The $500 saved from the scrapper Cabriolet

[Mr.Nobody]

(Sorry for the rambling at the start)
So as some have you have seen in the chitchat thread me and my gf got a 91' Cabriolet, it is a Digi II 8v auto with 194,xxx miles. There is a story behind me getting this, I original thought I was buying it in December. It was giving to the tow yard my mom worked at(retired in January) in October, it was actually put up in auction twice but didn't sell. My mom happened to mention it to me when she contacted me to get a hold of my younger half brother about a BMW that just came in.

So I went to look at it and instantly saw the gem hiding under the dirt. So I made a offer to my moms boss'dad who was over seeing the company while my moms boss was in drug rehab. He said he was going to go see him the following weekend and would talk to him about it, but he said to consider it mine. So I looked for a intake tube for it because the one on it was shot, I found one and bought it.

The next weekend came around and her boss said no, he made a unreasonable counter offer for a car that had been sitting 2 years at that point. So I was pissed and bummed out. So for a few months after that we looked at other Cabriolets and Cabrios but didn't buy one and honestly both of us gave up on the idea of getting one. And both of us had starting dipping into the funds we had put aside for it.

Fast forward to Tuesday, I was at work and my mom sent me a message asking if I was still interested in it, I said "YES!", she then told me out of the blue her former boss contacted her about it. Said if I didn't still want it, it was going to the scrapper. So I got a hold of the gf to check on the fund situation and if she was interested in it, she said yes. So I got a hold of my moms former boss and made a deal on the phone.

So I got there through a new battery in it, changed the cts(knew it was bad from when I looked at it previously) and installed the intake tube I had bought, but luckily never sold, turned the key and it fired right up! And amazingly for me being the first person to drive it on the road in 3 years it drove really nice.

So now for pics:
The body is really straight, just one tiny ding under the passenger taillight and some scrapping on the bumpers.
And it looks like somebody tried to get in the the passenger door handle.




Door handle damage

Bumper scrapes

[Mr.Nobody]

The interior is dirty, but everything looks like it will clean up well. The drivers seat has two split seams that my gf is going to repair herself.



Not a single crack in the dash!


The one rip in the inner top.

The split seams.

The passenger side floor was soaked and gross!

But I vacuumed it, pulled the sound deadening, padding and dried it off. No surface rust thankfully!


That is it for tonight I will post more tomorrow night.

[VDubVirus]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr.Nobody

for a few months after that we looked at other Cabriolets and Cabrios...

Is there a difference between a cabriolet and a cabrio that I'm unaware of?


Grats on the cabby. Seems a lot of folks are getting new older cars, these days.

[Mr.Nobody]

Cabriolet is MkI, Cabrio is MKIII and MK3.5, don't know why Volkswagen shortened the name.

[VDubVirus]

Ahh. Guess that is right. I never paid attention to the badging. Same diff in my book.

[Mr.Nobody]

Time to finish the introduction.

So I finally got a chance to really look over the engine compartment yesterday. Have to say was very happy with what I found. The only oil leak I could find was where the intake tube was torn at the pvc. Checked the oil, it was at a good level and looked clean. Same with the tranny fluid, power steering fluid and brake fluid. I will be flushing all the systems as time and money allow, brake fluid being first followed closely by the coolant as it has Prestone in itOverall it looks like before it was parked it had been taking care of.





So now the fix it portion of the introduction. Besides needing fluid flushing and to be deep cleaned a 100 times there is a few other concerns. One being I need to figure out the noise coming from the front end. I am pretty sure the front rotors are toast, they are still covered in thick rust spots even after driving about 30
miles. The windshield is shot and has to be replaced before we really start to drive it at all. The windshield washers don't work, I took everything apart today and cleaned and found that the pump is shot.

There is several electrical things to look into. Only the lights, clock and speedometer work in the cluster, the tach, gas and coolant gauges do not. There is several random bulbs that need replacing. I am just going to pick a area and start unplugging things and cleaning the connections to figure out what needs to be replaced and what dosen't.

The top needs to be replaced and we might have found a completely top assembly for cheap, but I am worried the CL seller is going to flake. When we were email back and forth today to set up a day and time. And in the last couple I asked for his address so I could get directions and he never replied.So we will see what happens.

