I spy Recaro's... did they come with the car or is that a future upgrade post we can look forward to ?
Hopefully it helps you sort out any issue you have. Running through the tuning guide on here is a good start. The throttle body clean really pulled all the other fixes together though. Something I didn’t mention above is that I also cleaned out all the breather parts between the rocker cover and the throttle body. They were also clogged with old dry oil, and if I hadn’t cleaned those as well the throttle body would have blocked up again in no time at all.
So following on from earlier in the thread, after looking into upgrades for the golf I became obsessed with the electric Recaro interior. The reason being I find the standard Golf seats really uncomfortable, but also because they don't seem to do the sporty nature of the GTI any justice. After seeing them in the catalog I felt they were something GTI's should have had as standard, and the search for an interior started. The stock interior in the car was in decent shape, and luckily it had the correct door cards to match the Recaro's if I could track some down. After looking around it became clear that finding a tidy Recaro interior was going to be hard, and finding a tidy set when they did come along was going to be VERY expensive. It's amazing that the same seats fitted to a Ford Escort can be bought for a third of the price of the GTI ones. That said, I wanted it to be OE spec so a set of Ford Recaros was never going to do the job. After looking far and wide I located a full interior, plus some extra door cards and carpets for sale in the midlands. They were far from tidy but everything was there and the extra bits would always be handy. I ended up chatting to the seller for a good 3 weeks before we both managed to come to an agreement on price. With the deal done and a 5 hour round trip later I arrived home with the below. On getting home I started to look over the lot in detail and it became clear very quickly that the condition and selection of items weren't going to add up to the quality of interior I wanted. I did know this when I bought them, but when it all settles in I realised at the very least I would need to find another set of front seats to mix and match parts and panels to get the result I wanted. And so the search began again... I ended up turning my focus to Europe, and I figured that looking for a LHD set of seats would give me more chance of finding clean RHS parts given that their passenger seats are our driver seats. I ended up spotting a set of fronts for sale in Germany, and without too much trouble a deal was done (Google translate FTW). Pic of the German seats from the ad: So, after doing the deal I learned very quickly that trying to import something from Germany in this day and age is a MASSIVE headache! Luckily the seller was very patient and helpful, even taking a days holiday to wait for the collection, but all I can say is that it would have been easier, and cheaper if I had literally driven to Germany and collected them. Any hopes I had of getting the interior done at a reasonable cost was well and truly up in flames by this point... Anyway, a week or so later I had 4 Recaro seats in the garage, and a lot of fixing, cleaning, and mix and matching to do. First thing I did was strip the seats down completely into all of their parts, and peel all of the fabric off each panel so that I could run it all through the washing machine, and then pic the best possible set of panels to build back up a good set of seats. There is a good thread on Vortex that describes how to disassemble the seats if anyone needs to do the same. While that was all being washed and dried I started repairing all the mechanical bits. The seat bases, motors, and loom were all in pretty bad shape. I started out by repairing the bodge job of a wiring look by soldering fresh connections, heat shrinking, and then wrapping all of the joins. I then cleaned out off of the contacts and switches and cleaned, greased, and rebuilt the motors / gear in the seat bases. At this point, it was time to start reassembling the seats with the best bits of the bunch. I was lucky to scrape together enough tidy bits to get a clean set of front seats together. A not to others trying to restore GTI Recaros. The replacement bolsters from Recaro / Capital seating are no good unless you replace all of them. I felt that the driver's side bolster wasn't quite up to scratch and ordered a replacement. The new ones are actually a slightly different shape, however, that wasn't the issue for me as a bit of carving could solve that. The problem for me is that the replacement ones are VERY soft. Way too soft to live with the existing foam in the seats which is quite firm. I ended up fitting the replacement and then pulling it out and repairing the old bolster just because the difference was so great. (more money down the tubes on this part of the project...). So after discovering that and repairing the old one I started to assemble the front seats. With the fronts ready to go into the car I started working on the rear bench. The rear bench was quite blown out with saggy fabric and a tatty back board. I stripped down the seat and threw the fabric in the washing machine. I then started restoring the frame and backboard. I rubbed down the frame with some steel wool, and then gave it a few coats of original satin black. After that, it was time to recover the backboard in carpet as there was no other way to restore the scabby card. I typically don't like covering over issues but in this case, it was my only option, and it tied into the boot and parcel shelf nicely. With that done I began to reassemble the rear bench. Many people fix the saggy fabric issue by repairing the "hems" that hold the seat rods in place. Mine were all fine, and the sagging fabric was a result of the foam in the seat fabric disintegrating over time. This loss of volume cased all of the fabric to sit loosely on the seat. I decided to buy some 5mm upholstery foam sheet, and rebuild the bench to bulk it up again. I cut pieces to the size of each panel and then used spray adhesive to lightly attach them to the seat foam. The loose fabric: The fix: Now all that was left to do was run the loom under the carpets and up to the fuse box before fitting everything into the car. The final touch was using some fabric dye to colour the faded logos back to the original red. All in all this was a massive job that took months to complete (and cost WAY more than I had originally planned). I managed to assemble all of the leftover Recaro bits to make a ratty set of seats that I sold on, and the extra door cards etc were also sold to claw back some of the costs. All in all I am really happy with the outcome, and like I said I feel like these interiors should have been standard in GTI's. That said, I wouldn't say going about it the way I did saved me any money. If you don't enjoy pulling these cars together and building them back up again you would probably be better of just holding out for a clean set to start with. I really enjoy the process though, and it feels good to know that two "bad" interiors have at least resulted in one good one. A short video of the finished interior.
