Bought a MK2 GTI

[sports racer]

Way too much and they come out of nowhere.

[RedMk2Gti]

time to fit a bull bar in a Mk2

[sports racer]

That's not a bad idea. Something solid behind the spoiler so it doesn't look out of place but still protects the underside.

[sports racer]

This is what happens when you leave your car parked at the Canberra Yacht Club for the weekend.





They stole everything that was in the glovebox, centre console, ashtray (that's where I keep my spare change) and door pockets. I had my bicycle in the back but they didn't take that, maybe they didn't have time and the alarm scared them off.

Thieving mongrels also took my Status Quo CD. Not happy.

They also ripped out the alarm sensor off the inside of the windscreen so I couldn't turn off the alarm with my remote. The alarm was smart enough to reset itself after 2 min so it didn't drain the battery with it screaming all night. I had to bypass the alarm to start the engine but at least I could get the car going. Luckily I didn't have to do any rewiring, just remove the alarm from under the dash and disconnect the plug.



It's going to be a couple of weeks before I can get to Sydney to pickup another window so in the meantime I had to make one.

First step, use some cardboard to make a template.



Then copy it to some clear plastic I had lying around.



The window is wedged in and held with a bit of sticky tape so it doesn't fall down. If I wasn't getting the proper glass window I would have made the plastic one able to be wound up and down. Can't even tell the difference unless you get closer to the car.

[mk1ster]

Absolute tools !

[blis]

Ouch...

[sports racer]

It's not the end of the world and at least there was very little damage done.

For some time I've been having problems with the front left wheel bearing keeping the retaining nut tight. Recently when driving in warm weather with the windows down I could hear a scraping sound whenever there was a car next to me. Last night when I took off the retaining nut holding the hub to the driveshaft the thread on the nut and the driveshaft was partially stripped. The old hub had so much play in the wheel bearing the edge of the brake disk was scraping against the caliper.

Luckily there's a Seat Cupra available for a spare hub and I had another driveshaft which went in after a bit of time spent grinding off a couple of those stupid allen key bolts that VW like to use to hold the driveshafts on. A test drive later showed how much I'd got used to the slowly disintegrating bearing and how much better the car was. It's much smoother to drive now and for some strange reason the radio works better, it doesn't get as much static. Go figure.

Also got these.

[sports racer]

Hit the back of a truck yesterday and wrote off the Golf.

Totally my fault and driving too fast at the time.







The car is now with the local garage and when I can walk properly I'll see what is salvageable. At the moment I can't even get out of bed without shooting pains across my chest where the seatbelt did it's job and I can't turn my neck. At least I didn't break anything on my body but I'm as sore as ................... as if I hit a truck. Ouch. That joke was as painful as I feel.

[velly_16v_cab]

gutting, i just saw this on the ClubGTI thread. glad you are ok(ish!)

[Matt P]

Sheeeeet! Good to hear you're ok though, cars are replaceable, humans aren't. What happens to the car, i'd imagine its too far gone to be repaired so it'll get written off?

[mads_christ]

Ouch!! That looks very painful. I hope that the neck and chest pains are only temporary!

[tinto]

Oh no - hope you're feeling better soon.

[RedMk2Gti]

Ouch !! Paul, luckily you are ok apart from the pain.
Take care, recover, then speed up working with the Mk1 ! I assume you'll need another daily before the Mk1 is done.

[golfmeup]

Oh my god!
Glad your ok Paul.
Take care and get well soon mate.

RIP mk2! Hope you can salvage as much as possible.

[sports racer]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Just got out of hospital and luckily all I've got is a fractured breastbone. Makes it painful to breath and I cringe even thinking about coughing but I can still fart like the best of them.

Give me a few days and I'll check out how much damage there is under the bonnet. If the motor is OK I'll put it and all the fuel injection system into the MK1 together with all the electrics and dashboard.

I've already lined up a cheap Mazda Eunos as my daily (1.8 V6). There's no way my wife would let me look at another old Golf and at least the Mazda has an airbag. Wish the MK2 did too as the impact on my breastbone is pretty painful. Makes me walk like an old man.