Another thing I wanted to clean up was the electrical flaw I have found in every 1st gen Scirocco I have ever owned, the internal fuse box burn that happens in the current supply for the Fuel pump. I can't remember the exact terminals but all it takes is one jumper wire to rectify the problem. The is the wire I put in to replace the hack job that I had done years ago. It is now soldered and solid.
This picture was taken with the fuse box tied up and out of the way. The white plug terminal is the first one from the left that plugs into the back of the fuse panel. If I recall correctly the second one is blank and the yellow one plugs into the third input.
I polished out and clear coated these as well. As it turns out I polished the wrong side of the compressor because of the way it has to sit for AC line orientation....oh well the other side wasn't as good but it'll work. I have also gotten better quality plating on the alternator pulley since this pic.
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This is the original 1981 Scirocco AC line from the condenser to the dryer that I had Ross weld the switch receptacles into. One is high pressure, and the other is simply an interrupt switch that will prevent the compressor from kicking on if the pressure is too low. It has been powder coated in black.
These pictures are examples of why we need proper heat shields. What was in the car was a set of uncovered Eurosport headers that cooked everything. With the winds going in my direction I will be making a heat shield to cover this area and all of its rubber. More to come on this later in the page. On the previous update I indicated I would be using a factory rounded metal shield here, but it turned out to be one that's made for a power steering rack. With this in mind, the heat shield I (meaning Ross) come up with will cover the rack boot as well. Type your paragraph here.
So this pretty much brings us up to date with where the car is and how it's going. I am hoping this build , and the specialized parts that are going to come from it will enable, and motivate, others to keep on restoring and loving these cars. More to come in the near future.
So I put new control arms in but because they show up from GAP as only one side, you're supposed to flip the bushing over. This bushing would not budge. I couldn't turn it over or move it in and out. And this one needed to go further onto the control arm in order to match the other side....so I had to order another one that easily did what I asked it to. I'm guessing that the rubber was stuck to the paint to the point that it was just plain stuck
Forgive me my fellow Scirocco folks, for I have sinned, it has been seven months since my last update.
First off I'd like to thank a few folks for their help in these last few months. Chris Canfield for helping me find a bunch of unobtainium stuff. Jaffray Steveneson for his soldering skiils, Billy Weasenforth for his paintwork, and my wife....for allowing countless hours in the garage and not getting mad at me. Like....at all.
Since starting this website seven months ago I have been working on two restorations at once, this one, and bringing my 1992 BMW 750l back around. Both have haunted my dreams and have often been delayed with issues of parts availability and a whole lot of "while you're at it, you might as well...."
I am now over the top of the mountain but am still pulling the rest of the freight train up the other side of it. The 750 is out of paint and slowly going back together and I am about to get back into Scirocco mode. I am still waiting on the completion of the headers and airbox but still have a huge amount of work that can be done in the meantime.
So without further adieu we will begin again where we left off last. Please bear in mind that I am trying to go in some sort of chronological order that is relative to the dates on the pictures I have taken. We might be jumping around a little bit but it all comes to the same conclusion.
These are pics of the distributor setup I am using. When I pulled the car apart I was using the 1981 Scirocco distributor with the vacuum advance and retard, and it was.....retarded. Given that the Audi 80 2 liter I am using (3A block) is 10.3 to 1 compression ratio, the advance was just too much, which is why I had the adjustable ignition timing unit in the center console. Aside from pinging when the gas wasn't good enough(I was running the best I could get too), the biggest problem was that it would ping only when at part throttle. Well no more. With the ignition update to a knock sensor module from a 1985 GTI I am killing several birds with one stone. I am able to use the original Audi 80 distributor, and I'm able to do away with the timing module and vacuum stuff.
After I blasted and cleaned up the Audi distributor I had to put the 2 liter gear back on the shaft of it.( It was on the 81 distributor) This is the correct roll pin that took me a while to figure out again.......and BTW make sure you put it on the right direction. Oops, yeah I did that.....
In tandem with the knock sensor system going in I also had to make it so the car could idle with the AC on. This valve and bracket are from an 83 GTI and will open when the AC compressor is on and the car is at idle, therefore creating a vacuum leak that bypasses the throttle body. It is placed behind the coil because I wanted it hidden and that is also where the wiring for the original tiny vacuum leak valve was before.Type your paragraph here.
Here is the center exhaust heat shield after I got all of the grime off of it.Type your paragraph here.
This is just an example of how bad the condenser was damaged from years of abuse. I straightened out all of the fins with a screwdriver and painted the whole thing. I would have gotten a new one but they are made of unobtainium now....Further below is a pic after paint and they radiator is assembled for installation.T
Above and left is the original fuel accumulator. I still can't believe it's in the condition it is. The fuel pump carrier was blasted and powder coated in black. Below is the new shiny lower shifter boot.
