Scirocco Register

[Edit Jan 2016: All my various Sciroccos merged into one topic - some pictures now missing, sorry]


It's great to finally have a section of the forum dedicated to resto threads. Here's mine.

I bought this mk.I from a member of the old Register forum, whose username was rob_neale. He'd owned the car for some time, but it hadn't been used for a while and was in need of some fairly extensive recommissioning before being roadworthy.

I've wanted to restore a car for a while, and despite Sciroccos not being worth enough to make the costs of a restoration viable, I love them so much that I knew this was the perfect opportunity to finally restore a car.

Here it is as I bought it:















Despite it not being fun for several years, a quick change of spark plugs and HT leads had it going again:





A first glimpse of the work in store:









Hopefully more to come soon...

Or maybe I should call it Brian... the Blessed GTII.

My new project (it's a Flash Red 1992/K GTII).

The story:

Offered for sale on the old forum, then this one... originally near £1000, then £550, then £300, at which price I really couldn't resist.

Quite why no-one else wanted a one-owner from new, full VW service history, 113k miles, very late model GTII with optional extras including electric windows, electric sunroof and tinted glass, I will never understand. Surely I'm not the only one who can see past a bent bumper and a bit of dirt.

So I grabbed an early train from Birmingham New Street and headed off to Portsmouth.





Then I met up with the owner, Bill MacGillivray, and we drove in his lovely new Scirocco GT (mk.3) to see the GTII. It was exactly as expected, with an amazing service history of VW receipts and a fully stamped book, all the old MoTs and tax discs.

Although the car looks a little bit sorry for itself, in need of a good clean and some minor cosmetic work (plus that bumper replacing), the drive home confirmed it as the best Scirocco I've driven. That history makes a big difference.

Here it is as I arrived in Bedford, 150 miles or so later:









I probably won't update for a short while, whilst I spend a bit of time on my Helios GT, which will now probably have to be sold. There's always a downside!

Isabel was named by the previous owners... so I stuck with it. She's had three owners before me (although it says four on the V5C because it moved from wife to husband shortly before I bought it). The mileage is just over 100k and she's a 1.8 GT... the last of the bunch before GTIIs took over. The history is that she's seen very intermittent use and spent quite a lot of time in a barn, not being used. She drove very well on my test drive from Devises station to the owner's house several miles away with possibly the best standard brakes I've experienced in a Scirocco.

On the way home she started stuttering every now and then, losing speed, and then picking up again. I assumed it was the traditional rust in the fuel lines problem. Eventually she stopped completely on the M5 near Bromsgrove.

Here I am, waiting for a tow back to Birmingham:





The first RAC chap diagnosed it as a faulty coil, so I ordered one from GSF and fitted it. The car started... "Great!" I thought. Then the next time I went to use the car it refused to start and it was back to square one. I replaced everything I could think of in the ignition system including spark plugs and leads, distributor and distributor cap, earth leads, but still no joy.

I gave up and called the RAC out again. The very helpful chap put the distributor roughly where it ought to be, and we had it running. He didn't bugger off straight away and, surprise, surprise, it stalled again. And then wouldn't start. There was no spark. Mr RAC diagnosed a faulty ignition amplifier. Euro car parts sent me the wrong part, but markh saved the day and sent me the correct one. I finally had the car operational and went out for a victory lap of Birmingham (M42, M5, M6, M42).

Here it is, sat on the drive:









Just as I've got it running, I've bought myself an even more splendid GTII. I prefer Helios Blue to Flash Red, but the GTII has a splendid history, more toys, is newer and possibly slightly better (there's not a lot in it though). I can't really justify keeping both as they essentially fill the same hole in my life, so one of them needs to go. But which one? There's only one way to find out...

Just so that you don't think I've forgotten about this car, a quick but largely content-free update.

I had to reorganize the garage to store some stuff while two walls are demolished inside my house, so I took a quick look at the car.

I decided to have a quick go at getting the locking wheelnuts off. Since I rarely use my Imperial sockets I thought I may as well hammer one of those on; had a go at undoing the bolt and came out easily, so hopefully the other three will come out equally well.

I thought I'd try my luck at changing the wheels over as I could do with some space and intend to sell the modern 15" wheels that are on the car at the moment. I only had a VW jack handy, so stuck that under the sill... unfortunately this resulted in a brief battle with the outcome of Sill 0 - Gravity 1. I knew I was looking at new sills anyway, but this definitely confirms that there is minimal structural integrity in certain parts of the car.

