Operation Bora Body

[audi-tone]

use steel wool. gently ofcourse. did with mine, looks just like the one above

[PranK]

With regards to the body, you could always give it a buff first and see how much of a difference it makes.
Won't fix the dents/scratches on the "a" pillar but will take out most, if not all of the roof racks and spoiler marks.

The panels that have deeper scratches will need a respray but if your a perfectionist (like me), then you might end up having to respray the entire exterior of the car.

This takes time/effort and a bit of skill or a lot of beginners luck to get right but saying that, we all have to start somewhere.

You don't need to spray in a booth but I seriously recommend it, especially considering that you can hire one for $150 a day.
(Saves a fair bit of buffing in the end and your not suseptable to moisture like you are if you paint in the elements.)

Since there was so much dirt in the door jams, I bet theres heaps more stuck in behind the front guards. You can clean this out by removing your plastic inner guards or just do it if you need to remove the guards for paint.

Good luck.. I always love a project!

I bought a polisher and have been attacking small parts of the car with cutting compound and then a polish, makes a big difference in some places but barely noticable in others. I should say that I am no polishing expert though, so my technique could no doubt use improvement. Thanks Youtube!

A mate of mine up the road has a huge tent that he has erected inside a giant shed and he sprays cars in this tent. I *might* try and borrow that for a day or two, but I might even prefer to just pay for a booth, it'll be a lot cleaner.

There is *so* much grime behind the panels. Actually in any 'slightly obscured' part of the car. Under the boot, it must be almost a centimetre thick. It'd be interesting to see how much weight it would add (definitely not performance hindering but just for curiosity's sake.)

Thanks for the info!

Boras are great,so you have a wonderful project to work on.

The Navy is a good looking colour,I would keep the origional alloys,clean them up,and DONT spray them Black...

Hopeyou got it for a bargain price ???

Hah, you sound like my wife! They do look great when they are nice and clean, I must admit. A sand, respray and nice clear coat would work very well.

And yeah, I did get it for a bargain price. When I went to look at it, it was totally filthy. I could see this putting off so many potential buyers. It amazes me when people dont make any effort to make their cars look good when selling them. I must have spent 4 or 5 hours cleaning my Golf before showing it.

Where did you get the power windows plastic thing? Mine looks shocking too, wouldnt mind replacing it.

From here. I was pleasantly surprised that they were all genuine parts too.

[vwsport]

Great car I've had my bora sport since brand new and love it.
Just noticed the photos and yours still has the original sport floor mats in it! I'm surpised they've not worn thru. I went to buy them once after about 3 years and VW didnt have them as a spare part.



Also when you take the boot spoiler off you can replug back in the back window mounted brake light (if you havent already). Another tip on the bora especially on a car that has lived outside is to make sure the drainange channels on the sunroof are clear. If your car is that dirty they're probably blocked. Mine got blocked up and the drainage channels couldnt drain and so the channel overflowed into the car and I had a frigging lake on the floor of my car. You can put whipper snipper cable down them or a length of screw plug stuff and that clears them

[gringo_54_oval]

Another tip on the bora especially on a car that has lived outside is to make sure the drainange channels on the sunroof are clear. If your car is that dirty they're probably blocked. Mine got blocked up and the drainage channels couldnt drain and so the channel overflowed into the car and I had a frigging lake on the floor of my car. You can put whipper snipper cable down them or a length of screw plug stuff and that clears them[/QUOTE]

Im gonna try the whipper snipper trick on my bora,its a good idea just to be on the safe side i hate the smell of wet carpet in the car..

OP with the gunky doors try kerosine it should remove all that black wax type dirt.

1st with a spray bottle apply the kero get a cheapo paint brush and start brushing away followed by a high pressure washer and blast that **** off.

If that fails ( PLAN B.) grab a rag with acrylic thinners and give it wipe down. dont worry thinners wont ruin your paint because our sexy boras are all painted with 2-pack paints and thinners wont stuff it up if your just wiping dirt off it.

good luck dude

[Manaz]

But I have an HID kit that I bought for an older car that I might put in them.

Please don't.

HIDs are designed for use in projectors, not reflectors, and using them in a reflector-style lens will cause all sorts of scatter which WILL dazzle oncoming traffic (and make you a cop-magnet - doing this is illegal, for good reason).

Whilst legally adding after-market HIDs to a car is difficult, it can at least be intelligently done with projector-style headlights (which are available).

[PranK]

Great car I've had my bora sport since brand new and love it.
Just noticed the photos and yours still has the original sport floor mats in it! I'm surpised they've not worn thru. I went to buy them once after about 3 years and VW didnt have them as a spare part.

Yeah the drivers side one is showing signs of wearing through. I was stoked to see them in there when I looked at it.

Also when you take the boot spoiler off you can replug back in the back window mounted brake light (if you havent already). Another tip on the bora especially on a car that has lived outside is to make sure the drainange channels on the sunroof are clear. If your car is that dirty they're probably blocked. Mine got blocked up and the drainage channels couldnt drain and so the channel overflowed into the car and I had a frigging lake on the floor of my car. You can put whipper snipper cable down them or a length of screw plug stuff and that clears them

Yeah plugging in the third brake light is on my list of 'to dos.'
Mine are clear now, most of the car has been gunk free for a few weeks. Great tip tho with the whipper snipper cable.

[PranK]

OP with the gunky doors try kerosine it should remove all that black wax type dirt.

1st with a spray bottle apply the kero get a cheapo paint brush and start brushing away followed by a high pressure washer and blast that **** off.

