20V CQ Tidy Up

[Acidburn]

Think I might have to try some of that, the diff i've just got is still in quite good condition but anything can benefit from a clean up.

Do you know what paint stripper you used?

Hopefully I will get up to see this in person before you fit it

[Error404]

I used PORstrip mate, made by POR15.

[Error404]

Not updated this for a while - been a bit lazy really

after taking off the rear subframe and diff, i was greeted by some nasty rust on the rear arches and boot floor above the rear heatshield











So i decided that as the car is a keeper i was going to sort it out properly. Everything from the gearbox back came off.

Prop off:


All the fuel and brake lines which have seen better days - still the original ones from the factory so they've done quite well TBH

[Error404]

Then i started the mamouth task of stripping all the underseal off back to bare metal - didn't want to leave anything to chance.
and glad i did - no more horrors luckily, but rust was starting to spread out from all the spotwelds and heatshield studs:













Then the rust was properly exposed and ready to be dispatched once and for all.

[Error404]

Fuel and welding don't really mix so tank came out:



Once most of the underseal was burshed off, i could see there was a fair amount of work to do getting rid of the dread tin worm:











Heres a good example of how the rust spreads under the bodyseal - this looked fine before being wire brushed clean - you can see where the rust has started to develop at the spotwelds and spread out un-noticed under the bodysealer.... quite scary really for all you who think you're rust free


My mate Glen is a bit of a metalwork wizard, so over the next few weeks he's going to help me cut out these problem areas and we'll make up some new pieces to weld in.
Then it'll be POR15, 3M bodysealer and dinitrol to finish. Should be another couple of months before the car sees the road again... more to follow on the refurb over the next few weeks

[Error404]

And for my rust woes i thought i'd treat the old boy to some retail therapy... bought him a new heart A tidy little 3B - thanks Pete




This will be rebuilt as stock except for stronger rods, uprated bearings, balanced bottom end and a bit of porting on a modified 7A head... then will run ABY loom and ECU. Will keep the K24 until funds allow something bigger.... 301bhp on the homefries is the target

thats it for now folks.....

[stiglet]

Found the same rust on my boot floor. Until I can afford to buy another everyday car i'll have to just spray it up and leave it as i need the coupe everyday, but one day looks like i'll have to be doing this same thing.

If a job's worth doing....

[Error404]

best bet Al is wire brush it back as much as you can then spray some Metal Ready on it and paint it with POR15 - at least then it won't spread and you can come back to it some time.....

PITA to deal with if its a daily driver as its a ****ing time consuming.... for me so far 5 days spent on my back with a wire cup brush on the angle grinder to strip off all the underseal as far and the front arches

[GT500]

Good work!

[Error404]

Rob, with the 3M sealer you recommended in this thread, how much do you think i'll need to do the whole underbody?
It seems to come in 250ml bags from the places i've seen.... is it hard to apply?
I have a little compressor (only 10cfm) and apart from that i'm a bit concerned theres not a lot of room to work under the car in some places.... any tips on using the sutff?

[stiglet]

best bet Al is wire brush it back as much as you can then spray some Metal Ready on it and paint it with POR15 - at least then it won't spread and you can come back to it some time.....

PITA to deal with if its a daily driver as its a ****ing time consuming.... for me so far 5 days spent on my back with a wire cup brush on the angle grinder to strip off all the underseal as far and the front arches

This is my main worry right now. I figured after the snowy gritty salty episode over the winter that the rot would dig in. I have ground back with a wire brush/angle grinder and sprayed what I can find with Hammerite. Will get some POR15 and do a better job but hopefully that will halt it for the moment

[Error404]

Yeah POR15 will stop it for sure - Hammerite is shlte
TBH unless its perforated badly like mine, POR15 dries like granite anyway you might not even need to do anything else to it

[GT500]

Rob, with the 3M sealer you recommended in this thread, how much do you think i'll need to do the whole underbody?
It seems to come in 250ml bags from the places i've seen.... is it hard to apply?
I have a little compressor (only 10cfm) and apart from that i'm a bit concerned theres not a lot of room to work under the car in some places.... any tips on using the sutff?

Its very easy to apply, you need the special gun that fits straight on to the bag. If its expensive you can borrow mine.
I recon you'll need six or seven 250s. Ask the suppier if you can always take some back if you have too many.. make sure you mix the two parts really well,then let the tube down. Also the bags leak very easily have some duck tape handy!
Do it in two hits, with low psi get a good build up on all the seams. Let that dry and turn up the pressure to go from seam sealer to coating.
Becarefull to remove anything in your garage or cover it up as it gets everywhere! Try use some cardboard to stop most of the overspray (gun in one hand and card in the other, get what I mean?)
Very satisfying gear! won't take long..

[20vQC]

COOL MATE!!! This Error is the king!!! lol Very impressed... a lot of work renewing the Coupè (that looks already like an S2), you gotta have a lot of patience and some money too! hehehe I wish I could do the same on mine but I don't have a garage to do mechanical things anymore Good luck mate... I like a lot that 3B!!! Hey....why don't you keep the distributor? Will give you a lot less headache!! I'd like to take out the vems and use the OEM NM loom again but modifying the stock ECU with a homefry. Well, good luck again mate! Cheers!

[Error404]

heya mate - actually i'm doinng all this on a pretty small budget, including the car and the 3B so far I have spent about £2000 so about the same as a scruffy S2, but i have lots of new parts... want to use ABY loom and ECU for the coils not dizzy, and better diagnostics via vagcom

Its very easy to apply, you need the special gun that fits straight on to the bag. If its expensive you can borrow mine.
I recon you'll need six or seven 250s. Ask the suppier if you can always take some back if you have too many.. make sure you mix the two parts really well,then let the tube down. Also the bags leak very easily have some duck tape handy!
Do it in two hits, with low psi get a good build up on all the seams. Let that dry and turn up the pressure to go from seam sealer to coating.
Becarefull to remove anything in your garage or cover it up as it gets everywhere! Try use some cardboard to stop most of the overspray (gun in one hand and card in the other, get what I mean?)
Very satisfying gear! won't take long..

Thanks mate
I think the special gun was only about £30 but it said it was disposable so I guess it gets gunked up with the sealer and saves cleaning it.... thanks for the offer though - i'll probably be