Clipper Conversion to GTi

Hello Everyone,  Newbee here.  I Purchased my car in September 2006 from a seller on ebay.  Luckily for me it was just down the rd outside Stone Staffordshire (about 15 miles).  The previous owner told me that he himself had had it for the past 9 years and that it had been intended as a restoration project that he had started for his girl friend.  they had eventually split up and as a result the car had been sitting there gathering dust.

I payed the Princely sum of £900 for her and over the winters pent a little time getting her road worth for the summer of 2007.  After replacing seals batteries, gaskets and a petrol tank she was ready.  We had use out of her all that summer and when it was done she was returned to her home in the garage.

There she remained until Jan 2012 (4.5 years) sitting gathering dust, picking up knocks and dents, paintwork getting scratched, bags of cement left on her bonnet as other jobs round the house took priority.

It was then it was decided to either get rid of the car or to restore it.  Initially it was budgeted for £2,500 to be spent on it to get it restored back, but thats when the big ideas started to flow.

You know the ones, well we could just change the body kit…. and the interiors a bit tired lets replace it.  We need a new hood lets convert it to electric. that sort of thing.

So we booked it into a local garage we trusted and the work commenced.  I managed to source a virtually new mohair electric roof from down in London which we paid £600 for and on another visit after scouring the web and ebay we located a BBS body Kit for £150 (also in London that we collected on a second visit).

This was all passed to my local garage and they set about installing it.

While it was having the hood and the body Kit fitted, we decided to give the 8v engine a thourough reconditioning.  It had its cam belt replaced, Valve strem seals replaced, gaskets replaced and a full service.



Once these repairs were done we looked at getting the interior trims and seats refurbished.

Now I had the car back and we had decided we wanted a new interior, it was time for it to head off to the paint shop.

I decided to keep her in Black but to transform her into a GTi, theming it Black red and silver while also paying tribute to Wolfsburg.

Here are some pics of her in the paint shop.







While it was there I managed to source a set of BBS allows from a BMW.  They needed refurbing but also came with good tyres for £175

Here is one of the wheels after its refurb



Next it was time for the tired seats to get a facelift.   This was done by a local furnishings company for £600







Custom head rest embroidery was again done by a local sports company and only cost £15 for the two logos

Looking good buddy. I'm liking the interior

While the body work was being resprayed we discovered we needed a new bonnet and bumpers all sourced from VM herritage.  New lights were also ordered (these took 6 months to arrive form the US).

Once I had her back it was time to start to fit some of the pieces id sourced on ebay.  This included sill guards in chrome, wolfsburg gators for hand brake and gear stick. Wolfsburg door pins, wolfsburg steering wheel window adjusters , chrome handles, floor mats and rear window winders.  I also sourced a new DVD Satnav system and electric windows.













I also created a new parcel shelf and boot build for her

Looking good mate

Next it was time to add replacement number plates and light to her.











Here are the pics of her with the parts fitted and after her 1st polish.

This phase of the work was completed just in time for her to enter the last show of 2012 Dubfreeze 2.

Phase 2 happened over the next 6 months.

This was to create a car that was capable of competing at BugJam at Santapod in July 2013,  this was especially important to me as my 40th birthday falls on the 21st.

The spec was to modify the car to be able to do a quarter mile in around 12 seconds.

For this I contacted another local company "**********" having known Kev and Dan for supplying parts and fitting them for the 1st phase (oil cooler, GTi centre console and dials) i was confident that it could be done.

What was needed was a replacement engine (ABF from MK3 GTi), replacement of the standard cams to fast cams, replacement clutch, gearbox, drive shafts, manifold, coil over suspension, stainless steel Jetex exhaust system, rear disk conversion, upgrade to MK2 brake servo, upgrade fuel pumps, tank, replacement fuel and brake lines, MFA clocks, wiring loom and K&N induction kit and fitting Nitrous for track use.

























Fitting of the Oil Cooler

Once the engine was in it was time to connect up the exhaust system, upgrade the brakes the master cylinder fit duel fuel pumps and modify the tank, then fit some customer components like the arm rest GTi under trays, dials and switches.









The new manifold



The fitted rear discs with upgraded pipes and hoses



Installation of the NOS Kit with custom centre panel











We upgraded the radiator to a larger model willed the coollant system with Evans coolant instead of water and fitted a large fan from a BMW



Crystal Clear Angel eyes were also fitted and a Xeon conversion was also done.





The Halo's were then converted from standard bulbs to LED's



All remaining Bulbs were also replaced with LED's giving off white light instead of the standard yellow.

Other touches that have been added are GTi Gators and Wolfsburg Gear knob.





Adjustable Electric Power Steering



GTi Dials



Custom battery cover.



Custom Water Bottle and Overiders.





GTi MFA and controls





Custom Arm rest with iPod charger.







Brake Vacuum Cylinder





Ive also installed Red Footwell lighting will take a pic next time its dark and add

Here is most of the cost breakdown for the latter part of the project.  Im sure there is a lot on here that hasnt been added but its a good start:-




Lick of Paint (Paintwork)
6 Remer Street
Stoke-on-Trent
Staffordshire
ST6 2PJ
07891 036112

Household Services (Custom Upholstery)
Domestic and Automotive Upholstery Specialists
555 High Street
Sandyford
 Stoke-on-Trent
ST6 5BP
01782 838058 & 07947450973

Shelton Car Care (Fitting of hood and body kit)
Winton House
Stoke Road
Shelton
Stoke-on-Trent
ST4 2RW
01782 898926 & 07989113443

Wow you've been busy there mate wth that little lot going on. Looks awesome. Bet she flies with the NOS going in

Next few weeks going to be testing it out fully, only tied it at 20% power so far, the acceleration is staggering!  Were aiming around 12 Seconds at Santapod, there a special custom race mapped ECU being created for it so on my 40th cant think of anything better to do

Les us know what you actually achieve at Santa Pod on the 1/4 mile. What front tyres are you planning on using?

At the moment I just have the BBS's a set of race slicks would be nice it I can find some, and defo will do and also lots of pics of it there :-)

Were also going both days to Deva Dubs this weekend.  Will be entered into Daily Driver on Sat and hopefully a few categories on Sunday.

Just read through the events of the day, will the mk1 owners club be fielding a footy team? if so will be game

car of the month gang?