Wazzzer - 1.8T

[Wazzzer]

Some pics my mate took down the quay









Both rear carriers are now painted and have had new sliders and pins fitted as well as new silicone grease, one rear caliper is painted and also one of the Brembo fronts.



Just need to fit the new bleed nipples and a sticker to finish it

Just a quick sample of the net optic door handles I've been rubbing down.



I've gone all the way and sanded all the rubber crap off the plastic and painting it satin black as well as sanding off the net optic pattern. I've also added a quick dust of lacquer to the brushed metal for a bit more protection. Need to finish the others now, they're very time consuming but I'm really happy with the way this one has turned out

This is the worst one by far, glad it's done now



Decided to finally repair the damage the wife did to one of the wheels last week and decided I'm going for a different colour.

So I got to work in my parents garage while they looked after my kids for the afternoon

Wheel flatted back and chemical metal applied on the damaged area



Damage repaired



Masked up ready for primer



Primer applied



and time for some colour





those two pics make it look yellow due to the strip light...





The colour is grigio carbon, an Alfa Romeo/Fiat colour. I'll be flatting the paint back this evening and chucking some lacquer on. I'm only going to polish the spokes, the insides can stay gun/can finish lol

One down, three to go...

Added some lacquer this evening and started cutting it back and polishing, not bad for a first attempt...





Two wheels done...





Should look nice with some big red Brembos behind them soon...

I've just got some new rear tyres for the rear, didn't quite realise how low they were so makes sense to get them done now

Not touched my wheels since the last update, had way too much on with various things

I've cleaned up the other caliper now, left it sitting in a bucket of water with grease cutting fairy liquid which did a really good job of shifting the baked on brake dust. It's now in the shed awaiting a few coats of paint then it will be ready to fit.

I've also bought some new brake pads front and rear for the brake setup so that's ready as soon as the painting is done.

I've booked some space in my mates workshop next week that I'm going to use to get the non res centre section fitted along with the front coilovers now I have my spring compressors.

The car mats I bought from ebay are in and looking good, not bad for £30 delivered





The only thing I had to do was cut in the clips from my old mats on the new rears as they didn't come with any but that wasn't much of a hardship.

Got myself some big knobs too lol



and at night...



won't be to everyones taste but I like them

[rio_gti]

where are those nobs from?? lol

[mcgee9t2]

like the knobs wez. also if i knew you wanted some r32 trim wouldve done a swap for your net optic before i sold the golf! actually, i proberbly wouldve done a swap for your net optic trim a long time ago as i always prefered it. also didnt you have the rarer colour net optic? think it was silver?

[Wazzzer]

Cheers mate, I didn't do the full R32 interior trim, just the handles. The silver net optic I have around the controls was only available for the LHD cars meaning no RHD door handle being available.

[mcgee9t2]

Ahhh. Makes sence.  :

Looks good though

[Wazzzer]

Bit boring at the mo as I've got some maintenance to do on the golf, cam belt was due nearly two years ago so I'd better get that done ASAP. Bought a gates kit, just waiting on a water pump now.



Also got MOT and insurance due in the next few weeks. I'll hopefully get the rear beam and front/rear brakes all fitted while it's in for MOT as well.

MOT done, only advisory was a slight creak on my steering so I need to do some investigating once we have a dry weekend and I can get underneath and have a good poke about

Finally had a set of TFSI coilpacks turn up this week so I decided to fit my conversion kit on Saturday. Fairly straightforward, just remove the AGU coils and ignition amp, plug in adaptor loom, fit the coil pack adaptors to the cam cover and fire it up.

Coilpack looms



Looms in place



AGU parts removed



OEM coilpack adaptors fitted



Ignition amp bypass loom



and all tidy with TFSI coilpacks fitted



I've also fitted a brand new set of NGK7 plugs with the recommended 1mm gap. All seems well so far, the hesitation I had from pulling away seems to be gone and it feels very smooth. My original AGU coilpacks are knocking on 16 years old now!

I've also bought myself the updated handbrake cables and clips when I get round to fitting the other rear beam and 256mm rear calipers.

