[69clark]

Decided to start a build thread for the car. I actually bought this car in Oct for my wife. We are already into the car scene, but I wanted to build something she can call her own. We found the car semi local to us and it was actually listed here for sale awhile back.

Anyways, when bought the car, overall it was pretty decent, just a little rough around the edges. Just like all my other hot rod projects, things snowball and end up going to a whole other level. Stay tuned.

The specs:
1.5 diesel
ATS classics (currently for sale)
H&r Ultra Low
HID conversion

Here are pics from when we found it for sale.

Car the day it came home.

There were some issues with the front fenders and filler, so I picked up some euro fenders for it.

First order of business was to go to town on the interior. So it all come out to check the floor boards and pull up the sound deadner. The under carpet padding was all wet so I feared the worst. After pulling everything up there was some surface rust but no hole. Very solid.

Spent today cleaning up the rear and removing the plastidip from the previous owner. Again, solid with no real issues. Anywhere there was surface rust it was ground down and coated with rust encapsulator.

Also started pulling the glass for all new weatherstripping. Then the fatmat went down. Still need to do the bottom of the well well area. Also will be doing some on the taillight panel, but I want to weld up the bolt holes for the license plate and do that the right way.

 

[Iroczgirl]

Looks like a really nice car! :thumbup:

 

[absentee]

yes.

 

[69clark]

Not alot of progress with the holidays, but here it is.

Layed some of the extra insulation down over the fatmat (its silver so hard to tell, bet is about 1/4" thick. Also have a set of wheel well carpets coming. Hard to find them it seems, but have a good set coming. They also have some insulation built in on those. Have to fatmat behind where the panels go and then insulation there too then start on the front (think I will need more fatmat).






Also started filling/shaving some holes. Not sure how many holes people need to mount a license plate. lol, but they are all welded up now.

 

[69clark]

Refinished the euro bumpers. They came out good, sorry no good before pics.

 

[flytech78]

no engine shots? clean car i like the badge's wear them with pride....

 

[69clark]

no engine shots? clean car i like the badge's wear them with pride....

Lol, I'll get some engine shots, nothing too special though. Nah, no deck badges for us, however, you don't need holes to have badges, a little 3m tape and they can go back on.

 

[veedubman91]

Looks like a nice car to start with. Wish my floors looked that clean

 

[69clark]

Not sure if you can see from these pics. Cleaned up and refinished one bezel as well as refinish and polish the trim. There were some dents and dings so I pounded them out sanded and polished. Now I need to do the others and the grill.

 

[69clark]

It's amazing what 30 minutes can do.

 

[finatean43]

Can you explain your refinishing process with the trim? What grit did you start and end with? And then did you go to a polish? They look brand new.

 

[69clark]

Can you explain your refinishing process with the trim? What grit did you start and end with? And then did you go to a polish? They look brand new.

First I carefully hammered out the dents from the back side. Then I sanded with 220 until it was flat and all the pits were gone. Then I went over it with 400. Then I went to a sewn buff wheel with red rouge and the did the finish polish with a sold loose wheel and white rouge.

But be careful, it the buff wheel catches it will mangle the trim instantly because it is so delicate. No I didn't do that, but I have seen it before. And this trim is very thin and soft.

 

[Andrewrg]

Looks really clean man. Love the color.

 

[69clark]

I wanted to finish out the hatch area with carpet instead of the bare metal, especially once all the fatmat goes down. So I guess black carpeted wheel well covers are super hard to find, so I picked up a fresh set of blue GTI pieces. They will be dyed black and then I will carpet the floor too. So the cover show today so I did a quick test fit. It will be nice once it all starts going back together all black.

 

[69clark]

Just playin' in PS

 

[HubsMKIV]

Did you just you an anti skid tape or grip tape on the bumpers across that center strip? Looks good. Ill keep an eye on this one.

 

[69clark]

Did you just you an anti skid tape or grip tape on the bumpers across that center strip? Looks good. Ill keep an eye on this one.

Yup, pretty much. But it's not the sand paper type, it is actually rubberized texture. It almost matches the texture of the end caps too. Comes in several roll sizes, I got 2" and cut it down to fit. The bumpers are just some euro type knock offs that use gloss black tape that was bubbled up and wrinkling, this works and looks much better.

 

[HubsMKIV]

Yup, pretty much. But it's not the sand paper type, it is actually rubberized texture. It almost matches the texture of the end caps too. Comes in several roll sizes, I got 2" and cut it down to fit. The bumpers are just some euro type knock offs that use gloss black tape that was bubbled up and wrinkling, this works and looks much better.

Awesome. Ill have to check it out. You sold your wheels yet?

 

[69clark]

Awesome. Ill have to check it out. You sold your wheels yet?

Nope. Starting to think they might be worthless, lol. I wanted to go to 15" this year, but might be running the ATS Classics this year if they don't sell.

 

[69clark]

Well, I haven't had much time in the garage lately, but was itching to mess with these new carpeted pieces I got today. Looks good black, one side down, one to go. Obviously not glued in yet, just placed for mockup.