The outer boots were in good shape so I just cleaned up and painted the shafts and replaced the inner boots with new shiny ones.aph here.
Before and after grinding off the "Autotech" , polishing and clear coating these. This is not an Autotech bar anymore. They told me all day long that it fit under the hood...it did not. So I modified it years ago when I bought it. Type your paragraph here.
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It was starting to get cold outside so I hooked the wood stove back up. It's ready for a long winter in hardware mode. The top barrel is simply a heat chamber to hold the heat before it exits the top. This thing will keep all 3000 square feet of my shop warm. Type your paragraph here.
The throttle body required some outside of the box thinking as well. Clearance for the high and low switches were not an issue when these were made, but I'm running an upper stress bar than barely fits under the hood,....and the throttle body barely fits under that. So I had to change the location of the high throttle switch.
I used the tapped screw holes...(note that these holes were in place on this throttle body but did not have threads) to mount both of them. This "low profile"mechanism meant that I could fit the throttle body under the stress bar. I am hoping that it is enough. your paragraph here.
Front struts getting assembled below. Bilstien graciously provided me with a new set after I sent them the old ones complaining that they were sticking. I am using the old H&R springs that were on it before. I also bought a new set of rear matching shocks as well.
Once the rear was out and apart, I tried to sand blast it but my little amateur operation was just not enough. I am using a little hopper with a gas compressor because I would burn an electric one up while doing this. Even with paint stripper my little sand blasting set up was not enough. I had to send it out. Pics of the final paint to come..
And because fuck this pain in the ass to sift (and the rocks still get through) moisture keeping bag of shit.
I had to make these huge so you could all read them....and btw, as of this date, I have not been able to test the system, soo I'm not even sure of all this is correct or will even work.Type your paragraph here.
New shininess starting to appear....ere.
Moar pics of my dirty shop.
Moar pictures of the cleaning carnage. I tried to use the same portable parts washer, on top of a trans jack ,but two pumps failed in two weeks so I resorted to spray bottles and cardboard to catch what the dead parts washer couldn't. The amount of mess in these pictures is but a fraction of what it was at its peak. This stuff runs down your arms and gets into your pores, it is truly evil. During the peak of it all I also resorted to tying plastic bags to the gloves on my wrists so the fluid would run down them instead of my arm. UGH.Type your paragraph here.
Getting back to the knock sensor system, these are the messy schematics and notes I made while trying to get the system together. In the interest of making things look original, I made it so that the original wiring going to the factory 1981 ignition module were used. I therefore HAD to do a little bit of wiring hacks. Make special note of the fact that the knock sensor harness feeds the distributor signal directly to the ECU, whereas the 1981 system goes directly to the module. This just took a bit of rearranging to make correct. These schematics will be properly drawn out, and made public, as soon as I can get to it.
Below and left is me giving my middle finger to the brand new Meyle rack that I swear was put together by a Bulgarian with webbed feet on a Friday afternoon at four PM. The bracketry that was welded onto it was raked at such an angle that the shift linkage would have been pointing upwards at about 8 to 12 degrees. After some modifications , I was able to get it close enough to work. Then, one of the welded studs popped out and I had to put a bolt through it instead. Ugh.
Because I could never get the antenna I had to sit at the correct angle, and I couldn't find something that would work, I decided to go with the power antenna that would have been installed by the dealer in 1981. According to MK1Autohaus this is that antenna. I have figured out the harness for it and gotten it through the fender hole and the raintray hole. What I am hoping happens is that the antenna will only go up with the RADIO on, regardless of the head unit being on or not. I have yet to figure that out. More on that later.Type your paragraph here.
And shiny, freshly rebuilt 16v calipers. Powder coated in red.Type your paragraph here.
A big thanks to Chris Canfield for going over and above and finding me this piece. Mk1 Autohaus didn't have it anymore.This clip had to go in before I could install the brake booster and master cylinder because the clutch cable clip had to be pushed in squarely and it would be virtually impossible with the booster in place.
This is the view looking from the center tunnel to where the exhaust pipe goes under the tank . Notice the space between the bracket coming from the car and the strap for the fuel tank. Since this picture I have filled that gap with a simple filler nut so that the strap can bend to the tank the way it is. It makes for a much larger pass-through area for the exhaust pipe..
Moar motor in the car pics......ph here.
With the condenser and radiator installed as mock up, I had to come up with a method of being able to have a two stage fan setup for the high pressure ac switch to run. The original, single speed fan makes about 3000 CFM of airflow when in operation. While these only make a total of 360 CFM combined, they are the ONLY OPTION I had that would squeeze into the 1 inch of clearance between the front cross member and the condenser itself. They are waterproof, 12 vote PC computer fans. This setup will be turned on and off by the high pressure switch in the AC line. Notice how they are literally zip-tie stitched together so that they stay in place.
