...joe - black mk2

[...joe]

i'd made some half assed attempts at installing my amps/sub etc. at first it was going quite well but i have to admit i'm sh!te at wood work and so kind built everything off the top of my head as i went along. in  hindsight i'd have planned it all a bit better!!

basiclly all i wanted was to keep as much of my boot space as possible, have easy acess to the spare wheel etc, and for it to look neat.
first attempt looked something like this:



doesn't look too bad but in reality it was a bit sh!te and messy. i also bodged the rear carpet by being tight and not wanting to pay for proper carpet. so used the original stuff. it kinda worked out ok but i wasn't happy with it. the biggest problem was that i was running a pretty basic headunit with only one pre out so was splitting it between the two amps which was less than desirable!!
so after hunting around i bought a new headunit for a bargain price. i listened to alot of opinions about which h/u to buy but at the end of the day i like sony's and have never had problems with them so decided to stick with another. plus the blue display matches all the other blue bits. it also has the all important 2x preouts and 1x sub out allowing it to set up the install nicely. so i stuck that in, tweaked the amp rack so they sit below the false floor and got some proper carpet. took me a while to get it all sounding as i liked but i'm very happy with it. the stereo also comes with a remote control which was very handy when it came to setting the amps (in the boot) while adjusting the headunit (in the front, obviously!)

the flase floor is split in two so you can gain quick access to the amps or the spare wheel.

headunit:



new improved install:



next on the cards is to add some pc cooling fans under the amps so they don't go pop and me and j_s are going to see a mate of his who a bit of a ICE don, to bulid fibreglass boxes to fit in the rear wheel arch. this will neaten things up further and give me more space for next years camping/show trips!

[...joe]

quick update,

was getting tetchy about the weather being sh!te which meant i couldn't fit my new tailgate etc so i went to a scrappy and got hold of some glass off a basic model golf so i can do with out the rear spoiler. i was planning on fitting it at the weekend then had the bright idea that at some point i want my windows tinted, so i made a quick phone call. i knew i was working up near gatwick on the monday so arranged for keiran at gatwick autoshadesto tint the rear window before i put it in, he did a top notch job and would reccomend him to anyone. so i spent monday night swearing and sweating trying to get the frickin window in!!
but its all in and looking sweet! i really want to stick some pics up to show it off but can't seem to get a decent shot of it while its indoors. the only other thing i had a problem with was where i'd had the rear plinth smoothed over the original number plate lights wouldn't fit so i bought some water proof LED blocks from ultraleds.com, they arrived this morning and i wired them up quickly and man are they bright!! they fit nicely too so will break out the sikaflex to gte them in there nicely and make sure they seal up any gaps as mk2's are notorious for spray up the tailgate which only leads to rot!

thats it for now!! fingers crossed fror a nice weekend so i can get it on there! plus i might have to chase up my front bumper as i thought he'd have got back to me with it by now.....

[...joe]

well my crossed fingers worked and i got my nice weekend but unfortunately i demolished a shed to make way for a new workshop type shed coming soon and ended up doing annoying DIY stuff. however i did manage to make up a nice little wiring loom for the led's so they use the original connectors and bonded them onto the tailgate. still cant seem to take any decent photo's indoors of it all though, with the flash it looks crap because of all the reflections etc and without its just to dark. might have a pop at it if i get home early enough next week. plus its cold!!!

[...joe]

well even though i've been showing off about it on the other sections i thought i'd better update this.
i got home nice and early the other week and fitted up my new tailgate. really happy with it and its transformed the car. the guy who did the paint job did a great job and he buffed the paint back amazingly. with the matching bumper also on it completes things from the rear. the LED's i installed worked out really well and cast a very nice white light.





then at the weekend i got a call from my painter guy saying the front bumper was done as well so he bought that round and i've just fitted it:







having had everything smoothed off on the front bumper i had to relocate my indicators somewhere. i was going to stick them in the fogs but decided to do something a bit different. so i went to german and swedish and bought some small bumper smoked indicators as the big ones were too big and mounted them vertically in the grill. as i have that mesh grill they shine through no problem and although they aren't installed the neatest at the moment, they work well and more importantly, they are not obvious! i might have to take them off and spray the casing matt black just to make sure they stay hidden away and am probably going to make another grill with the indicators in mind. the thing is you have to screw them in from the front otherwise it makes changing bulbs etc a complete nightmare. a bit of headscratching and clever welding should make a neater job of it but for the time being they look and work fine.

[...joe]

nothing much to report but i drove up to silverstone to meet up with the guys off here for a rolling road day. was good fun and i mwas sh!tting myself as i guess its a real test of how well my self taught engine building actually is! to be honest i was a bit disappointed with the 120bhp i got but speaking to the guys at WRC  they said it was about right and that as the engine wears in (its still only done about 3k miles) it'll loosen up more and should have more power potential. plus i was speaking to my good man tesh about a chip to sort out my erratic fueling curve so it'll be good to see what difference that makes. it'll mean another trip up there but its the only way to get a good idea of the changes by putting it on the same rollers for comparison.

