VW Golf Mk2 Owners Club

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #75 – February 15, 2021, 04:01:38 PM

These seem to fetch a shocking price second-hand, are they really that hard to come by... an ideal one to be 3D printed maybe?

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #76 – February 16, 2021, 11:37:48 AM

@Monkey

If you're using these alot would you be able to print a circular flange of your own design that'd press into the larger bulkhead hole and accept the aftermarket rubber grommet?

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #77 – February 16, 2021, 02:42:21 PM

That's a really good idea.
However, my hugely modifying car days are over, I've got my blue one and just got a red one that will be a straight up restoration.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #78 – February 19, 2021, 04:05:45 PM

Forging ahead with getting the interior back in... probably have to come out again when the inevitable teething problems arise but just too many big items like seats and carpets cluttering up work space, plus risking being damaged lying about.

Times like this I'm glad I've no hair to pull out - 4 x weeks now, waiting on VDO senders from Germany, held up at customs.

Not a very flattering picture, but for the sake of keeping the thread going - progress so far.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #79 – February 22, 2021, 07:44:36 AM

Very impressive sight, you'd almost want to take your shoes off before getting in!

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #80 – February 22, 2021, 08:59:32 PM

Bit of sunshine here today so got more done than usual.

If it keeps up, hopeful the interior will be completely back in soon... at least I'll be able to sit in it and make vroom, vroom noises.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #81 – June 22, 2021, 10:15:11 AM

For different reasons it's been quite a while since I've signed into the forum (don't do Facebook etc.)... must be early April I think.

Despite everything still managed to get some work done on the car and will try to update the thread when able.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #82 – July 03, 2021, 09:41:16 AM

Feels like I've finally reached a bit of a turning point... car's literally been stripped of all its mechanicals / suspension etc,

Upside is that means the next stage is getting it sorted, back on and the beginning of a move in the right direction.

Bizarrely, as a few of the earlier posts show the interior is done and all in place.

Wasn't the plan to do things that way about but found a few exterior issues that needed sorting, then one thing lead to another and here I am.

Big learning process for me - two years ago I was congratulating myself on doing the coolant / oil and plugs on the 205... last night I took the engine out of the MK2.

Hopefully I'll be able to get the thread bump started again - I'm sure you're more interesting to see progress than dismantling.

As mentioned elsewhere, should be getting help from a local mechanic with things that are still way beyond my capabilities like welding / a clutch change etc. but so far been all my own work.

Because I'm doing it alone, taking photo's at different stages isn't always practicable, may be more the final shots when somethings done that you see.

I've had the car 12 odd years now and it's a keeper. Any work being done is for my benefit so I want to do it as well as I possibly can.

Unfortunately I don't have a bottomless pit of money and with each new job that usually means replacing something plus even the tools to do it, so can soak up your time sourcing things for the best price.




  

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #83 – July 03, 2021, 07:14:56 PM

You've had a little bit of the good, now a little bit of the bad!

One of the things that got me digging deeper was this hole in the driverside of the engine subframe, adjacent to the control arm mount / pivot point.

It's so uniform and round I initially thought it was meant to be there, but some poking showed definitely not.

Biggest concern was that it had rotted from the inside out and was likely much worse than it appeared. Decided the only proper thing to do was get it all out completely and as you can see it's not pretty.

With the whole assembly being quite corroded it was probably a false economy to try repairs, plus the effort and expense of cleaning / treating / painting would've added up so bit the bullet and got a new one... not overly expensive for what it is, but still dear enough and money I hadn't budgeted for.

Managed to get one for sub £100 delivered from Germany... you can pay twice that or more (for the same brand too) bought in the UK, so keep telling myself to look on the bright side.





Unfortunately all of the running gear has quite extensive surface rust, but it's at it's worst around the front offside components.

I'm beginning to think the car has stood somewhere that allowed moisture to rise up from underneath as the bodyshell is 99% rust free.

When you see the subframe and rear beam for example, sitting to one side, you'd think they were off another car altogether.

