I decided to give the GTi a bit attention it deserves...
First up decided to change the xenon bulbs for some Osram Cool Blue D2S ones. They are 5000k compared to the Osram 4200k supplied by VW as standard. Should be just as bright but give a bit of a blue tint to make them look a little more modern. Also fitted some matching White LED sidelight and some Osram night breaker full beam bulbs.. I have some LED fog and number plate bulbs on order but the seller is messing me about.. Don't have a photo of them fitted as yet.. But here are the parts...
Also decided to give it a full service and some love.. Genuine VW Parts only... Forgot to include Oil in the picture, but used Castrol Magnetec 10w40, it's been used it's entire life!
Managed to get my grubby mittens on my stepdads DSLR... Shhh, don't tell him!
Genuine VW Clutch cable.. It was the original at 113k and was causing some sudden jumping of the clutch when first used in the morning so was probably sticking.. You can see the difference in the pic!
Mmmmm.. Fresh!
Pollen filter, original was a VW one (as is the replacement) so guessing a good few years old looking at the state of it! Surprisingly no more steamy windows after I fitted this..
Replacement HT's for Genuine VW items, one of the originals was split and electrical taped to stop it arcing..
New VW spark plugs, exactly the same as the ones fitted by the previous owner who used GSF items, just twice as expensive, I think the VW symbol gives 10bhp
Also fitted a replacement coil, all the 6n2 (petrol engine) coils are the same. My original had corroded contacts and was also missing one contact!!! My new one had mint contacts.. It's hard to see in the picture, but the contacts are mint, trust! Don't have a picture of the old one as it went straight in the bin!
New fuel filter, Judging by the service history I think the original has never been changed!! Made a school buy error and removed the old one without checking the flow direction! (It goes towards the passenger side by the way
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Fitted a new rear microswitch and boot mech due to my boot light not working.. Only wanted a microswitch but the VW guy had one of these in stock so gave me the full unit at the same price as the switch
Turned out the switch had corroded
Also fitted a new throttle cable, I know these cars use EPC (drive by wire) but they have a little cable above the pedal and a metal fixing which twists the potentiometer (the device which reads the throttle position) this part becomes slack and twists causing a low pedal (as I described a few posts above). A low pedal obviously means you can't get full throttle, according to VAGCOM mine was getting 78% throttle at the lowest pedal point!!!
Absolute pain in the F*****G A**E to fit, had to remove the drives seat, all of the dash undertrays to just get enough space for one hand to reach it.. I will do a proper DIY guide to solve the issue soon.. This is the part needed:
It's one of the parts linked to number 22 at the bottom of the picture.. In short, the hole on the above part is pushed onto to a splined shaft on the throttle potentiometer (the cylinder thing in the below picture, also part of 22) using a bolt. When the pedal is pressed, the cable is pulled thus twisting the metal section and of course the potentiometer. This metal part and cable eventually twists and wears causing a lower than normal pedal position. You can't see on the above picture, but the used item has a spline in the hole and the new item doesn't. The spline is created when you tighten the bolt up, which shows how soft the metal is so it's obvious why it eventually twists.
Basically you have to lie on you back and put your hand through where I have circled whilst looking at it all from underneath.. Holding the original cable tight from underneath whilst undoing the bolt from the circled hole. The bolt is not very tight so is relativity easy as long as you have girly small hands, which I don't. When both your hands are in place you can't see a thing so Jedi powers are a must here.
A zoom in of the position of the part to be replaced.. You can see how far back it is..
I removed the entire pedal for ease of fitting.. It's actually essential to remove this if you want to use your hand from underneath. Refitting is basically reverse of removal, although you have to hold the pedal in the position you want it to stay, but do this without actually fastening the pedal in place.. 3 hands are preferred here, or use your head/teeth to hold the pedal like I did.
As said earlier I changed the oil for Magnetec and I also fitted a ECS magnetic sump plug, I will update whether this works or not in 6,000 miles!
Car in pieces!!
Also fitted the front car mates, Official GTi ones.. Rears are on back order and should be arriving soon.
Overall, the car drives much much nicer now!! It's a lot quieter and rev's much more freely! Yay!
