# Gibber's custom phaeton.



## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

Ive been asked a few times for pic's of my phaeton.

Love it or hate it here it is.

I bought this after driving my fathers V10 TDi, I bought this when i was 30, and its taken about 12 months to do, slowed down by having my second child and extending the house.

Before you place any comments, i want you all to know, i did all the work myself, in a garage that i built myself, I have had no mechanics training, I have learned almost everything myself.

I bought the phaeton as damaged salvage, bit of a risk, I soon found out that the front corner that look hardly touched was the worst and i had to use a jig to bring this back to shape.

It is a w12, and was a demonstrator, so it has most optional extras that where available when it was produced. it has no speed lock from the factory, 4 seat, 18way front seats, full wooden trim inc stearing wheel, TPMS, TV, solar roof, electric boot, dual xenons.
Extras that I have done, or have ready to fit, new style grill badge and lower trims, LED side lights and tinted rear lights to look like 2009, rear fridge to fit, car pc.

It is on 22" 9j and 11j alloys with lowering links.


From Phat-one


From Phat-one

From Phat-one



From Phat-one



From Phat-one


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

After a bit of work and pin striping by Neil Melliard

(sorry is wasnt clean, that is my fly collection on the front bumper)


From Phat-one



From Phat-one



From Phat-one



From Phat-one



From Phat-one



From Phat-one



From Phat-one


Matching baby seat haha

From Phat-one


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## xERWINPINKx (May 2, 2008)

great job! done very tastefully. my wife likes the matching car seat....now we have to get one. how smooth does it ride at that height?


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## Prince Ludwig (Mar 24, 2007)

Errr...

:sly:


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## plastech (May 3, 2006)

Hi Anthony,

I thought it look really different in a nice way and told I you to host them last year.
What was the out come on the gearbox side?

When your up for it we can meet up for a latte on the lancs.

Tony


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## n968412L (Apr 23, 2009)

Another latte on the E Lancs? You'll make those poncy southerners all jealous again...

Where's Gibber based? I assumed it was UK from the road decoration and the number plate style... and I certainly want to keep my eyes peeled for that lovely looking motor.

Regards

M


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## Reflect (Apr 4, 2007)

Wow! Thats impressive gibber thanks for sharing


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## Reflect (Apr 4, 2007)

How come ur led in the headlights aré so clear? It's that a euro thing? Mine are yellow. I mean the led in the turn signal in the headlight.


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## plastech (May 3, 2006)

n968412L said:


> Another latte on the E Lancs? You'll make those poncy southerners all jealous again...
> 
> Where's Gibber based? I assumed it was UK from the road decoration and the number plate style... and I certainly want to keep my eyes peeled for that lovely looking motor.
> 
> ...


Very close to J26 M6


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

Reflect said:


> How come ur led in the headlights aré so clear? It's that a euro thing? Mine are yellow. I mean the led in the turn signal in the headlight.


The LED's in the headlights are custom, they dim when the turn signal flashes amber.


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

plastech said:


> Hi Anthony,
> 
> I thought it look really different in a nice way and told I you to host them last year.
> What was the out come on the gearbox side?
> ...


Tony,

Gearbox, Changed the oil and filter, and fitted the o-ring that was missing, gearbox still slipped, so the torque convertor was condemened. was saving up to have this done, but had to take it in to have the window seal replaced thanks to autoglass messing it up. Did a few more miles in it and noticed slight improvement, so did a few more miles in it, more improvement, tot the point where no more slipping, VCDS has recorded on one slip this week over a week ago.

Looks like Im a lucky guy, but time will tell.

I just have one more error to fix and i will post it in the morning.

Anthony


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## cai (Mar 22, 2009)

> I bought the phaeton as damaged salvage, ...


What was wrong with it?

cai


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

cai said:


> What was wrong with it?
> 
> cai


AS you can see in the first pics, drivers side (RHD car) doors heavly dented (handles and windows all broken), drivers mirror, rear quarter panel damaged, rear bumper scuffed, back light broken, both front wings and headlights & fog lights broken, complete front bumper (including parking sensors) and radator panel broken and bumper iron damaged, damage to smog pumps and windscrean wash, damage to aircon pipes and drier. Front under trays and wheel liners damaged. Alloys wheels damaged. Front corners of car had to be jigged back out as you can see in the pic.Sure there was a bit more too haha.

All the parts above where replaced.

Anthony.


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## Reflect (Apr 4, 2007)

gibber please explain that whole custom headlight LED. thats sound so cool, i want it please!!!!


