What is Project unknown?
Well basically it is called unknown as I’m not really sure what I will do. My thought is I will just do what comes to mind at the time (or what gets suggested). I do plan to replace the front clam and bonnet and repair the remaining body work and get a full re-spray. While the car is apart it will get a suspension refresh along with a nice clean. Unfortunately due to me being away all of June and end of October to March this will not be a quick process.
The plan a long way down the road will be to get to approximately 300bhp (but I will look into that at a later date).
I thought I’d start from the beginning and run through everything that I have done since getting the car.
So I started looking for my first VX middle of last year and just kept checking various websites and on here looking for a decent NA with the aim of converting to a SC’d. Then at the end of October I had to go away to Norway with work which resulted in me not being able to check for a car as much as I would’ve liked to.
I then spotted a nicely priced SC’d car which needed a bit of love, arranged to pick it up while I was back for Christmas and paid the deposit.
Once I had got the car back home I went about trying to make it more personal to myself.
Car when I got it with a few changes (wheels painted black and lots of bright green bits).
Not long after buying the car I had a leak in the charge cooler which I did a quick bodge repair just to get it to stop leaking all over the floor.
As soon as I got that repaired I backed the car into the garage, I turned the key to the off position and the car stayed running. After a frantic 10 minutes searching and throwing up a thread for help I got a few quick messages back and it turned out to be a new ignition switch that was required. So I had to stall the engine and disconnect the battery with the ignition still on (butt twitching time).
Ordered a new ignition switch at only £6 and set about changing it over. At this point while waiting for the switch to arrive I set about covering the dash in Alcantra (well a cheaper knock-off).
By then my two weeks back in the UK for Christmas was up and had to fly back out to Norway for the next 3 months.
While I was away I got on the search for some new wheels to replace the NA wheels and some suspension to replace the standard Billies. Fortunately Graeme Lambert sent me a message informing me that he was just about to start his project and that he had a set of Compos and Nitron NTRs. So after some chatting we worked out a price and arranged for me to pick them up when I got back from Norway.
I also then decided I would like some turbo ears and got on to Johnnyboy and ordered myself a set along with a new charge cooler (as that still needs to be replaced) and a VSE to replace the turbo back box that was fitted.
On arrival back from Norway in mid March I got in contact with Graeme and made the final arrangements to come meet him at MBR to pick up the parts I had bought from him. Got them home and wasted no time getting all the parts fitted.
Car with new wheels and suspension fitted along with a homemade plywood splitter.
Before I get any slating about the black lights there is method to my madness and this is that there was a hole in the drivers side headlight and the rears were cracked so I used a bit of araldite and glued the holes, etc. up sanded them back and tint sprayed them to hide the uglyness of the araldite.
After a good few blasts out with a SW meet included I decided it was time to get the car up on stands, get the front off and change the charge cooler that was sat waiting to be fitted.
So I set about starting. Once the car was on stands and I had removed the front clam I decided I would have a look at getting the ABS light off and investigate why the horn wasn’t working.
I started with the horn and found that the spade connectors weren’t connected. So thinking “this will be an easy fix” I connected them and tested… Still nothing… I then set about testing the relay and checked the fuse and found them to be fine. Using a guide on here I managed to trace the problem to be between the steering wheel and relay. After some more testing this and that I decided to take the steering wheel off and in doing so the slip ring part fell apart and I found the coil inside was broken in three places. I bridged the gap on the the plug after the slip ring and the horn sounded. So I ordered a new slip ring.
With that issue solved I decided to move onto the ABS… I was originally told that it had an ABS cut-off switch so I set about looking for that (it wasn’t where I had first thought). After about half an hour I followed the wires and found the switch located under the dash. Flicked the switch and still nothing I then went onto checking to see if all the sensors were getting power, so got the voltmeter out and checked and they were. I haven’t got around to checking the sensors but have decided I will change all the hubs when I rebuild the car so they’ll all be changed then (fingers crossed solving the ABS issue).
Last night having fully committed to the decision that I was going to rebuild the car I decided to get the rear clam off as well. Once again got myself on the internet after failing to figure it out myself did a quick Google search for a guide and loaded it up.
Few acton shots
Following the guide about an hour later (due to a misread from the wife about the filler cap) the rear clam was off.
And you’ll never guess where the clams are now…
Much to the Sam’s dismay they are in the Dining room. 
