Project Plum - The Plan of Attack

[boost monkey 0]

Bought a late spec rad support panel today so that I can utilise the PAS oil cooler bar on my new pipes, and cos my early spec one is ratty. RSP was £60 delivered but is in good nick and seemingly comes with another cross-member which I will be able to sell on :salute:

[pete_griff 0]

Bought a late spec rad support panel today so that I can utilise the PAS oil cooler bar on my new pipes, and cos my early spec one is ratty. RSP was £60 delivered but is in good nick and seemingly comes with another cross-member which I will be able to sell on :salute:

 

are the cross members for the 4 cylinder engines the same as the ones for the 6 pots?

 

i will hopefully be taking mine off in the next week or two and i want to be able to have sourced another one "just in case" the rust monsters have seriously taken hold!

i don't think it's too bad from what i remember, but i want to know i can get hold of another if needs be...

 

needless to say, if it will fit, would you mind provisionally holding it for me for a week or two until i know what state mine is in..... (for a sensible price obviously)

 

thanks very much :)

 

glad to see your build is coming along so well by the way. do you recon you will get it back on the road for the winter, or are student funds too tight at present?

[boost monkey 0]

Hi pete! welcome back :grin:

 

I'm afraid to say that a VR cross-member is substantially different to our 4-pot ones as your front engine mount is a completely different design.

 

I have MOT on 10th October (~ 2 weeks away)... whether I can get my rear beam done in that time I don't know :shrug:

 

If not, Plum will fail on the following:

 

 

Rear seized caliper,

corroded handbrake cable,

Rear axle bushings worn,

[possible] rear suspension worn,

braking imbalance [due to caliper],

 

...off the top of my head, so plenty to get a RED VOSA sheet for :sad:

 

I've got new cables, and shocks and another caliper which I stripped down today. Needs a lick of paint and to get the new piston seals on then it should be good to go on.

 

So yes, I'm hoping it will be a runner through the winter. The ISV thermoswitch has snapped off in the head though which makes cold starts a pain. I'm reluctant to drill it out as it will put swarf into the cooling jacket and may damage something. If I pull the head off to change the head gasket, I will drill it out then :salute:

[Chris 0]

Bought a late spec rad support panel today so that I can utilise the PAS oil cooler bar on my new pipes, and cos my early spec one is ratty. RSP was £60 delivered but is in good nick and seemingly comes with another cross-member which I will be able to sell on :salute:

 

are the cross members for the 4 cylinder engines the same as the ones for the 6 pots?

 

i will hopefully be taking mine off in the next week or two and i want to be able to have sourced another one "just in case" the rust monsters have seriously taken hold!

i don't think it's too bad from what i remember, but i want to know i can get hold of another if needs be...

 

needless to say, if it will fit, would you mind provisionally holding it for me for a week or two until i know what state mine is in..... (for a sensible price obviously)

 

thanks very much :)

 

glad to see your build is coming along so well by the way. do you recon you will get it back on the road for the winter, or are student funds too tight at present?[/quote:2uiuw7gv]

 

 

top picture - early crossmember

 

bottom picture - vr6 crossmember

 

the difference is the rad support ive arrowed, the rad is pulled back in the photo so you can see

[pete_griff 0]

Hi pete! welcome back :grin:

 

I'm afraid to say that a VR cross-member is substantially different to our 4-pot ones as your front engine mount is a completely different design.

 

I have MOT on 10th October (~ 2 weeks away)... whether I can get my rear beam done in that time I don't know :shrug:

 

If not, Plum will fail on the following:

 

 

Rear seized caliper,

corroded handbrake cable,

Rear axle bushings worn,

[possible] rear suspension worn,

braking imbalance [due to caliper],

 

...off the top of my head, so plenty to get a RED VOSA sheet for :sad:

 

I've got new cables, and shocks and another caliper which I stripped down today. Needs a lick of paint and to get the new piston seals on then it should be good to go on.

