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Topic: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD (Read 4558 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #45
A different level of build and ability.... I'd even struggle with taking photo's like those as I'm working.

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #46
Yes, some serious work being done.
I like the industrial aircon you're fitting, makes my install look a bit too subtle  :D
1991 Tornado Red BB 8v GTI Moredoor
2008 Skoda Octy Scout aka dirty diesel

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #47
A different level of build and ability.... I'd even struggle with taking photo's like those as I'm working.

Yes, some serious work being done.
I like the industrial aircon you're fitting, makes my install look a bit too subtle  :D

Serious amount of work going into this. Very impressive.

Cheers guys, should have my other AN fittings tomorrow so will update again soon!

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #48
So following on from the last post I had the last bull buy of AN fittings arrive, this was mostly for the gearbox oil cooler and the brake lines



So starting from the top..

I took the time to start building the Brake reservoir lines, I must admit that AN4 is a lot harder to work with than AN6 just due to how fiddly it is, not looking forward to doing the whole pressurised side of the brake system in AN3





Onto the pedal box, so it turns out my wilwood master cylinders are too long for the false floor to go on top of them, meaning I’m having to buy tilton 75 master cylinders instead, more money thrown at things I already have..

I also opted to buy this mounting plate for it, after cocking it up twice before and how much effort it took me each time to make and replace, I’d rather just save my time (and added weight on the car) and buy a CNC’d aluminium bracket with all of the holes pre drilled and tapped for adjusting it forward and back..



the only problem is that my floorpan isn’t completely flat so I had to create yet another little platform for it to sit on, this time I made sure I did everything in the correct order this time..



Started off with some 2mm steel sheet, cut so that it was slightly bigger than the pedal box




Next was to mark out a grid which was 25mm squared as im using a 25mm hole saw and dimple die, I wanted to make sure it was all evenly spaced



Into the press to press the dimples





Then as my floor isn’t flat, I used a profile gauge to get the correct shape





Welded together with M8 weld nuts on the back





Test fit



And welded in..





And the finished product





Moving away from the brakes and because I had all of the AN fittings for it, I made a start on the gearbox oil system

Starting with the pump, I’ve picked a mocal diaphragm pump due to it being self priming above the fluid, which really helps when it comes to finding a place to stash it on a compact engine bay, the draw back of the diaphragm pump is it’s more delicate than a gear driven pump.. the fluid needs to be over 72 degrees before it can pump, otherwise it risks tearing the diaphragm, secondly contamination or shrapnel from the unfiltered gearbox can cause havoc with the pump so there took a fair amount of thought on what I needed to add and in what order..

I decided to use the existing fill and drain holes for the pick up and return of the cooler, knowing that clearance was vital on the drain, I bought 2 M24x1.5 sump plugs and threw them at a lathe. One was turned down to 5.5mm while the other was left at its normal height. Both were then drilled out to 10.5mm and an M12x1.5 tap was ran through them so I could fit a banjo bolt to keep it as tight as possible to the bottom of the gearbox.













So the order I decided was

-banjo
-1/8npt sensor adapter (closest to the gearbox so it would read the correct temp to begin pumping)
-AN8 240 micron filter with a magnetic ring to pick up any shrapnel
-pump
-oil cooler
-check valve (minimum operating pressure of 2PSI to keep the oil cooler full to prevent drain back and over filling of the gearbox)
-return



I also made up a bracket for the pump to be welded onto the chassis leg

Starting with some 1.5mm

Marked to size



Cut, drilled and dimple died



Legs made up and welded together



And finally in situ, not the prettiest welds but it was difficult to try and get the 1.5mm to weld to the chassis leg without blowing a**holes out of it







During this process I decided to get some metal in my eyeball, I forgot to apply my safety squint when cutting metal for the bracket. After having rust in my eye before and having to have it flicked out with a needle and then the rust ring burred out.. I thought I would try and remove it myself by placing the magnet out of a fishing magnet in a small bag, covering it in saline and press it close up to my eye, almost touching..



After a few passes my eye felt instantly relieved and it was out

Improvise, adapt and overcome

I also finished off the sill stands for the front, using some 3mm plate for the spreader plate inside..

I ran a hole saw through it and cracked up the amps on the welder and went at it

Buuut I forgot to take photos..

Another small job I hacked away at was making a centre bracket for the dash, because I haven’t got the factory heater box or most of the interior, I had a lot of flex in the dash where the heater box would fix to the dash and then fix to the bulkhead..

