Scirocco Register

First post, first VW!

Spotted this on Gumtree in early September, not very often they pop up in rural Aberdeenshire. Went with the intention of having a look, ended up putting money down on it there and then, helped by the fact that that it had been sitting for a couple of months, the seller had another one himself and knocked a few hundred off the price! Been enjoying it relatively trouble free for the past couple of months, racking up ~3000 miles in the process.

It does have a fair few niggly problems that I'm slowly working my way through. The LCD clock/MFA screen has leaked and has no back light, the alternator makes some pretty comical noises, as do the blowing exhaust, the rattling heat shields, and the HORRENDOUSLY noisy blower motor. Hot air only comes out of the middle vent and the screen demister, the others are all cold all the time, which will be a barrel of laughs in the upcoming Scottish winter. Some of the switches don't illuminate, and most recently the horn and central locking have decided to give up. When first started in the morning it springs into life for all of two seconds before dying again, this is repeated 2-3 times before it'll sit and idle nicely. The idle needs looking at anyway, as it usually idles around 700RPM, accompanied by a flashing oil warning light. And if you turn it off, wait an hour, and go back to start it, you have to crank it for the best part of 15 seconds before it'll splutter into life - suspect leaky injectors but yet to investigate.

Paintwork is also knackered. The guy who owned this before the previous owner had clearly never used a mop before and polished it to death, taking off the paint on nearly every edge and leaving some nice swirl marks on the bonnet. The silver lining to this is that it hasn't gone pink! Not too fussed about the paintwork really, it gets muddy every few days and will be used all year round so might as well just keep it how it is. The wheels it came on also need a refurb, but I'll get that sorted over winter so they're ready for spring, which up here usually comes around the end of April.

On the plus side, the interior is mint, not even any wear on the seat bolsters. The sunroof works fine and doesn't leak, it has a comprehensive service history, it's had a new clutch, it pulls like a train and stops straight and true. There is also minimal rust, a few scabs on the doors and tailgae but nothing structural. Quite different to my other car, a 1969 Morris Minor that's just undergone about 2 years of work!

Work done so far: fitted a rubber bush to the accelerator pedal after it slipped off a couple of times (foam bush was disintegrating), fitted a 90's Pioneer tape deck (oddly enough removed from my old 2004 MG ZR, and has actually been in every car I've owned since then) and some Alpine speakers, a K&N panel filter and a spare set of badly rattle canned snowflakes with some nice new Michelin winter tyres. Fitted a new 12V socket, and in the process broke the little panel in the dash, so that's currently held in with electrical tape. Fitted some hinges so the parcel shelf actually goes up with the boot, and fitted a 3rd LED brake light, yet to be wired in. Also added a slightly more permanent interior mirror as the previous owner was using the driving instructor suction cup type!

Future plans involve fitting oil temp, oil pressure and voltage gauges, I have all the gauges but haven't got a hold of the senders etc yet. I've also got a Thunderpole CB radio left over from Rust2Rome just waiting to be fitted It's running on -40mm springs, so it's sitting about where I want it to, but it is in desperate need of some better dampers, not quite sure whether to go for new dampers or go for full coilovers yet. Eventually I'd like to get a fast road cam, some strut braces, a nice Jetex exhaust and maybe some slightly wider wheels, but we'll see how that pans out. And maybe a garish steering wheel. Also on the lookout for some red bumpers/mirrors as I'm fairly certain the Scala should have them...

Pictures from about a month ago:

Welcome!
Moved here so people can follow easier and it doesn't get lost in amongst general chat.

Red scala should indeed have cc'd bumpers but I love the black bumper look on a red car - keep it!

Looks good.

Welcome

Normal for the side vents to just blow out cold air, that's how VW made them (and Mk1 Golfs) Hot air from center vent, windscreen and at the floor.
I find the heater very good and gets nice and warm quickly so if your is not not very good could be the thermostat is stuck open?
If the have the MFA switch on the end of the wiper stork you will have oil temperature on the display along with time traveled, distance, average speed, MPG and outside temperature.

Only way to fix the bled display is change it for another one. There is a few guides out and look at Mk1 golf cabriolet as well as they have the same running gear/electrics etc as the Scirocco.

If using the car all year round check the fuel filler neck as it's a great mud trap just above it and they do rust out and water/grit in the fuel injection system causes alsorts of headaches and expense so clean around the metal filler neck and keep it treated and in good condition as they are not the easiest thing to get hold of new.

Wow, so this was quickly forgotten about. Time for a 7 month update, now that I've done >10k miles! I'll condense it as much as I can. I apologise for any vertical/Instagram photos, I've switched phones and can't find all my photos.

So, blower motor was changed without taking the dash out of the car by splitting the casing and doing it all from the engine bay. Whoever discovered that, hats off to you my good sir/madam. Made it much more bearable to drive!
In December I took it on a 1500 mile trip round the UK to see some relatives after my exams. Had to do a soup can repair to the exhaust before I left, but it was faultless the whole way - even took on storm Barbara on the way back up.



A guy in Aberdeen was selling a very crusty Scirocco with a set of Sparco seats and subframes, so I made him an offer for the seats and he took it. So for a few months it had a set of bucket seats in it. However my head was hitting the roof over bumps with them as low as I could get them, so they eventually came out. I still plan on cleaning them up and restoring them to possibly put them back in depending on what I do with the car in the next couple of years. We'll see.
Also got my set of VDO gauges and senders fitted, so I can see how awfully low/awfully high the oil pressure/oil temperature are respectively. Excellent.



