Restoration Project

After 18 years of ownership I've finally come round to starting modifying my standard GTIR.










My first mod was a new set of coilovers then came a new set of wheels an TOYO tyres.









After spending time laid under her I then realised a rebuild was need, start lots of worry about what I'd started.

Good luck lots of help should you need it. After 18 year a time a lot of people are going the standard route. ( not me ) twin exit exhaust custom set up? Rebuild ?
Love the wheels I waited a couple year to get my set and bought white and anthosite set while they were back in production last year

Welcome mate, great looking R you have. Watch out for the modification bug, you won't be able to stop

Welcome to the forum tim ..... suprised with stepping away from standard with prices going up with tidy examples ... that being said modified makes the heart go faster ..... any pics of the actual exhaust system itself ???

Thanks for the encourgement guys, I'm hoping to keep the mods to more of a upgrade as I progress through the rebuild rather than all out mad mods.....but then who know's where I'll end up.  The twin exit Powerflow exhaust has been on sometime, I've just dropped it tonight so I'll get some photo's posted in the next day or so.

Progress so far I've dropped the rear subframe and dismantled it, it was a bit of a shock how heavy the rear diff was, I've cleaned up all the smaller items in preperation for powder coating.  Also made a start on disassembling the rear and interior.

What you doing the strip down for .... rust issues ???

Yeah it has the usual rear arch rust that has caught hold over the last few years and whilst i was underneath at the last MOT I noticed a few areas rusting so the plan is full strip down Soda blast and full nut and bolt rebuild.

Are you going to soda blast it yourself .... seen videos of it being done looks quite cool to do ....

No I'm looking at getting it done profesionally, my neighbours would have the right arse on with me if I did that in the front garden.

So I've been under the GTIr every night this week and got loads off the rear just the brake pipes and boot lid to remove.  The fuel tank was the latest item to come off, I managed to squeeze all the fuel into my Golf so none went to waste.  
Whilst it was raining Sunday I decided to start cleaning the outside of the fuel tank, I got on pretty well but I need some stronger cleaner which I'll pick up in the week and have a go, hopefully it will be looking new.  The pipes all look good so I'm just thinking I'll change all the pipe clips and thats it.
I'm running out of room now so I'm off to buy a shed for the back garden to store all the large items that won't fit in the loft or the bedroom.

I've also been busy on all the smaller items prior to powder coating, getting on quite well, but every item I take off seems to be making it way onto the needs needs work pile.

I've also got my brake calipers back from rebuild, the quality is really good its given me even more drive to get the car of to the blaster so I can start on the rebuild.
I've also had a delivery from my friendly Nissan Dealer of all the items I know I need for the rear.

Great progress keep up the good work

Good to see heaps of progress. You don't realise how old some of these cars are until you remove the fuel tank and rear end. Keep up the good work

So over the last week or so I decided that working of axle stands wasn't the easiest thing to do, so I've invested in a mobile dollie so now I can move the GTIr round the garage with ease.


The dollie in the back of the Golf ready to take home and assemble.


All laid out on the garage floor ready to assemble.


I was a bit of a night mare getting it under the car as the rear was so high but I'd left the front on the deck so lots of arsing about with two trolley jacks blocks and axle stands and she was on.

Good stuff mate hope as you say it helps shift it around. How much was it ?

You have to be careful moving it as the first time with the car on the flipping thing was off, I was'nt expecting it to be so easy to move. It was £370 including delivery an the dreaded VAT, I'll think about what I'm doing with it long term at the end. If there isn't project number two it'll end on Ebay I'm guessing.

Hi All so I've not posted much for the last few months this is in part due to a impulse purchase which caused a big distraction, I decieded to treat myself to a C63 AMG.



I had great fun for thirteen days and then some theiving scum bag broke in to my house whilst I was in bed turned over downstairs and had the AMG away, god only knows how I didn't hear it start up.  Anyway the insurance settled but the house insurance company became an arse and I had lots of hassle.   Once I had the cheque in my hands I knew I'd not had enough fun courtesy of AMG so I went out and bought a Power Pack replacement, you can never have enough horsepower!!!!!!!!  



Anyway getting back to the GTiR I've just about finished cleaning all the running gear and engine bay brackets ready for the powder coaters, this has taken an age due to 26 years of crud and rust.  I plan to nickel plate and passivate some of the brackets and all the nut and bolts, whilst researching this I discovered electro rust removal which is the reverse of electroplating........so it thought I'd give it a go.   So I found a sacrifical bar and armed with a bucket, bag of washing soda, battery and battery charger I gave it a go.



Add the washing soda crystals to the water in the bucket, there is a ratio but I just added till the effect was what I was wanting, then connect the positive on the battery to the sacrifical bar which I placed in to the bucket and secured with a tie wrap.  Connect the negative to the part to be de-rusted then hook up the battery charger.........and leave. All the rust moves to the sacifical bar.



Hours later the rust, crud and any paint is ready for a light scrapping and the rust just all falls off, quick wash with some fresh water to neutralise the washing soda and hey presto the rust is converted and goes black.



So after having great results with the electro rust removal I've purchased a electro plating kit, I'm glad the delivery driver didn't open the box as I've had lots of buckets, powder and chemicals delivered, I can't wait to see the results.

Interesting stuff and sorry to hear about the house scum. Hope you upped the house security abit mate try and stop it ever happening again

Pretty cool stuff and very intresting with regards to part DE rust never really gave it much thought other than a wire brush and some paint ..

Yeah I've sorted the security, new locks, alarm, CCTV and a tracker fitted to the car. If they get it this one I'm stuffed LOL.

As i decieded to do a full nut and bolt rebuild I want to get rid of as much rust and protect every bit so I'm not revistiting it all again in a few years.

Far out that's terrible, the feeling knowing someone has scoped my house out and broke in while I was sleeping would suck. How much did the electro plating kit set you back?

Needless to say I've had a few sleepless nights since, and sleep with a cricket bat at the side of the bed.

it was about a £145.00 as I added a cadmium coloured passivate and a khaki one i can colour all the bolts to the correct colours.

So I've been cracking on over the last few weeks getting to grips with the nickle plating to quite good effect.

Typical bolts


Bolts after Cleaning


Fuel Tank Strap pin after Nickle plating and passivating


I've also been getting on with refurbing the rear diff, after years of it dripping oil on the drive from the back plate seal.   So got to work with the wire brush in the angle grinder, then treat the remaining rust and zinc primed it.



Rear diff all finished fully 2 pack repainted with re-zinced and passivated bolts installed.



I also managed to tackle the rear part of the propshaft, again cleaned it up with the angle grinder zinc primed and 2 pack painted.