Scirocco Register

After being a life long fan of the rocco purely for its looks as a nippa last year was the first time I was old enough and earning enough to be able to afford the insurance on one. It was also the first time I was able to convince my folks to let me buy one (sports car + old is not a good combo for us youngsters apparently).

I'm quite a specification junkie as you may have noticed looking at my posts and when I was looking for my first rocco I was looking for one exactly to the spec I wanted.

It had to be a Sapphire Metallic Scala Injection for several reasons:

1) Loved the colour
2) Body colour kit, bumpers, wing mirrors, etc
3) MFA with MPG calculator
4) Later model so hopefully more around and in better condition
5) Had luxuries such as central locking and electric windows on more later models

So I went hunting for a low mileage, good condition Scala Inj in Sapph Met.

Having previously had the following cars:

1) 1994 Nissan Micra 1.0L Red 3 dr (had it for 3-4 years)
2) 1996 BMW 320i SE (E36) Metallic Green 4 dr (Mums old car had it for a few months before I traded it due to poor fuel consumption)
3) 2005 Mitsubishi Colt Mirage 1.1 Pearl Grey Metallic 3 dr (had it 9 months loved it but just loved the rocco more..)

I had never really driven an old school car before. Although the Micra did not have power steering I was now used to it after driving a year with cars that had and was on the look out for a roc with it (in the one in a million chance it had it).

But alas Sapph met scala injections are quite rare and the very few I saw pop up in my few months searching did not really seem to be in great nick.

I tell a lie - there was one in great condition and the chap only wanted £995 for it but unfortunately he decided to keep it at the time. I then bought Wildrider and he then ended up selling it anyway.

I first saw Wildrider on ebay for sale in Surrey - the chap who owned Wildrider had had him approximately 2 years. Bought as a standard GT2, the engine was stripped and replaced with the kr 1.8l 16v injection from a mk2 golf gti valver. A 4-2-1 manifold was applied with a large bore Peco exhaust. Also a "home made power steering kit" was added. The brakes were upgraded to discs all round with 288mm on the front and mk3 gti calipers on the back. The master cylinder was also upgraded. A beestinger aerial was added and some newly refurbed 15" Le Castellet (Rivage) alloys were employed. The car was lowered 40mm on springs and a Corrado steering wheel replaced the standard GT2 one.

All this meant it was one hell of a modded GT2 in the very rare colour of Pearl Grey Metallic.

All the work was carried out by the previous owners brother (an ex vw mechanic - arnt they all!)

All this meant this standard run out GT2 with some nice perks (colour, leccy windows, remote central locking and sunroof) was turned into a meaner more modern day rocco. Ok its not a 2009 model scirocco but it has improved on alot of the older technology.

When first viewing the car it seemed rather low, a few bits of body work that needed doing up and it lived on the road. The previous owner said he had the car in the shop doing all the upgrades for the first year and in the 2nd year had only driven it about 2000 miles before then buying an Audi S4 for peanuts on ebay.

I took it for a test drive and was shocked how different a drive it was to anything id ever touched before.

Still I didnt let this put me off and I bid on the car on ebay. My dad had warned me about bidding over a certain price threshold but I really wanted this spec car - I'd never seen another rocco with power steering and still have yet to see one.

I bid on it and won it. When we picked up the car, the by now legendary brother of the previous owner was there to hand it over to me. I think he was rather aggrieved that it had sold for as little as it had (as he felt he could have split the upgrades / parts for more).

But his loss was my gain as Wildrider turned out to be a fantastic buy. Since I bought him I've also added a few of my own personal touches.

Below is the spec:

1) Factory Fitted Options

1992 Volkswagen Scirocco GT2
Pearl Grey Metallic (LA7U)
Manual
Tilt & Slide Sunroof
Electric Windows
Central Locking

2) Modifications Added To Date (The ones in blue I have done since purchasing the car)

