Scirocco Register

My thoughts exactly. And they'd mark the perfect end to the project. Th ehard part is going to be getting the right ET and not having the same amount of tuck. For the record I need Et 35

Only just picked up on the Jim - they look superb.

Ignore the haters!

Now I am not a wheel nancy -but those Borbets look brilliant on your car Funkster.

Wow. Borbets look better than I thought they would without being on a slammed car. Used to seeing them on golfs and love 'em, but dare I say, suit the 'rocco even more!

So months down the line and we're nearly at the end of the show season. Within a month the Bandit will be back in the barn although it's taxed until January I think so I'm hoping it'll get a lot more use than normal but Mrs F is sailing a lot and we're seriously looking into the T4 side of things as it'll tick a lot of boxes and with the Bandit so nearly close to being finished (these things are never finished, I know that) my thoughts turn to other projects. There's a couple of other possibilities but I'm not sure I can commit myself to another 5+ yr project that doesn't have the practicality of a van. And I'd never sell the Bandit, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
Running wise it's been a real, brutal pleasure. I've cleared about 2K this summer alone and with a small hiccup on the way to the ferry for holland (water pump belt snapped, easy fix) it's been blissful. The newly installed Rado seats are gorgeous and comfy, the refurbed wheels set the car off nicely and the sound system is finally in and fully working with the beautifully crafted custom pods. People bitch and moan about low cars being uncomfortable but it simply isn't always true.

But it isn't perfect by any stretch.

The paint job is starting to suffer and it's partly my fault. There's birdshat marks in a couple of places and the chips and scuffs you'd expect plus the scratch i stupidly put on it while trying to replace the bonnet on my own. It's needing to visit the Welsh Wizard.
It's still loud. Very loud. Actually, thinking about it, this isn't a problem. It's bloody brilliant. The stereo can now cope with it (as you'd have discovered if you were at the Nationals) and having done miles with and without someone riding shotgun it doesn't stop conversation.
I've pished around with the Amp wiring and now it won't go planet smashingly loud. Simple fix.
The MPG is just comical. 500 mile round trip to the Nationals and back cost me £80 and the 260 odd to Action was £65 so there's clearly voodoo at work. We've got a suspicion it's not getting enough air into it (there's no connector hose to the airbox and it's using a high lift cam and 2.3 Audi TB). We're going to start with swiss cheesing the airbox and get a proper feed into it and sticking in a milder cam, this'll also take away the lumpiness and make the whole thing smoother. It'll also give me power at the 2.5k mark rather than the current 4k mark which is where I want it.
Other than that it's just the small, mainly cosmetic stuff:
Steering rack gaitor - it's started to crack so why not sort it now before it's a problem?
When we changed the engines we put the wrong plate on the belt end meaning I can't run a cover and the plate will touch the belts unless I cable tie it back, hardly the best solution and not a massive job.
The gearstick and associated gubbins could do with a full refurb. Failry cheap to do and makes a massive difference. With the TSR kit that's already one and the impending Trimsport Short Shift it'll be just what I want.
There's still no speedo cable - easy fix courtesy of speedy cables
I want to redo the boot build - again. Yes it's nearly perfect but there's one or two bits that just don't sit right and seeing as a couple of people have asked if I can do the same for them I'd like it to be perfect.
Find and eliminate rattles. There's only a few and you;d expect it from a cabin that's been ripped apart four or five times

But it's still the pleasure I'd expect. Especially when I see pics like this:

A few wee jobs mate and you'll be there Jim. She is looking good though mate, I did like looking round her last year!
Keep up the good work!!! Don't worry too much about the noise, its great having the boom of a loud exhaust and lumpy cam!

Car's back in the barn for a while and it's time to get everything ready for next year. The tax is sat on my desk in the office ready for cashing in and....

Actually, that isn't strictly true.

The tax is sat here but I'm doubting that I'll actually cash it in despite what I might say to Mrs F. I generally only buy six months at a time and this one runs out in January an with the cam about to get changed it'll need running in won't in? I've already paid the 10% surcharge so I'll be looking at getting peanuts back so I may as well just use it. I could use it for, erm, road testing noise?

