Jon's 91' Mk2 ABF Digi GTI

[SoundillusioN]

I'm not even sure what glass it is, just stamped 'tinted'. I notice BBT stock screens but only clear and green.

Well, the bushes look rather crusty to be honest. The car just feels like it's wallowing in corners and I'm pretty sure the shocks are all ok.

hmmm, that makes sense, migt be bush time... worried about mine as i think as soon as it gets moving again mine will go crap pretty damn quick!.... um, if you're screens marked tinted  then its green you want.

Superb, thanks mate  - definitely green then?

yeah, if you're not sure, wind a window half way down and look through it, you should spot a mild green tint, more so in decent light... if not then you may just have tinted screen, either way though, old dub tints are always green, they started doing with my car onwards.

[jmsheahan]

It's been a while since I updated this thread. In fact it's been a while since I've seen/driven the car! Been super busy with uni and just not had the time to do anything but work. 3rd year sucks  Nothing too exciting but as I had to pop home I thought I'd open up the 'garage' doors

I had the screen replaced by National Windscreens at the end of the summer. Pilkington one with the green tint for a bargain £70 fitted. Parked the car up and this is how it's been sat for the past few months:



Sourced a G60 leather wheel a while back for a bargain £15. It was in reasonable nick with no rips and good stitching however required attention in some places as the leather was worn and discolored.



Set about yesterday re-colouring it using a kit from the Furniture Clinic. Rather pleased with the results 







The finished article:



and in the car:



Lastly a pic that I just like with my grandads awesome 68' in the background from back in the summer

[lewis1641]

good effort. hope it lasts.

tell me more about the garage! where did you get it? how much?

[The Danno]

Great thread mate. The car looks wicked. Makes me really miss my 8v helious blue mk2... I kept it around for years in the hope that I would get the energy and time to bring it back to life like you've done with yours. I never got round to it and eventually sold it for £70... :embarassed: gutted now

I miss not being able to tinker with the car. I've got a new one now and I don't get to work on it, partly because it doesn't need anything done and secondly because it's way to complex. All I can do now is clean it well!!!

Keep up the great work and superb thread writing

Dan

 

[jmsheahan]

good effort. hope it lasts.

tell me more about the garage! where did you get it? how much?

The garage is a Protech Shelter. It's basically a glorified tent but very well put together. They start at about £400 but I think you'd be a bit insane to pay that. Managed to get mine on Ebay for considerably cheaper! Obviously not as good as a garage but does the job. Neighbors aren't so sure though 

More info here if you're interested: http://www.protech-shelters.co.uk/PS-788-200_car__van_garage__boat_cover_ps788200.html

Great thread mate. The car looks wicked. Makes me really miss my 8v helious blue mk2... I kept it around for years in the hope that I would get the energy and time to bring it back to life like you've done with yours. I never got round to it and eventually sold it for £70... :embarassed: gutted now

I miss not being able to tinker with the car. I've got a new one now and I don't get to work on it, partly because it doesn't need anything done and secondly because it's way to complex. All I can do now is clean it well!!!

Keep up the great work and superb thread writing

Dan
 

Cheers mate, appreciate the comments 

Shame you sold your Mk2 but we can't keep em all unfortunately 

Got a list of odds and ends to do but I have no idea when I'm going to find the time to sort them!

- Fit new tailgate & replace GTI rear decal
- Fit uprated headlight loom
- Fit the oil cooler, mounts and plumb in
- Service
- Replace rear beam bushes
- Rehang the exhaust
- Wire up VDO's properly
- Repair the starter motor
- Repair and fit steering wheel
- Replace electricals, dizzy cap, leads etc
- Replace vacuum hoses
- Gearbox oil MTL Redline

Lots to do!

[jmsheahan]

Right then, a small update that hopefully will develop into a larger one shortly.


MOT
A couple of months back the car had an MOT and surprise surprise it failed. Nothing too major though, rear discs and pads (my own fault as I knew they were bad), insufficient handbrake, and a split front flexi hose. No pics I'm afraid but had to replace all of that plus a new caliper (one was well an truly seized but managed to free the other one up).

Green sheet of paper later, happy days. I NEVER want to have to undo another carrier bolt again, what a swine those buggers are!


New engine

The mk2 has been off of the road for a fair few months now, occasionally coming out of hiding for the odd run. Had a major set back with it AGAIN about 6 weeks back when a compression test revealed some bad news. After messing around with the ignition timing trying to solve a slight lack of power and a lumpy idle, the compression test showed 70 psi on cylinder 3. Headgasket had gone again. I left it on my mates drive and sulked, fuming that after all that cash spent on it before the same thing had happened again 

Roll on to now and I've calmed down a bit  . After thinking about what I was going to do, a decision was made to replace the engine. New bottom end and get the head checked to see what's going on. Really want to find out what has happened to make it go again but we'll find that out when it's all dismantled. I have help but this time I'm doing the work myself. Plan is a 2E lump with the PB head so should provide a little more torque and a lower mileage, newer block.

