Katiegan's Garage | Winter Plans

  • Thread starter Katiegan
  • 789 comments
  • 71,334 views
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?
This one was a brand new car, either a 595 or 695 sitting in the dealership. It's possible that it was a fault but it felt more like an ergonomics design thing, just a travel we weren't used to at all. Could just be a lack of experience with vastly different cars on my end too though.

Nice to hear you're liking the angry exhausts. That's one thing that personally surprised me on my own car when I first got it, just how angry a 4 cylinder can sound at idle.
 
I'm [not] patiently waiting for the 2019 500s to land in the states. It's curious. Every model on Fiat's website has been updated to reflect the 2019 MYs, except the 500. As far as I know, they should be coming soon...but it's damn near halfway through March already.

I parked next to a white Abarth last night at the gym. Made me want one all over again. :lol: It's just such a delightfully insolent car. If I got one, I would put a plate on it that says "Panico".
 
Coming up to almost a month already with the Abarth, and I've put over 300 miles on it so far, which I probably would've done in 3 months in the Panda. Still haven't had the wheels done because, despite the fact they gave me cool free stuff with the purchase, Arnold Clark's aftersales treatment is terrible. I tried to get in contact with the salesman three times this week to verify if I could come on Friday to get the wheels done, and when I eventually got hold of him he said the guy who does the wheels hadn't turned up (again) and would give me a call back if he was coming. I then had to call him back again because he never got back in touch, to which I finally got an answer that I can come down next Friday instead. I'm not even going to bother trying to call and see if it's still okay to go, I'll just turn up and if I get messed about again I might have to channel my inner 45 year-old mum and pull out the 'speak to your manager' line.

Also, when I bought the car it had no paperwork of work carried out with it, and I was told that was because the records were all online because all the work had been done at that Arnold Clark dealer. I asked if the invoices could be emailed to me, which he said they would be, which I had to remind him about and eventually got them about a week ago. He sent three attachments in the email... of three photos of paper invoices. I have no idea why I couldn't have been given these invoices, but hey ho. One showed the first service, one showed some warranty work for the heater done in January, and one showed the invoice for the second service they did the day I picked it up. According to the Abarth service book, the second service at 18,000 miles or 2 years is a major service where the oil and filter are changed, along with the air filter, pollen filter, and spark plugs. The invoice for the second service showed only the oil and filter being changed and the front pads and discs. So now I'm having to chase them up for not doing the service correctly either. Obviously this is something that I'm more than capable of doing myself, but it's the principal that a supposed approved Abarth dealer can't do the second service correctly. This is why I always do my own work and never use dealerships.

Anyway, in other news, the Scirocco got accepted into the show & shine for VW Festival (a fairly big VW show here, in case you couldn't guess), which I was quite surprised about! Also means I need to get a move on and actually get it show & shine worthy. :scared:



The Panda is now officially sold, I got the acknowledgment slip through saying I'm no longer the registered keeper the other day. :(

Also, the Cupra is still about, but my parents are planning on selling it this year. Just had to drop £500+ on a new turbo for it this week after the old one was cracked. The display screen has a strange mess of pixels that no longer work (sort of resembles the east coastline of the UK), the rear wheels are corroded and constantly letting air out of the tyres, the rear heated screen doesn't work, the power folding mirrors only work when they want to, amongst a few other things. They've been looking at either a Mk7 Golf GTI/R or a Scirocco R to replace it. I voted for the Scirocco for two reasons, one being the Golf is probably the most commonly stolen car in this country, and the other being my Scirocco could have a son the Scirocco is a lot less common and better looking.
 
Neat, I've been to that one a couple of times I think. If I happen to be free that weekend this year I might pop up.

For a VAG show it's decent, not just dudebros in snapbacks with clapped out Mk4 Golfs that go. Aside from the drama last year of a girl drunk/drug driving on the campsite and crashing into one of the show & shine competitor's cars, winning the show & shine herself the next day, then having the award revoked and being banned from the show, it's normally quite good.
 
For a VAG show it's decent, not just dudebros in snapbacks with clapped out Mk4 Golfs that go. Aside from the drama last year of a girl drunk/drug driving on the campsite and crashing into one of the show & shine competitor's cars, winning the show & shine herself the next day, then having the award revoked and being banned from the show, it's normally quite good.
I feel like that wouldn't happen at say, an MG owners club show.
 
