The Revolving Door

[GTXTRA]

Lovely motor, good to see you're enjoying it Ed - see you at the NEC next week matey.

[james butler]

lovely car ed.
i don't normally like brown cars but im prepared to make an exception with this one!

do you have any interior pics?

[the edmundator]

It's not brown, it's Schwarz, which, as we all know, is German for black. This is what black looked like in 1970s West Germany.

Imagine a standard light brown leather interior, mk1 Storm style. It looks like that inside, in good condition (no pics to hand, I'm afraid).

[GTXTRA]

lovely car ed.
i don't normally like brown cars but im prepared to make an exception with this one!

do you have any interior pics?

one pic here - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19007

[james butler]

It's not brown, it's Schwarz, which, as we all know, is German for black. .

apologies (i have a very untrained eye for these things and partially color blind)
very nice though.
interior looks nice and in great condition too.

[the edmundator]

Now tucked away in a shed in Birmingham with a few friends.

[mark1gls]

A very nice line up there.
Enjoy the show.

[the edmundator]

Sorry to say I haven't driven this since the trip back from the NEC in November (nearly 2 months now).

I tried to take it to my work's Christmas party at the start of December, but the battery had lost sufficient charge to start the engine (interior light and dash lights ok, though). I was a bit surprised as at that stage it was only 2 or 3 weeks since the car had last been driven. Either the battery's had it, or there's another problem, as I would have thought Bedford to Birmingham and back in a weekend would have charged the battery reasonably well.

There does appear to be part of an immobiliser still connected, so I hope I don't end up calling on an auto electrician (realistically not enough time or knowledge to attempt sorting that kind of problem myself). I expect this is draining the battery, as there's a flashing LED near the steering column.

I went round to the garage today and now have the battery at home in the shed, hooked up to the CTEK charger/conditioner. We'll see what happens.

[james butler]

There does appear to be part of an immobilizer still connected, so I hope I don't end up calling on an auto electrician (realistically not enough time or knowledge to attempt sorting that kind of problem myself). I expect this is draining the battery, as there's a flashing LED near the steering column.

how old is the immobilizer ed?
if its a fairly old one they are pretty easy to rip out and rejoin the wires together. my rocco had some mid 90s immobilizer on it that incorporated a relay in the starter solenoid feed in the steering coulomb and another in the scuttle connected in line with the coil feed.
took all of 10-15mins to remove, (hardly a crime stopper).
to be fair though there is a great alarm fitters in kings heath called auto power who can rip out and install new alarms at a good rate.
he fitted my new ai 606 toad alarm with central locking for less than £300 so i can imagine there must be some one closer to bedfordshire who can do the same.

something else you can do in the meantime which wont cost you is to take the earth clamp off and join a ammeter to it in series with the battery.
then you will see if theres a current drain, any more than 30 milli amp will flatten your battery over 3 weeks.
if there is a current drain, pull each fuse one at a time until the current drain disappears then look in your Haynes manual for the fuse circuit of the fuse you pulled to see what could be in that circuit causing your drain.

the last time it happened to me it turned out to be a new radio sucking the power even with the face off.

[the edmundator]

how old is the immobilizer ed?

Absolutely no idea. It looks like there is a slot for some kind of transponder, but I wasn't supplied with one - fortunately it's not been a problem to start it yet. I presume it's been partially disconnected already, or its one of those non-functional things to deter thieves.

the last time it happened to me it turned out to be a new radio sucking the power even with the face off.

That's what does it in my Golf, but there's nothing else that ought to be drawing a current in the Storm. The radio is an AM/LW radio-only - so nothing that draws any current when it's off.

[mark1gls]

I remove the earth lead off my battery when I put mine away in the garage during the winter months so nothing can drain it.

[the edmundator]

I don't really plan to put mine away in the winter - I just sometimes can't use it for a few weeks.

[the edmundator]

I have merged all my "project" history into one thread and given it an appropriate name...

Updates to the existing fleet will all go into this thread.

[the edmundator]

Welcome our newest friend!

Some of you might have noticed this on Autotrader. I obviously did. After resisting the temptation for a few days, I was the first caller, the first viewer (along with my 19-month old co-pilot) and first to see did buy!

One-owner from new Sciroccos don't come onto the market often these days, so I knew this was just the one for me. Bought by a fighter-pilot turned commercial airliner pilot for his wife in Feb 1987, it's been well-looked after, kept in the same dry garage all its life and ticked over 94,000 miles on my journey home. It was VW serviced until 32k in 1991, then by the same independent engineer since (although I don't have any history for that). However, the way the car drives and how it presents itself, you can tell it's been properly looked-after. The renewal date for the MoT is still the date of registration.

It's not perfect, with a few dents and scratches to the paintwork and some damage to the interior - but it's original, very solid and seems mechanically strong.











I've started on a few of the minor jobs today, with parts I had in my emporium. The boot lock seal was completely knackered (see below), as was the tailgate seal. I had a new boot lock seal in stock and replaced the tailgate seal with a good used one from another (white) 87 GTX I broke a few years ago. I also replaced the wobbly rear-view mirror, again with one from the white GTX.





I need a new rear washer jet nozzle and I'm on the hunt for a driver's side front wiper arm with the built-in spoiler. For the interior I need a black/grey/red stripe driver's seat back cover (bolster wear) and ideally a new headlining at some point. I'm told the sunroof isn't working properly, but I'm leaving it alone until I have time to take it apart and put it back together properly.

I'll also give it a service and a good clean/polish inside and out.

[james butler]

nice motor ed.
i might still have a rear washer jet spare form crusty your welcome to have i will try and find it in the week.