Biggerbigben - Golf sold.. another new project!

[biggerbigben 0]

now then beno,

 

what controller are you using then mate?

 

how are you finding the haldex setup?

 

 

pics?

 

Hey Coxy..

 

I'm using a 4-motion controller I bought from the guys on vortex. I have a couple of mates making them but they were taking their sweet time so decided to just buy one. The haldex setup is superb, can't fault it. Was enjoying the car but the MOT ran out last week and I have a car full of wires with no dash so trying to get the replacment in so I can at least get an MOT and get it back on the road again asap.

 

How's yours coming along?

[CoxyLaad 0]

mine is coming on very slowly. its back in my garage, i just need to get my bone idle ass in there and get it put back together.

 

wow - nice shifter you have there! whats the crack with that?

[biggerbigben 0]

mine is coming on very slowly. its back in my garage, i just need to get my bone idle ass in there and get it put back together.

 

wow - nice shifter you have there! whats the crack with that?

 

Cool.. well get outside and hurry up will you..

 

I do know how you feel though as I can't really be bothered these days tbh.

 

Shifter is a sequential manual shifter for the 02M. Some friends of mine in the 'all smiles' camp found these pupies and I had to get one.. Works better with a dog box mind but never the less a worthy bit of kit. :)

 

When I get a sec I'll post a few pics.. hoping to get the cage in soon.

[CoxyLaad 0]

what are you going to be using the car for then ben?

 

I am in a dilemma as to what the purpose of mine is...I dont know whether to stick with the full interior, or rip the rear seats out and fit a roll cage.

[biggerbigben 0]

what are you going to be using the car for then ben?

 

I am in a dilemma as to what the purpose of mine is...I dont know whether to stick with the full interior, or rip the rear seats out and fit a roll cage.

 

I'm lucky enough to have a company car so its just going to be used as a fun / weekend car. There's no doubt in my mind I could use it daily but I don't need too. I've decided to go lightweight or at least thats the theme. My main focus it to make sure it gets too and from Worthersee in May 2008. All focus is getting it ready for that really. I hope to fit the cage inside a week (week off work) and perhaps if there is time re-spray the inside of the car although I doubt I will get that far. This winter I'm going to finally tackle the rear camber problem, which I've been putting off for over a year. I have all the parts, I just need to sit down and design the new wishbones. I have a few other mods up my sleeve also ;-)

 

I always thought you said you were going down the full interior route, but times change.

[CoxyLaad 0]

I always thought you said you were going down the full interior route, but times change.

 

well I was, but when I started this project 2 years (plus another 2 years) ago lol it was going to be a daily driver. I too have a company car now, and a motorbike, and the missus has a nice MX-5, so I am totally spoilt for choice.

I am leaning towards the 2 seats, rollcage and carpeted interior, although that would mean I have 2 2 seater sports cars, and a 2 seater motorbike. Is that daft?

[_leon_ 0]

just decide whether you want it for track use or drives out on the roads. you should find the answer there...

 

although do you not fancy a stripped out interior, nice front seats, carpet laid down to the rear seats, cage, carbon door cards... :lol: ok full interior it is then - with semi useful rear seats that weigh loads.

 

sorry lol

[biggerbigben 0]

just decide whether you want it for track use or drives out on the roads. you should find the answer there...

 

Agreed!

 

 

Is the rest of the car pretty much finished apart from the interior?

[biggerbigben 0]

Update, just for you Coxy ;-)

 

- New dash....

 

I need to get an MOT on the C urgently before Edition 38 so the dash needs to be fitted and secure in the car with all the required switches etc fixed into position. As a result I've done a small step by step write up of my efforts from yesterday.

 

Really the very first stage was the purchase of a complete E46 dash off ebay a few weeks ago for the grand total of £30 !!! I suppose I should answer the question of ‘why a BMw dash?’ Well I'm going down the lightweight route and wanted a dash that I could cut off the bottom section and use just the top. Not only that I wanted it to look good, be light and functional. I looked at many options but the E46 BMW dash just fitted the look so well as I could cut the lower end of the dash off on a natural swage line. After I’d ripped all the ducting, vents and switches off it was incredibly light. Pick it up with your little finger light. My plan was to smooth it out using as little filler and glass fibre as possible and then ultimately trim it.

 

 

 

Stage 1..

