Brb, Germany...

At least, after some 5 years, I'm once again Nurburgring bound. It's been FAR too long frankly since the last trip, the Lolf has had to have some welding for it's MOT (first time it's needed welding) and some other niggles, including a concerned call from the garage asking if there was a knack to get it started as it was getting harder to start as the days went on moving it around. Turns out what it needs is fuel (GG there).

The Z4m in the convoy has had a full work over prior and we're currently on the ferry (this will probably be posted later, yay roaming data :( ). France beacons,  Brussels looms like a threat of torment to get round and then it's onwards to Eifel, ze Fatherland in a pair of Bavarian steeds.

It's been a month!

One month into the new place and getting everything back to where it was before had been a mission. With the likely short time here, a lot of projects are a bit lacking in purpose so anything thats being done is limited to things which will move with me to the next house.

While I get round to starting the various ones I can do, I'll post ones from the last place which were at least useful in some way and will probably be repeated when i move somewhere more long term.

The biggest of these will likely be the Camera Jib (from waaaay back), the Golf and some stuff on the desk. There'll probably be more when i remember things I need to do.

But first, flash backs!

Golf Boot Floor v2

Since the last time I cut up the floor the golf hasn't actually run much at all, but thats not down to the floor being missing, far from it. But with that being said the intention is to take this to an event later this year and that means moving a good amount of gear around with it. So it's back to the flooring over the spare wheel for another go.

First off, a template around the rear wheel arches inside to transfer to some 3mm plywood sheet. With the extra weight, this should hold up better than the hardboard did and the whole unit should come out if I really want to go lightweight.

First edge cut...

...and it fits! almost on the first go anyway.

The second edge is cut and with some fine tuning it fits too.

The back of the board has to be cut to fit around a small brace and also just about allows for fingers to lift it with ease.

After a long time thinking about how to do this I had a kind of eureka moment and disappeared into the house and wandered about muttering to myself for about 20 minutes while my dad and girlfriend didnt really know what I was doing.

Using some old Ikea brackets and a dremel I fitted them over some screws meant for the rear seats and wound a wing nut on to hold it in place.

The next part of the epiphany was using some 100mm box trunking as the front support instead of wood. I was going to use wood but it'd be heavier and I didnt have it on hand. This was lying around and had been for a couple years or more.

Some quick cuts with the Dremel to get over the wing nuts and it's ready to fit.

The box section is held on with two screws and a thin strip of wood behind for them to bite into and hopefully not strip. So far so good, the washers work well to spread the load and nothing broke.

The completed, as yet uncovered floor.

And from the other end behind the passenger seat.

Underneath there are a few pieces of pine to add some front to back and a piece wider than the sunken floor so it stays at the right level behind the rear lights.

Next job for this is to cover it and try it out.

Golf Bumper Part 2 - The Fix is In. (Front)

Finally managed to source a new front bumper for the golf, the old one was pranged before i got it and looked pretty shabby.

You can, or maybe not, if you're not looked at it so often) see the twist and lumps of the bumper, plus the indicator is pushed back inside a fair bit.

I thought this wouldn't take long, however as Andy and I found, it took a few hours all told. First off was the grill, and lower valance to make getting to the bolts easier. Initially as there was no ironwork with the bumper were tried to take just the plastic off. That didnt work as the ironwork was attached with clips we couldnt see, and the only other bolts were inaccessible due to the twisting.

In the end we took the whole bumper, ironwork and all off. this was problematic as the bumper is held on by the same bolts which hold the front engine mount and subframe in place. Cue a trollyjack for added support.

The old bumper came off easily enough once the four bolts were removed, no need to beat anything or wrench it off, just slid out with a gentle nudge.

You can see a little better how wavey the front of the bumper is.

The nice new (well, ish) bumper.

Some of the ironwork was really badly bent, and instead of taking a pciture i beat it into shape and bend it around with pliers to get it like this. The small angled piece at the top was almost 45 degrees before.

After a good deal of manipulation using hammer, pliers and just plain standing and jumping on it, the bumper was roughly straight once again. Of course this meant it was wrong as it needed a slight curve to fit the front of the car. Cue more subtle application of jumping.

The original iornwork was bolted together but the pins broke free and started to spin, so without anything to hold the other side by, the nuts wouldn't tighten. A handy M8 bolt and some locknuts subbed in and worked fine.

After 4 or 5 test fits and some more twisting the bumper fit back on and with only a little dirt from the grass.

Everything put back together, looking much better than before and actually fitting properly for once. Next up a new number plate as the old one is cracked and really should have been replaced a while ago, but it never failed the MOT on it so i didnt bother.

Golf Bumper Part 1 (Rear)

Way back when i got my golf 5 years ago (bloody hell!) one job that was never done before it was put on the road was to fix the bumpers. Both front an rear had previously (before my ownership) had been knocked, very gently mind, but enough to twist the rear and deform the front plastic.

Here you can see the lumps and bumps of the rear in all their glory. As a result the right side bends up slightly and doesn't fit into the gap in the rear quarter panel, there by rubbing the body.

With the back of the car on axle stands the two bolts holding the bracket on could be loosened beneath the boot.

Naked as the day it was installed, at least if you ignore all the other parts still attached. The bumper came off fairly easily and slid out, ready for the new on to be installed.

Four bolts later and the new bumper is installed. Next job, source and fit a new front bumper to complete the fix.

Golf Audio - Part 1

For those that don't know, I've got a Golf. Its pretty heavily stripped out for track use. Because its stripped out, it was also the easiest thing to install a spare sub into I had laying around. The sub's been through quite a few car's i've owned since the mid 2000's, but nothing was this easy to do (the first time).

Adenau - Nurburgring

There's no before picture, because i didn't think (surprising how often i forget and just start working on something before i decide to write anything up). Previously there was a false floor over the spare wheel which the sub sat on, and this worked fine until the space saver i had in there, turned out to be fractionally too small to fit the front wheels. A full size alloy meant the floor didn't sit properly and it slid off, so it needed to be fixed.

Instead of putting the floor back and raising it up, it seamed more sensible to move it forwards to make the wheel well and general boot area easier to get to and use. People said stripping everything and then putting this in was a waste of time, but given its removable when i'm on track, and the drive to and from the track is pretty monotonous with poor sounding music, i don't really care :D.

This is the back of the car as it was.

The back 'seats'

Lacking a big enough sheet of wood to make a new floor, I used the old one.

The biggest issue was making sure the new seat belts would clear the eventual location, even though they're not in yet, i don't want to have to change this later.

More shaping and securing the floor together...

The floor will probably end up getting something stuck under it and need to be removed, so needs to be removable, and as I cant get under to hold one side, I've had to make pins to bolt to.

The pins stick just far enough through for a wing nut to go on the top without leaving thread sticking out.

Behold! It fits.

The old covering was re-purposed and doesn't look too bad, its not perfect, but it works.

Test fit! Still fits...

Perhaps not my most flattering angle, or the most comfortable position to work in.

As is evident by the darkness outside, this took a while to finally wire and bolt in, but it worked and the boot is massively more useful now I don't have to reach over the top of the sub.

Eventually i'll put the ooooold build log up of the car. Maybe.