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Adrian's GTI clean up!


Adrian777
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Ever since my high school days I had always dreamt of owning a Lupo GTI specifically, always thought they looked and sounded amazing. Having started Automotive Engineering at university I thought it'd be very useful to have a project car so I can gain more practical skills and learn more as well as completing a dream. So here we are, bought this 2001 GTI which has covered around 200,000 miles for little money. Mechanically sound except a blowing exhaust pipe but many many small problems to be sorted. The aim for this is to get the car looking and performing like it just rolled off the production line so no tilty wheels or roll cages here!😀

Faults/Issues:

  •  Cupholder refuses to close
  • Large and deep stone chip on A pillars
  • Scratches on every panel
  • Paint bubbling badly on spoiler
  • Lacquer peel everwhere
  • Discoloured wiper arms
  • Blowing exhaust
  • Both door straps gone
  • Cracked engine cover
  • Headlight bracket snapped
  • Passenger sun visor mirror smashed
  • Steering wheel off centre
  • Curbed alloys
  • Cracked indicator lenses
  • Headlights oxidised 
  • Rear washer jet not working
  • Rear number plate light unit falling out
  • Faulty electric windows

746179352_Front.JPG.e4ab8737fe39d3436115fc17009dbdca.JPG

Rear.JPG

The first day of ownership was spent thoroughly cleaning the interior and removing all traces of the previous owners including some distasteful mods such as a carbon wrapped clock cover!

Stripping Carbon.JPG

As well as getting started on removing the worn rubberised grab handles as standard on this era Volkswagen, sarted with nail polish remover but then decided to just wet sand it.

1546227665_Rubberstripping.JPG.b36b77be159426a08734f88401001c27.JPG

Edited by Adrian777
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A non modifier/restorer... you'll be popular on here! Same as me.

sounds like a complete respray will be needed. Most of the items are relatively easy to sort. I'm curious why the steering is off, but could be as simple as tyres or pressures?

If the driver's seat is worn, do what I do and source a passenger seat cover from Ebay germany. Passenger seats once cleaned come up like brand new. Go here- https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-lupo-schlachtfest/k0

we have a few german members on here that might be willing to help,for a few extra euros :)

oh, and welcome to CL!

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Cheers bud! Yeah personally Volkswagen got everything spot on with it from factory like it looks real pretty,  doesn't exactly have monster truck ride height and it handles and pulls well, but that's coming from a newer 1.0 Polo!😅

Going to try sort the paint out step by step so will be doing a proper decontamination and machine polish to remove some scratches and then try to do some magic on the deeper stone chips, student life means no respray just yet unfortunately😓 Yeah I'm really curious as well but I have a feeling one of the many previous owners took the steering wheel off and didn't line it up properly when putting it back on, gonna get an alignment first though as maybe might have happened over time.

Hard bit is going to be trying to source parts! 

 

 

 

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Day 2!

Cupholder issue solved, pulled it out and turns out there was a wire from the dodgy radio that had managed to get into the mechanism preventing it from shutting all the way😓

Went about trying to sort the lack of fluid coming out the rear washer hose next. Left rear footwell was pretty damp, spent a good 40 minutes trying to vac it out and dry it with a hair dryer but didn't get very far though. From this, it signals to me that there was an issue with the washer hose possibly at that point which is why it didn't work. Went about pulling the interior out to have a look at all the hose connections but all of them seemed fine and tight! No water was coming out of any of them but the motor can be heard when the wiper stalk is pushed forward so that's a mystery and a half😅 Eventually ran out of ideas but going to take another look but this time looking at the section of hose which runs past where the carpet is damp.

1817584480_Rearstripped.JPG.bc934eb14b2c3a331425ed73dea5c99f.JPG

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In the passenger side rear qtr there's a clump of wires/pipes following path of the wheel arch. In there is the washer pipe and there is a joiner up near the top, highly like the joiner has blown apart hence the puddle of water in the passenger side. Find the joiner and put it back together and all should be good. Although your washer jet is also probably blocked and seized to the tube that runs through the motor which is why the join blew apart in the first place!

Edited by RvB
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59 minutes ago, RvB said:

In the passenger side rear qtr there's a clump of wires/pipes following path of the wheel arch. In there is the washer pipe and there is a joiner up near the top, highly like the joiner has blown apart hence the puddle of water in the passenger side. Find the joiner and put it back together and all should be good. Although your washer jet is also probably blocked and seized to the tube that runs through the motor which is why the join blew apart in the first place!

add a bit of drain cleaner not too much though at it can take the paint off

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9 hours ago, Adrian777 said:

Day 2!

