Operation Bora Body

[dylan8]

Thats not too bad for the strip! im currently in the process of straightening mine back up

[PranK]

New headrests. Previous owner lost them, I've been looking for these since I bought my car.



Another pic of my racks.

[Golf-Sam]

imagine how hard it would be to find them in beige .. looks awesome !

[PranK]

imagine how hard it would be to find them in beige .. looks awesome !

Thanks!

Fixed my rear LHS strip today;



Also tok this. Not sure whether to put the Oettinger 'Sport' grille back on or not. Better decide before I fill the hood notch.

[RolfGolf]

Another pic of my racks.

Nice rack(s)!

- someone had to say it!

[RolfGolf]

Does anyone know if the Bora lower front valance fits the Golf?

[PranK]

This update has been a long time coming. I umm'ed and aah'd about writing it for ages.

Last October we had a catastrophic failure.





What happened was ...
I noticed a bit of steam coming from under the bonnet. It was a hot day and I was in traffic, at first thought I was just over heating. Then I smelled the oil. I pushed the car a little bit to get it off the road and when I checked under the bonnet there was just tonnes of sludge coming from the expansion tank. Everything was boiling and it was 50% oil.

Note: What I find out in the future is that my temp sensor was broken (so temp on the dash was fine) and also my radiator fans weren't turning on. Explains a lot about how it happened.

The car went to a local mechanic for analysis. They determined that my oil cooler had ruptured internally and, because of the flow of the water, the oil had literally been sucked out of the engine and into the cooling system.

They suggested I sell the car for scrap, and I almost did.

Then, I decided to give it a go myself and see what I could do. My main concern was that the engine had no oil at all and I didn't know if there was internal damage.

Anyway, I had an ECS cooling system refresh kit that I'd been meaning to fit;
Billet Gruvenparts crack pipe
Thermostat, thermo housing and seals
Temp sensor

So, those along with the new Oil Cooler and a new bellyfull of nice oil and she started, first go (after several months).



Of course, the cooling system was full of gunk. I did 5 or 6 flushes, then stupidly added my G12++ as I thought it was clean enough.

Also, I was finding it hard to open and close my expansion tank lid. Seems there was a reason for that.



The car was running. But there were a few things still wrong with it, mainly that it was now 3 months out of rego.

Which meant new plates. This means that the car was no longer matching numbers (I know its not a classic, but I liked having the original plates).

[PranK]

So, it was time to focus my attention on the horribly clunking front drivers suspension. I was pretty sure it was the strut top mount, so I bought a new rubber mount and bearing.

Seems it was a little bit worse;




So, thats now in and much much better. BUT (and maybe a q for dylan if you read this) I wasn't able to torque the nuts on the strut, they tightened all the way up to the top of the strut. That didn't happen last time.

Also, I replaced the ABS/G sensor behind the glove box. The braking problems I've been having since I bought the car (early ABS engagement) were gone!! OMG it pulls up so well! Its *never* braked like this!

But, then my reco sensor died, so I bought and fit another reco sensor just this last week and so far so good. ($500 new or $140 reco.)

Again, I can't explain how much better my brakes were after the sensor fitting. The ABS actually works but waits till there is a skid, which is not what it did before. As it is a lateral sensor, my theory is that it thought the car was travelling faster than it was, hence the early ABS.

If you need to replace this sensor, take the glove box out, its much easier.

So, now we're at current day.

The drivers side wheel is making an absolute racket! The guide bolt snapped off inside the disk and while the disk is on centered (no wobble) I think I may have bent the dust shield so will check that over the weekend.

ALSO, I found that my fans have not been working. I can make them turn on and off by bypassing the switch, which is good, it means they work! So, considering I need to drain the (still mud-like) coolant from the radiator to replace the switch, I bought myself a 2nd hand radiator, new O-Rings, new switch and 2 new bottles of G13.

So, this weekend all those things will go in. I'm a bit excited about this.

Also, I bought all the bits to build the fan-saver resistors fix thing. So, I'll put that in at the same time.

Once all that is done I'm hoping the car will be happy. If it is, then I'll start to move into a preservation/restoration mode. I'll make sure gearbox and haldex are ok and just try to maintain things. I don't think anything else is really 'broken' as such. She's done 240k now, I'd love her to reach over 300k.

I also have a little Mazda SP23 now also, I'm hoping I can keep the two for a bit longer so I have no real pressure on these weekend fixes. I don't need it on Monday. Thats a big help.

Ok, I think you're all up to date.

[PranK]

Does anyone know if the Bora lower front valance fits the Golf?

It does not.

[Gez110]

Far out, you've had a battle. How di you rate the ECS coolant refresh kit? Which one did you get.