Helios Blue Campaign

And here she is in the body shop, Carl hard at work in the rear of the car



With the car now with the body shop, It gave me a chance to start cleaning up and painting all the other components…

Scruffy gearbox…



cleaned up ready for paint…







and painted





And the finished article…



I went for a brighter colour for the green end cap!

Couple of other bits and bobs ready to be painted, sorry im missing the before and afters, seem to have misplaced alot of photos  



























Here is one before and after!

Before….



After….



Some other stuff too..





Calipers back together..





Another couple of bits…

Can only apologise for all these sideways photos!  :?

Anyway, went back to visit the body shop,

the rear turrets painted…





And engine bay…

Rubbish photos again! It look llhasa green in places!! I can assure you it is helios blue!!

Back to painting other stuff….

I did start to wire wheel my fuel tank, unfortunately this ended up with me having numerous pinholes all over the fuel tank  

Time for a new one! After alot of research in to the tank I eventually settled on buying a new one. Thanks to rubjonny and others for their help!

The tank came in silver paint, this for me wasnt going to last long, so I keyed up the paint and masked off the important areas and wadged on some black stone chip!







Used about half a litre!   That should keep her protected for a while!

Whilst that was drying, I pressed my new wishbone bushes in to my new wishbones using a vice,



After that had dryed properly, I gave her lashings of 2PAC lacquer just for good measure, and to match the rest of the under side of the car.





 8)

Also popped down to the body shop to see how the boys were getting on, they had snapped these for me…







Hopefully should have her back by the end of the week  

looking good mate, cant wait to see the body all painted up.

awesome,luuurve how much work you put into this :clap: .where in south wales are you buddy?

utterly-dubberly said

awesome,luuurve how much work you put into this :clap: .where in south wales are you buddy?

Cheers for the kind words! From Swansea, yourself?

Im in quakers yard mate,about 5 miles down from merthyr

Not too far then. Just noticed it says that next to your name. Didn't see it before!  :roll:  :redfaced:

haha no worries matey lol

Cant remember where I am with this! But anyway, heres a bit of an update…

Had the car back from paint. Heres a few preview shots!







Cleaned up the rear lens'

before…



After…



Also got the heat gun out on the bumpers and the arch trim.



The bumper on the left is before the heat gun treatment, the one on the right is after the heat gun. Works a treat!

Arch trims…



Bulit the airbox and metering head back up with new ramair filter..





And built up the inlet manifold with new tb gasket etc…





Also wrapped the exhaust in heat wrap, horrible stuff this. Itchy as hell!  



Then finally got the engine stand off my mate so I could start building the engine back up…



Few bits bolted back on…



Timed up with belt on..



Everything else bolted back up, and on a pallet ready to fit the gearbox…







Looks lovely all painted up and clean! WOnder how long it will take for an oil leak to occur, first turn of the key???  :roll:

I then got the the car on axle stands and dropped the rear beam off again to fit everything on the underside of the car.

First up was fitting the sticky back heat sheild. Sticks like sh it to a blanket this stuff!! SHould help the paint to withstand the heat! Took ages aswell. Hopefully worth it.







Got the fuel tank ready…



and bolted it all into place…





Then spent four hours trying to get the filler neck to fit properly!!! Trying to get the cap to sit nice is a right pain in the ass. The pattern parts are just a completely different shape! Finally got this fitted though with new jubilee clips and fitted all the breather hoses from the gravity valve and inner arch cover,,,



And then bolted up the servo mechanism and servo/master cylinder etc. Im using a mk2 16v servo for a bit of extra stopping power!



Thats about it for now! Hopefully should have some more done soon! Just trying to remember how everything goes back together!!

ANyone know how to get these pictures the right way up?! I just spent ages on photobucket rotating them the right way up and they've still come out the wrong way!!

Stuff the orientation mate they look fine from whatever angle  :wink:

pet73r said

ANyone know how to get these pictures the right way up?! I just spent ages on photobucket rotating them the right way up and they've still come out the wrong way!!

Resize the pics to 1024 x 768 with Irfanview . It's free and easy to use!!

Lovely car and you've done a cracking job of that engine mate, really nice!!

Loving this thread - cracking job! Well done.

Thanks for all your replys guys!

I am stuck on something though. I'm trying to get the underneath all sorted before I put her back on her wheels, which means I need an exhaust!

I was thinking about using a standard system, then buying a small section of 2" stainless steel pipe and cutting it off at and angle then welding it on to the standard back box to give a nice factory, but a bit better than factory look if you know what i mean!?!

Would the standard exhaust restrict power alot? As ive used a 2.0 bottom end and TSR pack D head, would I benifit from using a 'performance' system?

I was going to use a local company call ProSpeed, not sure if any of you have heard of them, they are based in Cardiff, about 50 miles away from me. The gent who runs it, Charlie is a top bloke and I have only ever heard good things of their work. I also had one of his systems on a corrado g60 I had and it was great.
But what about an off the shelf system, the ones I have seem are certainly a bit cheaper than ProSpeed systems but I am worried about the fit of them and the tailpipe! The 'off the shelf' system the previous owner of this golf had stuck out past the rear bumper about 10 inches!! It looked shite.

Anyone got any recommendations on an off the shelf system? I want a nice note, not too loud, but more importantly I dont want a shit fit or a massive protruding tailpipe!! ANy ideas? ANyone got any pics of theirs?

pet73r said

I was thinking about using a standard system, then buying a small section of 2" stainless steel pipe and cutting it off at and angle then welding it on to the standard back box to give a nice factory, but a bit better than factory look if you know what i mean!?!

ANyone got any pics of theirs?

that's what i did to mine… looks fine and is still nice and quiet..



i don't know if a std system would restrict yours with the mods you have done, but probably would be my thoughts…
the engine built on the pallet look sweet as too!!
p.s. - it's easy to find leaks when it's all new and clean…… (if you know what i mean, been there, had that happen!!   )

Hi rich. Thanks for the reply!

I actually saw yours when I was searching through threads of exhausts, trying to find a tailpipe that I liked! I have to say, yours is exactly how I want it!! A nice, suitably sized tailpipe, which doesn't make a complete racket when driving about!
But with the mods I've done I'm worries about not getting the full potential from the engine.

I kinda like the fit on the Jetex system, it looks like a quality bit of kit too. But the tailpipe is just too large!! Too big for my taste anyway.

I did see a few pics of an omp system which I liked alot, a nice 2" tailpipe slightly upswept. Only problem is I don't think they make them anymore!! :-(

mine will need a new back box when it's back on the road next time…. have you looked at powerflow stuff? all hand made stainless with lifetime warranty. you can decide how loud you want it, or how quiet, and pick your tailpipe and how you want it to stick out the back..

if you go to a dealer with a GOOD builder they are great, i've had one on the vr for about 8 years now.. thinking of getting one made up for the mk1 when back on the road again…Fortunately my local agent has a sh1thot fabricator - his systems are superb..
i've not been in a car with the jetex, but you are right, the tail pipe is far to big..