Aside from the drama last year of a girl drunk/drug driving on the campsite and crashing into one of the show & shine competitor's cars, winning the show & shine herself the next day, then having the award revoked and being banned from the show, it's normally quite good.

Sounds like a fun weekend if you ask me :D
 
A quick update on some things.

Coming up to three months with the Abarth now and I still love it. I don't think I'll ever get bored of the exhaust, and putting my foot down and being able to just move. 145bhp might not be much in comparison to the rest of the 595 range, but it's still plenty enough for me. People keep asking me when I'm going to remap it, but for now I don't feel the need. Abarth themselves offer a remap to 160, which I might consider later down the line, but for now I'm good just keeping it as is.

I took it down to Brooklands again for the Auto Italia show the other week. It's a great car on the motorway too, although not very good on fuel for obvious reasons. I still got a respectable 45mpg, but the little 35L tank lets it down and I had to fill up again once I got down there. I was on the Abarth Owners Club stand, and I'd say there were probably 200+ Abarth 500s/595s/695s there. Out of all of them, I'd say less than ten were yellow. Lesser still were ones with the Modena exhaust - I only know of one other that had one, and that's because it was the 695 Maserati edition (which I didn't even know existed until now) which has it as standard. I also nearly burnt my clutch out queueing up the hill, then I had to reverse park it up the banking, which for anyone who's been to Brooklands, will know is pretty damn steep! Luckily once the clutch cooled down and stopped smelling I got a biting point back.



60351963_1996853370623179_7640304592571334656_n.jpg


59866192_1996854710623045_8628074794941677568_n.jpg

Driving almost 450 miles in normal mode then switching to sport made me realise just how much louder the exhaust gets. In normal mode, the exhaust doesn't drone at all on the motorway, and only really makes a noise when you put your foot down, but once I switched it into sport mode it got a hell of a lot louder, and I think after a while at that volume it would get a bit annoying!

Now, on to the Scirocco. Or should I say, Sciroccos...


Please excuse the crappy phone photo
My car now has a son! My parents traded in the Cupra last week for this rather nice Scirocco R. It's a late 2012 model, 47k miles, full VW service history, DSG, panoramic sunroof, SatNav, full leather interior, the works. As mentioned before in this thread, it was a toss up between one of these or a Golf GTI/R. The Golf is insanely popular here in comparison and very much prone to being stolen too (as is my Abarth as I've begun to find out :indiff:), while the Scirocco R isn't seen nearly as much on the road. Both me and my mum preferred the Scirocco over the Golf, while my dad wasn't as keen, but my mum does the majority of driving (my dad and I work at the same place so we both go in mine), so ultimately it was down to her choice. It hasn't taken much for my dad to be won over by the Scirocco, however!

A few more crappy phone pics...






ft. the Abarth

I haven't driven it myself yet as I'm not covered on the insurance, but I've been out in it as a passenger and it is very nice. Will definitely have to get behind the wheel of it at some point! 265bhp is a bit more than the 90bhp my Mk2 has, that's for sure.
 
35 litre tank? That would kill me, my F30 is 57 litres and that feels too small.

What can you get on a long run? 300 miles?
 
35 litre tank? That would kill me, my F30 is 57 litres and that feels too small.

What can you get on a long run? 300 miles?

It's 5 litres more than the Panda!

Parkers says it can do 361 miles to a tank, but I'd say realistically it's closer to 300. At least with my drivng it is. :sly:
 
35 litres? Never heard of a tank that small! Even my 1 litre Corsa has a 45 litre tank! That's bizarre! 300 miles is about what my Volvo does to a tank, and I'm fairly sure that has nearly 60 litres :D
 
35 liters converts to 9.2 U.S. gallons. Besides the Prius, I can't think of any cars that would have a gas tank under ten gallons here. Even my mom's Mini Cooper S had a 13 gallon tank, but that felt pretty small since that car got 16(!) mpg less than what your car does (and that's after I converted from U.S. mpg).

35 liters is really tiny though. My tank's over twice as big at 79 liters! Sadly that does not translate to twice the range.
 