If that fails ( PLAN B.) grab a rag with acrylic thinners and give it wipe down. dont worry thinners wont ruin your paint because our sexy boras are all painted with 2-pack paints and thinners wont stuff it up if your just wiping dirt off it.

good luck dude

I actually have a steam cleaner with a jet nozzle, makes short work of the gunk. Its a natural degreaser and doesn't hurt the paint at all. Thanks for the tip though.

[PranK]

Please don't.

HIDs are designed for use in projectors, not reflectors, and using them in a reflector-style lens will cause all sorts of scatter which WILL dazzle oncoming traffic (and make you a cop-magnet - doing this is illegal, for good reason).

Whilst legally adding after-market HIDs to a car is difficult, it can at least be intelligently done with projector-style headlights (which are available).

You should try driving 500HP+ GTR's on Sydney streets if you wanna see what a cop magnet looks like (they've approached my windows before with unclipped side arms, no bs)

However, I dont want to cause any dazzle and would have just put my stocker lights in if I'd seen that happen, so thanks for saving me a few hungy in headlights.

[PranK]

Long time since I've updated so heres the latest (with pics to come.)

Suspension
What a freaking nightmare. Spent a weekend dropping the subframe with a mate, put the sway bar in and as we were putting it back together realised the sway bar was for a FWD with the wishbone mounts. ergh. Anyway, we ran out of time to take it out (and we were at my mates place on the central coast) so I had to get the car towed to a local joint to reverse our work. While it was there I got them to install the subframe part of my ECS refresh kit (ball joints, wishbone bushes, tie rods.)

I also made 2 decisions; 1. I simply dont have the driveway for a slammed car on coilovers, and 2. I am not going to drop the subframe again unless I absolutely need to. So, with that, the coilovers were sold. (still trying to sell the whiteline sway bar if you're interested?) In place of the coilovers, I got some 2nd hand Eibach springs to at least get rid of the 10 metre gap between tyre and guard.

My brakes were also on their way out with the pads very thin (and my dash telling me every day) and the rotors with huge lips on them. So I got a set of slotted rotors and REMSA pads from GSL.

Over this past weekend I got the front springs and rotors and pads installed. Car looks a bit hot-rod-like atm though because I ran out of time to do the rear springs. The brakes might need another bleed tho as I have a bit of pedal movement before anything really happens and the front suspension is clunking a little bit. I fear the drivers side spring is not seated properly, so will have a look this coming weekend when I do the rears (my car gets driven ~50k's per week.) Surprisingly the front feels better with the springs in, I wasnt expecting a change in the car like that. Definitely feels more sure-footed with better turn in.

Interior
Operation black-out is almost complete with brand new interior pieces replacing almost all my wood grain. The only bits left are the gear knob (Will probably just leave that) and the two vertical pieces next to the radio/ac. The two vertical pieces are proving to be a bastard to find though.

Coming up

• My cooling system is leaking a little bit around the thermostat (arn't they all?) so I will buy the kit with aluminum crack pipe from ECS. Thats my next big job once the rear springs are in.
• My ABS/ESC is still not working. Warning lights on the dash are on almost 100% of the time. I bought a scanner but it wont work because my K-Line is ~11v. It is not connected to my head unit, so I'm going to pull some fuses to see where the power is coming from. I'm desperate to fix the ABS/ESC and I was told by the previous owner that it was the rear passenger sensor that was gone and these are super cheap from the UK, so I might just buy some new sensors for the rear and just put them in when I do the springs. Might just fix it.
• Going to put my roof racks back on so I can start carrying my pushie.
• Going to get some paint mixed up so I can start practising some spraying. Might just do the front bumper and grille to start with and have been thinking about stripping off the chrome trim around the car and making it flush. Also got a welder and am going to practise welding so I can shave my boot.

I also think I am having a little change in direction. I think I just want the car to be nice, clean, easy to drive and totally well looked after. I know its not much to strive for but I take my kids in it all the time and my wife drives it occasionally (think polar-opposite to a car lover.) Until I have the room for another project car I think I will keep the Bora very practical.

Will update with pics when I get them off my camera.

[grtuned]

Nice changes!!!!! Keep the standard 17inch rims they look awsome.

[PranK]

Nice changes!!!!! Keep the standard 17inch rims they look awsome.

Thanks!
Going to sandblast them and repaint them because they have seen better days. I have new genuine centre caps and bolt covers for them when they're all cleaned up.

[PranK]

So, this past weekend I tightened up the front struts as they were knocking during the week, I fit new strut tops and bearings last week so they will need more tightening when they soften up a little bit.

Also fit the rear springs.. So nice and easy, wish the front was like that. Car sits nicely now but at different heights l/r - hoping that settles a little bit.

Also did the keyfob range mod. Ran the new antenna up the A-pillar and around the whole roof lining (down drivers side, across top of back window, along passenger side) to the top of the passenger A-piller. Range is awesome now. Super happy.

Lastly, finally badged it and fit my rear black VW emblem. Looks super clean and really nice. Needs to be tidied up a bit still as I ran out of time and theres a bit of badge-gunk still on the boot lid. Will give it a nice clean and polish this week.

Pics to come when I remember to get them off my camera at home.

[PranK]

Ok, so heres some pics from the last round of changes

Before the springs went in;



Out with the old ...



New strut tops, bearings and nut to finish the refresh kit.



Shiny springs, rotors and pads.



This might be why my 'Check brake pads' light kept coming on ...



After the springs went in.



Most. Disgusting. Filter. Ever.



Further proof....



After the springs, soooo much better.



More pics here.

[PranK]

Oh, and I badged the rear and finally put on my black VW badge...

[Dyldo]

have the v6 4Motion badges left ghosting? I think i can see it in the pics.

Also, with the pics, most of the flickr ones aren't working.