Korza
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- kamikazi493
If you're going that far you might as well go all the way: https://jalopnik.com/5721237/the-dual-engined-volkswagen-that-never-was
Katiegan's Garage | Winter Plans
- Thread starter Katiegan
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If you're going that far you might as well go all the way: https://jalopnik.com/5721237/the-dual-engined-volkswagen-that-never-was
- 5,905
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- KatieB53
I think an update is long overdue...
The Panda is doing alright. Nothing much has really changed. I took it to the TRAX show at Donington at the beginning of July with the Fiat Panda UK group and got very, very sunburnt.
It currently has an ABS sensor fault which I haven't had time to change, so for the past month and a half I've had no ABS, traction control, or hill start assist. Only pros drive with no aids... or something. It also has an intermittent fault that's really baffling me. Every now and then, it'll lose all power and barely rev up, and bring on the EML. A scan of the fault codes only comes up with 'P1220 - Throttle Valve Position' and that's it, and once it's cleared it'll stay out for weeks, maybe months before coming back. It used to only do this on long motorway journeys in hot weather, so I thought maybe it was temperature related, but the past two times the fault has occured it's been on my way to/from work, which is only a short journey. I haven't had a chance to properly investigate the fault, and it doesn't help that it just randomly happens once and then doesn't happen again for weeks. Strange Fiat quirks, I suppose.
The reason I haven't had time to fix the Panda is because of this...
Good news! It's running, insured, taxed and MOT'd. It hasn't been a smooth journey getting it to this point, and there's still some way to go, but it's driveable at least now.
Since the fault seemed to be fuel starvation, the first thing I did was check the fuel tank, since Sciroccos are known to have a build up of debris due to the metal fuel filler neck deteriorating and letting in rust. To my surprise, the tank was pretty much spotless. A few specks here and there, but certainly nothing to worry about.
That will need replacing at some point before it gets too bad. A company does stainless steel ones but they're £150, but I suppose for the sake of it not rusting again, it's worth it.
I then changed the in-line fuel filter, which had also seen better days...
The flange for the fuel pump was leaking too, which I presumed would be bringing in air, so that was replaced (again, apologies for the terrible photo, I couldn't really see at the angle I was taking the photo)
I also fixed a split vacuum pipe, and the car seemed to run a lot better after. I put a 5L jerry can full of fuel in too, as the gauge was pretty close to empty, which could mean dead empty on these older cars. I took the car for a quick drive up the street and it seemed alright, although the synchro for second gear has gone since it changes with an almighty crunch.
I then discovered the windscreen wipers didn't work, which means it wouldn't pass an MOT. Upon closer inspection of the ignition wiring, I found someone had been there before, and not really known what they were doing...
I checked the feed up to the wiper motor which was fine, and if I poked about at the wires enough times, the wipers would sometimes work. I realised it was probably something to do with all the chopped and butchered wires under there. I struggled to find a wiring diagram I could understand and eventually had to settle for intermittent wipers. I'd rather send it to a specialist who can sort the whole wiring out before I do something drastic, as I disturbed one wire and caused the car to not start at all at one point.
Once I was reasonably happy with everything, I took the car for MOT. I nervously waited at work, not expecting it to pass, when I got the call from the MOT tester... it had passed, and with no advisories! I couldn't believe it. The wipers had done as they were told and the rest of the car was actually legal. I went to pick the car up on my lunch break, set off home, came to the top of the hill out of my village, and it stalled. I dismissed it as me having it in the wrong gear going up the hill, as it started straight back up again fine. Turned to go up the hill of my street, and nothing. As soon as the car was under load, it just cut out instantly, as if it had no fuel at all. The route to the test centre was either downhill or flat, so it was never a problem getting there. Getting home however, was different. If I pulled the choke out it would pull up the hill, but as soon as the choke went back in, it'd cut out again. The MOT pass then started to feel bittersweet as I limped it home and into the garage. Back to the drawing board then.
I went for obvious things next, such as the fuel pump. Took on a test drive, made no difference. I checked the pressure in the fuel lines and it all seemed okay. I decided the obvious thing to check next was the carb.
Now, despite the fact I'm a qualified mechanic, I'm a young mechanic, so I've never actually worked on carbs, and this is all new to me. I enlisted the help of my dad, who was a DIY mechanic back in the day, and while no pro, certainly knew more about carbs than I did. We started stripping down the top of the carb to check if the floats were sticking. The top of the carb was awkward to get off, and after a short while, we eventually got it off. We discovered the floats had actually been rubbing against the inside of the chambers they were sat in, and the bracket they sat on was bent, meaning they weren't level. I tried to straighten out the bracket as best as I could (it was only flimsy metal), and then built the carb back up. Started it up to test it and... I'd made it worse. About ten times worse. It would barely tick over at this point, never mind rev up. Defeated, we left it for the day.
I posted in a local classic car group asking if anyone was mobile and knew how to work on carbs. A guy answered offering to come up to my house to take a look at it. A few others in the comments recommended him too, so I decided to go ahead and try him out. I posted my plea on the Saturday, and the guy came over on the following Tuesday. He wasn't that local, he came over from Bradford, about half an hour to 45 minutes away. He rolled up in his Passat estate, his three Chihuahua/Yorkie cross dogs in the back (very handsome doggos, a bit vocal though), spent about 10 minutes looking at it and told me instantly what was wrong. The carb sits on a rubber flange on top of the manifold, and over time the rubber deteriorates as it's exposed to fuel all the time, and eventually they start letting in air, causing bad running problems.
The carb was also probably due a service/rebuild too. He removed the carb and said he'd take it back to his workshop, rebuild it, then bring it back to me, providing I covered the cost of the rebuild kit and sourced a new flange. He also recommended I order a new timing belt kit, as it'd make a lot more sense setting up the timing with a fresh belt. I eagerly agreed, and he took the carb away.
