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I had been planning a big weekend to make progress, and start really putting the body back together. But on Saturday morning I got a call from my son. He had just finished a week of camping near Zion NP with friends, and on the last morning in the park he stopped and found all the oil no longer in the engine.

We both tried to determine options. The nearest VW dealer (St. George) did not have an oil pan in stock, and claimed about a week before they could do the job. For him to tow the car back home (Tucson) he would need to rent a trailer and box van from Uhaul, for at least several hundred $. Commercial towing would be silly expensive. So being a generous father, I volunteered to rent a tow dolly locally, and drive 400 miles to get him.

We got it home and dropped the plastic oil pan. It was cracked on the rear edge, but no other visible damage. Parts should arrive tomorrow, and he can be on the way home Tuesday.

Good Pop.

Fuch, my son has the same VW,,Nice heads up.....

Hope the car wasn’t hungry

My son ordered an optional steel pan to replace the stock plastic piece. It should be tougher.

Still useful!

Here's the cracked plastic oil pan from the GTI.

As a replacement, he ordered a steel replacement from URO.

All done, successfully running again.

While he was working, I started painting the spots I had scraped and primed, or applied seam sealer.

First coat in the hell hole and below.

Beautiful.

Well done Bkrantz!

• URO Parts has offered steel Oil Pan 06J 103 600AF for 2008-2014 GTI (cars without oil level sensor also require Oil Level Sender Cover 03G 103 707) for about a year, with great feedback.

• We offer aluminum pan 06K 103 600R-PRM for 2015-2016 GTI cars that originally came with the honeycomb plastic pan, which appears to be the factory pan on your son's car.

What year is your son's GTI? It looks like he may have bought the wrong pan, even if the flange bolt pattern is the same. The 2008-2014 steel pan is slightly deeper and will hang lower than the 2015-2016 honeycomb aluminum pan, and is more likely to catch speedbumps, etc. Sent you a PM.

I finished spraying color today (I think), and got coverage on all the spots, including the added seam sealer. I will add some clear coat and call it done.

Other side

Left side hell hole.

I touched up the last few spots, including in the frunk weatherstrip channel.

OK, except for a few very small spots, the paint is now complete. Time to start building.

Great job!

Now the fun begins.

Indeed!

My initial plan:

1. Dynamat on floor and inside of firewall.
2. Fuel lines in tunnel.
3. Brake line in tunnel.
4. Cables in tunnel.
5. Wiring harness.

Comments?

Before adding parts to the body, I decided to add some rust prevention in the cavities, especially the longs. I have had a couple of cans of Eastwood Internal Frame Coating sitting around for months.

I used the access holes to get inside the longs.

The nozzle and hose are small enough diameter to sneak past obstructions.

Access to the upper part of the rear longs.

And also inside the tunnel. The nozzle sprays a 180 degree pattern.

In addition, I sprayed inside the lower firewall, the closed brace by the driver pedal area, the cross brace in the trunk, and the side braces under the fuel tank.

Prelims almost done.

Great work!

I usually use about 10 of those cans on a car before paint. I do everything I can find.
I have had it come out other holes and get everywhere, hence, Before paint.
Blankets and tape everywhere while working and all will be well.
Let the fun begin.

Thanks. I probably should have done it before paint, but I managed to get the sealer where I wanted without too much mess.

Some schedule changes means some work plan changes. I will have a chance to drop off the fuel tank for cleaning, so I pulled it from storage.

Tank stripped of fittings and sender.

A peek inside--some surface rust.

Are you using the radiator shop in town on N. Main? He is pretty good.

He did my friends 356 tank last year.

We are making a run to Tucson. At least one shop there offers the RENU process. I am also taking some interior parts, including the seats, to talk with some custom upholstery shops.

Here's what my seats looks like now, essentially a stock look. A couple of the side bolsters are a bit lumpy. The bottom cushions are original (I think--could be extra padding on top), but are maybe a bit thick for me--I will need every bit of head room, at least with the top on.

The bottoms are also attached with custom PO bolts.

Now that's some quality work right there.

No retaining clip on the base board.

Hence the nice "bolt work" from the PO.

Another slight detour: I remembered that to mount the engine compartment deflectors I needed to drill holes, something else I forgot before send the car to the paint shop.

Here's the deflector kit from 914 Rubber, and the page from the shop manual with the magic spacing dimension.

Holes drilled from below.

Test fit.

Holes touched up.

I picked up some of my engine parts from Competition Engineering in Phoenix.

Lots of air-cooled clutter.

Heads with complete (stock) valve job.

Crank checked and journals polished.