G135EPB 8v GTI - Page 14

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Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #195 – July 16, 2023, 09:10:26 PM

Mini update prep for national meet. I had a slight weep from my rocker cover which seems to be something I've always struggled with to be honest. Also had a misfire thats happened very occasionally but has always cleared amd my coolant light has also started to flash intermittently.
A new expansion tank has fixed the warning light so a nice easy one.
The old one wasn't even that old bit looks 30 years! I regret throwing my genuine one away

New one, went for febi again even though the last one failed quickly. Typically I've always found Feb to be a trusted brand.

The cheapest easiest parts to swap on the misfire were an ecu relay and ignition amplifier. I did a vcds scan and that was suggesting a short to ground on the coil so checked the wiring to that which seems fine with a continuity tester although I really need a new multimeter so I can check resistance properly (in Amazon basket) failing that the coil maybe at fault so I'll get one of these to for peice of mind.
Then I discovered this, not sure if the fault code was a red herring 🤷‍♂️

I've had numerous goes at the rocker cover with varied success. I've tried different brand gaskets, different rtv, a different rocker cover and then let a mate try 😅
One last go.i believe vw method is fit gasket dry with rtv on half moons and humps.

Elring gasket this time

Took road wheels off

Sebrings and r888s on, went for a quick blast and I forgot how grippy these are 😁

Hopefully that's all the essential stuff done for next weekend, I'll have to monitor the rocker for leaks 🤞🏻
Just need to charge Gopro and torch and I'm ready

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #196 – July 17, 2023, 10:07:34 AM

Quote from: ianmac86 on July 16, 2023, 09:10:26 PM

Just need to charge Gopro ...

I'm so glad I just read that

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #197 – July 17, 2023, 10:39:11 AM

You realise you've now you've put the slicks on, you've cursed us to rain!

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #198 – July 17, 2023, 11:32:09 AM

Quote from: Eddypeck on July 17, 2023, 10:07:34 AM

Quote from: ianmac86 on July 16, 2023, 09:10:26 PM
Just need to charge Gopro ...
I'm guaranteed to forget something critical, I went camping last month and left most of the stuff in the garage! It was safe to say I wasnt very popular

I'm so glad I just read that

Quote from: Monkey on July 17, 2023, 10:39:11 AM

You realise you've now you've put the slicks on, you've cursed us to rain!

Haha yep we're all gonna get soggy now! It could add to the fun although i wouldn't fancy trying to put your 3.2 power down in the wet!

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #199 – July 17, 2023, 12:30:13 PM

Yep! I'm going to spend EVEN MORE time spinning the wheels and making noise!

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #200 – September 22, 2023, 08:48:53 PM

A couple of months have passed since I last wrote anything on here. The car has been behaving so no real updates to share. I'm trying to leave it alone a bit until some thing either wears out or breaks!
Mk2 owners National meet was very wet but still amazing. On Saturday the track was so slippy! I'm not a particularly confident driver in the wet so it came a massive surprise to pick up the fastest modified trophy 😁 I know others with bigger power were finding grip hard to find so this certainly played into my hands. Such a good weekend, loved chatting to everyone and the highlight for me is going out for passenger laps in everyone car's. I took a fair few out in mine too, it's great to see peoples reactions and to get a few compliments

Managed to get a dry lap in the passenger seat of the Pinderwagen, such a special car 😁

Already can't wait for next year!

I made it to Retrorides and German Car show at Silvertone

I think thats probably going to be me finished for shows this year but I do want to make plans for more tracktime when I build up the courage. The lack of roll cage and harnesses always niggles.

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #201 – September 22, 2023, 09:16:19 PM

I made an last minute visit to R-Tech who are a well known tuner localish to me. They were running a charity dyno day. After some pretty surprising results from Stealth dyno, this was a good opportunity to get a 2nd opinion. Looking at similar cars everything suggests 165bhp would be more likely for an abf like mine. As much as I want it to be the quoted 192bhp it's pretty obvious you need head work, cams and standalone to achieve this.

That more like it! 169bhp @6100rpm and 150 lb ft @5600rpm

https://youtu.be/SODqn9JjO9I?si=Qna6bmV78bVXMMcb
There were alot of big power more modern vag cars there so these figures were probably underwealming to everyone that was watching but it definitely made a decent noise by comparison!
I've been giving another engine swap some thought lately either 20vt or 2.8/3.2 v6. Having driven a mates bam the other evening I really enjoyed it, the way they deliver the power is crazy. I need to drive a v6 as I think that would be my preference, gonna have to have a word with Monkey! 😬

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #202 – September 23, 2023, 06:07:55 PM

Interesting Ian. As we know it isn't always max power that gets you from A to B fastest and you have a trophy to prove it!
But that BBM R32 of @Monkey does sound nice.