Really enjoyed reading this. Love the attention to detail ie. the little diagonal lines on radio buttons matching the horn button on steering wheel. A bit ott if you’ll forgive me but I get it. I’ve got my car 90% sorted but still need to do some gear linkage bushes and heater matrix and central locking. Fortunately I can drive and enjoy in meantime. Really fantastic work and dedication to these great cars. Look forward with interest to seeing progress and getting some tips
A really interesting update as always. I admire your attention to detail and thoroughness. The prices of mk2 Recaro's continue to escalate rapidly, meanwhile mk3 Recaro's are notably cheaper. Like you say, for the factory look it has to be the mk2 versions. Although you have spent over your budget on them, wait 5-10 years and you'll get it back if you sell(!) I got my mk2 Recaro's from German ebay and drove over to collect them. That was quite an adventure. It's some years ago now when prices were less crazy. Even back then they needed some work - a couple of foam bolsters needed repairing and the frame of one of the seats needed strengthening. What cleaning materials did you use on the bases and motors?
Absolutely fantastic effort with that interior and the juice was certainly worth the squeeze at the end of it all, even if it did cost a lot more. It's amazing to see these Recaro's fully electric as I had several RS Fords over the years (before the prices went stupid) and those seats are still the best seats i've ever had in a car, so comfortable and supportive - although in the Escort RS Turbo, the fabric is quite different with a plastic Recaro logo badge, not stitched like in the VW's. I find the factory Recaro's in my Mk4 Anni are good, but firmer and you sit on them rather than in them if that makes sense - you can't beat the old ones!
Thanks for all the kind words folks. Glad you are finding a few useful tips along the way. This forum has helped me loads so if this helps others then mission accomplished haha. A few more updates from my first few months of ownership. I hate rattles and squeaks and this car is full of them. Most of them still need to be tracked down, but a major one was a rattle in the passenger door. I stripped the door a few times but could never figure out what was missing inside that made the glass on metal rattle. The noise went away when the window was wound up, but as soon as you craked it the noise came back. It literally drove me insane. After stripping both doors and comparing the driver's side to the passenger side I notice a rubber looking gutter on the top rear edge of the door. I assumed it was part of the window seal that ran down inside the door, but after asking on Facebook a very kind individual pointed out that it was a rubber piece that clipped into the door its self. An hour round trip later (and a thoroughly enjoyable chat with a fellow dub enthusiast) I arrived home with the missing piece. I slotted it into the back of the passenger door and everything was quiet once again (and my blood pressure returned to normal when driving the car ). Another thing that was bugging me was the sagging doors. You could feel them drop off the door pin when you opened the doors. I plan to get new door hinges fitted over winter, but to get it opening and closing properly throughout the summer I decided to make some door shims. I ordered a sheet of 1mm stainless steel and decided to make as many 1mm shims as I needed per side. I started by cutting out a few blanks the same size as the door hinge back plate. I was also reluctant to completely remove the hinge bolts as I was working alone and didn't have a way to hold up the door while fitting the shims. So instead of drilling a 10mm hole through them and using them like washers, I cut a horseshoe style slot in them so that I could crack the bolt loose, and then drop the shim down into the hinge gap. Surprisingly I only needed to drop one in each side and the doors lined up perfectly. I do plan to get them repaired properly over winter, but I was really surprised how well this worked, and the 1mm shim was all that was needed to get the doors sitting level again. I have loads of leftover material so if anyone needs any of these just let me know. I also tidied up a few other bits that had been bugging me First on the list was the fake BBS center caps on the wheels. Next up was a short shift kit and weighted shift rod out of a MK3. The throw on the stock gear stick was really long, and after trying the short shift on the middle setting I couldn't even notice any difference. If anyone is considering this mod it is a great one and I highly recommend it, but you need to go all the way to the longest setting to get any noticeable benefit. I also replaced the linkage bushings at the same time. The car now shifts so much better, but I think to get the most out of it I'm going to have to redo all of the linages throughout. That's a job for over winter though when the car is up on axle stands and I can get easy access to everything. WIth all of that done it was time to take the car out for its first proper drive. I headed out with a friend of mine who has a very nice VR6 and we did a few laps of Derwent Resevoir. I was really impressed with how the little 1.8 8V managed considering the company it was keeping, but the drive also highlighted how badly it needed new bushings and engine mounts...
