ben87 - '88 8v on a budget

[Mew]

double post

[Mew]

And in a totally logical order here are the pics when it was on the 35mm Eibach springs before i put it on the Spax.

[Mew]

Now for the plans......

Replace the suspension.
The car feels far too high and rolls too much for my liking. I've driven my dad's 8v with koni adjustable dampers and the springs which is a bit nice so i'm looking out for some of these. He's also got the eibach anti-roll bars but i don't think i'll be able to afford these aswell as the shocks/springs. 

This is where most of my money is going:

2.0 bottom end, kent gs2h cam, and a chip (undecided what though at the mo). Stainless exhaust will also be going on together with a k&n panel filter.

Oh yeah, i've got a grand to sort all of this out with, and thats including the cost of the car!

Just been working out what the costs have been so far and at the moment i have spent just under £850. Admittidly the cam isn't the exact one i was after (i've got a gs1h, wanted a gs2h) and i still haven't got the Eibach anti-roll bars or the rest of the stainless system, but its not bad going!

[Mew]

I'm bored:

I've bought a couple more goodies lately. No pics at the moment though as my phone has fallen out with my pc!

One being just a standard head but i'm going to have a play around with it and do the valve stem seals over the crimbo break. I'm going to stick the Kent cam in it and bolt it all on as one unit. Also bought a TSR manifold the other day so that will be going on with the Supersprint system i hopefully have lined up.

I bought a couple of "8v" badges off ebay for a couple of quid, only thing is they are green so going to spray them red and put one on the back like 16v gti's have.

Car seems to be working fine after i put in a second hand dizzy, as i've been having problems with it cutting out lately and it appears to have been the hall sender.

I managed to get a bonnet for £5 off ebay which was just down the road! Seems ok although still haven't had a proper look at it. It even came with the insulation on the underside!

Another ebay bargain was a pair of sony door speakers complete with the grilles for a tenner posted. Going to stick them in after xmas when i get my headunit as i need to run wires into the doors. Also going to run some new speakers cables to the rear while i'm at it.

Errrrm, i think thats it for now!

[Mew]

Well, unfortunately i don't think there'll be many more posts in here from me!

The car is currently sat at home MOTless while i'm up at uni finishing off this year. I decided it was best to give it a 6 week rest to let me finish off my work and revise for exams, as i didn't have the time to be arsing around getting an MOT on it as no doubt it will fail!

So the long term plan for when i go home in 4 weeks now stands like this:


Things that probably need doing for the MOT:

Change front pads and discs
Fit new front windscreen
Get rear fog lights working

That should hopefully see it with 12 months ticket.

Next up will be a service:

Oil and filter change
Replace cambelt and tensioner
Set-up timing and Co levels so it's spot on


It will then just be a case of drive it for the summer until i start uni again, or put it up for sale and get something a bit cheaper to run. All the bits that i have gathered together will all be going up for sale. I would love to stick them all in for the summer but it just wouldn't be a good idea financially. 

[Mew]

Ok, I finally got around to getting an MOT on the car. The brakes weren't up to much and i hadn't changed the front discs or pads since i bought it in April 06 so they were added to the shopping list. Shortly before doing this work i had put in a 22.2mm master cylinder in preparation for some 280mm discs. Plans have now changed though and they'll be going on another car, so this one is now running 239mm discs with a 22.2mm master cylinder.

There was also a chip in the windscreen which grew a lot over a month or two! This would obviously be a fail, and even if it wasn't i didn't want my girlfriend sat behind it when something else hits the screen  

I was hoping that would be all the car would need to get a fresh ticket as everything else seemed to be pretty much spot on.

Here's the pics, there are quite a few but they are all of pretty much the same thing!


Let battle commence...............

Take one chip in the windscreen and let it grow!





The tax disc holder was in the car when i bought it ok!  



One spanking green tint with top tint screen bought for a bargainous 99p (including green rear side and hatch windows) waiting to go in:



Place a sheet, more to make it easier to clear up any glass than protect the bonnet as the lacquer is buggered anyway:



After trying to persuade the screen out by hand i used my boots:  



The screen definitely won't pass an MOT now!





The screen finally came out after i tw@tted it one:

I also gave the dash a wipe over with the screen out.



All cleaned up and waiting for the seal



Re-used the old seal as it was fine



Gave the screen surround a quick wipe down. NO RUST, GET IN!!!



The sky then went very grey very quickly so the race was on! I was trying to put the seal on the car first and then offer up the windscreen, but i couldn't get it to work and got very pissed off and had to resist kicking the sh!t out of the new screen. Rain was imminent so i had to do something quick and tried the string in the seal technique. I offered up the screen with seal which had a washing line inside (thanks Mum!) and it was in within 30 seconds. Why didn't i try that to begin with!?  


Screen in:



The first blobs of rain fell just as i was going round the outside of the seal making sure it was in properly!



This shot was meant to show the difference between the green screen and non-tint side windows. A combination of bad light and a crap phone camera messed that plan up.

[Mew]

A trip to GSF the next day meant i could get onto sorting out the front brakes. They did me over a bit as the price of the discs on the site was wrong (by about 8 quid each) but after i kicked off in front of a long que and with them being short staffed they gave in and sorted me out a price on the discs and pads together 


Slightly dead! The car had been sat on the drive for over a month though.








New discs and pads on. Hmmmm, shiney!



Giving them a quick bleed. I would highly recommend the Gunson easybleed btw.



Tother side, pretty much the same!





I also popped down to the VW dealer to pick up a set of new caliper bolts. The old ones looked fine (apart from one) but i couldn't be arsed with the hassle of them rounding off when tightening them up or next time i work on the car.




I also had to sort my rear fog light for the MOT. I was getting about 0.1V at the bulb when the switch was on! The fuse was fine but just to make sure i swapped it and still had the problem. I couldn't find a dodgy earth anywhere, and the rest of the rear lights were working fine anyway. I checked the switch and that was working fine, and it was getting 12v to it so no problems with the wiring there. The fuse box was getting 12v going into it from the switch and was also chucking 12v out the otherside of the fuse.

Soooo, the problem had to be between the fuse box and the rear lights. I don't have any pics of this but i just cut the wire that runs down the driver's sill out and soldered in a new one. Sorted!




MOT TIME 

I got the local garage that have worked on both mine and my Dad's mk2's at MOT time to pick the car up, as my insurance was covering another Golf at that time. They collected it around 8am and i got a call at mid-day. Expecting the worst i asked what the damage was, only to be told "in all honesty, i can't say a bad word about it". Well i was chuffed to say the least!

The only advisaries it got were on the main beam warning light not working and the oil light flashing, both of which only started when i put some clocks from ebay in! 



Now then, anyone want to buy a mk2 gti!? Seriously!

[Horney]

All mine now, watch this space!

Nick