Where do i start, well, i already had an 8v Gti & fancied getting one of these legendary turbo diesels. Tim came across this one & i got in touch with him hoping he'd sell me the car, which he did
That was the beginning & also pretty much the end, i ran this car for probably less than 6mths before taking it off the road. So, about 8 years ago, I was changing the rubber gasket on top of the engine when i noticed some damage at the camshaft end. The cam bearing cap was damaged & so was the cam, the car was laid up with a view to getting it back on the road. Whilst this car was off the road, i bought the lovely white TXD which has itself now been scrapped, although loads of parts have helped David keep his unique 4x4 diesel alive.
Mr Fenwick did the rear arm bearings on my TZD approx 5+years ago, remember? & is the NAD still going strong?
Shaun changed the camshaft & bearing caps a couple of years ago & we got it started up & it seemed to run fine
In the last 3wks, Shaun has been visiting to help me get the blue beast back on the road, & now she is functioning enough to attemp to get an mot which i'll do v-soon. I've got the winter tyres fitted, so don't want to be without it this winter.
So, what have we done in the last few weeks, not necesserily in order (bearning in mind a lot of the engine parts had been removed over the years), so a lot of re-fitting was required:
Intercooler re-fitted (i'd cleaned it years ago, so it looks almost like new
The intercooler ruber gasket was replaced, so should retain full pressure now.Cambelt & water pump replaced, the tensioners were checked for rust & wear & tear, they were fine, so i've left them on.
A small rubber pipe next to the psgr side front subframe was split, so replaced that, no more leaky leaky.
The psgr side strut return pipes had broken, so a repair was made, so they should be fine for the mo, i'll probably replace it with a nice new one next summer.
Coolant drained & replaced, however, after today's short test drive, there appeared to be a blockage somewhere in the coolant system as a shit load of brown shit pissed itself out as it had started to pressurise. That lovely replacement coolant is no longer clear
So a full clean of the system will be required, but what i'll do is run the car for a few miles (assuming mot pass) & i'll do a few water changes to try & get as much shit out of the system as possible. No idea where it's all come from, i don't have any memory of it being that crap 8 years ago.Front wiper motor was stuck solid, so its all been free'd off & the washer hole has been cleaned out with a bit of drilling etc...seems to be working.
Rear wiper arm had to be bent in order for it to pass underneat the rear spoiler, i've fitted new wiper blades front & rear as you can imagine what 8 year old rubber with moss growing on it looked like
I cleaned the wiper arm spray tube, but i'll need to do it again as it kept getting blocked up, must be quite a bit of shit in the system.
The blower motor appeared dead, a bit of testing revealed that it wasn't getting any power, so Shaun rigged up a toggle switch so that i can have the fan (on at full speed) on or off, so at least the heating now works
Shaun also found the rubber bung which fits nr the wiper motor which always goes walkies, its the one that keeps the plastic sheild in place.
I changed the crappy headlight bulbs for some osram nightbreakers that were originally fitted to my old TXD.
One of the octopus pipes at the lhm tank end had split, so a repair was made with some good pipe, no more leaks there.
The car wouldn't start, so diagnosis was that no power was getting to the starter motor, it may possibly have an immobiliser fitted? As a temporary solution, Shaun fitted a cable which means that if i put the ignition on, i just have to touch the end of the wire onto the nearest battery terminal & the car will fire up. A better solution will be done in due course, but at least the car is thief proof
Fog lights didn't initally come on, so much pressing of the switch seems to have freed it up, so now they both work.
Likewise, the rear wash wipe appeared dead, just a dodgy switch as it did eventually work after repeated pressing in & out, probably need to get hold of another one as it does appear to be a bit sparodic.
The car didn't come with cambelt covers fitted??? so some replacement one's were fitted, which didn't come off a bx, so some jiggery pokery & taking out a bolt which it was supposed to slide over was removed, as these didn't have the fucking hole where it was supposed to be. I made a guess as to where to drill a hole, but i was way off, so the bolt came out & all is now well
A couple of driver side shit shield grommets were missing, so i've got those to re-fit.
Also noticed that one of the brake pad clips which stops them squeeling was missing, no idea what happened to it, shaun came up trumps with some spares, so i'll need to fit those.
There was a section of fuel pipe from the fuel filter to the diesel pump which had been bodged years ago, that had gone hard & was now leaking diesel, again a replacment section of pipe was fitted, so no more diesel leakage.
The front plastic section which holds the radiator in place was broken, so a replacement was found & fitted, now the radiator is secure & doesn't flap about like it used to.
K&N air filter fitted, clearly for performance reasons only
I've probably missed a few things off the above list, but the car seems to be running sweetly.
I took the car for a test drive round the estate in order to check out the brakes, they seemed initially not to be that strong, but did improve after a few stops, they will need a bit of fettling i suspect. The temperature gauge works
its an aftermarket thing which is in its own pod, does look very spaceage & it appears to work a treat.The car will need to be cleaned thoroughly in order to clean the windows of moss etc to stop the glass from being scratched etc...along with the bodywork to get rid of the greenery.
There are a few other things that will also need doing, but i'll detail these as & when i come across them.
There is some rust in various places, so here's hoping its not too bad
& isn't in critical areas to stop an mot pass. All in all, its not looking too bad for a car which has stood outside all this time with very little starting over these years.
