Make a donation

Author Topic: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - Pilgrimage to Caffeine & Machine  (Read 43815 times)

Offline LC5F

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 16
  • -Receive: 80
  • Posts: 1110
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - MOT'd to the Max!
« Reply #150 on: November 18, 2021, 07:51:46 pm »
Fixed a clunking noise in the nearside door that occured turning left/right and a speaker crackle in the offside - both were the speaker cable adaptors similar to type shown below flapping about - some double sided number plate pads stuck them in place - no more clonk / or crackle:

No real news, except to report some fails:

The speaker crackle was hiding - returned mid week after reporting the fix. Following weekend dash apart and its a duff bullet connector - I going to have to solder the connection from amplifier cable to OEM loom.
-and-
The clunking... that came back... some head scratching, and a bit more thinking... it's the passenger seat belt buckle knocking against the door card!
Making sure the belt is around the outer seat back bolster and there is no clunking, its fine with a front passenger, but if there is someone in the back when they get out it re-sets the belt off the bolster.



Offline LC5F

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 16
  • -Receive: 80
  • Posts: 1110
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI
« Reply #151 on: December 18, 2021, 12:41:30 pm »
Just back from a 800 mile round trip to West Wales - usual random stuff found in farmer supply shops:


The trip down was pretty un-eventful, other than the seat belt chimes randomly sounding despite both belt buckled up. Some quick research on here helped, being 400 miles from home I did the non-VCDS option of just disconnecting the  2 pin pressure switch plug under both seats.

Fuel - its difficult to maintain any average or low enough speeds to be economical, but I was happy Golf did just over 6 miles per litre on Sainsbury's premium, on the way back I tried Tesco Momentum - definitely got a bit more umph, will find out if it did better mileage when I fill up.
Oil - previous few similar trips were before the head & turbo rebuild, it would use at least half a litre of oil each way, that looks like the consumption has halved - approximately 0.6 litres per 1k miles.

Return journey back to Scotland was a bit painful:
My timing was not good - I joined the M5 at Worcester, managed to then hit Birmingham at peak rush hour, and then all the way up till past Manchester it was random stop starting in the fast lane -I was sat there waiting for a pile up with the other 3 lanes still rolling.
M6 quietened down at Preston, all good through the lakes apart from some light mist - this then meant several cars decided to put fog lights on and leave them on...

But then I got to Penrith - a numpty in an older Astra joined the motorway, pulled into the middle lane to over take a slower car he had followed down the slip road, with no other cars in front of him, just as I was about to pass he decided to pull into the 3rd lane I was in.
He was doing 70 - I was doing 80, to miss him I had hard swerve towards the barrier, had to swerve back, nearly went into a complete tank slapper - but after a couple more left / rights and the Golf collected itself.
I think it would have been a different story if I was still on standard ARB's - the H&R's just killed the body roll - without them I could have spun, rolled or anything in between.

Strangely, by the time I got to the Borders, I was sick and tired of motorway, I could not either wait till the A702 or the possibility of more numpties on there too, so I escaped early by diving off onto the A701.

Normally this is a great drive, but the mist made an unwelcome return, this time it was thicker and hanging about.
I was hoping it was just in the valleys and would clear once I got the the Devils Beeftub... but it ended up 50 miles driving at 30 to 45.
The good news it was completely empty, caught up with on Scottish gas van who pulled over near Biggar, and for the last 10 miles I was grateful to tail a transit, he somehow could see further so it was a lot less stressful just following at a good distance.

Now I just have to deal with the road muck:






Offline LC5F

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 16
  • -Receive: 80
  • Posts: 1110
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI
« Reply #152 on: February 20, 2022, 11:02:57 am »
What's in the box? - hopefully the fix to mental auto wipers and cruise control not always switching off:


My wiper arm was always generating a fault code, replacement arm was required, couldn't see any point trying a used one as it could also be faulty and it would also be odd replacing wiper stalk and leave indicator stalk old....but then occasionally the cruise control wouldn't respond to input from controls, so both needed replacement

Removal was straight forward:


Interestingly the the Febi indicator stalk has the VAG logos deleted:


As the wheel was going to come off I thought I would make some improvements there too.
I love the original wheel, but find the leather lacks grip and feels like it could do with a bit more girth.
Scanning through Chinese ebay (somebody has to keep their economy going) I found a good looking alcantara wheel cover to fix my issues.
Current girth at thumb rest - front to back:


