Mk2 1990 1.3 CL ABF converted daily

Hi all,

i am new here and have just bought a mk2 golf driver in need of some TLC and a mk3 Golf 2.0 16v Gti.
i am planning on doing the whole conversion, not just engine but gearbox, subframe, lower arms, coilovers, hubs, brakes front and rear etc.

also the interior is pretty rank in the mk2, its been sat for a while and leaking, its not mouldy but it is quite damp and having fixed the sunroof seal, i have discovered it must be leaking in through the passenger door as i got in the car yesterday and the passenger rear footwell was about 6 inches underwater.
i do plan on fitting new underlay and carpet as i want black carpet instead of grey and underlay is probably rot.

just got it through MOT the other day as i will be using it for a bit until i have the ABF ready. no nasty suprises so nothing too bad other than couple of advisories on brake lines.

something i need to know for now is what will fit from the mk3 onto mk2 as in:

Carpet
Dash
Clocks
Door cards
Leccy windows
Central locking
Seats
Coilovers (pretty sure they do)

basically anything i can salvage i will as the whole interior in the mk3 is a lot better than the damp mk2...

anyway on the engine side of things, my car has the CE2 wiring, which i gather is ALMOST plug and play, would anyone be able to tell me exactly what else will need wiring in that ISNT plug and play? i dont mind a bit of soldering/wiring.

Any info on this conversion that i may have missed would be appreciated, i have already googled this and got as much info as i can find, i just like to know what im getting into before i dive in!

i will post some pics in next couple of days of both the cars how they are now and any progress made.

many thanks for any advice/info on this.

 

In regards to what will fit, carpets dont, door cards wont, any interior electrics wont. Dash can be modified to fit and obviously can use the clocks, if you do that you could use dash wiring and conversion will be completely plug and play then as you wouldnt have to worry about getting MK2 clocks to work with MK3 wiring. Although alot of people do make MK3 clocks fit in MK2 dash. Coilovers a yes again. Would advise you swap the MK3 tank over and dump your Driver pump as the MK3 pump is built into the tank. Hope that helps abit.

 

Hi and Merry Christmas to you all!

Yes i have read toyotec's thread and it is a very good insight, however it is a bit different for me as i am starting with a 1.6 Driver, Not a GTi, also he is using MK2 1.8 16v ancillaries and wiring etc, so didnt have to change any of that. he just changes head and block, still an interesting read though.

i intend to change as much as i possibly can out of the mk3, i think i may go with the whole dash swap as my driver clocks dont even have a rev counter, unless it is an absolute nightmare then i might just try and get the mk3 clocks to fit.

everyone is asking me "why are you bothering? why dont you just run the mk3?"
I dont want a mk3 i want a modded mk2, i much prefer the shape, i like the challenge and mostly, its something different, which is another reason i may swap the dash anyway.

may take a few pics tomorrow so you can all see the scale of this project lol.

thanks for info so far.

 

here are a few pics of both cars, the mk2 and the donor, thyey are crap quality sorry about that, im no photographer but il turn the flash off next time its not needed

The car as it is now:








Nice bit of Lacquer peel:




The only bit of rust i can find on the car (SO FAR...):




and the trampy interior:






The Donor Car: (its not hard to see why people think i should just drive this one...)








i did set about fixing a couple of coolant leaks on the ABF the other day as i was going to drive it for a bit while i sort some of the interior on the mk2 out, but after draining the rusty crud and refilling it with fresh anti-freeze it decided to keep throwing the coolant out of the bottle, either it has a airlock or head gasket failure.

judging by the previous stains around the bottle, and the fact that every pipe is hot and the heaters, i just left it. i was thinking about giving the engine a rebuild when it was out anyway but now i have decided.

not 100% convinced it is HGF though as i discovered it has the wrong top hose on, without the small hose coming off to the bottle, someone has fabricated an adaptor in the middle for this, although the adaptor is not at the highest point where it would be on the proper hose. so it could be air in the top of the rad.

still, not going to risk it as i dont want to kill it.

again sorry for the shoddy quality pics.

 

i updated this the other day but its gone due to the outage, but there was nothing important anyway, i have decided to keep going on with the project but just get the engine and suspension in and running and leave the bodywork for the time being as i dont have time or space right now.

i have ordered

mk2 PAS rubber steering UJ Boot.
mk2 16v front coolant flange and right side coolant flange, hoping they fit ABF, they look the same.
Manual clutch cable and few other bits n pieces.

i am also going to order a full engine gasket set, head gasket, bolts, and timing belt kit etc and just give it a quick clean up and that will do.

anyone know how to tell if its a late or early ABF as shops keep telling me there are 2 types, but the car its in was originally an 8v so i have no idea.

im going over to where the mk3 is stored this weekend to rip it apart and then in the next couple of weeks im going to clean it up (a bit) fit new gaskets and sort my wiring loom hopefully,
then on 29th july i have a week off work to get it all on my car and running!

some advice needed:
as my car was a 1.6 driver it has a smaller radiator than a 1.8, i was looking at the mk3 rad and fan setup, would this be an easy enough fit? would the lower rad support fit? if not will i need to use a 1.8 rad?
also my car has the smaller brake servo and im going with the mk3 brakes, i know the servo from mk3 is not a straight fit, but the mk3 M/C looks the same (i have checked and it does not sit different to mk2 one as some ABS ones do)
could i use this on my smaller brake servo? i know the effort required by me will be more, but that i dont mind as long as i know they will work if i have to stand on them.

Mk3 PAS setup, Rack will fit, Pump will fit, what about mk3 hoses? mk3 PAS bottle bolts to battery tray where mk2 has nothing there, mk2 bottle i can buy but cant find a bracket for love nor money, anyone have any ideas?

i am just a bit tight for funds at the mo and i am planning on getting it running for now so i can use it, and at a later date when things are different, start again and make it better.

thanks for your help and will post some pics up after this weekend of the bits i have salvaged!

