Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT My Mini Garagemahal

[fouckhest]

really love this thread. LOVE the nods to family with the big Lemans picture and the tiger. Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

Love the LeMan photo, the wife has a love hate with it, which is always fun! lol

 

[Nolift911]

oh no, that certainly doesnt happen i did the same polishing process and coating on my other car ~2yrs ago and they have held up rather well...they need a good cleaning, but no pitting

love the wagon, especially on RSs! I have a soft spot for that wheel...I have a custom built set of 19" super RSs for my widebody car....

Houck's Mk4 VW GTI Widebody TDI on BBS RS Wheels - -¬ Sam Dobbins 2015 - 1005 by fouckhest, on Flickr

Houck's Mk4 VW GTI Widebody TDI on BBS RS Wheels - -¬ Sam Dobbins 2015 - 1010 by fouckhest, on Flickr

Awesome car! and wheels - who built the 19's? I had Wheelflip redrill and upsize mine to 17.

 

[fouckhest]

Awesome car! and wheels - who built the 19's? I had Wheelflip redrill and upsize mine to 17.

Thanks.

They were built by a guy called "floss design" back in 2013'ish....Not sure who he had spin the lips/barrels, maybe jongbloed, but they are triple step up to 19 from the original super rs which were 18, but small faces since they are 2pc....all that said, that guy is no longer in the scene, he got caught on video throwing a bolt into someones rwb 911 engine....was rather interesting turn of events....wheels are great though lol

 

[fouckhest]

Been slow going on projects, traveled last week for work, this week has been crazy.... I found some garage time this week a couple evenings, got my side trim panels started, going to use some of the seat center fabric on the back panel, so you will see it behind the window. Next steps will be to secure the main box to the bottom panel, then final fit on the side trim panels...then onto upholstery

Trim panels by fouckhest, on Flickr

fitment isnt perfect, but I think once wrapped in fabric it will blend well
Trim panels by fouckhest, on Flickr

Trim panels by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[Trapps]

Looks fantastic. That amp...604?

 

[fouckhest]

Looks fantastic. That amp...604?

603x

 

[fouckhest]

Made some good progress on my speaker box over the weekend. It is now fully glued/screwed/sealed (I hope), now I've challenged myself to get it done (aesthetically) for a car show/meet in just over 1wk.

A decent YT channel I follow about car audio had a good idea about coating speaker boxes in bedliner or undercoating, figured it seemed like a good idea, so ordered up a couple cans and sprayed the unseen portions of the box and the inner side panels

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Another suggestion I liked was spraying around the woofer mounting surface black so you don't see any uncovered/bare wood behind the sub...doubtful, but an easy insurance policy
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Dug out my coveted Recaro 337 specific seat material....used the masking tape as templates to cut out for the area that will be seen behind the trim panels

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With a little imagination you can envision what the final product will look like...
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Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

I have to say, I am excited to see it coming together....next will be to test my upholstery skills on the side panels, speaker box top and the amp cover....need to do some final sanding on the speaker box, then its go time, fingers crossed!

 

[isonic]

I loved my 337 Recaros. Great seats, great material

 

[fouckhest]

Found a great window of weather and time yesterday....decided it was time try my hand at upholstery...there are certainly some imperfections, but all in all I am happy, for now lol...I have more of the suede in case I want to redo some of the panels...for now it looks good to me...honestly/unfortunately will wait till the fall to gut the interior and do all the wiring...I have a Boston Acoustics component set that I'd like to install to complement the subs

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[fouckhest]

Been a little while since an update...got the car wrapped up, spent a fun weekend in Helen, GA for a car event called Alpine VolksFair....great laid back multi-day event, focused on generation specific meets over a few days, then out of all those meets there are hand selected cars that are brought together for a semi-show on Saturday.

Since being back its been house work and catching up on some maintenance on vehicles....got my colorado up on the lift and did some long overdue brakes and oil change...no more squeaky truck lol
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Yard is shaping up to be pretty decent this year....we've had a good mix on light and steady rain followed by a few days of nice sun but not brutal hot....this was actually taken last night...usually by mid-june its nicely filled in and green, but it hasnt been as hot yet this year, so seems a little slow going
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In more exciting news (for me)....I came home from aforementioned car event with a new found motivation to get my old project/show/play car out and start working on it again....so after helping a buddy with some rust repair on a car sunday, i figured since i had some extra hands lets get the widebody car on the lift, drop the engine/trans so i can start working on the front suspension....

