tethered
 

I bought my 02 plate VTR late July 2009 with 70,000 miles on the clock, and it really was in a sorry state, probably something no one on this forum or with a bit of common sense would buy, it clearly had not been looked after, but I did for a mere £600. And here are the reasons why it was so cheap and what I have done to it!:

Just to summarise, all of the body kit has either been replaced/resprayed/dents removed. There has been several dents removed from the actual body, the largest was from the offside rear quater where it appeared to be subject to quite a large impact. The original interior was absolutely filthy, think about the dirtiest car you have ever seen, dirt, grime, moss (yes it was stood for over 6 months when I picked it up), the carpets were caked in mud! The exterior cleanliness wasn't any better. The car came with 2 worn out steel wheels. The engine bay was a disgrace and all other mechanical parts were in a similar condition. There was no MOT although it did have a full Citroen service history upto 2006.

Unfortunately I have no original photos to show you which is a shame because the difference to today is quite something (I didn't know people shared progress threads on here until it was too late! :(). I have however taken some photos of the original body work and other pieces to try explain the changes. So here are the images:

Original Rear Bumper, 3 seperate photos showing the damage:







The following photo shows the offside front bumper where 2 gashes once were, now resprayed:



The next photo shows you the offside indicator that I replaced as the old one was cracked and in a yellow colour!:



Chrome VTR badges added as the car came with none:



The old front grill, discoloured. Now replaced with a new one.



This is the old near side rear arch which was scratched to bits:



And another photo showing the old near side rear arch:



And a 3rd and final:



This beautiful photo shows the old offside front arch, lower attachment area:



And another photo showing the same old offside front arch:



The next photo shows you the offside rear arch where as I explained at the beginning of the thread something appears to have hit the side quite hard and caused a nice amount of damage!:



Another photo of the offside rear arch, this wasn't actually attached to the car when I got it as it was bent so much at the point where it joins the rear bumper:



A closer look at the same part (yes looks rather nasty!):



The following 2 photos are of the current offside skirt that i've yet to replace, hopefully picking a new one up sprayed this week!:





The next photo shows the tail gate where I had 2 golf ball sized dints removed:



This is the current state of the offside rear quater and drivers door, the huge dint has been removed, the body kit has been replaced and the drivers panel has been repaired. The black trim line had quite a big chunk out of it but the rest was fine so that has been superbly repaired and resprayed. All that remains is to have the scratches sorted out, which as i've been quoted by many body repair people will require the entire side painting so I'll have to save my pennies for that one :)



Here's a close up of the drivers door panel that was repaired:



This section of the roof between the door roof rack line had a huge dint in, it looked like someone had wacked it with an axe, it was about 3 inches long and 3-5mm deep at the worst point! Again it has been superbly filled in and resprayed and looks brand new.



This photo shows you a worn out weld on the spare wheel carrier that has now been re-welded!:



Here's a picture of one of the original 2 steelies that were on the front end!:



The original interior, complete with 2 cig burns of course. These show the interior after I spent around 6-8 hours cleaning the inside when I first got her home and eventually removed in replacement of 106 GTI leather.



Even the key fob was broken:



And then replaced:



Right, now that is all out of the way I will tell you about the mechanical work I have had done:

First of all, after I picked it up I drove over to Ricky-RPM in Barnsley for a full service, MOT etc. Just to note the car was misfiring due to a loose spark plug, the rear offside wheel wasn't totally straight due to a broken front strut, the brakes were some what dodgy and the clutch was a nightmare to operate. I managed to borrow a couple of spare wheels that had decent tread on as the front steelies that I got with it were far from legal.

At the cost of £480 I had the following done:

1. Front strut repaired
2. Rear offside wheel bearing replaced
3. New cambelt
4. Two new rear brake pads
5. All brakes services
6. Clutch adjusted
7. Rocker cover painted (photo below) - gasket replaced at the same time
8. MOT
9. Full service
10. Engine clearances checked
11. Misfire fixed with new spark plugs installed
12. A few other minor things I can't remember!

The new rocker cover:



A few days later and after a previous quick clean I gave her after I got her back from the garage I went out and bought myself a Maguires clay kit, tar remover, paint cleaner, polish, wax and back to black. My brother and I spent around 5 hours getting the body work looking gleaming (pictures will follow shortly :)).

