Author Topic: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!  (Read 9300 times)

Offline SoundillusioN

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #20 on: 14 October 2010, 13:52 »
We could set up our own DIY Refurb! Theres been a load of people doing it recently  :cool:

Another great turn out i see  :cool:
I know... threre's more of us now just doing it ourselves...


what a bunch of w**kers  :laugh:

Offline Dec

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #21 on: 14 October 2010, 14:31 »
Whats the betting im the only one on the forum to f**k up? :tongue: :rolleyes:

Offline lewis1641

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #22 on: 14 October 2010, 15:01 »
cool car.

yuo must have very understanding flat mates. 

your spray booth rocks!

Offline SoundillusioN

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #23 on: 14 October 2010, 15:04 »
cool car.

yuo must have very understanding flat mates. 

your spray booth rocks!
you should see the one for a car!  :grin:

Offline Wayne

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #24 on: 15 October 2010, 20:57 »
Excellent work if a little risky.

Offline jmsheahan

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #25 on: 20 October 2010, 21:58 »
Great work on the wheels - look ace!

'Spray booth' made me laugh  :grin:

Offline bmm

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #26 on: 07 November 2010, 22:45 »
OK, got a few months worth of stuff to catch up on!  Thanks for the comments so far!

The car had its first MOT since I got it (£600 worth of work :shocked: ) and a new exhaust + downpipe after I reversed into a kerb at Reading services and buckled the downpipe.  Was a useful excuse to get rid of the peashooter exhaust it had that gave me headaches on the motorway and just looked lost in the rear valance cutout...  Ordered a fancy Supersprint jobby that took six weeks to turn up, but worth it in the end.



While I was waiting for the exhaust to turn up, I also sent the car to have some bodywork taken care of.  The rears rubbed on the arches pretty badly, and there were spots of rust bubbling under the surface, like just under the rear left light cluster.  Found a bodyshop with a good rep (G+D in Bristol) and went down to get the arch trim removed, arches rolled and the rust spots dealt with.  A few hundred quid later (and a few nightmares for the poor guy working on it when he discovered the extent of the rot under the arches) here it is down at RTTS:







Sitting way too high on the front springs I had to get to get it through the MOT, but that gets sorted soon enough with this package I got delivered one happy day:



 :cool:

Offline bmm

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #27 on: 11 July 2011, 21:23 »
Wow, where did I leave this one off?  Time to bring you all up-to-date with the sorry tale so far...   :undecided:

Over last summer it got a new interior, some sound deadening junk in it's trunk in preparation for the stereo and a red stripe on its grille (ignore the white badge, it was an experiment!)

Then I decided to tackle the rattly tappets in a makeshift weather-proof workshop out the front of my parents place.  Little did I know this would be the last time these eight valves ever worked again, as one of the valve springs decided to commit suicide shortly afterwards:



I still don't think I Was entirely to blame for this one, despite my brother's claims otherwise... ;)  So being the idiot I am, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to look into engine transplants.  A few weeks (and a Christmas) later, I'd found an unwilling mk3 donor for an ABF transplant, and someone willing to do it for me.

Before it went away for its new heart, I took the chance to tidy the engine bay up:



Some pretty strange fruit started growing on the trees out back, smelling of hammerite:



And I got some nice new brake bits to go with the engine:



Eventually the two cars were taken away to Southampton to be messed with, and I was left driving this beast:



The Golf couldn't come back soon enough!  More to come later...  :nerd:

Offline SoundillusioN

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #28 on: 12 July 2011, 11:46 »
 :grin:

I've had a garage like this


recently went as posh as a gazebo!

What were you doing to the tappets then and what do you think fooked it?... I ask because I'm doing mine this winter.


Offline bmm

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Re: bmm's 87 mk2 - don't call it OEM+!
« Reply #29 on: 13 July 2011, 20:59 »
A gazebo - well posh!  To be honest I'm not sure what I did wrong with the tappets - I think the spring might've been on its way out before I opened it up, as it was making some dodgy noises similar to how it sounded when it was knackered, but only sometimes.  Doing the timing when massively hungover almost certainly didn't help either ;)  If you follow the RJ timing guide then not much can go wrong!

So the engine was soon plopped in, but shortly after fitting it all in, the gearbox that'd served the 8v so well was found to be pretty much shafted, so had to do an emergency trip to the breakers to pick up a replacement - from what I gather I ended up with an ATH box, not that I know what that means...



Brakes were all fitted up, albeit with some minor issues like buying the wrong master cylinder and the wrong hoses (I found getting the brake parts right a stupidly stressful experience!)



Soon enough it was back and I could finally get out of that damn Skoda and put on the new shiny things I'd been cosetting for so many months:



And that kind of brings the whole saga up to date, and now that summer is kind of here I'm enjoying driving around in it!  Still not used to the power and am almost certain the gearbox will chew itself to pieces, but it puts such a big grin on my face it's worth it!  Some pics from recent days: