Author Topic: ...joe - black mk2  (Read 37670 times)

Offline jv

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...joe - black mk2
« on: 15 March 2005, 21:53 »
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« Last Edit: 27 January 2008, 16:19 by ...joe »
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Offline ...joe

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chapter 2!!
« Reply #1 on: 18 March 2005, 19:16 »
background:
for starters i have done almost everything to my golf my self. its the first car i've had that i've cared about and have learnt everything as i've gone along. its been an education and i've surprised myself with how much i've learn't and how friendly the golf 'scene' is. i came close to selling it a few times but so glad i decided to keep it!!

I always wanted a mk2 gti and after spending a while playing with minis and being a student i could afford one without getting stung for insurance and getting in debt.

So not knowing anything about golfs i started looking at a few, test drove several and knew instantly that i had to have one! a few fairly local ones popped up but i wasn't too keen on any until i found one in woking. i arranged to meet the guy and when he pulled up i was very happy with what i saw and had a feeling i'd buy it! the first thing i noticed was the BBS split rims! i've always thought these suited the mk2 so was very happy and a few days later went back and haggled till i got a fair price.

i was happy as larry for a few weeks but after working with a couple of boy racers i decided i wanted to lower it. i bought a set of bilstein streetlines ( i think, whatever gibby bought!) and one weekend decided i'd have a go at fitting them myself. i was surprised how easy it all went and was very happy with the results!! handled better and looked better as well. end of chapter one!

ok so next on the list of things to do was to sort out the nasty orange on my lights! a quick call to euro car parts sorted me out with a set of half smoked rear lights, smoked side repeaters and smoked bumper indicators. i chose smoked ones as they make the indicators sort of disapear into the bumpers where as clear ones, while looking nice, will stand out. i wanted to go for the simple look.

not knowing anyone into cars let alone golfs, meant i made my first trip to gti international on my own, i found it very inspirational and took loads of photo's. it was also great to see some of the cars i'd seen in the golf magazine and i also spent alot of time looking at all the detailed BBS and getting jealous. i took a pic of a black g60 and knew that was how i wanted my car to look. it wasn't radical in any way but summed up what i always liked about mk2's. it was clean, simple, low and still had a slightly menacing look to it, like although it was almost standard you wouldn't want to race it!

At gti international i picked up a jetex response air filter for a bargain show price and slapped it in in the car park, while i had the air box open i thought i'd pull out all the gubbins from inside to see what difference it made. needless to say it never went back in!!
i then decided i wanted a set of big bumpers and got given a front one, already painted black and slapped that on with a set of smoked indicators for that as well.
i also decided i wanted a single headlamp grill but didn't want to get the same one as everyone else so had a go at making one myself! i decided i was going to mesh one and i liked how it looked for a while but looking back at it its not too nice!!! it also shows how lofty my car looks compared to how it does now!!





thats it for the time being, then i think i went for more power!!!
« Last Edit: 24 July 2007, 15:56 by ...joe »
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Offline ...joe

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my mind is messed up!
« Reply #2 on: 21 March 2005, 18:47 »
this has been quite funny trying to write this!

i've kept every receipt for everything i've bought over the 4 years i've had this car and i had to go back and look through them to work out what i've done and when i did it!

ok, so in jan '01 i had read 'the golf' magazine (now golf+) about a company called 'speedtech' who made exhausts for vw and audi, and they seemed to have a high standard of workmanship and their mk4 demo car impressed me as much as the shots of their showroom. so venom were/are the uk importers/distributors of these exhausts so i phoned them up to ask a bit more info. i couldn't afford their f1 stainless system at the time but they told me that they had one, unpackaged that had been used for the press photo's etc. whether this was true or not was irrelevant as they said they'd do me a deal on it and offered me the stainless system for the same price as the mild system, saving me over ?100!! so i had to get it didn't i?!

it arrived and i was so happy, as you can probably see from my sig pic, it has a sort of squarish letterbox style tailpipe, which i think suits the mk 2's boxy shape well. it fitted on easily and i did it while at work in my breaks?! hoping it would fit right so i could get home! it was pretty loud but sounded quality, rather than boy racer crap loud!
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Offline ...joe

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mmmmmotorsport!!!
« Reply #3 on: 21 March 2005, 19:08 »
one more thing, i forgot to say about when i bought the car was the fact that it had a genuine (with receipt from vw) VW Motorsport gearknob and combined gaiter!! the nicest thing about this is that the knob and gaiter are joined so it blends from the knob to the gaiter with no join. god knows how they do it, i've tried to replicate it in so many ways but it never works that well!!! heres a pic so you can all get jealous of this rare as hell beauty!!

