lizhill's White 2001 1.8T GLX

[lizhill]

Okay, so for starters, I used to be called liz.hill, but the "." was causing all sorts of problems. I couldn't have a custom avatar, no one could get to my profile, and as a result no one could pm me or anything. So, to solve it, I re-registered. Since the thread I started for Fletcher as liz.hill is pretty short still, I'm just going to restart one under my new username.

For reference, the previous thread is here: liz.hill's 2001 White GLX

And this is me, my boyfriend Miles, and Fletcher on the day I got him / Miles and my (mine?) college graduation:




Since then he's gotten:
-18" Enkei wheels
-Red brake calipers
-Shorty antenna
-Wooden rose (red) in the budvase
-Turbo badge (in the mail, on its way)

Needs to be fixed:
-New headrest for the rear
-Center armrest/console doesn't latch
-CD changer missing magazine (have one, but for some reason it doesn't fit, need to figure out if I have the stock changer or a different one)
-Timing belt/water pump/60k mile service (will do at 65k)

Mod want list:
-Black roof
-Air suspension (ideally) or:
-Lowered once I move out of an apartment complex with a million speed bumps
-FMIC
-Eyelids
-Black out center bar of foglights
-Clear corners

This is the most recent picture of Fletch:

[lizhill]

So, this past weekend I drove home from Pullman to Woodinville (about 260 miles) because Miles had my wheels and a wayyy better space to work on Fletch at his house. So when I got home I gave him a really thorough bath (removed the mold and pollen from the inside of the hatch sills and all the body panel seams with a toothbrush) and the next morning (well, afternoon technically) we set to work.

I bought Dupli-color's caliper painting kit in red, which comes with a little pot of paint rather than spray. I thought that the brush-on paint would be much easier to work with than spray since I HATE masking off areas I don't want to spray.

The center caps for the wheels were supposed to be silver, but the silver was chipped/rubbed off on three of the caps, so we took them off and I'll be painting them black as soon as it's not windy here. I don't have the luxury of a garage at my apartment complex

We only had two jack stands so we had to jack him up on the front, do the work, and then lower the front and jack the back to do the work there. Once the new wheels were on we drove him up on ramps to change the oil. It was hands down the EASIEST oil change I've ever done! I also have to say that it's REALLY nice to not have to use three different containers to hold all the old oil like I used to need with my truck

We ran out of daylight by the time we were done, so I didn't get a chance to take pictures while he was clean. I'll give him a bath this weekend (no work on Monday!) and take some new photos, but until then here's some of the in-progress stuff and one from my balcony:

[robertsnowden1990]

Looks awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[bugshop]

Very nice!!!

[Kuplamies]

Pretty white Bug
Painted calipers are cool!

Looking forward to see more pics...

[Blaize]

Definitely looking good!

[lizhill]

So... since putting the new wheels on and doing the calipers, I've been pulled over twice.

The first was on Wednesday morning at 6 AM on a deserted college campus going 33 in a 25. Young cop just flexing his muscles, let me off with a warning.

The second time was today, going 35 in a different 25 (BUT right before the speed limit jumped to 35, I was IN VIEW of the sign). The cop was driving the other way, flipped a u-turn right after I passed, and I saw him do it and decided to pull over before he even had a chance to flick on the lights. I guess that scored me some bonus politeness points, so he just let me off with a warning, too.

The funny thing was that both made comments about my fast acceleration rather than my speed

Guess that 1.8T engine is worth its salt

[lizhill]

Tried painting the center caps silver to match how they started out life, but had some issues with paint. They're plastic and they don't make metallic silver paint that works on plastic, so I used an auto trim paint and an adhesion promoter. When I was done with that, they needed a clear topcoat (the metallic paint would rub off on your fingers) so I used Krylon Fusion for plastic in clear, and that just muddled them up and made them a dull grey.

Soooo... I just sanded them down again and covered with Krylon Fusion satin black.

Et voila!

Also, I dyed my hair with some red streaks (what better time than now, in the middle of my summer job with my boss and my boss's boss encouraging me to do it!). I didn't think about matching Fletch until my boss's boss (who used to be a racing driver) mentioned that it would match my red calipers.

[RedHeadache]

Your car is HOT. End of story haha

[dnyed]

I love what you've done, what with your New Beetle and your hair!

