Back in 2013 i purchased a silver 1.8T Anni and always loved that car, it was standard apart from being lowered on springs and had around 85k. I had it for a good year or two and joined the club in 2014. The wheels needed a refurb and the bottom of the front wings were starting to bubble eventually so the car moved on for my second EP3 Civic Type-R at the time. Several years and several cars later, the Anni itch has never gone away and I recently went looking for another. Had to be another 1.8T but colour wasn't so important as let's be honest, they are all lovely! This time, the plan is to keep it So after a relatively short search, i found a great looking black one that had only been advertised for sale within the last 24 hours of me seeing it, nicely modified but not over the top, plenty of original parts were available to go with the car and a now very common mileage of around 120k. A few emails over a few days resulted in me heading out on a 3 hour trip to go view it the following weekend and the deal was done. I've now re-joined the club, just waiting for it to go through. These initial photos are from when I bought the car two weeks ago, there has been some changes already but i'm starting at the beginning here. Hoping to update with more photos tomorrow........ This was what it looked like when I bought it, it had a very small number plate on the front that was actually a sticker and this was the first thing I did, getting legal sized and nice plain fresh new number plates. I was a bit nervous driving it all the way home with that on the front but it was all ok and now sorted. I also get that a lot of people love the blacked out look and that's cool, each to their own, but for me it looked like Darth Vader's helmet and needed all the original chrome effect badges sourcing and re-fitting to break up the black. This has now been done already and it was just the 'GTi' Anni rear badge that ended up being harder to find, but I got one. It's been cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning so far, as said, will hopefully update with the progress so far and more details tomorrow
Welcome back. I take it, you will be also sourcing and replacing the original headlights, and rear lights?
Very nice, torn about the rear lights though, if they're genuine "euro" spec ones I don't actually mind them. Definitely agree with @Toyotec about the front though.
I did get the original front and rear lights with the car, along with the standard CD player and cassette/radio units - result! I'm torn with the lights, i'm very much all about originality but I don't mind what's on the car so having the originals in the garage gives me the option to chop and change as I like, can always change them back and sell these at a later date
As you can see from the photos above, the car was a great base but needed some mild tweaking just to get it as I want it. The 'small' list of new parts I continued to add too ended up being not so small, but isn't that always the way when you start digging into a car? New number plates, plain, legal size and legal font All new badges, as per the factory, front and rear Genuine (used) armrest, with black cloth a decent match Genuine (used) tow eye for the tool kit as it was missing Genuine new dipstick as the handle was broken on the old one New genuine black carpet mats Tailored rubber boot liner Genuine VW shorter aerial (old one looked like a r/c car aerial) New fuel cap as the cord was broken on the old one, genuine but had to get a used one I spent the first week and a half of ownership cleaning it top to bottom, inside and out, didn't even bother driving it again - all new genuine badges were the top of the list as above after buying new number plates, I mean the interior was ok and most would have been happy with it, but dog hair was a challenge and all the usual places like underneath the ash tray, door bins, under the seats etc all had plenty of built up crumbs, fluff, grit, all that lovely stuff. For example, when I took out all the centre console to fit the arm rest, this was after i'd given it an initial hoover; Anyway, as I went through the engine bay, it just seemed easier to buy all new caps rather than clean all the originals, so bought brand new genuine VW coolant, oil and washer bottle caps; I've actually bought two grille badges for the 'GTi' just to have a spare whilst they are still available and me being me, I couldn't just put the washer bottle cap on which would have taken 5 seconds, I had to syphon out all the old washer fluid, clean out all the bottle, re-fill with brand new Quantum fluid and then it was done. Just as well, as this is what came out........ Badges on, the 'GOLF' on the left was quite simple as the outline of the old one was still on the bootlid, but getting the 'GTi' to sit level and at a correct distance from the edge etc to match, that was fun. But a job worth doing is worth the effort; Even went on the hunt for a decent keyring, you would think something so basic would be a really easy job - nope! Nothing i wanted, so settled on this for now;
Very nice, love the detail! And yeah I think the rear lights are a nice OEM+ plus upgrade, I think they suit it well being a black car
Looking much better The outside of the car was in great shape when I got it as the previous owner had machine polished it, refurbed the wheels, re-painted the calipers etc. The outside is what I have spent the least time on, just a quick wash and coat of Auto Finesse spray wax so far; Few other random angles and photos;
Just been on the phone to the local VW and ordered some service parts; Oil and oil filter Coolant Cambelt kit Water pump Will also get the brake fluid done, it doesn't need an air filter and the spark plugs were done recently, so get that lot on and hopefully that'll do lovely!
