ManicGTIs 9A Convn update: On the Road!

Nice one Dave well done fella, puts my build time of about 6 months to shame for sure.

How does yours start up from cold, does it splutter or do you need to dabble the throttle a bit to get it going? Or does yours start up on the key perfectly fine? (git if so [:^(] )

 

Starts pretty well in the vid I saw.

Good work

 

Where?

 

Ahh yeah, Richgit was taking vids, I haven't seen them yet...



Seeing as I have no car now the 360 has gone walkabout I better have it on the road this weekend!

 

its great when it starts aint it

how hard was the gear ball thingy to change i need to do my cab one

 

The one at the base of the lever? No probs, 10-15 mins max:



-Unbolt lever from main linkage rod (at base under car)

-Unbolt lever assembly (two bolts under centre console)

-Take off gear knob, gaiter and the plastic sheathing on the lever

-Remove circlip (easier said than done, but not a prob as new one in kit, I twisted with std pliers as dont have right ones)

-Get the ball joint assembly out of the metal bracket (I just turned upside down and wacked on floor)

-Remove ball joint, easiest way i found was to cut through the back plastic outer part with hacksaw, then that all falls off.

-Reassembly is reverse of disassembly.
To get the new joint into the metal cup I placed it all in correct
order in position and used longer bolts, so tightening forced it in,
then once in far enough removed them and used the normal bolts to
finish and secure.



Easy. Only thing I had hassle with was the retaining circlip for the
reverse spring, I bent mine up, it just about holds in its groove, will
replace V soon with another when I get the proper pliers to put one on!



Dave

 

Right another update...without pics i'm afraid as they're back on my Parents HD...



Ok, got back on Sat, Seeing as the Volvo was stolen i was witout transport all week(w@nkers) so hadnt got the bits i wanted from GS&f, nevermind. Thought I may as well see how it goes...



-Filled and bled the brakes a few times, all good (will prob do again in a few weeks just for luck).



-Routed new washer fluid pipe round engine and cable tied bottle to
front panel (soon to be held in place with mk1 rear bottle bracket on
front member next to rad, idea 'borrowed' from George)



- Flushed rad and engine coolant system out, left hose in various positons for 15mins odd, so all was running crystal clear, then filled with coolant/water, the jobs seemed to be getting easier! Ran up to temp etc.



-Wacked back on ground, started her up and drove on own steam out of
drive and about 20m down rd....then realised I hadnt tightened up wheel
bolts or hub nuts. back on drive and did that sharpish.



Went for a few trial drives a few probs evident straight away ( I knew
it couldnt be as smooth as just plugging and goingm that would be far
too lucky!):

-Oil is leaking onto clutch so major clutch slippage,
can only be box or engine and neither leaked before! On
discussion with peeps it could be because oil lever higher than before
in box...and one of its seasl leaks slightly, now if its not much then
i guess i can run it and it should all burn off, if its way over then i
need to drain or sort out properly. I REALLy dont want to spend
another weekend taking box out.



-Exhaust is obviously not on prop and blowing like hell, as well as rattling on arb.



-Few misc noises from engine, belts etc, these seemed to settle with each journey but hard to tell over the exhaust!



Either way, as teh volvo is out of action I need the golf for work, so
one very slow acceralting journey back from Norht London to Reading and
here I am, commuting to work. Needless to say Police on Entrance
at work weren't too impressed with the din! Have been quoted
60-65 for a garage to make up that bodged centre section again, but
properly fitting and clearing ARB, not sure if thats a good price or
not, have never paid for custom exhaust bits! Picking up mk2 golf acc
cable tommorrow hopefully.



Before I left I changed 1.3 splitter for std GTi one...i jsut stood
back and thought fcck. mk1s look the dogs! I forgot about the engine
probs and just felt properly chuffed



Anyway, for better or worse, Its running! Woohoo!





Of course cheers to all those peeps at meets and on the forums that
have helped amongst others the mk1 16v boyos James (mk1driver), Russ
(Oplaii), Ro and George, Gem(Mr V Wagen), Rich(Git) and Marcus(Octavia)
for helping with engine removal/replacement and always good tips from
lads at Ace Cafe and No-Rice.

 

Sort out the exhaust resting on the arb asap! Thats what eventually lead to my manifold crackin soooo many times. Nice to hear its running. The only fix i got was when i fitted my neuspeed bar because it has a large kink in it for clearance.

 

Almost a year since she fired up....HELL YEAH!

Rolling strong, apart from caning through 4 std CV joints and 3 Bearings...(Too low), upgraded to 16V specs now.

 

hats off to you and very well done, i remember doing my first conversion, driver to 8v digifant. i got all the bits installed in about 3 days, and struggled with the wiring, would you believe i wired the ecu to the x relief circuit and it would spark once and not run.
Took an experienced master tech to etell me i was a wally, and it fired first time.
In all it took me 3 days install, and head scratching for 2 weeks doh!!!!
but i must say that was an 8v conversion, much easier by anyones standards than a 16v
well done!!!!