He provided me with photos throughout the rebuild, so to break up all this reading, I'll post them here (there's a fair few, so I'll put them in a spoiler)
He came over the following week to install the carb and give me a hand changing the timing belt. I'm glad he did, since the timing marks were very confusing and even took him a good while to figure out which ones were the right ones (VW decided to put multiple timing marks on... but not all of them were to line up), and in the end we discovered the timing was in fact out by a tooth on the crank and a tooth on the distributor, which certainly wouldn't help running problems. Within about 2 hours the carb was built back up and the timing belt was changed, the engine now timed up correctly, and running sweeter than ever before. I can't thank Paul who came over enough, he really didn't have to go out of his way for me, but he did. If you're in the area and looking for a carb expert I'd highly recommend him and his garage, Spanners and Sprockets in Bradford.
Last Saturday I spent most of the day cleaning the Scirocco ready for a show on the Sunday. It came up an absolute treat with some Meguiar's Mirror Bright polishing wax. Here's some before and after shots I posted on Instagram (click/swipe to see more photos)
Also took it to the petrol station after and couldn't resist a photo (Instagram story photo, hence the portait-ness again)
I soon found out a few things things on the way to the petrol station. One, the tracking is horrendously out, and two, the speedo is horrendously out. What the clock said was 30 was more like 20, and the mileage clock only seems to work when it wants. It's also pinking slightly, which could be down to the ignition timing being set up for the wrong engine code. Ah well, the joys of older cars!
The show was great, and the Scirocco seemed to gather the attention of more people than I thought. I also ended up meeting two other Mk2 owners there too. I've got another show this weekend too, with another Mk2 Scirocco, although this one is on air ride and not quite as standard as mine.
If you've made it this far through the post, I salute you, and thank you for reading! I should probably update this more often so I don't have to write essays like this...
EDIT: Seems like some of the photos aren't working? But seem to appear in preview? Not sure what's going on there. Is there an embedding limit? Probably that. I'll sort it tomorrow.
The Panda is doing alright. Nothing much has really changed. I took it to the TRAX show at Donington at the beginning of July with the Fiat Panda UK group and got very, very sunburnt.
The reason I haven't had time to fix the Panda is because of this...
Since the fault seemed to be fuel starvation, the first thing I did was check the fuel tank, since Sciroccos are known to have a build up of debris due to the metal fuel filler neck deteriorating and letting in rust. To my surprise, the tank was pretty much spotless. A few specks here and there, but certainly nothing to worry about.
Fuel sender before removal (apologies in advance for dreaded portrait phone photos)
Fuel sender
Inside the tank
The fuel filler neck has seen better days though...
Fuel sender
Inside the tank
The fuel filler neck has seen better days though...
That will need replacing at some point before it gets too bad. A company does stainless steel ones but they're £150, but I suppose for the sake of it not rusting again, it's worth it.
I then changed the in-line fuel filter, which had also seen better days...
The flange for the fuel pump was leaking too, which I presumed would be bringing in air, so that was replaced (again, apologies for the terrible photo, I couldn't really see at the angle I was taking the photo)
I also fixed a split vacuum pipe, and the car seemed to run a lot better after. I put a 5L jerry can full of fuel in too, as the gauge was pretty close to empty, which could mean dead empty on these older cars. I took the car for a quick drive up the street and it seemed alright, although the synchro for second gear has gone since it changes with an almighty crunch.
I then discovered the windscreen wipers didn't work, which means it wouldn't pass an MOT. Upon closer inspection of the ignition wiring, I found someone had been there before, and not really known what they were doing...
I checked the feed up to the wiper motor which was fine, and if I poked about at the wires enough times, the wipers would sometimes work. I realised it was probably something to do with all the chopped and butchered wires under there. I struggled to find a wiring diagram I could understand and eventually had to settle for intermittent wipers. I'd rather send it to a specialist who can sort the whole wiring out before I do something drastic, as I disturbed one wire and caused the car to not start at all at one point.
Once I was reasonably happy with everything, I took the car for MOT. I nervously waited at work, not expecting it to pass, when I got the call from the MOT tester... it had passed, and with no advisories! I couldn't believe it. The wipers had done as they were told and the rest of the car was actually legal. I went to pick the car up on my lunch break, set off home, came to the top of the hill out of my village, and it stalled. I dismissed it as me having it in the wrong gear going up the hill, as it started straight back up again fine. Turned to go up the hill of my street, and nothing. As soon as the car was under load, it just cut out instantly, as if it had no fuel at all. The route to the test centre was either downhill or flat, so it was never a problem getting there. Getting home however, was different. If I pulled the choke out it would pull up the hill, but as soon as the choke went back in, it'd cut out again. The MOT pass then started to feel bittersweet as I limped it home and into the garage. Back to the drawing board then.
I went for obvious things next, such as the fuel pump. Took on a test drive, made no difference. I checked the pressure in the fuel lines and it all seemed okay. I decided the obvious thing to check next was the carb.
Now, despite the fact I'm a qualified mechanic, I'm a young mechanic, so I've never actually worked on carbs, and this is all new to me. I enlisted the help of my dad, who was a DIY mechanic back in the day, and while no pro, certainly knew more about carbs than I did. We started stripping down the top of the carb to check if the floats were sticking. The top of the carb was awkward to get off, and after a short while, we eventually got it off. We discovered the floats had actually been rubbing against the inside of the chambers they were sat in, and the bracket they sat on was bent, meaning they weren't level. I tried to straighten out the bracket as best as I could (it was only flimsy metal), and then built the carb back up. Started it up to test it and... I'd made it worse. About ten times worse. It would barely tick over at this point, never mind rev up. Defeated, we left it for the day.
I posted in a local classic car group asking if anyone was mobile and knew how to work on carbs. A guy answered offering to come up to my house to take a look at it. A few others in the comments recommended him too, so I decided to go ahead and try him out. I posted my plea on the Saturday, and the guy came over on the following Tuesday. He wasn't that local, he came over from Bradford, about half an hour to 45 minutes away. He rolled up in his Passat estate, his three Chihuahua/Yorkie cross dogs in the back (very handsome doggos, a bit vocal though), spent about 10 minutes looking at it and told me instantly what was wrong. The carb sits on a rubber flange on top of the manifold, and over time the rubber deteriorates as it's exposed to fuel all the time, and eventually they start letting in air, causing bad running problems.
