A long time coming

Don't mention me then!!   ,bloody coming over and helping fix the bloody thing  

Miserable old bar steward, I constantly refer to the royal "we".
Reminds me as it goes, needs an update.

So the past month has been incredible fun.  Settle in for some ramblings

Part of the problem I always had with the other car was that I was sorting how it looked.  Driving a Rocco means you're already on the back foot so I made a point of making it look as mean as possible and for the most part it worked.
The Golf is a very different beast.

Bug Jam was an amazing weekend.  Ended up convoying up with an old bug and a lupo with my little sister riding shotgun with me.
This was the first it'd ever happened as there was a "small incident" a couple of years ago.  She was mean to jump in with me but the shear amount of cack she decided to bring meant she had to drive herself.
So lesson learned and me passified she jumped in and off we set for a five hour trip round the M25 on a hot summer friday with no stereo.
Surprisingly, we both really enjoyed it.
(Obligatory pout pic for social media)


Superb weekend, 250 miles without missing a beat.  Everyone happy.

Next up was the Scirocco Register National meet at RAF Cosford last weekend.
I'd ducked out a couple of years ago as organiser so I was a bit nervous but it was like I'd never left.
Another awesome weekend, 500 miles without any problem and I somehow came home with a trophy (People's Choice - Basically the favourite non-rocco).  Pretty awesome result.
My old rocco also walked away with the best Mk2 and I finally got to meet the guy that bought the shell.
I have to be honest, it looks drop dead gorgous.

Last show of my season is VW Action in September.  Always a fave and I'll have the wife riding shotgun/co-pilot which I'm really looking forward to.  Sister will be in my Audi and being the blocker when we convoy up so everyone's happy.
I'm seriously considering buying a stereo and fitting it in the meantime but there's little chance of it happening.  I need to research the set up and decide which head unit (needs to be bluetooth and dab and have a retro feel if posssible).
Bodywork wise I'm going to run it as a bit of a scruff for a year or two.  I might get the scabs sorted, I might not, oddly I kinda like not having to keep cleaning it.
Underneath will be where the magic happens.
 
I've been stock piling parts to fit over the winter (have bought a couple of scrappers recently and raided them for parts with a mate and it'll get new coilovers and wheels over the winter.  Engine bay will get a clean up and colour code and the interior is pretty much perfect.

Sounds like Yoda has done some miles.

I agree with you about the body work. It's very liberating not having to worry about it looking shiney, but knowing that underneath is a great car  

Hi, the gear linkage looks great, I have tried searching for Martin Emment  on the facebook group but cant find him? How much is the kit please if you don't mind me asking?

I found Martin on the Club Gti group but I know he only does them in batches.
Happy to contact him and found out if you want.
Kit was about £95 all in.  Might seem pricey but it really is worth every penny

And so suddenly we're in September, how on earth did that happen?

Last weekend was the ever brilliant Vw Action at Santa Pod.  Unfortunately sporadic rain came hammering down on the Saturday cancelling the racing for most of the day and sending us all scuttling for cover but it didn't really stop the fun.

In the run up I'd had the preceding week off so busied myself with getting the car ready but with three days available I ended up doing a few more bits than I anticipated.  Always fun but risky as it's normally those "small jobs" that end up with me arm deep in wiring crying into bottles of wine and shaking my fists at Odin.
First up was to strengthen up the rear parcel shelf supports.  On the Golf these are removable and replaceable unlike the rocco, seems like a small thing but I like it.  Means it's easier to get the extra space should you need it (especially when stripping them down) and they're easy to put back in.  The down side is that after 30 years they're often brittle.
For some reason I only got photos half way through the process but take my word for it, once they were finished you wouldn't notice the difference.



After this it was a quick rub down, marry up the holes and drill new ones and spray it all.

Also started on the speaker pods.  Again, 30 years of abuse have taken their toll.  Will get more pics over the weekend if I remember.
This one was a little more complicated and I had to build everything up slowly, rub it all back and redrill everything.

Re-glued all the struts and put a layer of fibre glass on the joins so hopefully it won't happen again.  Quite randomly I picked up another set from a lad at Action which had the same problem.

All this brings me to the stereo.  Couple of choices: Vintage looking stereo or a rebuild.  Need to look into the practicalities of both.  The off the shelf ones are ready made and do everything I need but apparently the sound quality isn't fantastic.  To be fair, will I actually notice?
The other choice is to send an original unit off for a complete refurb.  This is considerably more expensive but I can state the kit and outputs that I want.
For the time being I've just bunged the house Bose unit in.  Brilliant piece of kit anyway and solved the issue for the short term.


Only other problem was the water hose splitting and pishing everywhere.  Luckily I was only 200 hundreds yards down the road and the split was near one end.  Managed to get a new one but just cut the end of and stuck it back on as a quick fix.   DId another 250 miles so clearly wasn't that bad.


