GarytheGolf

Top work as always Malcolm, Gary is coming along nicely. Love the use of the roof rack.

Blimy your quick today.

Space ! it's a problem!

It's an old Paddy Hopkirk roof rack I used to use on my mk 2 roof bars, It has come in very handy.

Also ran the engine today, apart from charging the battery, it started first time.

Nice work mate. Looks like a top job on the wings fitment

Thanks, I think they will look better when the car has been re-sprayed.

Brilliant work I'm enjoying this

As said before malcolm, great work.

Can i ask which primer, silver, black and gold paint you are using for engine component detailing??

Cheers

mk1_Dips said

As said before malcolm, great work.

Can i ask which primer, silver, black and gold paint you are using for engine component detailing??

Cheers

Hi, I have used a variety of paints, however for the engine detailing I have used Simoniz Engine enamel in Satin, Gloss or Matt Black and Silver.

Prior to painting and where possible, I have soaked and wire brushed various items in buckets of citric acid / BILT HAMBER - DEOX-C RUST REMOVER POWDER solution to remove rust.

The enamel can be painted onto clean bare metal.

For the Gold I have used smooth hammerite. A variety of heat resistant paints for the exhaust, manifolds, etc have been used.

Halfords brake caliper paint for the calipers.

Where primer has been used, Upol Acid 8 Etch Primer  or similar., and filler primer where necessary.

Finally I have also used POR 15 on many items, that are not exposed to sunlight or heat. POR 15 is a complete paint process, pretty expensive but provided a very much chip resistant finish.

Hope this helps.

A little work done over the last fortnight between the weather bouts, gardening and anniversary celebrations.

Continuing with the MOT preparations, I have been doing the handbrake and the front brakes.

As usual, nothing is easy, with the handbrake you seem to need four pair of hands in setting up the lever from scratch.

I seem to have a hybrid again, according to the Haynes Manual it is neither an American or an English handbrake configuration, more a combination of both.

Here are the bits laid out



The cables, note one seems to be longer than the other, one must have been changed in the past.



The handbrake switch



Fitted



A bit of a fiddle to fit, mole grips came handy. The handbrake is OFF. i.e. pressing the switch.



ON, releasing the switch, that turns on the handbrake warning light.



Finally adjusted and set up, generally equal tension on  both sides.



I got new front discs and pads from Eurocarparts for the reasonable £36.

When it came to fit them , I noticed a subtle difference between the original ATE pads and the Pagid Pads supplied, in that the original ATE spring retainers do not fit with the Pagid pads. Note the slight cut out on the old ATE pads. New Pagid retainers were supplied.





Pagid Pads installed with the new spring retainers. Don't forget the copper grease on the back of the pads.



Full set up, probably last a lifetime.



Finished for another day.

Nice skills there matey. A job well done by the looks of it  

brilliant work. spurs me on to get on with mine. 

Jim89 said

brilliant work. spurs me on to get on with mine. 

smudger1980 said

Nice skills there matey. A job well done by the looks of it  

Thanks for the comments, looking forward to this weekend.

A few jobs done over the last couple of weeks.

I had a radiator leak from the smallest crack in the plastic at the top of the radiator.



It would only show up after the engine was warm.



So I prepared a little sheet plastic (Railway Modellers) and roughed up both sides.



And glued it using Evostick pipe weld.



I am pleased to say no leaks!.

With the recent MOT regulations that all lights on the dash must work including engine warning lights, I have always had an issue that my oil pressure light did not work.

For some reason with my 1500cc engine. I have the loom for both the oil pressure switches 0.3 bar and 1.8 bar normally found on the GTI engines.

Having purchased another set of dials, I set about trying to find the route of the problem.

My set of dials, everything worked except the oil pressure. No oil light on ignition ON. Engine running, No oil light.

New set of dials, everything worked except the oil pressure and clock. No oil light on ignition ON. Engine running, Oil light illuminated! WRONG WAY AROUND!!

Solution with new dials installed, I had the pressure switches installed the wrong way around. The 1.8 bar should be by the filter (black and blue lead) and the 0.3 bar connected to the head (yellow lead).

So with the new dials installed, ignition on, oil light illuminated, engine running, oil light extinguished. Oil system working.

PROBLEM: no clock and speedo reading incorrect.

Having found the problem with the switches, I assumed that the red LED bulb in my dials had blown.

So I replaced it with the bulb from the new set and hoped that I had cured the problem.

WRONG!! Ignition on, no oil light. The problem is with the printed circuit.

START AGAIN: to be continued.

So here are a series of photos, of the previous dismantling and how I eventually managed to make my original set of dials work by cannibalising the printed circuit from the new set of dials.

The back of the dials: all bulbs (twist 90 deg to remove), nuts and screws removed.



Disconnect the main connector. Note the labels.



Printed circuit removed.







Removing the LED bulb retainer.





Removing the bulb, note the bent leg, this shows the polarity of the LED bulb.



Complete removal of the printed circuit.



Note the delicate legs that fit into the back of the dash lights and clock.





Removing the clock







Fully assembled, do not forget the voltage regulator, top right.



Complete set of dials, before cleaning.



With the dials installed are instruments are now working including:

Clock, rev counter, and I assume for MOT:

speedo, fuel gauge, oil pressure, battery, indicators, main beam, flashing temperature bulb and lighting.

Lovely work mate. Bet that took you a few hours to do

Desired result achieved, good luck with the MOT

awesome work pal.

Well done with the clocks mate. I swapped my speedo into another binnacle, as the rev counter on my originals was knackered.  So once fitted I noticed that the mfa wasnt working 
I cant be bothered stripping it out again so its going to be a job for the winter. 

smudger1980 said

Lovely work mate. Bet that took you a few hours to do

Desired result achieved, good luck with the MOT

 

browner01 said

awesome work pal.

Macca said

Well done with the clocks mate. I swapped my speedo into another binnacle, as the rev counter on my originals was knackered.  So once fitted I noticed that the mfa wasnt working 
I cant be bothered stripping it out again so its going to be a job for the winter. 

Thanks for the comments, unfortunately another weekend went by without any work done due to the  weather.

However this week, I am having some wheels professionally refurbished and new tyres, hopefully they will be ready by Friday and I can fit them this weekend.

In addition, a Fog light switch, hopefully with a working warning lamp and a bulb for the Hazard switch will finalise the dash for the MOT.

My wife has told me I've got to take her to the hairdressers on Saturday. Hopefully Sunday will be OK.

Top intricate work and good info. Much harder than it looks im guessing   

Dubbuds said

Top intricate work and good info. Much harder than it looks im guessing   

It's just nuts and electrical connections, and a little care.

Great when it works.