1989 Tornado Red 3dr Gti 16v

After three months of looking at some properly overpriced dogs, I finally have a new steed

As a rule I hate red cars but I couldn't pass this one over given the price, mileage and condition. Think early cars look OK in red anyway tbh.

It's far from mint but pretty tidy for a 20yr old motor; should certainly serve well as a daily.

Vital stats:

- 112k miles
- S/h up to 85k with loads of receipts after this
- 3 owners from new
- 12 months ticket
- 6 months tax
- Rolling on original montreals fitted with race spec ditchfinder tyres all round
- "Lucky strike" gearshift randomiser (shagged bushes)
- PAS (which I had to fix yesterday as some garage chimp had fitted the wrong belt and lost the tensioner )
- Leccy windows (P/side currently "deactivated" to prevent carjackings, or indeed cooling down on a hot day)
-Central locking (a bit slow but actually works, yay!)
- Pimpin' leccy mirrors



Will get some proper pics up after I've given it a bloody good wash and wax.

Now, where did I put that ripspeed catalogue...?

 

looks luuuvley, cool number plate aswell!

 

RED ONES GO FASSSTAAAAA

Looking good! Did you pay extra for random gear generator?

 

looks awesome.... love early small bumper mk2's in red also

 

So was it worth holding out for?

 

Thanks for the comments

Nick - yeah, I quite like the plate.. esp. as the chassis no. starts with WVW

Ben - the random gear generator was included in the price.. I'll certainly be paying for it (both financially and mentally) in the future though. Last one I tried to do resulted in the exhaust having to come off

Nealey - I think so, although tbh I'd have been a tw*t of varying magnitudes if I'd have bought any of the other stuff I looked at. It's a bit disappointing to have to deal with the same old problems that I went to lengths to fix on the old car (namely the gearshift), and while it's less rotten than the last, it's got more battle damage.

That said I wasn't going to spunk 4k on a minter, especially for a daily driver so all in all I'm pretty happy with it. Need to get some new tyres on it though.. these ones are lethal in the wet

As far as mods go, was going to stick the 15" RAs on it off the old car (perhaps after a refurb and tyres, money permitting) and was also considering smoked repeaters and late 16v rears, although not sure yet.
Might swap the bigger brakes over too (the 239s feel fine, not given it death yet though) and the weighted shift rod will be going on at some point.

What say the people?

 

absolutly love it! looks like its had a few extra features from new as well like PAS
mines just bog standard with non of this fancy trickary! lol

looks like a great find.

 

I think ra's look a little odd on small bumper cars, i dont know why thats just my opinion

If you already have the bigger brakes you may as well stick them on there as well as the bigger master cylinder

 

^^ agreed about ra's, maybe try and source the corrado g60 bbs similar to copyboi

 

It looks realy tidy. Did you get it off a vet?

 

Looks well clean, look forward to seeing what you do with it
How much? if you dont mind me asking

 

I disagree in saying that RA's wouldn't suit. I always think they suit mk1's and a mk2 small bumper isn't far off that. If you've got them, try them and take some photo's.

Nice car though - keep it original except for the odd tasteful mod.

 

I love shiney small bumpered Mk2's, and yours looks very nice. I would have thought you'd already have 256 mm brakes on it being an '89 valver.

 

I had more fun with the car today; the list of things to do grows ever longer

Checked the oil and found it was down by about 2.5 litres Filled it up and all seems well; don't think it's suffered any engine damage despite doing over 100 miles in this state (in my ownership)..

Also found the disptick is shafted and the original (quantum branded) alarm has been disconnected, so really need to remove it.

Did a few small jobs; set the height of the bonnet front on the stops in the slam panel, greased the locks, sprayed a load of WD40 on the MFA switch as that was a bit dicky (couldn't find any contact oil but the WD seems to have sorted it).

It feels pretty disconnected to drive compared to the old one - it's less refined as the exhaust has a tick at high revs, the alternator whines and the speedo cable is noisy and needs replacing. Add to that the dodgy gearshift and boggo tyres and it has a way to go yet before it'll be any fun to drive.

Oh yeah, the sun visor fell into my lap at 70 today, too

Thanks for the opinions.. personally agree with Dan in thinking RAs look nice on early cars; Will have to try them on at some point. Will 256mm brakes fit under corrado rims? Not familar with them tbh.

I paid a touch over a grand for it which I thought was fair.. had looked at 6 previously and this was by far the best (regardless of price).

1990 - Afraid not, sherlock

Simon - Thanks - I havn't checked but wouldn't have thought the bigger brakes would fit under the 14" rims.. happy to be proven wrong though. The electrics are still CE1 so it's not a really late car.

Hoping to give the paint a wash, cut (if there's any left - someone's already gone through on the sunroof) and wax tomorrow, weather permitting. Might treat myself to a trip to the scrappy too...

 

the 256mm brakes will fit under 14's so you will be ok

 

Cheers Nealey - just checked the VIN against a parts catalogue and if I'm doing it right it should have the larger brakes

Will check tomorrow if I get the chance..

 

Nowt wrong with a Red one. Even better if your partial to the colour Pink, or you don't mind regularly cleaning/polishing

Yours looks very nice!

Damn right they do

 

Cheers - I can see the argument for no-frills, but the last car had them all (nearly) and I've got a bit spoiled tbh..

Drove it without the PAS working, which was pleasant - could hardly turn the wheel at times (although in my defence the wheel's smaller than non-pas and I think the PAS rack is quicker).

According to the build code decipherer on here, the leccy mirrors are heated too

Yours looks very tidy.. how long before you can legally drive it?

I'm hoping I can keep the pink at bay with liberal coats of wax.. can't keep cutting it back as it must be properly thin already. Judging by the state of the sunroof and the badges, I suspect it's already been through several litres of T-cut in it's life

Looks like some red ones are faster than others, judging by what's hiding in yours


Did a bit more today; tarted up and fitted the scuttle trim/rain tray from the old car; not usually a fan of retrofitting bits but the original was shafted and looked like it was made from margarine tubs.. and I figured VW would supply me with a late one anyway if I tried.

Temporarily lost the clutch pedal today, then found it again once I realised the chimp that fitted the new cable didn't let the pre-tensioner off the outer section at the gearbox. T*sser. It's starting to look like the car has previously been serviced in the monkey house at the local zoo..

Gave it a wash and good going over with T-cut; caned the roof and bonnet as they were the worst and did a token amount on the other panels as they felt pretty good already. The horizontal bits still need some attention with the clay bar - will do the whole car once I've replaced the bar that the old man appears to have eaten.

Managed to polish out some scratches around the sunroof where someone had evidently used 100 grit on the seal (paint seems pretty soft compared to the lacquer on the old one). It then had another wash and a good coating of Carnauba classic - doubtless the first of many

Oh, also "measured" (as best you can with a tape measure through wheels) the brake discs - they do indeed look larger so that's a bonus

Wasn't going to put any photos up until it was all done, but had the camera on me so...



Check my pimpin' shine


Tomorrow's jobs will be the interior, glass, rims and exterior plastics.. also need to order a sunroof seal and speedo cable. If I've got time I'll take a few proper shots too.

 

And remove one of the front wheels to measure the brake disc properly