Mk2 Golf 8v GTi to 16v ITB Build Thread (Pic Heavy)

That bar will be a lot stiffer!

 

Hopefully, I didn't notice a massive difference in it yesterday but I wasn't cornering hard (still have my stretched nankangs on )

 

Last thing I did was apply new sound deadening to the whole car. I had already done this back when I first rebuilt it, but used generic eBay stuff which wasn't amazing. So I bought a new box of Silent Coat and set to work stripping the interior. This had the added benefit of being able to check all the floors for rust and any signs of water ingress. Luckily, it was all solid.




Getting the old felt backed stuff off was a pain in the arse and not something I fancy doing again. Laying the new stuff down was much nicer though. I warmed each panel with a heat gun (as it was like 5degrees) and then laid it down, using more heat and a roller to help it stick. In all, 40 sheets took around 4 hours to apply, including in the doors.



I also applied a layer of carpet underlay in each of the footwells, to give it just a bit of added sound deadening and sponginess



Then put the whole lot back together with the new centre console in place. Was pleased to have it all back together for the first time in over a year.

 

Did you drive it since?

 

Yeah I've taken it out, it's still noisy when you floor it but it's more civilized when cruising around. Worth the time and money I think

 

What kind of shifter is that?

 

Coolerworx top mount shifter

 

Been a little while since I updated this thread and a few things have happened since then! Its been a couple of months of chasing little annoying things which stopped me from using the car.

The day after I did the sound deadening I went to go and see my friend, and we took the Mk2 out for a little blast. After doing a pull from the traffic lights I shifted up a gear and the car turned off. It’s never done this before so I was a little bit concerned about what was happening, especially as it wouldn't turn back on. Luckily, we were close to his house so we were able to coast it to his driveway where we opened the bonnet and found this.



The engine bay was coated in oil and the car was unhappy and wouldn't turn back on for a little while. Eventually, it turned back on and I tried to drive home, but it cut out twice more, so it was clear something was very wrong. I phoned the garage who did the mapping and discussed the issue, where they confirmed that the ECU has an engine protection software on it, so it cut the power so the engine wasn't hurt by whatever was happening. A little more investigation revealed that the radiator I had was leaking and the car was getting hot.



A new radiator was ordered and was installed as soon as it arrived, however, after filling it and running it up to temperature, I found that this radiator was also pants and was leaking directly out of the box.





At this point I had messed around with top fill radiators enough so spoke to Brendan at Dubstock who sorted me out with an OEM setup, consisting of a radiator, expansion tank and hoses.




Ideally I would have liked to install new parts but I was on a bit of a time crunch and I could get these bits and install them the same day. I bled this up again however the car was still unhappy, so I also purchased a new fan switch and thermostat and set about installing those.





I then bled up the cooling system again and this time to my shock/amazement/relief it actually seemed to be working. So I lowered the car onto the ground and took it out for a test drive to make sure all was well. All was absolutely fine and well until about two miles from my house the heaters went stone cold, so I quickly pulled over in a housing estate and open the bonnet to find the new to me but used lower hose had split. Luckily, I had some parcel tape in the car so I wrapped it round the hose and liberated some water from a nearby house and limped it home. I managed to find myself a replacement lower hose in a box of spares which I quickly installed and re-bled the system (again).



One final test drive confirmed that everything was now happy, the fan was turning on and the temperature gauge had started to work again. It finally seemed like we had cracked it.

 

That's some dose of drama!

I would recommend changing your header tank, to the newer, football type, as used on a mk4. Better cap by far. Plus it freshens up the bay

Glad you got it sorted, and no big damage.
Bit crap that both rads were poo!

 

With that finally cracked, I set about the list of jobs I had to do on the car to make it ready for my wedding. I was set to get married just over two weeks from when I finally got the cooling system sorted so I spent a few evenings in the garage doing the odds and sods jobs, such as lowering the suspension back down, as it was still at the ride height it was set to when it went on the dyno and I hadn't lowered it back down since. I also refitted the Kamei lip to get rid of the weird overbite that Mk2's have if they don't have big bumpers or the 16v splitter.




This lip is one of my favorite parts of the car and will be staying for a while. I'd also picked up a new old stock Hella double rear spoiler from a mate and wanted that on before my wedding. However, the fitting kit with the spoiler requires you to drill holes into your boot lid to mount it. I wasn't keen on doing this so I ended up using some 3M VHB tape, and that spoiler is not coming off for love nor money now.




