Time to get a build thread started . I finally found a decent roller not too far from me ( only a 10 hour round trip ) and got her home this past weekend , so let`s get to it . Plans for this thing are purpose built to see track time when possible and a blast to drive on the twisty roads around me . I am going to do this car in stages so that I can get it on the road before winter ( I hope ) . So far I have fairly clean roller , parts car to supply most of the missing parts and going to look at a 03` Passat this weekend for the engine and trans swap . I am replacing the factory wiring with a painless style harness and re-using what bits I need for the headlight motors and the wipers . I want to swap out the 4 lug to 5 lug and stronger hubs , but that will be another stage . Later , build a fresh engine with necessary upgrades to handle high boost along with the required parts to go along with high boost . So the plan as of right now is
(1) fab engine and trans mounts
(2) put car on rotisserie , remove suspension , install body reinforcement
(3) replace rear trunk floor , front trunk floor and outer jack plates
(4) clean and prep the bottom of the car and spray in color matched bedliner
(5) spray engine bay in body color
(6) re install engine/trans and suspension

Once all that is done , I will map out the next steps . But enough talk for now time to add pics , people like pics .

Floor

hellhole

Front trunk

rear trunk

Looks like a good start. The 1.8t is a great motor...

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Totally forgot about the finished theme for the car . Going white with black interior , metal GT flares , Martini livery , custom width and offset steelies . I also am looking to do the 911 style dash conversion and gauges as I go . Been up since 5 this morning and everything is starting to run together , that 4 hour round trip to pickup parts after work didn`t help . I`m going to crash for the evening . I will read through this again tomorrow and add things since I am sure this came out like jibberish .

I picked up a parts car yesterday and it has a few things I wanted , as well as some things to sell and recover some money . An older set of 916 bumpers , a rear deck spoiler and some interior bits . I also went and looked at the donor car for the drivetrain this afternoon . It will be coming home this Friday .

Rear

Deck lid

And some bits to sell

Congrats! Great looking start. Read mine and Mikes build threads for some inspiration and "how we did it"

Any plans on the work youll do to the motor?

Right now , I am going to get the car itself built and run the stock 1.8t engine . Once the car is road worthy , I can work on building a fresh engine . I can get a long block from the local pick n pull for about $100 . Swapping out the engine later and upgrading the suspension can be done fairly easy . Getting the fab work done and spraying the underside and inside of the tub are a big part right now .

Those stainless heat exchangers will sell quickly.

Donor car is home . Already have a few people wanting some parts .

Perfect donor. That's what I started with, then stripped completely down.

Slow work stripping the donor car . I am going to sell everything I can that I am not going to be using . Yes I have become one of those guys , this was a 2 owner car that had never been wrecked .

Must be kind of fun^^

You can see how things are put together without the worry of getting it back together correctly.

Been busy pulling the donor apart as well as doing some fitting and figuring in the afternoons after work . I made some headway today with fitting the column . I have a rough fitment of the radiator up front , just need to finalize it once I find a condenser that will fit and clear . I received my Boxster shift box and linkage this morning , tried to find a comfortable position for it . Work is trying to run us in the ground right now with 60 and 70 hour weeks , which is fine for the pocket but hard to get anything done . But enough about my problems , a couple pics of progress .

Column pic 1

Column pic 2

I tossed the Passat harness in and routed things the way they needed to go . I am surprised as to how well things line up . The biggest thing I will have to do it extend the leg of the harness for the engine harness . The best thing is , I save harnesses from cars I part out and I should be able to match every wire for size and color . At least now I know how much modding I have to do to the main harness .

That last pic looks a lot like Andyrew's project...

Keep up the good work!

No pics or progress to amount to anything , I did order the Wilwood pedal assembly lastnight . Working 12 hour days right now and it looks like I will be working Sunday for sure , possibly Saturday too . The weather isn`t helping either , close to 100 degrees and it rains right before I get off so everything is just humid as can be . Oh well , can`t rain all the time .

Woohoo , parts . Pedal assembly cam in today , so I put it in place to come up with a mounting solution . Looks like I will be using some place steel and put a leg on the front edge to tie it in with the front firewall and cover the factory master cylinder opening as well . I did a little messing around with ideas for a dash , more on that once I have something built . For now , a simple pic of the new pedal assy.

This is a totally out of the blue question , but what options do I have for power windows before I go out and re invent the wheel ?

Mike Bellis has power windows. He is using a universal kit, check out his build thread.

I have a SPAL kit. They are the best universal kit out there. They do not come with switches but offer a lot of options.