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## pirateat50 (Dec 10, 2005)

Gibber, thanks for posting the pics. Cool ride! Not what a lot of us old farts on this forum would choose, but I truly admire your risk taking and your skill in pulling off this rebuild. Thanks again for sharing your work!


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## bobm (Mar 2, 2004)




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## george777 (Feb 1, 2008)

*RE: 'Custom'*

It may not be to everyone's taste, but it's certainly an amazing job you've done! Wish I had it in me to be as 'crafty' and creative as you... Ride it in good health!:beer:


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## rrussell (Sep 9, 2003)

*More info*

Do you have more info or picture on the LED turn signals.


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## cai (Mar 22, 2009)

Sorry, I did not catch the damage when I first looked at the pictures. The old car pictures are so shiny and nice that I thought the damage was just reflections and did not looked closely. I kept wondering why the doors were off. 

In any even, this is a great job you have done with this car. Echoing what some others have said here, I wish I had the perseverance and will to undertake a job half a big as that one. I hope you enjoy your car for a long time.

cai


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

Reflect said:


> gibber please explain that whole custom headlight LED. thats sound so cool, i want it please!!!!


This mod is not for the faint hearted the headlights are over £600 each.
I had two damaged headlights to play with.

This mod took me over 2 weeks to do.

Here is the first mockup using a veroboard circuit.


From Phat-one


The basics of it:

Remove headight
Drill the bottom of the headlight to unclip the opaque reflactor.
Make a hole just bigenough on the inside of the headlight to slide out the reflactor.
Drill reflector very carefully for the leds
Solder wires onto led's
slide reflector with leds back into headlight.
Drill small hole in bottom of headlight and pull wires down.
Make plastic discs to fill holes in headlight.
Make circuit board for resistors and relays.
The circuit i made actualy dims the leds the the indicator flashes to make the amber more pronouced just like the audi's do.
Fit circuit in weatherproof box.
Refit headlight.

If anyone still wants to do this after reading all that get in touch 
and i will take pictures of all the mock up items and try to show you where to drill.

Anthony


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## DynomiteTT (Jan 10, 2007)

nice Job... dig the headlights too. Ive got a similar set up in my mk1 TT.


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## Zaphh (Jul 5, 2008)

Incredible job you did there Anthony :thumbup: !

And about the headlights, these keep reminding me of some kind of eyes. The headlights on the workbench have a soul of their own, waiting to be put back on some kind of oversized droid. In fact, your photo could have come straight out of one of the first star wars, where Luke Skywalker is tinkering with bits and pieces to repair bots.

P.


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## W(12)asif (Apr 3, 2010)

> It is on 22" 9j and 11j alloys with lowering links


Hi,
really nice ride you got there.

I am thinking of putting the same size rims on my W12.
Could you please tell me what 
- ET it is on your rims?
- What tire size?
- and did you have to do any body mod to fit the wheels?

thanx.
Wasif


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## rrussell (Sep 9, 2003)

*More info*

I like it. I can get 2 spare broken headlights to play with


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## PalmettoDub (Aug 10, 2009)

gibber_2k said:


> After a bit of work and pin striping by Neil Melliard
> 
> (sorry is wasnt clean, that is my fly collection on the front bumper)
> 
> ...


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## JayS2000 (Feb 20, 2010)




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## tynee (Dec 19, 2007)

*more and more*

It grows on me each time I look at the picks. I think I'm more impressed with the size of your cajones taking a car that costs so much to keep running, and obviously to repair, and doing such radical work to it. That's great you've made something so different from everyone else here, congrats. That's one of the points to owning a Phaeton anyway, in my opinion, being different. For my tastes, it's a little much, but I think it'd be cool to ride in.

Good job, man. Send some extra headlights my way if you get a lead on some!


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## payday (May 13, 2010)

I'm glad you posted pics. Nice ride, and the colors actually work.

Q: Does the 9" up front and 11" out back fit without any mods, no rub.


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## mhoepfin (Dec 20, 2007)

Very nice... impressive work!!! Thanks for sharing the details.


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

W(12)asif said:


> Hi,
> really nice ride you got there.
> 
> I am thinking of putting the same size rims on my W12.
> ...





payday said:


> I'm glad you posted pics. Nice ride, and the colors actually work.
> 
> Q: Does the 9" up front and 11" out back fit without any mods, no rub.


They are TSW hosten, I had to buy 4 x 9j from the uk and 4 x 11j from the us, Ive sold the other set on to a bentley owner.
I then sent the wheels in to be diamond turned over the whole face.

