Meet Flintstone, our 1992 1.9 Petrol Caravelle Syncro

[Mickyfin]

Front top grill removed today, what a bugger it was disconnecting the headlight washer pipes. Had to heat them up to get them off lol..

Sanded down ready to paint..



Masked wall off, and sprayed matt black



Next up is the bull bar refurbish

[Mickyfin]

Grills fitted. Still need to finish the front panel, but am waiting on the correct paint codes to arrive.



Oh, and the bumpers, front is sprayed already, rear is sanded down awaiting paint, then once 2 pairs of end caps arrive, I will refit them both, including tow bar.

[Mickyfin]

Rear bumper ready to paint//



And painted..



There are some small imperfections but will be covered when rubber bump strip is clipped onto it

[Mickyfin]

Rear bumper etc fitted with old end caps, but new bolts for it, and the tow bar..

[silverbullet]

Much tidier, well done. Kudos to you for doing the work on an apartment balcony!

[Mickyfin]

Cheers mate, its the only place I can work lol, unless of course I drive 20km to our summer house to do it. I think I will have to spray the bull bar there as its too big to do on the balcony

[Mickyfin]

Final finishing touch, fitted the rubber bump strip. Was a little concerned at first as I fitted a washer, and locking washer, and the bolts were sticking out a fair bit, but thankfully the strip fitted, and concealed them perfectly, chuffed

[Mickyfin]

Well, while waiting for paint, and bumper end caps, and of course pay day, I thought I would wire in my new stereo, only 12 months since I purchased it

Previous owners poor wiring



Does anyone know if this is the ISO wiring harness?



Also found some mystery plugs to the rear of the diff lock panel. I have a rear locker, could these be for a front locking diff? Photo is looking directly down through the ashtray hole.



New MP3 player installed..

[Mickyfin]

New bumper end caps arrived, not VW, but aftermarket jobbies. Before I can refit the front bumper, I need to paint the lower valance blue, as its currently in undercoat. Bad thing is, the temperatures have dropped here now Fall is here. Oh, and I also need to cut down my coach bolts as they are too long.

[silverbullet]

That multiplug is wiring for some radio or other I think, you can safely go by the wiring colours if it goes directly into the loom, as it will be DIN standard colours but that could be anything. It's not a VW radio plug of the period, that was a 3-pin white/opaque job with red (permanent live) black( ign. switched 12v) and brown (earth) and speaker wiring was run seperately IIRC

[Mickyfin]

Cheers mate, I have since wired in the new stereo, and tidied up the wiring as it was a mess.

[Mickyfin]

Sun was out today, so wasted no time in getting the front end prepared for respraying in Marine Blue...



It better not rain over night now as I plan on respraying tomorrow after another fine sand down, then I can refit my refurbished bumper with new end caps.

I have cut down my coach bolts, hoping they are now not too long.

[Mickyfin]

Bit more work done today as the weather has been kind for me the last couple of days.

Here's my step by step progress today after yesterdays sanding the front end down. I have left the bottom part near the bumper iron, as I will be stone chipping it with a brush soon.

Masked off, and after a single coat..



A few more coats, and Im over the moon how its turned out, just goes to show that the prep work is key to a great finish..



Lower grill refitted..



Upper grill refitted and headlight washers plumbed back in with new fittings..



Bumper back on with new end caps..



Since doing the above, I remove my door mirrors and gave them a sand down and spray with matt black, came out great, and will tie me over until I find some Syncro mirrors.

Left to do is to stone chip the lower front, then onto the rear hatch to colour code that back to marine, and capri blues. Will now be removing the windows next spring/summer as Im losing the weather now for bodywork outside sadly.

[Mickyfin]

Finally got around to changing my power steering fluid, which I found last year froze during -35 temps.

Drained the old stuff out by removing the one pipe from the pump, and whilst engine running, and warm, proceeded to turn the steering left and right for a while until empty.

It was only -16 here yesterday, and the old stuff already started to paste up with the cold, so obviously had lost its low temp properties.

New fluid in, and everything is good, the power steering is brilliant now, light as a feather

New parcel arrived today from Brickwerks..



My new complete exhaust system, very well packaged, and arrived in just 4 days from UK to Finland..

[silverbullet]

Only -16!!! Probably more comfortable than the +6 and damp here though... Interesting to hear about that PAS fluid, I can only think that ATF is hygroscopic in the long term. Never heard of this problem before, but there's always something new to learn!