Great work as always. The car looks great in those pics. Iconic GTI. Ref the gear linkages, have you considered the Gas n' Gears mk2 gear shift kit? It's a work of art. All stainless steel. Replaces all the shifter parts. Approx 100 quid. They have a FB page.
Yes Id love to fit one of those kits. If all goes to plan over the winter and I get to fitting the new sub frame and engine mounts I will try and fit one of their kits at the same time.
As mentioned before the car has had various areas painted over the years and they haven't been great paint jobs. The bonnet and roof are particularly bad, as the share of Tornado Red isn't quite right, and to make it worse they both have a thick layer of dusty clear coat on top! It's hard to get a pic of it but below is a shot that gives you some idea of the dust and pin head holes that are in the clear coat. All of those little white spots are imperfections, and they are over the entire roof and bonnet. After doing a bit of research I decided to try and do a heavy cut polish to try and cut through some of the clear coat and remove some of the imperfections. After watching a few reviews on Youtube it seemed like KochChemie got the best reviews and I bought two different cutting compounds and decided to give it a go. I borrowed a friend's polisher and got stuck in. I wish I had taken more pics but as I was working by myself I never got the opportunity to do so. What I will say is that the clear coat on the car was hard as rock! I used the heavy compound and a mixture of hard and medium pads. It literally took me most of the day just to work on the bonnet, and I ended up rushing the roof simply because I was running out of time. The paint came up much better but it didn't make any difference to the pin marks in the clear. I think I will need to get it wet sanded by a body shop if I really want to get rid of them. That said the paint did look much better than before. below are some snaps of the results. A week or so later I took the car for its first outing of the summer at the Ushaw College classic car show. It ended up being the only show I managed to get to this year, but hopefully I get out to a few more next year (if its back together after I strip it this winter...).
Another post I wanted to share was how to service MK2 Golf (and Corrado) electric Recaro seat switches. You see a lot of people posting about their switches not working or being temperamental. These switches are not available anymore, although I have heard that MK2 electric window switches can be used but haven't tested it myself. Anyway, after fitting my seats my switches started playing up, and as I wanted to keep the original ones I decided to see if I could service them and get them working properly again. Below is how I did it. Firstly the switches are very easy to remove. They simply push out from the side panel. It's easiest if you get your hand in from under the front of the seat. You can pry them out from the plastic trim but I didn't want to risk marking them or the plastic trim. Once pushed through you simply unplug them from the loom. Once you have the switch removed you need to open it up. The switch is held together by the toggle button, and you need to push in the pivot pins on either side to release it. It's a bit of a tricky job but if you find a suitable size tool you can do it with a bit of persuasion. I used a small torx but anything similar will do. The inside of the switch is quite simple, but all of the contacts inside are loose. That means if you aren't careful they will all fall out and bounce around the garage floor taking ages to locate... The "toggle" side of the switch had two contacts on it that are spring-loaded. The pressure from these holds the rest of the switch together. If the springs behind the contact feel weak pop them out and stretch them gently to put a bit more tension into the mechanism. The other side of the switch is a bot more complex and on opening mine I found it was packed with grease... I'm not sure if this was the source of the issue but I suspect someone had tried to remedy the "sticky" switch with grease instead of stretching out the tired springs. I cleaned out all of the grease and used a contact cleaner spray to make sure any corrosion was wiped away. The orientation of the parts is important, and once the bits are all back inside it should look like the below. Now you need to carefully push the "toggle" switch with the spring-loaded pins back into position. Make sure nothing in the other side of the switch moves while you do this. If successful it should click back into position and flick up and down nice and smoothly with a positive rebound. If it doesn't rebound nicely you might need to go back a few steps and carefully stretch the strings a bit more. Then it just plugging it back into the loom and pushing it back into the side trim. Job done and switches working as they should.
Got my response for the V888 form from the DVLA today - rejected and returned due to not being a proper reason to give out information - Cheers! Never stopped them in the past!! Oh well, worth a ago........
They returned my wife's driving licence last month after she had to renew and name changed after wedding, they had already returned all the other paperwork, certificates etc with a letter saying all in order , but the licence application back saying no supporting documents, but with the form ticked and references noted. She wasn't happy, and when I bought the bmw previous they cashed the cheque for a new v5 but then denied having the application, And on the leon v5 they have miskeyed my surname with an I instead of an O, think they are not as good as they used to be, pressure of the current climate I suppose. I'm dreading v5 off to amend.
what reason did you give to request the info? Mine was returned a few weeks ago because I enclosed too much money… had to go back to post office and change the PO down to £5 and I resubmitted. Reason I gave was that I needed vehicle history for a value appraisal for classic insurance. Should hear back any day now.
I sent a cheque for £5 which is what it always used to cost, I just said I wanted the information for personal use only to add to the car's existing history file and to potentially help with a valuation - rejected with a template letter that had no contact details or name of who sent it!