The next thing I did was replaced the interior with 106 GTI leather, I'm yet to replace the door cards though but will be doing very soon! I also bought new mats, wipers and bulbs:





I then replaced this original CD player with a new Sony one:





Now here are the photos of the car in full in it's present condition. It's not actually that clean here as I've just driven around 30 miles home on the motorway but I have been dying to get this thread up!:



Note 4 alloys now, getting hold of 4 mint VTS ones soon though ;)





Rear, with new bumper:



Engine bay, no modifications yet but it's looking pretty clean to say the least, still work to be done to get it looking mint though!:

The following are being fitted on Monday the 17th of August:

Lower Strut Brace:



Upper Strut Brace:



Quick-Shift and new gear linkages:



I'm also having her lowered at the same time, probably 45/50mm but havn't decided yet, photo's will follow surely no doubt!

Well that's it so far, let me know what you think? I've only had her 3 weeks up till now (as of 16th of August) but the transformation has been enjoyable to say the least. The question that remains now is, what next?

That damage is shocking, i could never let a car get like that!

Looks like you have spent a lot of time getting it sorted, much better now.

I like the sound of your plans too, doing any engine mods?

I know it was pretty bad to be honest, it looks near perfect apart from those few remaining scratches on the offside rear quater, will get that done when i've the money.

My plan is to wait till I get some insurance money back from an accident I had a year ago plus some other compensation from when I was beaten up. Then i'll uprate all the brakes and suspension (if I havn't already done so!) along with a thottle bodies 16v engine or maybe a super-chared one, I want this baby to be quick that's all I know. I'll be doing other bits until I get that major cash injection, but my main priority is getting it looking mint.

looking gd, keep it up:)

Keep up the good work mate.

error!! reuploading pics.

Got some new photos chaps taken 18th August 2009, here's what's been done if you can't already tell

1. Lowered - 50mm lowering springs at the front and 45mm off the back
2. Lower strut brace (upper being fitted this week! )
3. Quick shift and new gear linkages
4. Spare wheel carrier re-welded (spare is now in place rather than the boot!)
5. VTS wheels
6. Thoroughly cleaned

Next up is replacement VT kit parts coming next Saturday and up-rated brakes when I can afford them!

Photos:











Let me know what you think!?

V.nice mate, nice too see pretty dedicated to having a nice car!
(Wish i had the pacience to do that!)

Keep it up :D!

Cheers dude, it's getting there! Still wish I had some original pics though! Was a shocker!

Excellent work mate, looks loads better!! Just need some fresh plain plates.

nice mate you clearly put alot of effort in to this car. i should follow in your footprints tho as my car has a few scratches n a dent in the rear quarter :(

but keep up the good work mate :y:

Ben, you mean ones without the Citroen writing and red border? If so never thought of that! Good idea ;) How much do they go for?

nice progress, looks so much better now. I agree with Ben, plain plates would set it off. We sell plates at 5.99 each, so probs about that price in Halfords or wherever make them in your area :)

good work mate

Just a few updates on the car chaps.

Upper and lower strut braces fitted. Also removed sound deadening from bonnet, boot and rear door cards - cleaned areas whilst I was at it! ;). Will be removing all the rest next weekend hopefully to save some more weight! Spare wheel has been removed, just need to get the carrier off at some point when I can get the car lifted enough to unhook it!





Decided to de-rust underneath the boot as it was looking a little sorry.





After much hard work with the ol' wire wool:





Then next I decided to paint my brake callipers red! Though will be uprating them properly when I've some real money ;)

looking good :y: plans?

I really want to put Brembos on next, then more than likely uprated suspension and mounts. I definately want to increase my handling capabilities before doing any engine work! Just got to decide what feel I want and choose the right products so i'll probably be posting for a little advise when the time comes (when I have the cash basically!)

alot better ey :P wellcone for the work put into it :y:

Cheers rowza, nothing beats working on your car when the sun is shining, occasionaly enjoying a coffee and a cig :D

Hope this week is nice as I've got plans! I got soaked last weekend =(