Author Topic: Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver  (Read 20160 times)

Offline Waspy

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Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver
« on: 27 November 2014, 00:03 »
Moving this to the dub rides section as a lot has happened since I started this in the project section and I would quite like the option of receiving feedback. Below is the original post, modified to reflect how my plans stand as of today! The name of the thread is purely based on the number of hours I waste day dreaming about how I want this car!

So, here goes, it's time for my daily driver to become a "daily project".

The car was bought in May 2013 with 185,000 on the clock (Its a J reg), and generally in quite good nick. The engine (8v) ran sweet as, idling beautifully and returning 38mpg no matter how I drove it. The odd rust patch, but nothing that was of concern (I thought... at the time) So fast forward 10,000 miles and I have decided, rather than spending my money on a sensible car, I will plough it into making the car I love even better. It now doesnt run so smooth, and the rust is far more concerning. Still, it sailed through its first MOT (with me) in October without a single advisory! Not bad for a 23 year old car.

Since owning the car I have done bits a pieces including:

- Swapping the solid coilovers it had for Eibach -30mm and OEM shocks.
- Swapped the 15x7 Borbet A's it came with for 15x6 BBS RAs
- Replaced the heater blower as it was squeaking like a b!tch
- Waterpump.

So not a lot so far. Basically just did things as and when they were needed. The wheels and coilys were making it scrape, so they had to go.

Now it's time to step things up. This isn't an overnight job, it is still my daily driver and will be a long term project. I will be doing everything I can with my own bare hands (and no doubt a lot of help from some other people'a hands), although I'm no pro, and some jobs will still need a trained mechanic for. I don't plan to show the car when it's done, I just want to enjoy a mk2, in top condition, everyday. I am not going to be super fussy about keeping it standard, I will keep the bits standard which were pretty much perfect out of the factory, such as the general exterior design! I plan to build it to my specification, not what everyone else like, what I like. So, without further-a-do here is my todo list:

Front End:
Crystal High Beam Lenses
Whiter Bulbs
Pinstripe/grill renewal (current looks a tad tired - This was replace trhough nessity (Oct-14)

Engine Bay:
Engine refurb (or at least head, if block is okay) It should hold out until I can put a 1.8t in it, which is the current plan
Gearbox Refurb (Second gear crunches if someone else drives her, I know how to treat her right  ) As above
New dizzy
New Starter motor (29/11/14)
Powder coat rad enclosure (Its all rusty and crappy)
Tidy wiring
Manifold replace
ISV
New horn (current one is barely audible!)

Lower Front:
space wheel to fill the arches a touch more
G60 Arches (Maybe)
Painted plastic trim (black, with matt lacquer)

Rear End:
New Badges
Chromed exhaust tips Will be a new exhaust to go with the 1.8t
New wiper mech
Working demister
Painted spoiler (to match the rest of the trim)
Hatch struts need replacing Jan 15

Interior:
Reupholstered (including roof lining, seats and door cards) - Non standard, to my liking
Speedo Cable replace Jan 15
Heater Matrix Jan 15
Remove tacky wolfburg sh!t (it has wolfburg trim)
New arial/radio

Overall:
Rust Repairs (All bubbles etc, filler cap is an issue) New filler cap welded in Nov-14
Full Respray
New windscreen
Bigger Brakes (280s)
Window seals, and sunroof seal
Sound Deadening Jan 15
Refurbed wheels
Clutch
Matching locks

Undecided:
Dash alterations to house a (hidden) tablet driven entertainment system
Bare Arches Nope
Kill switch(es)
Tracker
Split rims

Hopefully it will be super sexy by the end!

Pics to follow, but here is one to keep you happy!







« Last Edit: 24 January 2015, 15:59 by Waspy »
It's a mk2. Fill it, drive it, enjoy it.  :smiley:

Offline Waspy

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Re: Waspy's Day dreaming daily driver
« Reply #1 on: 27 November 2014, 00:08 »
So, no sooner has I written the above, the fatherless son caught fire on my way to work! I was fine, and it was put out fairly swiftly by a passing tradey. Then the Fire Brigade turned up and hosed the engine bay down. Which, while is there job, annoyed me somewhat as the fire was out and all the water did was ruin any good electrical contacts left. Cuase of the fire, while hard to say for certain, was a fuel line failure which dumped petrol and the hot manifold and... wuuuph flames up the windscreen.

