Marticus' Red GTI

[Marticus]

How is it that VW engineers can design a light switch that i can change out with a press and a twist in 20 seconds, but you have to be some kind of contortionist with salad fingers to change out thenpoxy bulbs.

Anyway bulbs are changed i took some pics but theyre so crappy you probably wont see a difference, but to me they look much better now.

Before:



After:




More to come…

[Marticus]

More goodies:

Ed30 front splitter just arrived, so visit to the bodyshop will be innorder at some point soon..

[Marticus]

And the last of todays goodies. New boot struts, and a mk7 front gti badge.




Horray for no more concussions when im taking things from the boot! Not sure yet how im going to get the badge to fit, but ill have a play with it .

[Marticus]

boot struts are fitted, another easy job there. Thanks VW engineers!.

Also had lots of fun with the badge, which turned into its own mini project.

Firstly i had to remove the grill from the car, and then remove the old badge from the grill.

Looking at the old and new side by side theyre exactly the same size:



Unfortunately the method of fitting them to the grill is completely different on the back:



Fortunately the letters themselves are only stuck onto the backing plate with adhesive, so a bit of work with a stanly blade gets them off:





I cleaned up the old base before putting on the new letters:



And usednsome spray adhesive on the back of the letters before clamping them to the base to dry:



Whilst i was waiting for the glue to go off i cleaned up the grill a bit and finally after a lot of clean up on the badge because spray glue is messy, i refitted the badge to the grill:






And thats it, fun little project and a nice change for an hour or so worth of work. I will eventually repaint the entire grill in gloss black and maybe change out the big vw badge as im slowly dechroming as much as i can, but for now im happy.

[Marticus]

Ovenight parts from japan…or Germany.




Ramair induction kit and h&r coilovers, i hadnt planned on spending this much money so fast, but i bought the coilovers open box for under €600 so they were hard to pass up.

I might have a go at fitting the induction kit myself, but will probably need some help with the coilovers so they can wait, also going to double check the suspension and see if anything else needs replacing while im there..

[Marticus]

Cars back at the mechanic today for new belt, waterpump, thermostat, cam follower, evap valve, and bonnet strut.

So seeing as im spending all my money on mechanical bits i decided to have a go at painting the lip myself. If i make a mess of it i can always take it to the body shop to be fixed, and if it works out maybe ill have a go at painting some other bits.

So today i ordered some paint, and started preperation.

Firstly i lightly went over the lip with some 120grit, then wiped everything off with some paint thinner, before realising that it also thins ABS  so finished cleanup with water and towels.

Then started with some primer i had left over from previous projects. Problem was that the first couple of cans were pretty old, and ended up leaving a sh*tty finish, the third tin worked better but is orange for some reason.




So tomorrow ill be cleaning up the garage and hitting it again with some sandpaper to knock down the bad bits and get it prepped for the last primer and color/clear.

Im still trying to decide if i should do the lower center section in black or red..

[Marticus]

Just had a call from the mechanic, and it looks like the alternator is going to need replacing, along with some fitting in the fuel system, and the engine cover is f*cked, the joys of owning older cars.

So I figured I would take a minute to list what's been done, and is yet to do.

Done:
Dsg service
Cam chain set
Cam belt
Water pump
Thermostats
All filters
Cam follower
EVAP system valve (p90 I think..)
Boot struts
Bonnet strut
Bulbs
Headlight switch

To do:
Fuel system connector
Alternator
Charcoal canister
Divertor valve
Fit induction kit
Fit suspension
Buy and fit better brakes
Radio upgrade

Probably lots more...

Looks quite daunting written down like that, and funds are running low. But at least she will be running well once I'm done.

Some good news is that the paint for the front lip has arrived, so hopefully later I will be able to find some time to work on that. Need to pick up some higher grit sand paper and solvent free cleaner for wiping everything down.

[Marticus]

Ehh this cars starting to twist my tits now.

