Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #75 – May 24, 2020, 09:41:27 PM Well Phil, you were correct with the location of the relay. Thanks! I could have sworn it was located somewhere in the middle - but no, it was in the bottom right corner, as you said and my trusty new (genuine) relay works a treat! The one I had was relatively new too, having replaced it with a cheap one from a motor factors. Only when I compared the new genuine one to the cheap pattern one the gulf in quality became obvious, with the genuine relay weighing twice as much! Most importantly, the indicators now work! :thumbs:Cheers for all the comments by everyone. I hope it does inspire people to bring their paint back to red, but also that as bad as car may appear, it is capable of being saved and brought back to its former glory!
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #76 – May 24, 2020, 09:42:37 PM Just took Hollie out for the first time in daylight since getting het back from hamkmanus. Little trip to halfords to get some more microfibres and meguiars tyre gel and turned around in the car park and thought it looks so damn good I have to take a pic!Looks sooo much better than the new Mini next to it (and smaller and nimbler!) Oh god it's amazing! Got so many turned heads en route too!
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #77 – May 24, 2020, 09:43:03 PM Gah! So after this lovely little shot, I took her out again this evening to show her off to a friend who last saw her 2 days after we bought it and when we got home we heard a hissing from under the bonnet and noticed this:Nuts.
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #78 – May 24, 2020, 09:44:02 PM £80 for a genuine VW 16V radiator!Picking it up tomorrow.
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #79 – May 24, 2020, 09:44:34 PM Well slightly frustratingly, it seems the radiator I picked up possibly wasn't a genuine one. The new one is extremely light in comparison to the old one, but I'm thinking that could actually be also partly due to not having any sludge and crud in it? Anyhow, it fits perfectly and is a big improvement over the very tatty looking (and broken) original one.What I'll do is run this one for the time being and then get my original one reconditioned at my convenience and keep it as a spare. Whilst performing this job I am also replacing the top, bottom and overflow hose, as I don't trust them, after having been stood for so long.
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #80 – May 24, 2020, 09:47:29 PM Oooo I so nearly spat my dummy out earlier.I've had the old buggered rad out for about a week now, with the new one in situ awaiting the top and bottom hoses to come so I could fit them. Well the other day they arrived at the garage, so I pottered off in Gumpert to collect them, only to break down en route! All sorted now so not an issue. Then my parents came to stay for a couple of nights so couldn't really abandon them whilst I was sorting the car. Although it was the first time they'd seen it since the paint resto and they were mighty impressed! Anyway, they left this morning so I got stuck straight in. Flushed the system and gave the header tank a nice scrub with a bottle brush and it's come up lovely! Unpacked my new hoses (not genuine, as they are NLA :not great: ) and set about fully removing the old ones from the engine. I offered up the bottom rad hose to my new one and the shape was the same - success! But the diameter on the rad end was about 1cm larger than the water pump end! :problem: So I ended up having to refit the old hose, which to be fair seemed in good nick still, but fitted jubilee clips instead of the very rusty original clips.Then came the top hose. I unpacked the new one and it was about twice as long and had a much more severe bend in it compared to the original, but at least was the same diameter... So again, I reused the original, just with jubilee clips instead again.Began topping the coolant up and after putting a litre or so in it noticed it gushing out the top rad hose! So I tightened it a bit more, still coming out... then wiggled the clip into a different position, still coming out. So had to remove the top hose completely and go about hacking my new hose with a stanley knife bit by bit until it fit. Clips in place, topped up coolant and all was good! Fired her up and the bottom hose on the water pump started dripping every so often! :wtf?!:Red mist decended, as I was now in a situation of, "Do I drain the whole system, trying to catch what came out, but potentially lose all the coolant I had just put in, or do I wiggle and adjust and bugger about with the clips until it hopefully stops?" Well I chose the latter and much faffing about and LOADS of muttering all sorts of rude things under my breath, I stopped the leak. Fired her up again, got to temperature, thermostat opened (the bit I was dreading as water would get into all the nooks and crannies), but all was good! :jackson:So with the system bled and coolant topped up with no leaks I took her out for a damn good thrashing!And the best bit, still no leaks! I can't work out if I'm immensely satisfied at having completed the job myself, after having to bugger about so much with it, or if I'd just prefer to pay someone to do it instead, as it's only about £20 labour! Oh well, it's done now, so can enjoy the car once again.