A pic after it had been extinguished, but before the brigade turned up.



Luckily the fire didnt do too much damage. It could have been much worse. But here is a breakdown of all the stuff it killed. Probably more, but I have forgotten.

The grille
The bonnet release
The clutch cable
The K&N
The Injector loom
The headlight loom
The air intake ducting
The brake servo vacuum hosing
The fuel lines...
A whole bunch of wiring!
-The paint on the bonnet
-The timing belt and cover
-HT Leads

Few pics of damage:









And the potential cause



So, to work I went! I should probably point out at this stage, This happened on the 1/9/14 and my MOT was due mid October. So I had a deadline.

Ill try and keep this short as it really isnt too interesting, and I dont have many pics of it all. But we (myself and my very understanding dad) decided to work on all the stuff that it needed to fuel, followed by all of the stuff needed for an MOT, followed by anything else.

So timing belt and cover went on first. No issues there. Slipped the new one on and old one off without moving any cogs to avoid timing issues! Easy

Then came the fuel line! Boy were these a barrel of laughs. From the factory the mk2 set up is to have Nylon hoses from the pump to the bay, and then clamped on top of that hose is a rubber hose. I didnt like the idea of clamping one hose ontop of another, sounded like a fire risk to me... So I decided to use AN fittings when possible.
This meant buying an oversized barb fitting, forcing it into the nylon hose, and then using the AN fitting to connect the two hose. It works beautifully now its fitted. But getting that barb into the hose was something else! We ended up clamping the hose and using a silicone gun to force it in. A’la below



The rest is very dull! A huge amount of replacing cabling and various bits an d pieces. The most exciting time was when the grill arrived, which was a steal at 30 quid delivered and is in great shape! All the fixtures fully in tact.

Old vs New.



A few pics of during the process...



poor car


Got her face back :)


Backtogether again

Fast forward a few weeks and it was time to turn the key! Turned it and after a bit of a splutter it started! Winner! Until we noticed smoke coming from the throttle body...

Turns out the fuel pressure regulator had melted on the inside during the fire. So fuel was coming in through the supply line and shooting up the vac hose straight into the TB. Time for a new regulator. Luckily a fellow forum member sold me one for a fraction of the 80 quid new price.

After sorting out a few teething issues *cough* corroded electrical connections, mr. fireman *cough* Such as the dizzy cap...



I was on my way back to Leeds with a week to spare before my MOT. Excellent. Enjoyed the drive, but took it easy to check for any problems. Hell, I even purposely aimed for the 50 zone on the A1 to make the most of the free recovery! :laugh:

MOT fiasco continues in next post...
« Last Edit: 27 November 2014, 00:46 by Waspy »
It's a mk2. Fill it, drive it, enjoy it.  :smiley:

Offline Waspy

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Re: Waspy's Day dreaming daily driver
« Reply #2 on: 27 November 2014, 00:12 »
So, on my way back from Leeds my rear bumper fell off. Yep, I know, ca sets on fire. but rear bumper decides to jump ship. FFS. It was only the plastic bit, but still very annoying. Luckily not an MOT failure as the old bolts were completely seized and I could not get them off!

Anyway, night before the MOT, the car would not start.
 GAHHHHHHHHH
In desperation called the RAC who came out and were about as helpful as someone taking a dump in your milkshake.
Anyway! It was knackered HT leads. My MOT was due for 8:30 on the Saturday morning. The only motor factor in all of Leeds with some HT leads in stock was GSF. So booked a taxi for the morning, arrived at GSF as soon as they opened, ran in, got some leads, taxi home, fitted the leads and pegged it to the MOT station. Was only an hour late... not bad. And then came the bad news. Here is the list of fails:

- Nearside rear wheel bearing play
- offside rear wheel bearing play
- Nearside front wheel bearing play
- Offside front strut play
- Nearside from D bush on antiroll bar bad, resulting on play
- Battery insecure (this was my bad)
- Offside fog light (rear) out
- Offside front indicator incorrect colour
- Side repeater wrong colour
- offside rear (corner) body or chassis has excessive corrosion within 30cm of the body molding.

