The NARFmobile, My 2001 Golf TDI

[NarfBLAST]

Okay, just two more things about emblems and double sided emblem tape:

1) Double sided foam emblem tape sticks best to smooth surfaces, never scuff the paint nor the back back of the emblem.

2) Leave a small space around the edges so that you can't see the backing after the emblem is applied.

Here is a picture of some emblems with factory applied foam tape. I took the picture after picking off some of the tape when I realized I really had to share the two points above.



The foam tape tore in half when removing it with great force leaving half stuck to the car and half stuck to the emblems (a sure sign of good adhesion to smooth surfaces). Notice no tape stuck to the rough little casting ejector pin circles, it was left on the car. Also notice the small gap around the edge from the factory to make the emblems appear to "hover" above the paint. The devil is in the details.

I will take my time and pick all of the old foam off with the fingernails to avoid scratchin the surface, and then hopefully I will post an update picture in the "What did you do to your MKIV today?" thread.

 

[The Cream Dolphin]

Thanks! I just did my emblem, and I am stoked, it is pretty easy, I was just waiting on some warm enough weather.

 

[hskrdu]

Not sure if I missed Narf mentioning it above, but waxed dental floss is my go-to for removing anything with double-sided tape. Badge and emblem projects are (usually) quick and fun!

Your thread just keeps getting better Paul!

 

[NarfBLAST]

Not sure if I missed Narf mentioning it above, but waxed dental floss is my go-to for removing anything with double-sided tape. Badge and emblem projects are (usually) quick and fun!

Your thread just keeps getting better Paul!

Thanks! I did forget to mention dental floss for removal. Waxed, eh? All I know is I can't stand the flavoured stuff.

A few days later I am very happy with how this turned out:



Anyway, I was having a great day today so I thought I should post and update:

I had a particularly long crank two days ago which resulted in a check engine light and P0380 code. Its nice to have to the Scanguage II on the dashboard so I can check right away, and now with smartphones (yes, I've had this car since before smartphones) you can google the code right away! P0380 is a glowplug malfuction.

I check all the glowplugs individually using an ohm meter, then using an amp guage that could read up to 60 amps. All the plugs would consistently draw 30 amps when cold then come down to 20 amps after a few seconds when they warm up according to my cheap $4 meter. One of the spade connectors I used seemed to be a bit crooked, like instead of sliding into the female part maybe it was just sliding between the female conector and the plastic housing? Nope, that didn't fix it, subsequent startups would trigger the P0380 no matter how many times I cleared it.

The next day I dug out an old box from a glow plug relay I had bought years ago. The relay inside the box looked brand new, newer than the one that came out of the car which no longer had shiny contacts. After making sure the new relay was really really seated well, well, I haven't had a problem since!

The weather warmed up today so I changed the oil in the Volkswagen. I think it took me longer to find my oil extractor than to do the topside oil change. I really enjoy keeping logs in "notes" on my iphone:



While I was a cleaning up, fedex dropped this off:



I took a peak inside the box and it looks absolutely perfect. I quickly tucked it into the spare tire well without taking a picture to be sure that no magic could escape from the packaging before its time.

 

[NarfBLAST]

The temperature guage in the instrument cluster started reading funny a few years ago...

...but that wasn't a big deal, and it sort of went away...

...then it came back and started reading so high that it would trigger the coolant warning light and turn the fans on. Now that is unaccabtable. After about a week of that, I decided to replace the coolant temperature sensor.

I quickly realized that the coolant flange needed to come off the head and be cleaned of years of crusty dried coolant from all the hose connections and especially the hole where sensor goes. I did all the work with it off the car. I used a small fibre wheel on a cordless drill to prevent damage to the aluminium.

After I was done cleaning, I used RTV silicone + old rubber gasket on the mating surface to the head. I used RTV + new o-ring on the coolant temperature sensor. I also rubbed some green silicone lube on the raw aluminum of the three rubber hose connections.

I think this picture came out really nice:



I know I will probaly never get that new sensor out in one piece now, but I figure if I ever have to replace it I will just buy a plastic flange for $9.95 and throw the aluminum flage and original 20 year old coolant glow plugs in the recycling bin. I'm all for doing away with anything that I can live without.

