LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

I can't remember the guys name, but I think he said it was bought as a private plate to represent his name or nickname or something.

And not given up on the old girl yet, last week was the 4th anniversary of buying this one.

I am looking for a new job, and that might dictate the long term future, if I end up having to travel into or through Bristol centre as she'll cost me £9 a time since the introduction of clean air charge. Mostly I'd use the bike which in Bristol allows me in the bus lanes but I'm sure there would be times when I'd need or want to drive in. Also my wife's company are moving at the end of the year so she'll no longer be able to walk to work meaning the Mk5 will be in daily use and not available to me. We'll just have to see how it goes, but otherwise no plans to move it on just.

 

I should also say, if you scroll back to the post where I did the injector seals. I have now replaced that bit of dodgy fuel hose. After getting back from Silverstone there was a strong smell of fuel again. And a visible damp patch below the injector rail.

 

One of the last times I was down to see my lad we went into the city centre from Kingswood, there's one entrance into Cabot circus that doesn't take you in the 'zone ' and is a nightmare to navigate to find when exiting the car park, but managed it. Only then to arrange meeting a musician to get an autograph and having to drive through the charging area.
Suppose you could use one of those electric scooter things and not worry about any other road user, etiquette or safety.

 

Mate, even without the charge Bristol is ruined - and I really don't want a job in the centre.
But I'd be reluctant to turn down a good opportunity if that's the compromise I have to make.

As a lifetime local, I don't know how to navigate the city anymore. I have it in my head where I want to go only to find out that road is no longer accessible. I while back I had to take my daughter to an appointment, I knew where I wanted to go I got within a stone's throw of the place but the road had been turned into busses only so I had to take a 3-mile detour.... and this is the city's answer to clean air.... they made the congestion. It's just mental - but that fairly typical of councils and government and I feel this isn't the right place for this conversation

 

If you scroll back to the post where I did the injector seals.

this....




I have now replaced that bit of dodgy fuel hose. After getting back from Silverstone there was a strong smell of fuel again. And a visible damp patch below the injector rail

But what I've done is essentially another temp fix as I used a small length of R6 fuel pipe I had hanging around from when I did the Beetle. I later found out R6 was crap and R9 not much better, and that it's the 100% biofuel stuff which is the one to go for.

So I'll probably have to do this again sometime soon.

 

Some of you may have seen this shared on Facebook if you're on the Mk2OC page, but a few weeks back I finally got around to fitting the RightClick remote locking kit my son got me for Christmas.

YouTube video:


As I already had factory Central Locking I just piggy-backed the master actuator onto the existing driver door lock and let this trigger the rest of the locks using the existing air-fed system.

I then took the key blank supplied to the local independent key guy who was happy to cut this for £6. I've heard a lot of places refuse to cut blanks they don't supply.

Sorry, no other pics, It started to rain while fitting and I just wanted to get the door membrane back on and get it all back together.


More up-to-date, I got a mate at work to do a 3D print of a design I made,



It needs a bit of fettling, but it's a step in the right direction and will angle the gauges up. Currently, they're in a flat panel and it's difficult to see looking down on them from the driving position.

The final update for now, a little job completed this lunchtime....



I've replaced the old and failing, original pink-flecked expansion bottle return hose. And rather than have it trailing across the bay as is normal I thought I'd try and run it around the outside of the bay.

I don't know why more people don't do this? Hopefully, I won't find the answer to that by some kind of failure. But I ran the engine up to temp till the thermostat opened, the coolant flowed and the fan cut in. Everything seemed to be fine.

I don't usually show pics of my engine bay as it's not particularly pretty.

 

You're onto a winner there with the gauge console, I sniff some marketing potential... does it take a long time to print / expensive?

 

i was told it took about 7.5 hours to print. And materials was probably about a fiver. I have my mate a tenner for doing it. Cuz I’m nice like that. But I imagine something like that would be £30 retail so I thought a tenner was fair.

