1989 VW Golf Mk2 8v GTI

Over the next 8 months I did everything I could do myself to get it ready for the MOT so in November I sourced and completely rebuilt a subframe and steering rack:






The vigilant among you will notice the ARB is fitted the wrong way round, I did change this later as it fowled the car. You may also think I was supporting the engine by axle stands on the sump, I wasn't. I had the engine supported from above and place the wood and stands there as a 'just in case' measure.


One hilarious MOT fail was it reading 6.5CO...yes, that damn high! Not sure how it happened really but I replaced the fuel filter and picked up a CO tester and worked my magic, MOT limit is 3.5 on pre-CAT cars but the mk2 Golf when running a PB engine with digifant fuelling is meant to be 1.8CO so that was my target...

Took some fiddling of the air and fuel but fairly quickly got this:


and then the ensuing (after I sent the car off for welding) MOT emissions sheet:




Almost exactly a year ago I had a delivery from Germany:




Changing them over was fairly quick and painless and the end result of the suspension (and wheels I didn't mention above) was this:



It can still go plenty lower but I don't want to drag the about, I want the car to be drivable...and 'at pace' which means a little lower than stock but not very low...and it does drive well these days.


I won't cover the full ins and outs of these but I built up some projector headlights which are really rather good at night:


I've also installed some mk3 indicators in the fog holes...people still don't notice me indicating around Bristol:


Fitted a strut brace, because...why not:


Fitted a weighted rod and short shift kit:


The shift throw is now hilariously short compared to standard, but brings it more in line with modern cars and makes pressing on a breeze.

Since I'd bought the car, I'd never given it a coolant change, I'd done all the other service items, just not that so in Jan this year I did it, probably should have done it sooner:


I also fitted a new heater matrix and some updated coolant pipes so that I shouldn't have the matrix explode and burn my feet, handy.

In Feb I bought something I'd been trying to decide on for about a year, then made a decision in a matter of days:







Then in March I took the car over to Bruges for some beer and time away which proved to be a great drive and the car performed really well, even if I did lose gears in the middle of Bruges. I'd fitted an eBay shift linkage repair kit which included a metal rod with plastic ends which allows you to select side-to-side, so between R, 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5. This link rod was obviously of poor quality and I managed to pop one of the plastic ends off leaving me with 3rd and 4th only whilst in traffic, pulling away in 3rd is the most upsetting thing ever, poor clutch. It was easily fixed by me in the hotel car park and then replaced once I was home.

And that brings it up to date really, I've got plenty more plans for the car of course and will post them up as and when they happen.

If you've read all this then well done, if not, I don't blame you.

Lastly, have a little video I made the other day in Cheddar...

Cheers, it is good fun, not gotten bored of the 112hp yet even after over two years.

Well before I changed it all my rack was leaking fluid at an alarming rate and one of the TREs was fused to the rod...so it wasn't great before the work.
I redid all of the bushes, engine mounts etc. which were all past their best. I went for OE rubber on all bushes aside from the rack one as I couldn't find a rubber one so went for poly on that. The rearward wishbone ones I went for Audi TT ones, solid rubber instead of rubber with holes, so an upgrade on stock but not as harsh as poly.
Overall though it's massively improved the handling of the car, before it would crash a bit on uneven roads (so basically all of Bristol) and wasn't exactly confidence inspiring when trying to enjoy some roads.
The car is tight and precise now, very much the point and squirt go kart many people say they are. I've actually found recently that the car's limits appear to be above mine after a few "uh oh, I'm going in too hot" moments and the car was like "nahhh, I got this bro", but equally...shouldn't be driving like an idiot.

In terms of the rack itself, I redid most of it, took it apart, cleaned it up then replaced the rubber boots and TREs and there is certainly no slop at high or low speed.

Looks very nice, great video too.

What was your brake setup initially?

