[nfx]

I don't usually make threads like this... but I figured, why not show you what ten years with a MK3 has looked like from my view and where I think this car will be heading (and obviously as many pictures and updates as I can provide). If you don't care about the story, scroll down, and I'll talk about what I've got planned as the winter goes along and you can decided if you're interested.

Anyway, let's begin. My Dad drove this home one day after we spent a few weeks searching for a replacement for my last car, which was just totaled. We had actually looked at a few MK3s prior to the Hyundai, but never found anything that I wanted to spend the money on. This was a beautiful GLS - 2.0, 5 speed, 54k miles and only 5 grand.
~


It didn't take me long to make rookie mistakes. Had an aftermarket muffler welded on that wasn't actually designed for the car, found a europlate, bought smoked tails and didn't seal them properly... oh, and got into an accident.
~


Eventually I started doing things right. Picked up a used FK 60/40 from Dave (not sure if he remembers, but thanks for the good deal :wave, found some amber turns, and bought some leather seats from a friend of mine (they actually had more mileage than my car at the time :laugh
~


I can't remember exactly how this next stage started. I remember reading about some Vortex guys using the TDI manifold/turbo on the ABA with some other odds and ends and having a fun turbo setup. And I remember my friends saying I'd never do it. At some point, I was taking a piss on a Saab 9000 at at junkyard in New Ringgold and found this gem. About an hour of struggling through the cold, grime, and corrosion, I slapped $20 down at the front window and walked away wondering what I just got myself into.
~


I did my research. Rebuilt the turbo myself. Pieced together parts. Was this actually going to ****ing happen?
~


Yup. Half-assed. But it ran.
~


At that point, my buddy and I shared rent for a small garage in college. It barely fit a car in when you closed the door. But with the space, I decided I'd start piecing together a front mount setup and grab a new exhaust. Unfortunately, the exhaust never came and I wasn't finished with the FMIC setup, so I dyno'd it open downpipe and that intake setup up there. I've lost the digital copy of the readout, but I netted 156hp and 161 ft. lbs. of torque. And the sound was hilarious :laugh:
~


A few months later, the FMIC setup was finished and I headed up to Waterfest and threw it on the dyno. No video this time... no printout again (although I have it somewhere)... but 10psi on a 95 degree day, 80-something percent humidity netted by 166hp and 179 ft. lbs. of torque. Disappointed, but I kept up with some MK5s on the way home, so it wasn't as slow as the numbers suggested I guess.
~


The obsession with the car ultimately ended up as a point of contention for my long term girlfriend at the time and we split. Obviously, more reasons than that, but no doubt the car was brought up. Stupidity ensued. Ulimately, the car ended up in a ditch a week before student teaching. My parents refused to put it through insurance because they figured it'd be totaled.
~

~


So, in-between a new girlfriend, lesson planning, working a side job on campus at night, and trying to find a job, I got to work piecing the thing back together. I had no experience with body work, only a garbage Harbor Freight flux-core welder, and barely any money to make this happen the right way. Everyone told me to part it and move on. But hey, I owed this car a comeback.
~

~

~

~

~

~


The car sat around like that for a while. I even thought about selling it. But after securing a job, it only took me about a year to put together some cash and finish things up and keep moving forward. I picked up a set of new rollers, coilovers, a MK4 intake manifold setup, salvaged the FMIC, and did some other odds and ends, including finish up the body work. Other than paint and a replacement damaged rocker panel, I got the entire front end lined up and sent it off to a local shop to make it look new again. I let them keep the thing for a month and treat it as side work, helping keep the bill down. Right after my 24th birthday, I got a call that it was done.
~

~

~

~


It only took me a few weeks to make a bad financial decision now that the car was clean again. Traded the steelies and some cash for a setup of minty staggered Borbet Type As. Did I have the money to spend? Not really. But damn did these wheels look good.
~


As happy as I was with the new look, the trip home ruined the mood. Got all the way back to Harford county and a deer pops up and attemps to slide across my hood... you know, Dukes of Hazzard style. It didn't work out so well. Ironically, the only two parts on the front end that weren't new were the driver's side fender and the windshield. I thought about selling the car again at this point. Instead, I had some fun with the vinyl cutter, laughed it up, and moved on.
~