My 73 MG Midget has a 7.1 us gal gas tank, plus it only gets about 20 mpg. I worked at a company years ago that gave gas vouchers as part of their safety program. I had to take a gas can with me because the voucher was a one use voucher and the place to use it was near where I worked at the time 20 miles from house. I think the vouchers were for 20 dollars which at the time was about 13 gals (1.50 per gal).
 
I made it 3 months without a lowered car.


Oh, and I bought some wheels too.



This is something I've wanted to do for a while, but was propelled by the fact I have to make it look nice for VW Festival in August. I was hoping I'd be able to get the original Castellets refurbished to their former glory, but nobody seems to want to touch them since they're polished and forged. I wanted to keep them in their original polished finish, but people could only offer me powdercoating or diamond cut. Plus, it was an excuse to get new wheels, and then I just had to get rid of the arch gap too...


The wheels I settled on are a set of Autostar Minus in 15x7.5J. I know they're technically reps so I'm the devil, but I certainly don't have BBS money and wanted to go for a period correct look. I've taken a lot of inspiration from 80s touring cars, and my aim is to recreate a similar look with the Scirocco because I'll forever be bitter that the Mk2 was never officially raced. They're wrapped in a set of Toyo Proxes TR1s in 195/50/15 size, which gives a small amount of stretch - enough for me to have to use a bead blaster to mount them all - but nothing too crazy. I'd like to say I chose the Toyos for some interesting reason, but it's purely because they were £125 for four on eBay, which was cheaper than any decent brand I could've gotten through work! I wasn't even aware the TR1 design was out until I saw the set.

I spent a short while wondering whether to go for lowering springs or coilovers. Eibach lowering springs come in at £140 for the set, but I really didn't fancy running springs on 30 year old shocks, and after looking into getting new shocks too, I might as well have gotten coilovers. Since I don't have BBS money, I also don't have KW money, so I went for a set of Pro Sport adjustable coilovers. I was a little skeptical at first, but after doing some research and hearing feedback from people who run them (including the guy who runs the shop I bought them from, who is also the former owner of the Scirocco), I decided to go for them. I also fit new top mounts and rubbers with them, and I'm glad I did since the old ones were pretty worn out, old, and flat.

I did all the work on the floor outside my work yesterday, as unfortunately we're not allowed to use the ramps for our own cars. Working on old cars is great, because the front setup was so simple, I had them done in an hour. Just two bolts holding the bottom of the shock to the hub, and two nuts holding the top in, and it's out. Working on old cars is also a nightmare, because the rears were not as willing. Despite having an even simpler setup - just one bolt holding in the bottom and one nut holding in the top - the bottom bolt went through a rubber bushing, and those two had been together for nearly 30 years. No amount of heavy hammering or heating up with a blow torch would get these bolts to budge, so in the end I had to resort to getting an angle grinder out and cutting the bottom of the shocks out. I had hair full of burned bits of rubber bushing, a burn on my hand from a clump of rubber landing on it (and I had gloves on!), and I ache a bit today from rolling around on the floor, but it was worth it.

I took it for a short test drive afterwards to take the photos, and to obviously see how much I'd ruined my car. To my surprise, under normal driving it actually feels... better. It turns a lot easier with the new top mounts, and over normal roads it doesn't bang or crash half as much as it used to. Over hard bumps you're definitely reminded you're on coilovers, and over small bumps at speed the front wheels start to catch slightly, but apart from that I was pleasantly surprised. It doesn't even rub on full lock, which is more than what the Panda can say. I think after running the Panda on worn out cheap coilovers I was expecting the same from the Pro Sports, but I have to say the reviews were right. I think I might have to raise the front ever so slightly if it continues to catch, but there's more room for the rear to come down yet. I've left it a bit higher than I would've normally liked due to the fact I'm taking it camping next weekend for a show and I don't want it to bottom out on the back while hauling all the camping gear. I'm going to wait until after next weekend and see how the suspension settles after having weight in it.

Other than that, here's one last photo.

