bet the rs4 sounds well, shame the audi series is to dependant on that front end, looks no diffferent to the fathers speced a6 :\

Still no car in the garage

But if anyone's interested, my old 15s are for sale:

http://bit.ly/17iSaGQ

It's home. Updates to follow.

Always good to see it being cared for.

The newly acquired and freshly cleaned carpets look so much better!

Hopefully they'll be in by this time tomorrow!

To fill in the gaps from earlier, it's now got:

- a Stack wideband lambda gauge, which is a bit lovely. I've got it in the centre console where the voltmeter used to be, not sure where to re-house the voltmeter though.

- PPP nylon rear beam bushes, which my mechanic warned might be quite firm. But having spent a bit of time driving around today they don't seem bad at all, and the car feels a little tighter than it did before which is good. I've not really thrashed it yet, the tank had old fuel inside which I want to use up.

- fresh service parts, the usual

- treated tank straps - stainless ones on the way, possibly

All the gauges are plumbed in now - the oil temperature gauge has been disconnected for about three years - and the wiring has been thoroughly tidied up. The old Duostyling air fuel gauge has been taken out.

I've also had new alarm switches for the door shuts. The old ones had given up the ghost.

And a couple of bits of surface rust treated - thankfully it seems the fuel tank is fine. Good news!

If the weather holds I'll give it a wash tomorrow and start re-fitting the interior.

Well, the weather has been appalling today so I've not bothered cleaning it yet. I have made some in-roads into rebuilding it though.

Step one is getting the interior re-fitted, as fun as it's been driving it around in this state.

Something new:

Door cards aren't in great nick to be honest, they never have been. So they were the first things to disappear:

As you can see, the membranes underneath are in a fairly awful condition. If you've been around long enough, you'll have heard me whinge about the state of my alarm installation. It was the first thing I had done to the car which I regretted on the grounds that it was so poorly done. I wound up with a footwell full of water the winter afterwards, took the door cards off and discovered they'd hacked the membranes apart only to do an apologetic job of putting them back together - a few strips of electrical tape. They'd dropped into the window mechanism, revealing holes drilled in the door which hadn't been painted to protect them, and some interesting plier-based butchery to get the solenoids in.

I repaired them 12 years ago, the duck tape had lasted well but I'm out to do it properly this time so I binned the lot. The passenger side is probably alright to save, if I Tiger Seal it onto the door and patch up the tears. I've also used a bit of Kurust on the crusty bits, then painted them in satin black Hammerite.

New carpets - they'll need fluffing up after being cleaned. Easily done. Note the state of the driver's side membrane, I think that's beyond saving.

Old plates were starting to separate after a year, so I've got some new pre-2001 plates for it.

Added extra, I've got a Stop Motion app on my iPhone and I've been waiting for an opportunity to try it out properly. So I propped it up in the garage and let it record. http://youtu.be/K7H_BxyQGig

Chipping away at it. Phone camera pics this time, sorry.

New steering wheel - from a Corrado VR6. I've got two of these, and the other one was on the car for a couple of years, but I took it off when the leather went really manky. This one turned up on a Mk3 Golf in a scrap yard, I paid almost nothing for it. A fraction of what I paid at Inters 2003 for the other one. Just lucky, I guess.

The leather is quite dull but it's still smooth. As it owes me nothing I thought I'd try something out. Found some Lord Sheraton leather balsam in Sainsbury's for a couple of quid, did a bit of Googling and it seems a few people have tried it.

To my surprise, it came out looking alright.

The light was fading but you can see from this that the gloss has come back. It's not polish, so the leather isn't slippery, but it's soft and clean now. If it lasts, great. If not, I'll put the plastic Polo one back on.

In the garage, I've managed to get the passenger side door membrane back in place. Scroll back up to see the before pics.

Sadly the driver's side one really is going to be a replacement job, rather than a patch-up. The bits I've glued back into place on the passenger side are still attached to the door on the driver's side. Whoever fitted the alarm thought it would be a good idea to cut the membrane. I guess it saved them a few minutes, which is all they cared about. Nice to know.

Otherwise, the rear backrest is in, I've bolted the strips down along the bottom of the doors which hold the carpet in place and the seatbelts are bolted in again.

More tomorrow, hopefully.

I bought some of this but a smaller roll http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10m-MOISTURE-BAR...1a#ht_990wt_932 to make a new membrane for my doors

I just used thick bin liner.

What did you do for the bits shaped around door pockets etc?

I've got some plastic sheet at my parents' house which I bough back when I discovered this mess, but its quite thick. I think with the driver's side ill probably cut off the torn end, repair the tears in the front section and then make a new bit for the back. Seems simpler than transferring bits across from the old one. I dunno.

What did you do for the bits shaped around door pockets etc?

I've got some plastic sheet at my parents' house which I bough back when I discovered this mess, but its quite thick. I think with the driver's side ill probably cut off the torn end, repair the tears in the front section and then make a new bit for the back. Seems simpler than transferring bits across from the old one. I dunno.