The offender
The carb was also probably due a service/rebuild too. He removed the carb and said he'd take it back to his workshop, rebuild it, then bring it back to me, providing I covered the cost of the rebuild kit and sourced a new flange. He also recommended I order a new timing belt kit, as it'd make a lot more sense setting up the timing with a fresh belt. I eagerly agreed, and he took the carb away.
He provided me with photos throughout the rebuild, so to break up all this reading, I'll post them here (there's a fair few, so I'll put them in a spoiler)
Dirty float chambers
Stripped down carb
The diaphragm (I think? Could be way off with the terminology here)
Screws! I know these!
Old floats
The needle valve
Removal of the old floats
New carb filter
New floats vs old floats (notice how out of shape the old ones are)
Fitting of the new floats
New needle valve (I think?)
Carb all built back up!
Stripped down carb
The diaphragm (I think? Could be way off with the terminology here)
Screws! I know these!
Old floats
The needle valve
Removal of the old floats
New carb filter
New floats vs old floats (notice how out of shape the old ones are)
Fitting of the new floats
New needle valve (I think?)
Carb all built back up!
He came over the following week to install the carb and give me a hand changing the timing belt. I'm glad he did, since the timing marks were very confusing and even took him a good while to figure out which ones were the right ones (VW decided to put multiple timing marks on... but not all of them were to line up), and in the end we discovered the timing was in fact out by a tooth on the crank and a tooth on the distributor, which certainly wouldn't help running problems. Within about 2 hours the carb was built back up and the timing belt was changed, the engine now timed up correctly, and running sweeter than ever before. I can't thank Paul who came over enough, he really didn't have to go out of his way for me, but he did. If you're in the area and looking for a carb expert I'd highly recommend him and his garage, Spanners and Sprockets in Bradford.
Last Saturday I spent most of the day cleaning the Scirocco ready for a show on the Sunday. It came up an absolute treat with some Meguiar's Mirror Bright polishing wax. Here's some before and after shots I posted on Instagram (click/swipe to see more photos)
Also took it to the petrol station after and couldn't resist a photo (Instagram story photo, hence the portait-ness again)
I soon found out a few things things on the way to the petrol station. One, the tracking is horrendously out, and two, the speedo is horrendously out. What the clock said was 30 was more like 20, and the mileage clock only seems to work when it wants. It's also pinking slightly, which could be down to the ignition timing being set up for the wrong engine code. Ah well, the joys of older cars!
The show was great, and the Scirocco seemed to gather the attention of more people than I thought. I also ended up meeting two other Mk2 owners there too. I've got another show this weekend too, with another Mk2 Scirocco, although this one is on air ride and not quite as standard as mine.
If you've made it this far through the post, I salute you, and thank you for reading! I should probably update this more often so I don't have to write essays like this...
opelgt1969
Premium
- 2,189
- Bristol,Va USA
- opelgt1969
Nice update
- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
I guess if everyone else can see the pictures then that's fine!
The pinking has been sorted now. Paul from Spanners and Sprockets came over again to sort it just now. He had a table booked at a restaurant pretty close to me so he offered to meet me there and sort the ignition timing out, which was very kind of him! Took all of about 10 minutes, and it pulls sweet as ever now. Will need a new distributor cap and rotor arm at some point though as they're pretty worn out. I drove around my local village for a bit since I haven't been able to really thrash it since it's been on the road, and I love it. I was going to drive it further but it started to rain and the wipers aren't working again so I had to head back home. I've found out which wires I need to poke to get them to work again now though, so hopefully if it rains tomorrow on the way to the show I'll be able to see where I'm going... failing that I'll just dump an entire bottle of Rain-X on the windscreen or something.
The pinking has been sorted now. Paul from Spanners and Sprockets came over again to sort it just now. He had a table booked at a restaurant pretty close to me so he offered to meet me there and sort the ignition timing out, which was very kind of him! Took all of about 10 minutes, and it pulls sweet as ever now. Will need a new distributor cap and rotor arm at some point though as they're pretty worn out. I drove around my local village for a bit since I haven't been able to really thrash it since it's been on the road, and I love it. I was going to drive it further but it started to rain and the wipers aren't working again so I had to head back home. I've found out which wires I need to poke to get them to work again now though, so hopefully if it rains tomorrow on the way to the show I'll be able to see where I'm going... failing that I'll just dump an entire bottle of Rain-X on the windscreen or something.
- 2,977
- The Ramapo Mountains
- jjaisli
@Katiegan Thank you for posting such a wonderful retrospective on your journey with the Scirocco. And kudos for having the will, the desire and the skills to get it back into working order. 
I didn't have a father who was mechanically inclined, either in the automotive sense, or in general. So most of what I learned about automotive repairs and maintenance, has been self taught or came in tidbits I picked up and either way, mostly through trial and error. Some of it rather painful. It's no small feat to start a project on a car that was, I'm guessing, designed, before you were born, and with mechanicals that are getting close to museum age. Much respect!
I'm going to cringe and date myself here, but when the 16V 1.8 liter Scirocco was first introduced in 1987, although, I didn't yet have my license (I was a year away), I fell head over heels in love with the car. My family had owned several VWs over the years and I somehow managed to convince my father to go for a test drive. All these years later I'm still a bit shocked that he agreed to it as my father wasn't much of an enthusiast. I was squeezed into the back but the salesman was generous enough to pull the front passenger seat as far forward as he could manage. And the details of that drive, the smell of the car, the Scirocco's rather uniquely shaped and angled shifter, the red 16V badge, are still deeply embedded into my long term memory. And it's always a warm and happy place to return to. Surprisingly.