just as we left silverstone i pulled onto the dual carriageway with jv in the car and gibby and vaughn following and i couldn't get fifth?!? so we pulled into a layby and with the light from ym phone's display i found the little plastic gearshift linkage had cracked and wasn't allowing me to shift properly. we turned round and went back to tesh's unit and managed to pinch another linkage from him! thanks again tesh! anyway so off we trotted home with all 5 gears working, but as i said to jv the gears felt 'odd' after it going on the rollers...
then on the sunday coming home i floored it out of the tolls at dartford and couldn't get second? so i put it into third, that was fine, put it in fourth, and it popped out again so drove the rest of the way home with 1st, 3rd and 5th. now i was beggining to fear the worst as i'd noticed the shifting was bad on the saturday after the r/r day and thought my gearbox had given up. but i got under the car and found it was nothing so drastic but still a bit dodgy! on rod change boxes the gear shift linkage is mounted on the subframe but a bracket. on inspection the braket had come loose and was probably on its way to falling off! i tightened things up and removed my short shifter for the time being and it drove really nicely! all shifts were smooth and positive so i was a happy boy all right! i wasn't sure if it was my fault in not tightening it up properly when i renewed all the bushes etc or if it had just worked loose? but either way its sorted now.

over the past year or so i've been more 'into' my car and the whole scene more than ever and now i see things like this as more of a learning curve as to why things happen and how they are fixed and what you can learn from it. maybe i'm getting old?!

i've been doing alot of thinking about my interior too and had planned on doing it all in blue to match the blue hoses, brakes and suspension , but have been searching for the right blue for months now and its doing my head in!! i've had soo many samples of leather and can't find one that will be sublte enough, but still stand out. so i might be changing tack and doing a black leather/charcoal alcantara theme, which always looks good but is maybe a bit boring? or i was in traffic next to a black mk5 with a tan/brown interior and it looked lush. i've always liked those browns that alfa romeo use and am tempted to do something like that? its so annoying as i've got these recaro's sitting here waiting but until they're trimmed i don't want to use them! any opinions please say!

[...joe]

quick update, bought more bling today. one of the parts i'd kept meaning to get chromed under the bonnet was my radiator shroud. but either couldn't find a decent enough one second hand or couldn't justify buying a new one, having it stripped then chromed. saw a second hand one on this forum for sale so went and picked it up today. it was in a bit worse condition than i hoped but for what you can see and how much it cost i'm happy enough!

 

[...joe]

since the last update i fitted the chrome radiator surround and realised the chrome in my engine does not like the salty roads so might have to have some bits re-done. not happy.

on the plus side though i recieved my lovely new chip from tesh at gstar-dubworld, only to find that when i took my old ecu out it must have blown at some point as there was a bit of damaged track and a cracked resistor and it seems moving the ecu had f**ked it! i got another out of a scrap yard but really wanted another bosch one, so got on the phone to tesh again. being the top bloke that he is he got one out to me surprisingly quick, considering the christmas post. i fitted the new chip but didn't get the chance to fit the new ecu for a while due to dark nights etc.
so today i fitted it, and it ran nice and smooth. didn't take it for a drive but it idles alot better now. i also did something i'd been meaning to do for over a year! my interior is out of a g60 so would have been a left hand drive which is good in that the seat isn't worn at all but is bad in that it isn't height adjustable. so as i'd been doing some seat repairs for a few people i found i had a spare drivers seat base. 20 mins later i now have height adjustable seats on both side! it makes such a difference!!
i'll update with pics and how the car drives with the chip when i get the chance to drive it.

[...joe]

hmmm for some reason the last update i added seems to have disappeared?! how strange?! anyway, it was only a small one to say that since fitting the chip it has made a load of difference. it now idles smoother and the power delivery is smoother too, smoothness all round!
it probably hasn't made a great deal of difference to the power output but its more 'drivable' now. i'm gonna take it to a local friend who's a tuner to get the co2 levels set up and try to make the most of the chip so i'll hopefully do that over the weekend.

thats all for now folks but i've ordered a few things so in the next few weeks there should be something more interesting to update with!

[...joe]

first of new parts turned up today!



nice new rear strut brace! was nice and shiney and i was a happy chappy alright! took a few minute to fit and looks cool. my sub box is a bit tall and wont fit under it so it looks like my plans for a stealth style sub box might have to come quicker!

[...joe]

right well i've been getting on with quite a bit but none of its finished so didn't see the point in updating this!! first i've split my BBS and have bought new, wider rims. the centres are being coated at this moment in an as yet undisclosed colour as i want to keep them a bit of a surprise! the anthracite i had before was wicked but i've seen quite a few people with them like that now so as i was splitting them for the new rims i thought i'd have a change! as far as i know no-one has done this on a set of rs yet so should be cool!
i also switched on ebay one saturday mornign and saw this:



was only 99p so i bought it! was one of those little bits i'd never got round to doing on my car so was an easy fix! doesn't look amazingly bling in the photo but what can i say? its a chrome boot catch!

i have also made a good start on my interior but again can't see the point in showing too many work in progress pics but if it turns out as good as it started i'll be a happy chappy!

lastly i picked up a spare rear beam as i didn't think my rear bushes and bearings would survive the next MOT, so figured i'd build one up off the car and swap them over. i had the beam blasted and powder coated and it came back better than i expected, alot smoother and shiney! then tonight i built it up with new rear brake lines and bushes and am waiting for new rear bearings and discs to arrive so i can bolt them up then just do a swap with the crusty one thats currently on my car. i might re-paint the calipers while i'm at it as i'm a bit bored of the blue!
beam looks nice though!!