Captains Log. November 23rd. Ratsheet (spelling amended to fool the bots), the scabbiest Mk2 GTi I have ever seen arrives at home. I bought it from a mate who was going to break it but for some sick misguided reason I felt sorry for it and paid him to take it away. Front wings were rotten, sills and arch kit had been butchered and fitted with white bathroom sealant (hanging off). Rear arches had been messed with but weren't rotten. My friend Matt fitted the alternator and a new battery. He swapped the front wings for some pattern ones I had already. I ripped the kit off and insured it. The MFA works, electrics work etc. It has an immobiliser, remote locking (iffy) and it ran at the bottom of some Ebay coilies. Issues list was big enough: - Poor gearchange (needed bushes/adjustment) - Missing internal mirror trim - Seats needed swapping - Blower motor noisy - Timing belt shiny - Bumpers badly aligned - Steering wheel too large - It's way too low. You drive like a Thunderbirds character (try it and imagine) as the ride is so stiff you kind of wobble over any less than perfect surface - Paint. - Wheels
A week or so later things were progressing. The blower motor was replaced. Thanks to GPC (Luton) who were awesome. Even offered tech support when I needed to remove the resistor pack. No more squealing from the dash! Thought I had a problem with the remote locking as it was almost too good and just needed a flick of the button to activate. Holding it on locks AND unlocks the car. The door handles were iffy, unsecure and brittle. Corrado front adjustable seats were fitted. Lower to the floor, wider and more supportive too. Bonus was I had a seatbelt reciever and wouldn't be exiting the stage 'windscreen first'. The heater was not working as intended so a reverse of the polarity and it became toasty and powerful. I tightened the handbrake bracket so it was not fopping all over the floor. I picked up a Timing Belt kit and gear lever bush repair set from the lads at G.S.F Nottingham. Should tighten up the iffy shift. Fitted most of the underbonnet bushes and had a noted improvement in play but it has since caused problems getting into 5th. I need to get it up and do the gearlever bushes and adjustment. I have a Mk3 weighted shift rod to fit as well when I get round to round #2. I have read that these improve the feeling of the shift so at 3.50 posted I took a chance. I'll report back when its fitted. A sub 20 Ebay find genuine GTI Engineering Italvolanti 3 spoke steering wheel like this was claimed. It was fitted with a proper fixing kit on a genuine 80's Mk2 Italvolanti boss supplied by good mate Matt. The one I have has 'GTI Engineering' pressed nicely into the centre pad. It will complement the genuine badge I found in the our old Mk1 like the one below. A garage hunt produced some Sparco pedals and VDO gauges. Volts, Oil Temp, Clock with all the relevant brackets. A stereo was crossed off my shopping list to be replaced with a gauge holder. I need to source a matching VDO oil pressure gauge and drop them into The dash slot. While rooting I also came across another VW/Votex part - a single 52mm gauge pod which originates in MK2 Scirocco GTI's. GTI Engineering offered these with a voltmeter as a kit for the Mk2, mounting it where the switch blanks go. It obscures the dash/handbrake warning light but properly cut out and stuck in it would be great for a boost gauge or something. It's a small touch but all part of the 80's accessory retro vibe I am chasing. Last bit of big news for te month was wheels. I was looking for some cheap rims - something sturdy. These are 15"x7J (so nothing mental, right?), offset is ET23ish so nearly a centimetre more poke than some BBS rims. For 6 wheels with 5 tyres at 100 it had to be done! I'll post better pics when they are properly fitted. These will do until I can find/afford some period Compomotive Turbos or Ronal R8s.