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #203 – September 25, 2023, 09:05:37 AM

As I'm literally about to embark on another 3.2 conversion, I may sound a little hypocritical, but I have done a lot of engine conversions into a mk2 and I'd keep the ABF:
It's useable, great fun, and looking at your graphs, you've got a spot on engine there.
170bhp with a nice flat torque curve, bet that car is excellent to drive!
It also looks far more at home in the engine bay of a mk2 and is a lighter engine, so you would loose some of the nimble feeling going 3.2.

As mentioned before, you're more than welcome to take mine out for a spin, though it wouldn't do my above argument any favours!
At the end of the day though, it's down to what you want.
ABF = Light, nimble, revvy
3.2 = Brute force, awesome noise

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #204 – September 26, 2023, 11:30:41 AM

Quote from: Monkey on September 25, 2023, 09:05:37 AM

As I'm literally about to embark on another 3.2 conversion, I may sound a little hypocritical, but I have done a lot of engine conversions into a mk2 and I'd keep the ABF:
It's useable, great fun, and looking at your graphs, you've got a spot on engine there.
170bhp with a nice flat torque curve, bet that car is excellent to drive!
It also looks far more at home in the engine bay of a mk2 and is a lighter engine, so you would loose some of the nimble feeling going 3.2.

As mentioned before, you're more than welcome to take mine out for a spin, though it wouldn't do my above argument any favours!
At the end of the day though, it's down to what you want.
ABF = Light, nimble, revvy
3.2 = Brute force, awesome noise

Thanks for the chat earlier. One minute I'm convinced another swap is the way to go and I'm writing a parts list. Next thing I'm considering if it's just way beyond my capabilities. Typically I always have assistance with big stuff or pass on if I'm not comfortable with it so this will more thank likley override what I want to do anyway 😅

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #205 – April 11, 2024, 09:56:06 AM

The wheels you have now look so much better than the RCs anyway, good choice.

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #206 – May 01, 2024, 09:13:54 PM

To catch up slightly from October 23 to present.
I took the golf to Bedford Autodrome with a a mate in his 20v mk2. Sadly he had some running issues but the little abf performed well all day 🙂 it's a big track with some very forgiving run offs so felt pretty confident. There were several other mk2s there 2 with teekay sun strips am 8 valve and the other an abf which I had chased round for a a few laps.

https://youtu.be/CYyLlSfPljA?si=awQH8BZi50daqsbR
Nige Pinder was there and he kindly took me out for a few laps in the Pinderwagen towards the end of the day. I've been lucky enough to go out twice in this now, previously at Curbourgh but it was even more impressive at Bedford. I think he will be selling it before too long, so very happy I've been able to experience it.

I noticed in the following weeks the car was beginning to pull to the right quite aggressively. I had tweaked the ride height so put this down to knocking thr wheel alignment but after having it adjusted the problem remained, took it elsewhere and again the problem remained. I did a good check over, a nut and bolt check and there didn't appear to be any play or anything obviously wrong so I stated asking for advice before borrowing some camber and toe guages to avoid spending more on alignment! So after faffing with this for ages it was clear it was definitely something more than alignment so I just bit the bullet and replaced the lower arms, bushes, ball joints and topmounts! After a final alignment (my local garage trusted me to get on with it myself) it finally drives straight again 😆 the only downside is I couldn't tell you what part fixed it. I went for tt bushes over the poweflex this time although I went for powerflex front still and some new mk3 topmounts.
Some crusty but genuine (I think) vag arms. Maisy wasn't jmpressed!

Smashed the old bushes out

Bit or rust eater

Bit of primer

And some black Rattle canned on in the shed

I got my mate to press bushes in and fit arms on his ramp to save me trying to fit on the floor.
I've done a few other little bit and peices but mostly down grades! The electric windows had become terrible, very slow and not winding up evenly if that makes sense. So got some good 2nd had ones and snapped over whilst wiring my amp and speakers up. The novelty of manual windows is actually really good 😂🤦‍♂️

I actually made a very tidy job of this but minimal photographic evidence sadly.
Next down grade was engine mounts. 99% of use os on the road and I wasn't liking the vibratechnic mounts. I had hockeypucked my corrado front crossmember previously and the whilst the feel was very good it was a bit excessive for the way I use the car. So swapped back to standard corrado vr6 front mount and standard mk2 rear and gearbox too. The comfort and general feel made a huge difference to comfort so a worthwhile downgrade in my opinion.

Quick oil and filter change

For some reason I wound a rear window down which then wouldn't go back up! The metal strip on window and corroded and was beyond repair. Luckily I found a spare in my dads garage.

Lastly a few photos from Ben Winch from 2023 national meet 😁

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #207 – May 02, 2024, 10:38:04 AM

Great little update there. All prepped for a year to come!

