Jimp - sage power!

[jv]

[Jimp]

Thanks jv! 

Though I'd get a project thread started to track the evolution of golf as all the mods get fitted. I don't have any pictures of the ol' Dub on the computer at the moment and I don't have my car with me since I'm away at college, but I'll get them posted ASAP. For now, a list of the mods I have planned:

The List
ABT front spoiler
ABT side skirts
ABT rear valence, without exhaust cutouts
Carbon fibre look badgeless front grille
Angel Eye/DRL headlights
Phillips X-Treme Power bulbs + blue sidelights
Rear lights with a black background instead of red
OEM Colour Coded centre console fascia
OEM R32 pedals
Some 18" black multispoke alloys with a silver lip

I have the colour coded centre console fascia installed. It was a pretty easy and quick job thinking back about it. Main difficulties was getting some of the clips out and getting the clip that held the wires to the top half of the fascia out. Took some swearing  . It really brightened up the whole interior though and matches the door trim, which in turn matches the exterior colour so it's lookin' good  . I'll post pictures as soon as I can.
I have 2 of the 3 OEM R32 pedals fitted. Clutch and brake were simple, just a case of popping out the original rubber pedals and popping the new ones into the holes. There was a bolt holding on the accelerator pedal fixture and the only tool I had on me at the time was a size too small. The little gap it's in was too small to fit my spanner into so for now it's still the original black pedal. I'll post some pictures when I get the R32 accelerator fitted.
The ABT gear has all been sitting in my shed. I have to get onto someone and get a quote for a spray, but keep forgetting  .
As some of you may have seen in the Mk5 section, my CF look grille arrived but with a large crack on the side. I ahve emailed fischer, who I bought it from, but have not received a reply yet. On the up side it really does look the bizz  . I initially thought it could be real carbon fibre but other forum members pointed out it was just a paintjob. Thinking back it was a bit silly of me to think it was really CF since carbon fibre was listed as a paint choice, but at least I learned something  .
Haven't ordered new alloys yet, or the angel eye/DRL headlights due to a lack of funds  . Will get on it as soon as I can though, promise  . The Phillips bulbs are here though and ready to go. I'm going to wait for the new headlights, fit the bulbs to them and then install them both at once.
I have the new rear lights but have some doubts about them. They are very similar to stealthwolf''s rear lights and he recently posted about the trouble he has had with them. They are not identical, but look very similar which makes me worry. I was also thinking about some LED rear lights but I don't know if they would really suit the colour of the car. The red LED ones would be best, since the black ones look disgusting with the white LED ring. Really the only thing putting me off about them is the white LED ring while the lights are not on. It would really clash with the rest of the car. If the black rear lights don't work out and the LED set keeps on clashing with the car then I'll go for some R32 rear lights, which are a kind of smoked red.

That's how things are going at the moment. Some time in the future I hope to get some coilovers to lower the Dub nicely and get my stance sorted  . In a few years I might swap out the piddly 1.4 lump for a 20v 1.8T or a 2.9 VR6T, which the necessary brake upgrades of course  .  Failing that I could get my normal 1.4 converted to VW's twincharged 1.4 from the golf GT. Talking with a few other Irish Dubbers I know there seems to be word of a group in Dublin who can do the conversion, but no word of a name. Well, In the meantime I can keep on dreaming  .

Thanks for reading! Updates and pictures coming soon  !

[Jimp]

Quick update!
Fitted the colour coded centre console fascia and R32 pedals. Didn't fit the Sony headunit as I've had trouble with the adaptor leads. Will be sorted out soon though  . My Dad's friend who runs a Volvo dealership gave us the number of the guy who does all their electrical work so he'll be coming down in a few weeks to wire up the angel eyes , DRLs and black rear lights. If I don't have the headunit sorted by then he'll give me a hand with that too. I'm not a fan of hardwiring stuff to the car myself. Hate doing it  .
Here are some pics of the colour coded centre console. You can also spot a brushed aluminium sticker I got covering the cigarette light panel. It suits the other colours in the car really well and looks great. Not bad for a few €  . In the first picture you can spot the R32 clutch pedal. Forgot to take a picture of just the pedals.