 

So yes, I'm hoping it will be a runner through the winter. The ISV thermoswitch has snapped off in the head though which makes cold starts a pain. I'm reluctant to drill it out as it will put swarf into the cooling jacket and may damage something. If I pull the head off to change the head gasket, I will drill it out then :salute:

 

hey there my friend cheers for the warm welcome - unfortuntely i'm not quite back yet - all being well i should be leaving here tomorrow night and arriving back in the uk tues afternoon/evening :grin: :grin: :grin:

 

cheers for letting me know as well, and thanks to r4-ge too; i just hope my crossmember is in good nick...

 

best of luck getting it all sorted for your MOT. you haven't (or at least i don't remember it anyway...) mentioned new brake lines (talking about the solid ones now). are you bothering with those - it would be a good time to do it. they aren't difficult to make up if you have a decent end flaring tool, just time consuming.

if you need to borrow one i have a nice automech one that you stick in a vice and gives good results every time - not horrifically far away from you at hereford...

 

good luck anyway :)

[boost monkey 0]

No you're right, I haven't mentioned the hard lines, what to do, what to do! :shrug:

 

I have a set of complete hard lines from the breaker car, although that had ABS so I can't use any from inside the engine bay; at least Prodigal can have them for spares.

 

I'm about £100 down on budget now due to the unforeseen water pump issue, so things will have to take a back seat for a while I think; I will probably build the new rear beam up at my new house and put it on there.

 

I might see if the workshop at uni is available to studes. They mainly have CNC machines but some of the old boys are quite helpful and smell like oil, quality :lol:

 

I may yet take you up on that offer Pete! As mentioned the car will fail MOT in its current state, I've been sorting out my pushbike today and went and bought a helmet so I can start using that for Uni (6 miles each way and hilly! :pale:) and save some cash over the lean winter months. I'm happy for Stella to sit up on stands for a while yet so I can do the rear axle, although I am a little worried about the engine as the overheat seems something of an enigma at the moment :scratch:

 

Stupidly enough, I get a loan payment in Feb AND March each year, so I will have plenty of cashola in about 4 months.... those LEAs are loco :cuckoo:

[pete_griff 0]

fair enough matey - it's surprising how much you save when not using the car every day - i also like pushbikes, bit i'm not sure if i envy you riding a hilly 6 miles each way in the uk winter!

 

i haven't actually looked, but i may well have a good reel of the cupro-nickel pipe that i used for my own lines....

i've defo got a fair few end fittings etc.

 

all being well i will have about 6 weeks off at the end of this week, so if i'm free, i'm more than happy to lend you a hand as well - just make sure when getting your old lines off that you retain their shape so you can copy them with the new ones.

 

as usual, hope it all works out :)

[boost monkey 0]

Legend, thanks very much mate :D :salute: :notworthy:

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Have a good flight back Pete!

 

Good luck with the brake lines as well fella! They are not too much of a hassle if you have access to the right tools :)

[boost monkey 0]

SO... my water pump pulley came yesterday which was awesome:

 

 

and the pump now looks like this:

 

 

Unfortunately my old thermostat flange has warped so I've got one on order which will be in tomorrow.

 

And today the new front panel(s) came. If someone can tell me what car they're from that would really help :scratch: ;):

 

 

 

Budget is running out very quickly, so I think the rad support will get Hammerited as opposed to the POR treatment. Good enough. Cross-member is best one I've seen, MUCH less corrosion than the 2 I have already painted so I'm gonna clean this up and stick it up for sale at a discounted rate :salute: Came from a 1994 16v.

[boost monkey 0]

Remember one of my rear calipers is seized? Thought i'd kill some time, so i refurb'd the spare I had. I still think the OEM calipers work well, only ever had one seize on all 4 of the Mk2-esque VWs I've owned. Anyways, pics...

 

 

Here it is after I satin blacked it a couple of nights ago. The VW seals have been sat in the ectoplasm for about an hour (comes with), so it's time to sling them together.

 

 

That's the easier of the 2 done...