Handy-dandy cart that came from a red-tag sale at my old company ($50 well spent considering it had a blast cabinent on it)
It begins…again by fouckhest, on Flickr

4 bolts later, willy is free! lol
It begins…again by fouckhest, on Flickr

now for the fun part....removed two of the old subframe mounts (ears) that hung down...got those our monday....enter the e9x front subframe....my plan is to either incorporate this subframe into this chassis, or jig up the control arm mounting points and build a semi-tube front end...TBD...couple variables there that should be worked out once i can get over to my buddies garage, put his e92 335is on the lift and take some measurements

BUT....very excited to have the car on the lift and a fabrication project in front of me!
It begins…again by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[fouckhest]

Holy cow...not sure where time goes....been a busy few weeks I guess...

Since my last update, the wife and I took a trip upta Maine to visit Acadia National Park....lots of hiking, very steep and fun...she didn't always agree, but overall was a great time, lots of good food, good beer and great views...one of my favorite from Acadia, hike is called Beehive, not crazy, but good enough that there are handholds in the rocks in many places...definitely a "mountaineering lite" hike

View from one of the spots where it got congested and we were stopped
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Got back home and straight to chores....had to get new tires on the cayman, have had them since April....again, not sure where time goes....but i certainly got my monies wort out of the old ones...these were on the e88 when i got them lol

(this is the less embarassing one, the other side you could see cords)
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The new new....falken rt615k+
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got the cayman out to test out the new tires...always a great way to spend a saturday morning!
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also finally purchased the swag offroad bandsaw table....got it last week, painted it when we got back, let it sit for a couple days, then went to get the bauer saw from HF....assembled it, now i need to run to travers to grab a good saw blade....its patiently waiting to start duty on the gti project!
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

As we wrapped up last weekend, it it was time to move cars and get the CC in the garage for some maintenance...all the VW guys will know the 2.0t woahs....it finally started leaking coolant....so its time to dig in....decided to go the "bulletproof it" route, waterpump, carbon cleaning, timing chain tensioner, new chain guides and upper/lower covers....car was free, been in my family since my parents bought it new....not that there is sentimental value, but we spent ~$800 on parts for this and other than brakes/tires/oil/spark plugs, that is the only thing money i've spent on it...

packed and stacked....4cars in the garage, i'm happy lol
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drained oil sunday night...wanted to start monday night, but sunday funday had other plans for my monday
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dug into it last night....got this far and decided it was dinner time...
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[fouckhest]

Fun car'ish / garage'ish update....

Not done in my garage, but working to try an figure out how to mount an e90 BMW front subframe in an mk4 VW golf chassis, eliminating variables seemed to be a good place to start. I have a set of OEM front struts from an e90, but with springs on them, I know it would make things difficult, so I devised a rudimentary way to simulate front struts. A few dollars sent to our friends at McMaster and Online metals....I ended up with some 2-1/8" OD steel tubing, 1/2" threaded rod and turn buckles and some washers....these components will become my "real static" front suspension

Mock-up struts by fouckhest, on Flickr

Now this is where favors pay off, one of my best friends and his wife, coincidentally bought a house ~1mile from about a year after I bought my house...lucky for him, his house came with a 50/50 ratio of garage house! Once established he bought a mill and a lathe, I was the riggin helper for the moves....so he doesn't mind the occasional favor, especially for a semi-ridiculous project!

Cut the tubing to lenght (think bottom of strut), machined the bottom to fit the spindle, shoulder at the top is a semi-precise 1" shoulder, then machine a step inside that to hold the washer, that will end up with a nut welded to it

Mock-up struts by fouckhest, on Flickr

From v3.0 of this car, it had air bag front suspension, these are the top hats from those air struts, seemed like a convenient way to hold everything "up top" we machined this little bushing that will center the threaded rod/turnbuckle
Mock-up struts by fouckhest, on Flickr

All finished components post-machining
Mock-up struts by fouckhest, on Flickr

Finally a rough mock-up of what my mock-up struts should look like.....certainly interested to see how this comes together
Mock-up struts by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[Trapps]

Ingenuity for the win!

 

[isonic]

In for the ride. Looks like fun!

 

[jbrentd]

I always liked the CCs. We have (2) 2.0Ts in the family. Both were purchased with around 120k on them and in need of timing chains. One is done and the other will be soon.