 
I think it's a good idea that you went for coilovers again. I did the springs & shocks thing on my E39, and while I found the ride and handling to be acceptable, they were still a little soft for my liking over bumps. They made the car feel bouncy. The best way I could describe the sensation is like being on a pogo stick. When I did coilovers on the LS400, I never felt that residual bounciness from going over bumps. Suspension travel was nice and tight. Now you've just gotta slam it and tuck those wheels like all the other VW people. :dopey:
 
Well, it's been a while since I updated this. Let's see if I can remember what's happened since then!

In July I had the Scirocco professionally detailed to try and at least make the paint a little more presentable for the show and shine at VW Festival. I would've done this myself but I really didn't have the time or gear to do it properly. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the process because the detailer had some technical issues with getting them uploaded, but if he ever gets round to posting them I'll put them in here too. It really did make an improvement to the car, and he also gave the interior a quick detail too, but he did stress that the car 100% needs a respray, which I was expecting.

While I left it to be detailed I managed to score a set of rear lights for £50 from a guy in Scotland. Ever since buying the car I've always felt the rear lights let it down. Now while the GT2 did have slightly tinted rear lights from factory, these had been tinted with some kind of spray that was now peeling off and just looked generally horrible. That, and the lenses actually had small holes in them. The lights I bought had been sat in the seller's garage since around 2012 so they were covered in cobwebs and some green moss-type organism had started to grow on them, but other than that they were in decent shape. I gave them a good scrubbing with some APC and a brush before fitting them, and while it's hard to tell the difference with the lighting in the garage, they look a lot better!




After that, it was show day at VW Festival. The guy who detailed the Scirocco suggested I only did light maintenance washes for the first few cleans, and recommended using Optimum No Rinse, simply putting it in a bucket of hot water and using a wash mitt to wipe it on the car and dry it off. Apparently through super magic polymer thingys it doesn't leave swirls, and after using it, I can't say I've noticed any. It works pretty well, but I'd only ever use it to clean a car that was only slightly dirty, I'd rather use running water for a bigger wash. It was a perfect way for me to spruce up the Scirocco before show day too, since it was torrential rain all day.


I took a spray bottle of it diluted with some water with me to the show to use as a quick detailer once I got there, as the rain didn't really let off and unfortunately, despite the show being in August, in typical British fashion it was quite miserable all day. Still, the Scirocco looked good on show! I didn't win any prizes, nor was I expecting to, but I did have someone repeatedly beg me to sell it to them, even offering me £6,000 for it, because he said he'd been struggling to find an example as good as mine. I appreciated the insane offer but I still have a lot more planned for it yet. It was quite funny how I got talking to him, because originally he was talking to the owner of a very, very clean Mk2 Golf GTI nearby, asking if he knew who owned the Scirocco. The Golf owner said, "I haven't seen him all day", which I thought was quite amusing. When I eventually introduced myself as the owner, the wishful buyer very frantically shook my hand before begging me to sell it. Sorry dude, I've got a bit more money I want to waste/sink into it yet! Here's some photos of it on display:






Then, towards the end of August, quite a few things happened. First, after the demise of a local classic car group, I decided to do something I've wanted to do for a while, and that was set up my own classic car club. I crowned it the Northern Classic Collective, based in the north of England and supporting owners and enthusiasts of all types of old stuff, from pre-war to the early 90s. It's just a Facebook group at the moment (link if anyone wants to check it out/join, shameless plug etc), but I've somehow garnered nearly 250 members so far, so it's not doing too bad. Now that winter is near and the show season is over things have quietened down a bit, but once the weather gets better next year I'll be attempting to host some meets and maybe even club stands. I did actually host a meet at the end of September but the weather was absolutely horrendous so I didn't get any photos, but some deciated souls still turned up. I've gotten friendly with the people at a café/showroom/workshop called The Motorist, so that's where the first meet was held and where probably more in the future will be. Think Caffiene & Machine but in the north and not quite as big yet, although they've got big plans!

The other thing that happened was, I got a unit!


I finally have somewhere with enough space to open both doors all the way and with power. I'm sharing it with a friend to split the cost, but so far it's great. Said friend has two projects, a Fiat 127 that's in need of a lot of welding, and a Fiat Panda 100HP that's currently in the progress of getting an Abarth heart transplant (I've already told him mine will not be a donor car and if I find any parts missing I know where to look... :lol:). No surprises that I met him through, well, the Fiat Panda UK group. So far I haven't actually managed to get any work done on my own cars in there yet, besides giving the Abarth a wash once (yes, the unit even comes with running water, and an air compressor!). I've been using it as a place to earn a little extra money doing work on colleague's cars, since at my work we're not allowed to use the ramps for our own personal vehicles.


