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My Mk2 Golf Project

13K views 54 replies 21 participants last post by  kenneally_mark  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
hi all,
introducing my golf gti project that i have been working on for the last while.

first a brief history of the car. its an origional irish 8v gti in tornado red..it was bought new from the foster motor company in sept 91 and changed hands a few times in the capital before i purchased it off a ballinafad man working in dublin around 1998.

it changed hands within my family a couple of times after that ending up with my sister who owned it for three years ,
when she decided to change to a mk4 gti it came back into my ownership again, at this time it was beginning to show its age in that pretty much every aspect of the car needed some attention in one way or another. the shell was still rock solid though whith was a major factor in me owning it again.

i decided eventually that a full stripdown ,repaint and rebuild was on the cards, the car was dismantled inside and out and sent off to be painted in origional tornado red. the wing mounted aerial and a roof mounted item were removed and welded over also.

unfortunatly after this more domestic matters took over and the project was shelved and the car was put into storage for a time while i was busy housebuilding etc.

so fast forward to last year i started to get a little more time on my hands and the car reamerged ready for a bit more tlc.
i dont have any pics of the earlier stages of the build as my pc crashed and i lost any pics i had at the time but i will detail the work carried out along with some more recent shots.

exterior:

shell stripped of all glass ,mouldings, arches ,bumpers etc,
repainted in origional tornado red and trim reassembled with the following new oem items,
g60 arches all round
narrow quarter panel and door mouldings with new badges.
sill mouldings and brackets.
rear hatch vinyl trim.
sunroof seal.
rear vw centre badge
nearly new golf gti rear badge.

the roof rubber trims were in good condition so were cleaned and refitted with new mounting clips each side.

a good set of green tint glass was fitted along with a dark top tinted windscreen, glass seals were reused where fit or good used replacments were obtained. a.new windscreen seal was used .

chassis:

rear axle, subframe ,wishbones,and front crossmember removed blasted and repainted.
powerflex bushings used throughout inc front member and ps rack.
g60 front hubs and brakes fitted with new wheel bearings and new backing plates.
rear hubs rebuilt with new wheel bearings and backing plates.
h+r arb,s front and rear.
koni sport adjustable dampers with eibach 40mm lowering spings, new g60 front top mounts, powerflex bumpstops all round.
powersteering system fitted with new column to rack knuckle and gaitor .
new tca and wishbone balljoints.
new g60 steels with toyo proxes t1r,s 195/45/15

brakes:

g60 spec 280mm fronts with new ebc grooved disc,s and green pads.
rear brakes also fitted with ebc groooved disc,s and ferodo pads.
goodridge hoses all round.
new 22mm master cylinder with mk3 16v reservior.

engine:

the origional 8v engine and gearbox has been removed and i have fitted a 2.0 abf 16v from a mk3 golf gti.
i have used new vibratechnics road spec engine mounts front and rear.
fitted a tsr/milltek mk2 abf specific s/s 4 branch manifold , got a lambda boss welded in and got a new oe lambda probe.
i am also using the mk3 cable change box so a g60 pedal box has been fitted and the mk3 cables and shifter have been installed.

thats more or less all the work carried out up to now. still loads to do ,
ive to get the front end built up with new rad and hoses .
ive a good set of big bumpers ready to be fitted ,
heater matrix to be replaced,
interior to be refitted.
prob more that i have,nt thought of as well lol.

a few random pics,

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thats it for now , c+c,s welcome. more updates soon.

 
#4 ·
great work

looks like a cracking motor ya have there,
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#7 ·
QUOTE (Neilo @ Apr 4 2011, 11:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Sweet
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thats neil, hopefully to get a little bit sweeter soon
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QUOTE (t.d @ Apr 4 2011, 11:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>About time you put something up
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i know , im surprising myself lately.
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QUOTE (oz dubber @ Apr 4 2011, 11:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>great work

looks like a cracking motor ya have there,
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QUOTE (vrs tom @ Apr 4 2011, 11:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>NICE. !! That would put a smile on any lads face
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QUOTE (Solid Oak @ Apr 5 2011, 02:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Nice work Brian, looks very fresh with the new paint and plastics. Good to see it off the stands.

thanks lads!
 
#8 ·
gathered up some parts and sent them away for powdercoating, should have them back at the weekend and then the front end rebuild can start.
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here is a pic of the mk3 engine loom laid out and tagged. i unwrapped the origional wrap and slightly reformed it to the mk2 bulkhead shape and rewrapped in genuine vw lom tape.
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i used the complete mk3 loom as opposed to some abf conversions that separate the engine harness and add the mk2 lighting loom. i feel this is the best option as all the fusebox connectors fit as per the mk2 and you get the benefit of an uprated headlight loom as well.
the side repeater cables are already in the mk3 also as my car didnt come with them fitted.
the light connectors will have to be interchanged for mk2 items but that wont be a big deal really.

bought a vw battery for it and got a corrado vr6 battery cover off t.d
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#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
QUOTE (Murph81 @ Apr 10 2011, 11:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Great work Brian, savage attention to detail, gonna be sweet when its finished!