Drilling holes in either side of the dash where the metal shell is, i then cut down to sections of 15mmx15mm box section and drilled and sent in an M6 rivnut, tightening the brackets to the dash, i braced them together with some more box section, then it was a case of notching the top of the tube which would be welded to the dash bar and then tacking it in place to the bracket I had already made.. some more bracing and it was finished

Bit of 15x15mm box section and some riv nuts










And that’s it! All together and no trip to the eye hospital for me






Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #49
Good stuff.
Take extra care with your eyes. About 8 years ago I had a macular hemorrhage in my left eye whilst surfing ebay (you know it's bad for you!). I lost my central vision for about 10 weeks. Doc said I should be able to drive but I was walking into things so stopped. Luckily my eyesight returned but now have an annoying "floatie".
1991 Tornado Red BB 8v GTI Moredoor
2008 Skoda Octy Scout aka dirty diesel

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #50
Good stuff.
Take extra care with your eyes. About 8 years ago I had a macular hemorrhage in my left eye whilst surfing ebay (you know it's bad for you!). I lost my central vision for about 10 weeks. Doc said I should be able to drive but I was walking into things so stopped. Luckily my eyesight returned but now have an annoying "floatie".


That sounds pretty rough, I’ll take care in the future when on eBay!

I did actually have a pair of safety glasses on both times, but they weren't wide enough I suppose.. got some wrap arounds now so hopefully that’s the end of that

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #51

So really it’s been parts hoarding since the last update, fitting things that I can as I go..

I managed to get hold of a set of 3 tilton 76 master cylinders, two 0.75 and one 0.70, I have done the basic maths of what Bore size I need for the estimated weight, piston size and pad contact area and with a bias valve for the rear brakes, the sizes should work, if they don’t and the brakes have too much travel I’ll have to swap them around or replace them, but 0.75 is a good place to start..





As there is minimal room under the false floor, I fitted some APS inlet and outlet fittings which had already been worked out to fit under the APS false floor with tilton master cylinders so I wasn’t going to spend loads of money on different fittings until I worked out what fit with the least amount of trouble.. meaning the brake lines from the reservoir bulkhead fittings to the master cylinders could be made up



I pulled the trigger on a wilwood hydraulic handbrake as I really wasn’t fond of the one I had, I need to stop buying things which are cheaper and not what I want just because I feel it’ll get the build done faster..

Alongside is the tilton bias valve I also snapped up cheap with two M10-AN3 fittings



I also got hold of an AEM V3 meth kit off of eBay for a steal, although I don’t need it yet, it was too cheap to pass up on and had minimal use.. I also need to find out where and how I’m mounting everything before I start to paint it, if I need to do some welds for a bracket or drill holes, I want to do that before I paint it..





As I want to get all of the welding and fabrication out of the way, I bought the heater/demister for the inside. I did want to try and stay away from a water based heater to prevent more things going through the bulkhead, but after a trawl of reviews it seemed that the small 3.5kw electric ones wouldn’t be sufficient, so I went for the 5KW midi heater from T7 designs, weighing in at 2.8kg with a 3 speed fan..



Mounting it so it would take up the least amount of room was crucial, I didn’t want to mount it to the bulkhead and then later on down the line I find that I need to mount something like the fuse box or ECU there..


box section and riv nuts came to the rescue again.. 15x15mm with a 1.5mm wall so it would be strong enough but not adding the weight I’ve saved from ditching the OEM system







It sits perfectly upside down on the dash brackets with the water outlets pointing down close to the bulkhead which will fit to a bulkhead pass through once I sort out the engine bay coolant system



As the dash was out, i started on the aluminium passenger foot plate as the floor isn’t completely flat and at an angle, I needed a mount for it to level it out and to raise it as in planing on having the fuse boxes underneath so they aren’t in the way..

Some 12mm tube and some small steel brackets were used as the bottom of the foot plate is folded so there is a lip which prevented me using anything else








Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #52

*insert generic excuse of not keeping forum thread up to date*

Soo..

I have a real bad tendency of finishing things 90% of the way.. for instance, my dashboard..

The flocked corrado dash needed to go, it didn’t line up correctly as it was twisted, none of the plastics sat correctly and I had cut too much out of it to fit my cage properly..

So after a few weeks of trawling eBay and Facebook groups, I managed to get hold of a black dash which hadn’t had the whole interior hacked out of it or wasn’t crumbling away..

So same steps as before, but less of a measure by eye and cut three times attitude..

Lip removed and brackets moved back about an inch..





Holes cut for the Door bars..






And for the A pillars..



And she’s in!






The shifter doesn’t rear against the bottom of the dash anymore




I also had a mate redesign the air vent gauge holder from LHD (sticking out about 738373 mm) to flush with the dash



You can see how close the shifter was to the bottom of the old dash in the picture above

A few little jobs here and there also checked off..

Filler funnel for the fuel cell in the window





Prop shaft bearing brackets made up but didn’t get a photo of them mounted..