The plan is to get the Scirocco down there soon so I can make a start on it over the winter. For a long time I wanted to do an engine swap, first a 1.8T out of a Mk1 Audi TT, then I liked the idea of the ABF 16v out of a Mk3 Golf, or a KR 16v out of a Mk2 Golf, but after struggling to find a donor vehicle that wasn't going to cost me more than the car I want to put it in, I've decided to put engine swap plans on hold for now. After all, the standard 1.8 8v in it now still runs great and is a joy to drive. It's just a shame it's not a crossflow engine. I could go for ITBs or bike carbs on it, but I wouldn't gain much power due to heat soak. I might just put a nice aftermarket air filter on it and leave it at that for now. All I want to focus on engine/drivetrain wise is getting the gearbox sorted, since it has a very nice crunch into second gear. The clutch cable is also very stiff, so I've got a new one waiting to go on when I do the gearbox and clutch. Probably the biggest thing I aim to get done before next spring is the respray, even though it's not exactly the right weather for it. Now I have a decent sized unit, I really want to give it a go myself. I'm not quite ready to spend £1k+ on a respray yet, so I'd a least like to try myself before realising I've made it far worse and then paying someone to do it properly. I've always enjoyed prepping and painting things, I've just never done it on a big scale. I've been religiously watching YouTube videos on it to try and be as best prepared as I can. After all, they say it's all in the prep! I'm open to any words of wisdom from my fellow GTP'ers also.

Other than that, I took the Scirocco to a few other meets and shows, and now it's parked up ready to go down to the unit and be my paint spraying guinea pig. The Abarth is still as loud as ever, nothing new to report on that front. I took it to some Italian meets too. I keep thinking about doing a few mods to it, but I might wait until the warranty runs out next May before I do anything. That and the Scirocco needs my money more, after all, that's why I bought the Abarth! I'll be sure to keep you all posted in here with how things with the Scirocco go over the winter.
 
I’d say one think Katie, (and this is only my opinion ;) ) if you were ever to engine swap I think it would be a shame to put a turbo engine in, or at least a modern turbo engine with nowhere near the character/noise of an older one.

I know VR6 swaps are the normal thing to do but I think a Mk 2 GTi swap would be cooler (but I guess very expensive)
 
I’d say one think Katie, (and this is only my opinion ;) ) if you were ever to engine swap I think it would be a shame to put a turbo engine in, or at least a modern turbo engine with nowhere near the character/noise of an older one.

I know VR6 swaps are the normal thing to do but I think a Mk 2 GTi swap would be cooler (but I guess very expensive)

I am leaning more towards the 16v swap, purely for period correct-ness. I really would like to use the KR engine but trying to find a Mk2 GTI 16v/Corrado 16v donor that doesn't cost a fortune is very difficult. It's a shame the 16v Scirocco was US only.
 
I know people have varying opinions on going outside a particular marque with engine swaps, but the one that automatically came to mind was a Honda K-series... 200hp would really shift in a reasonably light car like a Scirocco.

Great work on the cars/car club/unit though. Interesting hearing about that place The Motorist too. Looks like it's not far from the A1 so I'm tempted to pop in at some point next time I head back north.
 
Would the B16 from the EK Type-R be even better @homeforsummer ? (Not that you’d get one cheaply or easily compared to an K20 though)
 
Would the B16 from the EK Type-R be even better @homeforsummer ? (Not that you’d get one cheaply or easily compared to an K20 though)
No better or worse, I'd imagine. I know the B-series engines spin "backwards" compared to most engines but not sure whether this makes a difference in a whole drivetrain swap, and one thing common to a lot of Honda engines is that they're quite tall so they may simply not fit under the Scirocco's bonnet (though I suppose Preludes were fairly low-slung and those had no problem).