The year before, while on school holiday, I had been working at my cousin's restaurant in Switzerland for a summer job and through a combination of bus and bicycle, I made the 7 km commute, twice daily. At one particular spot, there was usually a new Scirocco sitting in a small car park just to the right of the road. I often slowed down or even stopped and got off the bike completely, just to walk around it, always happy to admire it, examine it, and spot the differences in the bumpers and wheels and lights between the North American and European model. The shape was constantly growing on me. On one particular day, toward the end of my stay, as I was getting close to the spot, I heard, than saw the car heading up the road and coming toward me at an impressive clip. It was the first time I had seen the car in motion. I gave the driver a big "thumbs up", which seemed to confuse him, and I quickly turned my head to watch him continue on behind me. To my misfortune, the road was both wet and pointed steeply down hill at that spot and without really knowing what happened, other than catastrophically losing my balance, I suddenly found myself separated from my bicycle and sliding along the wet road on my backside. I was wearing a backpack and probably looked like an upside down turtle when I finally stopped. And to my horror, I saw the Scirocco's brake lights come on and he turned around. ARGH, no please, just keep going!
I was still trying to catch my breath and examining the battered bicycle when the Scirocco driver pulled up next to me and asked, in thick Berner-Oberland dialect, if I was alright. I still couldn't quite speak and was trying to force air back into my lungs, so I just gave him another 👍 and immediately regretted it, wondering if the guy then thought it was the only way I knew how to communicate, and if perhaps I suffered from a confusing single word-gesture vocabulary. And then, mortally embarrassed, I got on the bike and pedaled away, with the front wheel bent and shimmying in the front fork, my summer-long wish to finally talk to the Scirocco owner both granted and shamed away, in the same moment.
My father never ended up buying the Scirocco, opting for a more practical but still somewhat mid-life-crisis evoking 16V GTI instead. And I was happy he did. But the generation II Scirocco always had a special place in my heart and it brings back a lot of fond (and somewhat painful) memories reading about yours. Good luck with the car. And please continue to post about it from time to time.
And if somebody high sides on their bike next to you, best to keep going.
I didn't have a father who was mechanically inclined, either in the automotive sense, or in general. So most of what I learned about automotive repairs and maintenance, has been self taught or came in tidbits I picked up and either way, mostly through trial and error. Some of it rather painful. It's no small feat to start a project on a car that was, I'm guessing, designed, before you were born, and with mechanicals that are getting close to museum age. Much respect!I'm going to cringe and date myself here, but when the 16V 1.8 liter Scirocco was first introduced in 1987, although, I didn't yet have my license (I was a year away), I fell head over heels in love with the car. My family had owned several VWs over the years and I somehow managed to convince my father to go for a test drive. All these years later I'm still a bit shocked that he agreed to it as my father wasn't much of an enthusiast. I was squeezed into the back but the salesman was generous enough to pull the front passenger seat as far forward as he could manage. And the details of that drive, the smell of the car, the Scirocco's rather uniquely shaped and angled shifter, the red 16V badge, are still deeply embedded into my long term memory. And it's always a warm and happy place to return to. Surprisingly.
The year before, while on school holiday, I had been working at my cousin's restaurant in Switzerland for a summer job and through a combination of bus and bicycle, I made the 7 km commute, twice daily. At one particular spot, there was usually a new Scirocco sitting in a small car park just to the right of the road. I often slowed down or even stopped and got off the bike completely, just to walk around it, always happy to admire it, examine it, and spot the differences in the bumpers and wheels and lights between the North American and European model. The shape was constantly growing on me. On one particular day, toward the end of my stay, as I was getting close to the spot, I heard, than saw the car heading up the road and coming toward me at an impressive clip. It was the first time I had seen the car in motion. I gave the driver a big "thumbs up", which seemed to confuse him, and I quickly turned my head to watch him continue on behind me. To my misfortune, the road was both wet and pointed steeply down hill at that spot and without really knowing what happened, other than catastrophically losing my balance, I suddenly found myself separated from my bicycle and sliding along the wet road on my backside. I was wearing a backpack and probably looked like an upside down turtle when I finally stopped. And to my horror, I saw the Scirocco's brake lights come on and he turned around. ARGH, no please, just keep going!
I was still trying to catch my breath and examining the battered bicycle when the Scirocco driver pulled up next to me and asked, in thick Berner-Oberland dialect, if I was alright. I still couldn't quite speak and was trying to force air back into my lungs, so I just gave him another 👍 and immediately regretted it, wondering if the guy then thought it was the only way I knew how to communicate, and if perhaps I suffered from a confusing single word-gesture vocabulary. And then, mortally embarrassed, I got on the bike and pedaled away, with the front wheel bent and shimmying in the front fork, my summer-long wish to finally talk to the Scirocco owner both granted and shamed away, in the same moment.
My father never ended up buying the Scirocco, opting for a more practical but still somewhat mid-life-crisis evoking 16V GTI instead. And I was happy he did. But the generation II Scirocco always had a special place in my heart and it brings back a lot of fond (and somewhat painful) memories reading about yours. Good luck with the car. And please continue to post about it from time to time.
And if somebody high sides on their bike next to you, best to keep going.
Last edited:
- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
@Katiegan Thank you for posting such a wonderful retrospective on your journey with the Scirocco. And kudos for having the will, the desire and the skills to get it back into working order.
I'm going to cringe and date myself here, but when the 16V 1.8 liter Scirocco was first introduced in 1987, although, I didn't yet have my license (I was a year away), I fell head over heels in love with the car. My family had owned several VWs over the years and I somehow managed to convince my father to go for a test drive. All these years later I'm still a bit shocked that he agreed to it as my father wasn't much of an enthusiast. I was squeezed into the back but the salesman was generous enough to pull the front passenger seat as far forward as he could manage. And the details of that drive, the smell of the car, the Scirocco's rather uniquely shaped and angled shifter, the red 16V badge, are still deeply embedded into my long term memory. And it's always a warm and happy place to return to. Surprisingly.