Advise:
- the other D-bush
- Offside rear indicator slightly discoloured
- Nearside rear indicator slightly discoloured
- Oil leak
- rear washer not working
- Front grille loose
- timing cover fouling pully belt
rear bumper missing

After hearing the quote for the welding, and had a serious low moment, as the amount they wanted was sounding a lot like the deposit on a nice shiney car.

But I soon snapped out of it. Drove it back to Newcastle and hijacked my parents garage once again! As I work in Leeds, having the car in Newcastle is far from ideal. But I dont have a garage in Leeds. So needs must.

First things first. Sort those pesky bulbs. Easy. Done.
Then it was welding time! I should mention that I have never picked up a welder in my life. But my Uncle has fully restored a very crusty Spitfire, and kindly lent me his welder and gave me a crash course. The result of crash course...





“Dear god don’t let me loose on a car”

Had a bit of practice and felt I was ready. So dropped the tank. And guess what?! I found more bolts that would no shift! So I will take this opportunity to introduce a tool which EVERY Mk2 owner should have. These are call “Bolt Grips” made by Irwin. They are about 20 quid and will pay for themselves over and over again in time and skinned knuckles. Basically they grip the bolt like no socket can. So hammer um on, and then you can use a breaker bar or rattle gun withou fear of rounding. They also work on already rounded bolts!



Anyway, syphoned off the fuel (Thanks Dad for taking the hit on that one :laugh: )



Dropped the tank (to avoid fire btw) and got the grinder going. Here are some pics of the rust I am dealing with





And after a bit of  poking...



Also figured I would do the filler cap while the tank was out. When I started poking, this happened...





And After a bit of welding...



This one is post hammerite/underseal



And here are a few of the filler cap







All that grinding has resulted in a lot of metal dust. DAMN MAGNETIC TOOLS!



Time for the other jobs. Rear wheel bearings were fine. Hammered out the old races, ground one of them down and used it as a drift for the new races. No issues. 

Dont ask me why, its a silly story, but I ended up cutting one of my rubber brake lines. So then needed replacing. Bought some of these



However the connections were very messed up. So ended up needing the copper too

Some of the connections required a huge amount of Dremmeling to finally get them off. Here is one I mangled earlier:



Regardless, I manged to replace the sections I needed to and my brakes are all back on now. And that pretty much brings us to this weekend (28/11/14). Jobs still to do before the MOT are:

- Paint new weld areas
Replace the struct top mounts
Replace the d-bushes (any tips on this?!)
Replace the starter motor (forgot to say, has died due to corroded terminals)
and do the front bearing!

Hopefully thats a 3 day weekend for some of the jobs, and another for the painting. Expect an update after this weekend!



It's a mk2. Fill it, drive it, enjoy it.  :smiley:

Offline dubsport

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Re: Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver
« Reply #3 on: 28 November 2014, 15:57 »
Read your first post mate was gonna write what a nice mk2 she is gutted to read you 2nd post about the fire! Good to see the work you are putting into the ol girl

Offline Waspy

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Re: Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver
« Reply #4 on: 01 December 2014, 00:10 »
Cheers mate, yeah hopefully I can get her back to former glory (and better!)

So this weekend was pretty slow on the jobs front, work commitments reared their ugly head (what happened to weekends being weekends grumble grumble grumble)

But I managed to get the front top mounts done.

Old vs New:


And installed the new starter motor, this is what happned when I tried to undo the terminal on the old one.

Very crusty.

New vs Old:


It spins WAY faster than the old one. Hopefully will make winter starting that bit easier

In other news, a few samples arrived for my planned interior. Non I was happy with, but the search continues!

It's a mk2. Fill it, drive it, enjoy it.  :smiley:

Offline Waspy

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Re: Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver
« Reply #5 on: 24 January 2015, 15:55 »
Forgot to update

Really quick and boring update.

So the car got though it's MOT with a few advisories to keep me going in the year:

- Wheel bearings have slight play (on MOT station failed it, the other advised it), so these need doing soon, although there is still.  No noise from them
- Rack boot has slight damage
- driveshaft boots catch on full lock

After the MOT I did a bit of waterproofing and at the same time removal of water damaged factory sound deadening. I also did the heater matrix which had been leaking (albeit very slowly).

