TMT McCoy

Thanks for the kind words fella's! :D I got a delivery from FeDex today. They dropped off the last remaining new old stock, Bonrath Superdeep Duckbill spoiler that's available in north america. If I'm not mistaken, I believe it's approximately 2 - 3 inches deeper than the european mk1 duckbill spoiler I currently have mounted to the car. The piece is constructed of fiberglass and has a gloss black finish to it. I'm tossing around the idea of having both sides molded together into one piece & possibly finishing the surface off in a low gloss satin black paint to match the non-painted grille & trim in the lower front valence?!?!

You're right. The lower rad support when installed gets sandwiched in between the bottom of the radiator and the top of the front lower subframe, both of which are chrome plated. I figured that I would do the lower radiator support in gold just to break up the monotony of the chrome a little bit. Once installed you can only see a slither of it anyways. I think it'll be a nice little accent amongst the sea of chrome without going overboard and being tacky! Other than the gearbox hardware & shifter weight, I have no plans on gold plating anything else.

liking the rad support, its gold plate scarily expensive?. Really looking forward to seeing the car in print!!![/quote:baa5a] If you can manage to have the parts chrome plated before you drop it off with the gold plater then the pricing is reasonable. Not much more money involved than having a piece chrome plated. I'm working on it, Lee! :lol:

Paid a visit to my metal refinisher today. Don't have much to show for the visit. He was in the process of finishing off the last lot of parts that I dropped off with him a few weeks ago. I was only able to pick up these two pieces today. I brought a supersprint header a couple of months ago with intentions of chrome plating it. My metal guy informed me that it wasn't to good of an idea to chrome plate stainless steel ( for whatever reason ) so that idea went out the window. I would have just kept the header mirror polished but I don't like the look of it once it goes through it's heat cycle. So I decided to go with a silver powder coat which he tells me is good for up to 650 degrees. The lower rad support I had gold plated. :D I should be picking up the rest of my goodies from him this weekend which will finally allow me & my buds to put this car back together. I'll be sure to keep you fella's updated!

Make sure you chrome that hardware as well... :lol: Just when I start to say I can't do anymore, Lee you come along & prove me wrong. You might not realize it but you're pushing me ( in a good way ) to go further with my car!

Lee, the new pic's look awesome. The front subframe is going to look so sexy when it comes back from the chromers. I have the same VF engineering trans mount. I couldn't find anyone to press out the bushing so I had it mirror polished. I think there's a pic of it in my thread somewhere. I think the bright red powdercoated sway bars are gonna be a nice touch. 8)

Wow, I have missed alot in the last few days. Lee, you truly are a detail pervert! This is why your rado is at the top of the heap. Seeing pic's like the one you posted above has sent me back to the lab trying to figure out how i can improve my own chrome frames. I tip my hat to you sir! :D

The manual steering rack I'm using is chrome plated along with the U-shaped steering rack brackets fitted with red polyurethane steering rack bushings.

I'd agree, don't worry about it. I've got alot of stick for my car, seems silly now that people are that bothered about what someone else chooses to do to their car. Took it hard at first because i wasn't expecting it, but when you step back and think about it doesn't matter because you do it for yourself. My car is actually held in much higher regard in the US than UK mainly because they have a much greater understanding of building showcars. People in the UK show scene will openly slate a car they are competeing against if its better than theirs. Number of times i've listened to someone pulling someone elses car apart, then had a look at theirs and thought aarrh, they know they've lost and trying to convince themselves otherwise. You know that i rate your car as the greatest VW showcar built so far, mainly because i'd like to get mine up to a similar standard and its and unbelievable amount of work. Fact is, you forget the comments when you look at your latest batch of chromed parts to be fitted and realise why to love it. :lol:[/quote:ad468] I fell into the same trap, Lee. Took the criticism's and tongue lashings really hard at first because I wasn't expecting it at all. Especially from some of the people who were handing it out. Over here in the states, guys won't openly disrespect the car in person at an event. They generally reserve the criticism's & trash talking for the internet forums behind the safety of there computer screens...lol! What I find funny is that both our cars have similar mods ( same exterior color, same interior color & tons of chrome detailing ), you get alot of respect and praise over here in the States and stick from the UK and for me it's vice versa. It seems as though my 'coupe gets a lot more love from you guys...lol! But what can you do? It comes a time when you have to forget about what everyone else is saying and just push on to mod and enjoy the car for yourself.

I'm proud but am very overlycritical of my work at times. Yeah I really like the lower stance with the tires tucked up in the wheel wells. That was the look I was originally going for. is there actually anyone who hasn't liked it though ,seems near perfect to me but is there anyone who just doesn't appreciate it ?, This is the only forum I've posted my car on with the exception of the E38 forums that I haven't gotten a ton of hate. I guess some people just can't respect the effort & tlc that's gone into this car. A close friend was telling me just the other day to just enjoy the car and don't worry about the people who put it down because obviously you can't please everyone! Sorry about the lack of updates this weekend. I passed by my metal refinisher when I got done with work on friday and the pieces I were suppose to pick up weren't done yet. He said to come back in another week!