 

thanks for clearing that up john u are legend.

yes i was going to use the mk3 axle, and i did a mk3 rear bias valve replacement not so long ago, and i had to muller it to get it off as both the allan key bolts rounded off and they're countersunk into it.

i may just cheat and run my rear brake line into the car and have a tap type thing

yes the mk3 pipe attaches to the front engine carrier, i have checked on mk2 and there is nothing there for it to bolt to, but i could always drill a 6mm hole and run a tap through it or just nut and bolt.
with the bottle do you mean mk2 or 3? it would be nice to see a pic of where the mk2 bottle sits? not sure which one i would make a bracket for, i dont mind fabricating the odd bracket, but yes time is of the essence.

i am going to remove the wiring from the mk3 along with everything else this weekend, then im going to remove the wiring from mk2 in the week and try getting some of the loom sorted before hand, just ordered some braiding and heatshrink. must remember to label plugs!! hopefully i shouldn't need too much help there

i may fit the mk3 servo as my mk2 one looks rusty as hell anyway

thanks for your help

 

why didnt i think of that! i am quite handy with the mig welder at work

once again, you are a legend, everything i search for, on every forum, you seem to be the man gives the definitive answer whether it's what fits what or what wires go where lol.
respect to you sir!

 

Just thought I'd punt in and say I'm watching this thread with interest. Will be putting an ABF in a 1.6 later this year/next! Good luck with yours

 

thanks very much

unfortunately the cars paintwork massively lets it down, and as much as i want to do it, i will not have time at the moment. she will have to be a sleeper for now, very little rust though as tatty as she is!
also i would have loved to have gone the Megasquirt root, but current time limits and funds mean that for now it will have to run on the digi management from the mk3.

hoping i wont have to defeat the immobilizer as i have the chipped key to match the ECU and i have just had a blank cut for the mk2 ign barrell that the mk3 chip will fit in
key cost 3.50 and cutting cost 2.50, immob working for 6 hopefully!

one thing i am going to try and get done while the dash is out would be fit a new heater matrix and repair the heater box flaps as per the guide.

 

Same with mine, it's brown with a fair bit of lacquer peel over it. Luckily time is something I do have (not rush to get it going) so will be respraying it bit by bit in the garage!
Shame you couldn't have gone MS, but I won't be able to afford it either so all the more info for me

 

So yesterday i went over to strip what i needed from the mk3 which went very quiclkly from this:



to this:



Pile of wires and bits:



I have removed whole engine loom, ecu, labelled everything where it came out of fusebox and other end and pulled through bulkhead.
fuel tank and lines removed with filter housing, carbon canister was already binned on this mk3.
rear axle complete, handbrake cables (will these fit mk2 as mine currently has drums and im guessing i need these)

cut the exhaust as it was so rotten i didnt even attempt to undo it.
unbolted gearstick out of car from underneath and 1 bolt on top. while i was at handbrake cables, it seemed easier this way than trying to unbolt it from the subframe.

the only bit i was unsure of, the little immob box up to the left of the steering column runs in the same wiring loom as the diag port in the dash loom, i didnt get ALL of this loom as i couldnt be bothered to take the whole dash out, but i got the diag port and the immob box, there are a few little plugs by the fusebox that go off to other things that this loom plugs into, im not sure where they would go on the mk2...

couple more pics of how to strip a car lol

rear axle unbolts, hanging by top mounts:


top mounts unbolted:



the complete running gear lol





on my way over there now just to take the last few bits off, and probably end up removing engine and box from subframe as its too big for me to move it!

 

ok, i have already taken everything you said, i have everything up to the ciggy lighter plug anyway, and the diagnostic jumper block, (didnt know what that was until now lol) i also have the plug M from the fusebox, and the fuel pump/sender plug with loads of wire left on it, i will just run those 4 wires seperate as i couldnt be arsed to take the whole loom out of the car!

i just trailored all of the running gear over to my work and dumped it all in the middle of the workshop, so now im here taking the engine and box off the subframe, splitting engine and box, getting engine on stand and stashing the rest in the shed so they dont go mad in the morning lol

 

also i think i have had a result on the brakes...

i unbolted master cylinder and couldn't find anything cast on the bottom, well there are numbers but not 22, however there is a 23 cast into the top, could this mean its 23mm? also the 2 13mm nuts holding it in were odd and one with a washer so i think it has been changed.
i just measured my front discs and they are 287mm, although they do need replacing, thought the brakes were good!

will post a few pics up later

 

couple more pics from phone, sorry camera battery doesn't last long enough to take 1 pic!

all ready to go


Engine and gearbox removed from subframe, seperated and bolted to stand


Leaky Rear main Oil seal


Oil from rocker cover and bodged coolant flange


snapped bolt


Master cylinder underneath castings


Top Castings


The clutch i removed was an almost new Sachs item which will be re-used as i'm on a tight budget,
Discs and pads will need to be renewed all round as will front drop links and ARB bushes.

ball joints and track rod ends are all nice and tight so they will be re-used.

i stripped down the complete subframe so it just has lower arms and rack left on it for now, i removed hubs, shocks, PAS pipes, gear selector etc, just to make for easier storage, plus in the next few weekends i can try to get some of it cleaned up.

i am pretty happy for a weekends work!

 

I have a hefty flare tool, but its one you put in a vice, which means I would need to remove the whole brake lines, won't be to bad if it just goes to a t piece on the bulkhead, I'm not with the car at the moment so I can't look. will try the mk3 bleed nipple in it though...