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If it failed after doing 215 miles in a year I would be worried 
-
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Todd100's Ph1 GSi
- Thread starter Todd100
- Start date
Todd100
Club Member
Yeah me too, would either mean my last MOT tester didn't do his job properly (took it somewhere different this time) or I put it back together wrong
215 miles? Bloody hell
Todd100
Club Member
I've not used it properly for 2 years tbh, this year is the best it's been, fixed some niggles and can enjoy it now 
Well, you best get VBOA booked then lol.
Todd100
Club Member
I am all booked? Or I thought I was?
Gareth
Club Member
Will be nice to see you this year Todd
Todd100
Club Member
And you mate, is your going to be finished or still too much to do?
Todd100
Club Member
Not really been on here since VBOA so thought I would post a few pictures I took at VBOA
Great pics, great car!
Better than factory new... Nice 
Todd100
Club Member
Bloody hell, over a year since I last posted on here, we'll what a year 2020 has been,
So 5/6 years ago when I fist got the Gsi I went to town on the front end, engine bay etc etc but never dug too deep into the rear, until the back end of last year that was. After Billing 2019 the Gsi came off of the road with the plan being to slowly do the rear end and finish off what I started when I first got it.
So roll forward to March and lockdown here we come, I started working from home and had quite a bit more free time to get on with the Gsi, and that is what I've done,
I haven't taken many pictures along the way, it was very much up and down but I've finally got to a point where I thought I better show you what I've been up to
Full stripped the underside again, the rear corners were shot so they got rebuilt, and really happy with how they turned out, I had to remake the upper spring seats as they were really crumbly too so lots of welding but nothing structural really
The other side got exactly the same treatment, there's only about 2 foot space the other side of the car to work so didn't get any pictures of that
Rear suspension stripped
All powder coated, painted etc and re assembled, this was during lockdown in April
So after this I started working my way forward, the sills on the face of it looked fine, however when I started digging deeper they were rotting from the inside out! Not good, so new pair of sills ordered, all the insides rebuilt, rust treated etc and fitted
Only picture I took of this mid welding
Also came up with a solution for the sunroof drain so it doesn't drop water inside the sill anymore
So I carried on got the sills fitted, epoxy primed inside them before welding, and then after welding sprayed some zinc galv spray inside to hopefully stop any future rust, I have also got some clear cavity wax to put in too to help even more
Following this I spent a while cleaning up all the floor, removing all of the Bilt Hamber dynax ub that I used 5 years ago as I was never really happy with the brown bitumen like finish, all of what I did before still looked rust free underneath which was good.
So about a month ago I started to see some light at the end of the tunnel with all the welding finally done!
2 costs of 2k epoxy primer later, I decided on Upol Raptor as a top coat, so bought some of that and 2 coats of that later I ended up with what I have now
And today started to fit some bits back underneath, starting with heat shields which I had powder coated silver when I originally did the front end
I'm going to try and take some more pictures of the rest of the rebuild now, lots of goodies to be fitted and anyone who knows how I did all the front end you will know what sort of thing is to come!
Phew and done for now!
So 5/6 years ago when I fist got the Gsi I went to town on the front end, engine bay etc etc but never dug too deep into the rear, until the back end of last year that was. After Billing 2019 the Gsi came off of the road with the plan being to slowly do the rear end and finish off what I started when I first got it.
So roll forward to March and lockdown here we come, I started working from home and had quite a bit more free time to get on with the Gsi, and that is what I've done,
I haven't taken many pictures along the way, it was very much up and down but I've finally got to a point where I thought I better show you what I've been up to
Full stripped the underside again, the rear corners were shot so they got rebuilt, and really happy with how they turned out, I had to remake the upper spring seats as they were really crumbly too so lots of welding but nothing structural really
The other side got exactly the same treatment, there's only about 2 foot space the other side of the car to work so didn't get any pictures of that
Rear suspension stripped
All powder coated, painted etc and re assembled, this was during lockdown in April
So after this I started working my way forward, the sills on the face of it looked fine, however when I started digging deeper they were rotting from the inside out! Not good, so new pair of sills ordered, all the insides rebuilt, rust treated etc and fitted
Only picture I took of this mid welding
Also came up with a solution for the sunroof drain so it doesn't drop water inside the sill anymore
So I carried on got the sills fitted, epoxy primed inside them before welding, and then after welding sprayed some zinc galv spray inside to hopefully stop any future rust, I have also got some clear cavity wax to put in too to help even more
Following this I spent a while cleaning up all the floor, removing all of the Bilt Hamber dynax ub that I used 5 years ago as I was never really happy with the brown bitumen like finish, all of what I did before still looked rust free underneath which was good.
So about a month ago I started to see some light at the end of the tunnel with all the welding finally done!
2 costs of 2k epoxy primer later, I decided on Upol Raptor as a top coat, so bought some of that and 2 coats of that later I ended up with what I have now
And today started to fit some bits back underneath, starting with heat shields which I had powder coated silver when I originally did the front end
I'm going to try and take some more pictures of the rest of the rebuild now, lots of goodies to be fitted and anyone who knows how I did all the front end you will know what sort of thing is to come!
Phew and done for now!
Awesome progress Todd and I tell you what, fair play. that MUST of been a bloody nightmare to do on axle stands mate. I was getting annoyed and mine was on a ramp, that's why it ended up on a rollover spit. Its really not easy welding this old pieces of rust vauxhall back together, the welding is incredibly inconsistant. Keep at it though mate.
My rear disc dust shields were rotten as well. you can buy pattern part Saab ones that look like they would fit. Their not cheap though!
My rear disc dust shields were rotten as well. you can buy pattern part Saab ones that look like they would fit. Their not cheap though!
Todd100
Club Member
So my old fuel tank was rough around the edges and as you can buy new ones still it would be rude not too
And fitted
Got the filler neck fitted too (black cable ties on order haha
Also had to get new filler hose to connect to the tank as the original one was quite perished
And fitted
Got the filler neck fitted too (black cable ties on order haha
Also had to get new filler hose to connect to the tank as the original one was quite perished
Todd100
Club Member
A bit more done, new fuel pipes, had to run the filter backwards to what it was originally as the pipes wouldn't work very well if not
Todd100
Club Member
Cheers mate, it's not something I want to do again, the spraying wasn't too bad it was the cleaning it up with a wire wheel before hand that wasn't nice!
Cor yea it was a miserable job definatly. I used petrol to get mine off and it was just terrible, has to wear a filtered mask so i didn't get high!
Todd100
Club Member
Yeah I know that feeling, when I did mine I could only get hold of the crappy DIY dust masks, I definitely had to get out for fresh air on a couple of occasions when using thinners to clean all the old crap off