The year before, while on school holiday, I had been working at my cousin's restaurant in Switzerland for a summer job and through a combination of bus and bicycle, I made the 7 km commute, twice daily. At one particular spot, there was usually a new Scirocco sitting in a small car park just to the right of the road. I often slowed down or even stopped and got off the bike completely, just to walk around it, always happy to admire it, examine it, and spot the differences in the bumpers and wheels and lights between the North American and European model. The shape was constantly growing on me. On one particular day, toward the end of my stay, as I was getting close to the spot, I heard, than saw the car heading up the road and coming toward me at an impressive clip. It was the first time I had seen the car in motion. I gave the driver a big "thumbs up", which seemed to confuse him, and I quickly turned my head to watch him continue on behind me. To my misfortune, the road was both wet and pointed steeply down hill at that spot and without really knowing what happened, other than catastrophically losing my balance, I suddenly found myself separated from my bicycle and sliding along the wet road on my backside. I was wearing a backpack and probably looked like an upside down turtle when I finally stopped. And to my horror, I saw the Scirocco's brake lights come on and he turned around. ARGH, no please, just keep going!
I was still trying to catch my breath and examining the battered bicycle when the Scirocco driver pulled up next to me and asked, in thick Berner-Oberland dialect, if I was alright. I still couldn't quite speak and was trying to force air back into my lungs, so I just gave him another 👍 and immediately regretted it, wondering if the guy then thought it was the only way I knew how to communicate, and if perhaps I suffered from a confusing single word-gesture vocabulary. And then, mortally embarrassed, I got on the bike and pedaled away, with the front wheel bent and shimmying in the front fork, my summer-long wish to finally talk to the Scirocco owner both granted and shamed away, in the same moment.
My father never ended up buying the Scirocco, opting for a more practical but still somewhat mid-life-crisis evoking 16V GTI instead. And I was happy he did. But the generation II Scirocco always had a special place in my heart and it brings back a lot of fond (and somewhat painful) memories reading about yours. Good luck with the car. And please continue to post about it from time to time.
And if somebody high sides on their bike next to you, best to keep going.
Thanks for sharing that story! Made me laugh! Without trying to make you feel even older, my Scirocco pre-dates me by 7 years, so I never got to experience the buzz when it was new. I've always been drawn to them and I can't help but think they're a bit forgotten in comparison to how popular the Golf is, and even how popular it's successor, the Corrado is. People are always saying to me they haven't seen a Mk2 Scirocco in ages, how they used to own one, or their friend/family member had one. The car seems to hold a lot of memories for people, despite the fact it seems a little left behind today, and that's just one of the many things I love about it.
- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
Not an awful lot has happened since the last update, with the long winter nights drawing in and no mains access to the garage means I haven't had much daylight to do anything. Until now, that is! I got this new lamp for Christmas and it's absolutely amazing, highly recommend to anyone looking for some extra light when working in the engine bay.
But first, here's the Scirocco and I celebrating Christmas
Yes, I'm aware I look an idiot.
Now, today I did something long overdue on the Scirocco, and that was change the fuel lines. It's important to do this on any older car as the ethanol in modern fuels is causing old fuel lines to perish, causing them to crack, leak, and eventually, start a fire. A lot of classic cars have been going up in smoke in recent years due to these perished old fuel lines. Even though I carry a fire extinguisher in the Scirocco (which is good practice for any car, modern or classic), I didn't want to chance it and followed the advice (or rather, demand) of Paul, the mechanic that sorted my carb. I used Gates Barricade fuel lines that were recomended to me by him and seem to be the best choice among classic car communities. It's a simple and straight forward job (just don't light a cigarette while doing it...), so no excuse to not do it!
The new bonnet lamp in action. I'm not sponsored by Pepsi for this but I wish I was.
A roll of the new hose compared to an old one.
The old lines on the Scirocco were manufactured in '89, almost 30 years ago!
Probably the worst pipe, this one runs up to the in-line filter.
Tools needed: sharp knife. And probably something to get the clips off that hold the pipes on.
One of the new lines on, this one leads straight to the carb. (Yeah, there's a pretty bad leak from the rocker cover)
All in all, not a bad job at all, and I can rest easy now that the Super Explosive Juice is at less of a risk of causing a mess in my engine bay now. Having been stood for a while though, the car ran like an absolute sack of 🤬, and this was why...
That rough looking bit of metal should be completely smooth. A lot of moisture was trapped in the distributor cap too, and with water being a conductor of electricity, the ignition was all over the place. One shiny new rotor arm later (and a new distributor cap to follow) and it purrs like a kitten again.
But first, here's the Scirocco and I celebrating Christmas
Yes, I'm aware I look an idiot.
Now, today I did something long overdue on the Scirocco, and that was change the fuel lines. It's important to do this on any older car as the ethanol in modern fuels is causing old fuel lines to perish, causing them to crack, leak, and eventually, start a fire. A lot of classic cars have been going up in smoke in recent years due to these perished old fuel lines. Even though I carry a fire extinguisher in the Scirocco (which is good practice for any car, modern or classic), I didn't want to chance it and followed the advice (or rather, demand) of Paul, the mechanic that sorted my carb. I used Gates Barricade fuel lines that were recomended to me by him and seem to be the best choice among classic car communities. It's a simple and straight forward job (just don't light a cigarette while doing it...), so no excuse to not do it!
The new bonnet lamp in action. I'm not sponsored by Pepsi for this but I wish I was.
A roll of the new hose compared to an old one.
The old lines on the Scirocco were manufactured in '89, almost 30 years ago!
Probably the worst pipe, this one runs up to the in-line filter.
Tools needed: sharp knife. And probably something to get the clips off that hold the pipes on.
One of the new lines on, this one leads straight to the carb. (Yeah, there's a pretty bad leak from the rocker cover)
All in all, not a bad job at all, and I can rest easy now that the Super Explosive Juice is at less of a risk of causing a mess in my engine bay now. Having been stood for a while though, the car ran like an absolute sack of 🤬, and this was why...
