Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

Thanks - things are still moving... although slowly. The passenger fender area is at about the same place as the driver's side and I've been cleaning and welding and cleaning and cleaning the major seams under the back seat area. I didn't clean up all the joints between the new pan and my car very well before the pan went in (too excited to install it I guess) so I'm stuck doing things the hard way... but there's only about 20% of the welding left which includes reshaping the inner fenders. This time off work should help though

[Spooling_turbos]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

Keep up the progress - we've had nice few days for mid/end december. Better messing around outside with the car than being indoor at the malls

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

DAYS FOURTY SIX - FIFTY

Been chipping away as I have time and have been focusing on the back seat area - I had just tacked things in place so now I'm kind of working front to back. Filling lots of spot-weld holes, etc... very time consuming.

Today I got the drivers side wheel well partially trimmed and welded to the TT pan. At the back of the wheel well you can see a piece, that's attached to the TT frame rail, is sitting forward of the original well shape - not sure what to think of that yet but it may need to be massaged...

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

DAY FOURTY FIVE

My pile of TT body parts came in handy again - cut the two side panels that fit in-between the floor pan and lower inner fender. Only trimmed and welded one into place but here is the test fit from the top...




Bottom view...




Tacked into place...

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

Just wondering, when all is said and done, are you planning on spraying some rubberized undercoating on the in and outside of the pan?

I have brush-on seam sealer for the underside which will be applied asap. The inside of the trunk will get partially primed until next summer when the weather is warm enough that I can properly clean everything up. I wish I could just do everything now but I'm running out of warm enough weather pretty quickly...

[145117]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

Just wondering, when all is said and done, are you planning on spraying some rubberized undercoating on the in and outside of the pan?

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

DAY FOURTY FOUR

Had a lazy day today but did get the top middle panel tacked into place and ready for some more welding and then smoothing. This side just needs the vertical panel, by the vents, that joins to the bottom of the fender as well...

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

DAY FOURTY THREE

Not the most inspiring start to the day but still pretty tame for December...




Got the far panel with the lip on the top in - just need one vertical panel on the other side of the lip that joins to the bottom of the fender...

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

You do realize that you're already a champion getting this far. Just saying! Especially working outside, in the wet snow and the cold. Do you have a couple of buddies to help you out along the way or is all of this monstrosity done by yourself? Do you have a name for the Jetta yet?

Haha - thanks. I've really just lucked out with the weather. It's been pretty warm and for the couple weeks it was cold I just stayed inside

The city bylaw allows noise until 10:00 but I've been shutting down around 6:00 or 7:00 each night because grinding metal is loud and my neighbours have kids... so I only get a couple hours in a night in and just work at it myself.

No name for my "people's car" but I can't wait to be driving it again!

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

DAY FOURTY TWO

The profiles of the two pans don't match that well so I've been grinding relief cuts into ridges that need to come down and tacking things together while I hold them in place. The panel is secured nicely though so with some more filling and grinding tomorrow the wheel well area should be done and I can get busy on the last couple gaps along the sides of the trunk - I'll see if I can get a decent shot of those tomorrow...

[Spooling_turbos]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

You do realize that you're already a champion getting this far. Just saying! Especially working outside, in the wet snow and the cold. Do you have a couple of buddies to help you out along the way or is all of this monstrosity done by yourself? Do you have a name for the Jetta yet?

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

DAY FOURTY

Day off... gettn' work done - at work...

DAY FOURTY ONE

Got the back piece of the TT pan welded in and prepped the GLI piece that will fill the gap. Guess I could probably drive like this if I need too - that gap is nothing a piece of cardboard and some duct tape wouldn't take care of...

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

DAY THIRTY NINE

Tacked down the driver's side a little better and fit and tacked two pieces of the floor pan on the passenger side...

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

Double digit temps for a few days this week!!!!

Ya, I can't believe this weather we're having now - hope it keeps up!

[All_Euro]

Re: Floor Pan Swap - haldex to come...

DAY THIRTY EIGHT

Decided to just extend the pan in smaller pieces - the pan/bumper area intersection has multiple planes to connect to and neither pan works on its own. The radius on this GLI section is very close to the TT radius so it was prepped and the first piece to go in - the clamped portions that overlap were cut flush-ish and then butt-welded together. Notice the back tab where the spot-welds were drilled out... there are three different mounting depths there. One at the top, another by the hole in the tab and a third at the bottom...






Don't be a jack-ass: always precisely measure and mark out your cuts before safely securing the item to be cut to something stable and trustworthy. Last but not least, always use the proper tool for the job in a well lit area...




I cut this top piece along the crease before the radius that bends down into the wheel-well since the GLI crease was bigger than the TT's - so now they match up nicely and it made fitting easier. I tacked this panel into place and called it a night but next time I'll fill the two little holes you can see from the earlier butt-weld and do some work on the back tabs. Unfortunately this top piece isn't wide enough to go all the way to the inner-fender but there's a vertical portion that needs to bridge the upper and lower portion of the inner-fender by the clamp anyway; so maybe I can just cut another piece a bit long and bend it at the top...