~


After a quick trip to the body shop again, car came out looking new for the third time. Or was it the fourth? I've lost count. Car was still fun... but odds and ends started to drive me nuts. Exhaust leaks were giving me fits. Stereo began showing it's age. The coup de gras was the clutch - an ACT Stage 1 setup, which was new with the intial turbo setup, was slipping after only about 15k miles. Pulled the trans to find a rear main seal leak... again, only 15k miles of use. Replaced it with a part from GAP. Thew new part leaked after 40 miles. Gave up on the car for the season and it sat at my parent's house.
~


The fall rolled around and I got a chance to pull the trans and slap together a clutch setup using the ACT Stage 1 PP, a Clutchmasters CF Stage 2 disc, and a lightened flywheel. Setup was great. Got the car back to Lutherville (living with my girlfriend at the time) and after a trip back from work I got a loud CLUNK, THUD, and an awful dragging noise. ****. Limped it to the side of the road. Driver's side axle was on the ground. I guess in my rush to get the car back together, I never completely torqued the bolts. How the axle ever ended up on the ground without smashing a hole through the trans case still baffles me to this day. But, it was a sign to keep moving. So I did. Girlfriend was not happy with this situation... and we fought about it... and I left. I already had my foot out the door at this point, but this was now the 3rd serious girlfriend that pretended to like the car and ultimately decided to come out and tell me she hated it.

Odds and ends for another year. Decided to entire it again at the Deutsche Classic in Fleetwood. A fun show, different setup, didn't expect to win, or even place, just like the last time.
~


But I decided to stay and see who won. There was a black MK3 GTI, sick turbo setup, a good looking car... his name is Kyle... if you see this man, I still think you deserved first. But, after all the hell I put this car through, it deserved some kind of award.
~


The car hasn't changed a whole lot. I found some money to throw in a TT 266 cam and the appropriate hardware about a year and a half ago. The ex-girlfriend had bought me the USRT Smart Shift kit before we split and I finally got to install that. But other than that, I hadn't had time or the space to do much other than drive it. Issues would creep up here or there. I was starting to get sick of it. Then I made an honest women out of my current girl. In the process, we had began looking at houses. She insisted we look at a set of townhouses with garages which I had initially veto'd (I was not a huge fan of the layout initially). She was right (I didn't tell her that though)... we fell in love with one of the houses and threw in an offer. The current owner was actually one of my current students (well, their parents) and I worked that angle as hard as I could. The day we closed, I parked the MK3 in a garage that it could call it's own for the first time.

Took me sometime to get the garage to make sense for my needs. It had a single GFCI outlet... installed a new 20 amp breaker and ran conduit for new outlets. It had a single incadescent lamp holder... installed two shop lamps. I needed a bench that would fit the space... I repurposed 2x4s that made up previous shelving in the garage and made a corner bench. Storage was an issue without the shelves... took a metal shelf from school that was serving me no purpose in my classroom and built a storage shelf above the bench area. Eventually, I brought all my tools down from PA. It was only ten years in the making, but this past week, a real tear down finally began.
~



So, where am I going from here? I've got a ton of ideas in mind... but I need this thing running by the wedding. I'm driving it to the venue, it's being parked out front, and it's allowed to play a cameo role in a few pictures (I think you can see why I'm marrying this one).

I've got some issues that I've put off that I'll be taking care of. The list goes, in no particular order:

• Strut bushings/bearings
• Downpipe flex section needs to be inspected, cleaned and re-welded
• Remove junk turbo blanket (smokes like a bitch)
• Flush brake fluid
• Replace driver's side axle (torn boot on non-OEM axle... might find a used axle and rebuild it)
• Replace rear o2 sensor (banged up from half-assed o2 bung from college)
• Replace tires (195/40 S.drives most likely)
• Fab up new shift linkage/clean up the USRT Smart Shift setup (it's all corroded and I half-assed the install... want to do it right)
• Install Samco coolant hoses (found a used set of green hoses for cheap a year ago)
• Replace/repair radiator (slight leak from end tank)

That list is boring... here is the "build" portion of the thread (if that's what you want to call it) I can't guarantee this is all gets done, but at least I finally have a damn list