[lizhill]

Originally Posted by RedHeadache

Your car is HOT. End of story haha

Awww... thanks!

[lizhill]

Did a little work on Fletch today, and since I paid the WSU Horse Polo team $5 to wash him yesterday to get the bugs off (hopefully the giant spider that moved in to my engine compartment will go away now), I thought I'd treat him to a little photo shoot and a drive outside of town.

You can see that I put on a turbo badge despite getting pulled over by the cops twice last week. But now I'm exactly 7 days clean () so I did it anyway. It's mostly because I was tired of guys thinking I'm just another college chick in a cute car I want them to know I could beat their in a race if I wanted (well, most of them, and only if there are no cops).

I really like the first picture. The lines are so nice, and don't anyone dare say anything about how high it is, because I live in an apartment complex with a gajillion speed bumps, so that's not an option until I move out









And on our way back into town we passed one of the local body shops, and they have a couple NBs that they use as loaner cars that I love the paint jobs on, so we stopped to make friends.



So now my big question is what do I do next? Here are the options:
-Tint (quoted $230 to do all the windows the darkest legal WA tint)
-Black roof (going to get paint quotes tomorrow, but I can get vinyl on Amazon for like $60 and do that myself/with Miles)
-Clear corners ($70 shipped on eBay)

Heading to the Seattle area for the Leavenworth drive in a couple weeks and I want at least one of those mods done by then, I just can't decide which!!

[lizhill]

Originally Posted by dnyed

I love what you've done, what with your New Beetle and your hair!

Thanks!! I'm completely in love with them both

[robertsnowden1990]

Awesome pictures!

[lizhill]

Okay... was totally not expecting to be quoted $500 to do a black vinyl roof wrap or $400 to have the roof painted black (two different places, one doesn't do vinyl and the other place I didn't even bother asking about paint with a $500 quote to install a single piece of vinyl). How is it LESS to paint the roof than to do vinyl?

So... I think I'll hold off on the roof for now and take care of the tint and the corners this month (payday tomorrow, woot!). Once I've got some time off from work and I can get the boy to help install it, I'll buy the vinyl for $60 on Amazon and not feel bad about cheaping out because it's totally worth saving $450 to DIYODS (do it your own damn self ).

So look for those mods to happen soon!

[bugshop]

Originally Posted by lizhill

Okay... was totally not expecting to be quoted $500 to do a black vinyl roof wrap or $400 to have the roof painted black (two different places, one doesn't do vinyl and the other place I didn't even bother asking about paint with a $500 quote to install a single piece of vinyl). How is it LESS to paint the roof than to do vinyl?

So... I think I'll hold off on the roof for now and take care of the tint and the corners this month (payday tomorrow, woot!). Once I've got some time off from work and I can get the boy to help install it, I'll buy the vinyl for $60 on Amazon and not feel bad about cheaping out because it's totally worth saving $450 to DIYODS (do it your own damn self ).

So look for those mods to happen soon!

I've never worked with that type of vinyl but I have seen it done. I'm sure the challenge is with the domed shape of the NB roof.
With paint it would be as simple as masking off the area to paint and prep and shoot. Though it would be more permanent, I think it would look and last better.

[lizhill]

I see what you're saying, but the materials are definitely cheaper with vinyl and you'd think an experienced shop that's used to doing full body wraps on high-end sports cars wouldn't bat an eyelash at the NB roof, even though it is domed.

As it stands, though, I'm tempted to go with the vinyl but it would be a real PITA for me to do alone. If I get a good opportunity and know far enough in advance to buy the supplies, I'll probably just tackle it myself. I might have the money later in the summer (I still want to actually save some ) so if I haven't done the vinyl or did a crap job then I may just go for the paint.

For now, I'm just going to work with it how it is and make the other improvements that are on my list before I worry about it any more.

[bugshop]

Maybe you can find someone that works at one of those shops to help you or do it on the side.

[lizhill]

Put on the clear corners today and I have to say I'm super impressed by how big of a difference they make. Maybe not on all colors of NB, but on white they look fantastic!

Before:



After:



Fletch gets tinted (35%) on Monday, and that's probably all that I'll be able to do before Leavenworth. But I've been thinking about blacking out the center bar of the valance and maybe trying to incorporate a red pinstripe like on the GTI. I have no idea how it would work on the NB so if anyone has some photoshop skills and a bit of free time you'd be my best friend for life

[Blugg]