That rough looking bit of metal should be completely smooth. A lot of moisture was trapped in the distributor cap too, and with water being a conductor of electricity, the ignition was all over the place. One shiny new rotor arm later (and a new distributor cap to follow) and it purrs like a kitten again.
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- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
Did some more things on the Scirocco today! Firstly I replaced that distributor cap that was once again filled with condensation and other bits of crap.
Then I set about replacing the cam/rocker cover gasket, as you can see in the previous post it was leaking quite a bit.
The old gasket was pretty flat, brittle, and just not in a good way. Looks like someone had been there previously too and used a sealant that made taking the cover off pretty difficult.
I cleaned off the gunk and left over sealant from the surface very delicately with some blue roll and emery cloth.
I cleaned up the underside of the cam cover itself too.
I then put the new gasket on. It's a cork gasket, and in hindsight (and recommendation from a few members of the Scirocco Register) I should've opted for a rubber one instead as apparently cork gaskets aren't the best, but it's what I had and it was less than a fiver so it'll do for now. It should be a while at least before it starts leaking again, and if I go for a rubber gasket I have to change out the studs for bolts.
I forgot to take a photo of it all built up and clean so here's a crappy Instagram story photo instead.
Next up was the oil change! I actually ordered the oil and filter not long after I bought the car but only just got round to doing the change today. VW still sell the filter and oil over the counter.
While underneath the car I also noticed something. You can see it in the above photo, but here's a better one...
The car has a damn adjustable strut brace! And also a gearbox oil leak. But an adjustable strut brace! I never even knew it had one. Back when I went to the NEC Classic Car Show in November I got talking to some people on the Scirocco Register stand, and as it turned out, one of them used to own mine! He owned it about 10 years ago and actually told me it had a lower strut brace, but I just presumed it either wasn't there anymore or was just a scabby solid one. I certainly wasn't expecting to be an adjustable one (albeit still scabby, and probably not very adjustable anymore). It's hard to read the sticker now but it looks like it says Volksport, and a quick Google doesn't show many results except for a few old forum posts, so I imagine the company either goes by a different name now or isn't a thing anymore. Still, there's worse things to find on the underside of your classic!
I also swapped out the locking wheel bolts as the two of the old ones were in a bad way. One was rounded and very difficult to get off (luckily managed to get it off in the end without any drilling or hammering) and the threads were stripped on the other preventing it from tightening up. A new set all round now means I should be alright in the event of a puncture!
The list of things to do is still rather long but I finally felt like I made some kind of progress today after being in a bit of a rut recently and not having any motivation to do anything. I really need to sort the wipers out next though, I took it on a quick drive after in the rain and when I tried to adjust the wiper speed they stopped working halfway across the windscreen, while I was doing 60 (the speed limit, before you ask) on a very dark country lane, in increasingly heavier rain. I finally figured out which wire is for them now though so I at least know which one to poke when they do it again. I'm hoping to make it out to Manchester Cars & Coffee tomorrow morning so hopefully I can get there with a clear screen...
Then I set about replacing the cam/rocker cover gasket, as you can see in the previous post it was leaking quite a bit.
The old gasket was pretty flat, brittle, and just not in a good way. Looks like someone had been there previously too and used a sealant that made taking the cover off pretty difficult.
I cleaned off the gunk and left over sealant from the surface very delicately with some blue roll and emery cloth.
I cleaned up the underside of the cam cover itself too.
I then put the new gasket on. It's a cork gasket, and in hindsight (and recommendation from a few members of the Scirocco Register) I should've opted for a rubber one instead as apparently cork gaskets aren't the best, but it's what I had and it was less than a fiver so it'll do for now. It should be a while at least before it starts leaking again, and if I go for a rubber gasket I have to change out the studs for bolts.
I forgot to take a photo of it all built up and clean so here's a crappy Instagram story photo instead.
Next up was the oil change! I actually ordered the oil and filter not long after I bought the car but only just got round to doing the change today. VW still sell the filter and oil over the counter.
While underneath the car I also noticed something. You can see it in the above photo, but here's a better one...
The car has a damn adjustable strut brace! And also a gearbox oil leak. But an adjustable strut brace! I never even knew it had one. Back when I went to the NEC Classic Car Show in November I got talking to some people on the Scirocco Register stand, and as it turned out, one of them used to own mine! He owned it about 10 years ago and actually told me it had a lower strut brace, but I just presumed it either wasn't there anymore or was just a scabby solid one. I certainly wasn't expecting to be an adjustable one (albeit still scabby, and probably not very adjustable anymore). It's hard to read the sticker now but it looks like it says Volksport, and a quick Google doesn't show many results except for a few old forum posts, so I imagine the company either goes by a different name now or isn't a thing anymore. Still, there's worse things to find on the underside of your classic!
I also swapped out the locking wheel bolts as the two of the old ones were in a bad way. One was rounded and very difficult to get off (luckily managed to get it off in the end without any drilling or hammering) and the threads were stripped on the other preventing it from tightening up. A new set all round now means I should be alright in the event of a puncture!
The list of things to do is still rather long but I finally felt like I made some kind of progress today after being in a bit of a rut recently and not having any motivation to do anything. I really need to sort the wipers out next though, I took it on a quick drive after in the rain and when I tried to adjust the wiper speed they stopped working halfway across the windscreen, while I was doing 60 (the speed limit, before you ask) on a very dark country lane, in increasingly heavier rain. I finally figured out which wire is for them now though so I at least know which one to poke when they do it again. I'm hoping to make it out to Manchester Cars & Coffee tomorrow morning so hopefully I can get there with a clear screen...
- 2,235
- Norway
The joy of driving an old car - you fix one thing, then another breaks.
