...joe - black mk2

[...joe]

fitted some new side repeaters in a sort of crystal/black effect/ look sweet! also made a new front grill, partly as i was bored of the mesh and partly because i want it looking a bit more standard. which also meant i had to hide the indicators as they are smoothed out of my bumper. i'll have to get a photo of them on for full effect. i checked with my mate who is an MOT man and he's not 100% sure if they'll pass. hmmmm ahh well its only just had an mot so i've got the best part of a year to worry about that!

updated pics with new front end!

[...joe]

ok first of a few updates!

have had that beam sitting round here getting in the way, but the weather has been sh!t so i couldn't be arsed to try and do it in the street like i've done everything else, so tried to wangle a free spot at my mates workshop so at least it'd be in the dry with lots of cool tools to sort me out.
i bought up new rear bearings, disks etc with ebc greenstuff pads. while i was at it i figured i'd sort the front brakes as well. nothing really wrong with the old set up but the pagid pads create alot of dust and so bought ebc greenstuff for the fronts too, along with some zimmerman cross drilled discs. and thought what the hell lets buy a new rear brake bias valve while i'm at it!
i took my car over to johns and we checked the car on his co2 equipment. the engine runs a bit rich on tickover because of the cam but when tested throughout the rev range it is spot on and has almost 100% combustion which is pretty damn good. while we were there though we noticed my top mounts had seen better days so bought some new g60 ones from vag spares at a bargain price!

so lots of parts kicking around waiting for the time to be fitted. i also have been breaking an car with john and a few of the parts i pilfered off the donor car were the bonnet and wings so i can finally get that sprinter vent welded in and the bonnet can be painted and fitted up to replace my stone chipped one!

i also bought a pair of audi handled doors off paul (slammedmk2) and picked them up at spring festival so today i stripped everything out of them to have the rubbing strip holes welded up and painted over and i'll also be dynamatting them and replacing the manual winders with electrics and also electric mirrors. just got to take them off to the body shop to be done.

the plan is to get these painted, along with the bonnet and wings and then get the rest of the car in and get the roof and rear quarters blown over so it'll be fresh paint all over! i know its not the best way to paint a car but i cant afford to get it all done at once and this suits me. it'll all be fine when its done.

[...joe]

ok got the pics sorted and a spare day at johns workshop, so cracked on with it!

first off parts:





i painted (badly) the section of the rear discs just to keep it looking smarter for a while, so with all my new bits i cracked on with it. the top mounts are easy as pie, the only problem being that my coilovers are so low they constantly put pressure on the fixings, but a quick job.

i then used a hydrolic press to fit the bearings into either side of the rear discs. one of the other reasons why i wanted to do all this at johns is because he has these tools at my disposal! makes life so much easier.



this is also true as john has the proper brake winding tools which makes light work of resetting the calipers



and a few minutes later its all together and looking sweet!



i didn't take photos of the rear brakes/beam as by then i was covered in filth and the effort it took to get the beam bolts out was a nightmare! i was in no mood for taking pics but its all in there with the brake bias valve and looking sweet! and should do for a good long while as well. i'll get under neath and take some shots when the weather is good again!

[...joe]

still no pics of my sexy assed rear beam however i did pick up my wheels from being re-done. was going to wait til i had built them up properly but haven't had the time yet. might get on with it tomorrow..... anyway pieced them up for a few photo's and i think they are sweet as f**k!
they were done in a 'black chrome' effect which froma small distance does actually look like chrome! i was pretty impressed and although the photo's don't do them justice they will look sweet on the car. seriously in the natural daylihg they look amazing!

before:



i really like them like this but a few other people i know have done similar colours and i also had a bit of damage to one of the faces that needed re-doing anyway so went for a change.

after:





they are only pieced up like i said and these are new rims as well. i bought two 1.5" rims and two 2" rims. these are the narrower of the two so you can imagine the  rears are gonna be wiiiide!! looks like that arch work will be getting done sooner than i thought!

[...joe]

i can get a bit obsessive with certain things! a few years ago before i came on this site i found a set of happich windows on a golf in a scrapyard. bought them for the bargain price of £20 and never got round to fitting them. i then decided i was going to sell my car so sold of the windows for £120 which was a nice profit! then after deciding i was keeping my car i regretted selling them and have half heartedly been looking for another set ever since. now these are frickin rare and second hand sets seem to be going for crazy money. we're talking like £150-£220 and brand new sets are hitting over £300!! now this has put me off a bit. but then i saw a set for sale, was in the running for them but got out priced as they weren't in the best condition and weren't worth what they went for. in my opinion.
then i got offered a set of just glass and researched finding new seals and fittings and though it was possible it made it too expensive. so now i start to get it in my head that no matter what i had to have another set of these!! i've been searching on german ebay for a set but they seem to fetch just as much, partly because they are still so rare and partly because alot of us brits know there are bargains to be had over there! so cutting a long story, 5 sets of these over the last few months that i've been let down on and searching everywhere, i finally found a set on ebay, the guy had stuck his number on the auction so i called him and we settled on a price as long as i picked them up the next day. good job i did too because by the time i got to his they had 43 watchers and he'd been getting phone calls all day about them! so although they cost me £200 i know for sure they would have hit more like £300 as they are brand new, boxed, and have never been taken out the box! i was chuffed to bits but am going to get them tinted and wait till i get the rear quarters of my car painted before fitting them. doesn't seem much point fitting them before.

