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LOOKING BACK... FOUR YEARS AGO THIS MONTH I FOUND A
1974 2002tii SLOWLY RUSTING AWAY AFTER YEARS OF NEGLECT.
- In March the car was running again and I drove the car approximately 14 months after 5 years
stored with 4 flat tires. It was not a car ready for the 21st
Century!
- From 2001-2003 I collected enough spare parts to completely rebuild
the car from the ground up.
- In the summer of 2002 I began disassembling the car for complete rust
removal of the body and chassis components prior to paint. The car
was blasted clean and primed.
- After 4 months of welding, reassembly and 2 gallons of paint, I moved
the car and all the parts together in a 40'x40' work area away from my
home.
- Since April of 2003, the car's reassembly has been underway and
documented on these pages while rebuilding it piece by piece, bolt by
bolt.
- The quest for knowledge and critical
information about these cars that is still being gathered, compiled and absorbed
by my brain on a daily basis it seems.
- Upholstery has been chosen and is being custom made from tan leather
hides for the door panels, front Scheel-Mann seats and stock rear seat.
Custom carpet will be made to compliment and enhance the look of the
custom seating.
- The engine is ready to be installed into the car. The transmission is
finished waiting for the engine installation. This requires help from my
buddy Steve to install!
- 2005 will be the year the car is completed. THERE, I SAID IT - NO TIME
TO WASTE!
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So where has this project been the past 3 months? Due to a
lot of time spent at my regular job at the end of the year, Stella has
pretty much been on life support the last 3 months. This year seemed to be
worst than in past years for lots of reasons, so I thought it best to bring
you up to date on what did happen and where I'm headed in 2005 - to finish
this project and start enjoying ownership again! |
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After peeling back the plastic, these photos were taken. The
engine compartment has had the radiator fitted recently. This is a Silicon
Garage E21 radiator custom built by
Curtis Ingraham
and documented on the site a few years back. It was recently hot tanked and
painted black.
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On the inside, not much visible to show you here, but the
wiring harness has been worked over. I have replaced many worn out ends with
new ones, soldered on. I have tagged the harness with labels under the dash
for future reference.
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The deck lid is on and closes down in a wonderful thud. New
gaskets and lock mechanism make this a completed step.
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The rear lights are in and are awaiting a handful of new
bulbs to be installed.
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There is a power trunk lock mechanism installed to remotely
open the trunk with keyless entry or from the passenger compartment.
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I have recently sent a lot of parts out to be re-plated in
Yellow Zinc Dichromate. One such part was the hose clamp which holds on the
filler neck of the gas tank on the inside portion of the trunk.
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New lower rocker sill trim was fitted to make sure it is
ready to go. I still need the new gaskets which ride on the top edge of the
stainless steel parts
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More plated parts. These screws which hold the hood closer
bar down are not available any more and have a unique self tapping type end
on them. Also re-plated were the he screws and the L clips fastened to the
fender, shown to the left of the hood closer bar clamps.
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The BEHR heater box was rebuilt and new cork gaskets were
installed to keep air flow at bay when needed.
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Both doors have been rebuilt with either stainless or
re-plated hardware. Rubberized truck bed liner was applied in the bottoms to
keep water from rusting them out in the future. |
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The engine has been completely gone through and is being
reassembled. The engine is being put back to original specifications and
upgraded where necessary. All valve guides were replaced with newer style
units from E30 M10 blocks and teflon valve seals installed. No more blue
smoke on deceleration
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On the intake side, their are 4 new injectors, an new old
stock Kugelfisher fuel injection pump and the intake has been powder coated
silver along with many other aluminum parts that are seen when opening the
hood. All fasteners seen are either new or recycled by re-plating to ensure
long life and no rust!
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This stud which holds the water tube on the head was a pain.
It broke off inside the head when I tried to remove it. I had to be drilled
out and a fresh insert installed. The new stud is a 40 cent part but cost
dearly to replace after this mess!
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Another view of engine parts that have been reconditioned to
provide long life once the car is back together again. Yellow Zinc
Dichromate is applied after the parts are bead blasted completely.
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The front view of the engine showing the powder coated lower
timing cover. The upper cover is awaiting it's application of powder which I
forgot to send the first time. That is a new cam sprocket and chain, water
pump and timing chain tensioner (only the end is sticking out in the photo).
The engine block has two coats of POR-15 Engine paint applied to stop rust
from coming back to it's cast iron surface.
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This is a new stock Bosch AL40X alternator for the TII. The
adjustment bracket, fan and pulley were all reconditioned using the plating
process.
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A look at the back side of the alternator. That dirty brown
wire is a ground strap that I will be making new before it goes onto the
engine.
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A top view of the alternator.
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This is a new starter.
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This photo is shown for your reference in case you've not
seen the terminal connections on the back before.
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This box contains new matching door handles that came bundled
with the new ignition switch so they all match. The gas cap is a NOS non
locking model, the keys shown go to the locking gas cap I have on the car
for now.
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My reference model GOLF sunroof. This foam piece in the
middle has to be cut from new foam and glued onto the new sunroof panels
below. Note the missing grey corduroy type material from the right side.
It's being applied to the panel going back into the car (seen below).
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Glued down on one side. In an upcoming month's issue I will
go into all the work I did while putting the sunroof back in. MORE
TO COME!
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