Anyway. I had removed the airbox to get better access to everyhing, so I changed the air filter, which was overdue:







I replaced the coolant while I let the engine warm up in the driveway. Everything seemed good, no appearant coolant leaks, so I took a test drive to the best drug store in town:



Good times.

 

[benIV]

love reading and seeing your posts and pictures!

 

[SilverGhost]

Just as a side note - whenever I had coolant temp sender issues that were not repaired promptly, the wire terminals would develop fretting issue and the problem would come back pretty soon. Cutting new wire ends onto the harness fixed the reoccurring temp sensor issues.

Jason

PS: I have never had luck with silicon on o-rings. Just a little coolant to wet the seal and some sandpaper to smooth the surface of any pitting.

 

[NarfBLAST]

669 000 km update!

Officially passed the "two thirds of a million kilometers" milestone:



Took the winter tires off (Goodyear Nordic 195/65R15). They looks great after one season plus one month the year before:



Mounted a set of three season tires (General Evertrek RTX 205/65R15). The +2% size was on clearance sale:



Driving it as much as possible, taking kids to school, towing junk in the trailer, picking up perscriptions or groceries. Have taken three different elderly relatives to get their Covid Vaccines in it.

Most evenings I go for a long drive by myself, just to enjoy the solitude. Last night the road and the sunset aligned:



Best photo I have taken in a while. Made a fabulous phone lock screen background:



Good times!

 

[benIV]

fantastic picture! love the story!

 

[malemyszki]

Great car you have!

 

[NarfBLAST]

670,000 km Update:

http://imgur.com/FcuwOk2

Finally replaced the original axles! They had been causing vibrations for years and recently boots were torn and grease had spilled out and the droning noises on throttle occasionally turned into clunking noises. All that is replaced with buttery smoothness.

The price was right too! I found a pair of GSP Axles on Amazon.ca for $65 Canadian each, free shipping! That is less than $50 US each for brand new axles with no core charge!

Had a nice long ride on the highway and the smoothness continues up to 140k, call me crazy but, without the vibrations soaking up what little power this car has I really think the available power has increased, along with the fuel economy according to the scan gauge and a short test of only a few hundred kilometers. Even the cruise control is more of a pleasure to use as the engagement no longer has a loud clunk when hitting the resume or cancel buttons.

The old axles were definelty completely used up. No regrets.

 

[NarfBLAST]

673,967 km Update!

There was something wrong with the passenger side axle. Bizarrely as soon as it was installed it made horrible droning resonance noises at precisely 1800 and 3600 rpms. At first I thought this was an intake or exhaust leak but it completely disappeared after removing the axle. I had to remove the axle because it started clunking and grinding, at speed, when the wheels were pointed straight ahead. Kinda scary.

At first I thought I messed up the install, never having completely removed and replaced a CV axle before this pair. After rebuilding my original passenger side axle using parts from the original drivers side axle, all of my problems went away! With my self confidence restored, returned the new axle for a full refund from Amazon.

I should have taken pictures of the CV axle rebuild but I really wasn’t feeling sure about myself at the time. The best advice from this site was “there is a blind clip in there, just hit the outter joint with a hammer, if it doesn’t come off, hit it harder.”

Anyway, a thousand miles later, I feel like getting one bad axle was the best possible outcome! I learned a lot and saved $80!

Been driving it daily including lots of towing, just updated the lock screen on my phone:

http://imgur.com/a/d3o8HsS

edit: added original photo...

 

[NarfBLAST]

675,000 km Update!

The headliner fabric was loose and flapping in the breeze so I pulled the whole thing out.



Rather than showing a picure of the disgusting state of the grimey old fabric and a bunch of rotting brownish foam, here is the topside of the front half where all the wiring is instead:



This got me thinking, I want to keep driving while I decide how, or if, I am going to replace the headliner fabric.

I noticed that the vanity mirror lights and the back seat lights mount directly into the headliner, but the center control for the sunroof and its lights mount to the roof, so, I trimmed away all the extra wires and bagged them up with all the parts that were not going to be re-installed:



I took some time to carefully wrap what was left of the wiring in hockey tape, then clean and re-install the sunroof control and sun visors:



I am very happy with the result! I like the "industrial" look without the headliner. The headliner is probably not going back in, ever.

Good times!

