her name was annie
so this car has been my first car, and its really become its own personality. i've been through alot with this car, good and bad, i've learned tons, and have had alot of fun with it. i love it to death and feel like i'll never get rid of it, i may buy something else but i think i'll hold on to this one. <3
anyways, here's how it looked about a week after i bought it cleaned up.
she was a bit of basket case and missing alot of things
started out as a bone stock 1.6N/A from 1990. she's bare bones with no power anything
i bought this car in october of 2009 with money i saved over summer, i was bone dry and laid off work so i wasn't able to register and insure it until spring of 2010 so over the winter i was able to fix it up, it needed floor work, and brake work, and lots of lighting work. like i said... basket case
as i was being patient i had some fun and played with the trends
it lived in the back yard (close to the shop door) for the most of time i wasn't drivable but this was the day she was finally up and working (not legally drivable but working) so we winched it out of its frozen ruts with our jeep and got her on solid ground again
started doing some cleaning, and re-routed the intake for better flow
then i started to make her look old school, because i like anything old, new **** sucks so on with some small bumps and seven slat grill
continuing with the old school, welded this up out of an old seat stay from a bicycle
got it on the road in the spring, and she slowly started gathering a rep, and getting her own personality. sure it was ugly, but it was fun. experimenting with spray paint, and not really caring about the body, we jumped it, drifted it, were just straight up reckless with it, we'd go hunting for gravel roads
then the paint got real, and we went all out, flat black and checker roof, at this point its down on 60/40 drop springs too i think
i got really into the whole "rat" thing and she looked like this (yes i do ride the bike, its not just a show piece)
got paint happy again
then eventually finished the paint i started
NOW, this is where the build starts.
after some stupid **** from the summer i lost my license in november. so i got to drive it for like 6 months, then lost my license for 6 months after. in the end, it was a blessing in disguise. it allowed me to tear it apart and really do work
the day i lost my license i pulled her back in the yard and got to work
bought a 1.6TD off a friend and started building that on the side, here's some pics of the cleaning and stuff
mean while in the back yard i started cleaning out the bay, had to wait for an engine crane from my fathers work, so the engine stayed for awhile
rain tray was a ***, but its out
built this on the side to get around :mad:
intercooler bracket
ENGINE OUT (as the snow came in)
other engine coming together
started to focus on the interior
got some dirty welding done (first time trying)
Got a brilliant idea and purchased a set of seats from a '67 beetle
and this is how it sat
did some floor work
sloppy welds but the bay started to clean up
and then the bondo
interior started going back in
i got to sit and make vroom noises :cool:
wheels came back from the machine shop
engine back in
paint and mock up
she was working.... kinda... timing was out and it was air locked =[[[
started piecing together some rounds
street side stance
cleaned up a bit
almost finished bay
battery lives in the suit case
her first drive
got this spurr of the moment when my friend got her nose pierced
finally got a grille (fav picture)
then i had bad luck
i never did get the 1.6 to run well, and it was frustrating, because the old NA was BULLET PROOF. and this was super sketchy. so eventually i blew 2 too many head gaskets and deemed a warmed head. instead of fixing it and chasing problems i found a 1997 toilet that was rotten, and had a 115xxx km 1.9td in it. swaped that over with in a day lol
not as pretty but it works great!
just in time for one last beach day
and as the winters went on and she went to winter mode, i admired a summer of camber
well going around a round-about today and BAM, a 6-wheel moving truck decided not to yield. and the rear bumber tagged the front of my car. bent the frame rail and well... shes done.
this car meant the world to me, it was my first, and shes become part of the family, and the community, its a sad lose. her heart will live on in a new shell though.
the day before the accident, fresh paint (was going to be the whole car when the temps warmed up outside)
also shes on winter wheels and tires so ignor the lack of wide
and after
and here's the new shell
tore the carpet out to clean and get a look, found some rot in the strut towers so took car of that, and got the carpet and seats all back in with a fresh vacuum.
later i started cleaning the crud out of the engine bay and will continue on that tomorrow after work
looks like theres a gap on the left, but its just a black mark.
engine is in, blew up the turbo though so it sits like this just needing to weld a new flange to my down pipe to run my T3
and whats left
Topic: my never ending drama (Read 9231 times)
