MarkS - late mk2 8v

[jv]

[MarkS]

Cheers mate 

Well I best introduce myself and that!
I'm Mark, I'm 17 and I've just bought a white 8v mk2 as a project car 
Its in really good nick and is lovely to drive! It holds the road wonderfully and has a fair bit of poke 
I am very much an amateur to this so I have basically everything to learn so there will be lots of silly questions asked and many basics to be learnt
Now you're probably thinking "Oh no a 17 year old being let loose with such a car, theres going to be body kits and neons and silly speakers, its going to be ruined  "
But fear not!
I'm planning to keep the interior completely standard and how it was originally, with only a few exterior mods such as a change of lights, wheels, stance etc 
So hopefully I plan to do the car some justice!

Anyway, here are some pictures of the car-





Can't really see it (at all) but it has a full stainless Scorpion exhaust, lovely noise!)


14" BBS rims, bit too small for my liking so when the suspect Kumho tyres go I think the rims will too




The brace thing will have the rust removed and sprayed black as will the cover at some point 


Had a quick gander at the plugs and leads, tempted to get some iridium denso plugs soon and some replacement leads but these VAG ones look in pretty good nick! May try out some others anyway 


The water temperature gauge has been fouling up a bit recently, giving various readings throughout a journey going from normal temperature to cold and in between so I pulled out the two plugs as shown here and gave them a little clean as this is what i saw recommended on this site through various searches 
They were already pretty clean though so I'm not holding out too much hope that they fix the problem 
And I haven't driven it yet to find out 




The final thing I did was attempt to get the top of the air cleaner off to see what filter it already has and whether to replace it and also as it is meant to be ridiculously easy . Or so i thought!
My haynes manual is diabolically poor in helping me get the top off as after I undo the clips on the side it tells me I have to remove it from the AFM. Fair enough but it doesn't really tell me how from what I can see! However my other manual (Max Power  ) Says that it is removed from the inside. Fair enough if I can get to the bolts! So at the moment it looks like I'm going to have to unscrew the jubilee clip and remove the afm from the hose 

I'm probably missing something here so if anyone can give me insight into this feel free to PM me 

That's all from me at the moment 
Thanks for reading!

[MarkS]

Hello again 
A few further small updates on the car
Got a Green Panel filter and had to get a new battery  :

So I did my research and put my order in for a Green filter as it seemed to be the one to go for
Meanwhile, I finally took the top half of the air box, a bit of a nightmare getting to a few clips but I managed it, removing and labelling all the various tubes and wires that came from it and took the filter out to reveal some nice dirt and leaves I covered the hose in cloth as I didn't want any gubbins getting into the engine whilst the car was sat without an airfilter for a week or so  -



The filter itself didn't look too shabby-


So I gave the airbox a good clean-


Quite a good picture of the inside of an airbox looks like if people are querying stripping the inside of it. Trumpet clearly visible etc.

So I pushed the car into the garage, which secretly i was proud to achieve  , and waited for the filter to arrive.
Fortunately it arrived the day after I got home from leeds fest  Saw a VW flag in the crowd so good work if that was anyone on here!
Cut the tabs of the filter down and placed it snug inside the airbox-


So I refitted all the air box gubbins, opposite of removal (a bit of Haynes speak there  )

So went to start the engine annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd... nothing
Car was completely dead!
So out came the AA to restart it for me!
Apparently it was because I hadn't shut the bonnet properly and it had drained the battery 
Quite embarassing!
Also quite nerve-racking having your car fired up after doing work on it infront of an audience (ok one man  :embarassed:)

The car seems a bit lumpy at idle now when cold
I may leave it for a bit, see if it sorts itself out. We'll see, might do some research into it.

Anyway, at least it starts now 
Talking to the AA man he said the battery is far too small and old for the car and needs replacing!
Apparently its a 63 when it should be a 65? And the smaller battery is more suited smaller cars such as the Polo, I just nodded and pretended to understand what 63 stood for 
Anyway I drove down to charlie browns and picked up said new battery £82 out of pocket 


Coulda gone on some crystal lights that could  !

And this was the offending small battery-

Got the old battery out and the new one in with a minimum of fuss and the old girl started first time!
Something which never normally happens!



So with it all working, except for the clock which i can't seem to reset 
I took it for a proper test drive 
I wasn't expecting much change but the engine seems much more willing to rev and pulls that bit better
Result 

Temp sender update-
I thought a quick clean had fixed it as it was reading correctly stationery when the AA man was there
However after driving it, it started going back up and down which was irritating
So i've given it a better clean today to see what happens
If there is no improvement I guess I'll look into getting a new one 
And sort the damn idle out

Travelling to the opposite end of the country to most Dub fans this weekend as we're travelling up to Scotland for the day which should be good! If anyone sees a white mk2 trundling along, give us a wave!
Will try get some better shots of the car too which will be nice 

Ok so these first 2 posts have not been too enthralling in terms of things being done to the car, however with summer drawing to a close I have some more interesting plans 
Namely
Getting a blitz chip
New pads, fluid and braided hoses for the brakes and painting the calipers red 
And getting some smoked and crystal lights whilst its off the road

There's also a new cam in the pipeline too once I work out how the hell to sort out cambelt timing so I don't mess it up!