Picked up the car today after the mechanic finished the latest lot of work, and drove it to the petrol station to refuel (after the fuel fitting failed and dropped a load of fuel over the garage floor), and on the way home figured o would stretch her legs to see if everything felt OK, when poof. No power, engine revving not going anywhere, popping from under the hood.

Got back to the garage, and turns out that the intercooler hose has popped off, and the metal parts on the hose have stripped so it won't hold properly to the cooler .

So popped it back on and drove home very carefully.

Now I'm a bit stuck for next steps, because I had planned on eventually going for an s3 intercooler anyway, which means I would have to cut the ends off the hoses if I understand correctly, or replace them with s3 ones. Either way there's not much point in spending money on new hoses for the standard cooler if I'm going to replace / cut them up in the foreseeable future.

The other consideration is with the noise pipe, because my car is LHD I assume it has a noise pipe, and if I decide to get rid of it I would need the s3 piping right?

So does anyone know if the s3 piping is a straight fit to the engine side of our fsi engines? I assume yes..

[Marticus]

Decided to turn my frustration today into something more positive, so spent some time on the front lip.

Its not finished yet, but progress so far goes like this:

After the last update, i wet sanded everywhere with some 600 grit, and hit it with a couple of coats of the new primer.



Then once that had dried i sprayed the first coat of black, which came out far too thick and ran everywhere. So after some cleanup and another light sanding, i got the black down if not perfect at least ok.



And lastly tonight i masked off the center section and got the red down which went on easier than the black thankfully.





And thats where im leaving it tonight, tomorrow ill start the clearcoat and prayni dont make a mess of it.

Its not perfect by any means and ive now idea how good the color match will be, but i think its ok, a damn site better than the unpainted black lip thats on there now anyway

[Marticus]

Got the laquer onnthis morning and offered the splitter up to the car today. The colour match is .. not good. But maybe it will improve after a polish. I dont have the heart to repaint it now so it will have to do.

Now i just have to get it fitted.

[Marticus]

Fitted the front lip today, and as a good friend once said about his ex, its nice from afar, but far from nice.

If funds allow i may get it painted proffessionally, but it will do.



Today ive also ordered an s3 intercooler, and som 3m interior wrap. Im trying to de-chrome the car, and whilst the silver isnt chrome i want to tone it down a bit anyway, but i didnt want to do carbon as its been done loads, so i picked up some dark brushed aluminium look, hopefully it will look half decent.

If anyones done it before, let me know if you managed it with the trim in place of if its better to remove it first.

[Marticus]

Vinyl wrap arrived today and i couldnt resist trying it.

Before


After


Im pretty happy with that, looks OEM but less shiny which was my goal. Unfortunately i ordered the wrong dimensions and the peice i have isnt long enough for the door cards, but i will use this for the smaller bits, and do the rest later.

[Marticus]

Just for some practice and a bit of fun i thought i wouldtry and wrap one of the grotty old door handle / switch consoles, this will be getting replaced anyway but it was a good way to learn what works and what doesnt.

[Marticus]

S3 intercooler arrived today, and this will probably be the last big purchase for a while,

I had planned on maybe stage 2, but repairs have eaten into that budget now, intake, intercooler, and coil overs is a good start though I think. I'm still considering options for brakes as well, as that's probably most important for track time

[Marticus]

Tonights victim of wrapping was the gear shift surround.

I started this with the intention of getting rid of as much silver as possible, but when i looked at the trim and saw hiw scratched it was i decided that should be done.




And of course as soon as i started washing it, i ended up with this:



And after 20 minutes with the hairdryer and razerblade this is what im left with



Its far from perfect, there are a few bubbles and around the gear indicator letters is still a mess and will need some more work, but its an improvement.

The only question now is what to do with the silver trim that i was supposed to be getting rid of.

Maybe carbon wrap, or just matt black paint. Not sure yet, if anyone has a suggestion let me know.