All parts were off the shelf and came to around £25, I've got the parts list if anyone wants it



The cables themselves have a thicker outer casing apparently making them more resilient against the elements. Mine are starting to stick anyway so it made sense to get these over the standard parts

I've also finished the refurb on my Brembos, added the stickers my mate made me, managed to get the size bang on



Hopefully having these fitted in the next few weeks

[Wazzzer]

A nice little idea of what I got up to this weekend...



More bleeding is needed but I'm bedding them in at the mo so no hard braking anyways

Had this spare rubstrip with cut outs for the US side markers kicking about at work for ages so decided to spray and fit it at the weekend along with my smoked markers and LED bulbs. So I turned my parents garage into a ghetto spray shop again...

primed



Loads of coats of colour and lacquer later





Markers bonded in



The hole I had to carve in the bumper with a pad saw for wiring and to stop the back of the light clashing



Rubstrip fitted



and with ignition on...





Had a play with my clocks recently and inverted the mileage/clock display



I still want to make the background darker so only the digits show in red but it will do for my first attempt

This happened the other day...



More pics to come

A few more pics as promised





Hopefully looking to get my Coilovers fitted today, if I have time I'll get the rear beam on too

Fitted the front coilovers at the weekend along with new top mount bearings and 4motion brake hose brackets

Front end has dropped about another 10mm and is pretty much where I want it to be now, just the rears to fit when I get the chance, hopefully this weekend

You can just about see the coilover covers I have fitted to keep the threads nice and clean in this pic



Also made the switch to the later coil packs a permanent feature...



Managed to get a lot done on the car this week; rear beam swap with new stub axles and bearings, 256mm rear discs and brand new calipers fitted, new revision handbrake cables and clips and the rear coilovers added too.

Unfortunately I did my usual and forgot to take my camera for some pics but I need to go back up to my mates lock up with the car soon to re bleed the brakes as they don't feel as sharp as they should after the 300 mile round trip I did yesterday. First impressions with the FKs are that they're not as bad as I thought they were going to be. They're definitely a bit softer than my spring/shock setup I had but this is probably a good thing with it being a family car

She din't miss a beat though and returned a nice 45mpg which I was really happy with.

I've also got a bit of enthusiasm back for the wheels and have started painting the rears, one is ready for clear coat and the other is in primer so getting there. Would be nice to get them both done by the end of next week but we shall see what pops up in the meantime.

One small thing I did do today was visit the scrapyard and I found some needles which I haven't seen used in a Golf cluster before so I thought why not...

From this



to this



I quite like them, and the good thing is I've got the option to change whenever I feel like it

Apart from the wheel I don't really have much planned for the car other than a full laser alignment and possibly having the centre box removed from the exhaust but I quite like the way it sounds at the mo. I do need a remap but that will probably be the other side of Xmas

Forgot to add a pic of a finished rear wheel, just the one to go...

Rubbed down waiting for clear coat



Clear coated, rubbed back and polished (just the spokes)



Final wheel has been rubbed down and any small dings filled with chemical metal this evening, will be flatting them off tomorrow and priming it if the weather dries up a bit

Had a good session on the car last night; fitted the two remaining wheels along with my 15mm spacers and also gave the brakes another bleed though front and back

Unfortunately I've discovered a split in my passenger side outer CV boot so that needs doing before it decides to cover everything with grease....

But anyways here are a few pics of the work carried out before (coilovers, 256mm rear brakes, rear beam swap) and some of last nights efforts

Rear coilovers fitted with new bushes in the rear beam and poly spring tops



256mm rear brakes with proper splash guards, new wheel bearings and new handbrake cables/springs



Shot showing the rear wheels with 15mm spacers now I've centred the rear beam, spot on IMO



Rear wheel on the car



Front wheel off to bleed the Brembos and also showing the 10mm spacers, coilover spring covers and 4motion brake line brackets fitted





Please ignore the widowmaker, it was on blocks as well...

and my split CV boot 



Hoping to get a decent shot of the car tomorrow once I've washed it but it's sitting really nice now and the brakes have improved massively since the bleed

Will probably give it a few weeks and I'll bleed them again just to make sure they are as good as they should be

A quick few shots before the darkness set in

[barrym381]

that looks good  got a r32 heater control surround if you want it

[Wazzzer]

Mine's all net optic bud, cheers though

[barrym381]

Mine's all net optic bud, cheers though

no worries mate  had it lying about from 1 I broke for bits