• Re-paint frame rails and other exposed color matched metal in engine bay
• Pull trans, clean case and paint (I want to go with a basic aluminum silver color... any suggestions, fire away)
• Pull exposed accessories, clean, prep and paint/powder coat (alternator, AC compressor, belt tensioner... basically, anything you can really see, I want it cleaned up)
• Clean up block (not sure I want to pull the whole motor, but if the trans is out and I've got everything off it, I might as well just do it... most likely using POR15)
• Re-route power steering reservoir behind frame rail on driver's side
• Re-route some of the obnoxious exposed wiring (not shaving the bay, but attempting to clean it up a bit... more on that when I get to it during re-assembly)
• Clean up evap/emissions hardware by passenger frame rail (half-assed this last year, time to clean it up for real)
• Replace fittings and lines on BBM fuel rail to clean up how it looks
• Ceramic coat hotside of turbo and downpipe (I need to find somewhere local to do this)
• Slim electric fans
• Relay ecodes
• Find clean bumpers to begin shaving (more on this later if I get to it)
• Figure out COA for roof oxidation
• Install MK3.5 cabin filter setup
• Buy and install MBS 2.5 exhaust (most likely not going to happen this year, but it's on list damnit

Proof I got **** done today.
~


I'm going to start working on the AC compressor this week... plan on cleaning it and painting it... any suggestions on paint? I know Eastwood makes a product everyone seems to like, but I know you've all got your own experiences.

I plan on keeping you guys up-to-date as much as I can. That should be pretty easy throughout the winter and early spring... might get tougher as I get close to the wedding. Hope you stick around to see what the next ten years brings :thumbup:

 

[spokanevw]

This...this is beautiful. The dedication and perserverance, your love for the car, all of it is great. Good job!

 

[nfx]

An update this soon? Well... not a whole lot of work, but enough to throw up some pictures.

Although my plan is to powdercoat any of the cast parts I can (alternator casing, for example) there are a few parts that I'm going to have to paint. To do that, I need to find a paint that gives me everything I want - color/coating, duability, etc. - so today, I began that process by cleaning up the AC compressor so I can lay some paint on it.

Before shot - Not in bad shape overall, but still needs some TCL before I spray it


Working shot - used my coordless drill and a fine wire wheel for the majority of my work, while using the dremel for anything small the drill couldn't reach (until my dremel wire attachment died anyway)


"Finished" - Not bad... still needs some fine work around some of the fasteners, small corners and edges, etc., I just need to pick up some new wire wheels for my dremel.


At that point, I started to pull the alternator apart, but after cracking the case open, I realized there was more too this than I expected. After a quick call to my Dad (he rebuilds them, along with all sorts of other electric work), I decided to wait til my next trip up home to pull it completely apart, blast the casing, and powdercoat it.

I've got ADD when it comes to this, so I jumped over to the bay and started to work on pulling the trans. Number one, let's take a look at shift linkage.


You're seeing a few things here - a USRT Smart Shift kit, an old Autotech short shifter, and a discontinued DieselGeek poly relay ball. But the big thing you see, other than how bad I hacked this all up to install it and make it function properly, is how bad everything has corroded.



It's hard to tell from this pictures, but this car has not seen a winter road since 2010, which is way before the USRT Smart Shift kit was installed. Sure, it's seen rain water, but it's always been far later in the spring seasons after the salt has been washed away. I'm not disapointed with USRT... **** like this happens... but for being built to withstand heavy abuse that a track car sees, it's a bit of a let down that these rusted up this bad. Anyone else have these issues? Regardless, I'll be rebuilding the linkage and cleaning everything up before it goes back in the car.

Started pulling other odds and ends apart at this point to pull the trans from the motor. I knew this was here, but damn, this looks worse than I originally thought.


Almost there. As dumb as this picture may look, I've heard horror stories of bolts going in the wrong places and piercing the block. Is that even possible? I don't know... but I don't intend to find out.


With the front end off the car, this was the easiest this job has ever been. But damn, is the trans dirty. Need to figure out what I'm going to use to clean this up and hopefully my quest to find paint ends sooner than later so I can start getting to work on this.


End of the day... this is the most this car has ever been apart. Hoping to pull the motor out soon, which I'll discuss a little later.


I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do for paint for that AC compressor (obviously I still need to finish cleaning it up). I'm just going to be spraying it from a can... unless I really decided to get fancy and pick up a cheap gun and do it that way, but I don't see myself doing that for something trivial. I know that Eastwood has some decent paint out there, and I know Duplicolor seems to be everyone's favorite box store brand, but what else is out there that you guys have worked with?

