Dublin G60 Project thread

[sgaites 0]

Hi all

 

I recently picked up this 1992 G60 in Dublin. It was previously registered in the UK and NI, registrations: BNZ 2886, XIW 888, YIW 7582, J311 GGO, VCK 180 and J983 LRK.

 

The for sale pics (click for full size):

 

 

It's on 148,000 mls, and has been off the road for the past 18 months. The supercharger was rebuild by Jabba sports in 2004 @ 127,000 mls.

 

Bodywork is in decent condition, head gasket is blown and its generally a bit tired. Nice leather interior, and everything electrical works. I did get her running, engine sounded sweet. Here she is when I picked her up:

 

 

I'll keep this thread updated as I go through what I hope to be a relatively short project (famous last words).

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The first job of the project: remove the awful Scorpion back box. It was held on by cable ties, and had a massive tear in it. Ho hum, I'll have to get a new one.

 

[clumpy1 11]

Try dub power for an exhaust Peter know's his stuff I have a manifold on my R32 powered C.

 

---------- Post added at 8:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 8:51 PM ----------

 

Try dub power for an exhaust Peter know's his stuff I have a manifold on my R32 powered C. Strangely you have the same pioneer head unit in your's plus i owned a G60 for a while "spooky" looking good mate:thumbleft:

 

---------- Post added at 8:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 8:54 PM ----------

 

Try dub power for an exhaust Peter know's his stuff I have a manifold on my R32 powered C. Strangely you have the same pioneer head unit in your's plus i owned a G60 for a while "spooky" looking good mate:thumbleft:

[sgaites 0]

Tonight's work:

 

Stripped out driver's side carpet as it was very damp - horrible smelly water, possibly coolant from heater matrix :-(

 

The car had overheating issues in the past apparently, this could be why.

 

Also started to remove front of the car for easier access to engine:

 

A couple of questions:

 

This thing was disconnected, under passenger side wing near headlight. I think its the dim-dip resistor, any ideas why it might have been disconnected ?

 

I also started ripping out the old mobile phone kit and old wiring for sub in the boot (I like things to be as unmolested as possible). The car has Toad immobiliser fitted, and to be honest the wiring under the dash is a mess. I am tempted to take out the immobiliser completely and renew all the stereo cabling - this too seems to have been chopped about a lot over the years.

 

Watch this space for further updates.

cheers

Edited January 14, 2013 by sgaites

[sgaites 0]

The stripdown continues

 

Intercooler, looks a bit the worse for wear but serviceable

 

 

Bumper in a pretty horrible state - under the crappy black paint it's blue !

 

 

New splitter required

 

The heart of the beast :-)

 

 

Discovered a few oil leaks, lots of loose or missing nuts and bolts on various fixings. With a bit of luck tomorrow I'll be able to get the head off.

[clumpy1 11]

You are doing well mate keep it up

[destructiv dave 0]

Good work so far on the tear down.

 

Water may also be from the door membranes so worth checking, especially if you end up in the general area when renewing any speaker wiring.

 

Dim dip resistor needs to be disconnected for uprated wiring so that may be the reason that isn't plugged in.

 

Also, good call on the immobiliser if you do take it out. Some cars are now suffering from alarm/immobilser install on top of install (and even on top again in some cases) and it's quite satisfying taking it back knowing that you won't be stranded due to electrical gremlins.

 

Good luck with progress.

[sgaites 0]

I managed to get the head nearly off tonight. It's just being held back by the exhaust manifold to downpipe joint....[edit] I've just read somewhere that there are 6 nuts not 5......fail !!!

 

Anyway, here are a few more images.

 

The leaky head gasket:

 

Sad looking rocker cover:

 

I'm pretty unimpressed by the casting marks on the head, it looks like someone's been at it with a hammer and chisel. Are all G60 heads like this ??

 

With a bit of luck I'll figure out how to separate the exhaust manifold shortly, then will have the head off and into a machine shop for an overhaul.

 

Cheers.

Edited January 22, 2013 by sgaites

[sgaites 0]

Undid that final exhaust manifold nut, and the head popped right off. No obvious sign that the head gasket had failed, but lots of oil all over the rear of the head and manifolds.

 

 

Was pretty horrified to see the state of the fuel rail, injectors and loom - melted, crispy style:

 

 

Anyone come across this before ? Surely not a consequence of normal operations...something must have been pretty hot there (fire ??). Some evidence of there having been insulation attached to the exhaust manifold in this pic - could this be anything to do with this ?

 

 

Feedback welcome.

[dannyboy 0]

That g60 has suffered an engine fire due to the infamous pressure switch hose leaking,very easy to see.wish my one got away with that!

[sgaites 0]

That g60 has suffered an engine fire due to the infamous pressure switch hose leaking,very easy to see.wish my one got away with that!

 

Everything now makes sense http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?78778-Mystery-pipe-blanked-off&p=949013#post949013

[dannyboy 0]

The petrol pools on the intake manifold under the injectors when it leaks then heat of the exhaust ignited the fuel. Sorry mate I feel for u,its happened to me once but caught it early. The next time a little animal chewed the lines and I wasn't so lucky second time.

 

Perfectly honest the design was not one of vw s best!

[sgaites 0]

Picked up a mint rear bumper today from a guy on a local VW forum, and also an unmolested parcel shelf and supports. €115 the lot.

 

He also took the rocker cover to his work and did this with it:

 

Here is how it looked at the start of the day

 

 

 

Not pretty!

 

First step was to blast the inside with a very fine glass bead,which gave this finish

 

 

And for the front I used a plastic bead as I didnt want to dimple the metal,just take the paint off

 

The black parts are where the paint had come off and corrosion had started.

 

Next step was to get it into the vapor blaster which uses pressurised water containing glass bead to clean and also give a nice finish

 

 

And here is the finished rocker cover

 

Edited January 28, 2013 by sgaites

[sgaites 0]

This evening's quest was to discover whether it was the heater matrix that caused the sodden driver's side carpet. In a word, yes. It was...

 

 

In other news.....the heater box looked like it had been out before, and was wrapped up in a bird's nest of immobilizer wiring. That lot is all coming out.

 

The heater box itself is in poor condition, one of the lever arms is broken so one of the flaps doesn't move. All the foam/rubber parts are perished and crumbling - is it possible to renew those separately ? In fact the fan itself is being held together by cable ties, and wasn't even plugged into the connector.

 

 

 

Another issue - these 2 pipes obviously need to be connected....they're the central locking pipes, right ?

 

 

 

Also dropped the head into Howard Engineering for the refurb.

 

 

Keep watching. And any feedback welcome

Edited January 29, 2013 by sgaites

[sgaites 0]

Also dropped the head into Howard Engineering for the refurb.

 

One of the exhaust valves is bent, so that's on order. Should have the head back in a couple of weeks.

 

Meanwhile, I spent the weekend ripping out the Toad immobiliser. Very satisfying to re-solder all the crappy connections under the dash and lose a mountain of wiring:

 

 

I was going to try and bring some order the the loom behind the fusebox, but I gave up in the end. Bird's nest !

 

Next was to review the stereo/speaker situation. The factory headunit is obviously gone, and there are JVC 2-way coaxials in the front doors. The dash speakers are disconnected, so I guess thy couldn't be resurrected without crossover and amp....will have a good read through Ice'n'Secure.

 

The previous owner supplied some refurbed electric window motors & mechanisms. On removing the passenger side door card, I realised it must be off a LHD car, as it has 2x window switches and the mirror switch, unplugged ! Am I bothered ?.....Hmm.

 

There was plenty of broken glass fragments in the bottom of the door, along with this little bit of metal...door handle must have been repaired after this bad boy snapped.

 

 

It'll be a quiet week I think, waiting for some engine parts to arrive. Keep watching.

Edited February 3, 2013 by sgaites

[clumpy1 11]

I think that is part of the door handle mate i am a newbie as well so i may be wrong love your enthusiasm you are brave taking on a corrado i bought one which required some bit's sorting/finishing off nothing compared to what you are doing :salute: keep it up.

[paddy26 3]

The bead blasting is a great job.

I have a few bits I'll be getting done aswell.

 

How's the head rebuild coming along?

[sgaites 0]

Slowly....one of the exhaust valves was bent, so am waiting on that to be delivered. My self imposed March deadline for having her on the road is ebbing away....

[paddy26 3]

Dubshed is on 7th April so you should set that as your new deadline....