Early on I'd decided if possible to change out everything that it was practicible to do... I like a car to be original but when it comes to mechanical parts safety takes over.

Probably could've revived some of the bits, but definiely not others -







This side is seized up, it's only one of two bolts on the whole car that I haven't been able to get undone (yet).


 

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #84 – July 05, 2021, 09:00:48 AM

Strange you should mentioned the difference in the NS/OS conditions, I've found exactly the same on my restoration.
Had to do a load of repair work to the offside of the car, but the near side is nigh on spotless!

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #85 – July 05, 2021, 05:33:19 PM

When I was taking the rear shocks / springs out there was an ominous crunching noise as the nearside one came away - my heart sank, expecting to see the strut tower top had come off with it.

Fortunately it was only the spring disc - bizarre that it should have deteriorated to such an extent and not have had any impact on the body shell... it's still like new, any marks you see rubbed off.

Wasn't immediately obvious - I'd recommend checking before it becomes a real problem,

All the bits are readily available from the usual suspects like Febi and Meyle for relatively small money.

Taking the rear assembies out is very straight forward and no special tools required, the springs aren't even under tension.







If you needed to know who the OE shock supplier was (or one of them at any rate), it was Sachs -



Noticed the rear springs have a single green paint mark - which I can't find listed, however the front ones have a single orange mark and correct to PB GTI's according to '7Zap'.



Fronts - https://volkswagen.7zap.com/en/rdw/golf/go/1991-110/4/411-102000/

Rears - https://volkswagen.7zap.com/en/rdw/golf/go/1991-110/5/511-106010/#13
 

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #86 – July 06, 2021, 07:50:58 AM

Those spring platforms are a pretty common issue, especially nowadays, I encountered my first one in 2000 when the car was only 9 years old!
I'd say it's probably the location, those caps get absolutely hammered with water/salt/mud, but pretty rarely get rinsed off during a normal car wash.

It would also explain why VW moved to separated shocks and springs for the mk4 platform.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #87 – July 06, 2021, 09:10:55 AM

I wouldn't say I'm a mug when it comes to looking a car over. When I went to see this one I'd a good root around and had a fair idea what it's problem were, but if you're a MK2 novice it's highlighting things like this that are useful to future buyers and worth sharing. 

I'm only playing at being a mechanic... there's no time pressures or someone else to please nor am I relying on making a living from it, so in that context it's probably easy to say, but I'm really getting into learning / doing more and more.

It's also adding something extra to owning the car... when you're taking it right back to it's individual parts, fixing or replacing and putting it back together you start to get more of an attachment to it.

Regret not getting into this side of things sooner, yes it's daunting at first, but if you've even a small understanding of mechanical things it's doable and very rewarding.



 

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #88 – July 06, 2021, 09:50:01 AM

Don't get me wrong, I'm hugely impressed at the effort and attention to detail you go into with your cars.
Just looking to give you a bit of background information on what you've found.

I too am just an amateur, playing at being a mechanic on weekends, I just forgot to move away from the mk2 golf!
I only got into mechanics as I couldn't afford to service my car when I was in college, so I bought a haynes manual and had a go at it.
In fact, it's this thread (among a couple others) that inspired me to do the stock restoration on the red one.

Back to the spring top issue, it's a very easy one to miss, it's very much buried in the depths of the car.
Thinking about it, it's probably an issue that has been very much forgotten nowadays, due to every man and their dog running coilovers. Their spring caps are almost always aluminium and not suffering anywhere near as much.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #89 – July 06, 2021, 10:29:56 AM

S**t, I must've worded that badly and you've thought I was taking offence?

Definitely not the case - all advice gratefully received, really sorry if it came across differently.

Looking back on buying the MK2 I was so, so lucky the guy selling it was 100%, it could've ended very differently.

Knowing the cars a little better now it's easy to forget that all the common (and not so common) weaknesses might not be immediately obvious to someone new to MK2's.

Plus side is MK2's seem to be getting like MGB's - you can virtually build a new one from remanufactured parts, just need someone to start 'Heritage' body shells!