Eight weeks in already and time to start a thread. As my son was getting to the point where he was driving my run around more than I was I decided it was time for him to have his own car and start learning about car maintenance. When asked, he consistently said his favourite car was a mark 2 Golf. Of course he meant a GTi but with it being his first insurance and only 22 that want going to happen. I had been watching the classifieds for some time so knew what the going rate was for a running MOT'd in reasonable order. As it happened I had been watching this car on eBay for a while and so while I was up north dropping number one daughter at Uni I took the opportunity to go and have a look. A chat with the knowledgeable owner (MK2 GTi in the garage and another on the drive) and good look round lead to a test drive, a haggle and a deposit paid! A week later and a150 mile round trip and the car was home. No dramas on the way home.
I won't repeat what I've written elsewhere but so far we have changed the oil and filter, air filter, alternator belt and of course changed the Pierburg 2e3 for a Weber. Also I have repaired the headliner board and we are nearly done recovering it. New stereo fitted. New parcel shelf retaining tabs designed, drawn and 3D printed. Replacement jack and wheel brace sourced. Wheel alignment done. New tailgate lifters and of course a driver's door handle. What's next? Finish head liner, repair one slow puncture and then maybe new tyres all round. Sounds like it needs a wheel bearing too. Then it will be cosmetics and of course, drive it lots.
No, mainly paint work and a bit of rust here and there. Although, will probably put some arch trims on like a Driver or GTi. I think they will finish off the outside nicely.
The driver is what our white one is, gti look, but less powerful, the green one is a cl, no arches and just small slats on the rear arch, nice to trap water and hide rust. Not sure green pic has spat in it, they are a little like xr3 had, but not as fancy. Edit, picture of CL spats added, went in shed, fitted full arches on the car.
I had a three door red Driver 1.6 on a G plate back in about 2008. It was a great car. Wrote it off on my way home from work one day and the insurance gave me £400 for it!
Bits and pieces being done. Restored headliner in and looking lovely (even if I do say so myself) Took the nearside front hub off a couple of days ago to replace the wheel bearing. Had a nightmare getting the old bearing out and even worse getting the race off the hub so I bought this kit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BKXVRG2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_6316FbN0RCQRB?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 What a godsend! It took me 10 minutes this afternoon to press the new bearing in and then the hub. Most of that time was putting grease on the bits. Worth every penny.
Honestly, I was sceptical. I watched a U tube video and was still apprehensive but it was sooooo easy. I was concerned about getting the bearing in straight but even that was no problem once it was all aligned and hand tight. It's a good solid set too, I can't imagine it wearing out any time soon.
Made a puller for rear torsion bars on my clio van, m10 bar with washers, a socket and big nut, very simple and thought that wouldn't work, but it shows things dont have to be complicated. Thinking of making a small press with a spare jack lying about, may see if theres some angle iron spare.
I've got a set like that but with a slide hammer included, which has been useful to get the initial movement.
Today I was tempted to replace my rear drums, brakes and bearings but I was a little concerned it may chuck it down half way through the job and then I'd be stuck with a car on axle stands in six inches of show tomorrow. So I decided to tackle the front driver seat. Until now it's been like driving on the frame, uncomfortable and almost dangerous . I mooted somewhere else on here about bolstering the sides with aluminium plate to support the "horsehair". I got a spare seat from Dodgy (thank you) and having taken that apart found that the horsehair was much better than mine. Mine was shot! I hate to throw things away but this could not be saved in any way. So now it's in the dustbin. Next was to draw a template and cut out the bolsters from 4mm aluminium plate. They had to be bent a little to match the shape of the seat. Then find the most suitable holes on the sides of the seat to attach the bolsters. I drilled matching holes in the bolsters for the top two and the large two centimetre hole near the bottom. Filed and sanded to smooth off all the edges of the bolsters. Found some suitable nuts and bolts and fixed the bolsters on (there were some trial fittings of course and several trips to and from the shed). I made a couple of large washers from spare aluminium to cover the 2cm holes. These holes allow for plenty of room to position properly. As the bolts did up tight the bolsters pulled round and trapped the horsehair in place. It worked really really well. Glued the rear trims back on. Washed the cover and tried to repair some holes. I really really need a new set of covers. Does anyone make them? It has worked very well. It is like sitting in a bucket seat now (the back at least). Very pleased.
Great job Phil, slight bit of engineering giving a better result, true mk2 spirit. Know what you mean about the weather, I've got a grumbly wheel bearing to sort, but rain and snow are slowing progress, outside jobs have altered to inside jobs with 4 new doors to hang in the house.
Seat back in the car now. Awaits test drive. In other news the indicator stalk gave up the ghost. New one fitted. What's great now is that you can flash the lights without actually switching to main beam and then having to switch again to turn main beam off, ie one gentle pull for flash which it didn't do before. Also, the indicators work by just pressing up or down gently for momentary indication as well now. It's amazing what you find things should have been doing, all along, when you replace them. Little things............ New boots have gone on too. We have stepped up from 175 to 185. This has made the steering lighter for sure, although you still need man type strength to park (controvercial ).
Update on seat. Far more comfortable and feels very supportive. The "wings" will need trimming back a little as the horse hair settles as otherwise they will protrude in front of it and wear what's left of the covers. It will be easy enough to take them off and do that. Overall, very happy. Had a busy weekend doing Golf stuff. First was the rear brakes, bearings and drums. At the MOT it was highlighted that the rear offside bearing was worn - more on that in a minute. Also, at least one wheel bolt hole was threaded and I wasn't keen on driving around with only three bolts. So, off with the old. Oh my goodness me, what a mess. Lot's of muck and dirt AND! bent bits! How does that part get bent like that? Dismantled and straightened up the bent rod and refitted. Now for the other side. OMG! Even worse. At this point I actually put rubber gloves on. The same bar is bent so that had to be straightened. The bearing fell apart and was actually shattered. I had to Dremel the race off the spindle. All cleaned up and put back together. Pop quiz - how many different wheels bolts can you get on the same car? Answer - four All replaced with nice shiny new ones. No picture I'm afraid but you know what wheel bolts look like I also finished spraying the inner sunroof bead/seal and fitted that, looks good even though I do say so myself Took the lower right dash off and reshaped it a little with a heat gun so that the fuse board cover would stay in place. And the best bit (as far as my son is concerned), we fixed the radio. It would turn off and on every time we hit a bump and I mean every time. Out came the radio to look for loose connections, none there. Off came the lower right dash, again. Poked about until we replicated the problem. Traced it back to a loose earth under the dash on the right hand side. It looks factory but the nut holding the earth wire onto the stud was loose. Tightened up, problem solved Next is to spray all the interior white trimmings to match the black headliner. We might even wash and polish the outside too!
cone taper ones are BMW, ideal for aftermarket/BMW wheels so I guess it had those at one point. VW wheels need the ball seat type. I bet the bent bit in the drum was down to using wheel bolts that were too long for the steel wheels