Regarding that cork gasket, yes rubber gaskets are better but old watercooled VWs are supposed to leak a little oil from the valve cover. Single cam VWs have 8 nuts holding them down and they still leak.. All of them
Regarding that cork gasket, yes rubber gaskets are better but old watercooled VWs are supposed to leak a little oil from the valve cover. Single cam VWs have 8 nuts holding them down and they still leak.. All of them
- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
Such is life. If it didn’t do that I wouldn’t have anything to do on the weekend!
Regarding that cork gasket, yes rubber gaskets are better but old watercooled VWs are supposed to leak a little oil from the valve cover. Single cam VWs have 8 nuts holding them down and they still leak.. All of them
The Panda’s cam cover gasket has been leaking since I bought it despite having changed it three times. I think it’s just the norm for any car at this point.
Didn't end up going to Manchester Cars & Coffee. The wipers were working, but the weather was just too awful. I met up with a friend (the guy I bought the Scirocco off actually) and we set off, but the conditions on the motorway were atrocious so we pulled off and decided to head back home. The Scirocco didn't miss a beat on the short little run out though!
Also, today marks a year since I put the Zenders on the Panda!
- 2,024
- Azle, Texas, USA
- GTP_KinLM
- KinLM
Theres something really great about owning and maintaining an older car.Did some more things on the Scirocco today! Firstly I replaced that distributor cap that was once again filled with condensation and other bits of crap.
Then I set about replacing the cam/rocker cover gasket, as you can see in the previous post it was leaking quite a bit.
The old gasket was pretty flat, brittle, and just not in a good way. Looks like someone had been there previously too and used a sealant that made taking the cover off pretty difficult.
I cleaned off the gunk and left over sealant from the surface very delicately with some blue roll and emery cloth.
I cleaned up the underside of the cam cover itself too.
I then put the new gasket on. It's a cork gasket, and in hindsight (and recommendation from a few members of the Scirocco Register) I should've opted for a rubber one instead as apparently cork gaskets aren't the best, but it's what I had and it was less than a fiver so it'll do for now. It should be a while at least before it starts leaking again, and if I go for a rubber gasket I have to change out the studs for bolts.
I forgot to take a photo of it all built up and clean so here's a crappy Instagram story photo instead.
Next up was the oil change! I actually ordered the oil and filter not long after I bought the car but only just got round to doing the change today. VW still sell the filter and oil over the counter.
While underneath the car I also noticed something. You can see it in the above photo, but here's a better one...
The car has a damn adjustable strut brace! And also a gearbox oil leak. But an adjustable strut brace! I never even knew it had one. Back when I went to the NEC Classic Car Show in November I got talking to some people on the Scirocco Register stand, and as it turned out, one of them used to own mine! He owned it about 10 years ago and actually told me it had a lower strut brace, but I just presumed it either wasn't there anymore or was just a scabby solid one. I certainly wasn't expecting to be an adjustable one (albeit still scabby, and probably not very adjustable anymore). It's hard to read the sticker now but it looks like it says Volksport, and a quick Google doesn't show many results except for a few old forum posts, so I imagine the company either goes by a different name now or isn't a thing anymore. Still, there's worse things to find on the underside of your classic!
I also swapped out the locking wheel bolts as the two of the old ones were in a bad way. One was rounded and very difficult to get off (luckily managed to get it off in the end without any drilling or hammering) and the threads were stripped on the other preventing it from tightening up. A new set all round now means I should be alright in the event of a puncture!
The list of things to do is still rather long but I finally felt like I made some kind of progress today after being in a bit of a rut recently and not having any motivation to do anything. I really need to sort the wipers out next though, I took it on a quick drive after in the rain and when I tried to adjust the wiper speed they stopped working halfway across the windscreen, while I was doing 60 (the speed limit, before you ask) on a very dark country lane, in increasingly heavier rain. I finally figured out which wire is for them now though so I at least know which one to poke when they do it again. I'm hoping to make it out to Manchester Cars & Coffee tomorrow morning so hopefully I can get there with a clear screen...
Everything is easier to get to, simpler, and even when stuff breaks and goes wrong, it’s usually a bit easier and cheaper to diagnose and repair.
Good to see that everything is (mostly) in working order. Like you said, if stuff didn’t go wrong and break from time to time, then weekends would be pretty boring!
- 27,162
- United Kingdom
opelgt1969
Premium
- 2,189
- Bristol,Va USA
- opelgt1969
Have you been watching me work on my 73 MG Midget?Counterpoint: Everything is rusty, seized, snaps when you try and free it, has been bodged at some point in the past and has subtly shifted over time so the part you're trying to replace no longer fits
- 27,162
- United Kingdom
Is that where that cloud of Lucas Electrics smoke is coming from?
- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
Counterpoint: Everything is rusty, seized, snaps when you try and free it, has been bodged at some point in the past and has subtly shifted over time so the part you're trying to replace no longer fits
That's all part of the fun!
- 2,235
- Norway
Counterpoint: Everything is rusty, seized, snaps when you try and free it, has been bodged at some point in the past and has subtly shifted over time so the part you're trying to replace no longer fits
When you're from Texas you wouldn't know about any of this.
Counter-counterpoint. When you so so over the seized, rusty stuff it's even more of an achievement.
- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
So I bought this yesterday.
I've been wanting a facelift 595 ever since they came out. My sister's boyfriend worked for Abarth at the time and got a yellow one on demo. As soon as he brought it to our house and I laid eyes on it, I knew I wanted one. I've always loved the Abarth 500/595, but something about the styling on the facelift made me really want it. Back then, there was no way I could afford one, but now I'm a little older, fully qualified in my job and earning a little bit more money, I calculated it all and I'm in a position where I can afford one now.
