e_hunter21 Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 Well, I finally joined the site after saying to myself to do so for months on end. Being a student in computer science but having a deep passion in cars, I thought it would be a good starting point to get a Lupo instead of the usual "boy-racer" cars such as the Fiesta and Corsa. I wanted to know everything about the Lupo world since it was bigger than I thought. Then the idea of owning a Lupo GTi popped into my head one evening while I was learning to drive, and thought as soon as I passed, I'd get one. Anyway, March 2020, I passed my driving test and in May of 2020, I got my very own GTi. The Lupo GTi was owned by another member on here with the name of Joti who owned it for some years and looked after it and put on modifications of his own such as loads of stickers, wheels, exhaust, coilovers and a sound system. I travelled from the North of England to where he was based in Bracknell to pick it up after seeing it advertised on AutoTrader. Yes, it had high miles at 148k and was a 5 speed, but that didn't matter, I had my very own GTi! But it was only a few weeks of happy driving in which I managed to rack up 3k miles was when problems started appearing. Firstly, the radiator was broken and was leaking coolant badly, I was losing a litre of coolant almost a week, so a new genuine radiator from eBay was ordered to fix it. Next, the airbox was cracked where it sat on the throttle body so that was replaced with a BMC CDA intake with silicone hosing from CreationMotorsport. After that, an oil leak started appearing, it was initially thought it was the lack of sealant around the sump so new sealant was put on and a new magnetic sump plug from ECS was used to help, still problems were there. Then the oil breather housing was replaced since it was cracked and the problem went away. Shortly after, the cam belt and water pump were changed since there was no history of that getting done! The next issue was the paint. Oh god the paint, it was horrendous on the front end, the bumper had lacquer missing, the bonnet was patched up with many layers and the wings were badly stone chipped. I then took the decision to get the front end painted, but ended up doing the whole car as more paint was discovered to be bad. So now, the only original paint is the 2 doors, rear boot and lower part of the bumper so it was looking brand new, when it came back from paint (me being a self learning detailer), I treated it to a stage 1 paint polish and protection to leave it lasting brand new for longer. Finally, I changed the front seats as they were looking tired so they were replaced with the Mk5 Golf R32 leather seats I put in my 1.0ltr (yes I still have the 1.0 too), and immediately it was an upgrade over the cloth seats. A few cosmetic changes were then done such as getting the rear windows tinted 15% since I didn't like the idea of being exposed, shorter aerial and a couple stickers. So far, I am very proud of the journey the little red GTi had came along and there's much more I have planned for it, at the time of writing, the car sits on 155.5k and isn't showing any signs of stopping. I'm starting to get bored of the show/scene that is going on so will be focusing on making more track changes this year such as better cams, lightened flywheel, maybe new wheels, new exhaust, new coilovers and some other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 Very nice. Look after it! Get it valued and secured. 👍🏻 Good choice on the gearbox. The 5 speed is generally accepted to be a stronger box than the 6. I don't know why they just stuck another cog on the shaft end like that, with only the cover to support it... What wheels are they? Cool. oh, and welcome to club lupo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Penguin Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 Opening rear windows, rare on a GTI, the mileage is high so use it and enjoy it, but money aside for maintenance as its nearly 20 years old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted January 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 12 hours ago, mk2 said: Very nice. Look after it! Get it valued and secured. 👍🏻 Good choice on the gearbox. The 5 speed is generally accepted to be a stronger box than the 6. I don't know why they just stuck another cog on the shaft end like that, with only the cover to support it... What wheels are they? Cool. oh, and welcome to club lupo! Thank you, I've decided it's not going anywhere but currently sits out on the street, might look to put it in a garage soon. Yeah I was pushed by a couple fellow GTi owners to get a 6 speed but after looking around, the 5 looked to be stronger for reliability. The wheels are Schmidt Modernlines 16x7.5J :). Thank you, I suspect like many others, I'll be here for quite some time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted January 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 1 hour ago, The Penguin said: Opening rear windows, rare on a GTI, the mileage is high so use it and enjoy it, but money aside for maintenance as its nearly 20 years old Yeah the opening rear windows were fitted by the previous owner as I found the old thread on it last night while looking! The mileage is quite high for a little engine, but it gets serviced every 3k miles and inspected for wear, so I suspect should be able to notice anything sooner rather than later. I am looking to get a new clutch in the next few months so that will be fun 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 Welcome! I like my GTI's stock but I must say yours looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skajme Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 I follow you on Instagram, absolutely love those wheels. Suit the car beautifully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted January 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2021 22 hours ago, Grumpy said: Welcome! I like my GTI's