Author Topic: Seanl's 8v Money Pit!  (Read 51989 times)

Offline Seanl

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Seanl's 8v Money Pit!
« on: 07 February 2011, 09:18 »
Ok, thought I would start this thread and get some feedback on the old girl. I'll start with my car history, and how I came about getting this one first. (skip this if you don't really care!!) passed my test at the ripe old age of 25, thought it was about time as I had just knocked the missus up, so a car would become essential. My first car was a mk2 astra duo 1.6. Piece of crap but it did the job! 6 months later, it failed the Mot and would have cost more to get it through than the car was worth, and had no attachment so off it went! Next up was an 03 Saab 9-3 vector sport. Quite possibly my Favourite car! (sorry if I'm swearing at u all there) but I loved that car! Anyway, that lasted 9 months, thn fell on hard times and couldn't afford the average 18 mpg I was getting so off she went too! By this time, my missus was learning to drive and she twisted my arm into getting a pug 307. If anyone has ever thought about getting one, don't!!! I absolutely despised that car, absolute piece of french sh!te!!! Couldn't deal with it for long, so that lasted about 4 months. Next up was a very good one. A mk5 gttdi.  Again a very good car, and lasted the longest of all with 18 months in my ownership. By this time the missus had passed her test, and the daughter was 2 and going to play school, so really needed 2 cars. So off she went for the exact same price I got her for, bearing in mind I bought trade, and sold private so result! Got the missus a corsa, and got me sen a focus. Glad I didn't share the golf though, as less than 2 weeks later, the missus smashed up her corsa! She was only tpft so it was the first time I had ever done any work on a car. A grand later she was back on the road, and I was already getting fed up with a crap ford! All of 6 months after getting it, that went to my sister. Got myself a 50cc scoot for work, wop wop!! And this was my project for a short while. Anyway, needed a car tbh, so trawling through eBay, I spotted this mk3 gti 8v in dragon green. 148k on the clock and a little rust under drivers side rear quarter window, but fsh every 10k, lowered on coillies, m3 style rear lights, and scorpion twin 2.5" cat back, and I Liked the look of it! The starting bid was 300 notes, No tax or test, but I thought if it needed too much work to get it through, I would just break it. 6 months before this, it had been fitted with the zaust that cost the guy 300 quid, so most of it would be made back by that alone. No bidders with a minute to go, so I bid and won. Yay! Collected the car and was told it needed a new coil pack. No biggie though, 7 quid for a genuine new vag one off fleabay was had and fitted. Misfire and hard jerking continued, so a bit of contact cleaner on the maf and a clean of the tb and all sorted. (joined the forum then, so thanks to all for help getting a few other little things sorted!) Put through for Mot, needed a bush and bit of welding to jack mount, parted with 120 quid for that and taxed it and on the road! Started to fall in love a bit by now and was constantly on here so long may the work continue. On a tight budget at the mo as getting married soon but mostly just wanna do aesthetic type stuff. List of things that have been done, and things I wanna do will be here shortly, and some before and after pics when I get home. At work at the mo on the iPhone (get paid for what I know not what I do is my argument!) lol. Sorry for massive rant, end of now! :smiley:
« Last Edit: 30 September 2011, 19:26 by Seanl »
Classic Green Corrado VR6 Storm | Jetex Cat back | BMC CDA | VT mounts | Bilstein B12 | 288mm front brakes | Mk4 rear brakes | Goodridge braided hoses | BBS RX228s | Shortshifter | Lupo wipers | Uprated headlight loom | All red rears | Refreshed leather | Fresh paint |

Offline tdi_blu

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #1 on: 07 February 2011, 10:06 »
Welcome to the site as and youve said get some pictures up and what you have planned  :wink:
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Offline Seanl

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #2 on: 07 February 2011, 13:48 »
As mentioned previously, the things that were already done on the car were the coilies, Zaust, red painted calipers, M3 style rear lights, and badgeless grille sprayed gun metal. Here is what I have done since getting her;

New ignition coil
Used MAF (original still on, contact cleaner sorted it but dont know how long it will last)
Throttle body clean
New wheel centre caps
New passanger window regulator
New rear vw badge as it was missing. Then removed again and sprayed gloss black
Leather handbreak and gearstick gaitors with red stitching
Chrome Wolfsburg door pins and heater dials
Chrome door handles
Blue dial led's
Shark fin amplified aerial
2 new glove box handles (1 didnt push the catch down far enough, and the missus broke the other)
New Sony Xplode HU, sony ISO adapter fitted also with costant 12v, and ignition having to be switched over
Anni Style red stripe around the bumpers
Joey modded front headlights
Grille resprayed gloss black
Piper-X panel filter, modded airbox with cold air feed from bumper grille
New Aero wipers
New thermostat
Service with oil and filter, pollen filter, spark plugs, coolant renewal and flush, grease up everywhere and a redex fuel system flush
Oh and I fitted a remote central locking kit. Good guide by mk3-tdi and was it was really easy with this write up!

Like I said, just aesthetic and essential things done so far.
Want to keep it pretty simple, just really clean. Kels mk3 is what I ultimately aspire to have mine looking like eventually, what a bay!

Plans!!;

Sort the bloody leak into passanger rear footwell!
New rear discs and pads
Rear wheel bearings
Front fog, and repeater tints
Sort the rust on drivers rear quarter window sill
Retrim headlining and door cards and spray up the pillars
Port the TB
Pressed plates/surrounds
Refurb wheels myself and spray up gloss black
Pikey short shift gear stick! (maybe)
Make the bay look respectable, anywhere near Kels standard would be amazing!
Maybe a few other things along the way but will have to wait and see!

