1990 GTI MK2/ABF/5dr/Alpine White - Au - Mission Complete 1/7/2016

Feck blis, never heard 'o them.
I shall have to ask Lainey as she is big into modern music. Always got the ipod on and has the 6 CD changer and multi speakers in her Mk4.
She has just bought a Bose remote speaker so her tunes now blast through that. Ear bleeding for me so I am always where I am now. The utility room with Pulp 'Disco 2000' and 'Common People' on continuous loop. It will be back to Clash and Jam when I get tired of Pulp's modern stuff.

I wish I could still do Mac and Burger King, I seem to get reactions from everything except the simplest of foods these days.

 

As soon as I get this thread past page one, the internet in Australia will speed up, so hanging on to this post for older updates.

 

And this one...

 

This too?

 

Oh give it a break...

 

I'm sorry admins, I'll wait 15 seconds this time....

Has to be this one!

At last a new page in the thread to get back to realtime.

For the not so good news first, getting boots on the CV and a new clutch, I did both, both were a fail. I'm really over getting poor service. The exedy clutch is horrible, slips and stinks and perhaps a dual flywheel should have been in order, I was told it would be a sachs and it wasn't. It runs, it slips, then grips, then stinks and pfft.. Whaaaaaaaaateva! CV's and drive train, the rumble is back, everyone blames the wheel bearings, I've had a different history that proved if the CVs arent happy, the drive shaft can rumble. So again I'm in similar place as the CPS, the CV's are a nasty job and avoiding the reality they need to be pullled down and checked creates the diversion and forces procrastination. At least I know where to get them. I even put a 15" breaker bar on the nut to see how tight it was, now I can pull 200lbs on a breaker and this didn't move and the bar was bending, so seems they've rattled it on tight and not torqued to spec so Im not happy.

Good points.

On the bright side, I insulated the interior and pumped up the stereo, drove 2 hours to the beach and back and I'd had enough of the Ppwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! While it really suited the car, it didn't suit me, fun while it lasted It didn't cost me an arm and leg either and I can now hear the stereo without shaking the rear window. The car fuel economy seems better too and Im getting a lot more torque off the bottom which I wanted, it could be Im throttling harder now I don't have to have the whole neighbourhood at the mercy of the balls of my feet. Also not sure if they restricted my down to 2", they may have and Ill find out when I get some pics, it's back to her normal volume and she still breathes well, I don't get much manifold grumble. The cooling systems are holding in there for summer, the ambient temps have risen +30c and road temps in the 50-60c. I've had it idling in heavy traffic and the temp gauge hovers on 1/2 way and the oil temps ebb and flow with the thermostat so all it well.

Insulating the interior has improved the ride, the "stezza" rocks, to my heart's content and the engine is very happy.

Things to do...

• Lower driving lamp - dud Connection
• Heater Matrix
• Dashboard
• SAMCO coolant hoses ($500 AUD) - OR source the oil cooler hoses from VWH, they have one of them.
• CVs/Hubs/Bearing/blah
• CAM Belt + Tensioner
• Water Pump
• Replace front flange
• Rear brakes
• Gear shift rod grommet (Wouldn't you know I found the missing part)
• Reverse Light Switch - On it's way from VWH

Lessons learned in a performance exhaust.
I had another muffler added to the Magnaflow exhaust system and the second resonator removed, it's toned the car's volume right down and I'm happy with the performance. Three attempts at an exhaust system isn't a recipe for precision fabrication, it's ok though as there was an amicable resolution each time and I do get the fact that it's cheaper to start loud and then muffle later. I should have done my homework, got under the car, measured up and booked in the part numbers and done it once, my err. I was put off by exhaust people not looking at what's under the hood before lifting the car. If I saw intake's on an ABF manifold, I'd be having a Hmmm moment... "Big Nostrils "

 

I'll be putting the ABF into my MK1 soon. I hope I don't get 1/10th of the problems you've had.

As much as I like fuel injection for the efficiency there's nothing like that sick-to-the-stomach feeling when it dies by the side of the road. That's why I'm sticking with twin 40's.

 

I have been sitting here for quite a few minutes now wondering:

"Why would a K-Jet system die at the side of the road?

Can't think any longer as it's 06.20 and I have to make tea and get the bread winner off to work.

 

Mine's not a KJet though.

 

Where did I state that it is?

I was responding to this statement that is obviously untrue!

 

In defence of Sportsracer, his response as one associated with EFI and not mechanical FI and I totally agree, Im sceptical of buying any car with full EFI and Ignition and chassis accessories attached to the ECU can cause electrical problems that have nothing to do with ignition or injection. Dave, those KJet systems scare the life out of me, all those fuel lines wandering around the engine bay. Ive never owned one so I cant say whether they are a pain to live with. Im too far from being qualified or an expert, but the ABF's crank sensor has shut down many an owner and sourcing a good CPS is not an easy ask, many have failed multiple times, me included. So the stigma associated with Fuel injection is more often a problem with electronics than the injectors themselves, so in that you are correct.

