nutters_uclan

Thanks all, much appreciated! Hopefully I can make a breakthrough with the white one tomorrow, but if not I'll look for a black or anthracite one. Definitely not keen on hearing aid beige 🤣

I'm still working away on the interior. The dirt coming out of these carpets is unreal, but I just can't seem to get the stains out. I've changed their colour (they are now yellow to match the exterior!), but they just won't shift. Admittedly almost all of it will be hidden by a fresh set of mats (£130?! wtf!) but I'll know it's there. I've tried our generic Vax shampoo, then Vanish Gold Upholstery foam, and now No Nosense carpet cleaner from Screwfix. Any tips would be gratefully received! I've actually sourced a cheap black carpet from a MK4 Golf and it looks like it's in really good shape. I'm tempted to take the easy way out, here, but I really wanted to keep everything original if possible. Still, the combination of terrible weather and the fact that the entire interior has been ripped out has revealed another (albeit minor) leak in the driver's footwall just by the door. Better to find out now and solve it, before it gets worse and I'm in a damp cabin!

Thread revival! Does anyone know if there's a difference between the mk4 golf 3-door and 5-door carpets? I suspect not, but checking before I pull the trigger and buy one. I've tried my best to get the original white carpet looking good, but 19 year's worth of dirt stains are proving very stubborn.

Got mine out today and was wondering, what did you guys do to clean the underlay? Mine is definitely holding in a lot of odour, but the top of the underlay is pretty smooth and solid and I'm not sure the underneath would withstand a vaxing. Vanish foam and then vac when dry, perhaps?

Sick eh? I've now got the interior carpet and underlay out too. I'm hoping a total clean will really benefit the look and smell of the car! Thankfully, no rust or evident water leaks have ever plagued the cabin/floor. Phew. Any tips on getting vRS white back to it's original best? I'm on my 3rd attempt to clean the driver's seat...still got some stubborn stains in there.

I think it may have sold already - link PS: sorry to hijack your project log, a1. Keep it up, I'm finding it really useful.

Yeah, I got the hidden screw out! Thanks for the warning though. You, sir, are bloody marvelous. Thanks for the assistance.

Well, this picture has saved some effort. Hopefully! Cheers Dean. I'm actually trying to get the centre console out, but I thought the handbrake was an insurmountable obstacle! I'd rather leave the handbrake cover where it is...how did you manage to get the console past it?

How does the handbrake cover come off a vRS? Mine doesn't have the clip underneath, as described above. It feels as though it is just glued on.

How rare is it for these to come up? One has just been posted for sale in Nottingham.

A sunny day can only mean one thing! Head for the beach? Nah! I took the opportunity to start cleaning the interior. What an exciting life I lead. I didn't think the interior looked too shabby, but the Vax waste water tells another story. A bit dirty, sure, but not this bad! I've still got to do the leather parts of the seats and carpet of the whole car (it's coming out to do that!), but I already managed to extract this... Minging! And I think the driver's seat is going to need at least one more attempt at getting it vaguely white.

They also sell the fronts!

Demon Tweeks lists these as MK1 vRS compatible

Damn water ingress! I knew it was a common fault and so I asked about this when buying the car. The seller wasn't aware of any issues, although the boot liner did indicate this had been a problem before. Then, after a heavy week of rain I was greeted with this. Balls. Anyways, I actually have water ingress pooling on both sides of the car in the same place, but because of different types of leaking. It's pooling in these cavities behind the lights; The Offside (pictured above) is running in from higher up, along the tailgate itself and behind the plastic speaker/parcel shelf mount. It then drips down when it reaches the lowest point. You can see the drip forming here; The nearside issue seems to be clearer; it's the seal around the rear light, from what I can tell. The orange dirty water marks suggest so, but may also indicate this is also occurring (or was a previous issue) on the offside as well. Oh joy! At least it gives me something to do, eh? I'll use the opportunity to take out the boot lining and rear seats to clean them up. Any thoughts on this or previous experience with water ingress would be gratefully received

Hey all Perhaps restoration is a little bit of a grand title, as I am tidying up, looking after and improving my recently acquired MY52 vRS. I've always wanted one of these badboys in yellow, but also wanted one that gave me a chance to learn more about cars and gain the sense of satisfaction that will (hopefully!) come from fixing one up. A few weeks back, this beaut came on the market - unmodified - and I snapped it up. At just under £1k, it obviously had some issues, but the engine and transmission seemed pretty decent. There's very little history with it, so a thorough service, cam belt change, new water pump and new oil pick up pipe are all happening soon, before I add to the 124,000 miles it's already done. The plan is to keep it as original as possible, but acquire some factory options that were left off (no cruise control!!) and add those as and when money/time allow. My initial list of things to attend to looks like; Rear brake mooring/squealing Interior light (driver's side) won’t stay on Rust on wings (dirt behind arch cover) Bent sills Low front bumper kerb scuffs Rear bumper scratches from loading (just no respect, is there? ) Rusted wishbones (MOT advisory) Cam belt and water pump change Total service Chipped/cracked grill surround Starter motor piston shriek Boot dent Gearbox oil leak? Peeling window tint (most windows) Tailgate struts (evident leaks, crap performance) OSF window clunk/rattle Water ingress in boot (both sides) Windscreen chips Replace knackered aerial Clean interior & boot carpet (evidently had previous water issues) Replace worn/scuffed/knackered plastics I'll prioritise the bodywork and mechanical stuff (in bold) before shelling out on cosmetic upgrades. I look forward to sharing my progress with you all and learning from those far more accomplished than I when it comes to car mechanics/restoration. Cheers

Awesome! Let's convoy! Hopefully the yellow beast will be ready by then

Let's get it going again. Far too long since we drank coffee, got fat on donuts and talked absolute rubbish about cars. Sunday 6th June. 2pm It's the car park next to: Krispy Kreme (Manchester - Hotlight Store) Barton Dock Road Trafford Park Manchester M41 7PP Also being advertised on the Octavia vRS Owners group on Facebook.

Yep! I'm over in Burnley!

Brilliant, thanks silver and Kenny. I'll look into those suggestions. I'm thinking of taking the sump off, too, and replacing the oil uptake pipe. I've read quite a few threads about issues with that. With so little documentation available to me, I've got no idea how regularly it's been serviced. Seems like another "better safe than sorry" job.

Yeah, it's not great, but this has turned out about as well as it could do. It's not easy to own up to stuff like that when you're his age, but he's done the right thing eventually. I look forward to pics of the seamless repair!

Thanks PetrolBloke, that's really useful. I'll certainly keep my eye out for those potential issues. Cheers. I've ordered a full set of those NGK plugs. The car came with very little documentation, so I'm playing it safe, even though you're quite right that they are durable.

MK1 vRS hatch

...should I make sure I do? I'm thinking that, whilst space in the engine bay is being created and access to most areas will be easier, is there anything else I should be changing/servicing/checking? I already plan to give it a comprehensive service at the same time. I would welcome thoughts from the mk1 hivemind! Cheers in advance

If it works, it works!

Thanks for that item reference! What makes the Alhambra springs better for the job, in your opinion?