A little work over the weekend and some surprise parts as well . I managed to work out a suitable plate to mount the wilwood pedal assembly . I`m going to make it a little thicker and put studs in it for mounting the pedal assembly and bolt the plate to the car using the holes for the factory master cylinder and a couple new holes in the floor pan . I also found a new fiberglass 916 nose from QRS right here in town not even 15 minutes from my house . I picked it up for $200 , which is great since I didn`t have to worry about shipping . I had another thought since I am looking to do power windows , the rear door handles from the Passat might fit the bill for a bit of an update . I got another surprise last night , but more on that once it is back home . For now , a couple pics .

New front bumper fits a lot better to the car .

And said door handles

Wow, thats the best fitting fiberglass bumper Ive ever seen....

Agree ^^

I just installed one and it fits pretty poorly.

The sides are a little off , but hey , they are a lot easier to fix . These long days and rain every afternoon is really slowing me down . I need to finish getting that drivetrain out so I can start fabbing the cross members .

The sides were made for GT flares.

I know , the stepped cutout is off a little bit where it meets the front edge of the fender is all .

Progress has been slow the past week or so . Long hours at work , near 100 degree days and rain pretty much every afternoon for 2 weeks . I had to divert some funds meant for this project to bring something home from the past that now means an awful lot to me . I know it isn`t a 914 but I feel a need to share it . This pic is about 25 years old but you get the idea . 1973 VW Thing , my dad and I restored this back when I was in high school . He sold it back in 90` or 91` I believe . It was sold to a family friend who kept it in a garage since he bought it . I lost my dad to cancer in April of last year and shortly after that I talked to the guy that bought it and asked if they ever decided to sell it I wanted first dibs . Well in a sad turn of events he passed away last month , but his son called me up and offered it to me first , so needless to say , it is coming home next Sunday . It has not moved out of the garage since 07` , so I have some work ahead of me . What can I say , right now I am really excited but sad at the same time .

What a great project!

Although I am sure you wished the circumstances were different, the fortunate part was you were able to buy it back and have something further to remember your Father by.

Very cool story

Got a couple things today , one of the 3 master cylinders needed and new tie rod ends and boots . We are finally back on 8 hour days at work so I hope to make more progress . I was wanting to have the engine swapped and have the car running and driving by the end of September , but not sure if I can pull that off now .

End of September? It took me 2 months alone to figure the wiring out! My conversion was just about 1 full year from start to running. I will be extremely surprised if your running this year..

The Thing looks fun!!

I`ve done 6 or 8 engine swaps for myself and another 3 or 4 for other people . I have a lot of time in the VW camp , I`m the guy everybody calls for wiring help . I built an entire harness for my old scirocco in my living room floor in a weekend . I have 2 55 gallon barrels full of harnesses I keep from the cars I part out . Needless to say , wiring doesn`t scare me at all .

Ok

If your familiar with the Audi harnesses then great, if not its days of research.PS do you have the bentley manuals?

Oh yes , at first it took me a while to wrap my head around the way they lay the diagram out , but now I love it that way .

Not much to add progress wise . I have collected more parts , including early 911 e brake plates , 5 lug rear hubs and 108mm stubs on the way as well . I`m going to take a week of vacation in the next few weeks so I can unwind and get a little done on the car . I should have a friends car out of here tomorrow , I have been storing it behind my place . With it being gone , I can finally have the 914 parts car delivered and get it stripped . I hope we are done with the rain for a while , it has really put a hurting on my progress .

I got a little fab work done . I ended up using 1/4" plate to make the bracket , since that is what I could get cut for free . I marked everything out and drilled it in the drill press and used studs tacked on the backside of the plate to mount the pedal cluster . I have everything for the shifter now , time to get a dolly built for the engine and trans so I can roll it under the car and start fabbing the mounts .

When I installed my pedal assembly (very similar to your set-up and mounting plate) I found the floor was not nearly strong enough for my application. I ended up having to enlarge the plate out to the rocker. If you have a hot rod - you are probably fine. If you track it, you might want to rethink that install. Best wishes!

Trev

Thanks for the input Trev . I don`t want to have to redo what I already done , so I guess I could run a length of flat bar from rocker to rocker underneath and stitch weld it , bolting through my pedal plate and the flat bar . This is not going to be a purpose built track car , but it will see as much time at VIR and Summit Point as I can manage .

sounds good...here is what I ended up doing. I now also have carpet that extends to the base of the plate. Good luck and maybe I'll see you at VIR someday.

T Rev

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Think you missed the point that Trev made,the plate you have is thick but you don't have it over a large enough area,you could have gone thinner and spread it further if you get my drift .

So tired after this week , 95 and the humidity took it out of me . My parts car was finally dropped off yesterday . Lots of good bits I needed , also still had both factory sway bars . It still has the complete AC setup in questionable condition , but could be used for somebody want to go that route . I have got most of the engine mounts done , still have some welding to do but like the rest of my week , the regulator on the gas bottle popped and I lost almost all my C25 . I`ll get some pics tomorrow , I`m drained right now . Lol , I don`t work this hard at my real job .