Now, as far as the motor coming out. You've seen the space I have to work with. I think I can get a stand, manuever it into the bay, and get it bolted up so I can move it out of the bay... I need to do some research (I had the chance to buy a cheap motor stand a few years ago, should of said **** it and bought it :banghead If the stand is out of the questions, I've also thought of making my own moveable sawhorse style jalopy... ghetto, I know, but casters are cheap, and I can build the rest out of leftover 2x4s I have from the shelves that were in the garage. Just talking out loud... we'll see how this all pans out.

 

[LiBlackRabbit]

Great work and perseverance. Keep it forever.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[VeeDubGolf]

excellent thread and car. great work staying with it. look forward to seeing you and the car around next season. I have a bright green gti. usually not too far away from kyle.

 

[2point0jetta]

Can't wait to see what you do to this thing.

 

[nfx]

Had a different kind of fun today.

Although some of the hardware from the USRT kit is easily obtainable from other sources, there are a few parts that either A) are functional, just ugly B) custom for the kit itself C) I won't replace because I'm a cheap ass :laugh: So, I got to searching about cleaning parts using an ultra sonic cleaner and some mix of cleaner, water, and etc. Well, I'm not sure what exactly I searched, but I came across something that seemed perfect for my application - electrolysis. Seemed easy enough... dump corroded parts in electrolyte, electrify, rust travels from your good piece to a "donor" and with a little patience your part ends up clean.

So, I got to building my pot. Used an old, broken, car wash bucket I had sitting around and some L-channel carbon steel from the scrap bin at school for the anodes.


Used some big steel handle (again, from the scrap bin) to act as a hanger and ran a dry test


Now, time to make the electrolyte. First, this isn't baking soda. It's washing soda. Did you know this **** existed? I didn't. But it's used to make water softer (i.e.: less acidic, more basic) so that your soap does it's job more effective in the washer. Because it raises pH so easily, mixing a batch of this with tap water results in a simple, but effective, electrolyte for our science experiment.


Now, from this point, you need to wire up source of electricity. You need direct current, anywhere from 6v to 24v and 3amp to 6amp. I had this brainy idea to use an old laptop charger. No dice... it was dead (now I remember why it was in the junk electronics pile). Tried my battery tender... nope... it's too "smart" to apply voltage/current to this setup. So, I broke out an old PC power supply... second 12v rail supplies 4.8amps max... perfect. Ignore how unsafe this looks... it's all plugged into an GFCI


You're not supposed to leave this thing sit inside, so I decided to bring it in before the snow, or rain, or sleet, or whatever the **** we're getting tomorrow shows up. It was in pot for a little over 3 hours... you're supposed to leave it in overnight (or whenever the reaction stops, which you can see/hear) so it needs some more work, but you can see the difference between the cleaner threaded rod and the corroded nut, which was on the rod with the end link.


This cost me a total of 3 bucks and a trip to Walmart. All the associated hardware I'd have to replace (end links are not cheap) would cost 25x more. I guess you can call this experiment a success.


Other news: I found an engine cradle that looks it should fit my needs. Now, do I just build my own or shell out the $45 bucks (I'm sure it's more than that with shipping). I also picked up some cleaner/degreaser for a test run on the trans... it's that PurplePower **** that everyone loves. I need to build some kind of dolly to sit that in above a pan so I collect all the gunk as I clean it off and I need to pick up some Nylalox cup brushes and the cleaning spree can begin.

Looks like we'll be getting some snow tomorrow... might have some extra time to work :wave:

 

[Emilio Estevez]

Well done sir, well done.

 

[root beer]

I knew very little about your car!

Sweet project

 

[euroluv]

Nice pics from the hickory wawa , I have passed you on 543 a few times. I'm in a 97 glx on d90's. Nice car. Cool to see a local car on here. Where did you get it painted?

 

[My Big]

Excellent thread, read the entire first post. Can't say that about many "Build threads" on the MK3 forums.
Just a quality read.
Happy to see where else this car goes. It certainly looks awesome as it is. :thumbup:

 

[nfx]

I knew very little about your car!

Sweet project

I don't talk about it much... just not my style I guess. I still owe you a ride... maybe this spring once it's back together.

Nice pics from the hickory wawa , I have passed you on 543 a few times. I'm in a 97 glx on d90's. Nice car. Cool to see a local car on here. Where did you get it painted?

I don't know if I've seen your car... but I know the kids have. I have a set of d90s in my classroom and one of them said they saw them on a VW like mine. :laugh: Paint was back home in PA... guy my Dad knows real well... does good work for a non-restoration kind of shop, but can be a pain in the ass to deal with at times. I need to find someone local here to fix my roof.

