Vamps resto thread

Sharon as you can see I am now on the forum and you are most welcome as far as me helping with the beam and putting your bumpers on it was my pleasure to be of assitance even though I swear that the back bumper hates me as it was determined not go on properly or atleast without a fight

You also have the honour of my very first post on here to

Vamp looks as ***k

Back to helping Rick with the Bus next week

Also when I get a bug I will need ALOT and I mean BIG TIME help from Rick and anyone else I can rope in as I know very little about mechanics and stuff but I will get there with Rick's help and guidance I am sure

That front end looks MUCH better .........vamp (already is) going to be a very cool ride

Perfecto!!!!!!!

Looking good....

Well Rick is now doing the steering in the rain on Vamp as I sit here in the dry

Hopefully if he gets that done we can get the wheels on and then

LOWER her

Then fix the Fuel leak.

Also today the Jetta (with no name so any suggestions will be good) is being serviced so she should run a lot better.

Once all the mechanical stuff is done it's then up to me to clean her up. Bought loads of stuff so she will be all nice and shiny for the weekend. I may even enter her in the show and shine for a laugh.

Will get pic's and post as we go along.

Sorry in the delay but here is yesterdays progress...

Wiring all nice and tidy


New Handle and an obvious Dent (which was already there)


Dent almost gone the best we could do without damaging the paint work


New rubber fitted and the bonnet now lined up so now it it sit's properly without a massive gap down the side.


End of play last nite at 8:30 BRM's now on and looking lush






Rick holding the running boards to see what it would look like.




What she looks like first thing this morning.




Now over to Rick to explain a few issues that we have encountered.

Also would like to add that Rick looked like a drowned rat when he finally came in last nite

Also one last mention a big thank you to our friend PJ for doing the Jetta as she runs like a dream now.

Will update more later as we need to fix some rather unexpected wobbly problems which Rick will add in abit as it is more of a technical thing and I only do basics.

Firstly I would have preferred to have been in the dry of the workshop yesterday as I was soaked to my underwear out on the drive

I got the rest of the front suspension fitted as I had to change quite a few of the ball joint & track rod rubber boots as they were shot Then as we'd has a fuel leak under the tank & another in the fuel line by the gearbox I decided to change all the rubber hose for new & move the fuel filter to under the tank away from clutch & accelerator cables above the gearbox where the previous owner had sited it

There was also a biggish dent around the bottom of the bonnet, where she had been parking 'nudged' pre our ownership when the T bars were fitted & I'm well pleased with the result, considering I used a rubber mallet & the palm of my hand to do it!

Lining up the bonnet was a bitch & needed a fair bit of 'persuading' of the bonnet to get it as good as it now is, but that tells me it's probably a pattern bonnet that's been fitted at some point in her history.

Took her off the drive for a test drive & she felt like she had a buckled wheel .... so I looked at the geometry & it seems that I have made a little boo boo ...... Think I need to look at the caster nuts where the top ball joints meet the spindles as the passenger side wheel is turning left when the driver's side is going straight .... DOH! So will go out and investigate in a minute & get it roughly sorted then we'll have to get it down Formula First to get the castors & the tracking sorted out properly ... and hopefully an MOT at the same time

If I don't get it all sorted, unfortunately we will have to take the Jetta to Big Bang, as I'm not going to risk taking her all the way up there if I'm not entirely happy with her safety as will have the family in the car & would prefer to get it done right so we don't break anything!

Looking good guys I will have to come round in the week and get Rick to show me what he has been doing so that I can understand the tech bit

No problem just give us a call as we have no plans

Looks loads better but deff need to loose those indicators but i no thats on the list of things to do

rick why was you in the rain and not in the workshop got me baffeled

All tools & parts were at house & suspension was bought over in Rich's T4 when we got her going for CTTP

Babylon Split Rick wrote:

All tools & parts were at house & suspension was bought over in Rich's T4 when we got her going for CTTP

Also cause your nuts and weather is someone elses problem when your working on a dub

Don't you just know it shipmate .... from working out thwere with me the other nite when it pi$$ed down!

If a job's gotta be done, then it don't matter what the weather is doing .... remember I used to be Somerset County Council's bridge inspector & if I sat in the office every time it rained, then I would never have got half the bridges inspected ... and Somerset's got about 2000 of the buggers in their bridge stock, not including the Motorway, A303 & A30 which are done by the Highways Agency

Don't I know it ship wreck and if I hadn't of had the lad yesterday then I would have been there with you getting soaked through

That's the spirit Lee! But as soon as the Vamp's back on the road we can retire back to the workshop in the dry!

Very true Rick and once this week is out of the way with my interview going to Andover and hopefully my final NVQ assessment I will be free pretty much every evening during the week mate to come and lend a hand on Babylon so we can get that one back on the road ASAP for shows and stuff

You do realise you have created a BUD NUT here don't you mate

Yep! But don't you mean Bug Nut?

Well I've solved the 'wobbly wheels' problem as Sharon puts it

Turned the passenger side track rod in 3 turns so the wheels are straighter & it's not wobbling no more

It will do to get her down Formula First for the tracking and casters to be done

But need to grind some more off a couple of wheel bolts as somethings rubbing as drive down the road .... so back out & get the grinder to hand

Fooking ACE...

Babylon Split Rick wrote:

Turned the passenger side track rod in 3 turns so the wheels are straighter & it's not wobbling no more

And you said I was no fecking help!!!


Glad it was an easy fix bud, looks way better

Well she is now looking really sexy ......

Will post pic's up later of yesterdays results.....

Rick is going to book her into Formula 1st to get the caster nuts adjusted and the MOT done.....so fingers crossed...

I honestly cant see there being a problem with the MOT as she has been worked on so much these last 11 days that if there was an issue I think it would of been spotted by now....

Only thing I thing that it could possibly fail on would be play in either the ball joints or the trackrod ends, as they could be a little goosed, but there's no way to tell without putting it in for a test

Ok this is Sundays progress.

Picture of the wheels one wanted to go one way and the other wheel wanted to go the other.... Vamp was acting like a Herbie




Tried to fix the running boards, but on the drivers side there was this uneven bodywork ....




Rick over came this by cutting a notch out of the running board


Old bent wipers off


New ones on


Door rubber fixed


Bottom door rubber fixed


Carpet fitted


Jack put into place


Roof Rack removed.






All in all a good days work but we have now come up against some new problems....

Will ask Rick to add to this and explain.

Looking Sharon

Well .... An old friend of Sharon's, Mark, who used to work for VW for 15 years, then went off to Audi has recently moved back to Weston & started working for VW again ... popped round tonite to check out the geometry, tracking & ball joints.
He agreed with me that some of them are shot & also agreed that it would be suicide driving to the Pod in it's current condition!
He's agreed to take it into work in the next day or so to suss out exactly what needs replacing & will be able to press in new ball joints & renew all the track rod joints before even attempting to set up the geometry of the car for us.
He'll probably MOT it while he's at it to see if there's anything else that needs attention then we can get it all done right once and for all!

He also rallies GTi's as a privateer so will have a good look over the Jetta for us in the near future & give the old girl a tune up. What he doesn't know about Golf's can be written on the back of a postage stamp

Unless a miracle happens I can't see us getting the Bug to Big Bang this weekend which is a shame, but better to get it sorted then to break it with too much haste
Will update the findings of 'da man' when he's looked at it