In my ever-changing mind I've currently decided not to think about sending it away to be fixed (welded) at least until I've stripped it down. This is unlikely to happen until the house and garden are reasonably well-sorted, which could easily be next year. At least the car is nice and dry in the garage and I can use the time to accumulate parts needed for the rebuild.

Been thinking about this car and still not sure what to do. I was driving around in the GT this week, thinking that it would make sense to sell the GTII as it would be a lot easier to sell on and I might even make a small profit. But then I drove the GTII today and it is, in many ways, a much nicer drive than the GT... even though that's not at all unpleasant to drive. I'll probably see how much I end up having to spend at MoT time in a month or so.

I gave the outside a quick jetwash and took some pictures. With a small amount of valeting and a few obviously needed repairs I think it will come up very well.

Had a day off today (hurrah!) so made a few changes to the car. Picked up a very cheap set of unpainted bumpers from eBay so fitted them (until I can find a new Flash red front, or get round to painting one). I also replaced the broken headlight clips. I was also going to fit the boot lock seal I bought, but at the moment I'm having some difficulty undoing the screws that hold the latch to the tailgate.

[EDIT] Managed to get my proper tools out of the garage after the builders went home... boot lock seal now fitted

As I suspected the car was undamaged apart from the bumper, which is very bent.

Here's how it looks now:

A bit more time off today.

Replaced the driver's seat and vacuumed the whole of the inside, then put the VW rubber floor mats in too. I have some grey carpet mats (genuine VW) and cant really decide which to go for.

I decided to fit the Mauritius Blue seats I've had sat in the garage for a while. I'm in two minds whether to swap over the material in the door cards, or lose the grey completely and fit out a black interior like you'd normally get with these seats.



At the same time I started to install the bumper with headlight washers. I need to get new hose to connect everything up properly, so for the moment I've just taken the hose off and installed the bumper. Needs a lot of attention with some Back to Black type of stuff, but I like it so far.

Well, it took my local VW dealer (who I will never be going back to) over 3 weeks to service and not really fix the car (an hot start problem, which seemed to change into a cold start problem) for an epic amount of money.

I've had to press the GTII into service as my regular commuting vehicle, doing a 50 mile round trip every day. It's performed well, but what was a small blow from the exhaust downpipe turned into a full-on rumble at the weekend. I already had the replacement, but no time to fit it. The always excellent Harborne Garage fitted it for me and the car is now running beautifully again - £68 well-spent to avoid hours of cursing and grazed knuckles.

I've got some new wheels ready to go on (just need some tyres) and the car needs a T-cut and polish again. Once that's done I'll post up some more pics.

The new wheels are on... but sadly no pictures as I haven't finished cleaning the car yet. I'm using the Meguiar's 3-step system and only made it to the end of step 2 before it got too dark to carry on (where did the long nights go?). I'm hoping it doesn't rain overnight and I can pick up where I left off in the morning.

I also fitted a new front bumper with the headlamp washers, as the other one I had on wasn't quite straight at one corner. At some point I'll get round to plumbing/wiring in the washers properly.

Pics to follow tomorrow.

The moment you've all been waiting for...



















Just finished cleaning/took the pics before it started raining.

Then went out to do a bit of shopping and a lady in her early 40s came up to me and said, "Is that a Scirocco?... I used to have one of them, I loved it! Lovely cars!"

Jobs to do now, include:

Sort out the carb
Touch up the stone chips
Fit the new speakers
Drive it... at least 250 miles/week

...and in the more distant future:

Front lower strut brace
a light tap with the lowering stick
a sportier exhaust

No, not this one:


This one:












Currently an automatic GTL with 60-odd thousand on the clock (although a steering wheel that suggests more) and a penchant for overheating.



I think the head gasket has gone - quite a bit of creamy gunk in the oil cap, and the watery residue around the expansion cap is very oily.

I drove it home overheating nearly all of the way, save for the first 12 miles and a section after the Hill of Life (formerly known as the Hill of Death, from an Eastbound experience) on the M6.

I think that, along with a change to manual, I may as well replace the engine with something else... I will have to consider my options as I'm planning on stripping the car out and preparing it to compete in the VAG trophy.

that takes me back Ed! looks great.

Let me know if you're parting out on the eventual race build? rear scirocco gtl badge and chrome bumper inserts if not too discoloured?

See the thread in the for sale section - I'll take a look at the bits you're interested in.

Another cool project car appears