VW Golf III 3-door conversion

[Anteater]

9 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Definitely more skill with a small top up of bravery.

 

 

I read that as "a small top up of brewery". Maybe that's the answer - Dutch courage indeed 🙂

[JeroenS]

On 18/02/2023 at 17:51, Anteater said:

 

I read that as "a small top up of brewery". Maybe that's the answer - Dutch courage indeed 🙂

That was a good one 🙂 

 

In the past couple of days, I've been doing the surgery on the other side. Sober, I might add, although it definitely looks like the surgeon may have had one too many 

 

More scars but we now have a solid shell again. Before glueing that cutout back in place, I made sure the rear quarter and door panel lines lined up correctly with the ones on the other side.

 

 

As you can see I worked around that fuel filler opening. 

 

 

Now, the next tasks are filling up the gaps in the front doors and getting some shaping done to blend the material in. 

 

Also, before I start filling and removing the scars, I'll have to do something about the fenders and side skirts which, though correct for the gti body, are too pronounced for the GL version.

 

 

The side skirts just need to be toned down some, but these wheel well surrounds or whatever they're called also need blending in with the body. That's because on the gti, they're plastic parts, while as on the regular version, it's just a flared part of the body shell. I think it will take some time to get those to look right but we'll see. Anyway, I want to do that before I start filling seams, I will be flexing the shell when handling it and I don't want to cause cracks in my fillings. 

[Bengalensis]

Good cut to save the fuel filler door, looking promising. Perhaps you can scrape down the wheel arches using a curved tool to get closer to the basic version. Then it's a question if you will get away without reducing the width. With a little luck you might.

[JeroenS]

I'm planning on not messing with the width, I think I'll just need to shave the curve. The kit is correct with regard to the alignment of the bumper etcetera. 

 

 

I think the kit needs a little larger flat area on the side, and less material overall. 

 

Maybe I can get at it with this sanding bit on my multi tool... 

 

 

But, although it has a low setting, it still turns pretty fast and it's quite tricky.... 

[Bengalensis]

12 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

But, although it has a low setting, it still turns pretty fast and it's quite tricky.... 

Perhaps, if the machine can run slow enough to not melt the plastic into the tool, but still has torque enough to do the job.

I think I would prefer shaving off material by hand, especially when it comes to the ends towards the bumpers and sills. But there are several ways one can approach this work.

[JeroenS]

28 minutes ago, Bengalensis said:

Perhaps, if the machine can run slow enough to not melt the plastic into the tool, but still has torque enough to do the job.

I think I would prefer shaving off material by hand, especially when it comes to the ends towards the bumpers and sills. But there are several ways one can approach this work.

I prefer the manual approach as well, I'm starting with plain old sandpaper first. I don't really have a small curved tool with which to scrape. 

[JeroenS]

Ok well that's enough fun for one morning. I think this is halfway decent. 

 

 

There still a bit of a bulge on the lowest part near the door. 

 

 

But I think the overall look is fine. Now this, three more times. Boy, this shell is going to eat up a lot of filler, primer and sand paper.

[Neddy]

It's great watching the 'shell taking shape, this is a fascinating project and it's amazing to see what you're achieving with it.

 

@JeroenS : I hesitate to suggest this but faced with similar shaping problems in the past I resorted to a minidrill powered from a 12 volt transformer.  It's chuck and collets take Dremel and similar accessories but it's much lower powered and the speed control on the transformer allows me to run it as slow as needed for any delicate shaping or drilling job.  It's also much smaller and lighter than a standard Dremel or similar multitool.  It's ages old (50 years plus) and I can't remember where I got it from but I renovated it recently with the help of a friend and now find it indispensable.  I'm sure there must be current equivalents around, maybe on aliexpress?

 

 

[JeroenS]

@Neddythat is a nice little tool. I'll see if I can find something like it, that would be great.

[keefr22]

Ibought a cordless mini tool from Lidl a few years ago, that has a variable speed from almost 0 RPM to quite quick! I've seen them listed a few times since so it may be worth keeping an eye out for one - it's from their Parkside brand.

 

Great work on the project so far Jeroen, it's coming on well!

 

Keith

[JeroenS]

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

Ibought a cordless mini tool from Lidl a few years ago, that has a variable speed from almost 0 RPM to quite quick! I've seen them listed a few times since so it may be worth keeping an eye out for one - it's from their Parkside brand.