Due to spending money on the daily to get it up to scratch to sell, it’s been a dangerous time for the MK2 as boredom, and an angle grinder isn’t the best combination and hindsight is a beautiful thing..

Ever since I owned the car, the panel lines on the rear (where the rear 1/4’s meet the rear valance) had been filled over, the filler had cracked and rust had been appearing through the crack after washing the car.. so when I had built the car the first time, I wanted it sorted.. I didn’t mind if the lines were filled in, just that the rust was gone.. so I managed to get hold of a NOS passenger side light cluster off of eBay.de, I gave this to the guys who were meant to be doing the bodywork and paint but I was handed it back as they had “sorted it” so I sold the panel a few months after.. big mistake as “sorted it” wasn’t the case as I had found out when I span the golf around to work on the drivers side.. unfortunately I knocked the rear quarter and off came a good chunk of filler followed by rust.. again

The following pictures show what I found












So a pattern rear valance was ordered and a repair cut for the passenger light cluster was bought as there was no saving the surround without the rust returning again..

Due to the wait time on the valance I got even more bored and it became far more dangerous

This is where things started to get a bit silly..

I have had a thing for tubbed arches for a while now.. I genuinely don’t know why.. and with the potential of maybe running wide 17’s, I thought to myself.. “Might as well just send it now before it’s too late and realise the wheels will scrub the inner arches” and that’s exactly what I did.. que the angle grinder spinning up

I don’t really know what the thought process was to start with was.. I just started cutting out the plates on top of the chassis legs then followed the chassis leg line and started marking it out and started cutting..





I cut out the shape of the arch tub from 1.5mm steel.. I can’t even remember the measurements.. maybe 300mm? It rings a bell..



Then it was the case of tacking it in place, measuring how much I would need for the filler plate on top, contouring the turret to the filler plate and cutting the inner arch out..



Bending the filler plate and tacking as I went



And then trying to weld it to the inner arch, blowing more holes than I was filling in





Followed by making a jigsaw out of the chassis leg plates





And the finished product








It went a lot smoother than I thought it would.. that was a red flag as when I went to start on the other side.. it wasn’t as smooth because I uncovered something I’m not exactly proud of..

Rewind a few pages back, when I was painting the underside (what a waste that was🥲) I had discovered my drivers side suspension turret had rotten where the turret and inner wheel arch met.

I should of got a repair panel and replaced the whole thing but I didn’t know how to weld then.. so I wire brushed it back and filled it full of POR15.. (IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND ARE IN THE SAME POSITION I WAS, GET SOMEONE TO WELD IT FOR YOU, DO NOT HIDE IT WITH PAINT)

It was all uncovered again when I chopped into the turret for the tub.. it was really really bad and I couldn’t leave it.. so another chassis cut bought and I went into it with the grinder again..





The chassis cut













It wasn’t easy or enjoyable to say the least

I still wouldn’t say im proud of it either, but it’s rust free metal and a lot better than it ever was..

So onwards with the drivers side tub, same process as before!


As I’ve been focusing on the suspension turrets, I also wanted to have adjustable camber and caster via the top mounts.. in come these OBP E36 adjustable top mounts..

I could of just cut the top of the turret out with a hole saw but I wanted  to raise my front turrets to increase suspension travel even with the car lowered.. so, after measuring the amount of adjustment the top mounts needed.. I spent about a month trying to find steel tube with a thickness of 3-4mm and a minimum internal diameter of 155mm and a maximum of 178mm.. I cannot tell you how many hours I had put into searching, messaging or calling up places only to have no luck..

I was left with either- buying some 177mm billet and having it hollowed out using a lathe.. = ££££

Raising the whole turret up by cutting the whole top off = bonnet fitment issues

Or using some 4mm steel plate, a 177mm hole saw and some 40mm x 3mm flat bar.. making my own.. which is exactly what I did


I had some 4mm steel plate sitting around so that was the top sorted

£17.59 later I had myself a 177mm hole saw

A phone call to the local metal suppliers to enquire about 2 x 1m lengths of 40mm x 3mm only to be told “it’s 3-5 working days to have it cut, or you can come and buy 6.1m today” 6.1m won’t fit in my car so the battery grinder rode shotgun and it was cut up off just outside of their car park to fit in my car

Took a 76mm hole saw to some steel to make a centre to tack to the suspension turret



Then cut the 177mm hole out of the top of the turret






I genuinely had alot of sympathy for the beater drill after cutting 2 lots of 7” holes out of 4mm steel and the suspension turrets.. it definitely earned its money today..



The flat bar was bent and tacked as I went around, making sure it wasn’t spiralling as i went..








Welder turned up to “full send”





And the “finished product” if I didn’t run out of mig wire…. at 17:10 on a Friday night…..