Cupholder issue solved, pulled it out and turns out there was a wire from the dodgy radio that had managed to get into the mechanism preventing it from shutting all the way😓

Went about trying to sort the lack of fluid coming out the rear washer hose next. Left rear footwell was pretty damp, spent a good 40 minutes trying to vac it out and dry it with a hair dryer but didn't get very far though. From this, it signals to me that there was an issue with the washer hose possibly at that point which is why it didn't work. Went about pulling the interior out to have a look at all the hose connections but all of them seemed fine and tight! No water was coming out of any of them but the motor can be heard when the wiper stalk is pushed forward so that's a mystery and a half😅 Eventually ran out of ideas but going to take another look but this time looking at the section of hose which runs past where the carpet is damp.

1817584480_Rearstripped.JPG.bc934eb14b2c3a331425ed73dea5c99f.JPG

The hose probably is split. Had this one my 1.0ltr lupo

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9 hours ago, RvB said:

In the passenger side rear qtr there's a clump of wires/pipes following path of the wheel arch. In there is the washer pipe and there is a joiner up near the top, highly like the joiner has blown apart hence the puddle of water in the passenger side. Find the joiner and put it back together and all should be good. Although your washer jet is also probably blocked and seized to the tube that runs through the motor which is why the join blew apart in the first place!

 

8 hours ago, weslangdon said:

add a bit of drain cleaner not too much though at it can take the paint off

 

7 hours ago, mk2 said:

Yeah, 100% of lupos have that joint go at some time. Central spindle of rear wiper motors also go eventually...

 Cheers! That all sounds reasonable since I remember on test drive, there was a little water coming out when the stalk was pushed forward. Found that the joiner did come out so yeah, reckon it will be that blocked jet😁

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The rear wiper not spraying fluid was still bugging me massively so Round 2! This time taking more trim and interior off.

1388859659_Strippedrearseatsinterior.JPG.0e07ae948c7da58de66883afede44ce5.JPG

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I found all of the hose joints to be intact, they were all joined together still. The blue sound deadening was soaking wet however so I thought I had found the culprit, but apparently not😓 Sound deadening pulled out and area dried, I held down the rear washer stalk but this area remained 100% dry, I then discovered the front passenger sound deadening to be soaking through too. So the hose in this area will be fine I imagine, maybe there was a window rubber leak before but the previous owner(s) never bothered to dry up the area but who knows.

However, new idea! Marked the fluid level on the washer fluid tank and then held down the stalk for a good minute. Heard the normal whirring sound and then looked back at the tank, it had not moved a millimeter! So maybe there's an issue with the pump or the pipe right at the tank is blocked off. 

 

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1898524808_Frontseatremoved.JPG.1f7824afa40ced1c43ea332e7d328c3e.JPG

Good shout! Will have another look😀 Is it the grey bits we're looking at or is there more under the speaker panel? 

Front and rear sound deadening is going to be replaced for the time being with Dynamat or some eBay stuff!

 

Door card off.JPG

Edited by Adrian777
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Yeah it's the grey foam...

There's a pic of my fix in here:

https://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?/topic/99888-had-a-small-leak-and-found-this/

but when you do replace it, don't keep the new 'seal' as drum tight as I did. It does need to go into the door recesses as the door panels push into it.

 

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Thank you all for support!😀

Very productive day on the GTI, can finally say that the rear washer fluid is now finally working after nearly a week of being clueless!

397122852_Interiorpipecut.JPG.31376fb0605ba8b49e8e04d6ef796727.JPG

 1329257477_Pipecut.JPG.0e58e1bb1a429f38d56a220e584fa7e7.JPG

Turns out one of the previous owners had cut the washer fluid hose and knotted it for some reason... Very annoying that it was such a simple thing which I never bothered to check but oh well, lesson learnt😃 The section of pipe going through the firewall looked like a pain to pull out so a trip to Halfords to buy some additional washer fluid hose, and then I joined the missing sections of hose together. Job done!

 1687012244_Functioningrearwiper.JPG.6c4f9f7fde564ca68cc64c8940e2937d.JPG

Nearly... The 90 degree pipe which is connected to the wiper motor was firing water all over the boot so that was ripped out and that was replaced with some normal washer hose. Water comes out now but the valve needs adjusting as it just sprays water at pedestrians but that's for another day😂

Next job, repairing the engine cover. Just used a hot glue gun for the time being as a temporary fix until I see a one for sale at a reasonable price. Although the repaired one does fit very nicely. 