 

Great work on the project so far Jeroen, it's coming on well!

 

Keith

Thanks Keith, I've looked it up and they still carry it, it ranges from 5000 to 25000 rpm. I managed to find the lowest setting of my multi tool (it's on the box, what do you know?) and it's 15000. So 5000 is pretty low, still a bit faster then almost 0 I think but who's counting 😉 

 

I may give that a go, it's not very expensive. 

[JeroenS]

I found a tool, much like the one Neddy is using, which can (has to be, in fact) be powered from a transformer. I've ordered it and I'm curious to see how it works. 

[keefr22]

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

it ranges from 5000 to 25000 rpm

 

Think they must have changed the spec, mine goes much lower than 5000, it hardly goes at the lowest setting!!

 

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

So 5000 is pretty low, still a bit faster then almost 0 I think but who's counting 😉

 

 

1 hour ago, JeroenS said:

I've ordered it

 

Where from Jeroen?

 

Keith

[dnl42]

10 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Maybe I can get at it with this sanding bit on my multi tool... 

 

 

But, although it has a low setting, it still turns pretty fast and it's quite tricky.... 

Braver and more skillful than I can manage with such power tools on plastic.

 

I will use the router bits on plastic using a pin vise to profile various openings.

[JeroenS]

2 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Where from Jeroen?

I ordered it from a Dutch site, but I think the thing itself comes from a German supplier. 

 

https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/p/donau-kleine-boormachine-type-2-12-18v-dc-45-w/9200000113342340/?bltgh=s11YlLC55hZWkxC-PkRFzg.2_36.45.ProductImage#modal_open

[JeroenS]

2 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Braver and more skillful than I can manage with such power tools on plastic.s.

That's why I chickened out and just used a piece of sandpaper 🙂 

[JeroenS]

This will probably look familiar to a lot of you.... I received the mini drill today and it runs beautifully off .... 

 

 

my old Lego train transformer. 

 

It even has the right connectors. 

 

 

The only downside is that the transformer switch is stepped, but the drill runs very slowly at the lowest setting so I think it's fine. 

 

I have a Fleischmann transformer as well, which uses these thin wires in a push/clamp type connector and the switch is not stepped, but it doesn't seem to want to run the drill if I hold the wires against the plugs. I may need to make female connectors for it, I'll have a look. But for now, I'm happy with the way it runs off the ol' Lego transformer. 

 

[Neddy]

Looks ideal to me, I hope it's as useful to you as mine is to me.

[dnl42]

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

I received the mini drill today and it runs beautifully off .... my old Lego train transformer. 

How wonderfully appropriate!

[Jbourne124]

@JeroenS I’ll start by saying I was curious, I was watching you labor away at this to achieve a three door golf so I went ahead and contacted USCP and asked them if they’d consider doing a mk3 gti body/interior transkit and to my delight they said they’d been considering it for some time, so the message ended with “it’ll possibly be in the works this year”

[JeroenS]

7 minutes ago, Jbourne124 said:

@JeroenS I’ll start by saying I was curious, I was watching you labor away at this to achieve a three door golf so I went ahead and contacted USCP and asked them if they’d consider doing a mk3 gti body/interior transkit and to my delight they said they’d been considering it for some time, so the message ended with “it’ll possibly be in the works this year”

That's good news. To be honest, I think the fujimi kit should have been the 3 door to begin with, I think it would have been more interesting for us modellers.

[Jbourne124]

I couldn’t agree more @JeroenS

[JeroenS]

So, I started the process of filling the gaps. First, a small piece of 1 mm card. 

 

 

I'm leaving a bit of space around it, so that I can better fill those gaps with Milliput. Less chance of cracking that way, I hope. You can also see that I still needed to burr out (if that's a term) the front door handle area. 

 

I used my small 12V drill for the first time, on the transformer's lowest setting and that worked really well. 

 

 

Then, a little more card. 

 

 

The plan is now to sand the protruding plastic down so it sits flush with the door panel. After which I should be able to start filling gaps. 

 

[Neddy]

It's great watching this process and seeing it gradually evolve into a 3-door.  Great work. Glad the mini-drill turned out to be OK.

[klubman01]

Great progress thus far.  Nice work.

Trevor