Mars red Series 1 Mk1 golf Driver G60

Right, challange time!! I want you to post a picture where your car doesn't look awesome!! Don't think you can do it  

Matt

That is tough. Not saying my mk1 always looks awesome but it is hard to find a pic of any mk1 that doesn't look awesome   

11 years of mk1 ownership and I have cracked my first sump  

Ouch. No engine damage I hope.
Look on it as a datum setting for your coilovers and move them up a bit?
What now? shallow steel sump?

No engine damage. Luckily.  It will be less of a problem when I put 16s back on. I'm not raising it yet. Not until my Santana is show ready. Then I can stop showing the golf, raise it up a bit and drive It properly.

Are shallow sumps available for these engines?

Not sure-like most things, probably at a price. 
I live between 2 dirty great full width speed humps which keeps my ride height honest. Tend to find the centre silencer is the first warning sign though which is probably a good thing

can't you get your sump shortened along with pick up tube?

A local chap gave me a free one which was cool. Turns out it is an ex race one with baffles and stuff. 

More problems now though. Fuel pump has had it and the fuse melted and nearly set the car in fire! Was scary.

Also the polisher has chipped the powdercoat on the new wheels so they have to be re done just seems like endless hassle this car

Seems like you're having a bad run at the minute mate, hope it doesn't last long

Is the polisher repairing the wheel at his cost?

Yeah the polisher will pay for the damage.   Couple more pics before I spill the bad news.

So yeah. Some of you might know if you are friends with me on fb.

I can't remember if I said but I had issues with the charger after te 'specialist' did all that work over the winter. Sent the charger to OCD and it has been awesome. Never been so good. Anyway, many bolts were loose when I got the car back from the g60 'specialist'. When I took the charger off to send to OCD, all of the bolts were loose. Some had fallen out completely and have now been lost the same guy also fitted my new cam, Vernier pulley and set up the timing.
Well I had just about done 500 miles since the work had been done and this happens whilst I was driving down the bypass;



All the bolts have fallen out and the timing has slipped quite far. This is bad. I was just driving home to wash the car ready for early edition. Gutted. Absolutely gutted. No shows for me for a while.

   oh man, i feel for you. my other car has been problem after problem. come close to selling up a few times, mainly due to others incompetence.

hope it isn't to long off the road or too costly  

That is shocking. Gutted for you mate. 
What does the 'specialist' have to say? I'd be interested to know who it is if you can say. 
You should be asking for all of your money back for the work done-I doubt you'd want him to be involved in fixing it would you?
Is it bent valves or worse?

That sucks! Take the specialist to the cleaners, obviously a cowboy  

Hope any damage is minimal.

Matt

Yeah it sucks man. I am in talks with a mate who is a qualified mechanic who is going to take a look and help me out. 
 Here is basically how the story goes with this 'specialist'.

In September the car felt sluggish and I thought the timing was out by a tooth. Also the charger wasn't sounding good. I asked if he could sort these and at the same time fit some parts and map it on a rolling road or what ever. He said yes.
He collected the car on a trailer and took it away. He said the car would be safe an dry. He had the car about 4/5 months? When he said it was ready, my mate Colesy gave me a lift down to Portsmouth to collect it.
He had left the car outside all winter and the interior had started going mouldy. He doesn't actually have a workshop and he did the work in his garden. The mold annoyed me but it was easily sorted. I paid him and we set off. There was a lot of white smoke and the car stank of burning oil. Got about 25 miles down the road and we pulled into a service station to see what was up. All the oil had gone. Nothing on the dipstick and the bay was covered in oil. I topped the car back up(35 quid for 4 litres of oil) and had no choice but to take the car back to him. I suspected the charger had blown an oil seal. The car limped back, kept cutting out and was feeling very sorry for itself.
He said he would fix it for free and bring the car to me when it was ready. So colsey and I went home empty handed and £1100 out of pocket. 2 weeks later, he delivered the car on a trailer to my house. He didn't bring a print out of the rolling road or any proof that it had been done. I thought it was odd? I asked for him to send me a print out. He sent me a very vague print out saying mk1 golf. The date said it was done in January. I checked some of my text messages to see what dates matched. According to dates on my txt messages, He was waiting for parts til Feb?
Anyway, as soon as he dropped the car off, I drove the car to my unit and took the charger off. All of the bolts were loose, some were missing, the charger pulley was loose and he had lost 2 copper seals for the oil lines that attach to the charger. I then sent the charger off to a different specialist to see what they thought. They said the oil seal hasn't been fitted properly. So they rebuilt it.  Another 220 quid. 200 for the rebuild and 20 quid for powder coating to sort out the terrible paint job the 'specialist' had done.

All in all that is now the 5th time this charger has been rebuilt since owning this engine. Once by gwerks when I first got the engine before I fitted it, 600 miles in and the top shaft bolt pin snapped. That company had gone bust so warrenty meant nothing. Sent it to jabbasport just before the mk1 oc Germany trip. Lasted a while, never felt good though. This 'specialist' did it twice and then the last one by ocd(awesome by the way. Very helpful and the charger felt better than ever).
I fitted the charger and just as I had finished running it in(500 miles on standard pulley), the verneer pulley bolts fall out now here I am. Dead car and no money to fix it. I go on holiday on Saturday so I can't afford anything and my summer is ruined. 

Things can only get better ay? I hope so!!

Really gutted for you mate this car is my inspiration for my build that I'll be starting this year.

I would only take my car to jabbasport they have been in the game longer than any of these so called specialist. If you took your charger to them to work on and it wasn't right why not take it back to check it over and the whole engine for that matter? I've heard good things about ocd he seems to be the man of the moment would definitely consider sending my motor to him is he in the midlands somewhere?

Looks like you will never sell this car, if it's off the road for a year or so so what you have a s1 g60 that most people would love to own including me lol you have had a lot of bad luck though a love hate relationship I think.

Hope to see you at some shows next to my s1bullet g60

Dan

Does the said specialist own a Rallye by any chance?

You've got to be seriously pi**ed off. The guy sounds like a right cowboy. The sad thing is there seem to be so many of them about, all making the right noises but not delivering.
I used Matt at OCD and would definately use him again.
The only other company I've heard good things about are JMR but they are in Littlehampton (been about for years).