Shellby - 83 gti ABF on carbs

Regress and progress!

Regress

ive been getting the shell ready for paint, but really struggling to get the near side wing to fit, just can't get the front hole to line up. Assumed it was me and my lack of experience. I am now being helped by a gentleman called chris, who has painted and repaired cars for about 700 years, thought he would get it to fit, but no!! cf_emoticons__BangHead:it seems the near side of the car is 10mm shorter than the offside, hence the wing won't bolt on. Chris's first reaction was that the shell may have been crashed and twisted, not what I wanted to hear after nearly two years of work on it! So we dug the tape measure out, did a few checks, and it just seems to be short from the third wing bolt hole from the windscreen to the front of the car. Felt slightly better! We then put the windscreen in knowing if the shell was twisted it won't fit snugly on all four sides. It fit like a glove! Phew!

Both inner wings have had repair work/new steel done to them, so think the near side repair steel has been welded in wrongly making the front of the car short. So…

split the inner wing and unpicked the front panel





we could then bolt the near side wing on properly. Then bolted the bonnet on and the latch to get the front panel in the right place



then tacked the inner wing back together. Will need to weld a strip in place where the gap is and repair the damage done to the engine bay, bit of a bu#ger, but not the end of the world.

Progress

after that setback we got on with fitting the rest of the body panels to make sure they all lined up.

Doors line up nicely





as does the boot



please with how that went.

heres a picture of chris working on the roof



and some filler applied to the side



put the old suspension on so we can drop it off the pivot frames and check the wheel centres. Had to put the rear beam on by myself about a metre in the air, here's a bad photo of the 400 blocks of wood involved in that task 

And here's how I left her.



Hopefully more progress next week!

Looking good mate, at least you were able to figure out what was wrong. N/S wing looks spot on now mate!!

Melteddrummer said

Looking good mate, at least you were able to figure out what was wrong. N/S wing looks spot on now mate!!

Cheers meltdrummer. Yeah better finding these problems now rather than when it's painted!

Nice work dude. Looks like a nice job on the doors and boot. Keep up the good work matey.    

smudger1980 said

Nice work dude. Looks like a nice job on the doors and boot. Keep up the good work matey.    

Cheers Smudger.

Quick update. Got the wheels back on and dropped her off the pivot frames so paint prep can continue.







no idea how long it's been since she was on wheels, probably never on three! And a photo of my friend jerry next to her, man she looks low!!



Just need to put the offside wheel hub and wheel back on, then leave her in chris's capable hands. Engine next I think.

Got a few things done today.

front wheel back on, so now back on four wheels.



then made a start on a manifold for the carbs. Had a manifold flange made up.



Cut some lengths of 40nb tube.



Crushed one end in a vice to elongate it.



Then used a hydraulic ram to bend the tube, essential kit for any wannabe golf builder!  

Then used a disc cutter to cut the end square.



Then welded the tubes to the plate.



And the almost finished article.





just need to dress the welds up, especially the horrendous one on the left!  

Engine problems

Made a start cleaning up the gearbox and engine.

First removed the drive shafts.





Will clean the drive shafts up soon. This left me with a dirty gearbox.



After a few hours with a wire wheel and brush it looks loads better.



Going to finish cleaning, replace the seals and gaskets, then paint. Any further suggestions whilst its off?

Next onto the engine.

First lift the engine with the engine hoist - aka a fork lift truck. 

Then onto the stand.



Removed all the exhaust studs, plus a lot of skin off my knuckles!



Next removed the head. Found piles of iron filings on top of each piston. cf_emoticons__BangHead:



Obviously this was worrying. But I found none in the head or the oil sump. So I started to strip the pistons to check them and the bores. Checked the first three and found no problems, until this:-



Destroyed one of the piston rings putting it back in!  cf_emoticons__BangHead:  Does anyone know where I can get an abf 2.0l 16v piston ring set?

Until I've got some new piston rings ill start on this:-



£45 off eBay. Only problem is its meant for a kr block.



should be able to modify it to suit.

Thats about it for now. If anyone has any gearbox suggestions or can point me to some piston rings it would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Matt

Got a piston ring set off eBay and fitted them. Head has been sent away to be skimmed and have the valves done.



Then spent about 6 hours cleaning the grime and gunk off the engine. The exhaust side is easy to do with a wire wheel, but the other side is horrendous to clean, so many knucks and cranys. Did most of this side scraping with a screwdriver and emery cloth.

Before



After



Then cleaned up the rocker cover



Cut the tabs off and smoothed the casting marks



Then primered



Then primed the engine block





Ordered some vht black paint, need to finish cleaning the gearbox, prime it, then paint it all black. Need to order some stainless steel bolts to replace the original engine and gearbox ones, hopefully will look good in black with some shiny bolt details.

Nice effort mate. It'll look smashing when it's all painted up.    

smudger1980 said

Nice effort mate. It'll look smashing when it's all painted up.    

Thanks smudger. You still waiting for your loom?

pazwaa said

smudger1980 said

Nice effort mate. It'll look smashing when it's all painted up.    

Thanks smudger. You still waiting for your loom?

Yes mate. Believe it's been posted back as of Saturday so should be any day now. Cannot fookin wait

Mine will be on carbs, so will probably only have half the wiring yours does, but really not looking forward to wiring, destroys my brain thinking about it.  

I've got 3 gauges to do at some point in the future as well. Scares the living £$%£ out of me

I never thought I'd say this, but I think I prefer wiring to welding!

Project is looking good mate. Will really start to look like it is taking shape when the paint is done!

AL_Mk1 said

I never thought I'd say this, but I think I prefer wiring to welding!

Project is looking good mate. Will really start to look like it is taking shape when the paint is done!

Wish I felt that way, I knew what I was doing with the welding, now it's done it's head first into the unknown!!

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, looking forward to it being all one colour, will look like a real car then.

Seats - after many months of hunting, bidding and losing out on seats on eBay, I've finally come up trumps,  twice!

First I won a set of RS recaros for £20!



Then the next day I won a set of tatty mk1 seats, also £20!



Going to strip down the mk1 seats and use the bases to mount the recaros. Time to get my creative head on!

Looking really good this bud
Carn't wait to see it in colour,will sit nice on those rims I'm sure

jaybo said

Looking really good this bud
Carn't wait to see it in colour,will sit nice on those rims I'm sure

Cheers jaybo   will be nice to see her just in primer, all one colour!

I do spend a sad amount of time looking at the alloys, can't wait to fit them for the first time! That alone is gonna be a mammoth task, they're 5 x 114 pcd, which is a nightmare to adapt being so close to the original 100 pcd! But I will find a way to sort it!

£20 for RS Recaros……..Bargain !!!