Author Topic: Mew - A reg mk2 project  (Read 39482 times)

Offline jv

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Mew - A reg mk2 project
« on: 22 August 2007, 13:28 »
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Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #1 on: 24 August 2007, 21:13 »
Hello and welcome to my project number 3!

This is hopefully the one where i end up with something a bit more special than the last 2. It will also have more pics, more going on and will be updated quite regularly if all goes to plan...............

Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #2 on: 24 August 2007, 21:40 »
A little about the car:

1984 on an "A" plate
Mars Red
3 door
1.8 8v gti
130k miles
2 previous owners
no sunroof

I bought the car on June 7th this year, 23 years to do day from the car being registered from new! At the time i had a 5 door 8v gti as a runaround while my other 8v gti was on the drive waiting for me to do some work on it for the MOT. I wasn't looking for a new car at this point, although was considering getting rid of both Golfs to get a diesel. However, i went to the Stonor Park show with my house mates where we stumbled across a tidy little Mars Red mk2 for sale.

A couple of months back Chris and I went halves on a different A reg mk2 (the one and only ANEL!) of which i had use of for a couple of weeks. There was just something about it that appealed to me with all the quirky little slight differences between a very early mk2 and the rest. I also had a 1.3c in Mars Red a couple of years ago and love the colour!

The A reg mk2 that i half owned:



ANEL:




My first Golf, a 1.3c when i got it home:



Same car after a bit of elbow grease:




I had a little look around it whilst we were there and it all looked good so i took the owner's number. As it happened, he only lived 15 minutes down the road from me so a few days later i went for a proper look round with Chris (chris_wht on here). It had a very low idle and the timing was out but apart from that i couldn't really fault it. A deal was struck and the next day i went back with the cash. I now had 3 mk2 Golfs!  :shocked:

The 5 door runaround went up for sale immediately so that i could get the insurance swapped onto this one asap and get it taxed. About a week later it had gone and i was down the post office getting my new tax disc.


« Last Edit: 26 September 2008, 09:53 by Mew »

Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #3 on: 24 August 2007, 21:42 »
These are the pics of when i got this one home on June 7th 2007:

















Early dials with economy shift light and mpg guage (works when crusing in 5th gear):





A little difference (and very sad!) is the fog light and rear demister switch "on lights". They are round on early ones, oval shaped on later mk2's! Also has the speaker fade on this one:



No sunroof as standard on the gti this early on:



The rear seats have hardly been sat in:



The wrong grille! The previous owner fitted this after the original grille cracked, not because of accident damage:





Completely standard engine. Not bad considering it is 23 years old and has done 130k:



« Last Edit: 24 August 2007, 22:14 by Mew »

Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #4 on: 24 August 2007, 21:59 »
8th June

The first job was to sort out the grille. It was fitted with a late spec 5 slat grille as mentioned above, when it should have had a 7 slat grille with red surround fitted. I am unsure as to whether or not the grille would have been a double light set-up or a quad light set-up with the spots. Anyway, all i had for now was a double light 7 slat grille without the red surround. I know you could argue that it's just as wrong as the late 5 slat but i think it looks a lot more old skool and in-keeping with the car. It also had an early "gti" badge on it (which wouldn't fit on the 5 slat grille) and a Mars Red bottom rail too.







And yes, the "gti" badge is on the wrong side!





I'm just chucking this one in as it shows the car from a bit more of a distance:



« Last Edit: 24 August 2007, 22:14 by Mew »

Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #5 on: 24 August 2007, 22:20 »
8th June still

Me and Chris were bored so we decided to have a trial fit of some Mim 1400's that i had bought a couple of weeks back.



^^ That's Chris btw!^^





They didn't stay on for 2 reasons:

All of the tyres are illegal/very dangerous, which wasn't stated in the ebay ad.

The wheels need spiggot rings, also not stated in the ebay ad. The guy swore that he had them fitted to his mk2 Golf though. Maybe he did, just not very safely!

Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #6 on: 24 August 2007, 22:35 »
Some point in the week or 2 following the purchase:

As i mentioned at the start, the idle and timing were shot when i bought the car. The idle was around 4-500 rpm and when i put my foot down the car would really struggle and hesitate. A trip to the vee dub master that is Rubjonny was in order!

I turned up at John's place on a wet Sunday morning and let him do his magic. The weather was crap but he still set-up my car with the timing gun and co meter. Big thanks John if you're reading this!  :wink:

We went out for a quick run after he had finished, and WOW is the only word! The difference was amazing, i think i much prefer k-jet to digifant.

All was well for a couple of days, and then the dodgy idle came back  :cry: At first it was only when the engine was fully up to temp, and then as time wore on it would be all the time. It has been getting progressively worse and now sometimes cuts out and struggles to start up again when hot  :angry:

I'm reluctant to spend too much time on sorting that though as my intended plan will sort that out..............  :wink:


While i was at John's he spotted a small coolant leak under the expansion tank. As my drive to his was my first proper trip in the car i hadn't noticed it until he pointed it out. I ordered a new tank from vw-spares, around 15 quid all together i think.

It is sh!t!

The cap does not seal properly and neither does the level sensor. A trip to the scrappy a week later and about £3 lighter i came away with a decent second hand tank and I have not had a problem since! 

No pics of the swap, it's exactly as you'd imagine though: Unclip the hoses, take tank out, put new tank in and clip hoses back on!
« Last Edit: 24 August 2007, 23:20 by Mew »

Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #7 on: 24 August 2007, 23:20 »
27th July:

More messing around due to boredom, this time with a set of Mim 1900's that belong to Chris.











I'm not proud of it, but i had neglected the paint and trim for a couple of weeks. The car is parked facing south in pretty much direct sunlight most of the day so gets raped by the sun! I started to tackle it but got bored, hence the state it is in above.  :embarassed:





Later that day:

I finally got around to putting a red trim on the grille. I stole some red trim tape from Chris in order to do it, i think he got it from Halfords. Anyway, it went quite well apart from one corner. I tried to do it all as one piece of tape rather than cut and join on the corners. It worked for 3 corners, just not the 4th.

I was quite impressed with the overall finish though. Badge is now on the correct side too!





« Last Edit: 24 August 2007, 23:25 by Mew »

Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #8 on: 24 August 2007, 23:47 »
23rd August:

I now have access to a garage!  :smiley:

This will hopefully see a lot of activity over the coming weeks, potentially starting this Wednesday.




It fits nicely!










Here's a clue:  :wink:



 :cool:
« Last Edit: 24 August 2007, 23:51 by Mew »

Offline Mew

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Re: Mew - A reg mk2 project
« Reply #9 on: 25 August 2007, 14:13 »
August 25th

I was rudely awaken at 7:30 this morning by a knock on the door. Well, i say "I", what i really mean is my girlfriend! Anyway, the postman had brought me a present:










Eibach anti-roll bars, i've been after a set for over a year now!  :cool: They'll be going on the car in the coming weeks, i might get a new fitting kit but not sure yet.
« Last Edit: 25 August 2007, 16:22 by Mew »