The MK4 Golf/Bora Dash Conversion

[Bazmcc 0]

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been a bit sidetracked.

 

The wiring job is still ongoing and i'm waiting on the crossmember coming back from blasting.

OBD port was done, radio plug done, fuel flap button done, final bits and pieces tidied up.

 

 

I have a few more things to work out and then I can start making a link loom. This job is going to basically render most of the old fusebox useless. The end goal would be to eliminate it completely. But here is the basic links for the lighting and a couple of other things. I'll update the big lists and spreadsheet of all the connectors and pins next week.

The value on the left is coming from the MK4 loom. The value on the right is the wire which would be connected. It would also be removed from the corrado fusebox as that part of the circuit from the original rado dash and switches would be redundant now.

 

Left side light and tail light bulbs -> A1/04 + K/03

Right side light and tail light bulbs -> A2/02 + K/02

Rear Fog bulb -> K/10

Right Indicators -> K/07 + A2/04

Left Indicators -> A1/02 + K/01

Left Main Beam -> A1/06

Right Main Beam -> A2/07

Left Dip Headlight -> A1/01

Right Dip Headlight -> A2/03

No Plate Lights -> K/05

Rear Window Heater -> K/12

Handbrake switch pin 1 -> L/06

Fuel Gauge Sender pin 1 -> M/03

Outside temp sensor pin 1 -> G2/02

Drivers door sensor pin 2 -> possibly G2/07 - needing tested

Brake Level Sensor pin 1 -> C/01

Coolant Shortage pin 2 -> C/08

[Bazmcc 0]

Test fit of the newly blasted crossmember and test fit of the wiring.

I've found the wiring to the stalks and ignition switch to be a little tight due to the way I have it taped up but i've left a lot of slack in other places so I should be able to shuffle it around to fit pretty well. The pics also show the mk4 fuse box in place.

 

[quicky1980 0]

love this!

 

do the doors with door cards fitted close ok now? or are you still planning on fettling the cards?

[Bazmcc 0]

The original door cards would never fit no matter what I did with them. I have them cut to allow the door to close on a test fit but I'll be basically making a fibreglass section to fit where it meets the dash. It'll be no more than about 3-4mm thick though. That's the sort of tollerance I have to work with. It's very tight with the side parts fitted.

[Bazmcc 0]

Everything out again to sort out the wire lengths and routing. I will be fitting a couple of tubes around some wiring so it can be cable tied in place. Everything fits i perfectly now. I have a bit of spare wire for the center console sections but I'll tidy them up when i get the airbox sorted and installed too.

 

[Bazmcc 0]

Got my plastic brackets sorted out and got the wiring routed pretty well. I just need to sort out the connections to the corrado wiring at the back of the fuse box now. There seems to be lots of unneccessary crap in here which I'll try to get rid of as much as possible.

 

This is what is left plugged into the existing fuse box as it sits.

[Bazmcc 0]

OK so I've got a bit of a list now of what's left to sort out. It's pretty much what was left plugged into the rado fuse box. I want to see if I can get it all gone and maybe integrated into the MK4 fuse box but it might not be possible. The ABS list and controller goes through it so I need to see exactly where each wire is coming from and going to and see if I can ween it off the old setup. I also need to order some junior power timer plugs today. I'll probably get some 10 pin ones. Maybe I can use MK4 headlight plugs.

 

 

On a side note. I got some of my powdercoated stuff back.

[guildmage 11]

shiney :dance: I'm following this thread with great interest. Think what you're doing is amazing. Wish I had fraction of your skills and commitment. Anyhow, keep it up man :)

[Bazmcc 0]

Thank you very much but I'd maybe draw the line at calling them skills. Stubbornness might be more appropriate. :)

 

When it's this far in there's nothing else to do but plough on.

[KipVR 1]

Nice work here and well documented, these guys are a good plug and connector supplier if you doen't already know about them.

 

http://www.simtekuk.co.uk/www.simtekuk.co.uk/info.php?p=12&pno=0

[Bazmcc 0]

Nice work here and well documented, these guys are a good plug and connector supplier if you doen't already know about them.

