Little Red Ryder (hood)

It's a bit nerve wracking twisting them...

 

You are not wrong

 

Back here for updates having been busy on this thread
https://www.clubgti.com/forums/index.php?threads/mk3-8v-into-mk2-1-3.291413/

Update on the exhaust. Having been unable to get hold of a Jetex MK3 cat delete pipe I think we may have dodged a bullet there. Reason being that it would have matched the remaining standard MK3 exhaust which is a much smaller bore than the Dubpower 2.5inch tubes we have now. I would then have ended up trying to plug a hole as I did before and getting a poor seal.
So, I bought a length of 57mm OD pipe which matches the diameter of the pipe on the aftermarket cat I bought, before the cat. That made the join there perfect. Then we're the new pipe connects to the new exhaust I just needed a thin packer to get a good seal. Make sense? It's a much better fit now

On the twitchy Speedo issue, we removed the cable from the back of the binnacle and reseated it. It's better but still not right. I'm not sure there is much else that can be done to sort it other than try a new cable but we might be in the same position. Speedo over reads by 4 to 6 mph, not such a bad things as it s a bit of a safety net.

Overall the car is running very nicely. Huge thanks to all those that offered help and advice on this part of the project

 

Glad getting the few snagging bits sorted, and another mk2 is enjoyed so much.

 

Speedos usually overread from the manufacturer anyway.

 

Seats! I didn't know whether to put this into a separate thread but I can always copy it over.
As mentioned elsewhere we wanted to swap the existing front seats for the Mk3 GTi ones. I did some research (helped by Dave) and found a thread on Vortex which showed that, while the Mk3 bases won't fit the Mk2 runners without cutting and welding one of the legs the Mk3 back will fit the mk2 base and then you can simply swap the padding and the cover. However, I also read that if you did this then you lose the bolster support. At this point I thought we would be getting the grinder and welder out so a big thank you to @Tristan for taking the time to photograph his seat for me when I thought we were going to have to cut and shut the legs.
Well, as it turns out this is not true that the bolster supports are on the base............
We took the pax seat out of the mk2 and we stripped down the mk2 seat and the mk3 seat. The seat bases are essentially exactly the same and they have no extra support for the bolsters. The support for the bolsters is in the foam itself as per the photo below. This hole I glued and sealed with a layer of material over the top to reinforce the worn foam.

Now, it must be noted that this swap only works with late mk2 seats and most definitely NOT early mk2 seats. The reason being is that on the early seat bases the distance between the hinge pin and the locking pin are different.
Three seat bases, left early mk2, middle late mk2, right mk3.

Hinge pin to locking pin difference between early and late mk2.

Late mk2 to mk3, same.

Spot the difference between late mk2 and mk3 - none really. The seat raise/lower is a different mechanism, that's all.
Mk3

Late mk2

Mk2 foam

Mk3 foam

There are slight differences in fixing types but essentially all the holes are in the same places.
Pins instead of mk3 clip.


Tensioning wire still goes in hole at the back, both sides.

Fold over pin half way along is the same.

Rear plastic strip fixing along rear edge is the same.

All in place.

Because this is a non tilting seat the back is locked in place with this instead of the release hook. There is the same release hook on the other side and I think the seat could easily be converted to tilt with a couple of spare parts. The pax seat is a tilt one, weird from a four door but good for us.

All done, it's been hoovered and popped back in the car.


We stripped the covers right down and washed them which added a lot to the time it took what with removing all the metal rods etc but otherwise, both sets can be done in a few hours

 

Great work Phil and very informative.

 

Very informative.
But there must be different types of Recaros, as this wouldn't for me...

 

Fantastic job, mk3 foam and covers on mk2 rear frame next then guys.

 

So are you saying that the Mk3 seats I have used are not Recaro? Doesn't matter to me but might explain why @Tristan couldn't make it work?

 

These are my mk3 Recaros.

 

New brake wheel cylinders and handbrake cables at the weekend.
One wheel cylinder securing bolt was seized so the whole lot had to come off to Dremel the bolt and hammer it loose. We also found one of the mounting bolt holes in the axle was stripped and a PO had used a nut behind to secure the bolt. It's gone back in with a new bolt b and it's fine as is but it will have to be helicoiled at some point, or welded up and redrilled and tapped. Probably when we change to discs. Hand brake is much better now but still not as good as I think it should be.

 

As mentioned elsewhere the new exhaust is very droney at motorway cruising speed which is very annoying. I knew there was a bow at one of the joins so that needed to be fixed. But, after a 50 mile journey this happened in the last 400 yards!


I thought I had cut the pipe too short but upon dismantling it all today I found that when I had put the two pieces into the joiner the front pipe must have pushed the rear pipe back which resulted in about half an inch in the joiner instead of both peices being halfway through each. Effectively there was nothing much holding the rear pipe in the joiner. To be honest I'm surprised it didn't fall out much sooner! Lucky it didn't happen on the motorway. So, all refitted (properly, 50:50 ) and no more blow.

I then took it for a drive to get a benchmark for the noise and drone from the exhaust at different speeds and revs.

Next I cleaned out the boot and under the rear seat. Washed down and wiped over with isopropyl alcohol.


Then I set about it with the newly acquired butyl loaded sound/vibration dampener. 2.5mm thick with foil embedded in it. Cut to shape with a pair of scissors and rollered on with a seam roller to make sure there are no air pockets. £22 for 10 30x40 sheets or Clarity Acoustics from Ebay. I used 8 of the sheets.



Another drive out for comparison and, happily, a significant difference. Less drone and less volume
I'm just waiting for the closed foam insulation to arrive and finish the job.

I found this arrow amusing. I can only think it's so you know where the front of the car is when you are getting your shopping out of the boot

 

Good work there Phil, funny how things happen at the end of journeys, so far it's been trunnion on morris minor as turning at end of road, plus the dynamo gave up as turned into my road on another trip in it.
Bottom control arm snap on a mini as pulled in works carpark years ago, after doing a ton on the way in!!
Nice bit of sound deadening fitting too, are you carpeting the arches also? Mine hasn't got it being a lower spec, but may look for something to fit when get to a scrapyard.

 

Thanks Dave.
Probably won't be carpeting the arches, I like a bit of painted bodywork on show.

 

Old school, that was one great thing in the old fiat coupe, the body colour insert on the dash.

 

You'd miss the bit of body colour on modern car interiors.

 

Fresh new MOT today. No advisories and not even a "might want to look at that ". Well chuffed, especially as it's the first check over since all the work we've done