The Project Car Thread

[VR6 Man]

OK, I know that there are at least a few of you out there that have project cars you are either currently working on or have in the past. I wanted to make a thread were everyone who has something like this could post up pictures, modifications, and expected plans for your project cars. Then as your work progresses, you can keep us updated. Even if its your daily driver and you upgrade it every once in a while, show it off to us.

Furthermore, I want this to be a way for people to give and take advice from others who may have done something before. (For example, I'm going to be painting my project car soon, so when I post up stuff about that, anyone who knows stuff about auto painting could chime in and give me advice.)

So basically the point of this is for a way for a bunch of "gear heads" (I use that term loosely) to come together, talk about their projects and give advice to others, as well as just show off the stuff they've done.

Give us some history of your project if you like as well. I dont mind reading big posts when they are about cars.

So here, I'll start with my project:

I have a 1985 VW Cabriolet with a 1.7L (yes it was swapped in by the previous owner from the larger 1.8L - dont ask) with a 3- speed auto tranny. I bought the car for $600 and the guy who I bought it from said the tranny was shot. Knowing I was going to be swapping out the slushbox anyways I bought the car. After a quick examination, I realized the axles werent bolted to the tranny. After bolting them up, the tranny worked fine. So I basically bought a working car for $600.

So far I have replaced the plugs, wires, valve cover gasket, head gasket, front brake rotors, front pads and oil. I replaced the old control arms for new lightweight control arms with poly bushings, I replaced the stock front grill with a badgless grill, added a Euro plate, and pushed in the front bumper to make it look a little better. I also got it timed a little better and adjusted the throttle cable so the TB opens all the way now, unleashing all 78hp this car has.



Anyways, on to the pictures.

Here she is before I had really done anything besides bolting up the axles.




Heres a shot of the new control arms, kind of hard to get a good shot of them.


Here is the badgless grill and the front bumper pushed in some.


Finally, here is the front end, with my Euro plate.



Since then I have pushed in the front bumper as far as it can go, and it looks so much better. The US got really big nasty bumpers on the Cabbies, so pushing them in helps the look (but makes them slightly more dangerous to drive).

Currently I am fixing quite a few rust spots. This is the hardest part for me because I know a lot about the mechanical side of working on cars, but body work is a whole different story that I'm not too familiar with. So if anyone has some tips on fixing rust, especially spots that need new pieces welded in, let me know because I am doing all the work myself. So far I have sanded down a few spots and primered them, but that was the easy stuff. Now I have to fill some spots that have eaten through around the fenders.

I have a lot of future plans for this car which are:

-Swap in a 1999 Passat or A4 (AEB eng. code) 1.8T
-Swap in 5 spd manual tranny

^^^^^
These two things are going to happen real soon. I just have to source the engine and I'll be pulling the old one.

-Repaint the whole car to original color
-Coilovers with at least a 3" and down to a 5" drop
-Wheels, not sure if I want aftermarket or get my steelies widened to about 8"
-Once the engine and tranny are in and working great I want to begin building for an initial goal of 400WHP without the bottle or water/meth injection (This will require a tear down and build up of engine internals, swapping turbos, new software and a ton of other stuff, but this is down the road). Eventually I'd love to see that car put out 500WHP and run either 4Motion or old school Synco AWD, but thats a long ways away... I mean a lonnnggg ways away.

I'll keep you guys updated as I go along. Any painting meathods, techniques or tips would be appriciated. And there's almost no chance of talking me out of doing the painting myself, if nothing else, I want to do it so I can learn.

So what do you guys have? Anything? I know at least one person here either has a fully devoted project car or a daily driver that they modify, so lets see it!

[civic_VTI]

love the number/licence plate lol

[VR6 Man]

Originally Posted by civic_VTI

love the number/licence plate lol

Thanks, I thought it appropriate since its a convertable.

[civic_VTI]

if your going to put that much power into the car you should have bought a hardtop

[DarkCivic01]

I had an idea for some rims on your vw, what about some jetta or A4 rims, that might look nice, 400hp , thats crazy out of the 1.8t right? I don't own a project car, but I would like to. I want a mustang, maybe sell the civic and get a 2005. But I would rather keep the civic and get a used GT, maybe a 98 or 00? Because the stang is going to get crappy gas millage compared to the 30 mpg I get in the civic, it would be nice to have two cars. If anyone has an ideas that would be great.

[civic_VTI]

something like these would suit the car perfect

[astonmartin138]

Originally Posted by civic_VTI

something like these would suit the car perfect

Taste issues...those on a Golf Cabriolet are like putting Veyron rims on a Mini.

[civic_VTI]

bbs rims always look good on golfs

[VR6 Man]

Originally Posted by civic_VTI

if your going to put that much power into the car you should have bought a hardtop

Yeah, it would have been cool to get a Rabbit, but this happened to pop up and was the right price. If the body can't handle the power, I'll just strip everything back out and find a rabbit to put it all in. It'd be kind of sweet if I got it to the point where it couldnt handle the power, maybe bend or twist the frame. It'd make a sweet picture.

