VW Golf GTI MK5 2005 87,830 miles on the clock.
Right, viewed the car the night before I bought it on Saturday evening 9th November 2013.
On first inspection I had to start the car up first to hear the dreading knocking of signs of the cam follower doing its nasty noises. All sounded fine so next was looking over the interior for cosmetic rips. Checked aircon was working and all other buttons etc etc. The car a real bad cheesy type smell inside. Went out for a test run and all was well. Checked the service history book and realized it was due for cam belt and water pump change. So when it came to making an offer, we managed to get the car a bargain price after looking beyond potential of the desperate need of a polish and mega clean.
Then Saturday after seeing my old car, Seat Leon Cupra TDi go off on a trailer, we went straight away to pick up the GTI.
Sunday morning, 7:30am start on the car, project blues! Starting with the exterior that needed some TLC. Started with TFR in the engine bay and a blast off it came up a treat, a quick rinse outside then.
Then applied the snow foam from Autobrite Direct and left to dwell. Results aftwards was pretty good!
Next stage was bucket and sponge jobby to get the heavier stuff off. Pretty in love with colour in the direct sun light.
The exhaust was an awful state, so compounded it back and to discover the theory behind my thought it sounded loudish. There was the logo, Milltek. Win in my position as its one tick from my list to get.
I started next to compound by hand the paint work after finding a lot of swirl marks from previous owners attempts at washing her. Never got round to the paint restore, polish and wax. Ran out of time as I had to get the interior sorted from that dreaded cheesy smell.
All the patterns on the seats was filthy, dirty coloured. The grey's was dusty and the floor mats proper knackered and flat.
Method we chose for cleaning was to steam clean everything, the other half spent all day with her humble yellow steamer. You can see from the pic below, passengers seat was steamed, drivers not.
I discovered the boot was the home of the nasty smell, it was dogs. All I could see was white dog hair everywhere, the boot lining had stains over it all. So that got ripped out and handed to the misses to steam off. She found bits of dog pee, poo, sick and biscuits over the lining.
She then worked her wonders around the car, hours passed and many cups of tea later the interior was spotless!
As for the lining, I pressure washed and left to dry. Now fitted back in and smells sooo fresh!
Monday morning, popped down bright an early to my local Volkswagen dealer to only draw a interest from the sales team because some never seen a blue GTI
Asked a few questions about an update disc for the Satnav, sadly stopped in 2008. Warranty on the body, paint work as I found some bubbling on the front arches...apparently its known. Also the recall on the ignition coilpacks. Booked it in for Tuesday morning.
Tuesday dropped it off the VW for the recall at silly o'clock on a day off at 8am. Popped over to my favourite shop, TPS. Picked up a water pump as my temperature gauge reads 75c ish while moving, on idle it moves to 90c. So first guess the thermostat had packed up. Then went out and picked up some modifications. R32 style projector headlights with full set of HIDs 4300k.
The new ignition coilpacks, I can safely say the car picks up so much better and pulls. Worth a shout to your nearest dealer for the freebie. My misses has booked her A3 in with Audi on Friday.
So list of bits to pick up over the next week or so are.
- Cam Belt kit and Water Pump (Not sure if the Chain will need replacing?)
- Cam Follower
- PCV Valve
- DV (might opt for a Forge one)
- Full works for service
Modifications to do are.
- Induction kit
- FMIC
- Remap, either AMD, Revo, APR (so its quicker than my old TDI)
- EBC Brakes all round
- Braided lines
- Eibach Sportline or H&R springs (Recommendations welcomed)
- Poly Bush control arm mounts
- Poly bush what I can just not engine mounts unless talked into it
- Alloys, want 18's but not sure yet on style
Cosmetics to do.
- Matalic black door mirrors
- Colour code rear bumper
- Colour code front splitter
- Colour code side skirts
Think thats all for time being. If anyone wants my Satnav Unit, MFD2. I'll be up for swaps for a newer style DAB Unit or possibly sell it.
Any ideas or mechanical knowledge are welcomed, new to these engines and suspension setups.
Ta for reading, will update when I can.
