No, not at all. There have been a few. Here is the guy that inspired me. It is an R32 swap with the dash, headliner, sunroof,pretty much everything: I got my polished parts finally and set them on the engine to see how it is going to look. i still need to polish the FPR and bolts that hold it all on. I also have a couple more metal lines that aren't on there yet that are polished:
Last night I was able to get the subframe off to clean, strip, paint, and rebuild with all new bushings. I got some more paint stripped and I got a friend who is going to help with some welding to smooth the bay as soon as I get it stripped. Once I get the bay stripped, smoothed, and primed, I can start putting in the wiring to see how it is all going to run. The engine is all together now and I found someone to trade transmissions with so things should start happening here soon. I also scored a set of G60 Corrado pedals to do the hydro clutch conversion. So far the weather has been kind to me since I am doing this outside, but it has started getting cold up here in the desert. I just wish it wasn't dark at 5 PM.
I have been doing a lot of grinding and stripping on the engine bay to get it ready to be smoothed and painted so nothing much there, but I did solve the problem of getting the MKIV AC lines to work with the MK2: I pulled the HVAC system from the MKIV and put it in the MK2 and it was too easy. All it took was to drill two new holes where the AC lines go in the car and everything fit perfectly. It will also simplify using the MKIV harness. I was thinking today about using the MKIV engine mounts with the front engine mount from the MK2 and not having a mount on the back to free up room for the turbo. I figured I could cut out this bracket from the MKIV: and weld it onto the passenger side frame rail of the MK2. The driver's side would just need some holes for the bolts put into the frame rail for the mount. I t should be stable since the MKIV uses the two mounts plus a rear and nothing on the front. I still need to find a fabricator to modify the two steering racks, so if anyone in SoCal knows someone or could do it please let me know.
Thanks guys for the encouragement. All this really is so far, is swapping parts. I just wish I knew how to weld. The three heavy things on this are going to be smoothing the bay, the steering column because I have to morph the bottom of the old one onto the top of the new one, and the dash because it will have to be cut and trimmed to fit (but the HVAC from the MKIV should help with the mounting of it). I still have no transmission, so I need someone to swap me their 5 speed for my 6 speed. Once I have the trans, I can get the engine in and see where everything sits and where to run wiring and piping.
Way cool. Back in about '87 my roomie bought one of those Sciroccos new. Cool car. But love what you're doing with the GTI.
Yes Jerry, standard work clothes will be worn. It's been getting cold up here. Today I got all of the brackets, bolts, and screws smoothed out of the bay. I also did some more stripping and am now at the point where my grinder and wire wheel isn't going to reach anymore. I need to research how to get the rest of the bay stripped short of getting it blasted. I'm going to hit Harbor Freight to see what kind of attachments they have to use. Thanks to Shawn at German Performance in Riverside I was able to get a front cross member, front motor mount, and transmission mount from a VR6 B4 Passat to handle the extra torque: I have a guy that is seriously wanting my six speed, so I may have a transmission soon. I'm crossing my fingers
I would love to get something like that, but I don't even have an air compressor. Believe it or not, I have been doing all of this with hand tools. My father-in-law has one with some pneumatic tools and I have been thinking about hitting him up to borrow it for awhile. I will have to see what kind of pressure it puts out. I think it is only a 20 gal though and those blasters need a lot of capacity.
How do those things work? Do they have their own compressor or are they just air tanks fed by an external compressor? Looks like the latter. Seems like you could get away with one of the smaller versions if you're just trying to get at the limited areas where your grinder doesn't reach instead of blasting large areas, panels, etc.
Hey! Awesome looking project! Couple of comments: Pressure blasters do need a compressor, but typically don't require as much CFM as a blasting cabinet. It basically pressurizes the container and pushes the sand through the nozzle (hence the name). The small 20 gal compressor might work. Especially if you keep the duty cycle to a minimum (quick, short blasts). With the dash, how hard is it to find a later Cabrio dash? The one they made from '99.5 up untilthe Beatle cabrio was introduced. I'd swear it uses the same cluster as the MkIV or may be easier to convert. I love the "old car; modern inerds" idea as well... I have half a desire to graft in a Miata drivetrain and suspension into my '73 Volvo 1800ES... for better or worse, the car needs enough rust repair first that I'll get plenty of learning experience with a welder...
I bought some small wire wheels from Harbor Freight for my drill and have almost gotten all of the paint off in the bay so the blaster is not going to be needed. The Cabrio dash maybe easier, but I already have the one and i know it can be done, so I am going to make it work. In my quest to detail my engine bay before I install my engine, I completely removed the front lower sub-frame to clean, strip, and paint. I was getting frustrated by all of the old oil grime and checked into getting it all sand blasted at a local place in Hesperia called Daytec who are famous for building motorcycle frames for custom bikes. I took in my two lower control arms, front cross member, and front lower sub-frame to get them sand blasted. Out of curiosity, I asked how much to have it all powder coated as well and was surprised to find out it will only cost $65 for everything so I told them to go ahead. Tuesday I get to pick it all up. I also bought some Neuspeed sway bars, Powerflex bushings, and these from the VW Vortex classifieds: They include: New OEM calipers New OEM caliper carriers New x-driller rotors New OEM brake pads front spindle wheel hub wheels bearing New brake lines (not pictured) New balljoints So basically the whole front end is going to be new.