Again getting married soon so the wench is taking almost every spare penny I have, but hopefully I can crack on as these are all  cheap things to do. Pics will come up later today
« Last Edit: 08 February 2011, 20:52 by Seanl »
Classic Green Corrado VR6 Storm | Jetex Cat back | BMC CDA | VT mounts | Bilstein B12 | 288mm front brakes | Mk4 rear brakes | Goodridge braided hoses | BBS RX228s | Shortshifter | Lupo wipers | Uprated headlight loom | All red rears | Refreshed leather | Fresh paint |

Offline Seanl

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #3 on: 07 February 2011, 16:00 »
Some pics when I first got it

com/albums/ff441/seanlethaby/IMG_0029.jpg[/img]


Now some with the things I have done

Joey'd headlights and gloss black grille
s/ff441/seanlethaby/IMG_0163.jpg[/IMG]



Hope this comes out ok. Any feedback good or bad welcome and will be taken onboard. Cheers all!!
« Last Edit: 07 February 2011, 16:03 by Seanl »
Classic Green Corrado VR6 Storm | Jetex Cat back | BMC CDA | VT mounts | Bilstein B12 | 288mm front brakes | Mk4 rear brakes | Goodridge braided hoses | BBS RX228s | Shortshifter | Lupo wipers | Uprated headlight loom | All red rears | Refreshed leather | Fresh paint |

Offline stow1985

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #4 on: 07 February 2011, 18:27 »
Nice car,

sounds good what youve got planned, not to sure about the rear lights, but love the headlights something i must do, ive sprayed my boot badge to but ive taken the backing plate so the green bleeds through the black badge.

Front grill looks a beaut, is it my eyes or are the door strips colour coded??

the gti wheels look soo much better in black, ive done mine on the quick with matt black, changes the whole car!

look forward to watching this!!
GOLF GTI MK3 2LTR 8V-MATT BLACK-WORKHORSE

Window cleaning: www.marcstow.vpweb.co.uk

Offline Seanl

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #5 on: 07 February 2011, 18:38 »
Cheers Stow, yeah the door strips were also done when I got it, not very well though as they were not smoothed so the bumps show through, and the little bit that comes back from the arch has not been done! plan on doing it properly though. I actually quite like the rear lights! have toyed with tinting them though. Was planning on using e-tech spray as I have heard good things, but if not, LL has some good vinyl and he is local too. Have you got a rides thread? would be good to see yours, and that sounds good about the rear badge, I might have to nick that idea! lol :smiley:
Classic Green Corrado VR6 Storm | Jetex Cat back | BMC CDA | VT mounts | Bilstein B12 | 288mm front brakes | Mk4 rear brakes | Goodridge braided hoses | BBS RX228s | Shortshifter | Lupo wipers | Uprated headlight loom | All red rears | Refreshed leather | Fresh paint |

Offline Seanl

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #6 on: 07 February 2011, 18:41 »
Oh and if you joey mod your front lights, there is a guide in the mk3 info + maintenance section. Be careful not to leave them in the oven too long though, I made that mistake and melted the friggin casing! lol
Classic Green Corrado VR6 Storm | Jetex Cat back | BMC CDA | VT mounts | Bilstein B12 | 288mm front brakes | Mk4 rear brakes | Goodridge braided hoses | BBS RX228s | Shortshifter | Lupo wipers | Uprated headlight loom | All red rears | Refreshed leather | Fresh paint |

Offline dom

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #7 on: 07 February 2011, 18:43 »
Oh and if you joey mod your front lights, there is a guide in the mk3 info + maintenance section. Be careful not to leave them in the oven too long though, I made that mistake and melted the friggin casing! lol

You don't even need to bake them, a hair dryer and stanly knife will do the job :wink:

Car looks good btw, that's a strange place for rust though :undecided:

Offline Seanl

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #8 on: 07 February 2011, 18:55 »
Yeah not heard many others talking about it there. Looks like it could well happen though as the seal looks to hold water quite a bit. I have rubbed it down and sealed the rust for the time being. Gonna do it all properly in the summer though so I dont have to leave leave the window out too long! I wanna do it myself but am a bit dubious about #ucking it up!
Classic Green Corrado VR6 Storm | Jetex Cat back | BMC CDA | VT mounts | Bilstein B12 | 288mm front brakes | Mk4 rear brakes | Goodridge braided hoses | BBS RX228s | Shortshifter | Lupo wipers | Uprated headlight loom | All red rears | Refreshed leather | Fresh paint |

Offline stow1985

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Re: Seanl's 8v rocket!
« Reply #9 on: 07 February 2011, 20:12 »
Cheers Stow, yeah the door strips were also done when I got it, not very well though as they were not smoothed so the bumps show through, and the little bit that comes back from the arch has not been done! plan on doing it properly though. I actually quite like the rear lights! have toyed with tinting them though. Was planning on using e-tech spray as I have heard good things, but if not, LL has some good vinyl and he is local too. Have you got a rides thread? would be good to see yours, and that sounds good about the rear badge, I might have to nick that idea! lol :smiley:

Yeah tint idea might go wel since you are tinting the fogs and the headlights are blacked, good ideas are worth sharing  :smug:
i thought about colourcoding all the black trim it would look good, but ive gone for a black and green theme now.


yeah ive got a project link below on my signature  :smiley:
GOLF GTI MK3 2LTR 8V-MATT BLACK-WORKHORSE

Window cleaning: www.marcstow.vpweb.co.uk