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Dont let the sun go down on me! - Mk 3.5 Golf Cabrio


17-Coffees

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They are fantastic cars I had a mint one in that dark metallic green that every 90s VW was painted a few years back and did regret selling it as for a small convertible it was really practical.

I replaced it with a lovely old Audi convertible but the odd thing was although the Audi it was twice the size it wasn’t any bigger inside.

The first thing to do is get your hands under the front arch liners and get 20 years of muck out from the wings mine was full of old leaves and mud.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Slight updates...

The other week I got some new fancy ‘fuck off bright’ bulbs. The original bulbs were okay, but since a lot of my driving is done in the dark (nightshift yo) I like bright lights!
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Sidelight and headlights, from Halfrauds. Not shown are the LED tail bulbs as well, which work well since the taillights are tinted a bit. I can see myself getting the 'off road use only' Silly bright bulbs for the main beam...for all the times I go off roading with it of course. 

I also got some cleaning and waterproofing stuff for the roof, which I applied the other day when I gave the car a good clean and polish...
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Comes out a nice shine, shame I now see more scratches. But it adds to the cars charm!

Next up, hopefully tomorrow, I’ll be buffing down the crispy parts of bodywork and applying some AquaSteel. As well as that I’ll be going to work (on the first day of my holiday) to fit the new front brakes. :)
That should be it all reday for when the other half comes over, treat her to a topless drive on the costal roads of the North east of Scotland...who needs Highway 101!

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Did more on it today.

 

Buffed down the crispy arches and applied AquaSteel where needed...

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A few shots of the worst bits. Will be painting over them later tonight when I nip to work to do the front brakes. We have a nice shade of dark blue we keep in stock that''ll blend in well* for the time being.

 

Also, the other day I seen the indicator lens on the wings both had a lot of condensation inside so when I was at the local scrappy I picked up a pair of better condition ones (for free as well), cleaned out the contacts and dryed off. Then applied the lens.

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Old and new.

 

So next is the brakes, I'm suspecting the NSF caliper is binding ever so slightly as its more worn than the OS. Hopefully be able to just clean up & grease the sliders and have them good as new. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

So as I planned I got the front brakes done, with only a minor mishap...

The pads i got were too thick, turns out there are two choices (16mm and 19mm if i recall correctly). Would't have been a problem, just return the pads and get the correct ones locally. But while at work one of the guys though "just buff em down", and did so without asking...to be fair he did buy. To be fair they were cheap ones and he did buy me a chip supper as a sorry. So ended up ordering the correct set from ECP. This left me with the problem of needing to fit them before I went on a trip down south with the other half who was visiting...Good thing Jetlag exists I guess, did the brakes on the Wednesday morning while she was sleeping and I was wide awake. 

The car preformed the duty of touring us about the place great, several times with the roof down as well. Comfy, speedy and practical.  Now for the mishap...Having driven around locally in and around the NE of Scotland, then driven all the way down to Alnwick...down to a few parts of Hadrian's wall. On the way to Housesteads Fort I could hear a odd noise, and mostly when turning to the right, My mind is now trying to process what it could be, a stop at the side of the road to check everything I think it could be and it all seems fine. By now I've gotten to Corbridge Town (The old Roman one, not the new one next to it) I decide to see about jacking it up and having a better check...then the penny drops. I forgot to properly tighten  my wheel nuts after doing the brakes! Thankfully all the nuts are still on, but two of them are very loose.  Being glad this was all that was wrong, I sheepishly admit the fault to the other half who then reminds me ' and who's the qualified mechanic?". After that its been faultless since.  So remember lads...always check your nuts. 

Now for some photos...

Bamburgh Castle

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On the causeway to Holy Island

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In a backstreet in Alnwick

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Here's to more happy miles with it! :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

The lack of use of the roof and neglect it’s had over time is starting to take its toll...due to me putting the roof down a lot. Found a small tear near a seam and also the glue around the rear window has started coming away. 

The tear will be repairable with one of the seal kits. As for the back window I dealt with it on my tea brake at work yesterday evening...

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Oddly, it was the right side I was expecting to have to do as it’d started peeling away. Seen the left side was actually flapping yesterday on the way to work. Removed the old glue the best I could, used a dab of thinners to clean the glass. 

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Clean as, sadly scuffed part of my sticker so removed all of it (salvaged and now on the toolbox). Thankfully it was a nice warm evening here so applies the glue we have here, which I’ve used to secure all sorts at work and lasts for yonks! 

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Left a metal bar on top and left for a few hours...