 

http://www.simtekuk.co.uk/www.simtekuk.co.uk/info.php?p=12&pno=0

 

Very useful resource. I didn't know about them. I'll get a couple of those and compare prices against VW trade prices. Then again I have a very useful breaker who allows me to get the odd spare loom from him when i need one.

[Hofmiester 10]

Incredible thread, I've seen some mods in my time but this is hardcore.......looking forward to seeing it finished!

[Bazmcc 0]

Thank you very much. I hope I can keep it going at a steady pace. The last week or so has been a bit of a right off with getting other work done. But i'll try and get back to it this week again.

[r8umar 10]

nice work :) wish i had the dedication :/

[Bazmcc 0]

Got a new set of feet welded to the MK4 handbrake. I just need to test fit this, drill it and trim any excess. The 3rd bolt on the passengers side will need a bracket made for it because of the amount of offset in the MK4 handbrake. It'll be more experimenting with that I think.

 

[Bazmcc 0]

The handbrake fitting is slightly experimental. I'll need to reshape a bit of the center console pieces to get it all to fit together nicely but it's not too far away. This is just a quick mock up of how it sits.

 

 

---------- Post added at 11:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 AM ----------

 

The handbrake fitting is slightly experimental. I'll need to reshape a bit of the center console pieces to get it all to fit together nicely but it's not too far away. This is just a quick mock up of how it sits.

 

[Bazmcc 0]

OK so onto the real work of fitting the handbrake and sussing out the offset. First thing was to drill the new plates and bolt it up. This was partly guesswork. The plates, even though they were huge compared to the standard feet were pretty close to being too small. But still worked and work perfectly. I'm not even sure I'll need the 3rd foot bolted down as it's very very stable.

 

 

As you can see the original corrado cables are centered compared to the MK4 cable tubes and pull bar which is about 1.5" or so offset. Simple solution. Remove the bar and clip from the MK4 handbrake, then fit a bolt as a spacer and use the original corrado pull which I drilled out of the old handbrake as it's rivetted in.

 

Obviously this means I can use the original fitting on the cables too.

 

Then you can see it fits and lines up perfectly. You'll notice there's about an inch gap where the bar is too long and also if I was to pull it up tight to the nuts on the lines it would foul the mk4 handbrake bracket. Easily fixed. I'm going to fit 2 machined tubes onto the cables to act like spacers and it'll operate like normal.

That should clamp the MK4 calipers I have for it pretty well.

 

Doesn't look too bad when it's lined up.

[Goldie 2]

Are you wiring up a solenoid for the fuel cap release?

 

Seriously impressive work, i think for those of us who have never attempted anything like this it just looks like old dash out - new dash in and bobs your uncle.. A lot more to it than meets the eye...

[Bazmcc 0]

Yes I'll probably just use a mk4 solenoid if it'll fit.

 

I have the wiring left so it can be done. It's not essential to the dash swap though so I think it might be an additional mod which I can add at a later date.

[Bazmcc 0]

ok so I have been tinkering. Well, more wasting time and getting sod all done. I need to make a extension so the airbox front ducting fits to the ducting in the dash. The airbox in a mk4 would normally sit about 4 inches or so closer to the dash. So i just need to make 2 plates to fit to each part and then i'll basically make a tube to connect the 2. I was going to do this from ABS plastic but as I didn't have any laying about I decided i'll just use fibreglass for now and it should be fine. I'll coat it and paint it when I'm finished.

 

So first things first. Make 2 flat pieces of fibreglass for the airbox and the other piece of ducting to fit to. I'm using a sheet of glass to build it on. It's had the edges taped as they were rough and the glass waxed. This acts as a release so the fibreglass and resin just peels off after it's cured. Works every time. I layered about 7-8 layers of fairly heavy chopped strand matt. It'll be more than strong enough for what I need and can be drilled and sanded and trimmed to shape. You can see from the bottom pic how flat you can get fibreglass sheets when you have a proper set of fibreglass rollers. With these everything gets saturated right through and you don't get any lumps pulled up like a brush does. I've made 2 of these. Next update hopefully I'll be able to show the rest of it with the central part in place.

 

[Critical_Mass 10]

Very impressive mate. The centre console and handbrake are looking good. Keep the pics coming :)

 

In regards to the fuel filler button/cap. Would you have to remove the wiring for the central locking to do this - as the lock mechanism for the filler cap is part of the central locking.

