Absolutely love this, I really really want a mk2 gti big bumper next ( I would still keep my MK4 GTI and this just confirms that's exactly what I want. Fantastic car, looks immaculate, every credit to you for keeping it so well looked after. So you run a mk5 GTI and a MK2 GTI? Tez
Lovely mk2, very Similar to mine in fact i used to have Ronal ls's too. The arbs make a nice difference on the track also.
Thanks guys Yes the Mk5 is my new daily - new job meant I didn't have to do 80 miles a day anymore and I could ditch my derv 306 (which was hanging!). Yeah hoping a new PS rack and the anti roll bars will tighten everything up as it doesn't handle as well as it could on the limit. Its a bit vague to say the least. Had a nice surprise from Neil @ VW driver the other day when this popped through the letterbox: Shame its got my ugly mug looking like a **** in it but hey at least the car looks alright lol Mk5 is in there too.
Things have been busy on the Mk2 front over the past few weeks. As I mentioned the P/S rack in the car was completely shot but I bottled out of dropping the subframe on my own on the drive and gave it to a mate with a ramp. Glad I did too as what followed was a complete and utter ball ache lol Wishbones came off easily as they'd been off recently but one of the subframe nuts sheered. Luckily it was retrievable without cutting the shell. Offending subframe bolt: I'd decided to go down the Mk3 rack route to save a little money. Bolted up fine but for some reason I couldn't find any track rods that would fit - Mk3 were too long, Mk2 too short. Cutting a long story short the whole lot was dropped again and I had the Mk2 one refurbished. Next up was fitting the Eibach ARBS. Hoped this would be straight forward...it wasn't lol. After a lot of mucking about the front went on ok. The back one wasn't without issue either. Bolted up fine but had clearance issues with the exhaust knocking on the rear mounting point. After a quick chat with RJ it seems this is a common problem with Jetex and Eibach so modifications were to be made. Off with the backbox: Taking a rubber mallet to the Jetex was painful but needs must And finally all on Need to buy some decent exhaust rubbers as these poly ones are utter ****e and stretched and melted after one drive : Still, all back together and other than the backbox hanging like crap currently all is well Finally one last detail that was missing after the ABF conversion:
check out my post in here for VW part numbers for heavy duty hangers, have done me fine with the Jetex: www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?274447 still bangs on the beam but its down to me needing to tweak the fit a bit, the hangers themselves are all still fine!
Spot on, thanks John. I have a couple of Jetex ones on order and have seen the chain ones from C&R but held off once I saw the price. I don't have the usual knock on the beam but it's hanging on the **** currently haha. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last weekend myself and one of my best mates did a little road trip to Wales. We grew up together and since we started driving he's always had a 205 of some description and not long after, I got the Golf. Hot hatch rivalry if you like lol We've been planning this for about 4-5 years (no exaggeration!) and it became a bit of a running joke as whenever one of our cars was roadworthy the other would catastrophically fail (engine blowing up, crashing it etc the list goes on). Anyway after a fair bit of work sorting the 205 and mine being up together, the planets aligned and it was on! Covered about 700 miles over the course of a weekend and did some of the usual spots I'd picked out on the map (Black mountains, Evo Triangle etc). Was so much fun, just blatting the cars up and down the gears through some of the best roads I've ever driven. Had no particular place to be, if we got bored we just deviated down a random pass or singletrack somewhere. Somewhere in the Black Mountains 200 miles in all was well until I dropped it down a gear and 'snap', accelerator pedal goes limp. Coast to the side of the road to investigate and sure enough one dead cable: Fab disappears off to try and get a bolt drilled out to hash it back together whilst I ermmm, take in the scenery. 20 mins later he comes back with not only a drilled bolt but also a Mk2 throttle cable. Result! 10 mins later all back on the road. So lucky to have found an autofactor just down the road that had a cable. Its snapped at 11.30. Shop closed at 12.00. 45 mins further driving and it would have snapped literally in the middle of nowhere. Turns out the guy in the parts shop we went to school with. Small world lol Somewhere mid Wales: Llyn Brianne dam. Stunning. Weather and scenery were beautiful, roads were proper GTI territory! Got to the top of Wales about 7.30 and cracked open a few beers and the tents. Next day up bright and early but the weather unfortunately wasn't so good: One very wet Evo Triangle: Took it easy and cruised home. The trip was well worth the wait, most fun I've had in ages. Now to clean half of the Welsh countryside from the car.
What a really tidy car ! How lucky were you with the wishbone bolt not getting stuck AND the throttle cable time/location of the break ! How much too long were your MK3 trackrods ? You can cut some of the thread off the end of the thread if they are bottoming out in the tie rod end. I had to do that with a set I had, although the ones I have now were the right length. I can`t remember for the life of me which ones they were from though Speaking from experience, just pay the money for the Chain rubbers. I`ve tried allsorts, but they are the ones that last and never fail.
Thanks guys. Throttle cable was very lucky to be honest, one of the few spares I didn't have in the boot. Nige I think from memory the issue was the rack end rather than the rod end - there didn't appear to be enough thread to sit in the rack properly. We tried a few different options with the VR rack but just couldn't get anything to work that looked safe. Not something I was willing to risk. What setup are you running? I should have done more homework really, research suggested all should have been AOK but with the car on a mates ramp I had to bite the bullet and pick the quickest/easiest but not cheapest option. Good to know on the Chain rubbers - time to invest. I think I need to cut and reweld the back box bracket and it seems too long.