Originally Posted by DarkCivic01

I had an idea for some rims on your vw, what about some jetta or A4 rims, that might look nice, 400hp , thats crazy out of the 1.8t right? I don't own a project car, but I would like to. I want a mustang, maybe sell the civic and get a 2005. But I would rather keep the civic and get a used GT, maybe a 98 or 00? Because the stang is going to get crappy gas millage compared to the 30 mpg I get in the civic, it would be nice to have two cars. If anyone has an ideas that would be great.

If I were you I'd keep the civic as a daily driver, I have an '01 Jetta VR6 that I use for a daily. Its much nicer since I always have a car to drive, even when the cabby is torn apart.

It'd be sweet to put S8 or A8 rims on the Cabby, but I'd have to get different hubs. I'll probably go for something old school, like some old BBS rims, if I can find them for cheap.

Originally Posted by civic_VTI

something like these would suit the car perfect

Yeah I'd like to have something like that... maybe. I havent decided yet because a lot of VW guys are running BBS mesh wheels now, and even though I like them, I want to try and get something a little more unique to the scene. If I can get old BBS wheels I would eat them up quick. But they arent cheap. And those are 5 lug anyways, I need 4 lug, but BBS probably has them in 4 lug as well.

Thanks guys for all the comments and ideas. This is starting off great. Keep it going and lets see some projects.

[Heretic]

VR6man.....my wife loved your personalized license plate. She is always saying she want to go topless.......That might explain why so many of our cars are either ragtops or T-tops. (I have always said California was the home of convertibles and fake boobs)

[VR6 Man]

Originally Posted by Heretic

VR6man.....my wife loved your personalized license plate. She is always saying she want to go topless.......That might explain why so many of our cars are either ragtops or T-tops. (I have always said California was the home of convertibles and fake boobs)

Awesome man, thanks. I'm glad she likes going topless as well.

By the way Heretic, any projects you got going on right now?

[civic_VTI]

his got an old jag right now i think but cant remember which one

[Heretic]

Originally Posted by VR6 Man

Awesome man, thanks. I'm glad she likes going topless as well.

By the way Heretic, any projects you got going on right now?

I just bought an 85 jag vanden plas yesterday. It is just going to be a cheap buildup and a resell. But for $350 I could not walk away.

My biggest project at the moment is a 620hp small block chevy 331 (retired drag racing engine) in a datsun 240Z. I have also found a 67 firebird, and have an ongoing project car that is turning a 67 mustang convertible into a resto modded GT 350 clone.

My dad also has a project that I am helping him with......A couple years ago I cut the front end off a wrecked buick grand national, to salvage the engine. That is now going into a datsun pickup. We removed the bed, and put a chevy luv stepside bed on it, lowered it, and flared all 4 fenders. I just need to find a tranny to go behind that engine (the one in the GN had a broken bell housing). I think I want a 4 spd auto......it IS a pickup, and my dad IS getting up there in age.........

when we get a sunny day, I will take some pics

[VR6 Man]

Originally Posted by Heretic

I just bought an 85 jag vanden plas yesterday. It is just going to be a cheap buildup and a resell. But for $350 I could not walk away.

My biggest project at the moment is a 620hp small block chevy 331 (retired drag racing engine) in a datsun 240Z. I have also found a 67 firebird, and have an ongoing project car that is turning a 67 mustang convertible into a resto modded GT 350 clone.

My dad also has a project that I am helping him with......A couple years ago I cut the front end off a wrecked buick grand national, to salvage the engine. That is now going into a datsun pickup. We removed the bed, and put a chevy luv stepside bed on it, lowered it, and flared all 4 fenders. I just need to find a tranny to go behind that engine (the one in the GN had a broken bell housing). I think I want a 4 spd auto......it IS a pickup, and my dad IS getting up there in age.........

when we get a sunny day, I will take some pics

Wow, those sound like some awesome projects, I'd love to see pictures, especially of the Datsuns, I like the look of those cars. Sounds like that 240Z is really going to move when its done.

Can't wait to see some pictures. I love watching cars go from something old and sometimes ugly into something awesome looking. (Not saying any of your cars are ugly.)

[Heretic]

Originally Posted by VR6 Man

Wow, those sound like some awesome projects, I'd love to see pictures, especially of the Datsuns, I like the look of those cars. Sounds like that 240Z is really going to move when its done.

Can't wait to see some pictures. I love watching cars go from something old and sometimes ugly into something awesome looking. (Not saying any of your cars are ugly.)

I had an absolutely clean original 71 240Z in number 1 condition a while back. It was stored in my dad's barn. We moved it outside to mess with something else, and parked it under an oak tree.......the "CRASH" when the tree limb fell on it, was almost a physical blow. We got another body to put everything out of mine into, but it just isn't the same to me

If you like datsuns, we have a few.....Dad used to race them, so currently we have 3 Zs, 5 fairlady roadsters and a few old 510 racers