Starting to get expensive...So carrying on with Part 2..
With the return of the warmer weather, and the removal of the winter wheels, I put on 20mm H&R rear spacers and brought my A3 wheels back out for some summer fun.
(before the eagle eyed viewer spots it, I did the above brake caliper painting AFTER putting the spacers back on..
)
I was in between jobs for a while, due to a falling out with my employer at the time over pay and conditions (I was an IT networking and wireless engineer regularly going out to customer sites) on £15k a year... so I think I was right to fall out with them, so I was temping at Dominos for a month until my new job started.
While I was giving the car a once over I noticed the typical arch rust that plagued so many cars..
After arguing with what seemed like the most inconsiderate and rude woman from VW over a period of days, I eventually got 100% goodwill gesture and it was repaired and the arch liner modded.
Piper put up a feeler for a car to develop their cat back for the 1.9 TDI platform on, on uk-mkivs (which is my "go-to" forum shall we say, I have nearly 10k posts over there) and I was luckily first to the finish line.
I ended up with a free 2.5" Piper cat back system sounded pretty good!
And
a sound clip.. ignore me faffing around with the camera at the start of the video.
I thought I'd tidy up the exterior and sort a few bits out underneath so I bought some proper rear LED numberplate lights (the whole units) which are great, new top mounts, drop links, and
Vredestein Sessanta tyres which I have ended up sticking with religiously as they are
that good.
I was around at the right time in the right place, and managed to get some R32/S3/A3 8P 3.2 V6 front hubs, discs, calipers, carriers, lines, etc.. basically everything to convert my 50mm hubbed 280mm shod front end to the full 55mm hubs with 345mm discs.
I also nabbed the front seats from the A3 which were a little more supportive than the standard seats, and matched the interior pretty well..
I bought a set of GTI pedals for £50 brand new (they are often on Ebay from the Czech Republic... but they came wrapped in VW parts with genuine part numbers and stamps so they are all genuine).
Unfortunately some little sh*te decided to lob a brick or a rock at my car which dented one of the side pillars and put a big gash on the window.
I bought a replacement one from Ebay however, it was a different colour so I took all of the side pillars off and wrapped them all to match.
Yet more vandalism when a "friend" decided he'd jump on my bonnet which creased it..
I gave a local Dent Devils repair man a call following some good recommendations and it was on a "no fix no fee" basis.. he did manage to fix it luckily.
And here's the dent gone.
I bought a genuine Jetta bumper and trimmed it to fit the pre-facelift car without having to fit new radiator carriers and front crossbeams.. I then had it freshly sprayed by my local friendly bodyshop.
On the way to pick some grills up I had my first and so far only breakdown, which was a boost hose popping up. Unfortunately I had no tools and the hose was ruined so I had to call Mr AA.
On the plus side, we took a road trip with a mate and I picked the grills up... which I also had to trim to clear the rad-support.
With the help of my best mate (pictured), while the car was in the local garage waiting for a boost hose, I decided to swap the front end in the car park..
And the finished result...
I had a matching black badge on order from Eurowagens as it was of course different from the pre-facelift grill.
And a picture from GTI International while I did an appalling time of 17.3 on the strip, due to the crappy, greasy surface in the morning and wheel spin in 3rd.
I slowly began sorting out some extra power... I got some PD130/ASZ injectors which flow more fuel than the stock PD105 injectors.
It was by now MOT time and the front LCA bushes were all shot so rather than faff around with new bushes I just bought GTI arms with new bushes
Which were kindly fitted by a mate.
And of course the obligatory tracking being done the next day.
And a pic from when I spent the day with a "car fwend, ohhhh!"
After replacing a rear caliper which
ruined a set of pads in two months because it was sticky... or should I say seized.. I took the time to properly detail the wheels which had not been cleaned properly for a while.. which I was very ashamed to admit.
Quite a few pictures but you can read about that
hereI also gave the car a full detail the following weekend resulting in paint that looked like this;
And a car that looked like this;
I found a US Spec GTI Cluster which I had fitted and coded which I really like.. The only reason for upgrading to the GTI cluster over my existing highline TDI was so I could have illuminated needles...
Then things started going downhill....quite badly.
After tyre shops and from many trips to mechanic mates for tweaks and changes the wheel nut covers were starting to chip...
I stupidly curbed a wheel which I was kicking myself about.
Then as I was moving into a new house with my girlfriend the car was keyed outside my mothers house overnight.
I was going to buy new wheels (some 3SDM 005s) as I had changed jobs and basically had two months salary in one but obviously that went to pot. I felt pretty bad. To top it off me and my girlfriend then broke up in the same week.. Talking about quadrupple whammy.