Excellent thread, read the entire first post. Can't say that about many "Build threads" on the MK3 forums.
Just a quality read.
Happy to see where else this car goes. It certainly looks awesome as it is. :thumbup:

Thanks man. :thumbup:


I've got duty tonight for a basketball game, but I'm hoping the weather cancels the show and I can work on the car tonight. I've decided I'm going to be building my own engine cradle, so that's the big weekend project, and the more time I have, the better. I'll keep you guys updated :wave:

 

[MK3 LUV]

you made a thread :heart::heart::heart:

your car is #goals for mine

 

[nfx]

you made a thread :heart::heart::heart:

your car is #goals for mine

Damnit... I forgot to message you, sorry man. :banghead: Glad you found your way here.

Anyway, I feel like I've gotten a lot done on this thing already... hope I can keep the progress going at this rate. This update was actually two days in the making... sitting around during a final, I started sketching out ideas for my engine cradle and ended up with this piss poor excuse of an isometric sketch


I had some extra 2x4s lying around, so I headed out yesterday to buy some lag screws and some casters and other odds and ends. Woke up early to start pulling things apart even further so I could get this plan rolling.


Although you don't see any measuring here, there was some. Some of it even precise! But I started off with this...


Kept moving, found my way here...


Any finally, ended up here...


The plan was to allow my low profile jack to fit underneath the stand when the casters were on the ground. I measured, theoretically, it was going on fit. The block actually sits on the 2x4s... in the back, it's directly on the block and the front it's perched up on the oil pan (I planned on pulling the pan later and replacing the weepy gasket, which is why I decided to go this route) I started pulling part the last odds and ends, double checked I caught everything and grabbed my neighbor to help me balance everything. Once small step for man...


I stared at the empty engine bay... it's actually kind of scary to see you own car in this state. I mean, I've seen it in pictures, but when it's your own car, it's different.



So, where do we go from here? I talked to the dude who's going to be doing the powdercoating this week. He's good to do wheels up to 18 inches in his oven, so anything I'll need done, no problem. I think I've decided to go with VHT for paint, so I need to finish cleaning up the AC compressor, spray it, and see how well it'll match up with the color I'll be going with on powder (which means I need to get something cleaned up and ready for my guy in the process).

The bay, now that I can see the rails, is rough. I'm going for an OEM plus look. I do not want to shave the bay entirely, for a number of reasons... the biggest being this project could spiral out of control. I think I'm going to strip the seam sealer from the strut towers and leave the rest of it alone for now. I'm still up in the air whether or not I just go with rattle cans from Paint Scratch for the frame rails or I buy a cheap gun, string together a few pan compressors (I've got at least 4 of them at school... cheaper than buying a compressor for one little job) , and hope for the best.

Oh, and I want to replace this ****ing thing. I haven't fired up ETKA... actually, it might not be installed, whatever... but does anyone have a part number for the silver heat shield on the firewall?


I want to relocated the PS fluid reservoir into the driver's side fender area near the frame rail. I'm going to need to lengthen some of my PS lines. I think the line going back to the rack is fine, but the line across the lower rad support will need to be changed. Not sure if I just keep the hard line and get a longer rubber hose or I just go with a stainless braided line from the PS pump to the reservoir. I'll keep you updated.

I've had my electro-cleaner up and running since 9:00 this morning on some of the shift linkage parts. I'm going to leave them in over night and throw them into the ultrasonic cleaner and see how clean they've gotten. I'll let you know how it goes. :wave:

 

[MK3 LUV]

Damnit... I forgot to message you, sorry man. :banghead: Glad you found your way here.

It's all good man dont worry, I love the car and it looks like youre making good progress, keep it up :thumbup:

 

[MahTrek=]]

Excellent thread. Written well too :beer: sub'd!

 

[root beer]

I was really wondering about that heat shield as well. I'd really like to find a quality aftermarket option. I'm so over that crunched up oem junk.

 

[nfx]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Pulled my parts this morning.. snapped some pictures, but I've got a paper to write so I need to get into that first. I'll probably mess around with some things later, so I'll keep you in the loop.

I was really wondering about that heat shield as well. I'd really like to find a quality aftermarket option. I'm so over that crunched up oem junk.

I found a part number and it's showing stock at the VW dealer in Fallston... I'm going to call tomorrow and pick it up if it's not too expensive (says the price is 80 some bucks... figure I can talk the price down on an NLA/Discontinued part just to get it out of their inventory).

