Right, yet again I have been shocking in keeping this updated. I blame the second year of uni and actually having to do work this year.
I have however been keeping up with the car and fixing all that's wrong. I have created a list, ever growing and ever expensive, of things that need doing.
Last year I managed to drive in to the back of a bright yellow, Seat barge, owned by a friend of mine due to slippy grass and subsequently the nearside bracket behind the front bumper bent:
So my lovely, ever suffering boyfriend (who, I think, didn't realise that when he entered into relationship with me he also took on the burden of my car) and his brother set to work removing the bumper and reshaping the afore mentioned bracket using a tried and tested method of fire and a hammer.
Whilst fixing my driving mistake, the thermostat was also replaced which luckily solved the overheating problem as mentioned before but as a nice side effect, a 20 year-old radiator pipe decided now was the time to loosen off and steadily drip coolant over the garage floor. This radiator pipe seemed to be the world's rarest pipe and was in fact a nightmare to get hold of, which was nice. However, after several phone calls, and refusals of offers to buy the whole pipe set under the engine bay for extortionate amounts of money, Loughborough Volkswagen got it sent up from London the next day and we managed to get that sorted.
During the winter I had a serious issue with my rather expensive resprayed paintwork. The car started to get small bubbles under the paintwork ranging from on the roof, the front wings, down the rear quarter panels. Safe to say I was not pleased and had to try and get in contact with Kev at K L Autospray to get him to sort it out. It turned out that Kev had merged with J.D. Motors in Purley, who I picked the car up from and paid. When I took the car back to them it opened a whole kettle of fish, a long, tiring and stressful tale that almost ended in court action.
What had happened is that when the car was being sprayed there was moisture in the spray gun which has then proceeded to burst up through the paint work and would eventually had ended up in big blistery holes. J.D. Motors just sprayed over the blisters, told me it was fine. I took the car home and a week later they had reappeared. I went back again, and they took the paint back and did it again. When time came to pick the car up they weren't ready after having the car a month. The next day the bloke had broken my windscreen and they weren't ready and they weren't ready the next night, nor the next one. Good times. When I went to pick the car up at last they weren't ready as windows and moulding was off the car and they hadn't "machined/finished/destroyed" it enough yet. 2.5 hours later we came back and the car wouldn't start. After a call to the AA, a flatbed arrived and the AA man with his magic fingers poked the engine once and started it. Turns out that the bodyshop had managed to flood the engine trying to start it all day and only after leaving it, an hour, while the AA turned up did my car start.
Anyway, so far no blisters, however they have put door moulding on before the paint was dry, causing it to ripple which then, unless caught in time, will ripple down the rear quarter panel. The paint is also horribly hollogrammed and swirly to my detailer boyfriend's absolute horror and discussed. So it is being booked in to JSG Detailing in Leicester for a full correction.
Right, mini rant over. Sorry about that.
On the other hand I have recently gone and given GSF a whole bucket of my money on parts! YAY! After a pre MOT we discovered that the rear nearside top mount was rotten through so have brought a new pair of them as the other one was on it's way out:
I also brought a shiny new set of rear disks and pads as my rear brakes were seriously under performing when tested:
New front mounts:
And a full polyurethane bush kit to replace all my worn and ruined plasticky parts:
Old Vs. New:
I have also brought a set of Gaz GHA coilovers to replace my shot suspension, which have been put on while the car is off the road for a bit. The old wheels are getting resprayed to be winter wheels and during the winter my BBS RS 047s are being refurbed.
The car has also spent some time at Retro Gti with Ian for a full engine rebuild which entailed new big end bearings, crank main bearings, crank thrust bearings, a new oil pump and oil filter, bottom end gasket set, cam cover gasket, cylinder head gasket, head bolt set, downpipe gasket.
It also needed new pistons (always good), piston rings and a rebore and hone. So technically my car's now about a 1820cc lol. I also needed a new cambelt and alternator belt and while the car was in pieces we got a new clutch fitted. As a result the car can't go above 3500 revs for the first 500 miles and then has to go back for a oil change.
Would like to thank Ian at Retro GTi for the work he's done and my poor boyfriend and his brother at JSG Detailing. I've decided not to spend any more money on the darn thing until the new year. Fingers crossed. Can't see that happening realistically.