More updates soon  .

[Jimp]

Just posting a night shot of the centre console. It's a phone pic, so the quality isn't great, but it really does look fantastic lit up.
As a side note, the more I see the RCD 300 lit up a night the more I like it. It may lack an mp3 connection, so I have to bring a load of cds with me in the car, but to be honest the OEM look is growing on me.
Maybe I should save up the grand and a half for the RNS headunit, but I think I'd rather spend that money on some new coilovers and alloys 

[Jimp]

Got a load of work done this weekend!
First of all I changed all my interior lights and my license plate lights to xenon look bulbs. Pictures:



I even made a how to guide here:
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=107011.0
Then I finally got around to fitting my OEM R32 accelerator pedal. I had the brake and clutch done for a while since they were easy. Popped off the old plastic pedals and put on the new ones. The accelerator was another matter. Took me at least 2 hours to get it off. Most of which was spent trying to figure out how the hell I could get it out. After studying the replacement pedal I was bale to find the catches that were holding it down. It was very difficult to get it off, but eventually got it!

Putting in the new pedal was thankfully much easier. Reattach the wiring loom and it just slots onto the spots that held the old one. Looks fantastic 

Last weekend I got the Connects2 aux input installed too. I have the input coming up out of one of the blank switches above the gear stick. Still have to drill a hole in the actual blank though. Will look much cleaner once I have that done. Either way it works brilliantly! Very happy with it.

Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the gear knob.

[Jimp]

Got the new gear knob fitted! Ended up completely taking apart the old structure and reconstructing the section that held the leather gaiter onto the gear stick since there was no other way to get the gaiter on. Or at least no way that wouldn't result in it looking like crap  It took a good two hours longer than expected because of this but the end result really is worth it in my opinion. It looks much better than if I had done it another way. I haven't done the wiring yet for the gear pattern light. It's meant to come on in the same red as the other buttons in the centre console. I'll be using the supply from the cigarette lighter for that. I'll get around to it at some stage!
Only two pictures for now, both attempting to capture the light from the new interior bulbs. It's a hard colour for me to photo since neither of my cameras can really pick it up that well in the dark. You can kinda see the blue-white colour. In the second picture a little yellow light comes in from the right from a strret light, but you get the idea. You can see the new gear knob in the second picture too.

[Jimp]

About 6 weeks ago I had a little accident while pulling into a driveway and badly dented the rear passenger door, slightly dented the front passenger door and dented the sill  Brought it to the local body shop and they replaced both door skins and fixed the sills. It took about 5 weeks for the parts to arrive due to delays but they did a fantastic job and the colour match is perfect 
Some pics of the dents just after it happened:

It was even worse in the flesh  You can't see too clearly in these pictures but the passanger door is bent inwards into the gap 


And here is how it sat yesterday afternoon:

Much better 

[Jimp]

Finally got around to installing the Phillips X-Treme Power bulbs and Phillips Bluevision Sidelights today. The install was pretty simple except for the driver's side sidelight because of how tight the space was behind it. Got it eventually after some scraped fingers and swearing  Some pictures:
Low beams

High beams

Sidelights only

Low beams a bit glary from camera phone

High beams

Sidelights only bit glary from camera phone

Low Beams also glary because of camera phone, but they are actually shockingly clear in person.

The light and the distance is waaaaaaaay better on the Phillips bulbs than the stock ones. They are a fantastically clear white colour too, love it 

[Jimp]

Got a bunch of stickers and put them in the rear window all along the driver's side. Also picked up some OEM black dome lights from an R32 for 20£ on ebay. Installed them the other day and they look sweet  Transfered my ice white bulbs into them to keep the nice lighting. I really want to lower the car but for the price of springs + instalation (don't have my own spring compressors) I could get some nice AP coilovers and do it myself. The increase in insurance is also something I want to avoid at the moment. In the meantime I'm on the lookout for a black grille and some new lower grilles to paint up   

[Jimp]

Pictures of my sticker collection:


 
Test fitted the projector headlights and they fit and work well. Need to get some better bulbs before I install them properly though.