Side to side:


Installing the cover was tricky, watched loads of YT films and got stuck into what ended up taking 6 hours!
With my carbon paddles I decided to strip the entire wheel down, this is half way having done the lower 2 openings:


I am reasonably happy with the result being OK, a lot better than some I have seen, stitching is a bit random:


Girth improvement, F to B:


Side to side:


2mm improvement in both directions definitely feels better and the grip with alcantara is superb.
Currently I'm not 100% on board with the red stripe - I was swayed by a wheel TR Hamza installed in his Mk7

But my biggest annoyances are-
Around the DSG paddles - the seller did accomodate for paddles, but the fit isn't the best - the paddles used to give a nice mechanical click, the paddles still work but now the material is cushioning the paddles. Plus the fit on the Left side thumb rest has an exposed edge of the suede.
Currently it is a bit baggy & I have a couple of bubbles of suede in the stitching - hoping this will flatten out, but this may be it:


Think I will try black sharpie on the exposed edge.




 

Offline pudding

  • Global Moderator
  • Just look at my post count
  • *
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 2
  • -Receive: 690
  • Posts: 8353
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #153 on: February 26, 2022, 01:08:23 pm »
Great job on the steering wheel  :happy2: 


2007 ED30 | 2009 TDI 140 | 2016 BMW 330D

Offline RBS

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 0
  • -Receive: 47
  • Posts: 443
    • Email
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #154 on: February 27, 2022, 10:06:47 pm »
Indeed looks great  :congrats: :congrats: :happy2:

Offline LC5F

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 16
  • -Receive: 80
  • Posts: 1110
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #155 on: March 06, 2022, 07:59:54 pm »
@Pudding & @RBS Thanks for the kind words guys - I think it has shrunk a little, still got to try some light heat.

So last week I managed to sort out my spare key that I groke the chip in trying to convert it to a Mk7 shell.
Ended up going to Timpsons, typically the only guy in Edinburgh is the opposite side of town... usually they are one-man band arrangements, so I was wondering how he was going to scan my car - easy he sent me out with this reader on my key to gather the information:

£75 liter - I eradicated the stress of only having a single key.

This weekend there was good weather so manged to do an oil change, taking the full length engine under tray off was hampered by the middle bolt intot he subframe being filled with tarmac...got to stop attacking speed bumps:

Thats with the torq opening picked out, luckily I had a spare bolt to shove in, the driver's side had also been attacked too:


Got to finally use the filter oil drain tool - it is the cleanest oil change I have done on the Mk5:


One of the issues I kept on having pre-head rebuild was really high oil consumption, it was regularly getting very low - but the Golf was not giving any warning for low oil level.
From googling I found what I thought was the correct replacement sensor to go into the sump, managed to find a genuine new one on ebay maybe 4 months ago... I suspect I mis-googled as there is a bit of a difference in length... old one is on the right!:

I shoved the new one in - my logic may be flawed - but hopefully this one will warn if it gets too low, need to source another one for the next oil change.


Offline pudding

  • Global Moderator
  • Just look at my post count
  • *
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 2
  • -Receive: 690
  • Posts: 8353
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #156 on: March 07, 2022, 08:46:19 am »
I've seen re-trimmers use steam to shrink the leather tightly onto the wheel, as well as upholstery glue.  I'd be happy with how yours turned out though tbh, but a little heat won't hurt though!

Have you still got high oil useage after the head rebuild?

I never let the oil get low enough for the warning light to come on. I check it once a week. Probably why my dipsticks keep breaking  :grin:





2007 ED30 | 2009 TDI 140 | 2016 BMW 330D

Offline LC5F

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 16
  • -Receive: 80
  • Posts: 1110
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #157 on: March 07, 2022, 09:35:51 am »
@Pudding - after the head / turbo rebuild oil consumption has dropped dramatically - before it was going through a litre of oil in 500 to 600 miles. Now it hangs around a lot longer, plus with me doing such low milage I only check maybe every month or so, last top up was only 1/4 of a litre.

The problem with artificial suede is it's machine washable, so moisture has no effect on it, currently the baggy bits are:
Right thumb loop- this is simply 4 to 6mm of extra material, that needs to lose itself...
Back of the flat bottom- amazing how often this gets touched during manoeuvres, a reminder/annoyance at every junction!

