Update

Not any progress to report really. I seem to be waiting for lots of parts to arrive. Trip to Halfords this morning has produced a set of ratchet axle stands to go with the standard set I already have, as well as some cabling connectors, replacement taillight bulbs, high temperature paint and some Loctite Instant Gasket.

There are several jobs to do on the GTI, but taking the rocker covers off, prepping and painting them is one of them. They’ve seen better days. Also have a Sony headunit on the way, so when that arrives it’ll be a dash out job and I’ll try and silence the irritating rattles that are coming from behind it in the car at the moment, as well as fitting an aerial and sorting out the wiring to the speakers.

I’ve a Continental Cam belt kit to fit to the GTI too as I wasn’t able to identify the last change date, I think it’s living on borrowed time. This will form part of the service that’s due. A new sump plug and washers have turned up too. I’ve known since I drove the GTI home that the windscreen washer jets don’t work, but I discovered at the last trip to the garage that there is slightly more to the issue than that.

On opening the bonnet, the filler neck is completely missing, so I used a hose to fill the bottle and the green gunky water that ended up overflowing out might explain why things aren’t working. The plan is to get a 1 litre washer bottle and pump from a Peugeot 205 and mount it in the rear of the Rallye. This is a fairly well documented fix. You can tap into the piping and electrics that feed the rear wash/wipe and reverse the lines to feed the front screen. The washer bottle and pump from the Rallye will then be transferred into the GTI.

The plan is to also remove the rear wash/wipe from the Rallye. Just waiting on a blanking plug. The Rallye is current missing it’s dash. It’s gone off for flocking and should be back next weekend.