I’d like to get a 3D printer myself one day as the possibilities are endless

This should be standard DIn size, so I think if it did one angled horizontally it would fit in the radio slot quite nicely as an alternative.

 

Out early on a drizzly Sunday morning to visit my mate Ben at his shop in Tewksbury for a Retro car meet.





A bit more about Retro-Sect.

Ben (bunjiweb) is a former MK2 Owner - it's actually the F reg next to mine that he used to own. It's a 2.0 ABF bottom end with tuned KR head, still running K-jet.

Anyway a few months back he opened a Retro shop in Tewksbury. With a small retro car showroom and a shop full of 80's and 90's gadgets and gizmos. From Boomboxes, games consoles, RC cars.... pretty much everything from our childhood.

I heard it described as an Antique shop for our generation, which I think summed it up great.

Anyway, on Sunday he held his first coffee and cars meet at the showroom. For more info check this out retro-sect, it's defo worth popping over if you're in the area.

So here's a selection of my pics from the day, sorry I don't put the effort into photography and editing that others do.
But there's plenty more on Instagram @retro.sect.


















So that kind of rounds up my year.
Looking back at 2023 I think this has been my most active in shows and meets ever and it's been great.

The monthly Bristol meets kicked off in February and run every month (except January).
In May I went to my first Queen Square Bristol Meet at Eastwood Park.
June was a cracking Bristol Volksfest and Caffeine and Machine.
July started with a car show at the local carnival,
and obviously the OC National Meet at the end of July.
August was a really good turn out for the Bristol meet.
German Car Festival in September was possibly my furthest outing and certainly my earliest start.
And I've just been to Retro-Sect in November.
There will be one more Bristol meet, Friday 1st December and I think that should be me done.

Unlike many, I won't be putting the car away for winter. It's still my transport and in December I start a new job where I'll be going into the office more regularly, but thankfully not so far away. So daily duties will actually be daily and not just every now and then as they are now.

How's your year been?

 

Complete reverse of yours unfortunately, didn't go to a single show even as a spectator!

That R5 Turbo sums up the whole vibe of the place, if money / space were no object I'd be looking at the BX 4x4, don't see it hanging around for too long.

Did you have a hand in the web design?

 

Not at all, Ben has done a great job with the branding and everything.

 

How is it 4 months since my last update?

Well as I mentioned last time, I started a new job in December and it's been full steam ahead. I've hardly been on here, and haven't even been on socials much.

The Golf spends most of its life parked up under a cover now.
I'm back on the bike as daily transport, all weathers as the traffic is horrendous. I've only taken the Golf in a few times.

The new workplace is only 10 miles away, the shortest commute I've ever had, one of the times I went in the car it took me 55 mins But loving the job which is the main thing. Plus I now work in the motor trade (loosely connected).

So, what's been going on you say?

Well we've had out bathroom done, and to try and save a few quid we opted to not have a skip and dispose of our own waste... so many many tip runs...



After that she needed a very deep clean, I spent the best part of a day on this and the wife's Mk5. Sadly I only took this one pic:


And while I was in this area I did an old-school mod, linking up the dummy fog light on the passenger side, not that I expect to drive in much fog. I did consider hooking them up to the brake another mod from back in the day iirc.


Which took me up to MOT day:


The astute among you may recognise this is the same place that set fire to the Beetle.
Regardless of that, I had stopped using them as the old MOT tester started getting super picky, but then I discovered a mate (and fellow Mk2 owner) was the new MOT tester.

And happy to report a PASS, with a couple of sensible advisories.

You may also notice some snow on the cars around! Couldn't believe it when I looked out the window on MOT morning.

The final update, and long overdue. But Ben sent me through the pics he took at the National meet last July.

As you can see, wet!

 

The weekend didn’t quite go to plan.

It started well, I nipped up the rear wheel bearings, and did a few other tidy up jobs after seeing the car on the ramp at MOT time.

But then I did my cambelt, first time doing it solo. And I’ve been apprehensive, but after talking with people and watching YouTube video etc I thought I’d take it on.