Offline pudding

  • Global Moderator
  • Just look at my post count
  • *
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 2
  • -Receive: 690
  • Posts: 8353
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #158 on: March 07, 2022, 02:47:45 pm »
That's a good improvement then.  I occasionally get a waft of burning oil when sat in traffic for a while, so I think I have the same job coming up.

Ah of course, steam won't work then  :grin:


2007 ED30 | 2009 TDI 140 | 2016 BMW 330D

Offline RBS

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 0
  • -Receive: 47
  • Posts: 443
    • Email
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #159 on: March 08, 2022, 05:14:49 pm »
Job well done :happy2: :wink:

Offline RBS

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 0
  • -Receive: 47
  • Posts: 443
    • Email
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #160 on: March 20, 2022, 08:52:47 pm »
How do I give you a like?
And how is the new steering wheel ? Enjoying it? :happy2:

Offline LC5F

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 16
  • -Receive: 80
  • Posts: 1110
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - a bit more girth
« Reply #161 on: March 21, 2022, 01:09:30 pm »
How do I give you a like?
And how is the new steering wheel ? Enjoying it? :happy2:

Thanks - I do like it - I "think" its shrunk a bit on the right side, flat bottom is still baggy, will just have see how it progresses.

Well I have had quite a time improving my headlights over the last couple of weeks -


Not happy with light output - I had a lexus behind me one night, its lights were brighter than my own...
lights out I delved deeper into the Xenon units, all the wiring in good condition not hardened or cracked, removed the bowl and lense:


I was expecting these to be burnt through without reflector, but they were mint! only issue I found was milkyness on the lense:

Cleaned:


Re-installed the bowls with new mid-range Xenon bulbs, and as the lights were out I replaced the halogen high beam & indicator bulbs - retained my LED side lights.

Outer Lenses:
I first tried a Holts restore kit, I chose this as it comes with lots of grades of sand paper and a drill attachment.
I read on here another person had experienced the kit creating more scratches - the box says that both sanding discs and drill attachment are 75mm  diameter, but the attachment is 80mm, leaving very hard velcro overlapping to scratch the lense:


Took a lot of polishing to get these "new" scratches out, eventually got to the stage of adding the sealing compound, but didn't like the finish. Decided to lacquer the lights instead...but I was too heavy handed and ended up with drips...and didn't help that the heavy duty lacquer was slightly yellow...so I had to sand it all off:


Ended up hand sanding these all down, polished them with the holts scratch remover and then ceramic coated the units... this had taken 1.5 weeks to get here!
But in sunlight it highlighted scratches still present, brother in law like his detailing, gave me Meguiar's Plastic RX and this finally got the lenses into a good enough state.

This is before, not too bad:



After, not perfect, but a lot better:



Dipped beams light output before:

After:


Side by side there isn't much difference before/after, my Xenon bulbs had degraded considerably.
In traffic I can now see the road in front, it's not drowned out by other light sources, I'm not thinking where has the road gone!

New toy - really good, set the pressure in either PSI, BAR or kPa and pull the trigger and it cuts off when it gets there:
.

Only improvement would be if it bled down over filled tyres, I had to manually let air out...but maybe I'm asking too much!
If you already have Makita LXT batteries, it's a cheap buy.



Offline jacksosi

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 2
  • -Receive: 2
  • Posts: 60
    • Email
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - No eye Gti
« Reply #162 on: March 21, 2022, 05:39:48 pm »
Quote from: LC5F

Side by side there isn't much difference before/after…

You’re joking, you couldn’t see that blue car straight ahead before, great job
Black MkV Gti (Nov 2008), no modifications

Offline RBS

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 0
  • -Receive: 47
  • Posts: 443
    • Email
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - No eye Gti
« Reply #163 on: March 21, 2022, 06:53:09 pm »
Improved is an understatement!!
This looks AMAZINGLY beautiful :happy2: :happy2:
Great job!!

Offline LC5F

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 16
  • -Receive: 80
  • Posts: 1110
Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - No eye Gti
« Reply #164 on: March 22, 2022, 09:53:13 am »
Quote from: LC5F

Side by side there isn't much difference before/after…

You’re joking, you couldn’t see that blue car straight ahead before, great job

LOL - well played Sir1

Improved is an understatement!!
This looks AMAZINGLY beautiful :happy2: :happy2:
Great job!!

Thanks RBS