LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

On the weekend I finally made it to my first Queen Square breakfast meet, at a place just 2 miles down the road at Eastwood Park.















The nest couple of pics I stole of facebook that other people had posted of my car





And with that done, and keeping lunchtimes alive....



today it was time for the stickers to come off.

 

Much nicer minus the stickers.

Original front lighting next please

 

I do love summer evenings when you can get stuff done, without lying on the floor in the wet with a torch!
So last night I took advantage and did the oil and filter change.

First big win, ages back I picked up some metal ramps dirt cheap. But I've never been able to get a car onto them... too low at the front. But I cut up a wooden beam I had left over from the removal of our conservatory. And was able to get the car in the air without the hassle of jacks and stands. Which was nice. I now also have the benefit of being able to drive on to these for extra lift to get a jack under when needed.



So simple, yet effective.

As usual I was focused on the job in hand and taking pics was not a priority, but in my last Autodoc order I added an oil filter tool. Long story, after a dog bite to my hand many years back (some of you may remember) and I've lost quite a bit of the strength in my grip. if I can't get a filter undone I usually go oldschool and hammer a screwdriver through the side but his worked really well (Maybe the filter wasn't too tight anyway) but it was great to have a less messy solution.



Oil and filter done.



I also replace by Aux and Power steering belts. Way overdue, if you've ever been there when I arrive or leave the Bristol meets you'll know I've had the 'squeel' for far too long. The PAS belt was a pain in the ass as always.



I also popped in this bad boy



A lifetime Pipercross panel filter



I've left it dry for now, I wasn't 100% sure if I should oil or not. I do have a K&N clean and oil kit as my bike has a K&N oiled filter.

Oh and you may have noticed from the pic of the oil carton a little thing I picked up a while back.

A battery cover. Had this ages now but I don't think I've mentioned it before. I know some people get excited about this kind of thing, but until my engine bay is pristine (which will be never) I don't think it makes that much difference, but it does make a handy shelf



And finally, this arrived



I'm sure you can guess, next update imminent....

 

Is it some wall/roof art?

 

Is that a package from myrtle?
Had one for mine, very good. Fitted it single handedly.
I thought it was a sim card for an old 5110 Nokia phone first of all

Now I'm not 100% on this, but I thought myrtle was the guy behind Paul Banham cars, the company that made the frogeye sprite mini based kit, metro based TT and the RS200 replica based on a maestro.


And going back to the golf, what was the battery cover from, and how useful would it be with cup holder recess in it?

Car meet looks like a great turn out and variety.
Did Haynes breakfast club a few times, but not for a while and I think they charge to get in now, even exhibitors which are the ones drawing the others in.

 

Well the bank holiday proved fruitful.

Yes it was a headliner in the big box, purchased from Headliner World. Myrtleltd was the other seller on eBay and I wasn't sure what one to go with. After reading some reviews and seeing some facebook posts there didn't seem to be much in it. But after chatting to a mate at the Bristol meet and seeing his I at least had 1 first hand review to go by.

So Saturday I took it on.

The old headlining fabric was only being held up by the trim so once I removed the C pillar covers and the rear strip this is what I was looking at.



I went from fully installed to completely out in 45 mins, which I thought was pretty good going. I had joked about doing in and out in a lunch time and to be fair I wouldn't have been far off.




Pleased to see a lack of surface rust on the inside of the roof skin, this was way better than when I dropped the liner out of my 86, 10 years ago. I got the panel out in one piece, this is the 3rd or 4th time doing them in Golfs. Although the last time I did it was quite a while ago 7 or 8 years I'm sure.

Now, what I was surprised was how brittle and crumbly the backboard was. I know people always say this and I just thought they were being heavy handed, as that wasn't my previous experience. Not to this extent anyway, but this was really fragile. So either, the last 7+ years these things have really degraded and come to the end of their natural lifespan. Or it's another early late thing, I've only done pre-90s cars before. Like the carpets and other areas of the late cars I wonder if VW made them even cheaper on later cars?

Either way, another 45 mins and it was in



Where the real time was taken was the little tweaks. The grab handle holes were OK, a few twists with a screwdriver and I was able to get the screw lined up, apart from rear drivers side one. That was a good few millimetres out of alignment.

I had two attempts at the sunroof handle surround thing as I messed up the first go. But I was able to use the centre cut out of the sunroof so didn't need to eat into the spare bits supplied for the other stuff. But I'm still not happy as it's foam backed and too thick for the sunroof handle to spin. I know over time this will leave a circular mark. I've been wondering if I can pack it out with washers. Else I'll have to get some matching fabric that isn't foam backed.

I haven't done the sunroof panel yet. And to be honest I'm not sure I can be bothered. It doesn't show up too bad as a miss match and the panel is in good condition.

Sunday I had some family/home time which allowed me to get back at it on Monday.

Starting with the petrol wiff I get from time to time. I think it's been getting worse, either that or driving around in traffic in warm weather with the window open has just made me notice it more.

So, a few bits out of the way to reveal the injectors.



And one at a time I replaced the seals



I must had been under the impression there were 3 seals per unit, as I bought 12 not 8. But I guess it's good to have spares.

I also found this



Which I fixed up with some solder and re-wrapped it.

and this



which I cut back an inch to clean pipe and refitted, but on my to do list is to source and fit some new fuel line. But I need to know I'm putting good stuff on, this has lasted over 30 years and I'm well aware the new stuff might only last a tenth of that.

