Potter!MK3 Golf(Engine build time!!)Bought another mk3 too :P

Spose id best do one of these to document the life and times of Potter.Originaly bought for my missus when she passed her test last year (as i got banned while january2011) ,as it was sat on the drive i decided to tidy him up as it was a mess.As it happens the more i did the more i liked it so ive just bought her a Puma a year on and im gunna keep it for myself.
Gunna build a vr6 supercharged lump up over the coming months and get it sprayed as soon as i find someone local that doesnt want £3k
So here we go.
1993 Mk3 Golf 1.8 Driver (abs) 90 raging horses

How i bought it:










So i started off with a Bonrath 2 slat grill.Also sourced a new bonnet in the right colour.

Original splitter had to go!


This is betterer!

Original back lights.

Not to everyones tasted but swapped for full LED FK items which i got cheap but had to replace all the bloody leds so a week after ordering about 50 i replaced them and fitted em on.



Obligatory shiny tax disc holder!I also used some Cold cathode tubes under each dash footwell and wired it up to the door pin switches so when you open the door they lihght up the footwells.(no pics yet)


New rims (Team Dynamics-Swords)To get rid of the horrible O.Z Polaris.


Then painted the clock needles red and put some red led lights in along with a Lockwood white dial kit!


Ignore the horrible"ive just ram raided Halfrauds" mats but i got some chrome door handles,billet alloy window winders,wolfsburg gear knob,locking pins,heater dials,also a leather handbrake and gear stick gaiter.





Next i stuck some M3 style mirrors on(dont worry they are going now) some front fogs and smoked indicators and some clear side repeaters.
Finished product at this stage.



During this time i stuck some Infinity components in the front some infinity 6x9s in an MDF Stealth shelf a 7" motorised dvd player with satnav and tv built in and also a 15"jbl sub in the boot along with a jbl amp running in tri mode for the components and the sub.(no pics)

Then it was mot time and emissions were high so serviced it put new top mounts on cv boot,discs on front,wishbones on the front and slave cylinder on the back.

Next it was coilover time so flogged the Apex suspension and wanged on some ebay specials for now,but now im keeping it gunna look for a decent set of weitec coilies)
gone about 80-90mm all round



How it sits now.

Bought a new steering wheel off Damo so got a boss and painted the wheel.

Horn push and boss



Its fitted now but pics are on the way.

Then she blew the engine to pieces so i had to fit a 86k mile one out of a passat,still an ABS code though.

Now its mine it's going under the knife and im smoothing a spare tailgate and put the number plate recess in the bumper,undecided whether to delete the front indicators and front fogs yet.



Also got some ugrade brakes,still need a few parts but got a full rear axle with roll bar and a set of 280mm for up front to get rid of the crap 239mm solid discs up front.Already uprated the master cylinder to take the new set up and also refurbed the rear bias valve.






All painted now but cant find the pics.Just got to fit when i get the calipers.

Currently the car has a hideous twin upswept dtm so got a nice square affair i like lots.

Its a powerflow but was a larger bore as potter is only 43mm so i made a reducedr out of staino at work and its ready to go on.

So done to date:
new bonnet and lifters
new front splitter
new rims
new led back lights
new mk4 headlights
strutbrace front and rear
full service
coilovers
new indicators and fogs
new siderepeaters
full engine degrease and polish
new cam
new lambda probe
new leather gearshift gator
handbrake gator the same
new wolfsburd gearknob
wolfsburg door handles
walfsburg heater knobs
wolfsburg door pins
vw shoulder pads
smooth wipers
m3 mirrors painted
2 slat bonrath grille painted
neon interior cold cathodes under footwells to come on when you open door.
new plates with potter on for the bird.r
full gearshift linkage renewal
redline mtd gearbox oil
white dials
heater control knobs
Track rod ends
Inner track rod arms
billet window winder handles
Front turret tops and bearings
2 Wishbones
front tie bars
full rear suspension rubber kit
2 new drums
Front engine mount
Richbrook tax disc holder
7" Motorised indash headunit/dvd player
Infinity Reference 6x9s
Infinity Reference 6"components
Full phoenix gold wiring kit
2 Rear slave cylinders
2 rear wheel bearings
Bosch super 4 spark plugs.
camber alignment
15"JBL Sub
JBL GTO4000 amp
Stealth Shelf
Foglight wiring kit.
Relay 36 for light buzzer
Set of coilovers
2 new front turret tops(again)
Front engine mount
Rear engine mount
Sunroof Motor
Distributor cap
Rotor arm
Slick 50 power steering fluid.
New ENGINE!!! 86,000miles old
Clutch
Bosch super 4 plugs
Mobil 1 semi synthetic oil
2 New front ball joints
Both Track rods
Hella quad headlights
VR6 Top suspension mounts
Momo type steering wheel
Momo Steering wheel boss
VW Horn push
vr6 rear axle
vr6 rear disc brake conversion
vr6 front hubs
vr6 front calipers/disc brake conversion.(all yet to fit)

Few pics that i missed out.
Homemade exhaust reducer.



