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

Following this fiasco, I was put in contact with a TV production company who wanted a modified Golf for an upcoming TV show on Channel 4. This is unusual as normally TV shows require oem vehicles to set the scene, but I was told this was to be a car show and it was important that the cars were modified. It turned out the show was to be called 'Bangers: Mad For Cars', with Tinie Tempah and Naomi Schiff. It aired in October/November and to be honest was a bit of a let down, it felt like a load of different short scenes cobbled together with no real direction. They left the scripts in the car after filming and what was aired was totally different from the brief on paper, and in my opinion, was worse for it.

After some conversations with producer, it was decided that the car was what they wanted, but the factory seats would be better suited than my as yet untrimmed Mk3 recaros, so I put those back in.

I also set about colour matching the slam panel, as this may have been filmed and the black didn't look very good, so a quick rub down and respray happened over a couple of evenings.





As my car is a slightly custom Helios with more silver in it, the colour match was not very good but I didn't have time to sort it, but it looked better than the fading black at least. I think in the long run I'll either get it smoothed and painted properly or just powder coated black again.

With that done and the seats back in, I set off for a car park in Wembley to drop it off for filming

 

Next on the to do list was the 'cupholder mod' that's become a big thing in the Mk2 scene in the last couple of years. It's made up for some 3D printed parts and a Polo/Lupo/Sharan/A4 click and push cup holder, fit into the centre air vents. There's a how to video I'll link below, and some photos of the installation. I ended up having to trim the air vent behind the dash to fit these, but others have said you don't need to so it might come down to the type of cupholder you get? No idea.

Video -











I can't recommend these enough. It mades a drive of any distance so much more convenient and enjoyable as you don't need to worry about holding a drink or a bottle leaking when lying down. A 10/10 mod in my book, so much so I sometimes forget about them.

 

Players Classic was up next. We booked a big house nearby and had a cracking weekend away in the sun (and rain). I won the Monster Energy sponsors choice on the day and picked up these custom painted Nike Air Force 1's which are pretty neat. I had offers to buy them that afternoon which was bizarre, but they look nice on the shelf anyway. The Mk2 also got it's first appearance in Speedhunters which was a nice surprise.

 

After Players Classic was Le Mans Classic. A circa.1000 mile round trip which I was looking forward to.

It was the 100th anniversary of Le Mans so special 100 stickers were produced, so as is customary for this trip, stickering up was required. These weren't the easiest stickers to apply but for the week they'd be on, it was fine.




It was raining in the UK on the way to Dover (as is customary) but the car was fine. One of my friends was getting all concerned about running open trumpets in the rain and spray, but after a quick check, the trumpets and everything around them were bone dry.

It was all going great until we pulled out of the services in Calais and hit the motorway again. By the first toll booth, I had a motorcyclist pointing at my car and waving his arms, I put my thumb up to say thanks (thinking he was saying 'cool car' or something), but he then shouted 'no your f**king wheel!'. I got out and checked and my drivers front tyre was absolutely flat. A digital inflator showed the pressure as 7psi.. A quick check found a small puncture hole in the tyre.

We limped it to the next services and bought some of that puncture repair stuff. It took 5 blokes to try and get that stuff to work. Turns out it needs to go into a flat tyre, asit has compressed air in it. We were trying to put it into a reinflated tyre. Idiots the lot of us.



Lots of reinflation glue later, I made it back to Calais and then back home on the same tyre. Wouldn't recommend doing what I did but it was effective, around 800 miles on that stuff.

 

After the trip, I got two new tyres and got them fitted, only to then find the sealant in wheels was blown apart by the cheater in the tyre shop. So a quick wheel rebuild it was. Never ending drama this.

 

With the wheels back together, I took the Mk2 to the Endless Summer VW Show. This is a nice little local event that is all for charity, so it's always good to head along and support it. A sunny morning gave way to a rainy afternoon, but I came away with best Golf of the show which was a nice surprise.




After this was Tucked at Thruxton. Again a nice chilled day out with some friends before the season drew to a close

 

September rolled around and it was time to head to Yorkshire for my mates wedding at The Motorist. I know I've said it before but it was impressive how well the Mk2 handled the endless motorway drives to and from the north while being comfortable and not deafening. It even hit 38mpg which was pretty good as I wasn't really being careful.




My route home also took me right past the Mercedes F1 factory in Brackley. As I was taking this photos some staff were driving out and stopped to have a chat. Nie guys (although I didn't tell them I'm more of a Red Bull fan)

 

That was that for show season, so the Mk2 went back into the garage for some changes. I'd been wanting some side skirts for a long time, but I'm not a big fan of the Kamei skirts that go with their square style wheel arches. The 'slimline' kit they do is what I was after, but it's so rare I've only ever seen one come up and the guy wanted just shy of €2,000 for it,which was never going to happen.

So I changed my focus onto fitting the big bumper kit to the car, along with some g60 arches for better wheel clearance and probably some wider / different wheels down the line. An arch set from Classqiue Autoworks was purchased and delivered. This is a replica ABS plastic kit of VW G60's, which I felt I could cut up and hack to my heart's content. I couldn't bring myself to cut up my OEM G60 arches in my loft. The arches are a fiar bit wider than the small bumper OEM ones.




It's hard to say what I did to these to trim them and fill them to suit the small bumper, but these photos give some idea of what I did







After priming the arches I used K2 texture spray paint to paint the arches. This stuff is probably the best textured paint I've found so far and it holds up to UV light deterioration as well as pressure washing



At the time, my dad was in the process of building his type 19 20vt and had a donor car in the garden, so I liberated the sill covers when he wasn't looking



Door trims came from Brendon at Dubstock and got a few coats of paint too



How the finished kit looked

 

As cutting and welding the arches was a bit out of my skill set, and given the car needed some additional paintwork on the scuttle panel where it was bubbling by the windscreen, it went off to Matt and MCC in Banbury for some attention. He cut the arches back and welded the rears, painted the rear quarter panels and the scuttle, and fitted the big bumper kit for me.










I got it home and refitted the Kamei lip. Standing back and looking at it now, this was definitely what the car needed. The skirts give it a slightly wider and deeper look which is what I was hoping for. Plus the G60's give me a lot more wheel clearance to play with.

 

Plastic trim looks great!