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Next to come is the harness itself. The 1985 GTI is the one year, and model that the Knock sensor control box is separate from the CIS-e box. This meant that I could isolate the system and still use my factory equipped CIS with frequency valve controlled pressure.(Not CIS-E) The Control unit for the ignition system is supposed to be as close as possible to the intake manifold so I came up with the idea to run the harness through a hole that had already been drilled in the firewall by the dealer in 1981 when they installed the aftermarket cruise control...which I am removing. This puts the control unit right overtop of the 02 computer and allows me to use the HVAC vacuum supply line where it comes in on the passenger side through the rain tray area. I will be rerouting another vacuum line to supply the HVAC duct valves. It will come in through the drivers side behind the front left strut tower.
Note the rubber grommet that I used for the harness. It came off an AC line of a similar size and fit perfectly in the hole the dealer drilled.
There will be more on this subject later. Including wire harness schematics and how it has been run. Type and your paragraph here.
What has most impressed me is the fact that the original paint that was under the black undercoating stood up to this cleaning so well. In places where I could not avoid it, yes the brake clean started washing it away, but overall the parts cleaner was just gentle enough that it didn't affect the paint. This is the bottom of the drivers side strut tower before the charcoal canister and antenna went in.Type your paragraph here.
Before the drivetrain went in I needed to situate the harness for the knock sensor. Along the firewall there are little T-nubs that are made for the clips that hold the brake line and what not. I simply used three of these nubs, new clips courtesy of Chris Canfield, and several small zip ties to make a neat installation.
Aaaannnddd the drivetrain goes in. I installed the head afterwards because it is easier to torque the head when it is secured in the car. The radiator and condenser are in place as mock-up at this point. I still had to work out the secondary stage fan setup.Type your paragraph here.
Harnesses pulled out of the way so that I can get to things to clean them.re.
Before and after engine bay corner shots....re.
Moar engine bay pics...
Apparently this little hose guy is no longer available in bent form. I had to bend it and hope it didn't kink when I put the tank in.
Next comes the suckiest job that has ever sucked. Cleaning the bottom of the car.
When these cars are built at the factory the bare, primed, metal is coated in a spray undercoating that goes on before the car gets painted. I find this to be a really good solution for rust issues but as the chassis gets older and stresses, cracks do form in it and allow moisture to get in. In 1981, when this car was sold, the original owner sprung for the stealership black undercoating that basically covers everything within spray range. This coating may have prevented a great deal of rust in the early days of this chassis, but now it is peeling off, and generally looks like crap. So off it comes.
It is a very messy process this. I found that if you soaked it enough with parts cleaner, it would become malleable and scrape right off with a wooden spatula, but in the places, it would refuse to let go and clung on until I started using brake cleaner on it And even then it would fight me. Suffice it to say, this is not a job for the person who is not motivated to complete it.
In order to clean it though, EVERYTHING has to come off the bottom of the car. This includes the rear beam, gas tank, exhaust shields, steering rack and a bunch of little stupid shit. Once that stuff is off, getting dirty commences. I went home covered in black goo for a whole month, my shoulders and neck were killing me from reaching up at weird angles to get into places I didn't even know this car had, but at the end of it all, I got my clean bottom...huh huh.
This is what was inside my original tank. It just plain made sense to use the old one.Type your paragraph here.
I had to completely rebuild the bracket for the gas tank gravity valve. Only a sliver of it was left in the rubber mount. I constructed it out of several pieces of scrap I had lying around. Things are starting to look more shiny too..
At this stage in the game the bottom of the car is cleaner than the top is. This is about ten months worth of dust.Type your paragraph here.
This is the parts cleaner I am using both in my spray bottles and the parts cleaner itself. Works pretty good..
On to the gas tank and heat shield. While the tank was in fine
operational order, I was also wanting a clean look . The original
one had rust all over it but after buying and discovering the real
differences between the new and old, I decided to rehab the
one I had. The connections and internals were just too different. I sandblasted the heat shield and sprayed it with high heat, flat black bbq paint. After a thorough outside cleaning, the gas tank got brush on black tractor paint on top and a spray bomb job on the bottom with high heat, gloss black, engine block paint.
Blasted and painted rear beam, front 16v powder coated hubs with fresh bearings ready to go....Type your paragraph here.
This polish job took me forever because there was no faster way to polish the inside curve other than to do it by hand. Take note that I ground down the structural "ribs" that were next to the cold start valve. The inlet was also further clearance for the Neuspeed throttle body and its huge valves. I went with the Neuspeed one because it is the same size as the 16v one but has the CORRECT idle adjustment valve for the non CIS-e setup.h here.
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