The build I should have started months ago...

[mbunter]

Hey guys,
I'm putting together a bit of a build thread for my mk4 1.6 golf.. I've had the car for over 18 months now, and have loved it since day 1.. despite it's imperfections! I got the car relatively cheap.. It has high k's, but all services were logged, and was told all the k's were from highway driving, so it seemed a good deal.. I knew the money I saved on buying it should go to fixing it up and making it be how it should be, but being a teen living out of home on apprentice wages, I could never afford to lash out on anything other than maintenance.. I'm basically aiming to get it back to a quality, pretty clean looking car, without too much drastic change, and something that won't break the bank!

First decent photo I got;


So, here's the rundown;

Body/Paint
The bonnet is the worst part. Originally coming from the Sunshine Coast, the previous owner told me the car had copped a lot of harsh sunlight, which started to peel the clear coat on the bonnet (odd theres no other problems of the same nature on the roof etc), so, as it does when neglected, the clear began to peel more and more, and the paint underneath fade. Now basically left with an ugly mess of a bonnet, to perfectly suit the rock damaged front bumper.. Which also happens to be missing it's valance, and the two outer lower grilles/fog light covers..

Pretty sure it's been lowered on king springs.. Looks like a bad attempt at stance.. but that's subject to change, very soon.


Wheels
I personally dislike them.. alot. They're starcorp (Tempe tyres type brand) 18's, and gutter rashed like you wouldn't beleive.. Unfortunately, my budget isn't lending itself to anything new straight away, so they will have to suffice.. At least they're wrapped in some pretty fresh tyres.

Interior
Seriously don't understand how someone can break so much inside a car.. Seriously, where's the love!? The rear ashtray is all smashed up, the toggle to change your side mirrors, snapped off, the boot on the gear stick is pretty worn, the front two seats stained (beige fabric and sweat, ew), all the fabric on the arm rests of the door cards in similar fashion to the seats.. And a few other little things i could be picky about, but i'll just sort them out bit by bit and hopefully post updates..

Also came with a decent KENWOOD head unit, a 10" pioneer sub and some amp in the boot

Luckily
It's mechanically sound.. Definitely wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't.. I guess watching all the aesthetic imperfections be taken away and restored to how it should be is more exciting for me..



aaaaaand finally, here's what I plan to change;

Firstly and most importantly, I've got it booked in for a bonnet and front bumper respray on the 27th of this month.. Work's shut from the Monday to Friday (more or less for our staff party, so i definitely won't be able to drive for a day or two, lol). I went out to Camden GTI last friday, picked up a new valance and some second hand foglight covers, which came up perfectly after a wash in soapy water and a polish with neutral coloured shoe polish. I'll order new headlight bulbs in the next few days (may alter the height of my beam a touch depending on the new bulbs), and that should be the front end back to looking clean! Will probably get rid of the ugly yellow thing on the front too, change it for a cleaner plate, not sure yet though. Couldn't be more excited! And after that, money pending I'll get a full detail, which should hopefully get some of the dirt out of my seats as well!

As mentioned about the suspension before, the king springs are coming out, and my new FK streets going in (arrived today, very keen). Delivered from the UK for $400, PM me if you want the website. I'll probably have to do this after the re spray.. possibly Monday the 9th Feb..

Interior may take me a bit to organise.. But I want to replace the plastic around the front ashtray, the ashtray itself, the boot on the gear stick, and fix the lights behind my climate control (not sure if fuse or bulb).. Basically just tidy up the whole centre console.. I'm going to deep clean all the plastics (door cards, centre console between seats, glove box, dash etc) again, because I have better products now and think I'll get a better result yet again.. Can't hurt to try.. If the detail didn't do much for the dirty seats, will just get some covers, and some new floor matts, oem of course.. Replace/Fix anything broken mentioned before in the interior section..

I'm wanting to do something to the exhaust.. Still undecided on what yet.. I don't care for something overly loud, just want to be able to hear the car a bit more inside..

Wheels coming after that.. hopefully will complete the look of a quality, looked after mostly stock car, that's sitting nice, sounds good and runs better.



Few photo's (sorry for bad quality, i've only got my iPhone to get pictures)


The little pile in my loungeroom right now;
Valance, FK Streets, Fog Light Covers


The aforementioned wheels

The Bonnet damage..

The rest of the front end..


So that's it! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I think I'm going to!

[jimmychinga]

update!? how did the spray go. have the coils been fitted. pics if so.

[Lucas_R]

Good on you mate - you've got a good attitude. Focusing on maintenance at the beginning is a great way to learn about the mechanical's of the car.

If you want a "low cost" way to tidy up your interior upholstery, try the following (im an ex car detailer and this works perfectly).

Roof lining - get a bucket of warm water with some clothes washing liquid in it (dont use clothes washing powder, must be liquid) and a microfibre towel. Saturate the mircofibre towel in the bucket and then ring it out reasonably well (so its still has some moisture in it, but not dripping all over the place). Wipe the roof lining over to freshen up and remove any stains.

Seats and carpet - use the same method as the roof lining. In addition, for bad stains or spot stains you can put some warm water + laundry liquid in a spray bottle and spray the stains directly and let that dwell for a few minutes before wiping it over with the wet microfibre towel. Bear in mind that if you clean the seats that you will need to park the car in the sun to let the seats dry.

Door trims and dash - Buy some all purpose cleaner like this or get some from your local auto shop (the ArmourAll interior cleaner spray works well for about $10) and then get yourself a soft paintbrush thats about 5-10cm wide. Spray the plastics and use the paint brush to agitate the cleaner into the plastic before wiping off with a microfibre cloth. You can use these cleaners on plastic/fabric/leather/vinyl etc etc. Use it to clean the steering wheel, air vents, buttons on the dash, remove makeup/dirt from indicator switches/door handles etc.

Doing this will take you no longer than an hour or two and will cost you no more than $20 or so. Your interior will look and smell so much better. If the seats and carpet do not clean-up to your satisfaction then you might get them professionally shampoo'd.