It's a 2017 standard model, 1.4 T-Jet with 145bhp. It has the optional extra 17" diamond cut alloys, SatNav, and the Record Modena exhaust that was an option on the Turismo and Competizione models (video of said exhaust on another yellow 595 for your viewing/aural pleasure here). It's on 17k miles at the moment, which the dealer said was a little high, but I'm used to working on fleet vehicles that cover 20k in a matter of months so it's not that much to me. Had its second service carried out by the dealer before I picked it up, along with new front discs and pads. Originally I was going to have the wheels refurbished too, but the guy they use cancelled so I agreed to come back later to have them done. The salesman made up for it though by giving me two 595/695 brochures and a folder of Abarth 124 concept sketches and artwork, which is pretty damn cool if you ask me. (Excuse the terrible phone quality photos)
This does, however, unfortunately mean the Pandaghini is going. One of the receptionists at my work has offered to buy it as she needs a replacement for her worn out '03 Focus that's on over 150k, so I'll still get to see the little guy every day, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not yet. I'll be putting the standard suspension and wheels back on before handing him over. March 13th will mark 4 years since I bought him, and he's served me incredibly well in that time, I really couldn't have asked for a better first car. I'll love you forever, Pandaghini.
I've been wanting a facelift 595 ever since they came out. My sister's boyfriend worked for Abarth at the time and got a yellow one on demo. As soon as he brought it to our house and I laid eyes on it, I knew I wanted one. I've always loved the Abarth 500/595, but something about the styling on the facelift made me really want it. Back then, there was no way I could afford one, but now I'm a little older, fully qualified in my job and earning a little bit more money, I calculated it all and I'm in a position where I can afford one now.
It's a 2017 standard model, 1.4 T-Jet with 145bhp. It has the optional extra 17" diamond cut alloys, SatNav, and the Record Modena exhaust that was an option on the Turismo and Competizione models (video of said exhaust on another yellow 595 for your viewing/aural pleasure here). It's on 17k miles at the moment, which the dealer said was a little high, but I'm used to working on fleet vehicles that cover 20k in a matter of months so it's not that much to me. Had its second service carried out by the dealer before I picked it up, along with new front discs and pads. Originally I was going to have the wheels refurbished too, but the guy they use cancelled so I agreed to come back later to have them done. The salesman made up for it though by giving me two 595/695 brochures and a folder of Abarth 124 concept sketches and artwork, which is pretty damn cool if you ask me. (Excuse the terrible phone quality photos)
This does, however, unfortunately mean the Pandaghini is going. One of the receptionists at my work has offered to buy it as she needs a replacement for her worn out '03 Focus that's on over 150k, so I'll still get to see the little guy every day, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not yet. I'll be putting the standard suspension and wheels back on before handing him over. March 13th will mark 4 years since I bought him, and he's served me incredibly well in that time, I really couldn't have asked for a better first car. I'll love you forever, Pandaghini.
- 13,831
- Down under
So awesome 👍
I wish I knew how they extracted such a raucous exhaust note from such a small boosted engine....great colour too!
I wish I knew how they extracted such a raucous exhaust note from such a small boosted engine....great colour too!
- 2,977
- The Ramapo Mountains
- jjaisli
There was once one of those idiotic, click-bait "tests" that claimed to offer a psychological profile based on the color of your car. It seemed like every color option would lead to a long, complex, drawn-out analysis of your likes, your dislikes, your personality and mindset. Except if you chose yellow. Then it said something along the lines of, "You're just ****ing insane. No normal person would drive a yellow car."
Having owned two yellow cars and considering myself relatively stable and even keeled, I did find it much more amusing than I probably should have. Either way, certain cars look great in Yellow, this definitely being one of them. Congratulations.
Having owned two yellow cars and considering myself relatively stable and even keeled, I did find it much more amusing than I probably should have. Either way, certain cars look great in Yellow, this definitely being one of them. Congratulations.
- 10,828
- Belgium
- bramturismo
How fantastic that you got that artwork with your car, such great service and a "welcome" to the brand! 👍
- 1,936
- Sunderland
Perfect colour for the 595 IMO.
This probably sounds ridiculously insignificant, but how do you feel about the clutch action? Because funnily enough a friend and I sat in one just yesterday (browsing a Fiat dealer while he was looking to view an Abarth 124) and we both agreed that the pedal feels weird in that it "rolls" as opposed to feeling like it pushes in. We both love the car but feel as though that would be quite hard to live with.
This probably sounds ridiculously insignificant, but how do you feel about the clutch action? Because funnily enough a friend and I sat in one just yesterday (browsing a Fiat dealer while he was looking to view an Abarth 124) and we both agreed that the pedal feels weird in that it "rolls" as opposed to feeling like it pushes in. We both love the car but feel as though that would be quite hard to live with.
- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
I'm quite amazed at how growly it sounds for a little 1.4. Those Italians certainly know what they're doing!
To be fair, I wouldn't call myself normal at all, so maybe the quiz was right.
I haven't really noticed a difference at all in the clutch pedal feel. How old was the one you looked at? Maybe there was a fault with the pedal?
Coming up to two weeks of ownership and it still makes me giggle and grin every time I drive it. The other day I scared a guy at a bus stop on my way to work by making it pop when changing gear. I try not to rev it too hard around pedestrians because I'm not a chav, but it's hard not to sometimes! The weather has been too awful to get any decent photos of it yet, but I'm itching to get my camera on it. The only problems I have with it are the sound system, and the driver's seat reclining handle. The sound sytem isn't as good as I thought it would be, but if I'm being honest I haven't really wanted to listen to my music much, I've spent most of my time with the radio turned down and the window slightly open just listening to the exhaust. I tried to recline the driver's seat the other night so a friend could get in the back and ended up snapping part of the handle, the release cable has come out and resulted in me breaking part of the plastic. Apparently it's quite a common thing and can be fixed under warranty, so when I go back to get my wheels done I'll bring it up then. Apart from that, I absolutely love it!
The Pandaghini is back to standard now and almost ready to go to his new home. Just got to take the last of the stickers off and take the touch screen stereo out (cost me £300, I'm keeping it!), then I'll be handing the keys over. He looks so... normal now.
As good as he looked lowered, I do not miss driving around on coilovers. The Abarth is far from the most comfortable car but it's a hell of a lot more comfortable than that was.
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