Underfootwell cold cathode tube to come on when doors open.



Freshly painted steering wheel.



New MOMO Gearknob



Sub,amp and freshly fabbed amp rack,stealth shelf and 6x9's







Freshly painted back axle and new rear discs painted up.

Right for the past few days ive been fannying about installing me stereo its been a bit of a shit as it has reciever boxes and masses of wiring that i didnt want to put in ythe boot so i have hid it behind the glovebox and rerouted the wiring to suit.
Ive used all new rca,speaker cables and used 4guage power cable's.
Ive also fitted a second screen in the centre console and for a bit of fun i have hidden a reverse camera under the front numberplate,which is adjustable,this is so i can record races and also see how low oncoming sleeping policeman are before i rip the front splitter off!

Plan of attack
1st pic of how the box came,masses of wiring and tons of soldering ahead!
Stripped most the dash out in -11c conditions brrrrr you can see the bloody ice in the car!
Reciever box hidden behind the dash but all rca ports still accesible with the removal of under tray.
New ofc speaker cable and 4 guage power cables laid.(seperated of course)
Headunit and centre console screen mounted and you can also see the boot pop button i installed out of a saab 900 turbo for when the totally smoothed tailgate goes on.
All boxed up and working.
Camera mounted and adjusted.
Jobs a gudn!

Right today it has been change the brakes day.

Swapped the front brake set up from 239mm solid shite to 280mm G60 ventedness.
I sourced the MK2 Golf 16v hubs then popped new bearings in and cleaned up and painted.Then got some G60 calipers EBC pads and some Brembo discs.
Also got some goodridge braided hose's.
While i was at it i swapped the top mounts to vr6 ones as there was a bit of a noise,however when i removed the coilovers which are only bloody 6 months old i found out one of them was rattling like a smack addict locked in a cage for a week.
I will be shouting at the manufacturer this week sometime.

Picture time 8-)

Right,today ive finally finished the brakes
Fitted a new back axle off a MK2 16V to convert from drum to disc.I refurbed the calipers,bought new discs and pads ground the back axle down and fitted new powerflex bushes then painted up!
Picture time

Right,bit of an update as ive finally found the lead for my wankypants camera.

Lights 1st!

Set of headlights number 5,ive finally found some i like.Joe'd Inpro MK4 style with the lower sidelight slightly modded to shine a little VW emblem when lit.
Probably not to everyones taste,but i like it and thats all that matters




Next up,some new rear lights,again these are inpro ones,they used to have red reflectors and tint inside them,so when new(not by me)they were chopped up,the reflectors and film taken out and then plastic welded back up.
For the problem of having no red lights,i modified the bulb cluster to take staggered red led brake light bulbs and fog light bulbs,then modified the indicator bulb holder to take amber led lights.





Dash lights next,didnt like the standard green and wanted some spangly red ones,i found out that the headlight switch off a VW transporter glows red and is exactly the same as a mk3 one so i bought one of them and hey ho.


Next up was the heater panel,there are many ways of doing this but what i did is wire in some RED electro luminescentc wire,and proceeded to spend 3 hours attatching it to the backside of the heater control panel.
Also as the standard green bulb is used to light all 3 dials,i bought some red led bulbs with built in resistors and soldered 3 of them to go behind all 3 control knobs.
I forgot to take pics of the process like a tit but heres some wanky pics of the finished article.


Did the dash too.All the stuff is dimmable with the existing switch.


Then it was time for an exhaust change as the twin dtm was just plain chav.
Swapped for a nice full stainless powerflow upswept box.



Then i got to work on the rear bumper,as ive smoothed a tailgate i needed to put the numberplate recess in the bumper.
I cut out a MK4 Golf recess out of a bumper,cut a big hole in the spare golf bumper and set about plastic welding.filling.plastic welding.filling plastic welding.filling.plastic welding.filling
This is the finished product!Im happy as larry with it!

wow one the most in depth build threads i've seen in a while and a massive list of mods aswell...

i'm not a mk3 fan but i do like this one and love the work ur doing keep it up bud ....

