Rippers 'never' finished black gti build

[lukemk5gti]

Ordered myself a vortex golf ball gear stick today. I'll post when fitted.

Also look at replacing the tailgate handle for either a mk 6 or mk 4. Not sure if I should go black or stay chrome?

Where did you pick it up? That's a nice addition!

I personally think a mk6 chrome is the best. I've tried mk4 and didn't like it.

Worth the money to upgrade to a mk6!

[Rippers]

Ordered myself a vortex golf ball gear stick today. I'll post when fitted.

Also look at replacing the tailgate handle for either a mk 6 or mk 4. Not sure if I should go black or stay chrome?

Where did you pick it up? That's a nice addition!

I personally think a mk6 chrome is the best. I've tried mk4 and didn't like it.

Worth the money to upgrade to a mk6!

Ebay mate, managed to get it for a reasonable price too 

Yeah I have tried dismantling a mk4 already and painted it black but I think it might be too much and the chrome adds a bit of contrast. I have an early soft close on mine where the badge is fluch,  Di yuo replacethe whole thing or just the emblem?

[lukemk5gti]

Ordered myself a vortex golf ball gear stick today. I'll post when fitted.

Also look at replacing the tailgate handle for either a mk 6 or mk 4. Not sure if I should go black or stay chrome?

Where did you pick it up? That's a nice addition!

I personally think a mk6 chrome is the best. I've tried mk4 and didn't like it.

Worth the money to upgrade to a mk6!

Ebay mate, managed to get it for a reasonable price too 

Yeah I have tried dismantling a mk4 already and painted it black but I think it might be too much and the chrome adds a bit of contrast. I have an early soft close on mine where the badge is fluch,  Di yuo replacethe whole thing or just the emblem?

I had the soft close which I wanted to keep but they were prone to whiteworm.

To replace it you need to change the entire mechanism. Those older slow close ones can't be stripped and emblems put on.

Mk6 mechanism second hand shoudl be £60 or so.

Fitting is easy enough but the wires need to be cut and stretched slightly as the connector is on the opposite side.

[croak2012]

Thanks for your post - you mentioned issues  with changing grab handle trim on passenger side ?
just about to do this myself...

[Rippers]

Thanks for your post - you mentioned issues  with changing grab handle trim on passenger side ?
just about to do this myself...

Is was a bit of a pain, you have to remove the whole door card, in my case the white plastic clips stayed in the door frame so i had to get some wire and make a noose round them, and use a lot of force to pull them out so I could reuse them.

Let us know how you get on.

[Rippers]

More parts arrived this week:

Vortex VW golf ball gear knob

And a couple of bits from RichardGTI on here, black grill emblem and polo aerial.

Started working on a mk4 tailgate emblem too.

Looking forward to the weekend to get everything on.

[lukemk5gti]

Be interested to see how you get on with the mk4 emblem!

As I said, I tried it but couldn't come close to perfection so opted for mk6 in the end!

[croak2012]

I completed  installing new  Grab handle trim / switch panel trim  but now the two switches for passanger windows don't work  aaaaaaarg!
I don't really want to take it off again haha because the grab handle insert broke when I took the original driver side trim off and I had to buy this:




I didn't have to take the whole door panel off because the grab handle insert part comes off  of the whole part if you unclip the easy side first and then the other!.


couple of things I would do next time -

1.remember to take the metal clips off the old part! 
2.use a plastic catch bag so the torx 30 does not fall down into the door!
3.wire is a must!  I had none! so I used my abus combilock cable - worked a treat haha

best tutorial on yt is this one:

[Rippers]

Sounds like you had a bit of a nightmare mate

[Rippers]

Got a few cosmetic bits done today.



Pulled the old gear stick out and cut the retaining clip off



Vortex golf ball fitted.



Then installed the black VW emblem. Easy job, 2 screws and it untwisted.

[Andy]

looking  good sir

[Rippers]

looking  good sir

Cheers mate

[croak2012]

that actually looks good not too blingy
did you have the silver and black leather gear knob on before? 
whats the shifting like with this compared the the origin

My GTI badge is AWOL - are you thinking of doing anything with yours or just leave it silver ?

[Rippers]

that actually looks good not too blingy
did you have the silver and black leather gear knob on before? 
whats the shifting like with this compared the the origin

My GTI badge is AWOL - are you thinking of doing anything with yours or just leave it silver ?

Yes mate, this is what I had before as you can see the gator was wearying so it was time to replace it.



I have to say it does feel a bit smaller than the OEM one but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Keeping it silver at the moment, looking to rattle can the grill satin black soon so will see then.

[Jcarroll]

Looks really well - does your brother want it back yet??