I made a note of the milage, for my service record. Still fairly low, the Mk5 has now over taken this.



Not the prettiest of engine bays, but fingers crossed it's not a less smelly one.


And in other news, it popped up on Facebook that I got papped at the Queen Square meet the other week.

Credit to Lime Jelly Photography

What makes this pic even better is it just so happened to catch me in the background chatting. I'm sure the photographer would have had no idea that was my car.

 

When your rear badge, with broken clip that's been glued on for the past 4 years starts to come loose and you have to think of a solution.

 

Re the headlining - I commented at the time of fitting mine that the material is way too thick for the sunroof panel and handle surround, I fitted the sunroof panel and as a result of it being too thick it jammed the sun roof in operation and made a right mess, if I could turn back time I'd do what you have done and just leave the OEM stuff in its place.

 

A rare pic of me and the Golf that my daughter offered to take as we were heading back to camp at Bristol Volksfest this past weekend.

 

Going back a few posts, I put this up...

I'll cut a bit of board for the back and cover it, as currently this isn't pretty, but it'll do​

... well a little more progress made.





Having packed for Volksfest, and since done a tip run one thing that has been a pain is the rear headrests. I have to remove them to fold the seats down as as the tubes aren't fixed they move about a bit and pull up. So I've put a beam across the back of the seats (forgot that pic) and have fixed the headrest brackets in place. And as I said I would have cut a board for the back.

I'm yet to cover it as you can see. At some point I'll get some carpet/fabric but for now I just painted it black. As mentioned above I still use it for tip runs.... which did get a comment from a guy in a new Polo so it's never going to be a show winner. It's just my transport and it'll do for me.

Excuse the blanket, it's for when I take the dogs out. And now the headrests are more solid I should now be able to fix the dog guard I have when needed.

 

Great night at Caffeine & Machine last night.
It's a fair old trek for me, but worth the effort once a year I'd say.

 

Saturday saw me enter in the local carnival car show.





It was an all types, eclectic mix of classic, American and modern sports cars. Plus the epic C5.
There were a few small huddles of club cars. I have about 40 odd pics but didn't put them all up.

I was invited along by the local Yodel delivery driver, that's a funny story.
But one main reason for going, I could enter the car for £10, and that would include entry for myself and 1 passenger. Otherwise tickets were £15 each, so it was a no brainer.

 

"I was invited along by the local Yodel delivery driver"

I think he took you to the wrong show, but left you off there anyway!

 

It's quite unlike me not to be online so much. But, not much has happened with the car and I've been busy with changes at work etc.

So that leaves me with 4 months' worth of updates.

As mentioned elsewhere I got a car cover for my birthday in June. What I didn't mention, was to fit the cover successfully I needed to unscrew the bee sting aerial. This was found to be in poor condition and I broke it in the process.



Not sure if the paint has just discoloured, or if it was masked off when painted. There was no lip so I guess the former. Eitherway, being an aftermarket fit the hole was round and small, no the factory square fit.

Which was kind of annoying as I had a spare from the aerial I'd just removed from the mk5 as I'd fitted a DAB/GPS sharkfin for the new stereo. But the hole was way too small and I didn't want to have to butcher the roof further.

Looking at replacements most had the same large hollow fitting and box nut arrangement. That is until I found an exact copy of what I'd just removed in Halfords, a thin spindle and nut job.

Another couple or jobs prior to the national meet was to refit my sill cover that the AA guy wrecked after my previous rescue.



And to fit a little extra I picked up off Eddie the same time I got the rear beam.



No idea if it helped.

Which leads us up to the Mk2 Owners Club National Meet...



Note the packed wellies.

Testing out the new table for camping...



And some other pics....



Managed to get the fire lit on Friday, but unfortunately, rain prevented the usual social activities on Saturday night.

Whatever it is that Ian is looking at is anyone's guess


Ready for race day


Unfortunately no trophy this year, but I've uploaded my track vids here:
https://www.youtube.com/@AKAeddypeck/videos

I did find out I was only a tenth of a second off the best time for my class though which was a bit of a gutter. Especially since my engine is a stock 8v with no performance mods whilst others do have a few subtle tweaks onboard.

August saw a decent turnout at the Bristol meet:



Daily duties, I had to do a tip run:



I have been working from home loads, so the car has gone for weeks at a time unused just coming out for the Bristol meets. September was a corker:



And, September saw the MK2OC take a club stand at German Car festival at Silverstone meaning a very early start for me

 

October started with another First Friday pub meet, again a not a bad turnout considering we're heading into the winter months. We do try and keep these running all year, with only January skipped.




This slight difference this time, is I was able to grab a lift...



With my insurance due at the start of the month, I was able to take the opportunity to get Jacob added as a provisional and the meet just happened to coincide with his day off

 

It's updates like this that remind me I need to use mine more. Having an active local "scene"helps which sadly I don't (or not that I know of anyway)

Cars looking well.

 

@AKAeddypeck I’m in Bristol, when and where is the monthly meet?

 

The meet is first Friday of the month, every month and it’s in Bradley Stoke.

more details here.
https://www.vwgolfmk2.co.uk/clubforum/index.php?topic=1721.0

it’s always great to see new faces, so come along if you can make it.

 

Cheers mate, I’ll come say hello

 

Good to see her again, looking very well too... was starting to think you'd maybe decided to move away from MK2's!

Odd seeing a Northern Irish reg. on the red one beside you at one of the monthly meets, maybe the owners a blow in to Bristol?