There are probably cheaper swaps for the Scirocco though if Katie goes down that route. The VW-sourced engines certainly have more of a knowledge base behind them. I just think a Scirocco that does 8500rpm might be more interesting than a VAG 1.8T or similar.

Sounds like there are other priorities in the meantime though.
 
I know people have varying opinions on going outside a particular marque with engine swaps, but the one that automatically came to mind was a Honda K-series... 200hp would really shift in a reasonably light car like a Scirocco.

Great work on the cars/car club/unit though. Interesting hearing about that place The Motorist too. Looks like it's not far from the A1 so I'm tempted to pop in at some point next time I head back north.

To be honest, I'd never even thought of anything like that. It sounds like it'd make for a very interesting car! Sounds like a lot of work that I'm not quite ready to do yet though. :lol:

It's a really great place, some fantastic cars end up both inside and in the car park. They're planning on expanding next year and then maybe even organising a show, which they've asked me to be a photographer for. They've also asked me if I want a job in the workshop, which I would love if it weren't for the fact it's nearly an hour away from me - and that's on a Sunday. Can't imagine how long the commute on the M62 would be on a weekday.
 
I know you have to be happy with that unit. I was overly excited with just a 10x20 unit I had for 2 months.

Place looks spacious. Very nice.
 
Damn, 6 months since an update? Time flies when the world is ending.

I, uh, chickened out on the whole respray thing. The car actually sat for about 4 months before I did anything with it. I've decided to just focus on the mechanical side of things, get it driving properly, before I go trying to make it look good. I'd rather drive a car that works properly but is a bit rough around the edges than have a car that looks great but spends more time sat at the side of the road.

I also passed one year of ownership with the Abarth back in February, and last Sunday was its third birthday! Should've also been its first MOT but due to coronavirus it's been extended until November. Gave it an oil change to celebrate our first anniversary, and I quickly discovered that the oil filter is in an absolutely ridiculous place.



About halfway down the engine, that's already shoe-horned in there, and to get to it you have to remove the turbo pipe, which is made out of very rigid plastic and is not easily persuaded to come off. Took me about half an hour just to get to it all and change the oil filter. I think a silicone pipe replacement is in order simply just to make the job easier next time I do it, but they're not exactly cheap either. I think the cheapest is around £65 for one from a brand called MTC but I've seen on the Abarth groups that people have struggled to get them to fit properly and have to cut/modify them, which is something I'd rather not do if I'm paying £60+ for it. Forge Motorsport do one but it's over £100, but I suppose you get what you pay for. I thought about going all out and getting an induction kit too, but those come in at over £200 and honestly, it gets far too hot in that engine bay for them to make that much of a difference, plus I quite like the look of the original air box. I might just settle for a K&N panel filter instead.



The Abarth also takes super fancy special oil that you can only buy from Petronas, which is Petronas Selenia 10w-50. Sounds quite thick for such a modern car, but it's needed due to the high temperatures the engine runs at. You could technically put any old 10w-50 in, but Petronas Selenia is the only manufacturer approved one. A lot of parts places that I usually deal with struggle to get hold of this oil, and on eBay it sells for at least £50 for two litres. I decided to just try out the local Fiat dealer parts place to see what they'd charge, and I ended up paying about £55 for four litres! Got the oil filter from there too so it ended up being cheaper just using genuine parts.

Gave Bart a good wash after, and a full tank of V-Power, which two months later, I still haven't had to fill up again. Lockdown is crazy.





I'd planned to get the wheels refurbished this year and painted black, since the diamond cut is absolutely ruined and it's too hard to keep on top of, but of course coronavirus has put a hold on that too. Originally I wanted them done in time for the Auto Italia show at Brooklands, but that was cancelled. I've also been thinking about buying some lowering springs, since I changed insurers this year and my new insurer will let me add any cosmetic mods for free. I just don't want to have a daily that rides awful again. I had enough of that with the Panda! Also been thinking of getting a front splitter... and a spoiler extension... and maybe side skirts too... basically everything in Maxton Design's Abarth range for the facelift. There's a girl in the Abarth Owners Club who owns a yellow Comp and hers basically looks exactly like how I want mine, but now I don't want to look like I'm copying. :lol:


(Doesn't have the side skirts in that photo but I think she's fitted them since)

That's it for the Abarth for now. At the moment all it does is ferry me to work and back, since I've been working throuhgout the pandemic, and that's it.

