haven't got round to it yet!

New parts…



Gti arm rests



Instagram post of me with it hahaha



I found this too and it made me laugh! I'm sure it apples to many of us on here!!




 

Nice! Hell of a project. Loving the rallye seats. Good to see the bonnet scoop gone. What's the plan for the outside? Something quite modified or more of a sleeper look?

Nice project mate. Can only view it on my phone. I'll have a proper look when I get home at the weekend. Keep up the good work

Looking good mate what's why are you stripping back the inner wings ? They didn't look like any rot was present, what colour have you gone for? Have you though about wheels and brake set up yet?

Looking good so far !! Think my next project will be a g60 tin top. Haven't finished this one yet and already thinking of the next one.
  Last picture says it all about my car !! Living the broke life permanently  

Ad.

Julesgreycab said

Nice! Hell of a project. Loving the rallye seats. Good to see the bonnet scoop gone. What's the plan for the outside? Something quite modified or more of a sleeper look?

Thanks man! yeah the bonnet was battered from that wild hail storm we had a year or so ago anyway, I've got a new one just need to take a photo and update it haha, as for the outside… lows, some nice wheels, still not decided yet though so it won't look too crazy but you'll know its not a standard looking motor

Melteddrummer said

Nice project mate. Can only view it on my phone. I'll have a proper look when I get home at the weekend. Keep up the good work

Thats alright mate. Cheers for the feedback though!

Austin Line said

Looking good mate what's why are you stripping back the inner wings ? They didn't look like any rot was present, what colour have you gone for? Have you though about wheels and brake set up yet?

Looking back I wish I didn't now but at the time I was stripping everything so I didn't think twice haha. taking it back to its original colour I think dude. Pragus blue, fallen in love with it every time I look at it now, as for brakes, 280mm upgrade up front and maybe a rear disc conversion at the back. Not sure on callipers yet, I have been looking at Wilwoods and Brembos at the minute.

Baggie82 said

Looking good so far !! Think my next project will be a g60 tin top. Haven't finished this one yet and already thinking of the next one.
  Last picture says it all about my car !! Living the broke life permanently  

Ad.

Cheers dude, yeah tell me about it, I just paid for my engine overhaul and parts that I will be putting in my next update and its battered my bank big time! Thanks for the support though!

Great looking project  

I've got some brembos for my project, hope to mock them up shortly.

Matt

Great project looking forward to seeing this come together!

This is my sort of build g60, greasey food a beer and maybe a few cigs lol  good luck with it all mate you did right taking the inner wings back to metal it might look ok on top but that underseal can hide holes and bad repairs.

Great work so far, that looks a really tidy shell. Looking forward to seeing this unfold  

pazwaa said

Great looking project  

I've got some brembos for my project, hope to mock them up shortly.

Matt

Thanks dude! Ace let me know how you get on with them!

DanChave said

Great project looking forward to seeing this come together!

Yeah so am I haha

s1bullet said

This is my sort of build g60, greasey food a beer and maybe a few cigs lol  good luck with it all mate you did right taking the inner wings back to metal it might look ok on top but that underseal can hide holes and bad repairs.

yeah all of the above, bar the cigs haha, yeah I thought it can't hurt to have a look, just took forever!!!! haha Thanks foe the support!

Hairyarse said

Great work so far, that looks a really tidy shell. Looking forward to seeing this unfold  

Cheers mate, yeah the shell is solid!! only a few minor dents but everything else is top notch!

Bit of an engine update, well, not update to me but update to you guys haha. Speaking to Matt at OCD a few months back and he had taken my engine to Stanwoods who did some mechanical work on it, they reported back that my cylinder bores are heavily worn by 0.15-0.2mm, he reports you can tell just by feeling it by hand. They suggested I have a 3 face stepped valve seat and re-bore the block, this will take it to oversize 1, 81.5mm which makes the final cc 1802cc up from the factory 1780. Stanwoods did a good deal on some Wossner Forged pistons and PEC steel con rods for me and I bought a lot of other bits for the 60 while I was at it.

From OCD…
G60 Charger stage 3
315cc Injectors
268'/260' BBM Camshaft
Rallye U-Bend
Oil cooler kit
Mocal thermostatic sandwich plate
Oil cooler bypass coolant pipes
Shorter filter thread
65mm Pulley
Piston and Rod kit
8 valve guides
Cylinder head gasket set
Cylinder block gasket set
Head bolts
Big end bearings
Main crankshaft shells
Thrust washers

The work Stanwoods carried out…
Full engine strip and clean
Cylinder Re-bore
Machine block face
Polish crank
Cylinder head 3 face valve seats and re-work
Full engine balance

So thats pretty much my engine up to date.. Its back in the OCD unit now as Stanwoods have completed their work on it. I need to get the gear box up to Matt asap then its being sent off to be painted. After that its rebuild time!! Matt reckons it will put out around 250ish BHP so I'm really looking forward to plumbing it all in. Cheers for your support guys, means a lot!

That's a lovely looking engine shopping list. 250 bhp will put a smile on your face too  

Matt

That's gonna be one stonking G60 there mate!