 

[fouckhest]

I always liked the CCs. We have (2) 2.0Ts in the family. Both were purchased with around 120k on them and in need of timing chains. One is done and the other will be soon.

certainly have a love/hate with that car...but for a free car, I cant complain lol

Not a lot going on that is photo worthy car or garage wise....been working on my v8 swap car....I wont clog this thread up too much with that unless its a good milestone...hoping to have one of those soon though (but for those that cross over to GRM, i am documenting over there: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/f...cars/mk4-gti-v60-v8-rwd-edition/256859/page1/)

otherwise house related, (inspired by @MadeByMiller grass updates) the zoysia in the front yard is really loving some morning watering, all day heat and the occasional afternoon shower...plus raising the mower deck up a touch, i would venture to say this is the best this yard has ever looked since the house was built in 1957 lol

oh and the crepe myrtle is in full bloom too, i need to trim that thing this fall
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[MadeByMiller]

I wish my yard looked that good! I just have the one section where the swing set pad is. Beautiful

 

[jbrentd]

Yard is looking great! I can't water mine enough with the heat and lack of rain this Summer.

 

[fouckhest]

I wish my yard looked that good! I just have the one section where the swing set pad is. Beautiful

Thanks, I finally bought a cheap timer for the front law, so it has been getting more water than usual! Definitely helps!

Yard is looking great! I can't water mine enough with the heat and lack of rain this Summer.

Thanks, water and water in the morning is certainly key....next home (fingers crossed) will have a an irrigation system

 

[fouckhest]

Been making good progress on my widebody car project, getting to a point where I need to start back on getting the engine in the car again, which meant I needed to get the silver car out of the garage and into the basement/my office

One dog couch to the dump, a little rearranging and I have a new office back drop lol
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Ariel view from the top of my welding table with the current state of the garage
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[fouckhest]

Back to fitting the engine....time to start cutting

Hoping to move the engine back ~6-8"...could get the engine close to centered over the front axle line

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[Trapps]

This is Sofa King cool!

Will you need to open up the interior for the drive-train to fit?

 

[fouckhest]

This is Sofa King cool!

Will you need to open up the interior for the drive-train to fit?

Oh yeah, the engine was already mounted, but I decided for this amount of work it was too far forward, so the intent is to see if I can push the engine back far enough to make it "mid-engine"

Here is how much the tunnel is cut out...now to start cutting a little bit more until it finds a good home...just have to balance and mind where the steering linkage lives and the odd shape of the engine

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[fouckhest]

While working Monday night I came to a realize a couple things, first its not easy to get the engine in/out, then to just get the engine to the firewall I have to remove the spreader bar, so I can only support the front of the engine with the hoist, so dreamt up a way to repurpose one of my wheel dollies and purchased a cheap scissor jack to make a rolling/height adjustable tailshaft suppport for when the engine is installed and I need to start leveling and adjusting....

So, in todays episode of bracketology...made up this little guy, the bottom angle in on there to slip into the jack and be a positive stop
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Jack tacked onto the wheel dolly with bracket installed
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Tested and works great on the tailshaft....next step start cutting out the firewall and test it with engine in the car
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[fouckhest]

Chop Chop...just might end up with a mid-engine VW golf afterall
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Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[zeug]

Kudos on the audacious projects! All this Mid-Engine Golf talk made me think of this:

 

[fouckhest]

Kudos on the audacious projects! All this Mid-Engine Golf talk made me think of this:

Love it, havent seen that in years!

....hopefully mine doesnt handle that bad

 

[zeug]

....hopefully mine doesnt handle that bad

W12-Junk in the Trunk makes for some serious booty swinging. What's the projected weight addition and bias split for your project? You may still be compensating for natural understeer.

 

[fouckhest]

W12-Junk in the Trunk makes for some serious booty swinging. What's the projected weight addition and bias split for your project? You may still be compensating for natural understeer.

To be honest, I've havent really sat down and focused enough on doing all the math, but since you bring it up....You have just planted a seed for my workday free time next week....will base everything off the mk4 r32, which is essentially what this car is now and my previous mountain drive car...although unfortunately I never got a chance to weigh or corner balance that car, but I'm sure I can find some data somewhere.

 

[jbrentd]

Diggin' the project updates!

 

[fouckhest]

Diggin' the project updates!

Thanks Brent, I made some decent progress this week, I guess I forgot to update, I'll drop a couple below

 

[fouckhest]

V8 GTi Update

I hope to have finalized the engine location, not as far back as I hoped, but I think it is going to help enough with weight distribution and be superior to my old r32 b/c that engine (iron block) was in front of the axle line

Steering rack is the driving factor in finalizing location
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Made this crude cross brace to help support the front of the engine while I start on the main engine mounts
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Repurposed the old rear transmission/tail shaft mount, only had to cut and reweld the center bracket....driveline is very close to being independantly supported
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[fouckhest]

No garage or car projects this weekend, but did squeeze in a mountain drive with a couple buddies on the way to a car show up in NC. Always a good time to get a car out for some fun...cayman was in good company with a boosted ND and c5 z06 fixed roof coupe

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[GLTHFJ60]

Car looks great. I love my 987 more and more every day.

