Ben's Black Mk2 2.0 16v Project

[Judderi]

08/06/05

Its not good news im afraid  I got back from manchester and picked the car up on the saturday, it looked amazing! Ive got some pics but need to get them off my dads camera 1st. I got home and inspected closely, to be honest i wasnt too happy. Theres the odd small dent here and there that show when its pollished and a rough edge on the bonnet where the paint has ran. Also the interior wasnt valleted properly and there are marks all over my recaros. Plus my central locking isnt working and the interior handle surroung it broken the alarm sensors are not working and the sunroof catches when you open it and scratches the paint. Then to top it all of while i was away on holiday in scotland the back bumper fell off and skidded down the road. It had only been bonded on with silicone! Correct me if im wrong but silicone is a sealant not a glue? So needless to say its going straight back in to the shop tonight and hes not getting a penny out of me till its perfect!

While i was away last week in scotland it got plenty of attention! First on the journey up there i had a guy wanting a race in a red mk 2. So of course i oblidged even thought i was full to the brim with suitcases and 3 people in the car. Even fully loaded i left him standing  I pulled into the next petrol station and he followed me in, it turns out his gti started out life as a 1.6 cl. He still had the 1.6 engine but had modified it heavily and to be honest was really quick for a 1.6! I thought it was a standard 8v when i was racing him. We had a long chat and he loved the car.
Then up in scotland in a town called crief there was a lad cruising in a polo GT, i stopped to go to the cash machine and he pulled up. He loved the car too and asked for a few pictures.
Then on the following friday me and the wife went white water rafting, as we pulled into the car park the guy running the rafting started jumping up and down shouting ive got one of them like a maniac. He was a total enthusiast and loved the car. After the rafting he invited us back to his place to see his cars. He had a tidy mk1 which he was going to restore and another red mk2 which looked pretty standard. But when he popped the bonnet it was clear it was not standard. Lost had been spent on the engine! It had twin carbs, cammed, fully worked race head and internals and vernier pully.  He was itching to see how my 2.0 valver would compare. So went went out for a race round the twisty scottish highlands. He obviously had the advantage of knowing the roads but none the less he was very suprised how fast my valver was and how well it took corners sitting sollid with no body roll. Hower i have to admit his tuned 8v was fractionally quicker. However i still have a few mods planned which should add allot more power especially top end which is where im limited at the moment. He was a top bloke and left me his address etc to keep in touch.

Anyway on our journey home from scotland my battery warning light came on. Ive only just had the voltage regulator replaced on the alternator so thought the brushes might have gone now. I decided to keep going and see how far i could get before it died. It was a total nightmare pouring down with rain and i didnt dare use my wipers. I managed to drive for another 2 hours before it gave up completely just outside of Berwick which is about 2 hours from home. Im not in the AA so was stuck! After waiting 4 hours a friend arrived with a tow rope, battery and tools. I swapped batteries but the new one only lasted about 5 mins as it was now dark and i needed my lights. So we decided to tow the car to a nearby holiday park that we stayed at a few months ago. That was very scary, towing a car with no lights no wipers and a very short tow rope with no power to the brakes! At the holiday park i wipped the alternator off and we all set of home in the 1 car. Arrived bout half 2 in the mornig totaly nackered!
I decided to upgrade the alternator from a 60 amp to a 90 amp at the cost of £128 - Seemed a better option as im going to be installing a big stereo. It arrived yesterday so last night we traveled back to the car, fitted it and got running no problem. Hopefully that is the last of my bad luck for now.

I will try and get some pics up asap but for now these are the only ones i have which were taken by my brother in law hanging out of the window in the scotish highlands. Turned out good i think.

[Judderi]

15/06/05

Well im back from all my hols with a nice tan to match. But less about me and more about the golf. Its got a good tan too, infact its black as the ace of spades! Ive made a few more trips to the bodyshop to get odd bits re done as im not satisfied with the job yet but its getting there and is very close to perfection. Heres a few pics to feast your eyes on. Let me know what you all think. And im open to constructive critacism (if thats how you spell it)

[Judderi]

17/06/05

The other night the weather was good and the wife was out so i decided to do a few jobs. I replaced the broken exhaust rubbers for new tight ones which straightened the tailpipe out and stopped it wobbling about. While i was at it i decided to polishe the tip with some autosolve which brought it back to its former shiney glory. I also decided to install my new blue led dash lights and heater pannel. I dont have my own digi camera so ive only got pics i took on my phone at he moment.

[Judderi]

When i got the car back from the bodyshop they could not get the rear wiper to park propperly so left it off. I decided to have a look after reading a post on this site. Armed with my new multimeter i set to work. I soon found a broken wire when i pulled back the tailgate boot. After soldering it back together and seting up the motor and linkage, which i might add was a pain in the arse, i now have a working lay flat rear wiper.

This is the position the mech had to be in order for the wiper to lay flat and work

I also installed the bonnet insulation i bought ages ago. This didnt last long though. For a start it looked crap and the metal rods that you attach it to the bonnet put small nipple like dents right in the middle of my bonnet! I was not best pleased but thankfully the bodyshop removed them free of charge and you would never even know they were there. Plus it didnt do much, i was hoping it would act as sound deadening but it didnt work. I took it to the Leeds show to see if i could sell it but put in under the car and forgot about it. It was only when we were half way home we remembered. Come to think of it i can remember somebody beeping as i drove off but didnt think they were beeping at me. lol Nevermind.