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Offline ...joe

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bit more grunt!!
« Reply #4 on: 22 March 2005, 23:04 »
so by now my confidence with working on cars had risen. like i said before i can't quite remember the ins and outs of how i went about doing things but looking back through my files of car stuff i realised how much stuff i did.

but after saving some money for something that i never ended up buying, i found i had a bundle of cash with nothing to spend it on! so i bought a cam kit. around the same time as doing this in 'the golf' magazine (again!!) they had just done a test on a same age digifant as mine with various different cams in it and the one that gave the most improvement in performance was the piper 285h. so i bought one with corresponding springs, cups etc. i then set about the scary task of stripping it all down. i took the head off at the same time and renewed the valve stem seals and ground down the valve seats as well. with the new cam in place it appeared that the lobes were all to one side of the followers which i wasn't too happy with and when lined up with the original cam they seemed miles out!

so with the wonders of modern technology i took some photos and emailed piper and they said that it was intentional as the followers spin as the lobe pushes down on them thus making them wear evenly. so i slapped it back in but couldn't get it to idle well, due to how lumpy it was. so i ordered up a vernier pulley and booked it in to get it tuned properly. plus it was blue and shiney so looked cool! i used to manage a motorway service station and they had this awesome forecourt cleaner that they used with a stean cleaner so every now and then i'd give my engine a blast, worked wonders!! wish i still worked there sometimes. so with the pulley on it was up and running and the mid range boost when the cam properly kicked in was awesome! my car did idle badly but sounded dangerous and was a bit faster so i was happy!


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Offline ...joe

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other stuff in no particular order!!
« Reply #5 on: 25 March 2005, 21:38 »
being that i can't remember what i did when and i'm sure you lot don't really care too much, i'm gonna do a quick few posts of what else has been done.
as is obvious from my sig pic i have a flushed tailgate!! i'm getting a bit bored of it now but i always liked the smooth look of them. so i got a local guy to do it who's work i'd seen before. he did an amazing job and only charged me £60 which i thought was pretty good. it still looks as perfect as it did back then. unfortunately the guy had an accident not long after doing it and is now paralysed, poor sod, really nice guy too.

^^exhaust is wonky because at the moment its just hanging there!

so as my golf was a small bumper i got hold of a second hand set of 90 spec arches, side skirts, rear bumper, and rubbing strips to do the job properly. i then set about smoothing them all off to colourcode them. i borrowed a compressor and spray stuuf and did them all over a week. they weren't amazing but for a first effort i was pleased with my spraying. a bit of cutting got them up nice.
thats pretty much how my car stayed for a while then a friend told me of a rumoured rallye in a local breakers. we searched around for it and eventually found it hidden away. it was in a right mess from the front end crash and the guy who owned it had done some very odd things to it. but the interior was in it, mouldy as hell and with speaker holes cut in the rear door cards so i haggled with the owner of the scrapyard and got it for £225.
i also got a momo corse steering wheel for £20 and they gave me a bag of other trim bits they'd removed from the car which went straight on ebay.
i took the seats home and attacked them with a can of vanish, a spoon and scraped out all the sh!t from them! stuck them infront of a radiator for a day and they looked like new! was very pleased. the only downside of the whole day was blowing a head gasket on the way home but i was so chuffed with my scrap yard find i wasn't too bothered!
that was a pain in the arse but not too hard to fix.
a week later i went back and the car was stripped of anything going apart from a set of happich pop out windows which i bought for £20 with the intention of fitting them as well but when i moved house i sold them for £110, nice profit!
only pic i've got is of the steering wheel which was always a classic one for mk2's!
« Last Edit: 25 March 2005, 22:06 by gtijoe »
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Offline ...joe

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almost got sold!!!
« Reply #6 on: 25 March 2005, 21:56 »
i then got a new job, moved house and considered selling the golf as i had a company car. while i still loved it i thought it was a bit of a waste having it sitting there not being used.
i even sold the rallye interior as i knew i'd be selling my car on and got offered more money than i could refuse for it. so i stuck my old cloth back in.
the rear breaks had gone, so i decided i'd put mk4 calipers on it. i got the goodridge conversion hoses from c&r enterprises along with a set to do the fronts. while trying to re-do the lines on the rear i managed to damage one of the solid hoses and decided to re-new them as well as the whole system was going to be pulled apart. but due to sh!tty weather, not having a garage and generaly having no entheusiasm i took forever to get the brakes done. in fact considering i didn't drive the car for so long i probably bought more parts for it than when i was fully into it!!! i don't know why but i just had the urge to buy stuff for it.
i spent ages on ebay and pvw's classifieds buying up stuff like a now unavailable Eibach strut brace, chrome rocker cover and a few other tweaks.
i also spent a long time in scrap yards finding some good stuff like these on certain audi's

i worked out how to adapt these to fit and then found loads of sets in various scrap yards so sold about 10 sets on ebay!!
i also found these one day and have since seen some on ebay for around £40!!!!! crazy!

