Mk2 Golf Gti 16V ground up rebuild - she's home!!

I can imagine, it’s an area I’m going to have to get stripped back myself sooner or later, whether I like it or not haha

The bay has turned out great!

The full prep I sanded back to metal.
- Degreased
- Primed with Electrox
- Seam sealed
- Wet sanded with 600 grit (light pressure)
- Degreased and dried
- Tack clothed
- Two layers base coat
- 3 layers lacquer

It does look darker than it is on the pictured due to it being 2300 and lighting being poor in my unit.

Been moving away from the shell and started rebuilding my calipers, I was always going to send these off to be done professionally but I saw a few videos and read several guides and thought it doesn't look that difficult.

One of the good guides can be found here

www.clubgti.com/forums/index.php?threads/mk2-36mm-rear-caliper-strip-refurbish-in-pictures-page-1-completed-18-10-2013.265860/

Here's a video here of the dismantling of the rear calipers.



The fronts are surprisingly simple in comparison. A couple of seals, a piston and thats it.

The fronts first.
An airline in the bleed nipple is a tried and tested way of blowing the piston out.




The pistons are not in the best condition.



I only bought a seal kit but I'll probably buy the replacement pistons at some point.



Bores are ok, this is after ive degreased with gunk then petrol.



Mothers mag polish and dremel later.
Plus further degreasing


I forget to take anymore but it is literally a couple of seals, slicone spray and its back together, I've de-rusted and painted them.

The rears.

I didnt have a caliper rewind tool but an angle grinder locking tool works perfectely



The inside of the piston


The most fiddly part of this job is the circlips. Easy enough to get out but a pain to get in.

These are the shims and a bearing thats in the shaft.


Then screw the shaft back in to dislodge it from the piston.



Then its a case of reassembly with the new pistons and seals. I didnt go for the full rebuild as i couldnt get the inner circlip out. As these were in perfect working order before they were removed I'm confident they will be fine.





Same derusting and paint. Job done-ish.



Need new slider pins yet.

I tend to get more hassle from MK4 and MK5 calipers these days!

Have a set of MK2 ones I got halfway through rebuilding about ten years ago and abandoned them!

Progress has been slow lately, another change of job and me and my fiancee finding out we are having our first baby together has but a dampner on the build but then it gives me a good excuse to do as much as I can before the due date. Not many things come before old cars but kids are one of the few.

So my back yard hackery slotted nut removal tools, spring compressors, a screwdriver and a one hammer blow. Job done.




Threw the subframe, servo and replacement master cylinder on and the front suspension. Felt very good to start putting things back together.




But when it came to the rear axle I don't know what I've done wrong but the holes just don't line up. The only thing I can think of is that I've not pressed the axle bushes in far enough.

Threw a set of wheels on after recieving my b&b components wheel bearings which fitted without issue. I just wanted to see it as a moral/motivation booster more than anything. Also I hooked up the componsating valve. Oempc.com is my new best friend.





I really wanted to mount the calipers/carriers but I had an issue with slide pins being more along the lines of stuck pins. I should of cleaned these out before hand. Silicone grease didnt free it up so back to the shed it was.



Had to knock this out.
And used a drill with the same internal diameter for the slide pin on the carrier to ream out the curse word that was in there.



Blew it out with an airline and it was sorted. Slide pins that slide.

Consider the chambers by the ports, two ports at the front being a chamber and two at the rear being the other chamber.
The Rocco had the rear brake proportioning valves mounted at the master cylinder but as long as they are in the system I don't believe it matters too much as some models of that era had a proportioning valve unit mounted at the rear near the beam.

You'd get the T pieces for curse word all in a motor factors, or in most scrap yards, they're not VW specific

There's no easy way to say this but I want to mention it, sadly my grandad passed away peacefully in the early hours of yesterday morning after a short illness. He was 93. WW2 Veteren, Engineer, Father, Grandfather and Great Grandfather.

He helped me discover a passion and provided tools and knowledge to help me on my way (most of the tools I've been using are his). He was just enthusiastic about this build as i was. Which of course makes it much more personal now too. Yes I'm heartbroke but I'm also very fortunate that he lived to such a grand age and remained active for as long as he did.