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #81 – May 24, 2020, 09:48:11 PM You'd be pleasantly surprised at how clean the inside is Mark. Only the passenger door is missing its doorcard and the membrane is hanging off, so that looks crap, but otherwise it's pretty good! Carpets have come up rather well after a wet vac. Just needs a new passenger door card and reupholstered driver's seat to finish it off.
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #82 – May 24, 2020, 09:48:45 PM Well the original clips did have a fair amount of surfact rust on them, but were still very tight when getting them off, so the tension was still there it seems. I may run a wire brush over them and refit them when the hoses come off in the future for whatever reason, as I've not binned them.As for the interior, there was a chap selling a 5 door interior in Basildon, which is about an hour from me. Unfortunately I missed the boat on that. Ours is a 3 door, so would probably cannibalise them for ours. This is our interior. If you do see any in good nick, please do let me know. It may not look it, but the driver's side bolster has collapsed and the frames are quite rusty, so not convinced on their strength.
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #83 – May 24, 2020, 09:49:21 PM Material also has a small 20p sized hole in it. Could possibly be repaired by an upholsterer, but ideally, new material from a good seat would probably be ideal. Also, the fold forward function on the driver's seat doesn't work at all and the handle has come off the passenger one. So not perfect!
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #84 – May 24, 2020, 09:49:34 PM Haha yeah the OCD is kicking in for sure now. When my parents were walking round it in the garage admiring it, I kept cringing at them brushing past it. It's not good for me!That's a good plan about the seat material though. Will keep an eye out for a seat (regardless of 3 or 5 door) and door cards. Then, as you say hopefully all will be revealed once the covers are off. Mrs Mac insists she's good at sowing, so this will put her to the test! I'm not as fussed about dirtiness in the inside as of yet though, as the passenger door card is missing and the membrane is hanging all over the place, so looks a dog's dinner. Once that's done and the seat is repaired, it will be a case of "wipe your feet before you enter!" Or the passengers must wear slippers!This sounds stupid, but how hard is it to take the carpets out? We have a full really good nick set to go in, but not got round to fitting yet.
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #85 – May 24, 2020, 09:50:16 PM Decided to wake Hollie up from hibernation this morning as I wanted to make sure the battery was charged and the brakes were free. After 2 months of standing she started first turn of the key and ran sweet. Wheeled her out aound the parking area and got some pics.Damn I wanna drive this properly again! Can't wait until April when she'll be back on the road!
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #86 – May 24, 2020, 09:51:12 PM So the car has been sat over winter in the garage with me starting it and rolling it out the garage onto the private parking area to ensure the brakes stay free, but oddly the battery went flat, even though I was keeping ontop of it by running it up. Managed to get hold of a trickle charger yesterday, as it's in the garage, a bit difficult to manoeuvre out. Managed to get it to fire up this evening and put a voltmeter to the battery sadly it appears my alternator is kaput. Only reading 12.2VDC with the engine running.Question is, why did my little battery light not come on? And I wonder when it packed up? As this battery is only a year old, so may well have been running on it's current juice all this time, not being charged. If that's the case, it made it to and from the national meet (120 miles each way) and a return trip to Wales! (about 300 miles each way!)
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #87 – May 24, 2020, 09:51:27 PM Well it appears the battery light doesn't work, which I had never noticed prior to this.Got it started this afternoon and got Mrs Mac to rev the engine to over 3k whilst I was measuring the voltage. After she had done that the volts went from 12v to 13.8v and stayed there even after the revs dropped back to idle. Meaning the alternator works, thankfully.That means that every time I had gone to start it to keep the battery topped up, I was in fact draining it. Oops.
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #88 – May 24, 2020, 09:51:35 PM Everyone loves a red rocket. Really want to get it back on the road soon so I can enjoy driving it again!
Re: Rescue Me - 1988 GTI 16v Reply #89 – May 24, 2020, 09:51:54 PM Rather proud to be Car of the Month for July. :-)
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