Now for the Scirocco!

Celebrated its 30th birthday in April, and I couldn't even go to the unit at the time because of the lockdown restrictions. I've since brought it home since some of the restrictions were eased, just so I could do some bits at home in case we all get locked down again, and so my friend who I share the unit with can use it, since he needs it more than me. I have a garage at home while he doesn't, so I felt it was only fair.

Before all of that though, and before we even really realised what coronavirus was, I did manage to do a few things in the unit. The rear number plate lights and the surrounding area has looked a bit sorry for itself since I bought the car, so I bought some new lights (actually for a Mk1 Golf, but I think the black ones look nicer anyway) and decided to clean up the area a bit.

The last time I used the Scirocco properly before taking it to the unit was during torrential rain, so I stupidly parked it up damp and left it. I was soon reminded of my mistake.



After cleaning up that mess, I made a start on the number plate lights.


The new lights.


The state of the old lights.


New lights vs. old.


Things weren't much better once the lights were off.




Cleaned them up a little with my mini air sander.




First coat of primer.


After a few coats of white, which was just a can of VW Alpine White I bought off the shelf from Halfords, so I was quite impressed with the colour match!


All done with the new lights installed. Much better!

After that I made a start on overhauling the brakes. The brakes have always been pretty poor since I bought the car. I put it down to old components and old, murky brake fluid. VW Heritage sell a rear brake kit which includes new shoes, drums, cylinders, hoses, and springs for £80, so I couldn't grumble at that. The wheel cylinders ended up being the wrong type for my car, but it didn't matter too much as a pair of Pagid ones from Euro Car Parts was only £13 - the perks of a trade discount! I also bought new wheel bearings for the rear since the new drums didn't come with them already fit, and instead of messing around trying to press out the old one, I thought I'd just fit fresh new ones to the new drums.


The rear brake kit from VW Heritage.


The old drum.


The old shoes and cylinder. The shoes themselves aren't too bad, and the cylinder wasn't leaking, but it never hurt to renew everything.


The other side halfway through. I was straight up not having a good time. Brake shoes are probably one of my least favourite jobs to do.


New shoes, cylinders and springs fitted (after a lot of swearing and fighting with the springs).


Nice new shiny drum with new wheel bearings.

After that there was a bit of a gap before I made a start on the front brakes. And by 'bit of a gap' I mean I did all of the above in February and did the front brakes last weekend.


The Scirocco finally at home in the garage after being stuck in the unit during lockdown!


New front calipers from VW Heritage.


New Brembo Max discs, along with Brembo pads not pictured.


Old brakes. Again, nothing was really wrong with the discs or pads, but it's nice to freshen it up with some uprated discs.


The calipers looked like originals though, and this bleed nipple did not want to budge, and I didn't want to risk snapping it when doing the brake fluid change.


A bit of black Hammerite to freshen up the backing plate.


New discs, pads, and caliper. Looking a lot nicer now!

I haven't decided on a colour for the front calipers yet, hence why the pad carrier hasn't been painted. I was originally going to go with some kind of grey to match the wheels, but I quite like the gold of the new calipers, so I might go with that.

I also noticed some months ago that I have a servo leak. The non-return valve for the brake servo has a hole in it, and has been very poorly repaired by someone at some point.





I ordered a new one from VW Heritage but didn't really look at it like above before I did, and ending up ordering the wrong one. It seems like the kind above with the little additional pipe is quite hard to get hold of, so I've just wrapped the valve up in tape for now to at least stop the leak.

After doing a brake fluid change and temporarily fixing the servo valve, my brakes are... still 🤬. I took it out for a drive just to make sure the pads and shoes were probably bedded in, but there's still a ton of travel in the pedal. You have to press the pedal halfway before it starts to do anything. It stops, eventually, but it's a bit scary. The only other thing I can think of that I haven't changed is the master cylinder, so I'll try that and see how it goes. Other than that, I have no idea. Maybe I'm just expecting too much of the brakes since I'm used to modern cars. It's always passed MOT on the brakes, so who knows!

And that rounds up another 6 months! See you in December I guess?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back