Did you get done with the 1 litre pre-mix G12evo coolant bottles? Was a shock when I found out how much they were last time at TPS
I've collected a few parts lately from the local VW etc to get fitted on the car at my trusted garage, I usually like to get a car serviced at the very least when first bought as that's then my line in the sand moving forward - this car only has part service history however due to previous self servicing and i've no idea when the cambelt was last done and due to that, I wanted to tick all the boxes so I know what's been done and when. I went for the VW recommended oil and coolant, then cambelt kit with tensioner and roller, water pump, oil filter etc. The previous owner had recently done the spark plugs and it clearly doesn't need an air filter. I didn't buy brake fluid as the garage already had that on the shelf ready to be changed and they also supplied me an auxiliary belt. Also decided to get a fuel filter at the last minute, as for £18, it's a no brainer really; Despite having just bought a brand new genuine dipstick, it was yellow and my guide tube was the original orange. This was annoying. So couldn't resist this ECS Tuning billet dip stick and guide tube! I got the car back yesterday after two days away with all work completed, so that's oil and oil filter, fuel filter, coolant, brake fluid, cambelt, water pump and aux belt and also got them to fit me a new interior bonnet release handle as the existing handle was broken. This was a second hand, but still genuine part. Really pleased with the work completed and the car runs lovely, the only issue is (isn't there always one!) when I supplied them the 6x 1L bottles of coolant, I was most surprised when I picked the car up to be told they only used 2 and a half bottles........ but didn't say anything. Today though, i'm still thinking why would VW supply 6L if I only need 2.5L and of course the answer is they've diluted it and it says on the bottles, ready mix, do not dilute... BRILLIANT! So i'm really hoping this doesn't cause me an issue!?
Couple more small purchases just to put my stamp on the car, it was only when browsing 'Awesome GTi' that i learnt the Porsche 911 oil and coolant caps fit on the Mk4. So that had to be done, the brand new genuine ones I'd just bought and put on already can now go into my little stock of spares; To go with them, I got the black washer bottle cap as i think this is much more subtle on my black car; Then all fitted and after giving the engine bay a good wipe over and clean; ... and finally the most 'exciting' modification of all, just some valve caps to have something a bit more than the standard plastic jobs!
All is good so far from the servicing work and still very much enjoying the car, the mods on it certainly pack more of a punch than my old silver anni and this gives a lot of smiles per miles...... there's another issue to sort though, standard Mk4 stuff, the secondary air pump is on the way out and now on cold start it does it's impression of a jet engine for about 60-90 seconds. I have already bought a new pump hoping this is what it is but will be a good week or more until I can get it on. As we like photos, I made one other purchase, this being a genuine BBS wheel centre tool. I got a 3D printed one with the car but with the rough surface that touches the edges of the cap, I was worried it would mark them eventually. So paid the price for genuine............
New secondary air pump is now fitted so really hoping that stops the early morning jet engine impression - I won't know until tomorrow morning when I start it lol! Got my fingers crossed it will do the job as i always get genuine VW parts as a rule, but I couldn't find one of these so had to go 'oem quality' on this occasion so we shall see. Moving on, one of my MOT advisories was a very minor small hole in the nearside outer CV Gaiter. I'm told the VW part number I need is 8N0 498 203 but want to do both rather than just one and will buy two if I can. I've also seen that that part number is for an R32 and it's a different part number I need so bit confusing, so any help appreciated on that one!