Im an IT guy who loves tuning 2 strokes, grew up in the transition from analog to digital world. I think anyone persisting with KJet in a digital era, also play's vinyls, only listens to cassette tape recordings and still insists a good VHS tape is better than a DVD, let alone worry about digital encoding systems. An there's truth to it, because any system that requires attention and servicing will be cared foror ot fails, we have no care for binary data in the same way, so once it fails we get a new one. The modern world is voracious in appetite for new things and it often scares me when people use technology for technology's sake.

Now asking someone to solder and patch a MegaSquirt might not be everyone's cup of tea, it's not mine, that's for certain. There's enough wiring to solder on a MK3 ABF as it is, building my own ECU isn't something I'd plan to do. However, if it was necessary to go down that path, and I do believe it is, then having full control of your fuel, spark and air mix is fitting of the 21st century and with it come electrical gremlins that can take you down for the count, I've jumped through a few hoops to keep our MK2/MK3 ABF going, and the toughest was to get the sensors, wiring, and terminations all healthy and sound. The MK2 itself, is a delight.

 

Blis don't worry about our Dave he's just a grumpy guy living the dream in a very damp patch in Ireland lol
He absolutely loves mechanical stuff that has no electrical wizardry going on at all , his dream car is a striped out Porsche GT 3 RS with everything deleted lol

 

No it is not my dream car Mike, it's just the only new car that I have ever configured on the internet that lets me delete all the crap.
So, at this specific time, it is the only car that I could even consider buying if I had 99,999.999 rec. (115,000)

This is the car I covet. 1970 911 S/T
Homologation Special - Uber light weight with loads o' ally panels. Stripped out. Recaro comp seats in front. Rear seats thin slabs o' foam rubber on plywood (copied from SAAB Sport) fitted very low to give greater headroom so the car could compete in 'Saloon' car races. Rubber bonnet catches standard. 400 LHD and 25 RHD. Yes they thought about the 55% of the world that drive on the correct side of the road. It is believed that only 1 RHD was built though. Funnily enough, the RHDs would have had a larger fuel tank.






I found one for sale in Austria a couple of years ago for 68,000. 'Always' raced and rallied!
With the extra 56,000 I could have taken it to the Porsche Museum Workshop and had it re-built to original RHD standards.



bils. My title and my sig says it all.

I abhor inaccurate misleading statements. Why. Because they can lead to confusion and sometimes errors judgement for those believing they are fact. Someone who knows nothing about FI might believe it a statement of fact for all FI systems.

K-Jet is easy compared with electronic systems. When I bought my SAAB 99 2.0 l in came with Bosch LH electronic which was OK cos. it was SAAB so would be as reliable as hell. The competition cars used Kugglefisher for N/A and K-Jet for Turbos (8 cyl. metering head twinned up for the 4 cyl. motor). When Elaine bought her first Mk2 GTi it was a 1987 car and I assumed it would be K-Jet. I did not check cos. I did not like the car, or any UK Mk2 GTis as they all had a sunroofs! My 1987 Audi Coupe had K-Jet. I was shocked to find it had Digifant! It did die at the side of the road once or twice. My daughter's 1990 car died completely and the Bosch experts could not fix it! My AUDI 90 20V Q has Hitachi Sequential which has never failed. AUDI used Hitachi cos. they were they only company who said it was feasible, Bosch declined to even try!

 

blis.

I used to Rally SAAB 2Ss. SAAB supplied, 'free of charge' full instructions, including drawings, of how to modify the motors.
(As they did later with the V4 engines, although you had to buy the information as part of the 'Sport and Rally' manual.)
I still have all of the information.
I tuned my own engines opening out ports with a flex drive and electric drill, 'Riffler' files and emery paper!

 

Dave your skills will be lost in a generation or two, no one will know how to use a lathe and they'll be teaching autocad at school, my sons had to use it. CNC's, 3D printers and nanotech is changing the world and they're all done by a simple fact that binary maths (not decimal as we use) sits well with the two state of electricity. I imagine in a few years MIG Printers where the object is printed in metal or a combination of them. I also imagine and it's happening now, 3D printing of human parts using stem cells. While I do accept we cant stay "old school forever" you have n o idea how many times I was tempted to just hookup a straight coil to the dizzy and let my son hear the engine fire, but the injectors are digital too and I didn't need any more fails. Now I hate mechanical work, I'm starting to think, so do mechanics, so the only person I can seem to find that will do a good job is me, and Im far from perfect. The average workshop won't even look at my car accusing me of being a hobby car with lots of stripped bolts, I took great distaste in their accusation as it's me that's replacing the bolts the mech's stripped with their rattle guns.