[Bazmcc 0]

I could leave the locking as it is in the original wiring. But I'd be able to basically make it like a MK4 where it's always locked and closed unless you press the button to release it where it would spring open slightly.

[16vStyle 0]

Looks great, very impressive write up! Interesting to see where there are some minor differences with my install. I used the mk4 Loom so you've got a whole other level of complexity to yours!

 

I've not tackled the shifter and handbrake issues yet mind so will be watching with interest!

 

Simon

[Bazmcc 0]

16vStyle - Handbrake has all been sorted more or less. Just 2 small tubes to make to extend the reach past the handbrake bracket. Gearstick, I think the engineer was looking at it this week but he was spacing a set of throttle bodies for me so he was going to do it after that. We know exactly what needs to be done. It's just getting time sort it out.

 

Back to the grindstone. I had to sort out the issue with the airbox not lining up with the top air ducting inlet on the underside of the dash. It's a little crude so far but i'll tidy it up as I go along.

 

So the fibreglass plates I made needed to be cut to shape to fit the airbox and the front piece of ducting.

 

Then trimmed out the center part. Be warned, fibreglass resin is hard as nails and blunts blades very quickly. To do the 2 plates which were approximately 3 - 3.5mm thick I completely destroyed a jigsaw blade and 2 air saw blades. Thankfuly I have plenty of spares. If you think that's bad try cutting carbon fibre. lol.

 

Ok to make the 2 parts mate up it had to come back about 2.5 inches and down about 2 inches. I had some fibreglass strips in the garage I had made previously for making some moulds and they were sort of spare. So i used them for the sides and for the top and bottom 'ramps' I used the part I cut out of the middle of one of the plates. I just have these taped together for test fitting. I'll fibreglass these together when I'm happy with fitment and the shape.

 

And here's how it looks when it's up against the airbox. I didn't have time to screw the front on and properly test it but i'll get that done soon enough.

 

---------- Post added at 9:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 9:20 AM ----------

 

16vStyle - Handbrake has all been sorted more or less. Just 2 small tubes to make to extend the reach past the handbrake bracket. Gearstick, I think the engineer was looking at it this week but he was spacing a set of throttle bodies for me so he was going to do it after that. We know exactly what needs to be done. It's just getting time sort it out.

 

Back to the grindstone. I had to sort out the issue with the airbox not lining up with the top air ducting inlet on the underside of the dash. It's a little crude so far but i'll tidy it up as I go along.

 

So the fibreglass plates I made needed to be cut to shape to fit the airbox and the front piece of ducting.

 

Then trimmed out the center part. Be warned, fibreglass resin is hard as nails and blunts blades very quickly. To do the 2 plates which were approximately 3 - 3.5mm thick I completely destroyed a jigsaw blade and 2 air saw blades. Thankfuly I have plenty of spares. If you think that's bad try cutting carbon fibre. lol.

 

Ok to make the 2 parts mate up it had to come back about 2.5 inches and down about 2 inches. I had some fibreglass strips in the garage I had made previously for making some moulds and they were sort of spare. So i used them for the sides and for the top and bottom 'ramps' I used the part I cut out of the middle of one of the plates. I just have these taped together for test fitting. I'll fibreglass these together when I'm happy with fitment and the shape.

 

And here's how it looks when it's up against the airbox. I didn't have time to screw the front on and properly test it but i'll get that done soon enough.

[Bazmcc 0]

OK so I needed to get the airbox adapter/extension done. I test fitted again and made a few minor tweaks. I cut a couple of grooves to allow the top piece to slot into the main front ducting a bit further so it wasn't crushed against the underside of the dash. I also put some new foam seals around the top part so it didn't rub plastic on plastic on the dash and squeak. I may need a little more padding here.

 

 

I'll probably screw this on here so it can't more around.

 

And I fibreglassed the parts together after I was happy enough with the fitment. This will hold it all in place and I'll finish the glassing in a couple of days when it's cured a bit. Then I'll move on to shaping it and removing excess material to make it a little more compact and lighter.

 

And just to prove it all fits.