Sharpyy's Oak Green MK2 Gti

[Sharpyy]

Hi Guys,

 

Due to my commute being cut to a 2 minute drive, I saw no need for the fuel economy of the Vrs anymore and wanted something to work on as an ongoing project. I sold the Fabia and started the hunt for something a bit more old school, I wanted to stay in the VAG family as I've always had them. Parts are always easily available and they're not exactly over complicated, especially older cars.

 

I decided on a mk2 Golf as parts are cheap and depreciation seems to have curbed on them which is always good. 

I initially saw a black MK2 which looked great but was like a sieve underneath, I could see why he wanted rid of it before the MOT was due. I then came across a mk2 16v in Oak Green that was fairly local to me, it was advertised as having a fault with fuelling. After a thorough check and some negotiating I came away with a car as well as a boot full of spares.

 

 

After ploughing all the gravel up the drive I gave it a thorough look over and made a detailed list of what needs doing, it's a bit excessive as you can see:

 

 

When searching through the car's history I found a receipt for an engine rebuild for £3k so it's had some love in the past. Saves me a job as it's quite a detailed rebuild. The engine bay looks reasonably tidy after a quick clean up but it will be a work in progress:

 

 

First things first though, I need to lose the wheels as they are awful, so I have some Calibre Dub wheels to go on it this weekend. Not the most expensive wheel out there but they look a dam site better than the 14" painted steels.

 

 

That list means I've got my weekend cut out but I'm looking forward to cracking on with it, I'll get the basics right first then set about tinkering. 

 

The more I drive it the more small problems I find, which is the whole reason I bought this car, I love a challenge.

 

The front engine hydro mount is totally kaput, I wasn't sure on whether to upgrade to a solid mount to ensure this doesn't happen again but a friend has a brand new hydro mount (basically a mount with an oil filled shock inside) for £20, literally a five minute job of replacing that when I have it.

 

Next was an intermittent starting issue: The KR 16v engine has a fuel accumulator which holds fuel pressure constant in the fuel lines to enable a quick start. I presumed this as faulty so had a look under the car to find it had been bodged with around 20 cable ties. At the same time I noticed the rubber fuel lines that connect the fuel pump to the main feed lines were badly perished and one had started to split. Definitely not a good thing if they start leaking petrol under your car next to a hot exhaust  

I had some spare fuel hose so changed them whilst fixing the accumulator into place without the aid of cable ties! Changed the fuel filter whilst I was there too.

 

This is a fuel pump unit complete with fuel filter and accumulator:

 

 

Future plans are to turn it into a 1.8T when funds allow me to but weighing around a tonne, it's fairly nippy as it stands.

 

I have two major problems that have now been bumped up the priority list:

 

One of my wheels is buckled/out of balance.

Rear passenger coilover has popped a seal therefore no damping at all.

 

Stay tuned!

[Sharpyy]

Small update:

Had a quick butchers at why my passenger side electric window wasn't working tonight, stripped the mechanism and the motor to find the motor had seized. The windings had got wet and rusted in place so I free'd the motor off and tried to clean them up but I think it may be easier to get a new motor.

Also managed to swap the old wheels for some freshly refurbished BBS RA's, I think they look way better than the Calibres and would look even better in silver.

Suspension is still buggered so that's next.

[Skoda_Saint]

Nice looking car mate will stay tuned with what you're doing to her.

[GordoGT]

That's a Nice looking project Mate. You've just gotta love a MK2 Golf.  

I've had 4 Mk2 Golf and Jetta GTIs including a 16V in each flavour.

 

I don't miss the hassle associated with older cars, but I'd never rule out buying another one if the right model came along..

 

I'll watch this project with great interest.

 

Look forward to the updates.

[GordoGT]

Just Read some of your comments.  on your  'Things to do' list.  I had to smile to myself...

 

'Way too Low'

'Exhaust too Loud'

 

An all too familiar set of MK2 Golf problems.. LOL

[Sharpyy]

Thanks Gordo, I hate it at times but it's so good to work on and has so much character.

The list is slowly being ticked off, 'way too low' was no exaggeration lol, as you can see from the first pics!

Exhaust is held up with a coat hanger, whoever owned this was just dangerous! Changing the suspension to standard this weekend hopefully so more updates to come.

[Sharpyy]

Right, I better update this before I forget again..

