a1topdog

I finally got round to replacing the seal on the gearbox and found a fitted the missing driveshaft heat shield

Had a catch up with a fellow enthusiast yesterday. The work he has put into his ex Thames Valley police Omega to bring it back to spec is outstanding.

All cleaned up and back together

Spot the massive lump of sealant that someone had filled up the space infront of the half moon gasket with.

I thought I'd tackle what should be a fairly easy job....camcover gaskets and tensioner chain half moon and gasket. Unfortunately for me the last person use tons of unnecessary sealant which took ages to clean up, and the timing chain tool just didn't loosen up the chain enough to get the old gasket out. In the end I slackened off the cam caps on both cams just to give the tensioner an extra bit of wiggle room. I cleaned everthing thing up and reassembled. Just one perished breather ripe to replace.

Any recent updates? Have you solved the gearbox leak?

Great progress. I'm in the middle of tackling all the same jobs, just not as quickly as you!

Last update for now. I've finally got the interior looking presentable. I've mixed and matched a few sets of seats and door cards to get to this stage. I still need to swap over some front seat base foams, but over all its 1000x better then the tip it was when I got it.

So what's next. Top priory is the gearbox/diff output seals. I'll do that myself. Then the timing belt, waterpump and thermostat. Even though I fancy having a crack at it, now I'm using the car and can't afford to have it off the road should things go wrong, so I'll probably put it into my local VW specialist. After that I need to cure some oil leaks from the cam cover and sump. Might as well replace the oil pick up pipe while I'm in there. And then at some point will replace the rear beam and rear brake pipes, and all of the front suspension. As you can see from the above pics, it's all very rusty. So still plenty more to do. Ah, and I still need to finish turning it back I to a police car!

And as it stands now with a years ticket on it. YeeeeeHaaaaa. (I know I've got to raise the rear exhaust box a bit!)

And new hoses fitted and new securing clips. On this car I tend to replace every bolt and fixing I touch. It's just not worth the hassle latter if I skimp and reuse the old stuff.

I was dreading doing the brake Flexi hoses as I was sure the hard brake line fixing would be seized and snap. I used plenty of penetrating oil, wire bushed what I could and took my time. Do not even attempt this job if you don't have correct sized flared open end spanners and suitable sockets. It will end in disaster. Before pics (I had changed the bleed nipple first)

I cleaned up and re greased the track rod arm and used a bit of red grease to help slip the gaiter onto the rack.

Gaiter done and new track rod end while I was at it. I cleaned up the track rod and gave it a quick lick of paint.

I've had the car just over a year and never driven it. Even though I'd done a ton of work and it wasn't yet completed I thought I'd put it in for an MOT. Remember I bought it with a clean MOT, no advisories. It should sail through 😂. Suprise, suprise it failed. 1 perished steering rack gaiter and the front brake Flexi hoses. Also some advisories on the rear brake pipes. I was quoted 3.5hours to do the gaiter and front brake pipes. No thank you, I'll do it myself.

The original headlights on the car were knackered. Broken adjusters, burnt bulb holders, cut wires and missing covers from the rear. I found a lovely replacement set and fitted them. This pic shows one original next to the replacement

Thanks, getting there. I need do a bit of suspension work next then start using it. Can you believe this car came with nearly a full years MOT. There were so many issues that should have been MOT failures, some I've not even documented yet. Lucky I wasnt expecting much and bought the car expecting problems and knowing I could do most of the work myself. Someone else could have easily been burnt.

Agree, collection would be the best. I'll make some enquires, but don't hold them for me, as it would be a long shot to be able to get up there.

Right down near Gatwick airport, a place called Horsham

And now the headlight slotted in a treat, and lines up as it should do. I can actually see the adjusters now. I can also now easily remove the headlight with the front plastic bumper fitted.

It was only the crash bar that was bent. No damage to the front panel or chassis legs. Fitted, before and after.

I got lucky and found a brand new genuine crash bar at an excellent price. Shame the courier decided to drop it on its end and bend it! Luckily it's only minor, I'll sort that out

And I wasn't wrong. Look at the state of it.

So this is the issue with the headlight. There is a big space between the top lug and the car front panel, yet both sides of the headlight fit flush against the panel as they should. Also there was no way the headlight could be removed with the plastic bumper cover fitted. I was suspecting the crash bar was bent.......

Got the degreaser out. That's better.