So now everything slows down a bit.
Won't be storing it over the winter like I used to with the other car but it'll be off the road for a bit.  Going to lay all the wiring for the stereo equipment and another 12v outlet, while I'm there I may put some sound deadening down but that really depends on the state of the bodywork.
After that it's starting work on the engine bay.  It needs a bloody good clean so I can properly look for leaks then give it a proper service and change the gaskets.  Also got a load more powder coated parts that'll start replacing the tribute to Bob Marley under the bonnet.

And the engine bay work is under way in what turned out to be a bloody monsoon!!!

Yeah, more to follow this weekend hopefully.

Mr Funk said

Yeah, more to follow this weekend hopefully.

Absolutely mate get stuck in to that Weitech on
sunday what you reckon?

all the time your helping Mart means im the one that gets the call when it snows

Well now, six months later I finally get round to updating things.

Lots of updates but very quickly:
Silent coat 4mm = cracking stuff
Alpine 6x4 speakers all round with new wiring
g60 rims

AP coilovers and new exhaust on it's way.

Oh, and there's the MOT.

Despite what you may think, that's pretty good.
The horn has been disconnected as the steering wheel hits the connection, we think the column is slightly bent (have a spare), the lights do actually work but the tester has to use the headlight button rather than the fog light switch.
And the exhaust? yeah, that's fecked. New one on the way.

That's not too bad at all.

I was speaking to this particular person the other day and he was telling me how solid Yoda was.

What's Silent coat 4mm?

Looks like you've had some interesting times with Yoda so far (love the name and the reason by the way!)

MOT's not too bad. Seen worse, much worse. My resto was much, much worse!

Decided on a head unit yet?

Ian

Looks like a tidy base, and I agree with your comments on the "scene" - its only a hobby at the end of the day, something for enjoyment when time allows  Not taking it too seriously is defo the key!

Don't suppose you still have the donar shell? - Edit, seen that's its gone now.

Oh and like the red lorry yellow lorry detailing  

Yeah, the "detailing" is certainly interesting.

The easy option would be to simply rip the inlet and throttle body off and replace them but I can't help thinking that it's all been played with.

I really need to get product codes and check out the throttle body.  The accelerator is super sensitive and it doesn't rev like any other injection I've owned.
But saying that, I can't compare it to anything I've ever driven as i's been too long.
But those are currently my biggest worries, and that's pretty good.
It goes like a stabbed rat but corners are simply terrifying.  I had planned on having the AP's on by now but what with one thing and another i haven't got round to it and have been ploughing spare commission into reducing my already tiny debt - work took a turn again.  Looks to be sorted but I'm paranoid.  If it looks like this happens with alarming regularity it's because it does.  Everything is fine but I always have a plan b.  
Moving forward I'm now in a much better position which puts me in a more secure position financially.
It'll just be a toss up between the car and the house.

Glad to hear you're sorted…..for now at least  

Always stick money in the car. After all you can live in a car but can't drive a house  

Ian

mike.d1979 said

That's not too bad at all.

I was speaking to this particular person the other day and he was telling me how solid Yoda was.

What's Silent coat 4mm?

Silent coat is sound deadening.  Pretty easy to apply and it's made a real difference.  Got a few spare sheets, can drop them off with neil.

Head unit wise, not sure.  Still tempted to shell out the money and get a retro unit reconned to my spec but that's a shed-load of cash and I can't help thinking I'd just be better off with something simpler.  Always been an Alpine fan so I'll probably just go for one of their Bluetooth units.

The "detailing" is hilarious.  I'd tear it off giving half a chance but I suspect the engine's had work and so it's going to be a case of stripping it down and removing the paint.

Found out why it corners so badly - top mounts are utterly destroyed!
Next up on the shopping list are the water hoses and the mounts

Mr Funk

Yeah. That would be awsome, thanks  

Stereo wise, I'm lucky (ish) that someone previous has already butchered and ruined my centre consloe, so I was going to fit a nice double din one down there… was also toying with a rsberry Pi and making my own stereo, but I'll see how I feel at the time.

The only downside is I have to try and fine a nice decent centre console for when I want to return it to standard  

That'll be amazing when you get it back. It'll totally transform the car with new top mounts  

Mr Funk

I have an old 90's Alpine Tape Deck here, apprently there is a unit that can be attached the CD changer control and ipod can then be installed to it. Any good to you?

mike.d1979

A standard centre console? I've got one in black I won't be using. Got the 3 holes for the aux guages, so it's from a tin top. Any use?


I've used several types of sound deadening over the years, from lead flashing in Clive to Dynamat in the Derby. This time after a load of research and talking to people, I too, have gone with the silent coat. I'll be topping it of with the Dodo Matt too. Hopefully I won't be able to here a thing! I shall be interested to see how you get on with it, as mine installation is imminent. Ian