 

After getting the dash home I fitted it pretty much straight away to see how much work was involved to make it fit. I measured it and 40mm needed removing from the passenger’s side. So what I did was pretty unspectacular, I got a saw and just removed 40mm from the far left hand side about 50mm in and then just glassed the end back on.. vola, fitted perfectly. Another added bonus was that the dash fitted the contours of the corrado screen perfectly, so no modding was required there!! ;-) I also smoothed and fixed the passengers airbag cover into position.

 

 

Stage 2..

 

Time to put it on the bench and cut the underside off and glass the vent holes. Using a neat trick I picked up doing the TVR dash, I used cling film to cover over the original vents so I could make a quick mould. Then once the fibre glass is dry, simply remove the vent and cling film (which stops anything sticking) and place the mould back in the position, thus filling the hole. I repeated this process for all the holes in the dash.

 

 

 

 

Stage 3..

 

Reinforcing all the front smoothing I glassed up the rear so it will be very strong, but also light..

 

 

 

Stage 4..

 

Time to get the filler out. Used plenty initially just to get everything covered, but once you sand it back, hardly any of it remains. Again, I’m being especially conscious about weight!

 

 

 

Stage 5..

 

It was just a case of sanding it all back.

 

 

 

Stage 6..

 

Another trick I picked up doing the TVR dash etc was when you think your almost there with the finish, spray the area in question with some undercoat. By doing this you can spot the imperfections almost instantly and thus repair sections to obtain a good finish.

 

 

 

Stage 7..

 

Repairing the imperfections.

 

 

 

Stage 8..

 

A 95% complete dash. Resprayed it with undercoat. Because I am indeed going to cover the dash it doesn’t have to be perfect. For example if you were painting it or taking a mould then it would have to be. It does however have to be pretty damn good as leather or material will not cover up imperfections! The odd small hole here and there, fine, but its best to get it as good as one can! I also have allowed for at least 3mm worth of trimming material to go around the dash. Learnt that one, again, while doing the TVR interior..

 

 

 

 

Stage 9..

 

Now its time to start measuring and cutting the holes for the dials and switches. And that’s where I’m at after a day of solid graft.

 

 

 

I’ll do another update once I make some more progress, still shaking off a hangover so I can’t see today being that productive! lol

 

Ben

[saysomestuff 0]

Looking really good mate, where there any other dashes in the running?

 

Cheers,

Cole

[ZippyVR6 0]

Jhezus Ben, You dont do things by half do you?

 

Good price for the dash, did you get any switch gear with it?

[biggerbigben 0]

Looking really good mate, where there any other dashes in the running?

 

Cheers,

Cole

 

Hey Cole..

 

I looked at everything chap, Audi, other VW dashes (was thinking a Mk4 Golf dash would be cool), Merc, Bentley even an SLR dash! (I work at MB World so could have got the measurments) I couldn't be arsed to fabricate something again from scratch like the TVR dash, so opted for something that would house the Stack and dials with miminal effort. The E46 dash has really only taken about 6 hrs so far to get it where it is. Hoping to get it fitted this afternoon with all the dials etc in place.. (fat chance! lol)

[biggerbigben 0]

Jhezus Ben, You dont do things by half do you?

 

Good price for the dash, did you get any switch gear with it?

 

Got everything minus the radio and dials (but just won a set of dials on ebay for 99p !! lol, going to utilize the cluster and mod it for the stack) I'm going to try and wire in the BMW headlight switch but they have a module attached to the switch that stores all the mileage etc, so I need to find a way of discarding all that and just tap into the headlight wiring.

[saysomestuff 0]

..

Hey Cole..

 

I looked at everything chap, Audi, other VW dashes (was thinking a Mk4 Golf dash would be cool), Merc, Bentley even an SLR dash! (I work at MB World so could have got the measurments) I couldn't be arsed to fabricate something again from scratch like the TVR dash, so opted for something that would house the Stack and dials with miminal effort. The E46 dash has really only taken about 6 hrs so far to get it where it is. Hoping to get it fitted this afternoon with all the dials etc in place.. (fat chance! lol)

 

Cool one, I've been on the look out for something minimalistic/club sport for ages, closest I've got is the new polo GTI dash because of its cool cluster/binnacle

[s.g 0]

this is looking really good ben, can't wait too see the end result. top work as always

[A-J 0]

Looking forward to see how this turns out. Good work!