16v Injection engine from Mk2 Golf Gti (kr) with MFA
Power Steering from a Nissan Sunny / Metro 100
Uprated Brakes (Discs All round) - mk3 callipers on brackets with 285mm black diamond grooved and vented discs, Rear discs conversion with grooved discs, mk2 servo and 22mm master cylinder
Four branch manifold with large bore Peco exhaust
15" VW Rivage Alloys (Le Castellet's)
Meta Alarm & Immobiliser with Remote Central Locking
Corrado Steering Wheel
Beestinger Aerial
Black / Red Two Tone Leather Seats & Black leather door cards
Lowered 25mm all round (Weitec Ultra GT)
Gti Headlamps
Red / Black SCIROCCO branded mats from JustMatz
OMP Anthracite Lower Front Strut Brace
K&N Air Filter
CD MP3 Player with Bluetooth
Scirocco Rear Windscreen Sticker Decal
Red Tail Lights
Smoked Indicators
Smoked Side Repeaters
Grill Spoiler
Small Fogs
Transformers Mesh Grill
Brass Clips for Parcel Shelf
Transformers Badges
16v Badges

Fixes

New Battery
New front bumper insert, cover plasticized and painted
Bonnet rubbed down, smoothed and resprayed
Front wings resprayed

3) Modifications To Come

Digifiz
Roof Spoiler

Possible modifications:

Kamei Kit
Tinted Windows
Heated Seats
Electric Mirrors
Electric Folding Mirrors
Aircon
Electric Sunroof

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I'm going to use this section to list all the issues with and what I needs doing..

Problems/ Damage / Repairs / Issues:

Diff bearing check?
Lumpy Idle on Cold Start (going away)
Scratches to sunroof & preventing them occuring again
Fuse box has loose wires protruding.
Door sill plastic cover runner connectors need replacing.
Glove box wont close properly or lock. [Does if I give it some force towards the top of the dash]
Number Plate light bulb covers need replacing.
Doors Sag a little (New door pins required)

Pics when I first got Wildrider:

Arrived July 14th 2008

Smoked Phase

February 2009

Red Phase

April 2009

Went out and changed the boot lock seal today using the new tools I picked up from Wickes.

Many thanks to Tim for helping me out with this bit.

Once I got the seal out I realised why so much water had been leaking through - 2 big chunks missing.

Much better now

First of all BIG thanks to PeteGLi without whom's guide and advice I would never have done this!

Right so I went out to the car about 6pm today on a mission.. those damn clocks were coming out!

Incase I hadnt said it enough times .. the reason I was removing my clocks was to check the speed sender on the back as my mfa doesnt work for distance travelled, average speed or mpg.

Anyway a few days ago I tried and failed to remove the clocks and can anyone guess the reason why? Yes the speedo cable cannot be removed from the front of the car! (That added with the fact I dont have a 24mm socket to remove the steering wheel didnt help).

So today I went about removing the underdash trays... not too hard I can do this ;)

Then removing the lower dash panel .. a little more tricky but I can still do this without too much hassle... :)

Then I removed the dash surround (one of the was being troublesome but again straight forward)..

This was the fun part... I wriggled with the power connectors and speedo cable for AGES trying to free them... Initially I thought the power connectors were removed but little did I know that was just the pin connectors on the clock itself.

My speedo cable only had one lug for some reason so I had to squeeze it and pull it extra hard but eventually I was able to free it!

Then I removed the power connectors.. these were actually the toughest bits - no logical method to removing them, just pull and boy were they firm in! Eventually I go them out..

Next pull the clocks foward .. simple enough right? WRONG! Its so difficult to figure out how to pull them out angles etc, especially with the steering wheel in the way! I thought I'd broken them several times...

Eventually I got them flat and pulled the vacuum cable out which was nice and well attached.

After a little jiggery pokery, hey presto! The clocks were out - how chuffed am I - no longer a newb :D

I removed the speedo sender and opened it up - seems ok but gave the pins a little reshaping anyway..

So now the clocks are ready to go back in for testing - although by this point the sun had gone down and it was too late

Im really not looking forward to putting it all back together incase it still doesnt work but only trying will see .. so more updates to come tomorrow!

Yesterday at the mini meet at clacketts services, PeteGLi was kind enough to bring along a speed sender which we fitted but unfortunately no good

I have bought a set of clocks off ebay and will try them when they arrive..

Today I had to go out and give Wildrider a quick wipe down as it was such a nice day and he desperately needed it...

Some pics:

I bought a second set of clocks from ebay but unfortunately they were 140mph (which are not compatible with the speed cable from 120 / 160 mph clocks.