Put it all back together today, new lines run to the rear etc all nice and tidy, filled the res, no leaks and...can't bleed them.
I've done it before with the aid of my vacuum bleeding thing but now, can't get any fluid through the system. Bleeding brakes is one of my most hated things, especially on your own. I'll try again later / tomorrow but I can't see me getting any further. If I can't I'll have to order a proper pressure bleed kit at stupid money to arrive at work during the week so I can do it after work in order to get the car to National.

some extra pics from it all being back together...

Compensator:



Front wheel:


Clearance:




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Brakes bled (eventually) this evening with the aid of a pressure bleeder...darn good way to spend £40, seriously, it's awesome!
I got a Sealey VS820 from eBay on a next day delivery and it's very simple to use. Just bang some fluid into the bottle, screw the cap onto your brake fluid reservoir, pressurise it to ~10psi then go round and bleed as normal. No need for a second person or too much faff really. Clamp the bias valve open obviously then bleed driver rear, passenger rear, passenger front and driver front.

I had some horrific fluid come out of the passenger front, initially it wouldn't even let any fluid out. I had to force the piston out and back in a few times to release it and allow it to be bled.

Took a quick test drive, seems to be working well / ok, maybe not as good as it should be but I think I'll have to give it another bleed after national and once the pads are worn in properly.

This is what I forced out of the front passenger caliper, they had been off a car for a good long while so I'm not too surprised although this is mixed with some fresh fluid, it was thicker and darker when it came out the bleed pipe.



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So today I've been sorting out something that's been bugging for ages but I've just not gotten round to doing before...




...the lovely primer patches!

Flatted them off, treated the metal again and reapplied primer earlier in the week. Ideally there car needs a patch really but for now I just want rid of the awful looking patches.
I don't expect to end up with an amazing result but provided it looks better than the above pic once done I'll be happy, close paint match etc.

Flattened the primer again today and applied some colour which actually appears to be a good match really.







I then flattened that with 1200grit wet & dry before applying another coat of colour.











You can see in the above photos that I've not filled the two main rust patches, as said this isn't to fully fix the side of the car, just to make it look better and make the car more presentable. I didn't bother with filler as that would result in just covering up some iffy metal which is likely to come back again anyway so at some point I'll have it repaired and painted properly.
It also looks dull in a couple of the pics which is entirely fine as the shine doesn't fully come out until lacquer is applied as this is just colour coat not a mix (some paints are both colour and top / final coat).

Typically, I've run out of lacquer though so for the moment today painting has stopped until I go fetch some more.
Still, it now looks so much better than before though so I'm happy, it's not perfect but this car isn't really intended to be perfect looking.

Just grabbed a couple of photos of the side, dull but the colour is there now, I don't mind that it isn't perfect, that's not what this car is about...it's all about how it goes / drives rather than how it looks, those are secondary. I do want it looking at least 'ok' though so the primer had to go.

With leds, I'm sure I've seen before where people sand them down a little to reduce the glare. Just a thought.

I love Mk2 Golfs and would love a 16v car.
Your work is great and I really like how you are enjoying getting the car back together.
Please keep us updated. I can gauge how good a thread is, when i imeadiatly go and search for a similar car on the internet!

Cheers. I always enjoy working on cars (mostly when they aren't a daily) and improving them to my preferred standard. Haven't kept a single vehicle as long as I've had the Golf (Since end 2013) and I still enjoy it so I must be doing something right and it must be a half decent car.
I like to update threads etc. too I just keep forgetting to update it here so often so mega updates as per last few.




Well you can't have mine!


Mine is just a lowly 8v although at some point in the next 18-24 months I would like to give it a bit more power, in the 170-200 region should easily be enough. More on that if/when it happens, for now it's a case of improving the performance of what I have (handling etc.).

Another update from today to follow this.

Done around 580/600 miles yesterday and today, got another 1400 to go by the end of next week! Scottish road trip finished off by the RRG and a well earned rest on bank holiday Monday.

Filled up twice today...




One when we got to the Scottish border...





Photo of the car in the Cairngorms on our way up.





One of all of us in Cairngorms.