On the Ibiza they were pretty flat, but where they door card went in, just made it a bit slack to compensate, I was going to use the heavy duty bin liner but that flooring underlay had the foam layer that just adds a bit of sound deadening

Pictures speak a thousand words, so there are two here:

A collection of Polo, Golf, Scirocco and Corrado parts. Today's work:

- repaired the tears in the passenger side door membrane, gave it a wipe-over with anti-bacterial/anti-mould wipes just to be on the safe side

- re-fitted the passenger side door card

- removed the sagging a-pillar seals and fitted them the right way around using proper refit tape

- swapped the Polo steering wheel for my refurbished Corrado VR6 wheel

- cleaned the gear gaiter, slipped it back over the freshly painted gearstick and popped the Mk2 Golf gearknob back on top

- put the boot side carpets back in, easy job

- re-fitted the passenger seat

Tomorrow I'm planning to spend the evening repairing the driver's side door membrane, then I'll put the door card and seat back in on that side and it's ready to roll! Well, roll out of the garage and have a wash.

Real labour of love. This car is great.

Thanks!

Yeah all this needed doing when I had it painted but with the wedding and three house moves in the meantime it's got held up until now.

I reckon I'm a four branch and subframe away from having what I'd class as a finished project. It's a nice feeling!

Looks so fresh!

Nice work.

Just got in from the garage. A quick job turned into a bit of a project.

I bought some damp proofing sheet from B&Q earlier, and predictably I've spent this evening sorting out the driver's side door membrane. Having decided to make a repair piece, I got cocky and started again. Stripped off the old membrane, pieced it together over a the new sheet of plastic and drew around it.

Ended up with this:

Half way through fitting it, quite happy. It's not the prettiest repair job but it's much better than what was there before. I carefully peeled the three dimensional bits off the old membrane and they're glued back on then sealed up with duck tape to be safe.

Driver's seat is back in, too. Just need to screw the door card back into place and I'll wheel it out for a clean tomorrow.

Edited 1 June, 201313 yr by Alex

Last stage of the process today!

The tedious bit:

Washed, dried, clay barred, waxed and the laborious job of making the bumpers and body kit black rather than silver. I do a big clean like this about once a year, it lays the foundations for not being so thorough during the summer. This year's was hardcore though, as it spent the winter parked on grass.

The finished item:

The interior:

Then I cleared the garage of all the crap I've been storing in Kettering and at my parents' house, sorting my spares into boxes and putting everything on shelves. The Polo's now tucked up, I'm going for beers. :-)

Stunning car in the best mk3 colour IMO.

Nice work Alex, its really a first rate car and your attention to detail is to be commended.

I'm going to be honest here- I dont know if the photo makes them look a bit different but the illumination on the gauges is a bit rice'y for my taste.

I like the gauge install below.

If I'm honest they are slightly too bright but the iPhone's HDR mode isn't doing them any favours, they're a darker green than that. Plus they're Stack gauges so the quality is stunning.

I need to get a pic on my proper camera for the mag, so I'll post that when I have it. They're sweet though, trust me.

I knew I had a decent pic somewhere...

yeah thats way better then the look the previous photo gave them. Looks tidy.

why do you need so many clocks ?

Because I'm obsessed with every little knock, rattle and misfire, haha!

They're useful, too. One of the hoses came lose at Blyton Park last year, the gauge let me know straight away why I was down on power. Oil pressure gauge lets me know when the engine is completely up to temperature and ready to be given full beans. Likewise, I spotted a drop in oil levels at Blyton last year using that gauge.

And air fuel ratio is worth watching like an eagle in a G40. It can help diagnose a faulty fuel pump and let you back off before you melt pistons. It's not in the line of sight but I can keep tabs on it out of the corner of my eye.

I can see all sorts of information about what's happening under the bonnet now. I like it! :-)

I need to find a new home for the volt meter but that'll probably go in the glovebox or in the cubby hole on the bottom right of the dash.

Strange thing is, I found after I'd fitted the G40 engine I wasn't listening to music anyway. I had a Duostyling AFRM and a TIM boost gauge, where the wideband is now, and a head unit I hardly used. So I sacked it off, pulled the wiring out and put a cubby hole in to see if I'd miss it. I didn't, so I got the gauges instead.

Quite happy to travel long distances with just the noise of the engine for company. Weirdo...

I should add the gauges at the top do lots of clever things.

The oil temp gauge is blue at startup, green when it's warm, red at over 100°C. Oil pressure is red at startup, turns green when it comes down below 5.5bar. Boost is green all the time, but it goes red above 1bar. That doesn't happen.

Then obviously the wideband has coloured warnings around the edge as well as the digital readout.

I've also got peak recall functions so I can check maximum boost, oil pressure and oil temp after a run, and I can wire them into a data logger. I don't have a data logger, but I could if I did.

So, today I've been reacquainting myself with the G40 by taking it out for a run to blow the cobwebs out a bit. Finally! The weather was too good not to.

Like most good G40 days, it all started with a tank of V-Power. And a coffee.

I've had a hectic week (more about that later) so the G40 hadn't done much since I got home last Sunday. This meant it was still clean, and with Bristol Volksfest about half an hour away it felt like a good opportunity to pop out and make the most of the elbow grease I'd put in. Chucked it in the Show n Shine, ended up among a group of early Polos, which was cool:

Sneaked out while the results were being given out, to beat the rush, and went to have a look at the roads which weave under and over the Severn crossings, then hit the M48/M4 and dropped down to Ogmore Beach near Bridgend to go for a walk.

Then darted back down the old roads into Cardiff, arriving at the inlaws' house in time for a Sunday roast. The car's feeling great, which means it's due for some trips to St Albans (office) through the summer as it really hasn't done enough miles over the last few months. I also need to pick a track day to take it on, as that was really good fun last year, and I'm planning to do the hill climb at the Retro Rides Gathering in August.

Happy.