1990 Alpine White Mk2 Golf GTI Rebuild

Hi everyone, I decided I need to document this project properly and figured these forums would be the best place for it

I love reading detailed builds so heres my contribution!

I've loved Mk2 Golf's for a very long time, and I finally saved up and got the cash to buy one and space to put it/work it. This is the first one I looked at and it's in great condition, just looking through the paperwork says it all, had thousands spent on it on general upkeep by previous owners but unfortunately its seemed to be slightly neglected as of recent but Im hoping to bring it back to as new condition

Here's a picture the day after I bought it:



It looks in great condition as you can see but there's a lot of problem areas and it runs very badly; engine smokes like a train and the gearbox is knackered!

This was back in July 2016, and nearly a year later the car is totally stripped so i'll slowly bring this thread up to date which will be complete start to finish, nothing worse than getting halfway through a build for it to go dead a couple of years down the line never knowing the final outcome

Please enjoy

 

Looks nice I look forward to the build

 

Good that you are putting it right!
Keeping proper 8V GTIs alive is important.

020 Gearboxes do suffer from having too low an oil level!
Most have lost synchromesh on 2nd gear because this.
The problem is that oil will sometimes run out of the gearbox level hole before there is the correct amount in the box.
I always ignore the level hole when filling an empty box and simply put in the correct amount.

I have never had 2nd gear synchro problems!

Dave.

 

Right, so I'll start at the beginning,

Me and one of my best mates both needed a space to work on the cars, so we spent the best part of a couple of months searching around where we live to find somewhere we could set ourselves up. My mate (Luke) had been helping his friend build track cars and he knew a farmer who had built some small units, so after a conversation and a visit, we had somewhere to start out projects!

Heres how it looked before we got stuck in:



As you can see it was a project in itself, but four months of work later and we had moved in I could finally start stripping the golf down

 

Workshop looks nice and clean how long will it last haha

 

So, I have started small by removing the bumpers and plastic trim, was very nervous doing this incase I made some bad discoveries but I seem to have been lucky, looks to be in good condition from the topside at least









There are little spots of rust inside the lip of the arches but not bad for 27 lol.

 

Got to work on some interior bits, pulled the dash out too revealing some questionable wiring








Worried about getting all the wiring back in right when it goes back togetherlol

 

Workshop looks great. Amazing what a bit of paint and hard work can do!

The camera roll on my phone is so boring, It's just pictures of random plugs and wires lol

 

Thanks everyone, yeah we feel very lucky to have such an awesome place to work on the cars and building it was a project in itself lol

So I got cracking on with getting the engine ready for removal One thing that has surprised me is the amount of wiring the car has got. I thought that as an old car it would be minimal on electronics but I guess as its an 80's /90's car its at that period where electronic engine controls started to take off, especially being a digifant. Lots of labelling and pictures being taken so I know what goes wherelol



Grill, slam panel and radiator removed



Lots and lots of seemingly random wires cables and pipes Will definitely be doing some bay tucking and smoothing for a cleaner look on reinstallation.




Everything is coated in oillol Some definite leaky valve stem seals I think, at least its helped protect against rust haha.




Thankfully nothing sheared when I disconnected the manifold from the downpipe, this was a horrible job, the access is awful!

 

Time to rip the heart out this badboy! Surprised at how easy it came out, luckily my mate got an engine hoist from his work which made it a pretty smooth process



Sheared one bolt on the rear engine mount so I had to take off the whole mount, I'll take it, could have been a lot worse lol





One engine-less bay, lots of work to be done before even thinking about refitting it, but good days work right there

 

Another day another job, time to get panels off and the glass out



Managed to crack the front windscreen when removing it, I was being so careful too It was chipped in multiple places anyway which is where the crack started so its just as well, needed replacing anyway.





From what I've read rust is very common under the windscreen along the top edge of the scuttle, mine is no exception No worries, will be good practice for my welding!



Here's a shot I took when I was feeling arty lol Thats my mates MX5 project who shares the garage with me, it will be appearing in lots of photos in the background lol

 

Unfortunately rust is common in any places on our old Golf nowadays

Nice progress keep us informed

 

Little update, got stuck in to the engine since my mate came down with his car to do some work so I had to roll the shell outside.



Got the exhaust and inlet manifolds off.



Stripping all the ancillaries, I've got power steering fitted



Camshaft looks good.



Lifters are in good condition, will be replaced anyway.




That will be why it smokes like crazy!lol

 

Watching

 

Okay, reached another milestone, got all the wiring out





Started by labelling everything so when I come to put it all back in I should have a bit of a clue where it all goeslol



Such a mess





Looking loads better now

 

Managed to pull the front subframe off



Will soon be just a shell

 

Got an update, managed to make a start on cleaning the floor pan and removing the sound deadening so I can check for rust, got to say, this has been by far the worst job I've had to do so far but its satisfying to see it looking clean now its done!



Before I started, should have just left itlol


Halfway there


The bulkhead was a pain to do


End result, worth it in the end but I wont be doing it again anytime soonlol

 

Great work! I'm very much liking the full resto, good luck with the rest of the jobs!

I recently took my Mk3 GTI back to the metal on the floorpans and also removed the rear seat bench brackets and support, and found that where VW spotwelded the supports on the primer had burnt off - leaving some of the welds and area under the support prone to rusting easily - maybe worth wedging a small brush in underneath them or a good spray of primer just to hopefully slow any possible rust on yours? I also found garage door paint to be very hard wearing and similar to hammerite, for a fraction of the cost when you start splashing it around on a large area

Love the unit too, very jealous! lol

 

Thanks Tom, cheers for the heads up, looks alright from what i can see but will be sure to have a proper look when it comes to it

Done a bit of scrubbing down of the engine bay and inside the chassis rails





The waxoyl has done its job but has picked up loads of dirt, time to go...


Better