 

 

 

Voila. I find it easiest to slip the main seal over the bottom of the piston like a skirt, then ease the seal down into the gap. When it's all in, you can wind the piston back in and the piston edges should push the seal outwards into the caliper seal groove.

 

 

 

 

Added bleed nipple, nipple dust cap and also the new rear febi brake hose.

 

 

 

:salute: all done.

[colinstubbs 0]

New bits are fun!! 8)

 

I'd be interested in that cross member when you're ready, my looks like swiss cheese attacked by mice!! :lol: :lol:

[nemesis360 0]

Nice to see some nice shiny bits going on the old girl :)

[boost monkey 0]

New bits are fun!! 8)

 

I'd be interested in that cross member when you're ready, my looks like swiss cheese attacked by mice!! :lol: :lol:

 

no probs :grin: you know the CM is just the bit with the engine mount on right?

[colinstubbs 0]

Yes mate, no worries, it's so much better than mine :lol: :lol: 8)

[boost monkey 0]

cool :D so many people call them the wrong thing!

[boost monkey 0]

So, I put the pump on today, torqued all the bolts, connected all the pipes and fan belt. Starting filling it up with the Coolant Flush stuff, had a nosey about and saw the oil filter was dripping. That's odd, it's dripping yellow/green :scratch: what's that then? The coolant flush does say on the back to leave the stuff in the system when up to temperature until it runs clear, so maybe that's the stuff I just put in and it's changed colour already?

 

 

 

Obviously dripping from the heat exchanger sandwich plate, so maybe that's died.

 

Would a leaky sandwich plate cause my overheating issues? Bear in mind the car isn't running at this point and it's dripping about 2 drops per second which is unpressurised.

[CazzaVR 0]

Could well be causing the overheating. Imagine how much it's gonna leak once pressurised! Think they're only around £30, so not too bad :)

[boost monkey 0]

Leak was one of the hoses, so that's fixed now. This morning in pictures:

 

 

Everything reconnected. New water pump, pulley, thermostat, stat flange and expansion tank.

 

 

 

New pump and pulley spinning away... PAS system left off for now, will put it back on shortly.

 

 

 

Tank took 5 litres (50/50 with coolant flush - G12 comes later) almost rose to the lid, but the stat opened and then the level stabilised here. Car still on stands so level off by a few mm.

 

 

 

Fan came on at approx. 96 degrees

 

 

 

Tank steamed a little, but it was 15 degrees outside and windy!

 

Can't take it for a drive yet:

 

Car needs steering U/J and then aligning all around! :sad:

 

But the Plum is back 8) ...

[vwdeviant 0]

John Which hose was it? Still chasing my loss but at least not so bad with the newer rad on!

[boost monkey 0]

It was the one I always have problems with, the 3-branch which goes from water pump to sandwich plate and then vertical to the front flange. I guess I hadn't seated the spring clip properly when I reattached it all.

 

Temp didn't pass 98 even though it was idling for 30mins which was quite nice, just gotta drain the flush solution out, rinse through with the hose and then should be all good!

[boost monkey 0]

Drained and flushed the system this avo with tap water. Am I right in thiking this is the route the coolant follows:

 

expansion tank,

hose,

metal pipe,

hose,

water pump,

coolant jacket in block,

cylinder head flange,

hose,

radiator,

hose,

water pump (via thermostat) ?

 

So, I can flush the whole system by just taking the bottom rad hose off and tipping water down through the expansion tank? That's what I was doing and it was coming out the rad, so it makes sense that this is the path the coolant follows.

[Jay23Sx 0]

If you dig out your Haynes manual (red Golf one) it has a good section on flushing out the system - I think most of the chapter just deals with flushing the radiator but it does also suggest another inlet for giving it a proper clean (off the top of my head I think it suggests disconnecting the hose at the cylinder head and putting the wather through there).

[boost monkey 0]

Cool, cheers for the tip Jay :salute: Now I wonder where that old red book has got to... :scratch:

[Jay23Sx 0]

Did you find the book, and if so, was I right? :)