Hi All! Bought this Alpine white GTI 8v back in December. Mechanically it appears in good shape for its 179k miles, and got a clean bill of health from the garage. It's now with the bodyshop and should be going in shortly for strip down and some welding before being prepped for a respray. I've been promised pictures from the shop as work takes place so will share them here in case anyone is interested! In the meantime I've been buying a few bits for it: Four light grille: GTI badge for said grille: A set of BBS RM's which have been powder coated grey - wouldn't have been my first choice of finish but I got a good price and they are totally mint! They have a 2 inch lip so I'm crossing my fingers that they fit but prepared for the possibility that they won't without some arch work. And a parcel shelf which I don't have a picture of and some uprated rear speakers to replace the 6x9's installed in the boot(??). Was hoping someone could help with sourcing a new front lower spoiler? Or does anyone have any first hand experience of the ones that VW Heritage are selling? The note about them not being of the best quality puts me off but tempted to take a punt. This is the first time I've had this amount of work done on a car and can't wait to get going and to enjoy it over the summer! Looking forward to advice from people here too! Cheers, Dan
Do love a build thread Looking forward to seeing more, you keeping it the same colour? I've got a front spoiler on my GL but was on the car when I got it so I can't say how easy/difficult they are to fit as I think there are two types one that's just one length and another that comes in two pieces. Personally I would phone heritage and see what one they sell and how easy they are to fit before parting with any moola in case you need to do some fettling to get it to fit right. What else you got planned for it?
Hi Dj - yes, will be staying the same colour. Never used to be a fan of this colour but it's really grown on me. I'm aiming to keep it as original as possible (besides the wheels and suspension). Cheers for the advice, I'll give them a call. It currently has a non GTI front spoiler so will be wanting the deeper one. Dan
I actually like white GTi's don't see many these days. Personally I would have the BBS wheels powder coated in gold just to offset the white but silver does look good too. The spoiler you currently have looks similar to the one on mine (just in better nick, joys of being lowered) Well I wish you the best with it and look forward to seeing how it progresses. Oh and welcome to the forum.
Went to see the car last weekend - no progress as yet as it's a busy bodyshop, but fitted some upgraded Alpine speakers in the rear parcel shelf supports and got a picture of the engine bay, which I think looks really good for a 27 year old car!
Well done for saving it gotta love a white small bumper ..what is that lump on top of the dash?? Plasma screen?
Good spot Damien - it's a stack speedo. At some point it will be removed and I'll get the original one working. I'll get some pics up soon, but the car has now had a shedload of welding to the A-pillars and boot lip, has two new front wings, a new passenger door (and some welding to a couple of the other doors), new inner and outer arches on the passenger side (and soon the same on the offside) a new scuttle panel and a new lower rear valance is on the way! Has been far more work than the bodyshop anticipated!
Not at the moment, but will get in touch when it's off the car. This won't be for a while I'm afraid....
Wings & scuttle test fitted: Offside rear arch test fitted: Paint going on the inside of the arches and scuttle panel:
maybe a dumb question from this newbie but would you take one of these cars down to metal or scuff, repair, block then paint? i'm dealing with my first project on my own and i think the local shop steered me wrong and gave me the high build primer which does stick to metal. BUT i moved to a new place with more room to work and noticed that my hood failed with lots of big cracks and this was after it was block sanded for paint, glad i didn't. all the other panels i did the same week in epoxy are still fine 6 months later. after searching online more since then it seems epoxy is better as a sealer inbetween barriers to help with reactions?
I would knock it back, repair, prime local or panel depending on repairs then guide coat then block back Also would never use high build
New lower valance cut and welded in, new front door test fitted, rear inner and outer arches welded in. And one of the BBS RM's test fitted :-) Then readied for primer: Then in primer: Paint should start going on towards the end of this week, but I now need to source a new sunroof seal (80?? Seems steep but I guess it is 2.5 metres long!) and a few other bits. Can't wait to see it sprayed!
Great work Will get there quickly now as that's the main part done then parts can go on as they are painted Sunroof seal is worth it though