I'm proud but am very overlycritical of my work at times. Yeah I really like the lower stance with the tires tucked up in the wheel wells. That was the look I was originally going for.

Sounds as if you and I have the same agenda! :lol: Looks awesome, Lee. You are definetly in the zone dude!!![/quote:c84e1] you've topped the chrome car, by some margin!! Thinking about running the brakelines inside the trailing arms of the rear beam. What do you think? Nearly smoothed one side of the beam now. Pics soon. .....And in other news, my cars going to appear on a range of t-shirts. :lol: I'll post a link to the shop once there done.[/quote:c84e1] Most definetly do it, Lee. I ran the hardlines for my rear brakes inside the cabin all the way to the back of the car. They're totally hidden up until the point where they get back to the trailing arms and the braided stainless lines are exposed.

I hear 'ya I haven't been to good at documenting everything that I've done or am doing. :oops: :)

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. Been really busy at my job and working on the 'coupe. Last weekend I pulled the entire drivetrain from it to tidy up the bay a bit more. I'm gonna have the hole on the passenger side frame rail where the fuel lines feed through welded shut, shaving the stud off the passenger side strut tower for the fuel line clip and chroming any pieces of hardware that I forgot about when the car was initially being put together. After that I have some more interior & exterior detail work to finish up. I'm headed over to the chromers this afternoon to check the progress of a few pieces. I'll get some pic's posted over the weekend if he has anything ready to be picked up! :) Guys take a look at these two pic's and let me know what you think. The first pic is an actual pic of how the car sat as of last year. The second pic is a photoshop image of how the car is gonna look this season! In the second pic you can see the reduction in ride height I was able to obtain with the 195/40's & the thinner adapters I sourced out as well as the chrome bumper trim, window trim & custom chrome boot plinth.

Sounds as if you and I have the same agenda! :lol: Looks awesome, Lee. You are definetly in the zone dude!!!

Looks great, bro!

When the weather permits I drive it around without the hood and so far have been fortunate enough to not a have run in with the police. But for the most part the hood stays attached. There are some pic's of the car fitted with the hood back on the first page.

good call, must get mine done... :lol: btw, you love what i'm doing with my rear beam. Post pics later tonight.[/quote:a5efb] Let me guess...knowing you I think you probably have boxed in the open section of the rear beam before sending it off to chrome?!?! :wink:[/quote:a5efb] Was thinking about that today too, boxing in the whole of the rear but not sure if it would make the rear of the car rock solid and mega harsh!! And boxing the two holes at the rear. :lol:[/quote:a5efb] I just read what, Andy had to say about boxed rear beams over in your thread. I may have to rethink this one! :lol:

good call, must get mine done... :lol: btw, you love what i'm doing with my rear beam. Post pics later tonight.[/quote:f4706] Let me guess...knowing you I think you probably have boxed in the open section of the rear beam before sending it off to chrome?!?! :wink:

Thanks mate! They're a combination of 4x100 to 5x130 & 5x112 to 5x130. On the rear of the car I used a lower offset audi rotor assembly which allowed me to bring the rear RS's a couple of millimeters inward. Nothing is safe from the tank. If it's any sort of metal it must be refinished...lol! :lol:

I stopped by my chromer today after work and picked up my new adapters. Currently I have 25f & 20r millimeter adapters on the car and I figured if I wanted to go any lower than I am now I was gonna have to switch to some thinner adapters for the tires to clear the arches. So, I picked up a set of 20f & 15r millimeter units which I dropped off a few days ago to have mirror polished & then triple chrome plated. I'll have some pic's of them test fitted to the car sitting a little lower with the RS's on in a few days. Here are the results! :mad:

Thanks alot, Lee. It feels great to be publicly acknowledged by my peers who I respect and hold in very high regard. I was blown away when I got the news a couple of days ago. Thanks for all of the support! :D

I was kinda hesitant to go through with it at first. Kept thinking that the heat would eventually flake off the chrome but I've seen a ton of hot & street rods with chrome blocks without any problems so I'm gonna go for it. A buddy of mine is gonna powdercoat it afterwards with a bit of transluscent powder for some sort of durability! :wink:

Can you chrome the block??????? :roll: Yes sir! My block & head are already at the chromer! :lol: As always, fantastic job Lee!!![/quote:9ab47] I think you need your block/head looking at :lol:[/quote:9ab47] Touche' :lol:

Can you chrome the block??????? :roll: Yes sir! My block & head are already at the chromer! :lol: As always, fantastic job Lee!!!