 

I've been busy recently just sorting all the little bits and pieces that aren't working, trust me, there's a lot of things that aren't working as they should. The only thing that's pis**ng me off is every time I fix or repair something I find 3 more jobs that need doing, so the list is growing daily 

 

The main thing that needs sorting, as it's my daily, is the suspension. As I previously mentioned this car came slammed with  cheap eBay coilovers, which were fine for putting the car on it's sub frame but crap for handling. I later found out, after I raised them, that both the rear shocks were leaking which made for a springy ride and knocking over every bump, I found that when I took them off there was zero dampening left, they just fell down when lifted! I think that's why the car was so low when I bought it, to mask the knocking but never mind. 

 

These were replaced with new OEM gas shocks and 35mm lowering springs as they look like 4x4's at standard ride height. Safe to say it handles and drives a lot better! Next for the rear is some new axle bushes as the current ones have around an inch of play side to side 

 

A few jobs ticked off the list last week:

 

- Headlight alignment

- Timing and CO setup

- Alternator rebuilt

- Various engine parts sandblasted and repainted

 

I also had a perished rear bush on the front passenger wishbone so I bought a complete set of bushes for both sides under the impression it would take about an hour to do both sides if all goes well.. How wrong was I?! ..everything was going well, all bolts undone except the two subframe bolts, went to zip them off with the air gun and they just kept spinning. These captive nuts are within the chassis so I thought there may be access holes in the cabin to get to the top in these such instances, this is what I found:

 

 

Fantastic bodge job by some clown who only needed an 18mm socket on a long extension to undo the nut. So that's another job on the list 

 

On the plus side, it looks good in a photo lol:

 

 

I'll be back soon with more updates 

[skodanorman]

I'm pleased you've raised it. It looked silly slammed. Good progress... although I fear you might be too organised with spreadsheets like that! 

[Sharpyy]

A few more jobs ticked off the list:

 

I removed the side strips as one of the jacking covers snapped off, I was pleased to see that someone had used red sealant to stick both sides back on. This was all cured and brittle so it wasn't going to hold anyway! I'm not sure why it was used as all the clips were there to put it back on properly, another top quality bodge lol  :clap:

 

I Lamin-X'd the fog lights with yellow tint, which looks quite cool if I'm honest.

 

The exhaust had a loud drone on the motorway which gave me a headache haha.. so I increased the bore size along with the removing one silencer and adding a better flowing backbox, all stainless ofcourse. No more drone and it feels a bit more responsive, I'm currently on the look out for 4-2-1 manifold to help with flow 

 

Plans for this weekend are to overhaul the rear calipers, change the handbrake cables and overhaul the gear linkage.

 

Photo's to follow!

[Sharpyy]

Aaaaaaand another small update; I like to keep this as up to date as I can so I don't forget all the work that I've done.

 

I overhauled the rear brakes as the cams on the calipers hand brake lever had gone a little rusty, changed the handbrake cables and they all work fine now. I will look into getting another set of calipers to do a complete rebuild or a service exchange as I think the originals have seen better days. I also changed the brake fluid as I have no record of when it was last changed, Brakes feel much better now!

 

The gearbox has a 'tick' in reverse which I presume is a missing tooth from the reverse gear. 2nd into 3rd has a crunch, as is common with and original 020 gearbox, so I am on the look out for another gearbox to fully strip and rebuild. 

 

I have fully stripped the rear of the car and will reassemble replacing any damaged bits as well as new sound deadening, plus it's also good for weight saving. 

 

The worst problem with having it as a daily is that I can't do big jobs that risk taking the car off the road, seriously considering a second cheap car to properly sort it out.

[V5-Steve]

This is a great project and in my favourite colour. Have you seen how much a clean pne goes for

[Sharpyy]

Thanks Steve (only just seen you commented)!

 

Yeah, ridiculous money in my opinion but some people do pay it. 

 

*** Another small update ***

 

Car is currently on axle stands whilst I look for new wheels and replace some bits on the engine. I've managed to accumulate the parts I need to do some maintenance.. I've got a new cambelt (with tensioner), water pump, auxiliary belts and a load of cleaning/painting materials. That should keep me busy for a while.

 

The power steering pump has now started to squeal as the bearings are bone dry, this has happened as the protective cover for the bearing has pulled out allowing the ingress of dirt, doesn't take long to destroy a bearing. My plan is to remove the pump and bridge the input/output on the rack whilst I rebuild the pump. Something like this:

 

 

I may even leave it like this depending on how heavy it makes the steering.

 

Stay tuned!!

[Sharpyy]

I managed to pick up some 15" Estorils at the weekend with very good tyres on along with a recent refurb, only paid £120 for them too so bit of a bargain:

 

 

I deleted a silencer and replaced the downpipe on my exhaust over the weekend as the silencer had a hole in it due to rust, it was replaced with 2.5" stainless which gives it a deeper sound along with the rest of the Scorpion exhaust. Still have to do the cam belt but the water pump has now been replaced  

 

Next months plans consist of detailing on the paint and removing the dash to fix a few rattles and a dodgy heater. 