i also decided to delock my doors and got a set of rear handles and converted them to fit, with some polished inserts all from a scrap yard.

and i bought a set of door kickplates from trimsport in brushed aluminium but wished i'd got polished stainless now. i may buy some new ones!!!
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Offline ...joe

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bling bling!!
« Reply #7 on: 25 March 2005, 22:05 »
buying the chrome rocker cover made me realise that along with my chrome door locks/handles/inserts i wanted more bling!
with my engine bay looking clean, i painted the gearbox and the block in black engine paint. i'd already cleaned up my head and manifolds when i did the head gasket so i started to buy various chrome bits to smarten it up some more. i thought i had some pics of my engine but can't find them so sorry about that. i did various little things to the exterior like remaking my grill and colourcoding the gti badges.....

and from this:to this:



« Last Edit: 07 April 2005, 20:48 by gtijoe »
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Offline ...joe

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Re: gtijoe - low 'n polished mk2
« Reply #8 on: 25 March 2005, 22:28 »
right so back to the mechanical stuff. after sorting my rear brakes, i found a guy just up the road selling a set of g60 hubs,calipers,brand new pagid fast road pads, brand new bottom ball joints etc, basicly everything to convert my 239mm to the 280mm versions. all for £80!! not bad! all i had to buy was new discs so i got a set of brembo's.
i fitted them after painting the calipers black but couldn't get the pressure to hold. i bled them several times but couldn't get them right. it was then i got put in touch with a bloke who has been so much help and has become a good friend ever since. he's called john mitchell and has his own tuning business called john mitchell racing (07974 020 031) or jmr for short. he has an awesome 16vg60 corrado and is one of these people that just 'knows'!! he sorted my brakes out and since then he's helped me out a few times and is a top bloke that i would have no problems reccomending anyone to.
so thats my car sorted up and running and i'd also bought a leather g60 interior from a guy up in slough. its basicly a standard leather interior but being from a left hand drive the drivers seat is perfect!


i'm sure other stuff happened but cant remember! i had made a sh!tty set of door speaker pods to house some jbl components i'd bought and decided i didn't like them so i thought i'd have a crack at making some more. i had another set of door pockets laying around so cut and fillered till they looked good, then got some leather and covered them. i was kinda pleased.

the old ones i'd made had the tweeters built in as well so this time i decided i'd try and make them fit in the door mirror covers. it took a bit of trial and error as there is f**k all room behind there and i wasn't going to cut the metal out of my door!! but i think they look pretty good!
« Last Edit: 07 April 2005, 20:50 by gtijoe »
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Offline ...joe

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wheeeeeeeeeels
« Reply #9 on: 25 March 2005, 22:48 »
as i said before my car came with the lush 3pc BBS RS047, and one morning half asleep at about 5am, i clipped a curb and dented one of my rims. so i thought this was a good time to re-furb them and so got a set of teardrops to run around on.
in true fashion, i spent my sweet time doing them and ummed and arred about how wide i wanted to go and what colour to paint the centres. i also wanted to chrome my bolts but couldn't get a decent price for them and couldn't find anywhere to supply them. now you can get them from loads of places. anyway i went wide on the back and kept to 7" on the front because i couldn't be arsed to have to sort out rubbing issues as my car now sits looooow. the centres were powder coated a similar gunmetal grey to the colour i'd done my badges and a few people weren't sure but when they are on the car they look awesome!! i was very happy when i pieced them up. i also found a set of titanium bolts on ebay from the same guy who i bought my leather interior from. funny thing was he offered them to me before and wanted £150 for them, in the end i won them on ebay for just over £70!!! reeeesult!

some pics when i first built them up, looking mighty shiney!!!!!


a silly thing i did when re-building the wheels was to make sure the 'titan' stamped on the bolts all faced the same way!!! i'll get a pic to show you what i mean!!
so i was now too scared to get the f**k*rs dirty and because the winter was drawing in i needed a set of winter wheels. i still had the teardrops and had a set of le castellettes but as my brakes had grown i had to get a set of "15's and as luck would have it a friend of a friend had just bought a golf and wanted it to look more original so wanted a set of teardrops in stead of his "15's. so i arranged a swap and got his set of 5 sebrings off a corrado!! they were a bit scabby so i refurbed them quickly and painted the centres a gunmetal grey with silver outers to sort of match my BBS, poser eh?
« Last Edit: 07 April 2005, 20:51 by gtijoe »
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