Marticus' Red GTI

[Marticus]

Had a nice week off, but came back home ready to push on with the car.

Unfortunately the weather had other ideas, and it's been raining non stop since I got back.

On the other hand a few bits arrived from china, so I decided to do a small renovation of the steering wheel whilst I'm not able to work outside.



Got the wheel off and organised parts. Plan for this mini project is retrim wheel, fix and replace tatty old dsg paddles, add mfsw controls, and cruise control.



Stripped the wheel, cleaned it down with dish soap and wiped with degreaser.



While the wheel was drying I started to experiment with the badges I bought. Initially I had thought that they fit on top of the old badge but they didn't work.
So I stripped off the old silver badge and they fitted fine.





Next I disassembled the paddles






And fitted the new paddles



Lastly I fitted the cover and reassembled everything.

[Marticus]

Not much progress at the moment, I'm dealing with back problems and struggling to make time between day to day life.

But trying to keep pushing small jobs when I can.

Got the replacement engine mounted to the engine stand, so that I could start getting it ready


Pulled the oil pan because I wanted to check for anything bad, but aside from lots of baked on oil there were no surprises thankfully.

Decided to try and clean up the pan with brake cleaner and lots of scrubbing, but wasn't making much progress. So I decided to try and see if I could make the ultrasonic cleaner work.



Obviously it didn't fit, but after the first go the difference was amazing.




So after a lot of rounds for each end and corner I got it 90% there:



Next step is to pull the oil pump and attempt a diy balance shaft delete.

I also picked up a new replacement front support bar as the old one was rusty. The new one was ok, but it picked up a few scratches in shipping, so I decided to give it a coat of paint for some extra protection.



Unfortunately once I had finished painting and clear coat, and left it to dry, it fell over  , so it's now black again as I ran out of red. Not a big deal just more work.

[Marticus]

Aside from the steering wheel retrim, I have another project that is keeping me busy on rainy days.

I picked up a 3d scanner with the idea that I can modify or create some parts for the car.

I started off by scanning the diffuser that I had bought.




The diffuser doesn't have any exhaust cutout, but there is a gap in the center of the fins to accommodate an r32 style exhaust I guess.

So I'm currently playing with the idea of either adding another fin:




Or an additional center brake light like this:

[Marticus]

Got a few hours in the garage tonight, and managed a 'diy balance shaft delete'




After trying to get at it with an angle grinder, and making a mess, I spend some time with the Dremel and a few cutting disks before I got the cog off.

Now the second shaft spins freely.

And if course the ultrasonic cleaner is coming in clutch for the cleanup!