Wow that is quite a transformation! The Compo's look really good, i would go for a dark grey/titanium
Cracking Mk2 you've produced there, very nice work!. You can do mine next if you want, its only been stood 11 years .
Fantastic work you have done with the car and it looks so good back outside in its natural habitat. Reading through this thread has definitely motivated me to get mine back on the road after 7yrs away from it. Lots to do but your thread shows it can be done
Cheers for all the nice words, it is appreciated. My last open uni report goes in tomorrow, so I can now get this thing on the road! A lot of the stuff on the car I have never done before - I have always tinkered, but generally, the most part for me is changing seats, wheels and coilovers. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it. And if it goes wrong, there is always people that can help. Saying that, the only thing I wouldn't be willing to tackle would be a respray. Having assisted with the prep work and then seeing the amount of skill required during the spraying process, I think that is best left to the professionals
Haven't been out to the car in a couple of weeks - gf's birthday, a wedding and starting a new job has all got in the way. But despite that, the last weekend that I was out was rather productive. So first things first, was to change the timing belt and water pump - safe to say it needed changed: Replaced - although can't take the credit, as Peter, Alz neighbour completed it. It was a very informative evening watching him do it, and showed that it really wasn't that scary a task. This then allowed me to plumb up the radiator and wire up the fan, new fan switch etc. Andrew kindly blasted and powder coated the radiator shroud, so it matched the slam panel. Once up and running, I noticed a substantial leak from the side of the block, and saw that the coolant temperature sensor was missing. New one ordered and fitted. The next problem I then had, was that while bleeding the coolant system, I realised that I had no working gauges etc on the car at all. The indicators, lights and main beam worked, but nothing else. I spent ages (probably almost a whole day) trying to see what was missing, trying other relays, everything. With no luck. I posted up on here, and thankfully Phil, suggested that the ignition live for the mk3 was in a different place to the mk3. Once I moved the pin for the ignition live, all my warning lights, as well as revs all worked! This felt like a massive achievement. With a lot of fiddling, I also managed to get the clocks adjusted to sit well in the mk2 dash also: Next up, in adding to the engine bay, was the addition of a new bonnet catch from VW heritage, as well as a very well priced mk2 GTD intake from Mk2 Spares. I still need to fit my inlet temp gauge and vacuum for the ICV but happy with the OEM look in the engine bay. I do have a powder coated rocker cover to go on, and Andrew is going to do the inlet manifold too. This weekend, the plan is to raise the front end about 15mm, get the front splitter on, and get the electric windows and mirrors installed. Weekend after should see me doing all my pre-mot checks and then get it in for an MOT for May .
So, a lot has changed this past month. Starting a new job etc has taken me the past month to get into the swing of, so I have unfortunately not been as active on Eastside and the likes as normal. Settling in nicely now, so onto the fun stuff! I can't even remember what I have all done so I will try my best. First off, OEM electric mirrors and electric life electric windows installed: For the most part, after various checks, I took it on its maiden voyage to the petrol station - the first time is has driven in over 15 years: Surprisingly the girlfriend even came along, which I think she kind of enjoy. Other than burning through the sidewall of one tyre as it was a little too low it ran well. That night I raised the car 15mm all round and made some tweaks to the front alignment. The plan was to have the car MOT'd for my birthday (6th May) so it was booked in for the 5th. Drove the car on its 25 mile trip to the MOT centre and shat myself the whole way . I was so scared that something would go wrong, but it got there fine. and FAILED . Fail list as follows: Rear passenger wheel bearing -replaced both rears to be safe Rear brakes inefficient - the rear brake compensator had no spring attached. New spring and bracket purchased. Rear handbrake not working - based on the above. Adjusted also. Front struts loose - tightened with gun Brake lines not connected to the car - new brake clips fitted all round Fuel line not connected to the car - new fuel clips fitted all round I have made all the required fixes as per the above over the past couple of weekends, with the help of Peter, Alz neighbour, to ensure everything was legit. Not much to see, but thought I would prove the brake clips etc are there: Despite not getting to use it on my Birthday, I got an awesome cake from the gf: I think she secretly likes it!