Good new is, I've toned the exhaust down so much with the insulation the ride inside is better than ever, to keep the happy note going... VWHERITAGE I LOVE YOU VERY VERY MUCH!!!! 3 DAYS!! UK to Brisbane.. SERIOUSLY AWESOME!!!
*Dances around the room holding a brand new ABF oil cooler hose in one hand, bottom bearing for sloppy steering column in the other and WAIT FOR IT.... I FOUND THE TOP SEAT GUIDES for the seat rails, but Im not sure if they are the right ones...

NO Im not doing the unboxing piccy thing... but will work on a video of the great day's racing we had today.

BBS.

So before we all succumb to the likes of Google, who'll digitise the world if they can...

Here's something mechanical we do, father and son, it's all maintenance and performance


Video is uploading, try again in a couple of hours.
[video]https://youtu.be/DItyEk1dgNo[/video]

Big day, need Zzz..

 

Anyway, back to getting things sorted.

Good news is...

As mentioned I got lucky at VWheritage and have the 2 of 2 replacement for the oil cooler hose, so they're both less that one year old, I'll put that on with cam belt session along with the top front cooling flange and that should see me good for a while and saves me $500 on Samco hoses. I'm also stoked I found the urethane front bushes for the seats, mine were never there and I'd been using cable ties to pack out the gap. So they're fitted along with a reverse light switch. And whoever it was that gave me the tip to bang the top off the old one with a hammer and use a socket. THANK YOU! So the reverse light works too. I'm building up parts, steering column bearing arrived, Im not looking forawrd to that, have the heater matrix and found a new steering colum lower shroud while shopping to make me happy. I've been reducing a LOT of rattles in the last month or so and the ride comfort is improving with each step.


Sad news is...
I've got a small hole in the radiator top flange, always had it, it's the molding injection point that so I managed to find a radiator top flange, it's not the same with a tall plastic moulding at 45 degrees, its shorter and 90 degrees but I think it will work. Sad news is the radiator bottom nut broke free of the moulding and is tight as and we cant get it off amd we're dremelling into the radiator like a hillbilly dentist!

I really need a new radiator with the hoses on the left hand side, cant make up my mind on what to do with the water pumps. I have an SKF with non cast impeller (sheet steel fins) .

 

If you're looking for a cast impeller I just checked a yet to be fitted Kolbenschmidt pump and it's cast. I'm in the same boat with some SKF top mounts not sure whether to fit them as they're clearly purchased in and don't look worth the price premium.

 

Finite, there are cast impellers are on the REPCO aftermarkets I purchased, Ive bought two in the past, but the bearings in these are rubbish. I found the SKF by chance at 1/2 the price, so I'll do a little research and see if others use them or not. I think the original was an SKF as it had the pressed sheet metal fins for the impeller as well and it failed, but things were very hot back then. So this will make it a fourth change in as many years, Im not sure if running hot may have had something to do with the bearings failing or not. It's still running, with a rumbling drive shaft and bad pump bearing, Im getting anxious about getting back to enjoying the true sounds of a mk2 and not a chorus of unhappy front end rumbles.

 

Usual aftermarket problems lads.

Who actually manufactures the parts that SKF Aftermarket and REPCO sell? Only they know.
They are, like Meyle and Febi, set up as marketing organisations. They usually have zero manufacturing facilities, of course SKF make their own bearings, and buy what they can, where they can, at the lowest price. No matter what they say on their web pages, they do not have the facilities, staff, or engineering expertise to evaluate every item they sell out of the many, many, thousands in their catalogues.

If you are lucky they will use some OEM suppliers to supply them. So you may get the pukka kit. I have seen SKF timing belt kits with Gates belts. Gates and Contitech are just about the best toothed belt manufacturers.

I once asked the GKN Marketing Manager UK & Europe, who is a mate, (I started my career at GKN Laycock Engineering - clutches, overdrives, FF), if they supplied SKF with CV joints?
The answer was no.

By the way. I always fit OEM water pumps with plastic impellers because they are lighter and thus spin-up more quickly.

Every gramme helps!

 

Just to fire up Dave again I'll give my reasoning why I like twin Dellortos instead of digi or k-jet. It's not because fuel injection is problematic, it's because if anything ever did go wrong I'd be stuck.

I live in rural Australia. The nearest town is 50ks away. The nearest VW dealer is 100ks away. The nearest mechanic who understands old Golfs and who I trust is 300ks away. The nearest person who understands Dellortos is 1km away (and has spares).

If I get any hiccup on my (recently departed) MK2 GTI all I could do was jiggle the wires and hope it fixes the problem. With the Dellortos I can pull them apart and rebuild them in my sleep.

I'm not a tecnophobe, far from it but I do like things that I understand and know how to fix.

And my favourite car is a stripped down MK1 with a naturally aspirated 2.0 16v built for fast road/track work. Favourite bike is my old RGV 250 - pure 2 stroke fun.

Cheers

Paul