here they are:

[...joe]

well at the weekend i built up my wheels properly with bolts and all that, looking sweet! the mesh part of the centre caps have the odd bit of runs in the finish so i need to send them back to be re-done, which the guy who did them said would be fine.
i also spent a good while polishing a spare alternator and the inlet manifold of my new engine. so far looking good but takes alot longer than i thought it would! half the problem is that the inlet is pretty flat so any casting marks/ripples etc show up easily so i had to flatten it off first. had a quick blast at the rocker cover too which has been polished before at some point so wont be hard to bring it back.
also spoke to my bloke at the body shop to get a new bonnet painted along with new wings with the sprinter vent finally cut into it. the audi handled doors i got off paul resprayed with the rubbing strips taken out and finaly the rear quarters done so it'll be a fresh load of paint over everything! i'll need to get tyres on my bbs so we can see what kind of arch work i'll need to squeeze them under then the new g60 arches can be smoothed and fitted. we talked about the best way of doing this all and its now going over to his on a week sunday so we can do everything i have to then roll it about 200 yds to the paint shop for it to be painted! he said i can go and help/learn/decide/photograph as much as i want so should be cool! quite excited now as it should be looking sweet for stonor park (assuming its all done) but also i'm expecting a big dent in my bank balance! ahh well it'll be worth it i suppose!

[...joe]

well the car is stripped, amazing how much stuff there is in a golf!! and its all looking a bit sorry for itself, the BBS now have tyres on them and i should be getting the centre caps back this week.
the windows are being tinted in a very light tint, almost a factory tint on saturday as they are out the car at the moment so is even easier.
i also bought a set of crystal m3 lights off sellers. now i like m3's, i have half tint half red crystals at the moment but fancied something a bit different, so with a bit of masking and a can of tinting spray i now have all red crystal which i've been trying to buy for ages! no-one seems to make them.



just hope the reverse lights show through without looking too pink! nothing else to report body work wise, i've left him to get on with it, but my interior is coming along now i've pulled my finger out. really want to get it all done so its ready to put in when its back from paint.
i still need to lay the wiring for the electric mirrors and the recaro's so i'll do that soon then once the holes in the doors etc for the rubbing strips are filled i can get busy with the sound deadening. then fit the electric windows, then fit everything else.... think its going to be a busy month for me!

[...joe]

well i've been cracking on witht he interior, looks like it will be done in time, but i'm keeping it under wraps for now!!!

but my new badges for my wheels cam,e today fresh and brand new from der fatherland!!



it was only when i got the new ones i realsied how much the originals had faded! make my sweet rims look even sweeter! i've posted pics in another thread but i'll have some here as well!

[...joe]

well i'm a bit miffed. the painter guy hasn't done my car even though i've done all the bits i said i would. so i had stripped everything out the car in preperation for the spray work, but as it was all empty i took the lower dash trays off and sorted all the new wiring for the mirrors, seats and windows. it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare as i'm a complete dunce when it comes to electrics! the setas were easy to dao as they are just a positive and negative and i wired them so they work when the ignition's on. the mirrors came with no loom so i got one out of a corrado and after a bit of advice that was sorted, then i manged to get a window loom which also made things easier, but i got my mate john to do it anyway!
after driving to johns i remembered what fun it is driving my golf so i decided i'd give it a bit of attention and finished all the wiring off neatly, gave the interior a damn good clean as the seats were out and made a new centre console from a proper electric window console to house my stereo and its turned out better than the last one i did.
then sorted a few niggles and then got adam-c off of here to give me a hand putting the audi door handled doord on. was really easy and then gave it a good clean and went to the local clubgti meet. was pretty cool as although there is trim missing and no interior loads of people were saying it looks nice so i'm definately going to re-fit my old interior and take it to stonor park now.
thants it for now, hopefully i can kick the painters ass and get it looking as good as i want it!

[...joe]

well after fitting everything i got a call from my painter, saying he'd take it in. however i wanted to go to stonor park so arranged to drop it off monday night. stonor park was wicked but highlighted how tatty my car had got so i was looking forward to monday. i got back from work early and stripped everything out again and a few more bits. dropped it off at the painters and while i was there i saw the morgan he'd been doing that was taking up all his time. i don't really like them but it looked incredible!! was in a weird metalic blue from alfa romeo, that was never available in this country and i almost asked him to do it in that, it was sooo lush!!
he's promised it'll be done by wednesday the 14th as he's off to cuba and needs to be done by then. he's called me twice, both times i've paniced that it was something disasterous but the first was to ask how to open the tailgate (its on a solenoid) and the second was to ask where the locking wheel nut key was. he's cracking on with it and has done all the welding of holes no longer needed etc and was just sorting some rust on the rear panel. i'm going up tomorrow to drop off the new side skirts so will take my camera and see how it looks. the wing vent was done when i dropped the car off and it looked spot on so hopefully it'll be sweet!