HOW TOs - Cosmetic Related Bible

[Shady Pioneer]

PCD stands for (pitch circle diameter), this is the diameter of a circle drawn through the center of your wheel's bolt holes. PCD is measured in millimetres and also indicates the number of studs or bolts the wheel will have.


Golf MK3s either have 4x100 or 5x100.


Other than the GTI, and VR6 which are 5 stud, the majority of other Golf MK3s are 4x100.


4 stud




5 stud

[Shady Pioneer]

Parts needed:
Electric window regulators x2
Door loom x2
Window switch x2 (with mirror adjuster)
Dash loom x1 including thermal fuse
Door cards (recommended) or blanks to remove winder handle.
Two electric mirrors (recommended)

First off, the electric window loom stretches from one door to the other and simply plugs in to the connector blocks near the doors,  the other ends plug into the fuse box.  There are several smaller connectors, depending on the model of your car may or may not have these available to plug in to the fuse box, Most do so if possible just plug them in to the correct spare ones hanging down behind the fuse box, this enables things such as the back lights in the switches etc..  Although to have full working electric windows its only necessary to connect the smaller + power lead and the main power lead. The main power lead should have a thermal fuse already connected, this just clips to the top of the fuse box.

Step 1 (Door card removal)
Prise the door handle covers off with a flat head screw driver, behind this there are two large crosshead screws.  Undo these two.  Remove your window winder,  first off, wind the window down but leave a few inches, you will thank me for that later, Look at the base of the window winder, there is a ring which you simply push in with a screwdriver, it unclips and you can pull the winder off the shaft.  Next, you need to unscrew your door pin.  You can now prise off the door card, I recommend starting at the bottom, personally I grab the little storage part on the door card and give it a pull, otherwise, pop a large flat head screw driver behind the door card and pop all the retainers off, remove door card. Watch out for the speaker plugs, disconnect them now. Once removed you can either cut or peel the sound deadening foam away, early models just have plastic sheet.

Step 2 (removing the old regulator) 
All you should need here is a 10mm spanner or ratchet, ideally both.  You may need to pop the winder back on to adjust the glass so you have access to the glass clamps, it’s usually quite easy providing the windows not closed.  Unbolt the two 10mm bolts that clamp the glass, it might be stuck in the rubber so give it a yank and raise the glass up by hand.  i use a garden peg or rolled up card to wedge into the glass to keep the glass up.  Unbolt the 2/3 10mm bolts on the door that hold the regulator in place, you can now remove the old regulator. 

Step 3 (removing the old loom)
There will be the old loom which feeds the central locking remove all of this and unclip it, pop the rubber boot off the door disconnect it and you can prise the plastic connector out.

Step 4 (fitting the electric regulator)
Hopefully it won’t be set to fully closed, when I got mine they were which makes it very tricky! But far from impossible,  Fit the regulator into the door,  its a bit of a wiggle, then hold the motor up to the area it sits in and pop the 10mm bolt in, move the other parts of the regulator until the other two bolt holes are lined up and nip them up.  Now you can carefully drop the glass down into the two clamps, ensure it’s seated properly into the rubber holders otherwise it might go crunch!  Tighten the clamps up.

Step 5 (Fitting the loom)
The new loom just clips in place of the old one, feed it through, plug in the central locking plugs, window motor, speakers, and window switch, you will notice there is a spare up at the top, at this point you might want to fit electric wing mirrors to that as they will just plug in and work!  There will be an extra plug on the drives side for the wing mirror adjuster switch.  Ensure its well clipped in and out of the way of the window mechanism etc... Feed the wires through the door DONT CLOSE THE DOOR! It will crush the door connector pins!  In fact you can go ahead and plug it in now.  Push and twist, then refit the rubber boot.

Step 6 (Dash loom)
Once both doors are all kitted up, you can feed the dash loom so it spans from one side to the other,  drop the fuse box down so you have access to the rear of it.  You can’t go wrong with the door ends of the loom, plug them in to the door connector, it will only plug in one way so plug that in both ends and move to the fuse box, There are a few different connectors for the lighting in the switches etc.. There should be the respective plugs hanging about up there, I’m not sure if all models would have this though.  There are two important things here,  the earth I have completely forgotten where it goes,  it either plugs into the fuse box earth block or to the chassis earth plug just up from the door connector,  it may even bolt to the body work, you will see when it’s in front of you so connect that up.  You may want to disconnect your battery now to be safe.  Plug the big red connector into the back of the fuse box, I’m not sure of the pin numbers but someone will be able to help with that.  There is a smaller switched ignition feed which also plugs into the fuse box.  Once everything is plugged in, you can reconnect the battery and see if it works, temporarily plug the window switches in to give them a go.

Step 7 (refitting door cards)
Easy bit now, refit the sound deadening foam or plastic as good as you can, use duct tape if necessary.  Hold up the door card, plug the speakers in, and feed the plugs for the switches etc.. through the correct holes in the door card.  Fit the door card on to the poppers, replace the two screws and spin the door pin on.  Now plug in the window switches and the wing mirror switch, this just pushes on.   Sit back and admire your work.

[Shady Pioneer]

VW Golf mk3 Rear Wiper Mod

this mod changes the standard rear wiper from this:



to this:



to achieve this you will need

this: bmw 1 series rear wiper arm - p/n 61.62.7.138.507 £8.65 inc VAT



this: bmw 1 series rear wiper nut cover - p/n 61.62.7.199.566 £1.66 inc VAT
** this will need modifying before fitting - see later **



and this: bmw 1 series 11" rear wiper blade £11.20 inc VAT



if you don't know how to remove and refit the wiper arm there follows a very quick guide

lift off the nut cover



undo the bolt with either a 13mm wrench



or a 13mm socket wrench



lift off the arm

I cleaned the area thoroughly while the wiper was off



in true haynes style "refitting is a reversal of the removal"

nut cover modification

now... the brains among you will know that the BMW 1 series jet nozzle rotates with the wiper arm... (you mean you didn't know this!), whereas the majority of VW jet nozzles are fixed and therefore a larger space is cut in the nut cover.

the BMW nut cover will need to be modified otherwise you will only get about 1/10th of your screenwash on your screen, the rest will just hit the inside of your cover and run down your boot... not cool

to do this:



you will need this: dremel with various attachments



and this: an emery board from your mrs



** before you attack your nut cover note that the plastic is very soft and will mark easily **

I widened the nut cover hole already cut by BMW to the width required. it doesn't need to be as high as the BMW hole, however it looks stupid as a 'cross' so I widened the whole thing, you will need to do this to almost the two 'lines' that are inside the nut cover, take your time and then 'sand' off the plastic to make it nice and smooth, flat and level using the emery board.


11" wiper to 13" wiper mod

I found that the washer jet stream was hitting too high on the window and the wiper wasn't covering enough area to wipe all the water away, especially at the top.

** you will need your existing BMW 1 series rear wiper blade to complete this mod! **

go to halfords and buy a W100 13" Rear Flat Wiper Blade - ironically it is a VW golf MK5 rear wiper fit

you have to remove the adapter in the middle of the blade, I found the easiest way to do this was to remove the end cap on the blade keeping the rubber and metal strips aligned and then work my way down to the adapter in the middle by pulling the rubber out and twisting the metal strips... do this for both wipers and swap the clips over. Rebuild and re-clip the end caps on. Your 13" blade will now have a BMW fitting on it.

some pictures for your perusal:















If enough people are interested I will enquire about a group purchase of this... although the prices probably do not warrant enough discount to make this viable.

If you find that there is an easy or alternative way to do the nut cover modification then please post this as a reply with pictures.

thanks for reading

Guy