At the moment there's a fair few rattly noises inside the cabin. You'd fully expect that when you consider that I've ripped it apart four or five times so the plan is to strip it back one more time, hopefully fit the perfect dashboard I have in the garage (or I may just flog it. It's completely unmolested, has no rips or cracks and I'd need to cut holes for the Tweeters. While I'm doing that I can replace the speedo cable and refit some of the under dash stuff (which clearly isn't helping with the rattles). Luckily I'm becoming a bit of a dab hand at it so it shouldn't take all that long, plus I managed to liberate all the screws from Tharg.
I've also got a spare set of perfect front door cards, something I always need.
One of the problems I have sorted was the moving dials. The VDO gauges I fitted were never fitted with the metal brackets and I bodged them with bits of wood for the summer. Obviously this was never going to be a long term fix so I got the dremmel out, did a bit of measuring and knocked my own up. Again, they aren't perfect but you can't tell from the outside.






I've sorted a couple f other bits while I was at it. The Ali kick plates and front upper brace are now all fitted. Can't tell an awful lot of difference but then I've always had the rear top and front lower fitted so I didn't really expect much. Looks the part though.


So what's next?

There's a couple of grommets in the bulk head that need replacing but luckily I removed the complete wiring loom from Tharg (may also refit cold start wiring, more for my neighbours than me).
I keep toying with the idea of changing the carpets.
Trimpsort Short Shift needs fitting (will also be making it into a guide) - while I'm there I'l fit the gear linkage repair kit and add a washer to the gearbox linkage
Fix the rad fixing - When originally fixing it a couple of year ago the screw sheared. Need to get that out
Reupholster the seats - the fronts are Raddo, the rears are the blue/purple that I really like. I;d like both to match
Bonnet insulation
Borbet centre caps - been saying that for 7 years
Look into why the stereo is cutting out at high volume - not a massive problem, it's plenty loud enough but if it's cutting out then there's clearly a problem.

Easy stuff to keep me occupied over the winter.

looking good Jim, looking forward to the "how to" guide for the trimsport short shift as i have one sat in the shed ready for fitting once i get a gear linkage refresh kit :)

Why?
Why do I do it?
I've just read through the last page or two of the guild including the bits where I explicitly state that I'll never touch the fackin' wiring ever again.
Do I listen?
When we stripped Tharg we managed to get the complete loom which meant that I could finally install the cold start. Having researched it and taken a shed load of pictures I was pretty certain I could manage it, I mean it's only one plug right?
Wrong.
I'd forgotten that Vw employs voodoo in its wiring. I played the game, I exchanged one wire for another and went about everything logically but the filthy old bag just refused to start.
Everything seems to be getting volts (I'm still learning the dark arts of multi meters) but the fuel pump primes intermittently and the business end of the Wur isn't getting any juice.
So I find myself facked. Again.
I could whine and moan. In fact I was this morning, right up until just last 11am when I was listening to the memorial service from the cenotaph. Then I realised that despite being 5 degrees and my toy not working it wasn't the worst thing that could happen to me. Mrs F, my extremely rational waffle said pretty much the same thing when she called from Buel. She was racing at the time in water that was probably close to 2 degrees. We quickly realised that in comparison to spending your days in a shat filled trench hundreds of miles from your home facing certain death our first world problems were utterly inane.
So we both wound our necks in. Her and her dad ended up coming 4th (personal best) and I took some photos of where I'm lucky enough to keep the car.




So.....
Quick call tomorrow should Sort everything. It'll get shipped, the wiring will get sorted along with the new/old cam , the snapped screw on the rad fitting can get drilled, the engine plate can be replaced, the washer on the gearbox can be sorted and I can fit the short shift.

This, along with rebuilding the club membership, Christmas and a new job.

Piece of piss.

I've just spent forty minutes writing a very impassioned post but then my cat deleted it.
My cat is an arshole.

Anyway, to make a long story short:
come May the Bandit will dissapeer. Everything will be up for grabs. I'll explain more later.

so pussy ruined your day? damn!

Oh if only it were that simple.