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Good as new*. It held up well for the trip home, and today it was warm enough to have the roof down, and having put it back up it’s held! 

Success!  :)

 

While I was there I used a wee dab of thinners to fully remove the glue from the 2.0 badge, worked a charm! 98ABA45D-F049-4515-8881-6494B877EBC7.thumb.jpeg.079d42826de6303da5191b7e109c8630.jpeg

Clean and some T-cut to be added and she’ll look fine. Seems like a job for Sunday that! 

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Nice car that, well done min.  The Audi coupe I've got is a B4 by model year, but same as yours, it appears to just be the new nose on the old B3 car.  Keep up the good work, maybe see you on the road sometime!  On that note, any local shiters ever attend the 'cars and coffee' morning at Inverness?

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  • 1 month later...

*Bump*

So since I’ve gotten the car I felt something was wrong, after 60mph the left of the steering wheel would vibrate/wobble. I’d put it down to bad road surfaces as would’t happen all the time.

So with the bad weather we had of late I’d felt it a lot more, with the MOT due I though I’d investigate, starting with the first thing I could think of, wheel balance being off. To test this I needed a set of wheels that fit, 4x100 figment that I knew were balanced...4CF4FB76-4197-4FB5-9183-C7FCB2C157D6.thumb.jpeg.af6bfb1adb650fb59017ff07b6040d92.jpeg

Ah! Yes here’s some I prepared some years prior from my old Civic Aerodeck! After a good wash they came out looking nice and shiny again. 

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Yes, very dubber I know. 

However on a test drive the car not only showed no sign of vibration, but also handled better overall! :D  

So for now they’ll stay on, even if it has hilarious arch gap.  Function > Forum and all... 

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Oh, beat me to it! ? 

It's of noting that of the 4,128 miles since the last MOT I've done about 3600 of them in the 3 months or so I've had it! 

So at first I though it was Halfrauds trying to get a job. old car, etc...as if you look back to about 9,000 miles ago in 2017....It got a fail for rear wheel bearings and a few miles and days later it got a pass! Got home and jacked up the N/S/R expecting nothing annnd...there was actually play. Cock. Checked it out, hub nut was rather loose. Checked the O/S, nowhere near as bad.  Read up that 10Nm is the tightness so did what I though was that. Checked battery and It was silly loose, don't recall it being that bad. Cut a bit of thick rubber and put it between the clamp and battery as well as tightening it. 

So this evening I went to my work (On my a holiday...) and checked again. Same amount of play as before, armed with a torque wrench checked the torque...it seems my idea of 10Nm is less than it actually is (Funny, tighter you go the more easy it is to set by guess) and it took away the play, also fit a new split pin to the N/S to play safe. All was fine when I checked when i got home too...so will check on Saturday (Brothers wedding tomorrow) and if okay then re-test it is. Then The weekend after I'll properly have a look at the bearings to play safe. 

 

Thankfully we've had some good weather of late so roof down driving along with the balanced wheels are making me love the car more! :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

Quick update! 

Golf flew past the retest, so has had a years test as of a week ago! Huzzah! Also if a plus is the roof now works electronically both on the down and up cycle, and the drivers window switch works now too! 

Now for the other bit of news, some of you may have seen me post in News 24 how I’ve been considering selling it. And as of today I’ve decided that I will. 

Will do a full post on that later, as currently as work. 

May be a straight out sale or roffle, but first pick of sale will be on here. :) 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

*Bumpy Bump*

I’ve learnt that I seem to get cars that are hard to shift. That or interested party’s seem to think a £700 convertible will be “as new”...pointing out things which I point out in the bloody advert. Even tries WBAC and got offered £410. No doubt it’s drop more when it’s actually seen

This all presents a problem, as my next car is reday, and i can’t keep it stored where it is forever...

 

life goes on...

 

 

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Aye, it seems to be a tough time for second had car sales at present, loads of dealer stock seems to be sitting about forever and prices are next to nothing.

Paradoxically a great time for buyers, but admittedly pretty depressing for folks looking to sell.

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  • 9 months later...

Bump Bump Bump. ? An update nearly 8 months since the last. 

