Nigel's GTI - The tale of the jumpy throttle continues...

[nigelelliott394]

Hi

For the last year I've owned a diesel 6n2 and have become more and more obsessed with the GTI. So much so that I've only gone and bought one.

It's black, 50,000 miles, 3 door. Good service history, gearbox has been done, relatively well looked after. Could do with the front bumper being resprayed and the wheels refurbished but that will all be sorted in good time

Pictures? Watch this space! I'm picking it up tomorrow.

[emma_88]

Sounds like a good buy dude!

Get them pics up asap. Any plans?

[6N2 GTI 00]

Sounds like a nice example mate

Look forward to seeing some pics of it Black one too.....Good Lad

[Godderz23]

Sounds like a nice example mate

Look forward to seeing some pics of it Black one too.....Good Lad

x 2

[Bradley]

Sounds like a nice example mate

Look forward to seeing some pics of it Black one too.....Good Lad

X3

[nigelelliott394]

So I got up early this morning, sorted out insurance (what a hassle THAT was) and brought it back home. I really love it! It's such a huge difference from driving a diesel... so much power available. So I've got a few questions but I'll get to those in a minute. First of all, here's some pictures It's by no means perfect and it needs a few things sorted out but some of the best ones on this site all started out in less than perfect shape





Some Bubbling on the paint on the spoiler.


Not sure if you can see them but there's some dents on the roof



Scuff on the front bumper. Hope to get it resprayed to tidy that up. Also if you look below the grille there's some sort of... well, it's an utter hash whatever it is. Some kind of cleaning product the previous owner used. Cleaned it all up now though



Looks like a bit of rust on the underside of the sill.



And not long after I got it home i added the red piping to the grille.









Questions
It's kind of stuttering and feels like it's going to stall sometimes in first and second, perhaps i'm just used to driving diesels but it seems to judder until you build the revs up to about 2500rpm. Will cleaning the throttle body make that go away?

Anyone know what that gunk is in the coolant expansion tank?

There's some dents on the roof where apparently someone decided to use it as a trampoline, what'd be the best way to get that removed? Dent removal or take it to a body shop?

If I think of any more I'll be sure to ask, but otherwise, let me know what you guys think. Personally, I think it's the basis of a nice little project that I can tidy up

[Bradley]

Looks good man,id start with the juddering.Give the throttle body a good clean out and check the state of the current air filter,it may need a replacement.Clean out the airbox whilst you're there and check the cold air feed piping for muck too.Carb cleaner is excellent for cleaning the throttle body.

Not too sure on the expansion tank ive seen alot of them go like that after being topped up slightly over the limit,i wouldn't worry about it a great deal if its just slight hazing.Check when the coolant was last changed though.

I'd get the roof looked at by a dent removal company,they may ask you to remove the headlining but it will be worth it.

[6N2 GTI 00]

Nice Car Nigel, looks a nice clean example. Its difficult to find a perfect one due to their age but yours looks very good.

Look forward to seeing how it develops in the coming months

[Godderz23]

Looks nice dude. You'll struggle to find one in perfect condition, there about 10 years old.

Look forward to updates on this one.

Get it low, mean and clean

[emma_88]

Nice looking Polo there dude.

That numberplate has got to be illegal though?

[nigelelliott394]

Cheers for the kind comments everyone

@Godderz23 That's the plan. Not too low... I like the ride height alexperkins has so I'll maybe go down that route. If not, some BBS RM's would be nice but i'd have to go pretty low for that to look right

@Emma88 Not sure on the legality of it but it's a hideous plate IMO... the registration number itself is pretty good but i'm not fussed on the actual plate. I'll have to get some standard ones made up. (not a fan of the pressed plates, sorry guys )

[nigelelliott394]

Looks good man,id start with the juddering.Give the throttle body a good clean out and check the state of the current air filter,it may need a replacement.Clean out the airbox whilst you're there and check the cold air feed piping for muck too.Carb cleaner is excellent for cleaning the throttle body.

Not too sure on the expansion tank ive seen alot of them go like that after being topped up slightly over the limit,i wouldn't worry about it a great deal if its just slight hazing.Check when the coolant was last changed though.

I'd get the roof looked at by a dent removal company,they may ask you to remove the headlining but it will be worth it.

Gonna give the throttle body a go at the weekend.

With regards to the coolant I'll maybe get it drained and changed

The dents, yeah, dent removal for sure methinks... I want to get the bumper sorted and that rust on the underside of the sill sorted first though.

Cheers for the help Brad

[nigelelliott394]

Been making full use of 2nd gear recently. It's nice approaching a roundabout, dropping to 2nd and taking it right to 60 all in the one gear. 1 gear per hazard FTW However, the gearbox/occasionally the clutch is crunching when I clutch and block change to 5th. I know the gearbox has had new selector seals, is it possible the clutch isn't disengaging properly or is it a sign of the gearbox issues I'm yet to experience? (If so, I'm all fine with it... i knew what i was getting in to when i bought the car I suppose ) Any ideas?

[nigelelliott394]

I've been looking at the red stitching on the steering wheel recently and the red piping on the mats. To be honest, it just wasn't standing out anymore and looked like more of a faded pink/brown sort of colour. Very un-GTI-ish. So I decided to give it a bit of a clean.

I tested out some floor cleaner on the rear mats which weren't in terrible shape.

Here's some Before & Afters

Before






Sort of in the middle of cleaning






This stuff is what I rubbed in to the piping with a toothbrush, then left to set for a minute or two and scrubbed with a damp cloth.







After









By no means perfect but quite a bit better than before. I'm pleased with them


I then had a go at the steering wheel with a slightly milder version of the stuff I used on the mats. It's apparently just a mild detergent. So I applied some of that, gave it a wipe over with a damp wet cloth and applied some AG Leather Cleaner afterwards.

I couldn't quite capture the brightness of the red in pictures without the flash washing out the picture but I'll post them anyway. I have a video which better represents how it looks.

Before

This was the kind of condition it was in all round. As you can see, looks pretty faded and almost a pinkish brown.




After





Steering wheel is still a bit wet in the video and it's kind of hard to tell how much better it looks but trust me... it looks much better. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be telling you all about it


Next On the List
Clean the throttle body
Possibly change the handbrake cover to the 9n3 GTI one (sorry Tim, it just looks so nice )
Give the car a good clean!
Plenty of other stuff that I'm not going to list in the mean time... a lot of it is small and pretty mundane but I'll update you when I get it done.

[Bradley]

Looks like you've had some excellent resuslts cleaning your mats dude.They look like new and a heap better than before.

Just proves what alittle bit of time and patience can do.

Keep up the good work dude.