Author Topic: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"  (Read 48301 times)

Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #20 on: 29 May 2014, 20:41 »
A small update and not an awful lot of progression forwards. The alloys are back from the powder coaters, they look pretty smart but yet to get tyres fitted and them prep’d for fitting to the car. No photos as of yet, but expect some soon enough. Looking into applying some good quality wheel wax to protect these rims for life, as well as investing in some brand new locking wheel nuts and centre caps to finish off the look nicely.

I managed to find a JOM badge-less grill on eBay going for £55, but sadly when it arrived it was damaged;


A quick message to the eBay seller and they said they will replace it as soon as more came into stock, and I shouldn’t need to ship the old one back to them, so potential repair and sell it on cheap I reckon. Need to now look into the best way to secure a front number plate using magnets.

Also worth a mention is the engine bay. Bought myself a black coolant cap and washer bottle cap, a Porsche 911 oil cap and this little bit of bling for a tidy price of £67;


Decided to treat myself, and the car, to a bit of eye candy;


Also attended the Lakeside meet this Sunday just gone (25th May) and was a great turn out, lovely weather and got my hands on VCDS to clear my airbag light and lots of other error codes too. Shout out to whoever it was who gave me their laptop, give me a message so I can edit this line with your username! (I’m useless with names.) And yes, I’m proud of my wing mirror stickers;


Next month I hope to fit the grill, alloys, colour code my splitter and side skirts, gloss black my rear valance and maybe soon source a GTI leather interior. Stand by for updates.

Moving over to Flickr, sorry for the broken picture links!

Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #21 on: 01 June 2014, 21:37 »
A good weekend, plenty of sunlight and a small, but in itself massive update. Alloys are all fitted and look much better than I first though they would. My girlfriend and I both agree that colour coding the side skirts wouldn’t suit as much as leaving the trim black, so I think it’ll stay as it is on the sides, perhaps a gloss black but yet to decide. Opinions are very welcome in terms of colour coding options. Feel free to PM me! Also gave her a much overdue scrub and polish, managed to remove a lot of the concrete damage from my work’s car park but still a bit more restoration required.







One of Evie and my girl’s GTI;

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Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #22 on: 22 June 2014, 22:22 »
Another update for you all. Remember the broken badge-less grill I got? That has been replaced and I got to keep the broken one, so had a go at using some of this on it;



Taped up the crack to hold it together while I fibre glassed it together;




It’s held together pretty strong, however I didn’t get it quite perfect and think it’s beyond much help;


Going to offer it up and see how it fits, if it’ll go into a grill then I’ll look at using some filler on it and re-spraying it then donating it to my girlfriend’s GTI. If it fails, it’s a good bit of practise I guess as didn’t cost me anything and better to mess this up than something I really need.

This weekend was Essex Vee Dubber’s annual show at Battlesbridge in Essex, so me and the girlfriend took a trip there on the Saturday. It’s mostly a bugs and buses club but a few water cooled cars out on parade, some pictures of are below. Full album can be found here - http://s687.photobucket.com/user/mikemaher205/library/Essex%20Vee%20Dubbers%202014





We then discovered that there was a show and shine on the Sunday, and after a little chill out at home, the words “let’s do the show and shine tomorrow. I’ll get the bucket” were uttered, and my our Saturday night turned into this;
#


Bit of hot soapy to de-grease my plastic trim bits, and a lot of scrubbing later;


Only got the interior done in the evening, we woke up early to prep the cars Sunday morning, then finished off with a final polish at the show;



Didn’t win s**t but a good weekend out none the less.

So anyway, actual updates… Well I’m picking up a full leather interior next Saturday, got a leather armrest on order which is fully refurbished. Also got some shiny bits coming too, for some added bling. I’m buying a second steering wheel and that’ll go off soon to be customised, once I’ve finished drawing up my designs. I reckon some new rear speakers will get chucked in as well, once I can dig out a good guide but think it may be a case of driving around with interior parts missing for a few weeks while I sort it all out! If anyone has a good guide for rear speaker replacement in a 3 door, I’ll owe you a beer.

