We have not got around to getting her a set of German plates, so put mine on for the show. The manifold took one evening, i cleaned it, then sprayed the whole thing (including the lettering) in the colour coat and left for a couple of days to harden. I then took a file to the flat part and had to take of quite a lot of material to get it flat - sand casting marks are quite deep. Once it was at a equal depth i just went down through the sandpaper grades finishing with 1200 grit, then a polish with some brasso Washed it in the shower and left to dry then applied the laquer over the colour coat and the polished ali - should stop it corroding. I masked of the paint when i was sanding and filing to stop any scuffs.
nice one, i may just spray it all grey and be done with it lol mine is all cleaned up and ready to go, might do it one evening this week if i can be bothered
So I got the wheel off and freed up the tierod locking nut, took all of 5mins with a wire brush and the man at the garage was trying to sell me a new tierod - i hate garages. So today went to get the tracking done decided to take it to another garage as the last one wanted to rip us off. get there and the guy decided that only having one adjustable tierod it was to 'technical' - WTF. as i rudely pointed out that you cannot fail with only one bolt to adjust - uses the same laser gear. Que a bit bit more agro from me and a 'i cannot do it - is that OK?' no it is not f*ck1ng OK. How do these people earn a living when they cannot do their basic jobs? Anyway i took it back to the first garage a different mechanic did the tracking, nice guy, was into his VW's and i helped him, so all good in the end. Finished of the wiper wiring by using my new soldering iron - job done. Then decided to investigate why we had the fuel leak, took the fuel sender out and realised i had not fitted the seal - Oops [:^(] so that would explain why the car took a wee at the petrol station. found the old seal stuck to the old tank, now fitted so all should be well. Got some new number plates as the old ones were a bit 80's (had a strip that ran in the centre of the digits) look much better now. So bring on next week
We haven’t updated this thread for a long time and lots has happened between then and now. The last update saw us rushing to get the car up and running for Dubs in the park, The weekend after this was the beginning of a little road trip, we headed out to France via a ferry and then made our way to Germany specifically the Ring. It was the 24hr race so we were camping in one of the many ring side campsites, the weather was hot and there was hardly any space left for us to pitch, we arrived on the Friday but the locals had been here since the beginning of week or even longer… The atmosphere was great, all the number plates on the cars in the campsite were German, there was not a single Brit around, it was great! Most of the Germans had come in groups and had crazy big fires, generators, TV’s, sofa’s, BBq’s, etc and some of them had erected crazy viewing platforms from wood and scaffolding – it was all very planned and well thought out. We had our tent and some worm beer. (seem to have misplaced the pics tho) We managed to get to see loads of great action, at it was a very very fun weekend, we enjoyed it a huge amount and recommend everyone to go and experience it for yourselves, there is nothing like trying to get some sleep when cars are racing past are crazy speeds and the pyromaniac locals are partying hard to some 80’s techno!! We will be going back but not this year as it falls on a bad date.
From the ring we headed east towards the oldenwold forest, met some friends and spent a few days driving around the area camping here and there. The area was beautiful very medieval with loads of castle to visit and plenty to experience. We headed back towards home stopping of at the Ring once more, this time we took the new improved Dink around (brakes engine suspension etc). We left all our camping gear at the hotel so had a real blast, Dink performed very well, with the ABF really pulling hard up to the limiter, all was well so very happy with the conversion, it was a bit of a shake down test. The next day we headed to Nurmberg Castle worth a look as it has been restored. Then we headed back to ferry. Car was running sweet and giving use a consistent 38mpg which is pretty good really. Had a slight drama at the ferry, we were low on fuel (read in the red) but I decided we would be fine to fill up over the water were it was cheaper. The sender was from the carb model but the tank was GTi and the two combined made for some dodgy reading. Also I thought the tank was 42l and worked out that we should have about 30mile left to drive with. Getting of the ferry the other side the car started to sputter as we drove up the off ramp!!! She cut out just before boarder control at 11am – Doh! It turned out the tank was 38litres so I was way off on my calculations. I had to walk to the nearest petrol station buy a can, the fill it up then pay for the fuel….. After the holiday I fitted a GTi sender and Dink became the daily driver for me trundling through south London she was a pleasure to use. During the summer we set of on another road trip. This time it was UK based, we headed up to the lake district, with MTB’s on a bike rack, we stopped at Keswick and went on the Ultra trails, some great riding to be had there. After a few days we headed further north into the boarders where we stopped of at Peables, camping again we hit the trails again in the glorious Scottish summer weather! We then headed up to Elgin to see my brother, we took the less travelled route past Balmorral, some awesome scenery and great roads. With my brother and sister in-law in tow and some friends we all headed to Ullapool for a spot more camping and a little hill walking, again had a fantastic time up in the highlands. On the return journey the weather had turned into torrential rain, are plan was to stop at the lakes again for some more MTBing but we thought the tent might get washed away! So we drove all the way down to the New Forest, stopping to change drivers every 3 hrs, the car performed perfectly as always. Up until Christmas Dink was being used by me as a daily again, the winter weather started to effect her starting so I changed all her plugs leads etc and she was back to being her normal self. Then one Friday on the way home the car would not rev and had what felt like a hard cut rev limit at around 2500rpm, drove the car 4 times over the weekend but it failed to do it any more. Then on Tuesday on the way to work she just cut out leaving me stranded in the middle of a cross roads!!! AA man thought the same as me that it was the coil so fitted a new one and it worked!, so I headed off but broke down again not far up the road and had to call the AA man back, he towed me home and his van started to drop a cylinder and run on three!! One of those days. A few weekends later I fitted a new crank senor and the car was sorted again just in time for xmas - yeppy. The test drive saw us heading down to the New Forest to she family car went very well as normal. The GF was driving back from a running class the other day and hit a pothole, it dented one of the Ronals and broke the seal with the tyre! Damn. I had to use my brand new G60 spare wheel. It was a good excuse to buy some winter wheels for the car so some G60 steels and winter tyres have been fitted to the car, I think she looks great. Next week we get to test the tyres out when we head out on another road trip.