I'm a big fan of that spoiler and I think it was the finishing touch the car needed on the rear.




The alternator had also been whining so I picked up a replacement and installed that.

 

I don't mind the rectangle type tank, plus my car has the bracket for that type not the newer type. I'll probably get a new white tank and one of the yellow 1.4 bar caps that came on some audi's when I get the bay tidied up.

Luckily the engine seemed fine despite getting a bit warm, I think the engine protection on the ECU saved the day there.
Yeah both rad's were pants. I still have them but I don't know why, they probably need to see the bottom of the next skip I pass

 

So now the car was happy and was looking how I wanted it to, it was time for the big day. I ribboned up the car and along with some of my mates, we set off to the venue.





I had wanted to drive my own car to my wedding ever since I've got engaged, however that was around the same time that I took it apart, so that explains the time crunch I was in to get the car sorted! Luckily, it was absolutely faultless on the day, even with the added surprise of two additional groomsmen who had two jump into my car when one of my mates had a problem with his. So we were four up in my Mk2 heading to my wedding.. It's all fun and games!

 

The last update to bring this up to date was the outing with the South East Mk2 Owners the other weekend. A total of 350 miles and seven hours driving and the car was absolutely faultless, and put up with some abuse on the B roads.



I also stopped by the nearby Rolls Royce dealer to nab some photos on their very nice forecourt.




The only thing that had been annoying me on this trip was that the head unit in my recently built center console wasn't working. I had known this earlier on but for the sake of having a complete car on my wedding day, I had just put everything back together, knowing it was going to have to come apart again. Pretty frustrating, but that's Mk2 ownership before you.




I'm not currently sure what is wrong with the center console, the head unit or the car's wiring, that's my next thing to look into before doing Players and Le Mans Classic this summer.

 

I love the look of the front. Mean and cool.

 

I also really like the stance of the car and the overall look. You surely made some really good choices. Engine is a peach, and the overall build looks well made. What more to wish for

 

Yeah I think it is a top hose, I found a box of spare hoses and this was the one that fitted best. The hose I had with the top fill was different as I'd cut it to fit the top fill rad outlet so was useless for this rad. I rang around the usual places local to me and nowhere had a bottom hose. As I was short on time I tried to make it work with this and its been sound so far. I appreciate the part no.'s, if/when I take it apart again I'll get the proper bits so it works better.

 

Appreciate that mate. I'm pretty happy with it now, still needs a little work to make it perfect, but it's better than it's ever been for sure!

 

While I'm here, might as well update the thread with the solution to the dead headunit. With some over the phone guidance and some testing with from Adam from Old Bones Fab (as I know nothing about electrics apart from how to solder (thanks year 9 tech class)), we found that the ignition switch live that ran to the ISO plug had been cut. I'm not sure how it happened, possibly me when I took the loom out of the car months back, or possibly the garage when they refitted it. But either way, it provided to be a simple problem and simple fix




Despite finding the broken wire in the loom, I couldn't get a proper look at the back of the fuse board to see where it was to reconnect it and I didn't want to open a can of worms rooting round the back of the fuse board. Because of this, I used a fuse piggy back kit and soldered the wire together.



So now the car is back to having a nice working head unit, a decent stereo and CarPlay, it honestly is a game changer in a Mk2.

 

Right, time to pick this up again, as I seem to do it every 6 months or so.

Following the headunit fix, I prepped the car for another London Cartel Mk1/2Mk2 cruise. Always a good event this and it was going well. The car appeared to be behaving itself and we were having fun.However, when we got to Exhibition Road someone noticed some fluid under the car. After a quick once over we couldn't see anything obvious so cracked on to the Traffic Light Tree. Once we were there however, it was clear the car was unhappy.

We noticed that the expansion tank was empty and after a refill of water ended up on the tarmac, we saw that the water pump had given up the ghost. As there was no way this was going to self heal or be limped back 50 odd miles, a tow truck was called. After the wrong type turned up (a beavertail), a flatbed was dispatched. But the first driver stuck around and shared his flask of tea until my ride home appeared.







A new water pump was quickly obtained and installed. It appeared that the leak was coming from the thermostat housing bend pipe bend.



The old one was definitely past its best and looked pretty cruddy. It would've made sense to do this beforehand but in the interests of getting it running and tested asap, I didn't. Lesson learnt for the future however.