298390341_Enginecoverfront.JPG.178f70e98e961e9dd5f5becb8038b61d.JPG1702663802_Enginecoverrear.JPG.57e01a9411547368e5bab8e118b44b1d.JPG

I know I said I wanted to keep it looking factory but I had to😓

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Painted the handles black and removed all the rubbery parts off the door trim. Not a bad job but if the paint doesn't hold up however, I will end up wrapping them black instead.

Finally, gutted the interior as much as possible and gave it a good clean! So far found 2 raisins, 6p and a smoked cigarette😂 To say one of the owners used to smoke in this car, I wouldn't have been able to tell aside from a cig burn in the rear seat and a dirty headliner like it doesn't smell of it at all.

733434442_Rearcarpetremoved.JPG.e1e778d4d1f69b96c1f80000a6a7bf4c.JPG

Have side indicators and Quantum 5w40 on order! So giving it a service will be happening soon😀

 

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Service parts.JPG

GSF had a Good Friday sale on so picked all this for just £35! And that's where the good stuff ends... 

Started off replacing the air and cabin filter. Looking at the comparisons below, they don't look like they've been changed for a very very long time or ever!

Air filter.JPG

Cabin filter.JPG

And this is where hell starts😂😓

So I then started to change the spark plugs, the first one was on very very tight so I had to get a longer ratchet in order to get it off. This is the first sign that this engine has had a very hard life! And when it finally was out, the plug was drowning in oil! I believe that the seal/gasket needs replacing or there is a crack in a valve but from looking on here and physically, it looks like the belt needs to come off to sort this. So unfortunately this is a job which isn't going to be done anytime soon since I'm keen to do it myself since it is a project car but I don't have the knowledge currently and don't know anybody with an automotive background for guidance! Going to have to wait a few years until I have time to jump on a Btec course or find an alternative way of learning😓

Stripped sump plug.JPG

Since the spark plugs were drowning in oil, I decided to drain the car. I would love to know who worked on this car before I owned it! The sump plug was cross threaded so a lot of patience was needed to get this off. Another sign that this engine/car has had a very hard life!

Can't say I'm a happy bunny as I know there are going to be plenty of other difficult jobs incoming due to the bad workmanship previously done on this car such as the rear wiper hose but oh well. At least I'm learning and it's going towards something great😀😍

After a lot of searching online, I couldn't find suitable sound deadening which was for a reasonable price so just decided to dry the originals.

Sound deadening dry.JPG

I then decided to try and sort the driver's electric window. From moving the passenger side window cables to the drivers side switch and it working, I know it isn't the driver's switch at fault which says to me there is a fault with the window motor. There is no clicking noise from the motor when the driver's switch is pressed. But I didn't want to start a job and leave it unfinished as mk2 rightfully said above, the grey foam is for waterproofing and I would need to rip it out to access the motor. This job will be for another day when I've managed to find some radiator backing and bought a new motor😁

Electric window attempt.JPG

Interior is back together again now at least!

Redone interior.JPG

Edited by Adrian777
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The oil around spark plugs may just be overspill from topping up oil. The cam box under the filter/cover acts as a funnel to the spark plugs. Do a few hundred miles and pull a plug to see if it’s still oily.

sump plug is easily cross threaded as it’s alloy, I wouldn’t say ha4d life, just exposed to more ham fisted maintenance.

Thats really unusual for the foam membrane to still be intact on such a high mile car! Tearing is what the animals do -  you can cut access openings into it and tape it up.

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It's swimming in oil right at the bottom of the plug so the HT lead is also very covered in oil at the bottom. I'm praying it is something simple and the belt doesn't need to come off but when driving and flooring it to get up to speed, there is blue smoke coming out the back so I reckon something serious will need sorting but under normal driving it doesn't smoke at all.

Yeah I get that😁 It's this lack of care which is what I'm dreading, on the day I bought it a brake bulb was out. Should be a very easy job but again, badly rounded off bolt on something reasonably easy to unscrew... Not great but it will do

 

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Oil is usually the gasket failure or weepage.

Work out your own bodge for it.

Word of advice, spark plugs from a cold engine is hassle, taking them out of a warm engine isn't any hassle.

Thermal expansion and all that crap.

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If it is the RVT silicone seal between head and cam box that has failed, to properly fix you need to take the cam box off, this includes timing belt.

Do you know when the timing belt was last changed? -If you don’t you need to prioritise this 

there are various products that claim to stop oil leaks, but unsure how effective they are.

 

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