1990 MK2 GTI Project

Thanks! Making a big push to get it back on the road by the end of July... But feels like a never ending mission at the moment haha.

 

Chipping away at a few more jobs while I wait for parts. Decided to tidy up the brake lines and get ready to fit the 16V calibers. The original lines were a bit of a birds nest, and while I didn't want to run entirely new lines, I wanted to tidy these ones up.



To remove the old calibers I also had to cut through the lines as the flare nuts were fused to the hoses. So the whole lot needed reworking.



Earlier in the thread I talked about the brake line tool I got off Amazon but this thing is one of the best tools I have ever bought (bang for buck). After cutting off the old flare nuts and cleaning the lines with steel wool it made short work it all, and made perfect flares every time.



I got the reservoir side cleaned up quite quickly, and while they aren't the neatest the lines all looked tidy enough once completed.

View attachment 37233

The other side however was plumbed really weird with lines crossing over more than once. I decided to cut the lower T bar off and reroute the lines so that they didn't cross over and lined up neatly with the firewall clips. Essentially just flipping the new T bar over and reconnecting the lines.





Once again, if I was running the lines from scratch I would have done it differently, but as I was working with what was already in the bay I am satisfied with the end result.

Next up I got back on the gearbox. Initially I was just going to replace the seals and the release bearing, but with everything out the car I decided to do the push rod pushing as well. I bought a cheap and dirty tap and die set and threaded the bush, then screwed a big bolt into it, and used the old push rod to knock it out from the back of the box. Worked a treat.







With everything clean I tapped the new bush into the box, and then seated the new seal. One thing I noticed when looking on the broke VW page was that the plastic cover the comes with the bush is actually a tool for seating it. I was going to throw it away before I read that so glad I scanned through his how to article before I did. I knocked it in and popped the cap off and it was perfectly seated.





I also ordered a new push rod "fork/arm" from Topran. What a piece of junk! I couldn't believe how bad it was when I opened the packet. The star on the centre of the arm was so badly punched that many of the teeth were not even properly formed, and when I slid it on the shaft the old worn arm still had a bigger "bump" on it then the new one. I decided to bin the Topran one and refit the original.







I had sent some of the gearbox parts off to be repainted as they were really crusty. I had just asked them to be done silver, but when they cam back the silver was super bright. Too bright to look good again the raw gearbox.



I considered just painting them black, but then thought that before I did that I might try create the original yellow zink effect. I found a washer with the original colour, and then used some yellow tint and gold paint to try replicate the finish.



It's by no means ideal, but it looked close enough for me to crack on and paint all the parts that way. Up close it's clear they are not sink plated, but from 6 feet with a quick glance you can almost be convinced haha. The colour looks a lot stronger under the lights of the garage, but against the washer I used for reference it's a pretty good match.



So with all the bits pained, and all the seals, bushing, push rod, and release bearing done I reassembled the box.



The final thing I did was make a bushing for the clutch cable guide using an old ARB bush. When I got my car the self adjusting cable was shot, and I replaced with a manual one as I much prefer being able to set the bite point. They are skinner though, and rattle around in the guide. Im hoping this bush will hold it nice and tight so will see how it pans out when it all goes back in the car.



I also dug the lightened flywheel out and started getting everything together to fit that. I noticed that the timing marks were not the same as the current one, and thanks to @Zender Z20 he pointed me in the direction of a thread that highlighted the fact that the carb and FI flywheels have different timing marks. Using the measurements I marked up when my timing mark needed to me so that I can get all of the sorted when the new clutch arrives.





Im now waiting on what I hope are the last batch of parts I need to get everything done and ready to go back into the car... Hopefully they arrive before the weekend.

 

Buy yourself a small pipe bender while you have good access to the brake pipes and you’ll be able to form the bends nicer after your efforts of cleaning them up!

Every step done is one closer!

 

Yes, if I ever run completely new lines I will use a bender for sure. It looks like this car had had some new lines added for a MOT or something and whoever did it just wanted to make it work and get the car on its way. The last thing I want to do now is start running new lines though... The job list is long enough as it is haha.

 

I would leave the current dizzy in and just replace the clip very easy just slides to one side.

 

A few people have said this to me but I have found it really hard to buy the clip. Always seems out of stock or not quite the correct shape. Anyway, your message made me realise that I may as well just swap a clip from the spare dizzy (no idea why I didn't think of that years ago...). Anyway, thanks for the prompt! job done, and cable tie gone.

 

Love the attention to detail here.

@caddyboet What's involved with stripping the back seat down? The card back on mine has some marks and I have a mint spare so thinking to swap over if it's not too much a ball ache.