To be honest I knew this weekend was going to come but I was kinda hoping it would hold off until after the summer. I was hoping to get one last summer out of the car and try and justify keeping it but that simply isn't going to happen.
If you've spoken to me recently you'll be aware that in November I got a new job. I love it and it appears I'm pretty good at at but being as it is I need to dedicate some time and effort into it and this'll mean working a damn site harder than I had been. This doesn't mean I won't be able to do weekends, it just means I'll have to make the most of them. And that means I simply cannot be arsed with mucking about with old cars.
But the main reason is the loss of the company car. This makes us wholly reliant on Miss Groove's brilliant polo and given how many miles I'll be clocking up that doesn't sit well.
So a deal has been made: see, Groove and I have always agreed that I can have one car at a time to play with but I can do anything I want. The lack of company car means I need something that commute me to work but the compromise is that we can get something a little tasty.
So that's the long and the short of it. I've come to the end of the road and the car has to go. Partly to finance whatever I go for next, partly for the sake of my own sanity.
So what happens next?
Well, if I'm honest I need to move quickly. At the moment I'm motivated and unemotional although that'll change as bits slowly come off.
I won't sell it whole. Partly because I don't want anyone else driving what's taken me five years to build and partly because I can make more money in parts.
So the kit list:
The shell was completely stripped and resprayed five years ago although you'd never know as it still looks fantastic. The code is LA9v which is the glistening black metallic, stick it next to a normal black car and you'll see what I mean. The only blemishes are on the arches from stone chips. The vinyl and all the side strips are removed, there's no airier hole and the arches have all been professionally rolled and sealed. There is any rust. None.
The doors and boot deserve their own explanation. The doors are converted to Audi handles. I've only seen this done on another two, maybe three Rocco's and never to this standard. The boot has been smoothed and debadged and is opened via a button in the cabin. There's an over ride as well for when the power fails. I used it a couple of times. Pits also rocking an eyebrow spoiler and custom fitted extended grill. It's all debadged and everything is body coloured. The bumpers are bother smoothed (always hated the dimples) and sprayed. It's the shell that I worry most about. Everything else I can sell on but I really want someone to take the shell and do something with it as it seems a shame to waste such a good example.
Chassis wise everything is over hauled. The hubs and wishbones have been powder coated and have new bits in and the rear beam has been cleaned, painted and treated to new stainless steel clamps courtesy of Crazy quiff. Everything has been polybushed and the even the rear drums are newly over hauled.
It's braced all round - the obligatory front lower, the neuspeed top front and the lovely, chunky Trimsport top rear
Nearly forgot, the filler neck isn't bad but just to be sure there's a nice, shiny, stainless steel one sat in the garage ready for fitting.
The brakes up front are the excellent Wilwwod 280mm four pots. These things are brilliant anew I've been running them with a standard master cylinder and servo. These are huge things.
Engine wise it's a 1.8 kjet running a polished and ported head and high lift cam. It's grumbly and makes a fantastic noise, especially when it's mated to...
The exhaust. This is a thing of beauty. A one piece, custom made 421 manifold and system with a replica twin exit at the rear. If you've heard it you'll know where I'm coming, literally. It sounds like Brian blessed being man banged in a prison shower. It's no knock 'em up in my shed jobbie, it's simply brilliant. And it should be, it cost the same as I paid for the car.
Everything in the bay has been sorted. The gear linkages are the lovely TSR jobbies, the rad is brand new and is covered by a near perfect black powder coated cowling.
Interior wise is Raddo seats up front and purple flak rears. The dash is untracked but has been drilled to accept the tweeters. The sound quality is simply brilliant and comes from a fully Dab/Bluetooth alpine unit running components and a sub I dumped in the boot powered by a four channel amp. The door cards sport custom built speaker pods that I had made. Proper one offs.
And then there's the wheels. Recently refurbed, brand new tyres borbet t's. 16" with 7" up front and beer can holding 9" on the rear. They are one of the few wheels that'll sit on the brakes with no spacer.
There's more that I've forgotten but just at the moment I'm a bit spaced if I'm honest. I know I'll regret this but it's genuinely my only option.
Nothing is for sale yet, but if you think you may want something then talk to me as everything will have to go.
But I'll be back in another scirocco soon.

Sad day. Great car. :(

Tis a sad day indeed! This car has been awesome mate and I hope it goes somewhere well looked after and brought out again to play in the sun!
Been in a similar position as you but was able to keep the white lady stored! You will be back one day I am sure Jim!

This is grim. The bandit is pretty much my baseline for what I want mine to look like.