Have spent the past couple of weeks sourcing all the parts I need which includes a lot of mk3 parts. Shocking how much the costs spiral with new bolts, engine mounts, clutch, gaskets etc! (thankyou mr Natwest  )

A trip to Oxford saw me come home with the oily mess that is my 2E block:



Looks a state but the bores look good and it turns over nicely. After a few hours cleaning, a thorough degrease and a link of paint we have this:



Whoops! And this:



Still got the mk3 flywheel and clutch on there but that'll all be coming off when everything on from the PB block goes on.

Whilst waiting for the remainder of the parts to arrive I've been cleaning up the mk3 rocker cover over a few evenings. The car I got this off wouldn't give up it's parts lightly - seized bolts, only equipped with the most basic crap socket set, and having to rest the bonnet on my head due to a car being on top of it (couldn't open it fully), I won in the end. Take one grotty mk3 cover:



and turn it into this:



Early christmas? Can't believe how much this little lot has cost but hopefully worth it in the end!



Hopefully make a start next week. Watch this space 

[Mew]

Looking good.

Have you thought about getting the spare flywheel lightened? Its definitely worth doing and now would be the ideal time to do it

[rcsammy]

that rocker cover turned out amazing, what did you use?

[jmsheahan]

Looking good.

Have you thought about getting the spare flywheel lightened? Its definitely worth doing and now would be the ideal time to do it

Haven't thought about a lightened flywheel but I can't afford if I'm honest. Been trying to do this as cheaply as possible without cutting corners.

that rocker cover turned out amazing, what did you use?

Thanks. It's nothing special though, just cleaned, stripped and a few coats of Halfords finest high temp 

[jmsheahan]

Whoops 





So as you can tell from the pic above, the Golf is looking like somewhat in pieces. The puzzle of why my car has been running like a dog has become very much apparent.

Literally came back to uni last weekend for a super busy term (final). Got through the door and received a phone call from my mate saying 'everything is ready to go, ramp is free, bring the engine down'. Problem being, engine is a 3 hour round trip back home. Mercy dash back at 1 in the morning saw the block arriving in Cardiff. Amazing what you can fit in a Lupo 

Work started on Wednesday and the engine and box came out in a few hours during the afternoon. No pics unfortunately as I forgot the camera. All went ok with no nasty surprises other than a couple of minor things. Starter motor is fubbard as the terminals are completely corroded and found that the power steering pump is cracked and leaking which would explain the drips on the drive. Bit of extra expense but they both seem to be original parts so they've done well! Seems the engine and box has never been removed either by a few tell tale signs so all in all a good indication that most of the fittings shouldn't have been messed with.

While it was up on the ramp I'm pleased to report the underside looks rather good too, along with the chassis legs and battery tray so pretty happy with that.

Yesterday myself and a mate began to switch everything over from the PB block. Head came off (more on that in a sec), all associated bracketry, water pump etc etc removed and put onto the new block. Gearbox off which is in desperate need of a clean before it goes back in and fitted a new Sachs clutch as it would have been daft not to with it all apart. Pretty impressed with the state of the old clutch to be fair, as far as I know it's the original and still had life left in it after 160k. The PB lump was in great condition as well with all the bores looking spotless! Testimony to VW quality; I will be keeping the block as a spare as it's too good to scrap.

Old and new block being built up:




The head on the other hand is another story  :






My expensive, refurbed head is essentially a large paperweight. Massive chunk of the valve missing; f**k knows where this has gone. Most of the mechanics in the workshop we are using said they'd not seen anything like it before and were amazed it was running. No wonder compression was down on cylinder 3 and I'm lucky it's gone as long as it has without going bang. You can see in the pic that all of the valves are white so it must have been running extremely hot as the cracked one was stuck. Headgasket was perfect and all in one piece.

The decision has been made to have my old cylinder head skimmed and freshened as I know the history but I am fuming about the other. Obviously I'm not an engineer but my mate was saying it was probably caused by the valves not being seated properly when built? If anyone has any thoughts on this please share.

On a positive note it's so nice having a ramp to use. Windy gun is handy too. I'm unbelievably busy with uni work at the mo but hoping to spare an afternoon next week to get the block and box into the car. Crack on with the top half once the head comes back from the machine shop and fingers crossed have it running by the end of next week.