In other developments, bored of my 345mm brakes already, looking towards an upgrade to 4 piston Porsche brakes in the next year or two, after some other bits. Also going to try and source some Eibach or Koni coilovers on the cheap to sort out the ride height and handling, liking the sound of Koni more as they offer a softer ride and seeing as I’m not much more than a fast road user, seems perfect for my needs, but more research is required.

Been looking into getting a BCS Power Valve full exhaust system too, again in a few months I may look to getting one and officially going Stage 2. Yet to be justified but getting there. Sent off some e-mails for quotes on re-spray jobs too, nothing back yet sadly.

Other than that, nothing much going on. Selling off parts as I’m a bit homeless and don’t want to be storing stuff in my room at work so keep an eye on the classifieds! That’s all for now, enjoy.

Moving over to Flickr, sorry for the broken picture links!

Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #23 on: 28 June 2014, 16:26 »
Interior Rebuild Part 1

Seeing as this is going to be a mini-build thread on it's own, it gets a proper title and everything. Part one mostly involves actually picking up the bits I need and learning how to do the jobs ahead.

Firstly, I needed to make room as hiring a van was ridiculously expensive. Ripped the back seats out to make space;




Didn't have an M10 spline bit so couldn't remove the 2/3 back rest. Took a trip to meet a fellow forum member (mk_boy85) to pick up a full leather interior and new steering wheel and airbag. Luckily for me we had to take his car apart to get the panels off so I've learnt how to strip most of my interior in preparation for the rebuild.

All loaded up;



We met at AKS Tuning, and had a chat with Alex. He's a natural salesman, looks like all my chassis work will be going to him end of the year! H&R coilovers and anti roll bars, plus some engine mounts and bushes I reckon. Plus a TTRS brake upgrade. :evil:

Next phase is to clean everything up and make it look factory fresh, along with sourcing some new audio all round. Thinking of wiring the rear speaks to a multi-channel amp so they can get some extra power to them and the option of running a sub at a later date is then there. Front audio might wait a bit loner as it's far easier to do than the rear set up. Also going to look at putting extra sound dampening in the new door cars to help comfort and aid audio.

First though, MOT is due so no new mods until it's all done and then insurance (yes, we mustn't forget the legal side to all this).

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Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #24 on: 29 July 2014, 21:25 »
Had AmD Tuning fit a set of Bilstein B14 coilovers and the ECS Tuning top mount kit (which is really just Audi TTS/RS3 top mounts up front and OEM rear top mounts). My short review of the kits combined is that the car drives better than stock along the motorway and around corners it’s on another world. Obviously I can’t compare the kit fairly at this time for two reason, firstly I’ve only just fitted it so honeymoon stage isn’t over and it’s still bedding in and secondly this is the first time I’ve ever run coilovers so I’m going to be bias towards them. But as a sub £1000 (well nearly!) investment, it’s well worth it.

Also decided to begin the exterior cosmetic upgrades by fitting my JOM de-badged front grill with accompanying pressed plate on magnets. Also run pressed plates out back with an ABT surround, will need to sort it before I take any pictures though as it’s off to one side and bugs the hell out of me. Can’t put imperfect pictures up online, would be shameful. The magnet mod for the plate works a treat, £15 of parts all in (magnets, felt, super glue and some gorilla tape) and it’s certainly changed the front end. However now I’m not sure I like my alloy style with the front, it’s a clash of euro style with motor sport theme in my eyes and I’m unsure on it. Already looking at swapping alloys to something like BBS LM (well, reps as I’m poor) or the new Wolfrace Roadster (yet to be put on sale). Also going to fit my Edition 30 front splitter before making a real decision on wheels.

Picture time…




After some messing about on image editing software...



Currently sat at the highest setting, 30mm drop over stock. Will let the dampers bed in a bit and see how she handles around my local proving ground before adjusting the height a bit. May drop a further 5-10mm but I don’t like it when I can’t see the top of the tyre in the arch.

