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Dan's Spanish Armada


Trx 33
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Hello.

After my other thread drastically veering off topic i've decided to create a proper 'Member's cars' thread.

So here is my Spanish armada:

My first love, first car and a massive regret when she's sold.

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I'll not go into much detail here but my previous thread, you'll find HERE

My second purchase, so much potential but due to circumstantial changes and a run of bad luck, now just a parts donor.

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So much effort went in to fixing this only for a chocolate gearbox to ruin everything.

Brought back from the dead for a mere 5 months or so, only to live on in spirit and donor parts for No.4, somewhere down the page.

The current weekend toy :twisted:

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Pretty much how she looks now ^

A few tweaks since but you get the gist

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And the day i picked her up

What i've done so far:

Cruise control retrofitted
Gearbox oil change + Magnetic plug
Oil change + Magnetic plug
Newsouth power gasket

Avon ZZ5's all around
New centre caps
20mm Rear spacers
Miltek turbo back with hi-flow sports cat
Remap by John at Bigfish tuning

Front lower strut brace - now removed

LCR splitter
Forge TIP

Forge throttle body hose
Forge 008 DV
BMC Twin cone filter
Mats from Awesome GTI
Seat sport front strut brace
Black coolant cap
Black washer bottle cap
LED bulbs inside and out
White H3 fogs
OEM Xenon headlights

De-chromed front end

Polo 9N ariel base and mast

Focal PS-165 components

Alpine 135-BT headunit
Turbosmart boost gauge

Twin gauge pod

I'm sure theres more but i cant remember

And the latest addition:

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How i got her ^

Work started straight away, stripping and swapping from my little silver baby.

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Swapped out the light interior for my nice clean black one, with bits kindly donated from either Arosa's

And then these came.

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And how she sits today:

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You'll have to excuse the bad white balance, quick snaps post shift never come out the greatest. Ill try to get the DSLR out at some point.

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A couple of shots of the inside, gloss black heater surrounds and clock shrouds were a nice addition, along with the GTI lower door cards 8 Ball shifter

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Once again, apologies for the crappy iphone pics.

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Aaaand this happened..

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Unfortunately they aren't quite as bright as i'd like so i'll look into upping the voltage somehow. Trying to find decent PLCC-2 sideview LED's is surprisingly hard but hey ho. The first set of LED's i bought wanted more voltage than there was so they came out a tad yellow, the second set are nice and white, just not as bright as i'd like.

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A long days retrofitting.

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Successfully wired in OEM functioning fogs (and if i do say so myself, i've done a bloody good job with the cable routing) with brand spanking hardware straight from the Volkswagen parts department - not surprisingly, it wasn't cheap for a handful of clips and whatnot.

While everything was apart i fitted 'One touch indicators' which makes driving so much more pleasurable by quite a surprising amount.

So far, the mod list consists of:

Full black interior swap

GTI handbrake cover

Black headlining

GTI roof bits

GTI lower door cards

Powerflex front and rear bushes

Sport rear beam with disc brakes

GTI roof spoiler

Wind deflectors

De-chromed rear badge

New mudflaps

Front fogs

One touch indicators

White cluster LED's

Gloss black heater vent surrounds + clock shroud

Under dash cup holder

KW Inox coilovers

Whiteline rear ARB

Pioneer headunit

EGR delete

K&N filter

5th Gear mod

Remap

Debadged front grille

Rear wiper delete

HID's

LED's all around

15" OEM Ibiza sport alloys

Clear side repeaters

Polo 9N stubby mast and base

Once again i'm sure ill have forgot something but theres more planned.

Next up i'm thinking about:

Cruise control

Rear spacers

HID projector retrofit

Double din headunit

Rear speakers

Programmable wiper relay

Arch rolling

Sport centre exit exhaust

Heated electric mirrors

A good old detail when the winter is over.

Thats all for now but ill try to keep on top of this thread unlike my others.

