1990 Alpine White Mk2 Golf GTI Rebuild

Discussion in 'Members Gallery' started by Chris92, Jun 5, 2017.

  1. rubjonny

    rubjonny Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    you've done a cracking job with that, must be well pleased :thumbup:
     
  2. Chris92 Forum Member

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    Thanks a lot jonny, used a lot of your posts already to help me work stuff out and will probably be using more of your posts when I try and put it back together (if I can):o so thanks for that and yes, I'm feeling great about it, been just over two years since I started, hoping to get it together for next summer:thumbup:

    So here is the last of the rust repairs for the shell, probably subconsciously left the worst till last which actually worked out for the best cause by the time I got round to them I had picked up welding pretty good.

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    Also made the decision to delete the rear wiper, wasn't 100% sure on the choice as Im pretty keen on originality but I wanted to keep the car simple and remove any unnecessary parts so decided to chop it:

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    Last edited: Dec 2, 2018
    erreesse likes this.
  3. Chris92 Forum Member

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    Decided to get new bumpers as well, had planned to use the original ones but they were in pretty bad shape so took a hit and went for it they are reproduction ones from VW Heritage, great fitment to be honest:

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    I had to get a new windscreen as well because I accidentally cracked the original one back when I was taking it out, but to fair it was chipped all over so probably for the best anyway. I just lay it in to make sure it was going to fit after paint:

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    I had just enough stone chip left from touching up the underside to go over the inner wings so I took the black paint off back when I first got the car and redone them:

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    These are the wheels I got a while back as well, BBS RZ's, which is what came on the car when I bought in but they were 14's, these are 15's off a BMW E30. Not sure if the 14's where original, anyone shed some light? Got them for a good price with brand new tyres and I really like them, think they suit the car great without going down the expensive split rim route. The suspension is Volgtland which seemed to have pretty good reviews from what I read and are also affordable, hopefully will ride nice. I only want to lower the car slightly while still maintaining comfort, which is what I read about these so fingers crossed they are okay [:D]
     
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  4. rubjonny

    rubjonny Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    I've got the very same rot patch on both sides to sort one day, but god knows when :(

    with the wheels you can check the boot sticker for what was original fit from the factory, but if the wheels were picked from the accessories catalogue rather than the options catalogue all it will say is 'steel wheels' since thats what it got off the production line, then the accessory wheels were fitted at the dealers

    you could get 14" RA from the accessories catalogue, but not sure if 14" RZ were available?
     
  5. Coakers

    Coakers Forum Member

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    Any updates on this??
     
  6. Louis Falco Forum Member

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    Hi just wondering what product did you use to match into the factory underseal? And what did you use to underseal the whole lot? Thanks
     
  7. Savagesam

    Savagesam Moderator Staff Member Moderator

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    My dad has just done his and used 3m bag sealer
     
  8. Louis Falco Forum Member

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    Bag sealer? Havent heard of that, is that different to the 3M Schutz stuff?
     
  9. BISSONE Forum Member

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    How come you decided not to upgrade the hubs/brakes while you were referbing it all? 256mm or 280mm would of been a big improvement. Great work though and noce to see if done right.
     
  10. Chris92 Forum Member

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    Hi Louis, as sam said I used the 3M stuff that comes in bags, worked really well.
     
  11. Chris92 Forum Member

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    Yeah it would have been nice but for the time being I decided to keep it standard, get it on the road again and then look at upgrading a few years down the line :)
     
  12. Chris92 Forum Member

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    Hi all, been a long time since I posted on here, life got in the way and the updates fell to the wayside. Despite this I have still made progress with the car and and I am going to put more posts up to show whats been done :)
     
  13. Chris92 Forum Member

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    There was a few more areas of rust to deal with, I’m not sure where the pictures of that are so I’ll need to find them. Between doing the last few bit of body work, I focused on a lot of the engine components and building the engine up so it would be ready for when the chassis was painted.

    [​IMG]20180314_205519 by Chris Redford, on Flickr

    I stripped and cleaned the throttle body and inlet manifold and rubbers. Gave the ISV a clean and paint too. Taking the car apart to this level was a great learning curve and I learned so much about how the mk2 engine works.

    I had seen that a common modification was to fit a Mk3 golf rocker cover to a Mk2. I thought this would be a really good upgrade in terms of looks for the 8v so I found one on FB market and cleaned and painted it crackle black, so happy with how it looks!

    [​IMG]20180418_063243 by Chris Redford, on Flickr

    Cleaned the radiator fan shroud as well

    [​IMG]20180330_154538 by Chris Redford, on Flickr

    Also gave the oil cooler and filter mount a lick of paint

    [​IMG]20180222_223027 by Chris Redford, on Flickr
     
    Skool likes this.
  14. Skool New Member

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    Good to see you’re still on this, been a nice build to follow.
     