My second GTI steering wheel is off to the trimmers to get done up, will post pictures of when it’s back and then fitted in the car. Next month will be leather interior upgrade time along with a full audio upgrade. Running all the speakers off of an external amp as my Kenwood head unit is, frankly, pants. I may try and begin sorting my ED30 splitter too but that’s a low priority right now, need to sort my interior as I’m fed up of not having a room at work to live in! Crap corner is back with a vengeance…
« Last Edit: 29 July 2014, 22:21 by th3_f15t »

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Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #25 on: 02 August 2014, 19:50 »
Just to add, I also fitted an Edition 30 gear knob and gaiter:



While I've been bored, I've mocked up some simulations of future alloys from my car. Tell me what you think...






I'm liking the top style, even more if my car were Viper Green metallic.

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Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #26 on: 09 August 2014, 19:22 »
Interior Rebuild Part 2

Today has been a day of challenges. Not quite sure why I ever thought stripping my interior would be a good idea, but went ahead anyway. Firstly, I had to drive back to London to grab some of the interior as it’s stored over two locations, and began gathering all the tools I’ll need.




The next morning, work began. Stripped the rear seats in London and grabbed my new leather ones, but still had to get the rear quarter panels out.




Health and safety, the bloody pop-in rivets that VW use were flying at me so feared for my eyes. Got the rear panels out and decided to adapt a guide I’ve read, that was created by SI-R32. He mentioned about drilling the rivets out in the car, but I decided to unbolt the plastic housing and remove it from the car completely.





Drilled the old rivets out a bit, then just pulled it through. Lined up my new speaker, drilled new holes in the panel and riveted it back in, as well as using some bond to hold it in securely and absorb vibrations.




Used a Stanley knife to cut out the original tweeter, then used more bond to secure the new ones.




Left it all to dry for a few hours, sorted out the wiring a bit. Use Velcro to hold the cross over box on, so I can pull it off when I attach the rear panels again and wire up the tweeter.




Over the next few days I'll wire in the amp, fit the front speakers, connect the speakers to the amp, test it all and then re-build the panels and door cards, then fit the new leather seats. Only a few hours I reckon... :whistle:
« Last Edit: 12 August 2014, 15:12 by th3_f15t »

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Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #27 on: 10 August 2014, 10:39 »
Also doing a major service while I'm going...



Already spilt a litre of used oil on the driveway!

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Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #28 on: 11 August 2014, 21:59 »
Day two, mostly wiring up and trying to get things to the stage of putting it back together. Some pictures first:




Now the usual guides say to run the RCA cables on the opposite side of the car from the power cable, but I couldn’t be bothered with that. I just moved the power cable a few inches away from the RCA cable to avoid interference.



Wired it up and ran an initial test, it worked which was a relief! Started putting things back together:






I may have injured my thumb with a Stanley knife, hence the tissue and tape bandage…




The driver’s side panel is on, ran another test before clamping it back down and everything worked, just got to re-fit the passenger side and all the trim, then the seats, secure the amp to the back of the seats, neaten up the wiring and then clean up. One more day I reckon.

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Offline th3_f15t

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Re: th3_f15t - '07 GTI "Project Evie"
« Reply #29 on: 12 August 2014, 15:11 »
Right, so this is my third and final day of working on the car, giving it a break after this as I need to focus on my uni work otherwise I’ll mess up my exams next month. So I got out early this morning and attacked the final stages and final rebuild of the rear part of my car.

Holding my amp on with Velcro, so it’s easily taken off for maintenance or replacement, which it may well be very soon as it now wants to blow all the fuses every time I connect the earth lead to the damn thing. 6 fuses later and I think I may disconnect the battery and wire it up then re-connect the battery to see if that gets round the problem. Can’t understand this as it was fine during testing, fear something’s gone a bit amiss inside now it’s mounted up.




Partially done:



That’s how it sits at the moment, need to get it all working before I do anything else. Some research is needed and yet more fuses, when my local Halfords re-stock them.

So now I have a half leather interior. By this I mean the rear is leather, the front is not. I plan to swap the front seats and armrest over another weekend, with door cards and speakers probably being done end of September before I go away for two months. Also, I shall begin organising my cloth GTI interior for sale, too early for a price and definite date of availability yet but if you’re thinking of getting one for your own VW, let me know.




Moving over to Flickr, sorry for the broken picture links!