 

I’m going to show my age by saying I can’t remember exactly how it came apart, but it was really simple. Seem to remember that removing the release pins in top corners lets you pull the fabric off around the edge and the card just slides out. Very easy to do.

 

Ah ok, I'll take the rear bench out and have a butchers.

Thanks!

 

Great work Jon, can't wait to see this back on the road. What will you do with your time though? Ha ha!

 

Spare time?! Haha. Finishing this will just mean one less thing on the to do list, I’m 99 projects away from having any free time.

hopefully back on the road soon though.

 

So I have been cracking on with the GTI trying to get it finished by the end of July. It has reached the point where it is really testing me now... Lots of bits not going to plan etc, so just trying to keep calm and carry on so to speak haha. Anyway...

New water pump and bits arrived so decided to start putting everything back on the motor.



Literally got to the last part of nipping up the freshly rebuilt alternator and decided to check the Haynes for torque specs... I never use Haynes and generally just go by feel but for some reason I looked at Haynes. I misread the name of the bolt, and put 45NM though it... Stripping it out!!!



I was livid with myself at this point so had no choice but to go and order a helicoil kit from Amazon. I figured it was way better to helical it than try and source another, so gave it a go.



Despite the kit being a cheap job off Amazon it worked a treat and the new stainless thread went in really well. Prior to doing it I watched a bunch of videos about fitting helicons and felt a bit better seeing that they generally work better than the original alloy threads anyway.

Once it was back on it tightened up perfectly (by feel this time), and I added a new bosch sticker for good measure.



Next I turned my attention to the crank seal. I needed to replace this as I was fitting a new clutch and the G&G lightened flywheel. I didn't want to assume the old seal was good, so decided to replace it as a precaution. Blasted a few screws into it and popped it out without too much issue.



And this is where the fun started... I got the new seal and tapped it into place but was struggling to get it in all the way around. I heard you can use the old seal to help seat it, so put that over the new one and tapped it. The seal literally shot into the gap, and ended up seating was too deep into the housing. The only way to get it out was to blast 4 more screws into it, and then wait 4 days for a new one to arrive... Can you tell I was having fun by this stage? Haha.

Anyway, a few days later the new one arrived, and with some gentle persuading it seated perfectly.



After that it was fitting the new LUK clutch as well as the G7G flywheel. I have mixed feelings about the flywheel, as there seem to be love and hate reviews about them, but I figured worst case I can take it off and put the old one back.

These seemed to be a lot of mixed reviews on what the torque specs should be for the pressure plate, but in the end I went with the dreaded Haynes again (taking extra care not to misread the specs)... and got it all bolted together.



Next up was trying to get the box back on single handed. I dropped the motor down onto a board and got ready to line up the box.



After much heaving while the motor kept shifting on the engine hoist I got it on and all lined up, but then couldn't let go and had no spare hands to put the bolts in. Ended up yelling for the wife who had to come and get the bolts in while I tried to hold it all together but managed to get it done.



The rocker cover also came back from the painters so decided to get going with that. I love the G60 rocker covers, and think they look so much better than the pressed steel ones that came on the 8v GTI. When fitting this one I wanted it to look factory, so instead of leaving it sliver like the G60, I had it painted satin black.



When I first bought the car I took it to a specialist who struggled to get the rocker cover to seal after a service. He told me he had to use 2 cork gaskets and a lot of sealant in the end. Well when I undid the rocker bolts the cover was stuck tight. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics as at this point I was so tired of fighting with the car. However I literally had to use a heat gun and a pry bar to get it off. It then took me an hour to clean off all the old sealant and gasket to get back to a clean surface. After a lot of scraping with a razor blade and some brake cleaner I finally had a good surface.



Out with the old...



In with the new...



I used the Elring G60 rubber gasket this time, with a thin layer of sealant as well, so hopefully there are no issues. If it still Leakes from the gasket I will have to pull it all off again and see what I can do to remedy the situation, but fingers crossed it has all sealed up nicely.

While the ISV and breather hoses were off I also took the opportunity to renew the vac lines. The "old" ones were actually pretty fresh as I had done them when I bough the car, but they had frayed and just looked a bit tatty.



I forgot what a pig go a job it was to push the vac line hose onto those barbs! I even used some red rubber grease to try help, and while it made it marginally easier it was still a lot of gritting teeth and swearing to get them all the way on. The end result does look a lot nicer though and I burned the ends to stop the fraying as I hope I never have to do that job again haha.