  15. rubjonny

    rubjonny Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    if you go with MK3 cover on MK2 digi, take all the studs out and use bolts. the rocker wont fit over the studs with the inlet in place :)
     
  16. Chris92 Forum Member

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    Thanks Jonny, I have actually already installed the rocker with the studs, so maybe I will come in to some trouble if I need to remove it?
     
  17. Chris92 Forum Member

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    I decided to do a bit more engine bay smoothing and removed the cut out in the right hand wing which I believe is for a k-jetronic engine inlet though im not 100% sure. I also deleted a few holes in the tray where the air box sits. I figured while I had the car like this I would remove any unnesesary holes so I wouldn’t need to blank them off later. I guess in my head it prevents any potential areas to attract corrosion and looks clean.


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    I then chopped out the rest of the corroded parts of the windscreen lip and made filler sections to replace them


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    Bad bits out


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    Cut replacement sections and clamped in for welding


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    Welded and primed


    The next area I gave some attention was the rear offside arch. I know I got away incredibly lightly with the arches and and am so thankful it wasn’t worse. I’ve seen whole rear quarters get replaced so I’m very lucky with what I’ve got. I chopped out the small section of rust and put new metal in.

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    One of the last areas that needed chopping was the left side rear quarter where the taillight mounts. I decided to chop out the original join and replace with one piece of new metal


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    New metal going in


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    Finished. All the reworked areas had some form of cleanup and primer on the inside as well


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    I also was test fitting parts on areas that I reworked to ensure nothing was warping with the removed material and heat from welding


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    That’s more or less most of the rust rework on the body done. There was a few areas that needed grinding back but the chopping out is finished. I got very lucky with this shell compared to others, the amount of welding was good for me and my experience, there was nothing too serious that needed replacing, it was mostly just repairs and putting new metal in which I think I did okay with, so I’m happy with the results and had fun doing it! :)
     
  18. rubjonny

    rubjonny Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    yeah you'll probably struggle, if engine isn't in yet now is the time to check. I did the same on my 2.0 swap but I put the cover on while engine was in bits then fitted inlet etc. luckily I never had to remove the cover, only reason I know it wont go is when I came to fit a mk3 alloy cover on a mates mk2 with inlet already fitted and it wouldn't go on :lol:
     
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  19. Chris92 Forum Member

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    After I felt like the bodywork was finished, I started looking at other parts. It has really only been bodywork for almost 2 years so it was a good feeling to start working on something else. The wiring looms were a sorry state, covered in dirt and oil and had been badly chopped up when a Cobra immobiliser was fitted and aftermarket speaker system.


    The first thing I did was completely remove the sound system chop out the immobiliser wiring. I intended on having one installed once the car was finished and wanted a clean slate to work with. I’m not an electrician by trade but have worked with wiring before for my job. Rather than remove all the chopped up wires, I figured I would remove the old soldering work, and reconnect the original ends with solder sleeves of the correct size and heat shrink over the top. The worst wires were the ground, ignition and main power lines coming from the fuse box which made sense as the immobiliser works with these electrical signals. This felt like a good middle ground for me and something I felt comfortable doing. The results seem like a solid and safe connection, I hope time will tell that it works well.


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    I then removed all the old OEM conduit from all the looms and cleaned them all up. I made them neat for storing and got a few rolls of tessa tape to re wrap them. It definitely felt intimidating having all the wiring out and no idea what was what apart from a few labels I made. Once I started working with it and neatening everything up it started making a lot more sense and felt less scary. The mk2 looms basically just comprise of an engine management loom for dealing with engine control and indication, a left and right chassis rail loom which has the headlights and some other bits like the coolant level, washer pump brake fluid level, a dashboard loom which has ignition, steering column and anything electrical related on the dash and a rear loom which goes to the back of the car and has rear lights and fuel tank/pump connectors. My car didn’t have too many electrical extras so there was less to deal with, no central locking or electric windows or mirrors haha.


    It was a big learning curve but I really leaned a lot :)


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    Pile of wires!


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    This is the engine loom with the ECU and ignition control unit, once it was cleaned and neatened up I felt more comfortable with it


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    Ready to wrap


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    When first seeing this, I had no idea what is was. Some research later i found out it is the dim/dip resistor. Few people disconnect them or remove them as it can cause problems it seems, I decided to remove it :)
     
  20. watercooled Forum Member

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    I understand your pain with the chopped wiring for alarm and stereo,went into this dark hole with mine not so long ago,the alarm was a classic example of how not to do it..even found a live feed from key switch that had the insulation cut back and alarm wire just wound around it then poorly covered with insulation tape !!!!.
    Worst part was fixing wires up to the ignition switch which had been cut very short ,bloody hard to solder like that but got there.
    Stereo wiring was a hassle as my car came with the Activ system Blaupunkt used from new, weird factory wiring made it necessary to trace all wire functions and pretty much cross wire to the later Blaupunkt loom plug ,only wires to stay colour coded match were permanent ,switched and earth.
    Keep up the good work and your great skills,cheers
     

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