The $500 saved from the scrapper Cabriolet

[Mr.Nobody]

Yesterday I put close to two hundred miles on it and no problems with the cluster, yay! Also I have really noticed lately it is just running and driving great. Like all cobwebs have been shaken loose and it is in a happy little groove, after sitting for three years.

[Mr.Nobody]

Jacked it up to check why the exhaust was suddenly louder and why I could smell it right under the driver door, found that mid muffler was cracked in the front. So just placed a order for a Techtonics Tuning cat back with a Magnaflow muffler and all new hangers.

[VDubVirus]

Love TT exhausts. Both my Mk1 & Mk2 have them. Been wanting to remove the resonator on the Mk1, though.

[Mr.Nobody]

All I have ever used on my watercooled cars is TT exhaust.

[Mr.Nobody]

Exhaust came today!

[Mr.Nobody]

Scheduled it in at Fine Tuning for the time belt and all the front seals to be replaced on Thursday.

[VDubVirus]

Those pictures are full of win.

[Mr.Nobody]

Lots of stuff done to it this week. Thursday Fine Tuning changed the timing belt, tensioner, all the front seals and water pump. Yesterday I changed the exhaust and some vacuum lines. This morning I finally replaced the right taillight backing plate, so the blinker will work all time instead of when it wants.

[Mr.Nobody]

http://youtu.be/tcUgFqgeQC0
How in the hell do you get the video just post instead of the link?! I have tried billion different ways and I can't figure it out?

[VDubVirus]

Tony, if you figure it out, I would love to know.

[Mr.Nobody]

[Mr.Nobody]

Took it on a long drive with the top down and love the sound of the new exhaust.

[Mr.Nobody]

Since there is no intake set ups available for Cabriolets, I came up with one. I scored a Digi II ABD Racing MKII set up for basically nothing, to see if I could make it work.


Once it arrived I discovered I could make it work easily. So I ordered a few more supplies. A K&N air filter, heat shield and some thermo heat barrier.




First I applied the thermo barrier to the heat shield.



Next it was time to remove the old air box.


With the air box removed there is a bracket with a hole in it that the rear mounting post for the stock airbox. This where I will mount my bracket.


But before I did that I needed to do something about the vacuum hose from the throttle body to the air box.




I used a little rubber cap to close it off.




So I bolted the bracket in place to start working on getting everything in place.


I discovered I was little off in my measurements on how much space I had for the filter so it was going to be a tight fit. I had to twist the bracket a little to make everything fit good.

[Mr.Nobody]

The last thing I did was remove the snorkel from the stock air box and mounted it so it was blowing under the filter when in motion.




After putting everything together I took it for a 50 minute drive and couldn't be happier with the results. Breathing so much better. And after I got back the heat shield and filter were cool to the touch.

[joel]

that's cool

I know it was shown, years ago, that the mk2 intake was actually more efficient and produced cleaner intake air than aftermarket systems did. Shaping the air is important.

I do wonder about many current intakes though... they seem like they're just an afterthought in engine bay layout, and are designed more to be quiet than for any level of performance

[Mr.Nobody]

Friday the oil light started blinking at stop lights, even though level and temp were good. Also it was reading .5 bar so I was confused, but it was due for an oil change. So today I changed the oil and it still did it when warmed up to operating temperature. I am thinking the dual pressure sensor is bad. After I changed the oil and started it up it only maxed out at 3.5-3.75 bar and it should have been reading a full 5 bar. So I need to dig around and find my other spare one, since I used the other one I knew where it was yesterday on the Jetta.

[Mr.Nobody]

Finally going to get some work done to it this weekend. Some quick interior repairs, getting parts that have been sitting around for awhile on the car. And I am finally going to detail the paint, only a year after buying it! Tonight I installed a used but good header seal, the one that was on the car was crusty and squished. Also switched the inner door handles from the black ones to ones from a earlier Rabbit that are chrome. Also repaired some loose leather on the drivers door card. Had to pull it all loose, remove the old staples and restaple it.

Before



After



Before


After


Before/during


After

[Mr.Nobody]

Yesterday I did the interior, while I was doing I pulled the Fischer tape holder out and discovered that it is a lit one, so I replaced the bulb. Today I detailed the paint, came out better than I thought it would, but not as good as I hoped.

[Mr.Nobody]

Before


After


Before


After


Before


After

[buddylove]

looks really good!

[Iroczgirl]

Looks much better than before!

Edit: Sad to see the Ballard condo craze has reached your neighborhood.

[Mr.Nobody]

It did a long time ago, Ballard isn't even recognizable anymore.

[Iroczgirl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr.Nobody

It did a long time ago, Ballard isn't even recognizable anymore.

I'll have to visit the area sometime...I last lived in Ballard in 2008, I'm sure it has changed a lot since then. I do remember the Denny's and Sunset Bowl closing.

[Mr.Nobody]

Both are huge condo buildings now.

[Mr.Nobody]

Changed to oil pump today, upgraded to the ABA pump. Picked up a new steering wheel for it at the vintage meet swap meet, gots me motivated to finally get rid of the air bag wheel.