In the meantime, peace out 

[MarkS]

Hello everyone 

Not much has been happening with the car recently since I've had to go back to college
So now much of my time is taken up with college work and sorting out uni forms.
Not fun stuff!
However I'm back and I've been given the sack at work so I can have full weekends dedicated to the car now 

It has been running nicely recently so I've been able to drive it on some lovely roads near me, big grin on my face!
Its what its all about 
There was some tappet noise after the car had been stationary for a week or two which caused alarm at first but the noise has since gone away 

I've bought some things for the old girl too-




I'm doing an oil change, as I don't know when it was last done and am unsure what quality oil is in the car
I'm replacing the front pads as I've seen a lot of dust from them and there seems to be an almost 'metal on metal' sound when I brake 
And there is very little pedal feel
So I've got some GreenStuffs before its too late!

I've also bought some caliper paint which should have the calipers looking nice behind them rims!

Oil thinner still needs to be purchased to hopefully clean my engine out before I change the oil
And I'm going to do the same for the fuel system 

I'm going to a rolling road soon to hopefully try get the best out of the engine and I'm going to get a quote on a manifold soon 

I feel the car's lacking torque flat out in 5th, even in high revs, so I want to get that sorted 

Until next time, peace 

[MarkS]

Evening all 

Finally got round to doing something on the car today.
Thought I'd give changing the oil a go, something nice and simple 
All went smoothly.
Used some of that Wyatt engine cleaner in the old oil before I removed it.
Replaced the oil with some Synta Silver 10w 40 and the car climbs through the rev range much more smoothly now
I recommend the Wyatt cleaner as the oil seemed noticably thinner when it left the engine and its improved the engine's efficiency and the tappets are now quieter.

Planning to phone Gwent VW up on tuesday to see if they can offer me a new manifold to make a full stainless system.
Also may take it up to the local garage with a rolling road to see if they can set it up and get a few more horses as I believe the engine isn't quite set up correctly as it flat spots before returning to 900rpm idle 
However I may be worrying about nothing 

Also the wheels are oxidised on. Apparently to cure that a good malleting is required 

Anyways here's a better picture of it 



This was about 5 minutes before it got covered in mud that had covered the road 

C'est la vie!

[MarkS]

Evening all
Theres been a distinct lack of posts recently in this project due to exams and various things taking up my time 

But now I'm back and rolling 
The only small thing I did was fit a new mk3 weighted shift rod which hasn't made a world of difference, but has smoothed the notchiness out a bit 
Had some grief ordering it from the stealer like!
"What cars if for?"
-"erm a mk2"
"This parts for a mk3"
-"Yes I know but its meant to fit the mk2 aswell"
"Its not gonna fit but I'll order you it anyway"
-"....alright"
"Just don't come back here wanting a refund when it doesn't work"
 

So anyway, obviously it fitted dead easy-
(The pictures are quite blurry  )
Its literally a matter of undoing two clips with some long nosed pliers and fitting the new rod, and pushing on the new clips-







A few other things have been ordered as well, as a treat 
Tarox discs, Green stuff pads (Fronts I've had for a while but didn't fancy fitting myself  :embarassed: )


(click the pic  )

Awaiting the arrival of some braided hoses now and some 5.1 fluid.
The guy thats fitting them has (fingers crossed) some TT rear calipers available to replace the standard ones
So hopefully I should be stopping on a dime 

After this I'm getting some armoured door locks, which I'll colour code whit as they'll look gash otherwise.
Short shift kit to knock 0.00001 off my 0-60 time
Get a spare airbox to drill out
But all the while saving for some Koni STRT suspension
40mm drop. Word 

[MarkS]

Right well over half term I've painted and fitted my aromoured door locks 
They're from GSF and cost about £23 which seems a bit steep, but at least I didn't have to wait for delivery etc.
The finish on them was really bad so I would have had to have painted them no matter what!

They started off like this-


I then masked the back like so-


I sanded down the surface using very fine wet and dry paper then added several layers of white primer, leaving it to dry and then sanding the face back until I got a nice even finish that was not too thick that the paint would bind to nicely.

I then used some Halfords spray paint and added several thin layers of white paint, sanding it down each time.
To get a smooth finish you have to put more paint on, but its irrelevant as the laquer evens it out anyway 
Finally I added a few thin layers of laquer which unfortunately put a yellow tinge on it
Hopefully, due to exposure to light it might fade out or I might try remove it.
We'll see
Anyway this was the overall finish-



I'm pretty impressed for a home effort and as I can't paint for love nor money 

So after this, armed with my Max Power guide to modifying  , I took to the handles.
The packet had some diabolical instructions too but anyway, I set to work-

Firstly get a really thin screw driver and unclip the trim from the edge of the lock.
Comes off dead easy!