Top mount fitted and put into position!



Trip to tool station the next day to pick up 5kg of wire.. only place that was open on a Saturday which sold wire, next time round I’ll be more prepared and order 17kg before it runs out.. but wire is wire and it meant I could finish welding and start on the other turret riser






I do need the cut out some of the top plate so I can fully adjust the camber screws but that can wait until my next run of days off

















Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #53
Between you and Sam Stirrup our 2Mbps connection can't cope!

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #54
Okay so an update..

To cut a long story short, the cars gone..

Not what I wanted to do at all but I pretty much had no choice.. after splitting the rear end apart I found that I had to literally take out the whole boot floor again and start again with next to no reference points as where I had welded the boot floor, on the inside and out, there was a lot of rust, as I had completely welded the panels together, it was a nightmare to try and remake the panels..

The chassis was twisted, the sills wernt welded properly (small tacks ground back every 5” or so, the rear arches had been lap welded in and behind the panel rust had started to form, this would mean I’d need to cut the panels out perfectly, try and repair the original metalwork then weld in replacements

The floor pans which I made were also butt welded to unprepared metal, welded inside and out which would cause more headaches down the road as they rot..

All in all it was going to be easier and cheaper to get a new shell..

8 years down the drain? Maybe… I’m more annoyed because of the connection I’ve had with the car, but it was too far gone too save it.. but it’s not gone to waste.. the skills and knowledge I gained on the shell will mean that I can learn from my mistakes and the next shell will be better.. alot better

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #55
A fresh start

I have a thing about buying MK2’s for £500..

So let’s get this updated, quick fast and in a hurry.. I’m not going to go over the obvious in depth as the photos speak for themselves, I’ll be updating this in sections so here we go..


I was after a pretty solid shell, I had some prerequisites.. no rusted out rear turrets, 3 door, no previous welding work and I’d only accept rust if it was on panels which I could replace..


So shell was stripped, and put up on the jig (which I had modified to be on casters so I could move it around - something I didn’t realise I needed to have when working on the old shell





It was only after I started to take out windows, take off trims and really get into it when I realised the shell wasn’t as good as I thought it was.. but when you buy a Mk2 for £500, you aren’t going to get one which is a minter




















So I got to work stripping the underseal.. again



Spare wheel well cut out, this time I’m not replacing the whole floor, just playing over the wheel well



The actual floor pans aren’t that bad, but if I’ve learnt anything, it’s that panel gaps, seams and cavities are usually rotten out or hiding something nasty, so everything is coming off..

I’m Priming everything as I’m going using either UPOL zinc weld through primer or UPOL zinc182

The floorpan was an absolute pig to remove, it was removed using 1x dormer 8mm spot weld drill bit, a two speed drill on the slowest setting, and some cutting/drilling fluid, I don’t even want to count how many spot welds I had drilled out..











The problem I faced was getting pattern parts, which are poorly stamped, oversized and in some places.. undersized, to fit as OEM as possible, anyone who’s used klokk panels will tell you, they’re appalling.. couple that with the fact everything you want to use as a reference point is slightly distorted or out of shape from splitting the panels.. its a challenge, but I promised myself I wouldn’t rush this build, I’d do it properly this time











The inner channel was removed from the chassis rail, I’ve got no use for this as I’m not having any fuel lines run through it, notice what I said about things being a rust trap…







Another little surprise for me was that the subframe captive nut was cross threaded, I attempted to run a tap up into it but it appears someone had got the thread started and then decided to smack it with a hammer so as I tapped it, the tap just cut a new thread through the whole nut.. got onto a company to make me up some new open top hats and this was welded in






As all of the panels are interlaced, the front chassis leg panels were drilled out ready for the replacements, when I said I’m replacing everything, I literally mean it..















More proof of panels hiding rot.. front tow bracket and inner wing bracket












Exhaust hangers removed.. not needed






Fuel pump bracket threads.. not needed





The floorpan and jacking point panel was prepared and 8mm holes along the seams to plug weld them in, coated with weld through primer to stop them rusting between the seams


















The sill was then cut out and repairs made to the rear of the sill and chassis leg, as there aren’t any replacement panels, this all had to be made from 1.2mm sheet metal

















































































A sill strengthener was made up, with 38mm dimple dies pressed into it to get some strength into the panel, the same will be made for the other side









Sill offered up and original bodywork trimmed to get it to fit, need to be as careful as possible as I don’t want to put more heat into the panel that I need to do I can avoid distortion



And currently, the front subframe mounts are being replaced with new OEM mounts




Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #56
Blimey you do like a challenge

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #57
Wow... just wow!

Not sure I could start over again like you have, but fair play for just cracking on!
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