Garth's GTI build thread

[Greeners]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! I really wanted to do this to my GTI, but I have about as much electrical knowledge as a goldfish! At times like this I wish I could do all that stuff! Your interior is looking really good now! 

i might start knocking these out for people if there's a demand. it takes a while to do each one including removal and testing etc, but i've done this a few times now.
I've got to get some money for my wedding somehow!

I'd be up for that fella! 

Love the way your going about this so far! 

[gazjones]

Love the photos 

I'm a bit taken with the grey stripe on the grill too!

Look forward to seeing further progress with it 

[matsu]

 
wow loving the little touches and wow the interior LEDs wow!
I think I'd like them in mine if u turn that lil home biz a go!
And likey the stripe and badge colour matched- nice!!
Think I prefer the original rims but it still looks very nice!!
Nice one mate.
Matsu

[Garth]

I re-did the rear lights since I was never 100% happy with them. They're much more like they're supposed to be now 
Why pay hundreds for ED30 lights when this cost me £5!

[x2dazee]

Hi,

What Tint spray or spray did you use for the rear lights, how many coats did you use and did you apply a clear lacquer at the end ??

Also the badge (front) what spray did you use, is it just a simple matter of a job as spraying a different colour or did you need to sand it down etc etc...

[Garth]

Hi,

What Tint spray or spray did you use for the rear lights, how many coats did you use and did you apply a clear lacquer at the end ??

Also the badge (front) what spray did you use, is it just a simple matter of a job as spraying a different colour or did you need to sand it down etc etc...

The tint spray was this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/E-TECH-LIGHT-TINTING-SPRAY-BLACK-SMOKE-LENS-TINT-NEW_W0QQitemZ350332436957QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item519170c1dd

It really only needs a couple of reasonably light coats as it's very tough. To get it glossy, you can either lacquer it, spray it evenly in the first place, or polish it up the same as you would with paint. I opted for a combination of the last two. Polishing can only really be done with a machine as it's way too tough for polishing by hand.

The badge was sanded down as you cannot paint onto the chrome without it flaking straight off. After all the chrome was removed, a couple of coats of plastic primer were used then a couple of coats of metallic paint (e.g. from dealers or halfords etc) then a few coats of lacquer ( the more the better as it will get a lot of abuse from stones when driving!)
 

[Garth]

Right then, I've just finished getting rid of some more red from the car 

I've painted my brake calipers silver. The paint was nothing like the colour of the lid unfortunately so it's way lighter tha I wanted, but it will do until I find something better. I still much prefer it to the standard red:

Progress pics follow:
Before:


Stripped:


Masked up:


Painted:


Behind wheel:


And the front:


Getting close to the monochrome look I'm after 

[p3asa]

Lovin your mods mate. Very subtle.

[Garth]

Busy day today...
First up, courtesy of gulfstream my new footrest:



Next up was the aerial. I swapped the old bee-sting to a new shark fin,
Old:


New:


I fitted parking sensors, finally.

Marked up:


Drilled:


All done:


I also replaced a load of interior trim plastics due to scratches.

[Top Cat]

Good stuff. 

So whats the radio reception like now you have fitted the shark fin, everyone who has done this so far has had poor reception after. 

[cuzmk5]

loving the look of the new shark fin aerial.  

do you have a part no. for it.

cheers.

[Garth]

Good stuff. 

So whats the radio reception like now you have fitted the shark fin, everyone who has done this so far has had poor reception after. 

Thanks TC. Well the reception is as good as it was before sitting on the drive. I haven't moved the car yet though and I have seen another thread where the guy said he had good reception sitting still then it got worse when driving.
Interestingly, when I was trying to find theproblem with my heater, Darren and I did a scan in VCDS which revealed a fault code with open circuit for the aerial. I'm thinking that the shark fin is not actually doing anything and the rear screen aerial is doing all the work. The connector for the shark fin has a spline running down it so that it wouldn't fit the connector in my car. I trimmed it off so it would fit in and the internals of the connectors do match up. It obviously isn't designed for this application which is why it probably doesn't work for most people.
I'm thinking because my car is an early model, the rear screen is all it really needs for reception.

I'm going to investigate a little more later, but as long as the radio works, I'm not fussed if the aerial is just for show 

loving the look of the new shark fin aerial. 

do you have a part no. for it.

cheers.

Yes, I do 
1K0 035 507 J

[Garth]

Update on shark fin reception:
The radio reception has been affected by the aerial change. The reception is still great for the most part, but does break up a little in remote locations (like driving over the Pennines).
I need to check the wiring diagrams to see if there is something different on cars that have the shark fin as standard. It was available on the mk5, so perhaps there is a separate amplifier that should be used along side it.

It's not bad enough to want to change back, but it could irritate people if they listen to the radio a lot in remote areas.
 

[keith]

Is that not why some mk5's have the bee sting and some the fin as there was problems with the fins reception?

[Garth]

Is that not why some mk5's have the bee sting and some the fin as there was problems with the fins reception?

No, it's to do with different specs. The reason everyone is getting poor reception when they retro fit the shark fin is because the wiring is not the same (even though it looks the same). The shark fin is seen by VCDS as an open circuit meaning there is some circuitry missing from the shark fin (like an amp maybe?) that is in the bee-sting.
Once I can get a look at ETKA and ELSA, I will be able to confirm.