Long time no speak everyone. Lifes been very busy and its been an age since Ive been on here! (A year and half in fact). Thought Id update a few bits on the Mk2s progress. I was thoroughly enjoying the car over the summer and it was my daily again for 6 months or so due to the Mk5s best efforts to bankrupt me! In no particular order here goes: Linkage bushes. A job Ive been meaning to do for years and has always slipped down the list! To say the were fecked is an understatement. The main rod bush was completely missing and the gearbox ball was wellpretty past it The selector housing under the car was also badly worn: All back together with a new gear knob for good measure: Feels so much better now, wish Id done this job a lot sooner! When I did the ABF swap I decided to run the car without an oil cooler to see what temps it was running. Its been fine but to keep the temps down a little more I decided to refit the oil cooler. Its got a thermostatic plate so the cooler only works when the oil reaches 80 degrees. With the bumper back on you can barely see it and its dropped temps by a good 10 degrees. Sump gasket needed doing so popped some stainless bolts in too: A new speedo cable went in. I think the 20 odd years the original did was good innings! Turns out it snapped due to melting near the exhaust manifold: New gearbox end gasket for good measure: New window winder regulator. Actually did this job twice as the first replacement was utter rubbish and broke after a week of use. All back together and wet vacced the seats. Came up a difference colour! Next up was tyres. The rainsports have done me well but the front were borderline legal and now the car isnt used in the winter I decided to get something a little more performance related. Ive had my eye on Yokohama AD08Rs for a while:
Rainsports have had it: Used some Dragons breath to get all of the tar spots off. Smells terrible but does a good job! Some slight clearance issues but my god the difference between these and the rainsports is unreal! The sidewalls are solid and the car just grips and grips. Very impressed. MOT came up and the car sailed through: New additional to the interior: Inters came and went. Awesome weekend: LED converted dash switches. Just need to do the clock ones now: Picked up a set of really scruffy MO5s to refurb over the winter: Which after a lot of work now look like this. Not mint but not bad for rattle cans (Big thanks to Jamesa for donating the centrecaps!): Bigger action plans over the winter!
After a long break of not doing much on the Mk2, Im on a push to get it road and track ready for the summer and GTI Inters is the deadline! Had this week off so went down to my folks where the car is now kept with an aim of refurbing the beam. Ive been collecting parts for a while so it was time to get my hands dirty! Dropping the beam off was a nice simple job: Condition of the beam was pretty grotty. Original OEM bushes were certainly past it: Blow torch to burn the bushes out: Hack saw and brute force to get the inserts left out. These were a bugger! Took about an hour a side to get them budge! Beam painted with 2 part epoxy mastic. Great stuff: Superpro Polybushes. Went for these as they have a stainless insert: Polo 6N2 GTI hubs, stub axles and Mk4 calipers to go on. Main reason for this is I wanted separate wheel bearings and discs rather than built in like Mk2/Mk3 has as standard. Great guide by Mushy 16v HERE with part numbers etc. Rebuilt and ready to go back on. Just need to make up some new brake lines whilst Im there: Something exciting should be arriving next week, cant wait.
So managed to get the beam back on and the mk2 out in daylight for the first time in months: After a lot of research I decided on a fresh set of KW coilovers to replace the ageing Spax kit that was on there: Cleaned everything up around the turrets whilst I was there, all looks pretty solid: Mikalor stainless clamps for the exhaust (everytime I go to remove standard steel ones I swear when they rust and sheer, everytime I think I must replace with stainless. Well I'm finally actually done it lol): As I need to rebleed all the brakes due to the new lines and beam refurb, I decided to uprate the M/C - Cupra/Focus one thats been modded to work with a mk2 servo: Focus seals out, Mk2 ones in: Refitting: Job jobbed Now to bleed brakes, re-fit bonnet and set the coilovers up properly. Engine needs a good clean, tidy up where its been sat so long. Looking a little unloved!
I see Photobucket has ruined this thread (along with many others) but here’s some updates. I’ll go back and fix the previous link somewhen! A little ashamed to say but the car has been a little neglected the past year or so. Life has gotten in the way so was looking a little sorry for herself when I dragged her out the garage around May time. Still, no fecking about, I wanted the car done for Inters. First up was the gearbox - one of the few remaining OG parts of the car. I toyed with the idea of the different box but decided to stick with the 020. Off it went to Mart aka Hotgolf, a man that needs no introduction. What a legend he is (and his dog!). He did a superb job with rapid turn-around and I can’t thank him enough. Full rebuild, all new seals, longer 5th and bolted diff. Box out:
Back in the car along with a lightened flywheel, new crankshaft seal, oil cooler and gear linkage rubber. Standard vs lightened
Next up was cooling. Car never overheats but runs a little hotter than I'd like on a spirited run. Looked at Rado VR6 rads but in the end settled on an Mk2 8v GTI Aircon rad. Bigger than standard with hose outlets I figured I could make work with the ABF. Few bits from Creation Motorsport to make the pipework up Initial fit seemed ok until I hit a slight problem lol JDM style yo?! Longer hoses ordered and job was done. Converted the PS bottle to a Rado/G60 one for a cleaner look and made up pipework using silicone hoses after seeing the pricetag for a genuine hose! Also bought some additional bracketry to hold the hoses rather than the shitty bracket that comes as standard.