The ET, now thats a question I cant quite remember, I will have a look next time Im under it, The rear are something like 5 and the fronts 35.

No they dont rub!!!!! Ive even used VCDS (vagcom) to de gas the system and they still dont rub! 

I will get back to you on the tyre size!

Anthony


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## W(12)asif (Apr 3, 2010)

> They are TSW hosten, I had to buy 4 x 9j from the uk and 4 x 11j from the us, Ive sold the other set on to a bentley owner.
> I then sent the wheels in to be diamond turned over the whole face.
> 
> The ET, now thats a question I cant quite remember, I will have a look next time Im under it, The rear are something like 5 and the fronts 35.
> ...


 Thanx for the reply. 

Please check and tell the et and the tire size. 

You have used VCDS to lower your car? How? I am looking for a way to lower my ride with the vag com, but the only thing i found on the forum is how to lower a us car to europe hight. Since I live in Norway, my car has the europe hight, witch is to high  

Could u please tell how to lower the car this much with the vag com. 

Wasif


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## DynomiteTT (Jan 10, 2007)

if you have the updated suspension after the recall, you can't. at least in the US. But if its still possible with the euro modules you can lower it to any setting you want, just follow the euro ride height instructions and put in a lower number. I can't even lower mine to euro ride height. H&R makes a lowering kit and OEMplus sells one. I've been wondering if i swap suspension modules to a euro one, i can get euro right height. Because US ride height looks like a 4x4 at times.


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## Zaphh (Jul 5, 2008)

DynomiteTT said:


> Because US ride height looks like a 4x4 at times.


 But it IS a 4x4 !


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## W(12)asif (Apr 3, 2010)

I cant find the thread about lowering the phaeton with the vag com. This because of the new changes. 

Can anybody help me to find it? 
Or is it the same way as with Touareg?


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

W(12)asif said:


> I cant find the thread about lowering the phaeton with the vag com. This because of the new changes.
> 
> Can anybody help me to find it?
> Or is it the same way as with Touareg?


 Mine was lowered with the lowering links, cost me about £150 (GBP) and took 30 mins to fit, and would take 30mins to take it back to OEM :thumbup: 

Anthony


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## DynomiteTT (Jan 10, 2007)

W(12)asif said:


> I cant find the thread about lowering the phaeton with the vag com. This because of the new changes.
> 
> Can anybody help me to find it?
> Or is it the same way as with Touareg?


 same as touareg.


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## Silver&BlackW12 (Aug 8, 2010)

Nice Ride:thumbup:


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## rrussell (Sep 9, 2003)

More info. Can you send me info. send me private msg and I can give you my e-mail. Thx 
Do you have links to the LED bulbs and links. I been playing around with leds in my house and Phaeton.


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## Auzivision (Apr 19, 2007)

Please do keep us posted on the LED upgrage details. I could easily and LED mod in my future.


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## n968412L (Apr 23, 2009)

I think this has reappeared on ebay.... looks very nice.. some might say even nicer... although I did have a soft spot for this paint job.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332189636649?ul_noapp=true




gibber_2k said:


> After a bit of work and pin striping by Neil Melliard
> 
> (sorry is wasnt clean, that is my fly collection on the front bumper)
> 
> ...


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## B1RMA (Nov 1, 2014)

The above car has just been up for sale again on e-bay to quote the seller 'when I bought the car it had a hideous paint job, I have had the car re-sprayed back to the original colour'


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

I would love to see the car now.


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

B1RMA said:


> The above car has just been up for sale again on e-bay to quote the seller 'when I bought the car it had a hideous paint job, I have had the car re-sprayed back to the original colour'


I should buy it again and paint it back haha


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## n968412L (Apr 23, 2009)

gibber_2k said:


> I should buy it again and paint it back haha


I thought it was a work of art. The only thing that was questionable to me were the wheels... but the concept was arresting. in a good way!

M


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## gibber_2k (Jul 16, 2002)

n968412L said:


> I thought it was a work of art. The only thing that was questionable to me were the wheels... but the concept was arresting. in a good way!
> 
> M


I loved it and still do, so many people didn't get it, but that just added to it. I love how often is pops up in different groups and still to this day splits opinions. Your wrong about the wheels tho 

https://picclick.co.uk/2003-Volkswagen-Phaeton-60-W12-4-Seater-Same-223106262939.html

Looks boring haha

Never knew it was a press car either.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswagen/phaeton/15499/volkswagen-phaeton-w12


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