Where are my manners? I start posting stuff on this site without introducing myself.
First name is David and I am a Brit living in Spain where ther car laws are somewhat peculiar. I work on planes for a living, but my passion went into the direction of cars and I am a keen classic car enthusiast, and have built and run a Cobra replica. I had to sell however as the Spanish would not let me import it to Spain, hence my earlier statement. I will build another!!
I decided on Golf II GTI´s because of the following they have and the ability to personalise them are limitless. And until I do another Cobra, they scratch an itch.
My first one was a very good one which I was gradually bringing up to date, but it got written off in a high speed motorway accident last year. It was repairable, but I gave it to a close friend of mine an fellow VW nut, as I was changing jobs at the time and was going to move away. It is now back on the road. He also has a 1987 Jetta GTX 16v with mods. Engine is standardish but the chassis has the handling characteristics of a train on a track.
My second and present Golf I have had for only a couple of months, but have started in earnest to bring it up to date. I am not after a radically modified motor, but one that subtlely looks a little different. Again its white, (Most of the older cars here are white) and its had a respray at some time in its life, but not a bad job. To date, I have replaced the brakes, (standard) exhaust, (again standard) and replaced a few things that visually let the car down. Front bumper, interior trim odds and sods, boot lining replaced from that heavy expanded foam stuff to carpet, replaced the wing mounted ariel for a roof mounted one.
The rear suspesion has been replaced as the old one was shot and dragging its arse! The two front strut mounts have been replaced too, as has the front engine mount. The rear parcel shelf was stripped down and rebuilt:- I removed the plastic hinges and mounted a length of 10mm copper tube to take the stress off the shelf itself. Cut out the two speaker holes and mounted speakers to below the level of the surface. Fitted flat grating over the speakers and covered the whole assembly, top and bottom.
I have also changed the 5th gear for a lower revving one as my job takes me long distances in Spain. So I still have GTI performance in gears 1 to 4, but economy and more relaxed driving in 5th.
I have also bought a set of Corrado G60 alloys which I am refurbishing. These will be shod with 195/50/15.
Once the new wheels are on, I´ll post a couple of piccies. I don´t think I´ll be doing much more the the car than this, but if another engine should find its way onto my engine stand...
Cheers for now.