Boxing Day and I was bored! As stated previously - the car was fitted with cheap Ebay coilovers which were wound down all the way. Had to bash them about/wirebrush/WD40 a bit to free them off but the back end is now loosened up. Wound each side up from 25mm to 65mm which took ages. With the wheels off you can see the coilies are near new (just dirty) and I will be coating the threads with copper slip in the next few days to keep them adjustable. Also noted were the drilled and grooved rear discs. With the rear wheels on there is an obvious difference side to side. Looks like the front is 20mm different on each from floor to arch. Levelling that off should sort the back but hey, another day! Here's a sneaky look at a wheel in situ on the rear with it jacked up. Note the gap from arch to wheel. With the jack out it's not even visible. Fingers don't even fit so some adjustment will be needed to stop rubbage. Had to put the steels back on as it rubbed all the time. Oh well
Someone on ED38 has asked for the spots which is fine. The funds will pay for other parts. I rarely use them and will probably swap them for some vents/covers like the works rally cars. Then use the wiring for some real spots like Super Oscars or Rallye 2000's. I've been mooching around this site for a few months drooling over the Gr.A info and I fancy turning this into a budget road/rally car. I'm mentally toying with what to ditch and what needs swapping already. The dash is unsecure for some reason and the blower vents a bit warped so I might pull it next week and refit another. Either that or get the dash and door panels flocked and then refit. I fitted new door handles and a tailgate lock. The central locking (superfluous on a race car I know, but I will remove it when the door cards come off) is behaving and the wife (who hates the car) likes having a door handle to hold. I have a matching ignition barrel to swap in but I want to spend a day tidying the dash wiring, ignition barrel swap, intermittent wipe column switch upgrade and dash refit. It will have to wait a little! The important job now is to get the front suspension freed off and wound up to make the car drivable. At the moment its actually painful over potholes and bumps. I'm hoping that I can wind it all up, fit the new rims and the 205/50 tyres and drop it back down a little. That would give me ride comfort (well better than now), wider wheels and better grip.
It looks right enough to me for the 120, bit more tidying and it will be a decent car. Are you going to paint the wings and back arches yourself and are you going for small bumpers?
I fancy going back to small bumpers - yes! As for the wings and the rest of the paint. To be honest money is tight and I haven't really thought how I am going to do that but it would be nice to make it shine again.
A small update for you all. Rat**** has now received a VDO gauge console to fill the hole in the dash, along with the Voltmeter, Oil Temp and an Oil Pressure gauge on the way. The GTi Engineering wheel is fitted and feels great. I dumped all the crap out of the interior and gave it a good clean out. Massive improvement! Last bit of news is the wheels are at last fitted, shod with 195/45 series tyres. I freed the coilovers up on the front and the ride quality is much better. Just need to clean the rims up and get them repainted.
Seen worse - stick some arches on it, or tidy them up, and it'll look a decent car. At least it looks that way from the pics - no idea if it stands up to closer inspection
It's in for an MOT this week so I will be crossing my fingers nothing bad rears its ugly head. Inside is good, floors look solid in general, under the bonnet solid. Lights and electrics all work, steering and brakes are OK so maybe some rust, pipes and bushes/bearings? As for the body. One patch of weld, some flatting back and paint and scrape the sealant off the arches and fit early small bumper gear is next up.
I have a mate coming round today so I think we might have a laugh and try some weight reduction. I'm going to do a weight loss count, both for myself (hey, I have enough to get rid of too!) and the car. The way I figure it getting rid of stuff is free (except where you need to replace it) so it's a no-brainer in the power-to-weight struggle. Up to yet all that's been done is the single wiper conversion and removal of the rear wiper and mech, boot locking gubbins and tailgate spoiler. The car has to be practical for occasional family use so some quick release bolts on the rear seat squab will have to do. That will allow me to pop the back seat out for future trackday. My next areas for attention are to remove: - parcel shelf & hangers - rear speakers & wiring - boot carpets and trim - under floor sound deadening - under dash pockets - door pockets My car has big bumpers (wrong for the year anyway) and I know people suggest using cheap (lighter) GSF pattern copies. Does anyone know the weight difference and how does this compare between small/big bumpers? It would be nice to go back to smalls and lose a few kg too. I also intend to remove the leaking sunroof (and maybe the roof lining) and do the mod where you weld tabs around the outer and back onto the roof panel then seal it. At least then its cosmetically tidy but should yield a few kgs. I don't have a stereo fitted so no silly tuneage going on. I may just take my Ipod with me instead. Any other practical suggestions welcomed.
Have a look inside the bumpers. There's normally potential to chop out chunks of the girder and just leave the plastic shell, except where it bolts to the body. Obviously the trade off is that you then have less bumper to protect you in an accident.
how much is yer total build so far looks like a contender for the practcal performance car 999 challenge
So far the cost is 120 (cost of the car) plus 215.98 (parts). But from that I am subtracting 79 (parts sold) Total being 256.98 including tyres which were donated.
