Mk2 Golf 3.2 VR6 Kamei Edition + GTI 8v Mini Resto

[th3_f15t]

Cracked on this weekend again, first job was to remove the terrible exhaust that was hanging off the car:




Used an angle grinder without mercy on it as I have no care for it whatsoever. On taking the downpipe off I realised my GTI 8v downpipe has a different connection face so I'll need to source a correct exhaust manifold and bolt that on before fitting the new exhaust. Which meant while I had the whole exhaust system off, may as well replace the gear linkage as I have that all from the previous Golf:






The linkage wasn't in too bad a shape to be honest, the bushes in the bay were all intact but the shaft looked a little worse off which may explain the lack of 5th gear most of the time! Washed the shifter housing, built it all up and bolted it all back in:





Feels loads better already and I haven't even been able to drive it yet. Next job on my agenda was to tackle the interior. It came with 5 door seats fitted so the fronts didn't tilt forwards which was a pain, plus the seats had some holes and marks on them but worse of all was the rear quarter panels have 6x9 speakers cut into them. So out it all came:




Fitted the rear panels left over from the previous Golf and hoovered all the carpets and under them too:




You can't really see it in the photo above, but one of the anchor points of the seat belts was missing the out casing and looked a bit naff so I fitted the anchor points from the other Golf:



Then fitted the front seats. The drivers side is missing one of the plastic guides so it's not as secure as I'd like but the clips are about £2.70 off eBay so will grab a set soon and fit them in:



Also going to fit the front door cards from the other Golf as they're in better condition again and fit the missing rear seat belt. Need to replace the headlights too as they were also picked up on the MOT advisory sheet as they are corroded inside, then that's all the previous MOT advisory points addressed. Going to give it a good clean as it's covered in tree sap at the minute but hopefully after a few hours work it'll look much better.

[th3_f15t]

So, the more and more I look into it, the more I like the idea of turning my Golf into a 1.8 litre, bike carburettor engined machine. I know I can get power and what not from 1.8T swaps, but if I want power I'll drive my 6R. So the loose general spec I'm building up in my mind is:

Mk2 1.8 GTI 8v PB bottom end
Mk4 1.6 AKL crossflow cylinder head
Mk2 1.8 GTI 8v camshaft
Honda CBR 600 bike carburettors
Mk2 1.8 GTI 8v exhaust system
Mk4 TDI 02J gearbox with hydraulic clutch and cable shift

I'm not after record breaking power or performance, just something that sounds good, is better to look at and just has a proper old school vibe to it. The other carburettor options I've been looking at are Yamaha R1's or FZR1000's. The prior is the most expensive with the later costing a little more than the CBR 600's but both the Yamaha ones are for 1000cc engines which I think may be a little overkill for my plans.

Some thoughts and suggestions would be great, although please try and not comment "just do a 1.8T/VR6 swap" as I really don't want that. It's not about cost, performance or the likes, just want an engineering project for some laughs.

[lemski]

Youll have to jet the carbs anyway so its more the diameter to match the manifold.
Looked a solid golf though mate when I saw it

[th3_f15t]

Cheers man. I need to focus on fitting the GTI cams and exhaust at the very least for now and sorting out the bodywork as best as possible, then look to build up the replacement engine and gearbox. Started also looking into a cross flow head with Weber twin carburettors, although more expensive could be a much easier method of achieving what I'm after.

[th3_f15t]

Got myself a Mk3 Golf GTI 8v exhaust manifold as they're the same as the Mk2 I believe, certainly look like they are and according to part numbers they all work. Cleaned it up and decided to spray paint it to match the rest of the exhaust:



Hopefully going to fit it one weekend soon then take her for a drive around and see how the various bits have improved her.

[th3_f15t]

Small update, fitted the larger side door mouldings and actually prefer them:




Also begun the process of getting the exhaust manifold off so I can fit my GTI one. Although this week I'm focusing on the 6R a little bit more as I have a few issues to sort on her first.

[th3_f15t]

So for various reasons, the 6R couldn't really get worked on in the workshop so I decided to get on with some small jobs. Started by removing the red tape on the grill to return it to the original black one:



I also have some cross hair head lamps to match the spot lights as I really like the cross hair style. Then I carried on with removing the exhaust manifold...





Well, so the exhaust manifold is off at least. Let me explain my reasoning... I've been planning on fitting GTI cams and bottom end to the head for a while so figured that now was a good time to whip the head off and do so. You can't actually get the exhaust manifold off without removing the inlet manifold and it's all far easier on the bench anyway. Plus now I can give the carburettor a good service and clean up as well as the inlet manifold and cylinder head. Got to get some valve spring compressors to strip it right down, leaving just the guides in and then sending it off to be cleaned, new guides pressed in and skimmed. But that's not going to the engineering firm alone:



Stripped down the bottom end, but the crank shaft bolt is solid on there and there's pretty much no way of getting it off in my workshop so I think it'll go off with the crank and pistons in but I'll tell them that once they remove the bolt, take it out and just leave it for me to work on. Some pictures, it's clear this GTI engine had a hard life...




Look at those heat spots and the amount of dirt and oil all over the block! The amount of corrosion build up from what was once a bad head is immense, needs a proper clean up in the water channels. There was quite a fair amount of oil left in the block, which I discovered by spilling most of it onto the workshop floor:




You can see the stubborn bolt on the left hand side. The plan now is to strip the head down completely, send the head and block off to be stripped and cleaned with various machining work as required before rebuilding the engine back in the workshop with all new gaskets, seals, bearings and bolts. Valves will be inspected and if there's any damage at all they'll be replaced, but this 1.6 EZ engine seems quite well cared for so hopefully just a good clean will do the trick.

That was Friday, today I just mostly tidied up and sorted some other bits out, but I did one small but important job which was to fit new seat runner guides as the driver's seat didn't have them and wobbled terribly:



Then fitted the front door cards to match the rear ones:




By the state of the door screws and the plastic skins behind the cards, I don't think those cards have hardly ever been taken off, only when electric windows where fitted to the car by a garage.



That's all for now, until I can buy some more tools and get the parts over to the engineering shop for work. Stay tuned...

[lemski]

Doing more ro yours than I am to mine. Fair play mate

[th3_f15t]

I got bored...

[Oli_F]

wow, im impressed