5 GT Turbo 11 years later silver bullet comes home

[DaveL485]

Be more weld than car at this rate lol

 

[Duncan Grier]

So to fulfill @DaveL485 wish for more weld than car did the other side just

Same template just reversed and process as before, need to tidy it up but 2hrs gone in the blink of an eye

 

[Duncan Grier]

In more exciting news....

Offered a slot at friends place for body work and paint........only it is mid March engage excited panic mode lol

While a deadline helps focus the mind might be a bit aggressive knowing how long some jobs needed will take, lets see how the end of December plays out.

Also really good looong follow
up chat with Pro Alloy after sharing my initial plans and measurements over cooling wants and needs. Discussed some really interesting data over setup for the 5 rad angle and positioning...will share more once finished the front frame and can confirm exact space to work with, not as restricted with engine now in the back. Also concluded fuel tank is going mid mounted

 

[DaveL485]

chat with Pro Alloy

Whatsapp me your contact info for proalloy would ya? I wanna have a chat about a rad/cooler for the 21.

 

[Duncan Grier]

Squeezed some last minute time in the garage between festive duties before visit tonight

After a quick clean up and few spot welds around the outside


It was inevitable that while not really needed seam welding would give a cleaner finish and well more is more....definitely not coming off now....ever



Other sides definitely need clean up and some treatment



Will finish dressing it and touch up if needed and give a lick of primer when in next.......then on to jobs at the front of the car

 

[Duncan Grier]

When Mrs Grier said unexpectedly you can pop round the garage for a couple of hours if you wanted........

Quick walk around the car and decided on quick flash of flap disc and some Christmas themed primer



Then refitted the rear frame, which fitted like a gloveplanned shim for top rear bolt worked out spot on also (will make full size shim another time )



Got wishbones, suspension, discs and wheels back on and much happier with how wheels are sitting



While a royal pita having to have corrected how I received it, and probably quicker to have made new from scratch, am happy enough with end result and sticking with it

Car back on floor Merry Christmas

 

[Turbell]

 

[marc k]

This is going to be epic!

 

[Duncan Grier]

So over the Christmas break had a long think about the front cage section that was troubling me since getting the car back after the work was done.



Weighing up the options:
1. Cut out, purchase some more tube, invest in a tube bender and redo myself.
2. Pay someone else to redo and more tube.
3. Accept and work with it

Have settled on option 3 based on below points (option 1 was my default choice):

1.The overall design and quality of the main cage is good and believe serve its purpose if ever tested in anger
2. Tough to swallow having paid for the work to pay again and or cost of a decent tube bender and my time
3. Adding further delays to planned time of having all fabrication done
4. £££

 

[Duncan Grier]

So as my last updates for 2024......

Cleaned up surface rust and welded the n/s cage extension to turret once drilling the inner strength plate to plug weld



Access and angles of welding made for some fun bit not coming back off now


torch through hole and half a view

Need to tidy up and finish a few bits but fine while I get on with other bits and side

 

[Duncan Grier]

Decided on front end next phase and how to achieve with limited cutting of turrets to be able to notch and weld the tube together and weld to the turret with some strength plates for good measure

No notcher but angle grinder works fine, should have asked santa for one

 

[Duncan Grier]

Coming together and just deciding on which option for the diagonal tube.....will look at gussets etc once all the smaller sections are done but have draft plan drawn out



Or 45deg


Happy New Year all

Sure this loooong phase of my build not everyone's thing but hoping 2025 will bring some of the other interesting bits and not bored the forum to death too much with my power hours and photo updates

 

[Steve Swan]

The closer the Roll structure is to the perimeter of the vehicle, the better it will work if ever put to the test. Let's hope not.....

 

[Duncan Grier]

Got some time looking at cooling options ready to start my CAD versions using christmas boxes

Quick tally on mountable space to calc surface area +/- 10mm gave:

Full top horizontal positioning - 860x380
Front vertical position - 720x460
Angled (approx 30deg) - 780x540

In terms of surface area horizontal was a surprise smallest from a visual perspective, just behind vertical setup and angled is about 25% more

Need to get test items made and start to look at airflow and few other things but with space available it looks like angled might be the winner but lets see....

I need to look as A/C rad addition and also could run an aux cooler for DSG/Oil to help further - I historically ran 2 inline CC pre rads in the lower section of front bumper / fog light area also that worked well on the 1.8 20vt 5

 

[Duncan Grier]

Couple more hours and with wire wheel of doom removed most of the underseal inside the turret.

Then measure, mark, measure, mark, measure, measure cut prepped notch and all slots in nice ready to stick together

Need to make a couple of spreader / strengthening plates as I did for the other side and should be all good

 

[Duncan Grier]

Couple more hours just all cleaned up, tacked in, measured and all good. Got one of the plates in but few touches needed

 

[Leigh5t]

Great progress!

Im curious, do you have a target deadline?

Since starting mine, I’ve been torn between setting myself a target, and leaving it to just pan out naturally. I don’t want to ruin the enjoyment by adding time constraints, but I also want to actually finish it one day! Your project is wild compared to mine, so I can’t begin to imagine how you could estimate how long it will take. Hence the question.

Either way, you’re doing a great job so keep up the good work!

 

[Duncan Grier]

So as it was a tropical 3deg in the garage and -2 outside seemed good idea to get a few hours after getting no time this week

Got some more of the plates welded in and welded up the cage extensions, need to dress a few bits and try to get a bit of weld on some hard to reach areas but worked out fine



Tweaked bottom bar level ready for sone triangulation fun



Also got a second hand pro alloy 2nd hand vx220 charge cooler which I had planned but with my custom end tanks - good to have to get test mount...good for 550bhp so good short term but will consider a larger one for final version used



Lastly decided to take the plunge in some cheap corner weight options to help as I add parts to balance weight and good for suspension setup to get going......got 4 of these

 

[Duncan Grier]

@Leigh5t fantastic question only money and time stops us with these crazy things, however it is always a balance and sometimes the journey can be as important as the destination.

I have sooo much planned and small things can take a lot of time to design and implement....air con is a good example of this and want heated windscreen etc to name a few but blending modern efficient technology while respecting the era has no manual to follow. In reality a manual gearbox, no a/c etc would be easy in comparison to get moving......but if it was easy everyone would be doing it.

My plan is to be painted this summer and metal work finished......those who know me well will really now just how much this troubles me as I am already thinking so far ahead of the end build and details.

I am also trying to build something that can also be easily maintained also and how to access all items from engine to braking components etc as required.

As I did my original 1.8 20vt vag powered 5 and vx220 tfsi conversations etc where possible I like to use off the shelf parts where possible for longevity and £££

The drive.....is very much to get this car alive and driving to prove to myself my own madness was far from mad

While alas no hard end date have some personal targets, am still enjoying growing and learning new skills on the way which is key for me

You got the longer response version with a in hand

 

[Leigh5t]

Makes perfect sense! Cheers

Sounds similar to me. I’m fully on board with “it’s the journey” mindset. Hence why I’m somewhat reluctant to have a deadline. I just want to enjoy the process as much as possible. And, as you say, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it (and it probably wouldn’t be worth doing then anyway). However, I can’t wait to get the 5 back on the road after all these years. Plus, I can just start another project .
Perhaps there’s a sweet spot of having those personal, realistic targets, but not having an arbitrary deadline that inevitably ends up disappointing. Keeps the chill but also keeps the momentum up.

Here’s to somehow maybe being parked side by side in the not to distant future