So I'm now back driving this, to help enjoy the sun weather a bit more (lock down and unemployment blues got me down). But the cars been sat at my parents since last September, partly because I got the Astra. But also as it was gave me a big problem. 
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On my way to work it just cut out on me on a duel carriageway. After safely pulling to the side as far as i could I tried starting again it would't start, so hi-vis on and out the car to stand on the embankment, thankfully it was a clean sunny day and on a bit of road with good visibility, not far off a roundabout. After 15 mins I got a chance to run in the car and quickly try again and fired up first time. Drove a mile down the road to an emergency lay-by to have a look to see if anything could be, to which all looked fine. I carried on to work and then gave it a better look over, over a pit during my tea brake. I even made it home and had no problems.  With this having happened, not wanting it to possibly happen again and the fact I was a few days away from getting the Astra, I borrowed my dads spare car (his Vectra) and left the Golf at the parents. I was going to have a proper check, but life is a cruel thing full of ups and downs (The start of many downs for me) so i sadly never got round to it. So its been at the parents, under a cover and getting started up and driven round the estate every do often, always without a fail. 
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Anyways, the other month my dad got hold of a code reader and used it on the Golf to see if it would show anything. It throws up a fault relating to one of the fuel relays! (Funnly enough, one of the guys i worked with who like his Golfs did say that could be it!). So having sourced and fitted one it was time to see if anything has worked, which I guess I'll have no idea unless it does konk-out again. Only one way to find out of course, and that's to drive it! I'm to thank my dad again as since he just sold his Vectra he changed the policy to be for the Golf, and put me on it as well. 

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So fingers crossed! 

It's been great to be getting wind in your hair (there's alot of that, thanks Covid) driving on a clear sunny day again! ?

I should point out, the photos were taken last April, Just threw them in to pad out the text and have nice photos! 

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Am I trying to hit a sales target? No, that would imply it was for sale. If it was I'd have used the thread I made for when it was up for sale/roffle last year.  I'm just posting as its a somewhat AS worthy car I have and now using again. Sure it's not a rare classic I've saved from the scrapper, or an in depth thread about a nut and bolt rebuild. Its just a post about how I've somewhat fallen for it again. 

I did manage to sort out one of the biggest niggles I've had with the car today, the drivers side window, its never worked! Finally took the door apart to have a look, all it took was some contact spray on the plug/pins of the regulator and its as good as new!  As well as that I buffed down some of the rusty patch's again, making them alot smoother than before. Just need a paintbrush to apply the aqua-steel next. Next is another small niggle, a rubber hose for part of the oil breather which the original has deteriorated. It runs fine, but get the nice smell of oil after a long run. A trip to B&Q is needed it seems.

The good news is, I did manage to give it a proper run today at speed, roof and windows down!  A mix of duel carriageway and town driving and feels fine. I must have looked a right pleb to others, but I felt I looked cool in my mind... ?

 

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  • 3 months later...

So after having some summer fun with it, I've decided to try part ways with it again. As I've stated elsewhere I'm trying to thin down the fleet but also a few extra quid is nice seeing how I'm still jobless(yes, Sob story intensifies). As with the Astra, I'm happy to let it go to someone here for cheap so my problem is your lucky day!*

So lets get to business then...

It's got 114k miles on it. It's the 2.0, manual. MOT history is so-so and was due on the 3rd of July BUT now on 3rd of January due to the Covid extension. It's only done 3.5k miles since the last test.(Will double check milage!)
As you can see it's not perfect but it works fine , so some work would make it nicer. The worst bit being the NSF wing, which has a hole as you can see. There is other bits of rust, but I've buffed down and applied aqua-Steel to which does help the rust(And also the same colour as the car when applied) There is alot of small scratches and dings.
The Roof started to rip, but used some industrial spec tire seal on it and its been fine (That was over a year ago). As well as this the roof is okay as no water leaks, at least that I know of. The roof is also electric and works, but with a manual over ride. The seats do look a bit manky, I've tired cleaning but the stains still stay, I've no idea what's caused it, but they are comfy and the fronts are heated and still work!

The real bad bit is it does still seem to have the 'cutting out' issue that it had before (Mentioned it in a post or two above), happened twice at random time's over the course of 2 months. I'm guessing it must be fuel related. Both times I was able to stop and start it up again and have no issues. 

So for the Photos now...

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Last 3 photos are the worst parts of the bodywork.

It'll come with the original wheels (See threw thread for photos, its the 6-spoke ones) but I'm sure the gold ones could be added in if asked nicely(and extra cash my way...)

It's drivable and does have MOT as stated, but If the potential for it cutting out spooks you then play safe with a trailer.

 

Price? £400 but I guess I'd be open to offers too. (No swops 4 broke PS3 or a shonky TDi A4's and cash your way) 

 

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  • 17-Coffees changed the title to Dont let the sun go down on me! - Mk 3.5 Golf Cabrio - For Sale @ £400
  • 17-Coffees changed the title to Dont let the sun go down on me! - Mk 3.5 Golf Cabrio

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