mattneck - mk2 ryder

[mattneck(Beavis)]

Well, bodywork didn't get done as soon as hope, the guys boss is paying them all £60 extra a week to do every saturday till christmas due to having a lot of work on, but he really want's to do mine and promised he would come January.. I tried to pick out all the bits I could jsut to keep a record of all the little nicks and bits across the body so here goes..

(pics to insert)

[mattneck(Beavis)]

decided also to try and touch up my pinstriping, around the petrol cap and a little bit on the drivers rear door has come away, 20 2 metres for £1.50 and the works yet to come..

even managed to get the exact double line pattern 



and how it looks currently

[mattneck(Beavis)]

"i cant apss that looking like that, it looks like its jsut bieng held on by string"







had to do it in the pouring rain, so it's a bit messy 

[mattneck(Beavis)]

Ok, so some condensation in my headlights? no problem, get some kitchen towel, wipe it out, hairdryer, get the damp out, jobs a good un.. youd think..

the heat managed to make what was left of the seal around the glass go, as it was so dry anyway i dont know how it was holding the glass in even (see picture down below).. a dose of no more nails around the outside and voila shes back on the car now, clearer than ever 

[mattneck(Beavis)]

Pinstripe: Pt. 1: Petrol Cap area..

Pretty pelase with how it went, first time I ahve ever done something like this, this evening..

[mattneck(Beavis)]

its been a long time coming but finally an update!

mot passed, so happy with that, a few advisorys to clear up, main one atm is the fact my exhaust is blowing down underneath where the gearstick is, can hear it quite a lot and really want to get that sealed up! pretty sure its due to the toruble we had getting it together after the engine swap.. went for two new tyres at the front, so deep tread all round now, a pair of uniroyals for the wet weather for just shy of 60 quid all in was pleasing.. and a new dizzy cap and rotor went in for just under 9quid as well..

recently have been working on the dash lights getitng them all up to scratch, putting some brightness back in and making them all even, spurred on by the entire st of lights in my £15 cd palyer being dead, and my heater control bulb packing up to.. i decided to attempt the swaps and re-illumination of the lot..

so to bits it came



and removing the bulb proved tricky



as i ahd two sets of controls i decided to transplant the two together, as each had their positives, the noe in the car when i got it was full of moisture, anyway removing the display cracked it in two spots, a dap of brush on super glue did the trick..





and attmpting to remove the moisture from my original set washed away the display



eventually after making a bodge job from a defunct rocker switch for my foglights, taking the bulb and feeding it through, i realised how to remove the pins, and the joy of a 99p bulb from maplin with..



so next came the radio display..



stripped back as you can see the new bubls and the orange filters from the radio in the bag.. all to be soldered on and fitted back together again..

to give a much better looking central dash





next job replace the rear shelves with the ones i bought from ebay, my right hand has the shelf support snapped off, a direct swap will be easy and they came ready cut for a bootlight, something i found on a trip to the scrappy the other day.. so that can go in aswell..

they came to me in a state, heres the semi clean contrast..



scrappy haul was grand though..



with more besides 

next jobs, replace fanbelt, complete pinstripe on rear drivers door and install shelves and bootlight properly..

[mattneck(Beavis)]

Well.. what a week, I park up on the road, for 10, 15 minutes.. Pop into my old school to see my old music teacher tell her what I'm up to nowadays (music tech at uni) and come out and find this sat next to my car..





Wether they drove into it, kicked it, went intro it trying to park or what I don't know, but when I found it the first tohught was wing damage, which there was nothing, no-one around, no note left.. no cars nearby.. nothing..

Lucky I have a vw breaker near my house and it was en route home.. so swung by there straight away.. shame he's extremely expensive doh..

the new bumper, perfect condition missing noe indicator luckily salvagable form the other bumper..



and the old bumpers damage..





I counted myself lucky the bumper is easily removable and easy to swap, compared to modern cars where everything is blended in, it could have been much worse I guess!

new bumper went on nicely though..



 

[mattneck(Beavis)]

have a gaping hole in my mid-box to..



and apparently a small split in the back box, both came up on the MOT, the one above as a minor leak advisory 

checked the local Trade-It jsut as I generally do.. and have been noticing

"VW GOLF MK2 1300/1600 EXHAUST BITS £30 THE LOT"

for quite a while, located only aobut 20-25 minutes from my place I decided to get in touch and have a look.. was told it was the "Downpipe, midbox and backbox" so I thought fair enough, thats still bloody good, jsut have to pick up all the connectors and maybe a new corrugated so it was new all the way through..

Got there only to find that I was getting a lot more for my money..



tailpipe got the Autosol treatment, standardly 





So, a complete system, brand new and unused, all rubber fixings on, brand new, 3 brand new brackets for connecting the pipes, a brand new manifold to downpipe bracket, and brand new rubbers for backbox support..

All for £30..

Chuffed? I am indeed 

[mattneck(Beavis)]

An extension to the last post, thanks to rubjohnny for provoking me into having a second look, i was missing a new intermediate pipe to go between the corrugated and silencer 

South western exhausts, a new intermediate pipe of the same design with the flared end, plus an extra clamp that i would be needing.. £4.71.. still, I've only pid £40ish including my firegum, even more chuffed!

Hoping o mkae a trip to the scrappy to use the ramp there to lift it up and put it on, as axle stands just arent gonna cut it in this current weather 

[mattneck(Beavis)]

just a small update for the moment.. till i ge the pictures uploaded.. after changing the lights in my radio etc, it spurred me on to overhaul every switch with new bulbs, brightening them all up, for only around 69p from maplin per bulb i couldnt say no 

when fitting the exhaust i also realised a lot of the part which holds up the downpipe was mssing, so a trip to dealer or scrappy to source them all i think is in order.. current bodge: exhaust clamp through and around holding it up 

the exhaust went on easy enough though done on the side of the rpoad, after claling many garages who wouldnt let me use a ramp.. the one i had visited befire, couldnt find the number of, and popped to after, said i didnt call him..  would have saved some effort.. but tis made i a hell of a lot quieter now, no rattles or blows