With the vac lines tidied up I got going with making a mount for the ISV. I really dint want the new Rocker cover to compromise the "stock" look of the engine bay, so mounting the ISV in a way that looked neat and was solid was really important to me.

Because the G60 rocker cover is taller than the 8v one, the 8v ISV bracket doesn't fit. I started trying to make an exact replacement but to the correct size. Firstly I tried to make a template using easy to bend heat shield. the plan was to transfer this template to steel sheet and use that.



However, after making the template and transferring it to the steel, it became clear that anything I made look rather shabby and wouldn't live up to my OEM expectations.

So next I tried to modify the old bracket and mount it to the intake manifold. This worked much better, and the modified clamp fit really well.... But, it pushed the ISV over the rocker cover, and I wanted it to sit evenly between the cover and the manifold (and it still didn't look very OEM).



So I looked for a third option, and decided to modify a spare 8v ISV bracket to mount directly to the rocker cover. I took the bracket and marked out where I wanted to trim, and then cut it to shape.





I then test fitted it to the rocker cover and plumbed up the ISV. This option worked really well. It bolted right up to the cover, put the ISV right in the middle of the gap, and looked as close to OEM as I could possibly get with a DIY job.



So I popped it off and gave it a clean up and coat of my fake yellow zink spray paint.



With it all bolted up I am really pleased with this solution. It puts the ISV just where I wanted it and looks as original as I could have hoped for it to.







I want to run the breather hose parallel to the ISV and then run the hose under the ISV line into the Manifold. I will need to cut the hose a bit shorter to get it to run like that, so instead of butchering the original one I have ordered a replacement that I will trim down. When that arrives I will finish up the motor.

So while I waited for that I got busy with a few other small jobs. First up was fitting the 16V brakes and callipers.





I then repaired the non return valve cap. Mine was literally falling to bits and I had it held on with cable ties. I could only find originals in easter Europe, and the cost + shipping was too much to stomach. So as I substitute I just bought a silicone cap off of Amazon and it fitted like a glove. It doesn't look anything like an original, but lit looks tidy enough and not too out of place.







Lastly I replaced the Bonnet latch cable clip. Mine had been broken since I got the car, and it meant that the cable had been rubbing on the air box. The clips only come in black now, but at £5 each I wasn't going to replace both. Quick job and now the cable is back where it should be (and yes I know the original sealant is filthy, and any sane person would clean it out, by my engine bay displays it like a badge of honour haha).





So with that done I am dangerously close to getting the engine back in the bay. Really looking forward to getting it all done now but won't say anything just yet... It's fighting me as it is and I don't want to get ahead of myself. Hopefully more updates after the weekend.

 

Great update as always.

Is the engine physically in the bay yet, if not I'd be tempted to do the core plugs.

I've had to do 2 in the past and they are NOT fun when engine in situ, and these were the ones that were deemed the most "accessible" out of them all.

 

Never even thought about the core plugs. Engine is still on the hoist so will take a look at them and see if they look like they might need to be sorted. The last thing I need is more jobs on the list haha, but if they need sorting I will do them before it goes in.

 

If you have a compressor you can buy bicarbonate of soda and a cheap Schultz gun and blast all the aluminium parts, it will clean them up nicely and cause no damage at all, all you need to do is wash it down afterwords. It can be a bit messy process tho! I’ve done bike carbs and just put them back on to run perfectly. Another option is a 2000grit scotch wheel (large one) and your drill. It’s flexible enough not to leave heavy brushed marks, be nice to clean up the inlet manifold and throttle body before you set the engine back in

 

Ah that’s a good shout. I will definitely give it a try. The throttle body is begging for some kind of clean up, but scrubbing and carb cleaner etc is getting me nowhere. I have a Schultz gun for under body coatings so will give that a try.

 

Go to one of the animal feed places, a 25kg bag was only about 13£ last time I bought one!

 

I have a question about the rocker cover earth. Hoping @rubjonny or someone can help me with an answer.

long story short, now that I have fitted a G60 rocker cover the old earth tab that bolts to the stud/rocker cover doesn’t fit. As a solution I mocked up this with a bit of 1mm steel I had laying about. I have mounted it to the spare M6 threaded hole in the G60 cover.

however, now that I think about it I’m not sure it is sufficient? Will this provide sufficient grounding? Or do I need to mount it so that it goes through a stud into the head? Initially I thought it just needed to earth to the rocker cover but now I’m not sure.

I have used a multimeter to check continuity on the stud, the water flange earth, and on this new plate and it seems to be fine and giving the same reading on all of them, but Im still doubting myself.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

pic of new tab I made.

 

Looks good! If the resistance is very low you're good to go.