What airbox are you using btw?thanks murph. its a corrado vr6 airbox, almost a perfect fit ,the abf inlet pipe is a tight fit onto it but it works.the other thing is to drill a hole for the iat sensor in the side of the intake.

glad to see you,ve decided to keep yours btw, looking forward to seeing it taking shape..

QUOTE (jamied @ Apr 10 2011, 01:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Looking great Brian
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paint work looked brilliant the time i was down to get bootlid off you.

Hope you can get it on the road soon.cheers , hows your own car coming along?
 
#15 ·
QUOTE (bri @ Apr 10 2011, 02:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>powder coated bits back. fitting them up at the moment.
thanks to mossey for dropping off /picking them up from tpc!

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I was looking at all this stuff in TPC last tuesday, gave your front panel a good inspection too.
I could have brought it with me if I know it was your stuff.

Nice to see it in the final stages at last.
 
#16 ·
QUOTE (vwspinner @ Apr 10 2011, 05:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>coming together nicely brian

powder coating looks well was it dear to get doneill pm you the price darren.

QUOTE (Dieseldave @ Apr 10 2011, 05:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I was looking at all this stuff in TPC last tuesday, gave your front panel a good inspection too.
I could have brought it with me if I know it was your stuff.

Nice to see it in the final stages at last.i thought the front panel turned out particually well actually.
if i knew you were going there then you could have, had it covered in any case.
 
#17 ·
some new parts .
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new coolant hoses,
set of oe hose clips
crankcase vent hose
abf rad temp switch.
also not pictured ,new rad and top and bottom rad hoses.

bought a new black vw grille badge while they are still available
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crappy pic with all above fitted.
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#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
more progress this week.
fittted the powdercoated slam panel with freshly painted fixing bolts and used some stainless items for the rad fixing brackets.
modified the mk3 lighting loom to accept the mk2 lights,indicators,foglights and horns.
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also bought some new front end items.
bnib hella headlamps
as new hella foglights
as new rallye smoked indicators.
new vw tie rods and wishbones balljoints.

thanks to neilo for the parts and to t.d for dropping them over to me during the week.
tadgh also gave me a hand to get some of the front end built up with the above parts.

headlamps fitted:
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already had a new genuine grille so swapped over my existing innerlamps as they are still pretty good,fitted new centre badge and 16v gti badge and lower strip.
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built up the front bumper with indicators,foglamps,lower spoilers and black trims.
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we trial fitted all up to the car and i must admit it looked very tidy, the new headlamps and grille really lift the appearance of the car.
i have removed off again as im waiting on a pair of replacement side clips for the bumper and a pair of slam panel fixing grommets and screws for the grille also ran out of vw loom tape for the lighting loom so waiting on that to come in to complete wrapping.

pic of balljoints.
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set of new underbonnet stickers arrived also:
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anyone know where this one is supposed to be located? i am using a spacesaver btw.
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#21 ·
nice job, i thought this was going on turbos?
 
#23 ·
QUOTE (t.d @ Apr 24 2011, 11:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I'll hopefully get a bit more done than last time
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why does,nt this statement inspire me with confidence?
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QUOTE (Carden @ Apr 24 2011, 12:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>nice job, i thought this was going on turbos?thanks walter,it will be but prob not for a little while yet!undecided on what finish i want on them.

QUOTE (Dieseldave @ Apr 24 2011, 12:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The space saver sticker goes on the boot floor just to the right of the wheel well.cheers, i meant to have a look at your g60 the last time i was over, still might to get the exact spot.
 
#24 ·
was putting off the heater matrix replacment for a long time, dont know why really as it was,nt that bad really!

heater unit out and on the ground.
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however i found that the foam covering on the diverter flaps were in poor condition and were falling apart to the touch.
so i split the box and removed the three flaps and covered them in 3M591 aluminium foil tape on both sides.
then on the edges i stuck on some adhesive foam tape to give a good seal .this is the stuff used for sealing air con ducting etc so should be up to the task.
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i only thought to take a pic when it was all together but you get the idea.

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happy with the way it worked out and still has that origional sound when using the heater controls.

ordered some g12 coolant and a couple of rolls of loom tape.
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with the heater matrix refitted i could finish off the cooling system. fitted the expansion bottle and heater hoses and filled up with fresh g12 coolant.

wrapped up the lighting loom with the loom tape and got the front end all fitted.
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rear bumper and 16v badge fitted.
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the fog lamps took a bit of time to get sitting right in the bumper but happy enough with them now.
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the exterior is more or less completed now so the final stage is to get the interior underlay and carpet fitted and fit the electric window loom and central locking. ive to run in some wires for speakers also.
 
#26 ·
nice work bri
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looks very well
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