FYI rennline just came out with these. I'm gonna pick some smoked ones up for my black one, the clear ones would look great on yours:

997/987 LED Sequential Side Marker Lights

www.rennline.com

 

[fouckhest]

Car looks great. I love my 987 more and more every day.

FYI rennline just came out with these. I'm gonna pick some smoked ones up for my black one, the clear ones would look great on yours:

997/987 LED Sequential Side Marker Lights

www.rennline.com

TYTY, the 987 is such an amazing car...I'm about a year and a half into ownership and since finally getting the new tires installed I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable driving it, but there is still so much I need to learn.

Thanks for the heads up, I might have to pick up a set of those, I don't hate the ambers, but those markers in general are kinda odd.

 

[fouckhest]

Been busy working in the garage on the project car...hopefully going to keep that momentum, will do an update on that soon....

The wife and I are about to start on a fairly good size project in the house, it took about 2months for her to realize my little house didnt have a pantry and that the cabinet space filled up rather quickly....so combined that with the washer/dryer being in the basement...addition time!

Going to work with the same builder that did the garage and framed up the bathroom, she calls this the "paundry room," which will extend off the kitchen, have washer/dryer, wash basin/utility sink, coffee station and a bunch of dry storage

Step 1, relocate the stairs on the back porch...I didnt want to invest any money in this, just a little time and some screws. Stairs used to be on the right side against the fence, surprisingly easy to just unscrew them, flip them, move them over and with the help of a buddy we propped them up and reattached. They are one step lower and the bottom step is less than ideal, but for temporary, it will work. As part of the new addition, this project is going to spread into new deck and likely a little patio/fire pit area in this little grass section for us to relax, which will also spread into more fence in the back yard to keep the dogs away from us and make it easier to get cars in/out of the garage.

Next step is to move the fence back off the corner of the house, for now I think i am going to move to be in line with the post at the top of the stairs, it lines up pretty well with one of the posts on the fence, might work for a quick/easy relocation

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

In more fun car/project related things, I made a trip to the scrap metal place on friday with a buddy, pretty solid score for $20 all in, those little brackts were a must purchase, all identically bent, seems like they will come in handy at some point
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[Metallitubby]

Excellent updates.

 

[fouckhest]

Excellent updates.

Thanks - work is slow today, so I'll do a small update on the widebody v-8 swap

Finalized my front cross brace, which right now is basically just there to ensure that the side-to-side position stays consistent, made these stand-offs/braces that bolt to the cross bar
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

All tacked in, does a surprisingly good job of supporting the engine, but, no need to rely on it when i have the engine support, i work under the car on the lift way to much
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Lets just say, i've been fighting with steering rack location so that I can keep my engine position, both vertically and fore/aft in the current location...weight distribution is a huge target for this project. I have an idea in mind that will require some oil pan modification, which i dont see as a huge obstacle, and should get me back to a position i can work with that wont compromise bump steer or ackerman.

Here the rack is shifted to the drivers side way too much, but you'll see down below where i can modify the pan w/o compromising the oil capacity
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mark up of where pan will get cut
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr


Knowing that I have a game plan there, i've shifted my focus to getting engine mounts finalized. I want to tie them into the subframe mounting locations, my hope is this will help build additional rigidity into the front of the car since engine mounting is much different from how the car was designed

pretty simple mounts that will bolt to the OEM engine mount brackets
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bolted to said bracket with some small tabs to help get an idea of how to tie into the frame....
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Little CAD work later, I have these...plan is that these brackets will split a plate that will run from front/rear subframe mounting locations...will also plan to plate the chassis rails where the mounts will attach
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hard to visualize, but you can kind of imagine it where the more horizontal line runs across the template
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...hopefully find some time this week in the evenings to start working on the passengers side mount

 

[Metallitubby]

Didn't the last owner use the widebody GTI as a burnout car, or am I thinking of another RWD Mk4?

 

[fouckhest]

Didn't the last owner use the widebody GTI as a burnout car, or am I thinking of another RWD Mk4?

Different car, i've owned this car since it was brand new in 2002, they were pulling the plastic off it when i showed up to pick it up at the dealer.

Its gone through several transformations over the years, so maybe you thought someone else owned it