So I had a wet boot. Identified leak to be coming through the hatch handle, in various places. Couldn't find why it was leaking as the parts didn't seem broken or anything, so replacing bits wouldn't have solved it. So siliconed the holes. Job done. It also seemed like someone else had already tried siliconing the headlight cluster in the past really badly, so I ripped it out and replaced with proper seals.



Damp passenger footwell was also apparent. I think due to the heater matrix, but I had planned to replace that anyway. So out came the lower dash. Found loads of aftermarket cabling (max power sound system anyone?) and replaced the matrix. (Said like it was an easy job....)

Old matrix. Leaky.


Fixed the flaps, so it points heat where it should


While I was at it I installed lots of this


Some more of this


And gave everything an out-of-car clean with a steam cleaner etc


The car now smells a lot better, is a lot warmer, and is noticeably quieter.

Other jobs included

-speedo cable
-door membranes
- sunroof seal

Some previous attempt at the door seals .. Masking tape? Really?!


And the new (non OE) seal

It's a mk2. Fill it, drive it, enjoy it.  :smiley:

Offline hardmonkeys

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Re: Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver
« Reply #6 on: 01 March 2015, 08:56 »
Excellent write up!! The mk2 is still by far my favourite Golf, most would of gave up after the fire.
'05 VW Golf Mk V GT TDI Laser Blue
'98 VW Golf Mk IV GTi Black
'97 VW Golf Mk III GTi
'58 VW Golf Mk V GT Sport TDI Steel Grey
'10 Audi A4 B8 SE Multitronic


'00 VW Golf Mk III.V Cabrio


MK3.5 Cabrio 2.0 8v Automatic to 2.0 16v Manual Conversion Project

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=272728.

www.dorsetautorestore.co.uk

Offline Waspy

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Re: Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver
« Reply #7 on: 01 March 2015, 10:32 »
Thanks! Mk2s are awesome. Still think the mk1 wins the beauty award though. Shame they are so expensive :\

 Work commitments have meant that nothing has been done this past month. But my current job is to find the source of a judder which I get in first when setting off. I suspect fuel, but can't say for sure. I also have some time off over Easter. So I plan to strip the underside of the car, rust treat it, and paint it with anti-rust stuff. Probably won't re-seal it as it's just a moisture trap. As long as the paint holds up agaist stones, I would rather just have bare paint. The clutch also needs doing soon. Nothing to tick off the list, but they really need doing.
It's a mk2. Fill it, drive it, enjoy it.  :smiley:

Offline lewis1641

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Re: Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver
« Reply #8 on: 16 April 2015, 12:45 »
just read this thread.

gutted about the fire but glad you rescued it, and glad you avoided the temptation of pheonix references!

i had an engine fire in an old beetle about 15 years ago, even now i panic if i drive past a bonfire and get a whiff of smoke.

what did you use for the sunroof seal? and how effective is it?

Offline Waspy

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Re: Waspy's Mk2 Day Dreaming Daily Driver
« Reply #9 on: 16 April 2015, 13:19 »
just read this thread.

gutted about the fire but glad you rescued it, and glad you avoided the temptation of pheonix references!

i had an engine fire in an old beetle about 15 years ago, even now i panic if i drive past a bonfire and get a whiff of smoke.

what did you use for the sunroof seal? and how effective is it?

Yeah, it took a while, and I have actually only just got it running how it was pre-fire (I solved the judder last weekend). I have the exact same panic whenever I smell anything out of the ordinary!

You didn't see the original thread. It even had Phoenix in the title!  :laugh:

I used this - http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-965-door-seal.aspx. Very effective at stopping water, as you can see from the pics, it doesn't look factory, but does the intended job. It requires 3 meters IIRC, I bought the wrong length first time round.

UPDATE:
Not much to say. I stripped failing underseal and de-rusted before painting with proper rust paint stuff. Also rewaxed cavities while I was at it.
The car is doing a bit of auto weight reduction (Wheel arches jumping ship on motorways) so need to get that sorted. It is making the car look pretty sad.

Wishing strongly I had a second car, so I could give this one a break.
It's a mk2. Fill it, drive it, enjoy it.  :smiley: