My MKIV Golf 2.Slow Daily Driver

**funkymonkey** · 05-06-2010, 11:30 PM

Hi guys, just setting up a build thread for my 2000 Golf MK4 GLE.

The story so far...
After having owned more high performance imports than pairs of sock, I decided to get a nice, sedate car that wouldn't spend half it's life in a workshop. Something relatively new and reliable, with some creature comforts and easy to find spares.

In my quest to find a suitable car, I came across this puppy in Sydney.

it's an Indigo blue 2000 Golf GLE with cream interior

Here's how it looked like on the dealer's ads:

When I went to pick it up I found a fair few things wrong with it as far as dents and scratches went, but nothing I couldn't fix eventually. It drives great and handles reasonably well. For the price I paid I couldn't have asked for a better car.

On the drive back from Sydney to Melbourne, I discovered that the radio was locked out. My guess is the dealer just found a random one at a wrecker and jammed it in. First on my list of things to do will be to either get an unlock code from Eurovox for it, or sind an OEM looking aftermarket unit.

Other mods in my grand plan:
Clean interior (pull out seats and carpets etc)
Tint windows
Put an R32 bodykit on it and fix the dents/scratches
wheels and lowered suspension, got some 5x100 PCD wheels, just need to have the outer barrels machined up for flush fitment.

It's actually kinda sad, but I've been collecting petrol reciepts etc and plugging em into an app that calculates all your fuel usage etc... and I'm finding myself excited about hitting 7L/100km. I think I'm getting old.

**Jarred** · 06-06-2010, 12:36 PM

nice pick up.

If i ws sensible I'd probably have a nice clean mk 4 daily too! (but I"m not sensible)

good luck with it all, keep us up dated!

**funkymonkey** · 06-06-2010, 05:58 PM

Pulled the radio out today...

It's a Eurovox 4681VW (custom made 4680 for the dubs I guess). Does anyone have the 4000 Series wiring manual? I managed to navigate my way through the poorly made/maintained Eurovox website and found this page that leads to dead links:
How do I order a product online

So I've only got one of these clips holding the stereo in on one side, the other side turned out to be just padded with thick tape so it wouldn't slide around. Ghetto!

Where can I find a pair of clips for this?

Plugs (reminded me that I need a ring flash for my macro):

Does anyone have the pinouts for the CD Changer? Actually more importantly, can anyone give me the part or model number for the CD Changer?

I've hooked up an Arudino to a iPhone breakout board and so far managed to issue serial commands to control it, and recieve audio signals, what I plan to do is emulate a CD Changer so that just plug it into the back of the stereo and control the iPhone using my headunit. After googling for a while, I found no one had tried this with this combination of hardware, so I'll just have to do it from scratch.... which means sniffing the signals from an actual CD Changer. I found a few Eurovox CD Changers on ebay, but they all seem to be out of Holden Commonwhores... will they work with a VW headunit?

**funkymonkey** · 06-06-2010, 06:05 PM

Quick update... spoke to a couple of mates who do OEM stereo installs and they say that the CD Changers are Eurovox branded, but apparently operate on the Sony Unilink Bus protocol. That's good news, because the unilink is well documented via projects like GNUnilink etc.

Did a search, and found this thread (http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f14/...rt-1328-2.html) which told me the Eurovox part numbers are 650 for the 6 stack changers and 1050 for the 10 stack changers... the Holden Dunnydoors run Eurovox 1030's and they are interchangeable with the 1050's. Might grab one on fleabay if they come up cheap enough... or ring some of my wreckers to see if I can find one.

Originally Posted by Jarred

If i ws sensible I'd probably have a nice clean mk 4 daily too! (but I"m not sensible)

Cheers Jarred!

lol I have an R32 Nissan Skyline and an S14 Nissan 200SX race car that make me spend and act against better judgement. The Golf is my attempt at escaping their lure. I keep reminding myself that because it's not a performance car I shouldn't modify the mechanicals... this will hopefully ensure that it's more reliable than my other two cars.

**funkymonkey** · 08-06-2010, 03:12 PM

Car didn't come with floor mats, so ordered some from a company in Perth that was advertising on Fleabay...

They showed up yesterday (Ordered friday arvo...)

Quality's not really what I'm used to with my previous cars, it's thin and not quite as plush as I would have expected. I'm told that's what passes off as normal for an Australian delivered car. It is however fitted and also has the stud holes so that it clips onto the factory carpet and doesn't slide around.

Didn't have time to take any pics... but this was how they looked on ebay.

**dainese** · 08-06-2010, 06:24 PM

radio could be locked, because of a flat battery. if you're looking to upgrade audio, just buy aftermarket! more options, more features, and better support.

**funkymonkey** · 08-06-2010, 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by dainese

radio could be locked, because of a flat battery. if you're looking to upgrade audio, just buy aftermarket! more options, more features, and better support.

I'm trying to retain the OEM look, and also just cobbling something together to get me by while I finish my CarPC.

You're right about aftermarket having more features though... and something that came up constantly in my searches were clones of these devices out of China...

has anyone had any experience with them? They seem a little dodgy, but they look OEM and are packed with a featurelist as long as my arm.

**Rybky** · 08-06-2010, 07:09 PM

I think the big problem with those units from China is the iPod control, as far as I can tell (they never show this in operation) the iPod is just treated as a USB device with a heap of tracks on it, no selection by Artist/Album/Playlist/etc.

What is this "I want it to look OEM" that everyone talks about?? Confuses me. A good quality aftermarket unit is going to look good if fitted properly, here is my thread on fitting an Alpine double-DIN in my Bora (same dash as this MKIV except I have climate control):

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f78/...-v5-44238.html

Adam

**Speed** · 08-06-2010, 07:41 PM

For the price I paid I couldn't have asked for a better car.

Looks great. May I dare ask how much you paid?

**funkymonkey** · 08-06-2010, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by Rybky

What is this "I want it to look OEM" that everyone talks about?? Confuses me.

Basically a headunit that blends in with the instrumentation and controls around it, doesn't protrude out of the DIN slot, lights up in the same colours as the rest of the lights and gauges, has text on the buttons in the same font as the rest of the car etc. You know, just looks like it came from the factory with it. The Eurovox headunit for example is supposed to be a rebadged Sony unit, ie the guts are all Sony stuff, but then Eurovox got contracted by VW to make an interface that blended in with the rest of the console.

Originally Posted by Speed

Looks great. May I dare ask how much you paid?

Cheers! The ticket price was $7000 originally but I managed to negotiate a fair bit off.