So there is really no set plans or goals for this car, it is are third car and will get things when it can. I have a bunch of projects I need to finish on my Jetta first before I can really focus on this. I did drive it to work today and blew out/shoveled out the rain tray it was full of crap,here is a pic of about a 1/4 of the crap they came out of it.


Thats it for now.

[Iroczgirl]

Very nice though! I'm sure you'll have it sorted in no time.

[Mr.Nobody]

Thanks and I hope so. Me and the gf went to p-n-p and got a couple odds and ends, tomorrow we are checking out one being parted out by a private party.

[Mr.Nobody]

Me and the gf went and checked out a cabby being parted out and scored big! We got a complete top assembly, boot cover, chrome trim, door handles,seat belts,windshield,carpet and other odds and ends for only $200!
All I got right now is iPhone pics, camera won't load onto the computer for some reason.

The score!



And we installed the windshield today.

[joel]

geezz.. good deal

[Mr.Nobody]

We could hardly believe how cheap we got everything for.

[Mr.Nobody]

After work I changed all the fuses for new ones, cleaned the windows, vacuumed the glass up from pulling the old windshield. I also changed the wiper blades and tried to get the windshield washers working but failed. I have 4 pumps and none worked, but I am guessing there is something else going on. I know that when I pull the switch it is sending power to the pump, I am thinking the ground is bad, so tomorrow I am going to ground it directly to the body.

I also repaired my ghetto fix to get home. The plastic clip holding the CTS broke when I changed it, so I did this.

I replaced both sensor clips with the metal versions.
Crappy plastic one.

Metal replacement ones.

[Mr.Nobody]

Did some more diagnostic work on the windshield washers today, 3 out of the 4 pumps I have are bad. The one good one is from a MkIII, so I just changed the plug ends to use it, but they still are not working. Even though when I pull the switch it triggers my test light, I think I need to pull the steering wheel and clean the switch connections, the test light is kinda dim when it lights up.

[Mr.Nobody]

Almost forgot I ordered a new 10v voltage stabilizer so I can fix the instrument cluster.

[Mr.Nobody]

Package came for it today, included a shift knob and owners manual both were missing from it.

[Iroczgirl]

It's all in the little details.

[Mr.Nobody]

I bought a little file kit and cleaned the windshield wiper contacts and now I have washers!

I had to do a little emergency roof handle adjustment , it started down pouring and it started leaking pretty good. It is for the most part sealed up. Need to get the new top on ASAP.

Friday night I pulled the driver seat out and took it apart. Yesterday my girlfriend fixed the seams and then we spent a couple of hours cleaning and moisturizing both front seats. I will get pics up in a day or two.

This morning I replaced the bulb in the heater control panel.

[Iroczgirl]

Yeah, leaks are horrible. Especially in Seattle. I had one Jetta that could never keep its trunk dry.

[Mr.Nobody]

I have been checking it randomly through out the day and found two more little leaks the plugged for the time being. We plan on putting the new top on soon as possible. I also dug around in all my misc little parts bags and came up with a bulb for the gear selector, just need to figure out a bulb for the headlight switch and all the interior lights will be working.

[Mr.Nobody]

Here is the pics of the seats I promised.

Drivers seat had a couple of split seams so I took it apart and the gf did what she could to fix them up.










A Couple of shots to show how dirty the passenger seat was.




And after a couple of hours of cleaning and moisturizing the finished product.




I tackled a small project after work today, unfortunately someone in the cars past tried prying the passenger door handle off.



I happened to come across one Armor door plate at p-n-p


So I threw it on, the handle operates normally but I can only lock the door from it. It isn't catching the trigger in the door when I try to unlock it. I am going to pull the door card and see if there is anything I can do to make it unlock, we will eventually just track down a new door.

[joel]

those seats look a lot better.. good job!

[alxdgr8]

Quote: Originally Posted by joel

those seats look a lot better.. good job!

+1, those look great! What did you use on them?

[Mr.Nobody]

Thanks! I am trying to track down a set of MKII GTI sport seats so I can use the bases. That way both seats are height adjustable, only the drivers seat is and the height adjuster is broken. The metal tab the end of the rod goes into snapped off

[Mr.Nobody]

Quote: Originally Posted by alxdgr8

+1, those look great! What did you use on them?

Lexol cleaner and conditioner.

[Mr.Nobody]

When I got home from work I got all the side marker lights working.