 

[jayb79]

I like it, should be interesting to see how much if any effect it has on heat and cold. Hows the noise compare?

 

[Mongler98]

it only takes a few hours to redo the headliner and like $30 worth of stuff.
LAZY but then again how this all goes i'm not surprised.

 

[hskrdu]

it only takes a few hours to redo the headliner and like $30 worth of stuff.
LAZY but then again how this all goes i'm not surprised.

Mongler, I generally avoid replying to many of your posts where I'm otherwise tempted to do so, but labeling Paul's decision as lazy tells me you both haven't followed Narf, and don't really understand what makes Fred's special. I've never put anyone on "ignore," but your attitude needs an upgrade- it takes only a few minutes and it's free.

 

[Mongler98]

The point was that all his hard work and dedication to this car was anything but lazy and I saw the "in going to leave it this way" as sarcasm. Hence why I said what I said. It was not of his character to leave it bare so it was lazy in fact to do so based on all the previous years and years of quality work and finish.
Call me out as you wish but you know and everyone else does too that leaveing it without a headliner would be lazy to the max and not his style of doing things. Hence the obvious sarcasm he had in that post. Or at least I hope so. It would be a shame to see it stay bare or "industrial" lol.
I in no way said he was lazy but infact said that it would be lazy to do so seeing how easy it is to do compared to all the work done in the past.

 

[SilverGhost]

No a fan of the "bare" look either. Don't like the look and not great idea considering how much the headliner plays into the overall safety concept in design. Those who question the safety aspect only have to look at where cars used to have a lot of exposed painted and chrome parts on their interiors and are now all covered in padding in one form or another.

Taking a cue from Narf's other projects on the car I would have expected stripping the fabric and ugly brown foam off and reinstalling bare. Or even doing something like having the kids paint a mural on the bare headliner board. Just some ideas.

Jason

 

[NarfBLAST]

Safety is a concern, but I figure if you are hitting the roof then I figure you have bigger problems than how soft the surface is.

I did a headliner on my 1986 Chevy S10 blazer in monster blue fur. Everybody loved it.

Canada's Fabricland still sells that stuff, I would just need 2 meters of it, but I don't feel like spending $100 on fabric:

Fabricland Online

Canada's largest fabric store chain since 1968. With 100+ stores across Canada selling fabric, drapery, notions, quilting supplies, yarn and more.

www.fabriclandonline.com

I don't think the picture online does it justice, it does say the fur is "3/8 inch thick" which should give an idea of how your hand can sink half way into it even if it is on the ceiling. Fun stuff, but not for this time.

I did find one "utility fabric" for $4/m and a fleece print on sale for $8/m so I ordered two meters of each of those (the fleece can be an instant blanket if I don't use it) total $40 including taxes and shipping which is not bad. Happy to pay $12 shipping and NOT have to go into a fabric store.

Appreciate all the comments.

 

[Mongler98]

Joan's,
20%off in store single item purchase
Reminant you can usually find in up to 8 feet sometimes.
Usually $20 for the left over bit depending on the fabric.
Under foam ligner is cheap on amazon. I will never use 3m spray adhesive again. Spending the $ there is 90% the cost.
Did my headliner for about $30. And I have heeps left over I was going to do the door cards with. I know your big on quality and $100 is no big deal compared to the care you put into your car.
I didnt mean any insult to the lazy comment. Just that it's not typical of your style of work.

 

[NarfBLAST]

ust that it's not typical of your style of work.

No worries. Hey, thanks for the tip on the foam liner from amazon, I ended up finding the spray adhesive that was I was going to buy from my local hardware store for 66% percent off: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B007Z7PF2Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Mongler98]

No worries. Hey, thanks for the tip on the foam liner from amazon, I ended up finding the spray adhesive that was I was going to buy from my local hardware store for 66% percent off: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B007Z7PF2Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

the 3m stuff i used turned the fabric yellow and was not a very uniform spray. i would test it and let it sit out in the heat for a week to test it! also love the tail lights you did the 5 light mod. lol gotta put some LEDs in there to get that hyper flash!

 

[reince]

That's one tough 2001 TDI and keeps getting look better!

 

[NarfBLAST]

679,600 km Update:

Continues to start up first try every time now that I added a relay between the battery and the starter. So that is finally fixed after 6-8 years.