[biggerbigben 0]

Thanks for the comments guys!

 

Cole, Thats a nice dash mate, would suit your car really well I reckon. Hows your project coming along anyway?

 

 

 

As promised another update. Didn't get alot done really, but its coming along. Will work on it all this week after work and hopefully it will be finished bar trimming by Friday, ready for a potential MOT at the weekend / next week.

 

 

Stage 10..

 

Finished dilling the holes for the x4 Greddy gauges. I drilled the 60mm holes then carefully over drilled them, but only about 3-4mm down to allow for the gauges to sit flush as they are mounted on a curve. So in theory the tops will sit flush against the dash. I might need to do this a little more to allow for the material thickness when its trimmed. Trial fitted the dash to see where all the switches, 4-motion controller, gear LCD display should go.

 

 

 

Stage 11..

 

After working out where everything needed to go, I measured up and marked out the holes etc. A dremel to hand and 30 mins later the holes were cut! Trial fitted everything and managed to crack the front panel in 2 places.. need some more glass fibre behind the panel to keep it strong. I still need to finish off the imperfections all over the dash but its pretty much there.

 

 

 

 

Next stage is to make a start on mounting it to the car. I shall have a go at this tomorrow.

[junkie 0]

You certainly dont mess around mate, nice work.

 

What is the shifter from or is it another home made jobby? It might be the pics but you going to be able to change gear without hitting the dash

[biggerbigben 0]

You certainly dont mess around mate, nice work.

 

What is the shifter from or is it another home made jobby? It might be the pics but you going to be able to change gear without hitting the dash

 

Thanks mate..

 

The shifter is a bought item. Came from SQS in the CZECH REPUBLIC of all places. Make some neat kit for the 02M setup including proper DOG gear kits, unlike the pretend stuff Quaife does... ;-) Check their site out.. http://www.sqsracing.com/

 

The shifter misses the dash thankfully :)

[junkie 0]

Nice find :D

 

Only had a quick browse on there, so you got sequential in now and can i get some sequential action on mine.

 

How does it work just changing the shifter, enlighten us.

[blue95 0]

Absolutely insane dude!

 

You make it look so easy!

[biggerbigben 0]

Nice find :D

 

Only had a quick browse on there, so you got sequential in now and can i get some sequential action on mine.

 

How does it work just changing the shifter, enlighten us.

 

The shifter is a fully mechanical sequential shifter. Mine is for a 6spd 02M box. It has an LCD display to tell you what gear you're in and its as simple as pulling back to go up and pushing forward to come back down again. They are a direct replacement for the OEM shifters, but they are a bit of a nightmare to set up if I'm totally honest. Took me about 10-15 attemps to get it right! You can get them for the 5spd 02a/c/j I think. I actually bought mine unused, but 2nd hand with the 5spd plate in it, so I dismantled the entire thing (clever how it works!) to run with the 6spd box - I bought a new 6spd plate from SQS for £30 and just swapped the plates over. Basically the cables are operated by a channel in a circular steel plate. When you go up a gear the channel changes direction, which in turn operates the direction of the cables.. Its hard to explain and I didn't take any pics when pulling it apart. Off the shelf, new, I think they are £1k+, so not cheap, but sequential shifting never is ;-) With their dog engagement gearset they are very capable. With an OEM gearbox, they are no quicker than a good short shifter setup but in fairness the OEM gearbox itself is the limitting factor. Its to do with the syncros in the g'box.

 

I've posted a video clip of the shifter in action with a dog gearbox on 'you tube'. Link -

 

Thats about all I can think off re the shifter... hope thats enough info Junkie.. ?

[biggerbigben 0]

Absolutely insane dude!

 

You make it look so easy!

 

 

Hardly chap.. making the TVR dash was just good training ;-) Hows yours coming? Is the 4wd in yet?

[W3RKD 0]

Ben... You must be part of the dash genuis section of coupe haus.. Lovin your work sir

[junkie 0]

Yep thats pretty much a good explanation and surely 1k+ for sequential is god damn cheap IMHO.

 

Only other 1 i have seen on a road car if you can still call it that is the Reyland cossie and that was a 6 speed huge proper sequential gearbox for a skyline, with custom bell housing to mate to the cossie block, he was going to sell these kits for 6k if i remember rightly, so 1k plus dog box = mucho cheapness :D