Thanks very much mate,I appreciate it.

Working the weekend shift has its benefits of having the weekdays free,so in-between Adi popping round when something falls off his MK2 i can get plenty done.

Currently bidding on some black leather Porsche 911 tombstones for the front and then looking for a mint rear bench and door cards.Then once all the body prep is being done it will be time for the full respray.
Then my favourite part of building a VR6 lump up from the ground and sticking a supercharger on it

Excited.com

Hi, I'm impressed with how the rear bumper has turned out it looks good.
What colour are you going to do it when you respray it?

good skills.

you know what would makje this thread even better gaz?

a few more pictures!

Hi mate,cheers It was a ballache and very time consuming but worth it.

Im keeping it the same colour LA9V Brilliant black metallic as i love the colour and they only made the mk3 in it for a year and a half,so theres not many about.
Ive got a guy from Creswell(Imageworx) to come have a look on monday and give me a price for it all.

Excited.com

lewis1641 wrote:good skills.

you know what would makje this thread even better gaz?

a few more pictures!

Are you being facetious there David?

Well ive finally found myself a paint sprayer im happy with (Daz@Imageworx in Cresswell) so for the past 2 days ive been stripping potter down and making sure i dont need any trim clips and bolts etc,ive finished the tailgate,finished the rear bumper,plated over the siderepeater holes and aerial hole on a new set of wings.

How she is sitting on the drive after a few hours work.

Right so today my new front panel arrived,i decided as mine had a little crack near the bonnet catch i would change it as it looked pants.




So i stripped the new one out the packaging and this is what it looked like.



I then stripped the front end of the car off and cleaned all retaining bolts up and cleaned the chassis rails up a bit.





I then spent about 2 hours cleaning and making the new front panel pretty.
I never took any pictures at this stage as when i finished i went to trial fit it and realised the dopey seller never informed me that it had come off a bloody 16v making it no bloody use for my radiator or hoses!! :angry:

So i spat my dummy out and bolted my dirty original front end on.
Im now going to leave it for when the vr6 lump goes in as im sure the 16v and vr6 front panels are the same.

Pretty much a waste of a few hours have been had by all today :grin:


DOH!

I have farted into this car

He wont forget

Just a quick update so i don't have to do a boat load in one go

My brother bought a couple of subs in boxes and got a power cap chucked in for nowt.
I decided to commandeer this and then proceeded to strip it to pieces.
It was a garish silver spangly crap colour that looked naff.

So i decided to chop up some cans of Relentless (as so far this build seems relentless )and fit them to the body of the cap.Then sprayed both ends black instead of silver.
This is the finished result.

I know they dont do much,but it is purely for looks.

I want one of those at some piont


that will make any build look like its got the swagga man,i like it

Ha ha cheers dude!Im looking forward to fitting it but at present all my interior is in one of the spare rooms!

hows the respray and that such stuff coming along mate. not a fan of subs and such, but i would have a relentless powercap just for the hell of it

Well the cars stripped bare,bar the glass(which is being taken out at the bodyshop)
Hired a transporter trailer from Portland Towing for tuesday next week(only £40 for the day) and then me old mans coming in his Jeep to tow him away.
Then he will be away for 4 weeks then coming home for reassembly!

In the meantime i spose i had better give her Puma some attention

ahhh i thought it had gone already. so the puma, o dear. i feel for you. lol

what colour is it going?

Same colour dude LA9V brilliant black metallic.They only made this colour on the mk3 for a year and a half so it's pretty rare and looks nice in the sun.
Although Daz said there are about 10 different shades so i can pick the colour chip next week,but i think i will go for the darkest.

As for the Pooma ive got to bob a new bumper front wing and headlight on it as when we bought it someone had bumped the front n/s and made a bodge repair.
Easy enough to do and it will keep her happy.Shes only having it while november anyway then i ill get her a mk4 TDI i think.

Lowlifedubber wrote:!
i had better give her Puma some attention

snigger. is that a euphamism?

Maybe that as well

Right as it is a nice day ive finally got the weather on my side to change the sunroof over for a non shagged one.
I didnt want to do it just yet but hey ho.

So out came all the abc plastics,seatbelts and headlining.








Job done!

Also as its going next week i decided i would whack the rear bumper on temporary so i dont have to transport it in the car when it goes for paint.

Plus ive been dying to see what it looks like after hours of work on the bloody thing!