It all seemed to go ok, but afterwards my biggest fear was realised as the car wouldn’t run.

I tore it down again, double and triple checked, also got my son involved to help me go over everything again.

And to the best of our ability, everything seemed fine.

Running through diagnostics and backtracking everything I did, I did remove the spark plugs to make turning the engine by hand easier.

I wanted to check I hadn’t messed up the firing order, but then I discovered a broken spark plug. And remembered I did drop one when I took it out.

My son also pulled the end off one of the leads, so not sure if that was a sign it was deteriorating or just him being heavy handed and pulling from the cable not the end.

So now I’m stuck with a stranded car, awaiting eBay orders to come in this week for plugs, leads, cap and rotor.

And until I’ve replaced all of that I have no way of knowing if I messed up the cam belt …. Not such a happy Easter bunny right now.

 

The good news I got the cam belt right after all. New plugs, leads, rotor and cap and I’m all good. Must have been that busted plug. Just got nervous as it was after the belt change.

 

Fair play to you, it's definitely a daunting job if you've never done it before.

I'd the luxury of the engine being on a stand for it, not in the car like you did, and even then can confirm my ar*e was still puckering come first start up!

 

I'm scared to tackle to cam belt on mine for the very fear that you experienced! Glad it turned out to be something and nothing though.

 

OK, so now the dust has settled I can do a bit more of an update.

Here's the dodgy plug. It was only by pulling the lead off and finding the rod part stuck in the HT cap, else I might never had known. With it pushed back in, the plug looked normal.


I did plugs, leads, car etc when I recommissioned the car after the COVID lay-up, so about 3 years but only 4000 odd miles.
But it was on my list to do this year as part of general maintenance anyway.

The original cam belt


No idea how long that's been in there, I haven't done it before in my ownership, which is getting towards 4.5 years now. I think I remember seeing a bill for it in the paperwork when I got the car.

The last time it was done it looks like someone was a bit heavy-handed with the pulley bolts


The good old Irwin tools to the rescue


But I was never going to be able to torque it back down. So I ordered 4x genuine bolts, but also needed to wait for those to be delivered.

I also fitted all new belt covers and fixed the alternator bracket while I was in the area.

And for anyone with Power Steering, you'll know how much of a nightmare it is to adjust. Well, hopefully, that's all freed up now if I need to make any further adjustments. A squealing belt has plagued me for quite a while.

New cam belt and tensioner fitted, and miles and date written on the inside of the belt cover.


I still have a list of jobs to do, and a box of new parts ready to fit.

 

Following the cambelt change, I haven't used it much but I knew I needed to get the timing sorted.
I think it was just pulled a nudge out when pulling up the tensioner.
My pops and bangs were more frequent (fun, but not how I want it) and it was feeling a bit laggy above 3k.

Having been suspicious that the distributor shaft was likely to be seized in the block, and also thinking it was worth getting my worked checked. I booked it into my local old-school tuning shop, Interpro.

They freed the dizzy and did the timing and asked if I wanted it set up on the rollers. Of course I didn't decline.
I also know Dave there would be able to work his magic and get the most out of it.



Ok, so it's not going to blow anyone away but for a stock motor, with just a Pipercross panel filter and Milltek exhaust it was good to see nice smooth curve and I haven't lost any power over the years.

The highlights -
Corrected Power: 118,3 BHP
Engine Power: 114,3 BHP
Wheel Power: 83,4
Torque 122,2 lbf.ft

I assume this is a good result for a 33 year old GTI with no real mods. I'd love to know how this compares.

 

Had quick look at some specs in a few old books and not only have you not lost any HP / Torque, it looks like you've gained some over the years!

I recall you saying before about your dizzy being stuck, good that they were able to free it up... you'll maybe remember I was in the same boat and found out the hard way late model PB ones are thin on the ground / expensive to replace.

Good too the car's being driven, all being well in another 3 or 4 days I'll be joining you!