My VR6 and Storm

[1xshaunx1 27]

Don’t envy you with that although I have my own sill woes. Mines not rusty just the sill lips crushed a bit further back where some twit has jacked it up without a V block or similar. In fact it’s amazing how many places want to jack the car up on the sill lip, I’ve just been taking the wheels in for years because of that. 

[Keyo 47]

Very common place for rust to form oh the joys !

[ABV-VR6 12]

That's too bad for the rust spot but nothing you can't fix I'll say!
Looking at your pictures with wiring, like you I got worried lol. It's not my best competence either!
I love the engine paint job you've done. Next week I'm going to start that part and I can't wait.
Cheers

[easypops 8]

Not much progress recently, I’ve been far too busy doing all the jobs that never get done, plus the weather has been great so got to take advantage of it.

Anyway, I was always planning to fit a mk4 handbrake handle so I had to weld in an extra stud to allow it to be seated correctly.

The front stud was loose and cracked as well so I sorted that out as well

 

[Keyo 47]

6 minutes ago, easypops said:

Not much progress recently, I’ve been far too busy doing all the jobs that never get done, plus the weather has been great so got to take advantage of it.

Anyway, I was always planning to fit a mk4 handbrake handle so I had to weld in an extra stud to allow it to be seated correctly.

The front stud was loose and cracked as well so I sorted that out as well

 

Nice work that will look so much better then the cheap plastic crap. 

[Cressa 44]

That looks great.  Does it fit through the handbrake trim ok?

[easypops 8]

34 minutes ago, Keyo said:

Nice work that will look so much better then the cheap plastic crap. 

Agreed, I saw someone else with this years ago and always wanted to do it as it just loooks much nicer😁

[easypops 8]

22 minutes ago, Cressa said:

That looks great.  Does it fit through the handbrake trim ok?

As far as I remember reading it’ll need some trimming on the underside but you don’t see that bit. I can’t quite try it yet as I need to finish all the dreaded wiring before I can refit the carpet/plastics. It’ll be made to fit, luckily I have a spare or 2 to practice on 😁

[fendervg 33]

I wonder is it possible just to use the cover part from the Mk4 handle?

[Keyo 47]

15 minutes ago, fendervg said:

I wonder is it possible just to use the cover part from the Mk4 handle?

Im hoping this is the case. 

[fla 9]

Thats the best way to do it with the extra stud.  Fitting and lining up the handbrake is a bit fiddly but it certainly does feel far better than the original. Great work there!

I had to 'persuade' mine to line up...a 4lb hammer helps here!  That said it rubs against the lower cover a little which needs cutting away. It also rubs on the inside panels of the top cover which i left off.  Couldn't think of a good solution that didnt involve trimming that down too.  

 

I had some pics in my build thread (which are sadly no longer there), but happy to post up again if anyone needs them.

[easypops 8]

2 minutes ago, fla said:

Thats the best way to do it with the extra stud.  Fitting and lining up the handbrake is a bit fiddly but it certainly does feel far better than the original. Great work there!

I had to 'persuade' mine to line up...a 4lb hammer helps here!  That said it rubs against the lower cover a little which needs cutting away. It also rubs on the inside panels of the top cover which i left off.  Couldn't think of a good solution that didnt involve trimming that down too.  

 

I had some pics in my build thread (which are sadly no longer there), but happy to post up again if anyone needs them.

I’d love to see them at some point mate 😁👍

[fla 9]

here you go:

[ABV-VR6 12]

Man it's looking nice, good job fitting it in! Definitely nicer than the plastic trim...

And like you, I've been busy catching up on things and weather here is real nice too!

[easypops 8]

4 hours ago, ABV-VR6 said:

Man it's looking nice, good job fitting it in! Definitely nicer than the plastic trim...

And like you, I've been busy catching up on things and weather here is real nice too!

Thank mate, where are you in the world? Is it Canada? 

[ABV-VR6 12]

That's right, I live in British Columbia, Canada. I was born in Québec city which is known to be the oldest and only European alike city in the country. I've been travelling quite a bit in Europe back in the days and I hope one day it's possible to do that again! 

Keep up the good work! Cheers 

[Keyo 47]

7 minutes ago, ABV-VR6 said:

That's right, I live in British Columbia, Canada. I was born in Québec city which is known to be the oldest and only European alike city in the country. I've been travelling quite a bit in Europe back in the days and I hope one day it's possible to do that again! 