Shame but found a brand new one for a good price and it was the excuse i have been waiting for to get some winter wheels, every cloud.... Edit: Glad thats a new page as i have a few pics to put up testing the winter wheels.
Its winter and time for the annual ski trip, as i have mentioned we have fitted Dink with a set of winter tyres on some G60, great for general winter but quite necessary when travelling to the Alps in winter. I had to do a couple of things to get her ready for the trip, we set the camber with my home made gauge, and tracked her. The cam cover has been leaking since I put the engine in – less than half a litre in 12000miles, but it has annoyed me enough, so another new VAG gasket and a bit of silicone in the corners and all was well. But on the test drive the oil pressure gauge was stuck at 3.3bar, I swapped it out for the one on my track car and all was well. Prep over. Dink is a lefty and we try to get as much out of this as possible, last year we got a train to the airport and flew out to Geneva then we got a taxi to the resort. This takes the best part of a day and is not that cheap too, what really got our backs up was being delayed for a few hours So it maybe cold and it may be a long ride but we do like our road trips and the ABF Dink is a little cracker on the motorways and autoroutes. We cruised on down to Dover and got our cheap cheap ferry. It was interesting to see that outside of London there was still plenty of snow around and lots of salt on the roads. Off the afternoon ferry we headed for the Alps the 'long way round' missing the French tolls and saving over 80 each way - this does add about 4hours extra to the trip but it is a much more interesting route with better scenery. We pushed on into the evening and was hit a bit of fresh snow but still pushed on at a good speed. We broke the journey into two legs, we stopped in Nancy in France wish is roughly half way, rested we headed off the next morning to Geneva. To get to Geneva we had to pass over the Cret de la Neige mountain range, filling up just as it starts to get a little hilly. The little mountain road had some great scenery and plenty of switch backs. As we climbed the snow cover was a little heavier but the road was grited and easy to drive. After we passed through Geneva it was onto the autoroute all the way to St Gervais. Once we got close we stopped filled up with beer and food and gave the car a wash – she was near white in places. We had a good few days skiing and enjoyed a cheeky beer here or there. Heading home and the weather was not as great as the drive over, it was raining all the way to Geneva – were they wanted to charge us 30 Euros to drive 10km on their autoroute. Top tip. We turned around at the boarder not paying the fee and then took the next junction off and headed into Geneva on a small road that had no boarder control, only took us a few mins longer as well. This time the mountain was covered in cloud, which meant is was probable snowing, onward we climbed, The higher we climbed the more it snowed, Eventually the road was covered and the pace dropped to around 20-30mph It was slippy but the tyres were very good, we suffered no traction problems but did take it easy on the descent as the road was slippy – saw a lady spin and a couple of other cars were crashed into the snow banks. We did see plenty of cars stopped fitting their snow chains but felt we did not need too as the tyres were doing their job just fine. Dropping back down the roads became clearer and well gritted. This is the same bridge as before. Getting out of the highlands took a good 4 hours of concentration so we stopped for a coffee. The rest of the trip home went well, stopped off again at the halfway point, breaking the journey up and making a bit more a of a holiday out of the trip. The car returned around 41/42mpg on the way down and around 39mpg on the way home (slow going over the mountains and a bit of a sprint for the ferry at the other end). Great trip and the car performed perfectly, today she was treated to a jet wash (including under the arches as they were salty) and a clean and hover inside. Looking forward to next year.
Really enjoyed the read of this thread. Makes for an interesting conversion for the old girl someday, saying that i do like the auto, perhaps a mk2 auto box with a longer final drive. Keep it up. Cheers Pete