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Although the fusebox didn't need to be removed, it was only 2 screws and it made it easier for my sausage fingers to get stuff where it needed to be.

Regarding the cluster mod, you will need to expose the circuit board which involves taking off the needles, LCD's and a hand full of other things.

I would advise getting a no-clean flux pen, tweezers and some fine solder to help things along.

The LED's i used were from RS components. I'd not like to recommend which ones to buy because i would still like to try some of the other ones to get the brightness/colour just right.

This is what they look like

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yup, wired from the switch to to the tray already. Piece of cake to install, hardest part was changing the drivers side bulb after installing everything as the whole air filter assembly is in the way and needs removed. Next time I've got the dash apart I'll grab some pictures, there's a rattle coming from somewhere that's doing my head in so it will be coming apart again when it's not raining.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yup, sport centre exit it is. Unfortunately i don't have access to a welder so DIY is off the cards.

I rang up TPS to buy the panel needed, approximately £25, but once the lad on the phone processed the order it was found to be a discontinued part, so out came the drill.

I've yet to have a look under the bumper of the diesel but i suspect there will have to be an arch cut into the rear panel alongside the section of boot pan to be removed. I already have the exhaust, heat shield, bumper and insulation so once i get the panel welded in and sealed it should be bolt on and paint.

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  • 1 month later...

UPDATE:

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Excuse the crappy picture but i was in a rush.

Centre exit is on. I just need to go to the bodyshop and get the bumper done, while i'm there i might get the arches cut or rolled because the rust is spreading and i'm wanting a wider track at the rear, plus there is a little dink in the passenger arch, two birds.

Fiddling round with the exhaust has made me wand a decat, and maybe a nice shiny centre resonator :twisted: the tail pipe is sticking out a little more than id like, so again, two birds.

 

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A little side note, I have been experiencing some strange braking recently, stepping on the brakes hard would send the car into the other lane. Not good. So when I had the bumper off I decided to take a quick look into the problem. It turned out to be a stuck hand brake cable, to the extent that it was completely immobile. The rear drivers wheel would free wheel with the handbrake fully applied.

i had a look on eBay for some cables but all they had was febi brand for £15 a pop. A phone call later to the parts department and I managed to get a pair for around £8 each for the genuine article to pick up the next day. 

Its worth paying a little extra for genuine parts but when they are cheaper it's a no brainier. I always try the parts department whenever I need something because I'm quite often surprised by their prices and I would urge everyone else too as well. 

Aside from that, I'd recommend everyone to change the 10+ year old handbrake cables next time they're messing around without the rear end. The handbrake, being a part of the car you use multiple times every day, really makes it feel like new with brand spanky cables. And for a 20 minute job you can't knock it. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, I've been a busy boy this weekend. Firstly I tended to my blown speakers, I replaced them with a nice set of Hertz coaxials and some shiny new hardware. The door cards had to be trimmed a little but nothing too major.

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Next in line was a service, genuine filter and oil from the parts department complemented with a gold plug for added protection. 

While I was on the ramps I took the time to drop the whole exhaust system from the turbo back as the middle section was sitting too far back, upon removal I found that the sleeving was pretty messed up beyond salvage, so I just cut it off and added a sleeve clamp, that got the exhaust sitting nice and flush with the bumper. 

Speaking of the bumper, I managed to split the upper and lower sections of the original and sport bumpers with the help of a hair dryer so I didn't have to go to the paint shop, saving me a good £150 or so. I'm pretty damn happy how it turned out.

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After all that I just had time to give her a quick wax, finally getting a chance to break out one of the pots of dodo juice I had ordered a few weeks back.

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Beads up nicely, small to medium beads in a very uniform pattern, a lot tighter than the collinite I have been using for the past few years. I still have a pot of light fantastic to try so I'll give that a lash on next time I clean her. 

Just waiting for a nice day when it's not raining or salty to squeeze a photo shoot in.

 Roll on summer. 

 

Edited by Trx 33
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  • 3 weeks later...

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