In addition the set is a Motometer make rather than the VDO so I cant swap the vacuum sensor over to my set:



I changed the speed sensor over and again got some glimpses of working mpg (upto 4.0) but never consistent and so its still no good.

Im going to go and pick up a 3rd set of clocks this weekend. 160mph VDO clocks so if theyre identically Ill try them first before trying to change parts over...

Right so after finding out that the clocks I was going to see were actually MMO (motometer) I left it.

Over the past few weeks I've gotten frustrated with my clocks and my PCB is now looking rather worse for ware.

Today arrived a replacement set of 16v 160mph MMO clocks I bought off ebay for £12.50 delivered.

Fitted them and HEY PRESTO working MPG gauge!!!

Happy? Yes!

Only problem is that the mileage on them is 170k and while the mileage of my KR converted engine is unknown my shell has roughly 115k on it ..

So now I have a dilemma do I keep the clocks Ive put in? Change the speedo gauge on them running the risk they wont work once I have, buy another set close to my mileage and hold out till its about the same ...

OR ....

Buy a Digifiz for £300-400, convert it to MPH and change the mileage to reflect mine ... hmm decisions decisions...

Either way for now Im very happy to see I did 35 mpg on my test run

MOT Failed on the following items on Turs 21 May 2009

6 Points:

1) Column / Clutch pedal Steering system fouling - basically when the clutch is pressed right to the bottom and the streering wheel is turned simultaneously they catch. **DANGEROUS**

2) Nearside front brake hose has insufficient room to move resulting in rubbing on the bracket. **DANGEROUS**

3) Offside front brake hose has insufficient room to move resulting in rubbing on the bracket. **DANGEROUS**

4) Nearside front bush insecure (coming out) Suspension arm attachment bracket / mounting insecure. **DANGEROUS**

5) Centre exhaust has a mounting that does not fully support the exhuast system (rubber bracket has broken)

6) Front (both top mounting nuts loose) Shock absorber insecure (he said it was just missing a big washer on each)

Advisories (7 Points)

1) Both front to rear (at rear) Brake pipe slightly corroded

2) Both constant velocity joint gaiter deteriorated

3) Both centre chassis damaged (he said this was due to inappropriate jacking)

4) Slight dampness at fuel tank connection to fuel filler

5) Offside track rod extended (due to the power steering mod)

6) Suspension joint nearside lower dust cover split / missing

7) Power steering - non standard fitment - Pump pulley almost touching crank pulley.

Lenny125 from the other forum came over today, we set about getting Wildrider ready to pass the MOT re-test.

Work done :

1) Brake hoses correctly routed into the holders on the shock absorbers to prevent rubbing (both sides)
2) Had to remove the nearside wishbone to push the poly bush back in and re-tighten the whole thing - was hard work!!
3) Washers placed into both front top mounting nuts.
4) Centre exhaust rubber replaced with reinforced rubber
5) Drivers side underdash / backing cover replaced to prevent clutch and steering column colliding.
6) Clutch cable adjusted to sit better.
7) WUR cleaned and re-pressurised to improve idle

oh and not to mention fixing my ride-on lawn mower! All in all A HUGE thank you to lenny125 a real gent I shall undoubtedly be calling on your expert services again!

I cannot recommend this man's services enough!

Went out and rubbed down the brake lines today (front to back) and painted on some hammerite underseal - did a bit of the ARB too for good measure and anywhere I saw a bit of rust basically..

Went back for the re-test today and passed without issues .. ok there are still 6 advisories there but im happy that none of them are imperative changes at this moment in time and some probably never need changing as there isnt much I can do about it! Either way Im chuffed to bits

MY MPG GAUGE WORKS MY MPG GAUGE WORKS MY MPG GAUGE WORKS

Sorry about that but finally its working! On my original clocks too! Last week while I was removing my rear bench and trying to removed the gearknob I decided to switch the speed sender from the working set on to my original set.

Even though I managed to break one of the little clips that holds it in place it still screwed on ok.

At first it didnt appear as though it was working so I forgot about it but I randomly checked it yesterday and it seemed to be working. Double checked today and low and behold 26 MPG wooooooo!

Part 1 of 2 Updates on Interior:

Today I went out and stripped out the following bits of interior (thanks to all on help with this)

1 x Rear Bench (removed last week)
1 x Passenger Seat
2 x Door cards
2 x Rear cards

and then a few other bits and bobs..