In an unrelated story, I had a sneaking suspicion that the clutch was not disengaging properly, even with my foot to the floor, which I confirmed this week, by taking the engine out of the car again...



There was ten years and 280,000 km of wear on the pressure plate fingers:



There was wear on the front of the throw out bearing:



There was wear on the back of the throw out bearing:



There was wear on the clutch fork socket where the ball pivot seats, you can see how it left a raised "X" in the metal:



There was even wear on the left ear off this chipmunk:



Just kidding about the chipmunk. That is Rusty, he has been missing for a few weeks and we are glad he is back because he the friendliest chipmunk we've ever had. We know it is Rusty because of the ear, the attitude, and those enourmous paws.

Anyway, I was glad that I bought a complete clutch replacement kit from idparts.com that included everything: https://www.idparts.com/tdi-spd-clutch-replacement-kit-038105264e-050-p-3355.html

While I was in there I finally replaced the original PTO side oil seal too:



You might call it the "rear main seal" but I ordered the same seal for my lawn tractor and Briggs and Stratton call it an "oil seal, PTO side" which actually seems like amore accurate a description.

The car shifts like a dream again and the cluch disengages half way down instead of at the floor/never .

Went for a sunRISE drive this morning:



Thanks everyone here on TDIclub, and especially idparts.com and dieselgeek.com for helping to keep this going.

 

[greengeeker]

Nice work Narf. Keep her going!

 

[nicklockard]

Chipmunk approved repairs: priceless.

 

[jayb79]

Why did I just see a video of the plates coming off the Narfmobile? What happened?

 

[NarfBLAST]

Why did I just see a video of the plates coming off the Narfmobile? What happened?

Yes, you did, I am finally done with the car. It was difficult yet not difficult letting go. Our family is moving on as our oldest child is learning to drive the timing was perfect to get a newer more reliable car with an automatic transmission that I can drive daily.

We bought a 2015 Nissan Micra. (edit: added photo and video)



The Micra is actually more fun to drive than the Volkswagen ever was, probably because it only weighs 2500 lbs. It handles like a go kart yet I can still fit four kids in it comfortably. Here is a crazy short video of how much fun they are to drive:

Good times?

edit: I am actually sitting outside staring at the Volkswagen with its cheap Kijiji (Canadian Craigslist) tires and wheels as I just pulled its good tires off today. Will try and salvage as much as I can. Everything will go upon “Ontario Stuff For Sale” and Kijiji.

 

[Andyinchville1]

675,000 km Update!

The headliner fabric was loose and flapping in the breeze so I pulled the whole thing out.



Rather than showing a picure of the disgusting state of the grimey old fabric and a bunch of rotting brownish foam, here is the topside of the front half where all the wiring is instead:



This got me thinking, I want to keep driving while I decide how, or if, I am going to replace the headliner fabric.

I noticed that the vanity mirror lights and the back seat lights mount directly into the headliner, but the center control for the sunroof and its lights mount to the roof, so, I trimmed away all the extra wires and bagged them up with all the parts that were not going to be re-installed:



I took some time to carefully wrap what was left of the wiring in hockey tape, then clean and re-install the sunroof control and sun visors:



I am very happy with the result! I like the "industrial" look without the headliner. The headliner is probably not going back in, ever.

Good times!

HI,

Any idea what the headliner etc weighs?

How much temp difference if any is there with and without the headliner?

Is there an appreciable amount of sound difference without the headliner ?

My headliner is sagging and I want to add a CB radio antenna etc so depending on your findings I may leave my headliner off also ! Maybe you started a trend!

Andrew

 

[NarfBLAST]

HI,

Any idea what the headliner etc weighs?

How much temp difference if any is there with and without the headliner?

Is there an appreciable amount of sound difference without the headliner ?

My headliner is sagging and I want to add a CB radio antenna etc so depending on your findings I may leave my headliner off also ! Maybe you started a trend!

Andrew

Lets see if I can answer your questions:

It weighs very little, a few pounds.
I noticed no temperature difference in the summer but I have a silver car and have no air conditioning so I always drive with windows open.
I noticed no difference in sound, no echo chamber, not a big deal really.

You should definetly pull it out, its not that hard, you could always fix it and put it back, or not.