It's part #2 - 1HM803326 - EXHAUST SYSTEM / EXHAUST SYSTEM / COVERS & SHIELDS / Shield firewall

Cross referenced from ECS... looks correct.

Want me to pick you up one if they have a second one laying around?

If I can't get it (which is a distinct possibility) or it's too cost prohibitive, I'll end up picking up something and making it myself. Some research and I found this stuff from DEI. It's thinner than the OEM insluation and it's good up to 1750 degrees. Although I don't need this much of it (or the cost), Jegs shows it in action here: DEI Floor and Tunnel Shield II

 

[nfx]

Thanks to the cancellation, I had an opportunity to spend some time down in the garage. I spent most the time cleaning and planning, but I feel like I got a lot accomplished.

First things first, I decided to tackle the mess that was at the firewall


I had a lot of to clean up. Got the down pipe off with very little effort... I guess the stainless hardware I picked up back in college was good stainless, because it wasn't all that corroded and came off fairly easily with my 1/4" impact. Once that was out of the way, I spent some time with mangling away at the heat shield. Found out that the top portion was missing almost all of the insulation... now I know where that nest came from in the rain tray :laugh:


From there, I slowly stripped everything off and got it out of the way. I thought I snapped a picture of the heat core lines, but I didn't... I was pumped because I managed to get them off without breaking anything eace: Also found out that my coil pack is cracked... although it worked flawlessly, guess I'll be buying a new one in the near future :banghead: Other than that, everything went smoothly


Decided to tackle the frame rails next. Started with this, which was already partially shaved/hidden and ugly as hell


Pulled the fender, threw it up on the wall... figured it was safe there, especially now that it's zip-tied


Interestingly enough, I found this. Not sure where it came from. The fender I had put on the car before paint was originally Tornado Red and I had used some of the corresponding hardware. I think this is Mulberry... and if that's the case, I bet this came from VR6exxy's car... probably something they had lying around after they worked on her car (which was about a year prior to the shop working on mine, IIRC).


I sat around for a bit figuring out how I was going to relocate all the EVAP crap so it was out of sight. I think I have a plan... but I won't bore you with it until it starts to go back together. Once I had everything out of the way, I started cleaning. First round was with a shop rag, some Brakekleen, and a lot of scrubbing. Second round, I ended up spraying a 2:1 dilution of PurplePower and hot water. Let that sit for a bit and wiped it off with some clean rags and some hot water.


At this point, I started going after the driver's side but decided to hold off cleaning because I have some odds and ends to take care of near the wheel well. I did, however, notice this thing. It's got a part number, I just never got around to looking it up. Anyone has any idea what the **** this thing is?


From there, I started cleaning up the K-frame and steering rack. Talk about a mess. It's filled with crud - asphalt chunks, dirt, tar... gross. And to make matters worse, it's coated in some oily, greasy mess that makes everything stick together. Broke out the Brakekleen and PurplePower and started to go at it. I forgot to snap a picture of it before I started working, but here is where I ended... notice it's not finished yet... after about an hour of working on it, I kind of got sick dealing with it. But good progress, yeah?


That's as far as I got today, but I felt pretty accomplished. I need to head back to Harbor Freight and pick up some wheel attachments for my angle grinder and goto town on the seam sealer, junk spots and rust on the passenger frame rail. I think my goal is to have that side finished and ready for paint by the middle of February (I know, I know, that seems like a long time away). I also need to finish cleaning the K-frame... which will probably take me another hour. I know a lot of you are probably wondering why I didn't just drop it out of the car, with everything else out, it probably makes sense, but I just didn't feel like it was necessary.

I also got a chance to call the dealership about the OEM heatshield. Looks like they're NLA... completely. No dealer in the US shows any stock. Looks like I'll be going with something aftermarket, which to be honest, is fine... probably end up looking nice in the long run than the OEM unit anyway... I just need to do some more research on this before I buy anything.

I think I've decided to just buy some spray cans from PaintScratch to shoot the frame rail and hit it with some Eastwood 2K clear. It won't be perfect, and that's OK... nothing on the car is... so I figured two coats of paint, two or three coats of clear, hit it with the orbital and this thing will be looking pretty damn good for the money.

Anyway, long day, I'm gonna go grab a beer and play some Insurgency. Later :beer:

 

[adolfitoVR6]

i like to see threads like these againg :beer: congrats