Come February, the fog lamps started not working intermittently, and given that every metal part of them was rusted beyond repair I opted for a new set of Hellas to smarten it up. Quite a bit larger than the originals but quickly got used to that. Fitted a new alternator at the same time as the old one was howling like it was in pain, and it was definitely annoying the neighbours due to my late night driving habits.



Slightly unrelated, but late in February a group of friends went to Aviemore for a stag do, and because we're all broke students I went in my flatmates car to save on fuel costs. Photo is of his K reg 900i over the very snowy yet very sunny Cairn O' Mount on the way back. He crashed it into a fairly hefty fence post a couple of weeks later and decided to suspend retro motoring for the time being. RIP in peace 900i.



MOT due in April, I thought apart from a couple of small electrical faults and a more permanent fix for the exhaust it would pass no bother. So the day after handing in my dissertation, I slept for a bit, then drove it out to our friendly neighbourhood mechanic in the middle of nowhere to sort it out and stick it through the MOT, and got the loser cruiser back to town. I was rudely awoken the next morning to a 10 minute phone call listing all the problems he'd found - both front shocks were goosed (which I'd slightly suspected but didn't think they were that bad), it had a broken spring (which due to being unknown-brand lowering springs meant a new set all round), both sections of the exhaust that I'd soup-canned together were rotten, and it needed two wheel bearings, ARB brackets, a CV joint and two CV boots. After I was a bit more conscious and dressed I decided to ask him to sort it rather than limp it home and try it myself. My first big bill from the Rocco :( But all the better for it.



So after the extended stay at the garage, I decided to go on another 1500 mile cross country adventure post-exams to pick up a couple of presents for myself after a hellish year - a pair of original roof rails, and an old Fender Jazzmaster that I'd been lusting over for a month. One of the roof rail brackets has a sheared captive bolt, so I'll need to get that sorted before carrying anything on it. It did come with a set of cross bars, but they were so far gone that they had to be cut off once I was home, so currently on the lookout for a set that are narrow enough.




The journey would've been pleasant, had it not been the hottest and sunniest week in the history of Britain, and if my heater hadn't been stuck on hot. I'll tell you, rattling down the motorway with both windows and the sunroof open, with a roof rack on, makes quite the racket. Also first time driving in London, being a country bumpkin. But here, have a picture of it in sunny North Wales:



Made it home safely again, though a small rattle had started coming from the front driver's side wheel. Turns out the threads on the lower strut bolt were gone, so it couldn't be tightened and the strut was wobbling and banging all over the place. New one in and so far, it seems to have pretty much solved the problem - there's still something not quite right but further investigation shall be conducted at a later date.

Then, disaster struck! Heavy overnight rain essentially turned the downhill road to our house into a river, which all flowed right into our garage. As it's an old barn, L shaped with the long section on a slope, with both of my cars (and an open container of dirty oil) at the bottom, the water flowed right past my dad's Bedford and E30, and both the Rocco and the Morris ended up 18 inches deep in silty, oily water :( So the Scirocco had four small ponds in the footwells (feetwell? no, that can't be right). And because there are so many ways for oil to get out of an A series, there are so many ways for water to get into it, and the Morris had grey oil. At least there are so many ways for the water to drain out of the interior!






But after a couple of days of hard work, both cars were largely back to normal. Good job, because 3 days later me and some friends set off on the NC500. Guess which one was the most economical despite being driven just as hard... Also the most fun to drive, but I'm biased.



Roof Rails also make an excellent drying rail, and because the paintwork is that rough I don't have to worry about scratching it by lying on the bonnet.




Plus, props to the Scirocco for carrying everyone's luggage as the mini could only fit one rucksack in the boot, and still having space for a passenger - two at a push.

And that pretty much gets you up to speed! Finally fitted a new heater valve so I don't have to drive with the windows open all the time. Put new throttle and clutch cables in a couple of days ago, and it's like driving a normal car now! Unfortunately the gear selection has really deteriorated over the past few days, with 1st and 2nd now a bit of a challenge to engage, and the odd popping out of 5th if you didn't put it in quite right. Short shift and bushes ordered, though I fear it may be another trip to the mechanic as my garage is still unusable and most of the work is under the car.

After the gear linkage is sorted, it's going for a visit to one of my dad's friends to sort the starting problem that's been plaguing it since I got it, though I have to say it's running better than ever. Once I've got the funds it will be getting a set of Koni adjustable shocks, as the combination of lowering springs and standard shocks is dreadful to say the least. I also have a new MFA screen to fit and some general troubleshooting to do with it once I work up the courage - I'll change the speedo cable at the same time to see if that cures the wobbly needle. I also still need to get the wheels refurbished - local place quoted £150 per wheel for diamond cut. So, safe to say I'm currently looking elsewhere! I've almost bought some G60's about 3 times, but after running it on these scruffy snowflake alloys over winter I've grown to like the look. I'll be redoing the winter wheels myself once they're off - not sure what colour yet. And as long as I can get the nice set redone for a decent price, I think I'll be sticking with snowflakes for a while.



Anyway, enough vain shots of my scruffy car. I'm off job hunting since in 3 weeks I'll be a graduate, and thus an unemployment statistic if I don't pull my finger out.

good thread, looks like you have a love for the car