Ive also tidied around in the engine bay. I fitted a twin take off power rhor in order to do away with the T piece for the LPG feed. Doing this meant i had to rework the pipe work for the idle control valve as it now attaches underneath the intake hose. It was a bit of a faf on but i got there in the end after robbing some hose from the oil breather. I also did away with the plastic trumpet that runs acros the front of the intake manifold and replaced it with crome pipe. There are 2 of these as there is also one for the LPG feed. Looks Good. Just need to get the polished manifold and rocker cover on to match now.

[Judderi]

28th June 2005

Well the Leeds show was great. I really enjoyed it! I kinda wish i hadnt entered the show and shine though cos i had to stay at the car waiting for the judge when i really wanted to put it on the club stand. Nevermind maybee next year. Was nice to put faces and names to cars and nicknames also. Had a good look at the TVR/Golf and asked plenty of questions. I even had a sit in it!  Not what y'd call practical but i wouldent say no to a go!

Me and the wife spent all day saturday polishing the car ready for the show. It came up better than my expectations, with a totaly flat mirror finish with such a deep black, well chuffed!  The only problem is i dont own a camera so couldent take any pictures  So if anyone at the show took any i would be very gratefull if you could send me a copy.

Heres a couple i found on other forums. Not sure why people only took pictures of the back? 

[Judderi]

1st July 2005

Well i topped the oil up and overfilled it. I thought nothing of it till i opened up the bonnet the next day. Because i robbed half of the oil breather hose it no longer connects to anything. To put a long story short oil ejaculated everywhere! So back to the drawing board. My plan is to use some more chrome pipe to point the oil breather at the floor allowing any excess oil to splutter all over the ground rather than my clean ish engine bay. Hopefully will have that done this weekend.

[Judderi]

4th July 2005

Well at the weekend i sorted out the oil breather hose by adding some chrome pipe and pointing it directly at the floor. Seems to do the trick. I also fixed my interior light which was constantly on even when the doors were closed. Dont ask me how i fixed it i just did!  It was one of them problems that go away after you take it apart and put it back together again. So now that the interior light is working again i thought it be a good time to install a lights left on buzzer. Not that i need one cos i never do that!  Anyway it was dead easy and quick to do. All i did was pull out the light switch and with a multimeter find a wire that was live when the ignition was off and the lights on. There were actually a few but i decided to use the Blue\Grey one. I took off the undertray and found this wire under the dash near the fuseboard. I soldered the live wire of the buzzer onto this wire. Then i soldered the negative wire of the buzzer to the ground of the door switch wire brown\white which you can just see poking through. And thats it! So now when i leave my lights on and open any door i get a really anoying buzz, does the trick alright!

[Judderi]

6th July 2005

I dont know what to say really. Bugger might sum it up polightley. I got in the car the other night and set off. I only got about 200 meters down the road when we all started choking on the smoke pouring from the dash. I imediately grabbed the screwdriver i had left in the door pocked and started stripping the bottom of the dash off. Luckily there was no fire. Since then pretty much all of my electrics dont work. The only working things seem to be the sidelights, brake lights, indicators and dash lights. Oh and the stereo (still got tunes). The car still drives fine exept in the rain its really hard to see with no wipers and blowers to clear the mist as i found out on my way to work this morning. Last night in the pouring rain i had a look and there are 2 wires that are affected. Its the yellow one that goes from the fuse board to the steering columb and light switch, but mainly the other side of this yellow wire that goes from the fuse board all the way through the bulk head, under the airbox and to the headlight loom. When it comes out near the headlight it connects to some kind of ceramic pipe about 10cm long then doubles back on itself back to the fusebox. Its totaly crispy and has burnt pretty much all of the insulation off. I had a go last night and replaced the wire but had no luck so i suspect it has affected other wires too. So im gonna take it to a local auto electrician when i get the chance.
As the burnt out wires are connected in some way to the headlight switch i fear it might have something to do with the buzzer i installed. So much for an easy job! I hope it doesent cost too much to fix as i really dont have any money this month and payday is a long way off! I would of took pictures to show you all but i was dirty and very wet so couldent be bothered! 

[Judderi]

7th July 2005

I dropped the car off with the auto electrician last night. Hopefully it wasnt stolen as the area is a bit dodgy. The guy is real strange, we all call him the ghost as he looks like one but is real good at what he does. He is going to ring me this morning and let me know the damage. Fingers crossed it aint too bad and will be done today.

[Judderi]

Just called the ghost, its the ignition power switching relay that has also burnt out. Which makes sense as its all the ignion devices that are not working. He is going to replace this and re-wire it. He did mention that the rest of the wiring is a bit of a mess and could do with being replaced but i will discuss this with him later. Im not that surprised really as the car is about 17 years old. While hes working on it i have asked him to wire up the lights left on warning buzzer, this way i know its been done right and not by some monkey with a soldering iron.