Then, remove this screw that is revealed by removing the trim-


Followed by this one on the inside edge of the door (don't worry, you can still operate the door from the inside)


Now push the lock forward and pull it out back first.


At this point I became confused and so forgot to take any more pics until I did the other side 
So I sanded down the inside edges of the plates and clipped it onto the lock whilst the old gasket remained.
I removed the soft spongy crap from the back as it was physically impossible to get everything to line up
So as a lubricant/and scratch/ anti-rust I covered it all in Wax Oil so fingers crossed the paint should remain in ok nick.
Now offer the handle back into the door backwards first and push it away.
Firstly screw in the screw from inside the door first, this can be a problem to line up, hence pushing the handle away to get a better angle.
As you tighten the screw, the handle slides back into place.
Tighten it as much as possible and replace the screw found under the trim with the 'security bolt' ie. cheap allen key bolt and tighten it up.
Remeber to use a washer and don't tighten too much as you'll go through the plastic handle.
Replace the trim, front first and you're done 



Should be drilling out an airbox as there should be one coming my way soon 
Get that induction roar going on.

Fully in love with this car now.
Took it for a quick drive through town to run some errands and it gets so many appreciative looks!
Its great 
Roll on summer!

I've been hearing you can turn the cog in the afs two teeth back and this increases the fuelling?
Anyone done this?
Is this an alternative to getting a chip of ebay?
Cheers 

[MarkS]

I just found this about the afs mod on Club GTi-
"Later Digifant cars appear to be tuned to run lean from the factory.
One tweak which is known to L-Jetronic tuners and that can work on the Digifant cars is to slightly loosen the spring tension on the air flow sensor.

By reducing the spring tension on the AFS you are essentially allowing more air to flow into the intake for a given throttle position. This "tricks" the computer into supplying more fuel at lower RPM, in effect richening the mixture throughout the range up to about 4,000 RPM when the AFS is wide open anyway.

Reducing AFS Spring Tension

To reduce the spring tension, first remove the black plastic cover on the air flow sensor by cutting up through the silicone sealer with a sharp blade. You will see, among other things, a black gear-wheel on top of what looks like a clock spring. A wire clip engages a tooth on the gear-wheel and is held in place by a 7 mm screw.

Scribe a permanent mark on the gear-wheel at the tooth where the wire clip engages (This is so you can go back to the stock setting if need be).

This is the tricky bit: Get a good grip on the gear wheel with your fingers. Loosen the 7 mm screw and wire clip assembly. Don't drop anything, and whatever you do, don't let go of that spring, or you may never get the car to run correctly again!

Now, carefully unwind the gear-wheel 3 teeth counter-clockwise. This is no more than 8 or 9 mm, so be careful. Reset the wire clip three teeth to the loose side of stock. Tighten down the 7 mm screw, replace the black cover with a thin bead of silicone sealer and you're done.

I tried one, three, and five teeth... one didn't seem to do much, five actually reduced power. Three was just right. Stay with three teeth because the down side of too rich a mixture will be increased emissions, and possible damage to the O2 sensor and/or catalytic converter. YMMV.

I can report that this tweak helps solves some perceived Digifant driveability problems (assuming all else is in order). Hesitation is reduced, throttle response is crisper, and there is mildly quicker acceleration in the lower gears due to increased torque. Gas mileage does not appear to suffer much"

Whats everyone reckon?

[MarkS]

Hey guys
Sorry for the lack of updates!

TT calipers and discs are now on 
Got some 5.1 fluid in there too
Braking is much improved
Although there's quite a lot of play sometimes, which is worrying.
Will have to see how it beds in 
But generally I'm very impressed, reigns the car in nicely.
I shall get some pictures hopefully next weekend when I paint the calipers (red  )
It'll go nicely with the red, white, black theme I aim for.

Attempted to get the rocker cover off put got stopped, typically, by the last bolt-

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Which rounded off nicely 
I've got a nut splitter to take it off, but decided to abandon destroying the nut for now as I didn't want to be faffing around with it and would rather get to the RR day instead!

However, I managed to get the braces off and gave them a good paint so now it's gone from-



To-



Which will do till I get round to removing that fatherless son bolt.

I also put some new indicators on the front.
Crystal smokes (thanks rowlers  ). Just updates the front end a tad!




I also fitted a new airbox, which I drilled out and has the front snorkel removed-





You can really see how much extra airflow is now possible!
Sounds like a beast too 

Managed to get all this sorted for the rolling road day last Saturday
Was a good day!
Was the only mk2 in attendance 
Got 113bhp which I'm dead chuffed about 
Here's the chart-



Very consistent, very happy 

Picture of the car on the rollers-



I've now narrowed down my suspension search to between Koni springs and dampers and Weitec Hicon GT coilies.
Really can't decide between the two 

Height adjustment or damping adjustment!
Can't afford to spend any more than the £475 reaaaaaaaaaaally

Going to delock the passenger side as well soon hopefully
And get some flippin 16v rear lights if I can find any