While the work was being carried out, I sent the wheels away to be refurbed, however this took a lot longer than planned. This then gave me a chance to give the car a final 2 stage polish and wax with Zymol carbon, the weekend past. I am thinking about going for ceramic coating while everything is fresh, but need to research this more. The wheels were ready to collect today, so my Dad kindly collected them for me. I decided to go Bronze, after seeing this: Have put on a set of fresh Toyo Proxes too. I personally think they are great in the dry for the price. The car won't be used in the wet or hard, so happy with the choice. Also have some nice new wheel bolts to go on too. Wheel caps are also black too. Dad kindly stuck a wheel on tonight to give me an idea: So the plan is to get the wheels fitted on Thursday and the re-MOT is Friday afternoon. Absolutely buzzing to get this on the road and enjoy driving it and taking photos of it outwith the garage . Sorry for the long post, I hope everyone has enjoyed the read.
So it's 'complete' and on the road! I went to drive to the MOT a couple of Friday's ago and went to fill up with fuel on the way. Brakes didn't feel great on the journey and as I went to pull into the petrol station I just went passed it . So I cancelled the MOT and drove home in an absolute rage. I was so so angry and could have kicked the thing in! Stuck it in the garage and left it so I could cool down for a couple of days. I lost complete confidence in the car. The only thing I hadn't replaced when changing all the brakes over was the front callipers. So I bought new ones and decided to upgrade to 312mm at the same time - it makes sense to when I have 17s on the car. And I knew from having the mk3 anniversary that I could run 312mm under 16s too (perhaps handy for the future). MOT was then Friday passed and it passed first time! Winner winner! I then headed back to Peter's after the MOT and he sorted out my alignment for me. Drove it in the road to Aberdeen and it felt incredible! So nice to drive and I felt over the moon! A couple with one of Peter's mk2s I then headed out to Fennel for their V8 Breakfast on Sunday with Andrew and his Dad. Was nice to catch up with Graeme and Guy too. Drove about 75 miles over the weekend with no issues, other than the rear of my headlining dropping down. Something to sort out soon. I'm off on holiday for 10 days and then off on Andrew's stag do on the North Coast 500. I would really like to take the golf on the trip, but having just completed it and not having the time to thoroughly test it, it's not a risk I'm willing to take . The car also needs a good clean, especially the inside and the plastic trims, so thats something else to do.
So I think I have solved the recent running issues. A couple of weeks ago, I took the car out for a drive, and when parking it up to go into the garage, it spluttered and cut out. It wouldn't restart and had to be pushed into the garage. After charging it overnight, it started again. I then noticed that I had never had a battery light on start up. This led to a lot of trouble shooting, checking cable continuity, different clocks etc. I also checked the voltage which was fluctuating, which led me to changing the alternator (£15 bargain from the scrappy from a mk4 golf). This gave me a battery light and a constant charge - winner! With the advice from Jordan at DJ Autowerk (local VW Specialists), I also put in an OBD2 port, which was super easy to do. Using vagcom, the only fault codes showing are a faulty inlet air temperature, so something that can easily be sorted. Last weekend, i took the car out for a spin, from Monymusk to Alford and back, and it ran as well as before, but when heading back up the drive, it started running badly/lumpy, almost misfiring. Turning it on and off again solved the issue and it ran for an hour idling with no issues. Speaking to American Dan, he said it sounded like a vacuum issue. I purchased some new vacuum lines and replaced these, and blocked up a vacuum port that I had missed. This dropped the idle revs from about 1400rpm to around 1000rpm. But it was a little rough. I had a good spare ICV in my spares, so swapped this over. Safe to say the one on the car (externally) was looking a little worse for wear: Switched this over and after taking it for a run, all seems good. Last thing I did today was fitted a 'Duplux Indicator' Battery Gauge. It's a guy that makes them in Russia - great quality product, fits nicely and looks fantastic too.
Was fed up of shit coilovers on the car. One of the rears had burst which meant no passenger could really go in and it was bouncy as ****. Pidge sold me a set of Spax RSX coilovers from his track car - these are height and damping adjustable. They also have short tubes, meaning that you don't have to drop the spring height too much. These have made an enormous difference to the ride of the car - it is absolutely transformed and I am over the moon! When speaking to Pidge last week too, he commented that the issue I was having with my inlet temperature transmitter could be because it was plugged into the carbon canister plug instead. Checked and it was . Plugged it into the correct one and cleared the code in vagcom. Winner! Drove it in tonight, which is the first proper drive since change the ICV and vacuum lines. Feels bloody awesome. Needs a good clean, but for now, all I want to do is drive it, after all the current teething issues.