[WAUOla]

The main thing that needs sorting, as it's my daily, is the suspension. As I previously mentioned this car came slammed with  cheap eBay coilovers, which were fine for putting the car on it's sub frame but crap for handling. I later found out, after I raised them, that both the rear shocks were leaking which made for a springy ride and knocking over every bump, I found that when I took them off there was zero dampening left, they just fell down when lifted! I think that's why the car was so low when I bought it, to mask the knocking but never mind. 

 

These were replaced with new OEM gas shocks and 35mm lowering springs as they look like 4x4's at standard ride height. Safe to say it handles and drives a lot better! Next for the rear is some new axle bushes as the current ones have around an inch of play side to side 

Hi Sharppy,

Just realised there was "outsiders" part of this forum and found the thread too.

My first car was a 16V "KR", sadly hard hitted with rust, so I gave up and ran drivers seat, roofing and upper dash only - THAT made the car fly!

To be honest, I believe sticking with OEM on 16Vs is the better way, as these tend to get sought after these days, just as a tip.

 

When it comes to cheap coilovers, I can understand it somewhat for a almost never driven car. Over here, I do not understand them at dailies at all due salt in winters which makes them bad. And going extremly low on a daily doesn't make sense either...

 

Being fan of the mk2 Golf from old times, I was lucky to pick this up for £200 - although no racer I loved the grandad look on this and could afford letting it go at 93000kms it had back then. Initially I put on Eibach Pro kit 30mm lowering springs, but couldn't get the Koni inserts on as someone swapped for integrated struts up front and I never found new parts for running inserts. In my eyes, that was fairly good with 195/50 tires on.

 

After some years, I got a bit fed tired of the looks and got myself the stainless H&R twin-tubes. Holy cow what a ride quality on decent drop (was failry okay slammed at GTI 14" steelies too, workshop settiing, not my preferred). Now I'd prefer going 195/45, and will test this somewhat this season with wheels from my Polo daily.

 

Edited 31 March, 2015 by WAUOla

[Sharpyy]

Hi Sharppy,

Just realised there was "outsiders" part of this forum and found the thread too.

My first car was a 16V "KR", sadly hard hitted with rust, so I gave up and ran drivers seat, roofing and upper dash only - THAT made the car fly!

To be honest, I believe sticking with OEM on 16Vs is the better way, as these tend to get sought after these days, just as a tip.

 

When it comes to cheap coilovers, I can understand it somewhat for a almost never driven car. Over here, I do not understand them at dailies at all due salt in winters which makes them bad. And going extremly low on a daily doesn't make sense either...

 

Being fan of the mk2 Golf from old times, I was lucky to pick this up for £200 - although no racer I loved the grandad look on this and could afford letting it go at 93000kms it had back then. Initially I put on Eibach Pro kit 30mm lowering springs, but couldn't get the Koni inserts on as someone swapped for integrated struts up front and I never found new parts for running inserts. In my eyes, that was fairly good with 195/50 tires on.

 

After some years, I got a bit fed tired of the looks and got myself the stainless H&R twin-tubes. Holy cow what a ride quality on decent drop (was failry okay slammed at GTI 14" steelies too, workshop settiing, not my preferred). Now I'd prefer going 195/45, and will test this somewhat this season with wheels from my Polo daily.

 

Hi WAUOla,

 

I know the feeling, sorting the rust is going to make or break this car. I did think of stripping it to bare basics but it's not in bad shape over all and I like the OEM+ look!

 

The previous owner didn't use it much so it was just a 'show car', so ridiculous lows didn't really matter but it was very dangerous to drive, it would bounce around the corners even when raised..

 

I've had H&R coilovers before, they're very good. My intention is to get back to an OEM look and still make it handle well, I'll have a look at the H&R twin-tubes though 

 

Yours looks very good!

 

The engine is currently in bits as I'm changing a few leaking gaskets and I have a friend that can get the head flowing a bit better so it should go well when that's done as it's no slouch at the moment!

[WAUOla]

I suppose a set of Eibach or H&R springs, with decent dampers can be the best sportive (progressive rates) and comfort compromise.

But it's all the hassle with all the bits, which made a set of coils just as easy for me...

 

Here's how I tried it out in the beginning, and you notice how chunky those 195/50 tires are then. 195/45 would be ideal. And yes, car is higher now as rear flares needs modification.

 

Edited 31 March, 2015 by WAUOla