Keep up the good work! Cheers 

I have an Auntie and Uncle who lives in Toronto and was lucky enough to visit when I was 11, everything was so abundant there - we stayed at  their lake house for a weekend and it was amazing, water skiing - fishing fish a cast - huge portions of food - wildlife- think the only negative things are the winter and long work hours and less holiday. Seems like on an average salary you can have a great standard of living without the high crime rates of the USA. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Keyo

[easypops 8]

5 hours ago, ABV-VR6 said:

That's right, I live in British Columbia, Canada. I was born in Québec city which is known to be the oldest and only European alike city in the country. I've been travelling quite a bit in Europe back in the days and I hope one day it's possible to do that again! 

Keep up the good work! Cheers 

We went on holiday to Canada last year, absolutely loved it. We were based in Dundas, not too far from Toronto, can’t think of any bit I didn’t enjoy........except the length of flight maybe 😁

[easypops 8]

Got another couple of wee bits done tonight with the help of a good friend, the wires for the Shrick controller were identified and spliced into, then I finished wrapping the (OBD2) loom.

I’ve left 3 tails to connect the controller later on.

Also dug our the radiator with the slimline fans

Edited April 20, 2020 by easypops
Missed

[ABV-VR6 12]

Ya, I like to think that I live in a good country. People are friendly in general, the outdoors is amazing, free health care, we got quite a bit of money from the government to stay home for 4 months during this pandemic... Obviously not perfect in every way but pretty decent. Keyo's right, an average salary will buy you something decent. Although, the further west you go, that highest is the living cost. Main reason is weather. As mentioned winter is long and cold on the east coast but not on the west cost. Talking to my parents back east, they still have 3 feet of snow and compared to us, we didn't get any snow this winter and the leaves are already on trees. We've had a week around 18 degrees and it's still snowing back there... 

The country is huge, i made 6000km to come here, never had to do an oil change after a drive lol. So ya, flight from the UK is long and you can add another 5 hours to come here! That said, if any of you makes it around here one day, I'll definitely have you over for a bbq, beers and Corrado talks! 

Anyways to come back to the main subject, that radiator is really nice, was is custom made? Why are you swapping fir obd2, just want more reliability and sensors? 

Cheers mates

[easypops 8]

4 minutes ago, ABV-VR6 said:

Ya, I like to think that I live in a good country. People are friendly in general, the outdoors is amazing, free health care, we got quite a bit of money from the government to stay home for 4 months during this pandemic... Obviously not perfect in every way but pretty decent. Keyo's right, an average salary will buy you something decent. Although, the further west you go, that highest is the living cost. Main reason is weather. As mentioned winter is long and cold on the east coast but not on the west cost. Talking to my parents back east, they still have 3 feet of snow and compared to us, we didn't get any snow this winter and the leaves are already on trees. We've had a week around 18 degrees and it's still snowing back there... 

The country is huge, i made 6000km to come here, never had to do an oil change after a drive lol. So ya, flight from the UK is long and you can add another 5 hours to come here! That said, if any of you makes it around here one day, I'll definitely have you over for a bbq, beers and Corrado talks! 

Anyways to come back to the main subject, that radiator is really nice, was is custom made? Why are you swapping fir obd2, just want more reliability and sensors? 

Cheers mates

I bought the radiator with the fans already in place, had it for ages, so long I can’t remember who I bought it from.

The OBD2 swap is always something I fancied as it always seems to get good reports. Plus I bought this and as it’s set up for OBD2 it just made sense 

[ABV-VR6 12]

Excuse my ignorance but are all schrick needed to be obd2? Or you bought it and came with an obd2 throttle body? I never seen one in real life! 

[tonedef 9]

7 hours ago, ABV-VR6 said:

Excuse my ignorance but are all schrick needed to be obd2? Or you bought it and came with an obd2 throttle body? I never seen one in real life! 

Schrick inlets are available in OBD1 and 2 variants, only the fixing flange for the throttle body varies between them. I had an OBD1 Schrick on my car before and looked at buying a new inlet elbow for it when I made the swap to OBD2 but I was quoted £450 for the new part so sold the manifold on. With hindsight that was probably a mistake!

I've looked in passing at the VGI inlet manifold that was fitted to the late 12V OBD2 VR6 motors in the States when Europe got the 24V but it moves the throttle body to the left side of the engine bay which of course brings more complications with it that I probably don't need.

[easypops 8]

So, with the wiring sort of ready to install it led me to the engine bay, not a nice place really, so I thought I better give it a clean. Absolutely horrible job. I unearthed quite a few wee bits where the paint had split , luckily enough only some surface rust. Out with the steam cleaner and the grinder followed up by some primer/paint

[Keyo 47]

That looks in good condition- nice to see it has the original pant code sticker in place, See that black metal clip that houses the blue solenoid normally (first and second picture)- if you google that part number of that clip it does not exist on etka or not on VW Classics - so keep it safe ha. 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Keyo