sharpie - early 8v

[jv]

[sharpie]

Cheers jv - my first was an early 8v but i've got a 90 spec valver now.

mattneck (beavis) insprired me to start my own thread, his is so thorough and attention to detail is, quite frankly, amazing. If you haven't read his, do so now. I like reading other people's too - so put in some time and effort with yours!

Brief Introduction

My old one when I used to work in Bristol - a bit rough around the edges but great fun nevertheless - needed next to no work in the year i owned it:


Also equipped with incorrectly-mounted-and-incorrect-width-deathtrap harnesses (apparently - not crashed tested to verify this claim)


Then I returned to Scotland to go back to university and for some reason I bought my aunty's saxo. Silly low milage convinced me to buy it. It was an absolute nightmare to work on, no space in engine bay and tonnes of plastic clips that can be removed once, only to break and never be fitted correctly again.



I sold the saxo after a year, despite it being good fun to chuck about, it was never as much fun as my old golf.

I travelled all the way to Auchterarder when I spied this 90spec valver on pistonheads. Apart from the daft zender mid level spoiler it seems in servicable condition. Couple of rust spots but it's a 20 year old motor after all. I'll get busy with the spray cans later.

On my driveway:


Ghey leather seats:


The seats will be replaced for scirocco fronts when I source a good pair nearby. There's a set in the breakers near me in a 60,000 mile rocco that would be mint but the driver's is rank rotten with mould/slime now. I may gamble and get them anyway and try to clean them up.

Sorting out the golf

So far I've bought and fitted
-Gear linkage repair kit
-Gear lever repair kit
-New exhaust hangers
-Rubber clutch stop
-New (UK legal) number plates to replace cracked ones
-New front indicators to replace the broken one.
-Debadged single lamp grill
-Replaced a headlight that was misted up
-Fluid service, plugs change
-New HT leads
-New dizzy and rotor arm
-Rubbery coolant hose joint where the water comes out the block (from a mk3 which took loads of cutting - if you do this try and get a mk2 one!)

Whilst fitting the exhaust hangers, the rusty old backbox broke off the exhaust. Nice. So I bought a magnex sysyem to replace it with.



I've also bought, but not fitted
-FK Highsports

-Exhaust
-Rocker gasket
-Underseal the car, and under the wings.

And the last part of the plans are
-New oil cap
-get the paint sorted out on the rusty bits
-reattach all trim using tiger seal
-proper centre caps
-tailgate without zender spoiler?

and we should be running nicely, touch wood. Not to mention the top secret plan of an engine conversion (abf?) but i'm going to get it nice and clean first.

In hindsight, i could have done with more photos. I will try to do better next post.

[sharpie]

update 13 August 2008

Surprise surprise, exhaust doesn't fit. Obviously i found that out after removing the old one. Luckily it's only the hanger on the backbox that's in the wrong position, so going to get it ground off and a new one welded on this weekend.

I also found this



only surface rust til i gave it a poke with a screwdriver. so sanded back and built back up with fibreglass and job's a good one. An after photo would have been good but I never thought.

diy sorting out under the plastic arches, were a total mess before i started (again no photo)

mid-way through, slightly less of a mess


and after

cannae tell - jammin.

here is a photo of the offending spoiler:


ten points if you spot the comedy sticker.

so looking for an oak green tailgate in central scotland. anyone with one let me know please.

picking up a radiator tonight (precaution rather than necessity) as I still have a coolant leak, but only on the top return hose. I'm hopeful that new jubilee clips will end this wee niggle.

[sharpie]

jubilee clips on coolant hoses instead of the daft oem ones. should sort out most people's coolant leaks.

got a new rad too just in case but don't think it's required.





not the world's most exciting post.

exhaust hanger is getting re-welded on saturday morning, possibly coilovers on then later.

[sharpie]

exhaust on - top quality job at sounds of silence through in falkirk. wouldn't go anywhere else.

they made a new mount for it, it's totally solid and definitely not going anywhere anytime soon.


pea shooters


that's all for now til coilovers are on.

[sharpie]

here's why my coilovers aren't on yet:

was only changing the rocker gasket but obviously that would have been too simple.

fecking minging




oops - not good.


i've convinced myself that it was already broken when i opened it rather than me breaking it myself to attempt to retain a semblance of dignity.

car's at the garage getting drilled/tapped. originally it was thought the head would have to come off but it's stayed on so far so fingers crossed.

i've also fitted a mk3 rad but not the fan or plumbing yet so i'll have to sort that out once i get my car back.

and then i want to fit my coilovers too. but i leave for the ring on thursday with diamond hell and danny p off here so will there be time  DEFINITELY want them on before the ring. DEFINITELY 

[sharpie]

see i did say definitely





update in a week

arches need hammered/angle grinded

[sharpie]

Nurburgring trip - Sept 08

So I went to the ring with Danny P, and Diamond Hell off here, as well as DH's family and my mate Alex.

I imagine DH will write something up at some stage so i will just stick to photos.

Disappointingly for a few contributing reasons (lack of proxes, sticky rear caliper, risk of rad hose blowing) I decided against taking my own car on the ring (cos it's feckin expensive if anything goes wrong - not to mention dangerous for other people) but i still had a blast riding passenger with tom and danny, and the roads around nurburg/adenau were a blast.

Photos tho - wish i had more/better.













diesel spill/weather resulted in VLN being postponed.







german effiency







oops







tom























proof i didn't have the only shed on wheels:


back in scotland:


can't wait to go back next year

[sharpie]

couple others from the phone (rubbish quality)



ken it's a sh!te photo but i was just sitting in the car park waiting for my water to cool down so i could bleed it through, then this e30 (m3?) pulled past and stopped, and a back passenger spewed his load everywhere, it was well funny! you can just see his head if you look closely


edited:

[sharpie]

won some rocco seats for 99p thanks to ebay



carpets and dash etc. all came out to fix my heater matrix. found a nice wee rusty blister in the passenger floor pan. two minutes later it was reduced to this



getting welded with a plate top and bottom next week.

car's a mess the now with sh!te



got to look worse before it can look better though.

matt black bonnet added



gonna get it resprayed of a lad i know with a booth for a £15 cos it's a bit messy to be fair.