stock but I must say yours looks good. Thank you! I bought it half modified, had a huge racing stripe, covered stickers and badges and had the same wheels. I much prefer it half track / half show personally which will be the next direction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted January 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2021 17 hours ago, Skajme said: I follow you on Instagram, absolutely love those wheels. Suit the car beautifully Ah do you? What's your @? I'll follow you back, and thank you. As far as I'm aware you can't buy these wheels anymore in the size, just a shame I've slightly curbed one parking a bit too close to a high kerb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted January 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2021 Decided to upload some more pictures of the Lupo! Couple pictures are when it was in paint and prepped by my painter and then being detailed by myself. The picture where it has the stripe was one of the first pictures I took, only had the car for a number of days at that point so went out exploring the countryside getting to know the car a little bit along the way. Uploaded a couple pictures of the seats to see how it transforms the interior, and they completely do! The normal seats were far too relaxed I thought and they didn't demonstrate what a proper GTI interior should be so they were changed for the Mk5 R32 leathers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2ACP Posted January 17, 2021 Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 That’s a great car to have at your age,I’d invest in a disklock if I were you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted January 17, 2021 Report Share Posted January 17, 2021 Bloodyhell! That woodland country lane pic is amazing! I didn't think red is a good colour for a gti, but you've just changed my mind. More poses please. Superb. 👍🏻 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lupogtiboy Posted January 18, 2021 Report Share Posted January 18, 2021 On 1/15/2021 at 10:19 AM, The Penguin said: Opening rear windows, rare on a GTI, the mileage is high so use it and enjoy it, but money aside for maintenance as its nearly 20 years old They were never an option on the GTI so have been retro-fitted. Car looks awesome! I also follow you on insta (@lupogtiboy) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Penguin Posted January 18, 2021 Report Share Posted January 18, 2021 A bit of a job as the black gum is difficult to remove, I did one on the drivers side, but gave up on the 2nd one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted February 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 On 1/17/2021 at 1:38 PM, Y2ACP said: That’s a great car to have at your age,I’d invest in a disklock if I were you. Apologies for late reply, however, my parents have a ring CCTV camera installed which shines directly onto my car with a built in motion detector so we'd know if anyone is near any of our cars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted February 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 On 1/17/2021 at 3:08 PM, mk2 said: Bloodyhell! That woodland country lane pic is amazing! I didn't think red is a good colour for a gti, but you've just changed my mind. More poses please. Superb. 👍🏻 Appreciate it! That was only a few weeks into ownership and I have no idea what road that is as it was kinda an exploring adventure, so I'll have to try and find it again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted February 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 On 1/18/2021 at 1:58 PM, lupogtiboy said: They were never an option on the GTI so have been retro-fitted. Car looks awesome! I also follow you on insta (@lupogtiboy) Yeah pop-outs were fitted by previous owner, but then I got them tinted 15% as well as rear window as I don't like the feeling of having no tint and everyone looking into the car... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e_hunter21 Posted February 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 Thought I'd update the post a little bit! I had a serious water leak during all of the heavy downfall, meaning the boot was flooded with water, as well as the passenger footwell. This was down to the wing mirror foam failing as the tint company who put my wind deflectors on, put them in the wrong place allowing it to pierce the foam making it worse. To top that off, the membrane behind the lower door card was ripped after previous owners install of speakers so new membrane was ordered and black silicone sealant was used inside the wing mirror. For the boot, it turned out to be the wiring clip for the rear hatch got out of position and creased the boot seal so that was cut off and the boot seal was re-shaped to stop the water coming in. Next, the CV joints were deteriorated and bodged badly on both outers so they were replaced by a local garage since during winter, it gets too cold for myself! Not much has happened since, just been enjoying the car for what it is, a new front grill and front badge is coming from a friend of mine since the one I have currently has a few clips missing behind. I would like to eventually re-trim the steering wheel in grey alcantara with a centre stripe as well as thicken it as I've always thought the steering wheel is far too thin. Would also like a new gear knob as mine is a bit worn on the top. Maybe get some new wheels/tyres for the summer as I'm getting bored of the Schmidt's (never really been my thing), as well as new KAM exhaust system. Ideally, I'd like to do some little changes such as taking out the sidelights and putting some honeycomb grill there to route the intake there to allow for more air to come into the throttle body and getting the cam cover powder coated black but that will be done when the cams are replaced with piper or CAT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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