Re: G135EPB 8v GTI

Reply #208 – February 14, 2025, 12:50:29 PM

looks like i havent put any 2024 progress in here and we are now in 2025! So here is a bit of a catchup...
I have stored all my spares and tools in a garage away from home since owning the mk2. This is my dads and he is moving to a new place, with no garage! With nowhere else to store stuff, ive been thinning out my spares quite drastically. A lot of what i own are contingency spares if the worst happened, panels, gearboxes etc. Stuff that i have owned for years and never used so i've sold, given away and thrown loads of stuff. The hardest decision was parting with my wheels, although not super special ones I had a set of RA's with road tyres as i always liked the oe look, BBS RX214 which i really liked and filled arches a bit nicer and the sebrings on r888s which i have used for track. I decided the sebrings would be hardest to sell/ worth the least so sold both sets of BBS and fitted some Pirelli road tyres to the sebrings and live with them ( the start of problems!)

Here is what i had to clear. Doesn't look much but it took ages to sort sell and get moved out. Months in the end. I sold loads on eBay so was forever popping down and wrapping and posting stuff and luckily someone offered to bulk buy everything i had left which really helped with the final push.

Prep for national meet this year i noticed my timing belt hadnt been changed for sometime and had a indented mark down the middle of belt which convinced me it would be wise to get this done. Feeling brave i thought i can do this myself but then back tracked, i dont fancy sourcing a replacement engine or facing a rebuild! The best thing about owning a mk2 is mk2 mates! Dan offered to do it with me/ for me and i would help him which was great. I ordered a Gates kit with a new auto tensioner and to be honest it wasnt a bad job at all. I took a few photos but hardly worth sharing
You can see the mark on the belt just about here. Not sure if the tensioner has caused this or the timing cover or something else has caught on it but definelty worth swapping plus it was 4-5 years old

New belt on. We were a tooth out when we tenstioned it. In the end we kind of had to aim for a tooth out the opposite way and the tensioner pulled it back correct. Not sure if that is usual but we turned it over a few time and all of the timing marks were perfect.

I'm sure there was other prep, i'm quite particular about doing an oil and filter and cleaning the k&n annually before the national meet.
2024's National meet i was much better prepared than 2023 which left me sleeping on a mk2 rear bench! I even got some fire wood from work for the camp fire loaded up ready for my favourite weekend of the year

I always take a fair few photos of the cars but hardly any with the friends I have made there over the past few years. I managed 1 this year! Brilliant to sit round a fire with some food and a few drinks!

Laura came over with the kids for a few hours, i always encourage her to go for a lap with someone. Last year i sent her out with Baz in his abf and this year Dan in his 400+ bhp 20vt.
She had no idea what she was letting herself in for but massive smiles when she survived Dans mental car and driving!

I love this photo of his car, this thing really moves and it was great to see it work fautlessly after having problems all weekend in 2023

I had an issue this year. I was warming the car up on the out lap and the inner CV joint snapped! I limped back to the pits to assess. I wasnt the only one who had done the same thing and fortunately Dan and Warren were already at the local motor factors collecting the same part for his car so picked me one up too.

It seems like a potential weak point so have since bought a pair of shafts to carry with me in future.

I was back in the track within about an hour-ish.

A nice action shot

One of the pits

I was chatting the Chris about his Rallye, such a special car. I asked him if he would run me up the road in it as I've never been in one and to my surprise he chucked me the keys! Dave did the same with his BBM 3.2. Massive treat and great to experience to drive two very different but equally special cars. Sadly i cant find a photo of Dave's car but his has a build thread on here.

Another big surprise was winning the modified class for a 2nd year running! I didn't expect to win it last time but to win it a second time was such a nice feeling and a massive shock. I havent won anything since i was a kid! It was made extra special to win when against so many great cars that I wish i could own.

With the national meet over and clearing my spares, tyre selection should be interesting for 2025.
The r888's were now over 15 years old which has been a bit of a running joke in its self but were also very questionable whether i could really use them on the road.

I decided to buy a set of road tyres- Pirelli P1. I wont go into too much detail as they weren't new and have ended up causing me massive problems! The car started to pull violently to one side. To cut a very long story short I have replaced loads of parts, multiple alignments, one of which was hideously expensive! rotated wheels and tried mates wheels and eventually It was fixed! this really tested my patience and my wallet but after chatting to mates for guidance I have finally got a car the drives in a straight line again

Along the way i tried to replace with parts that might be more robust to avoid needing to be touched for a while at least
Powerflex topmounts hopefully more robust that the rubber ones

Really pleased to have taken it on a long drive and be back enjoying my car

just hope the pulling issue is behind me 🤞🏻

Superpro droplink bushes

Accelera 651 Sport Xtra tyres

Ive done an oil change and fitted and regular airfilter instead of the K&N. Not sure I can be bothered with cleaning the filter every year over buying a replacement for a couple of quid

look at the holes in my airbox 😂 this was like it when i bought the car!

Also replaced the brake fluid with some of this ATE200 stuff as i am planning on a ring trip in May!

Sadly my window stencil has had it. I think i am going to remove it shortly and maybe replace the taillight back to orange. Have you seen how much half smokes go for these days? It would break my heart if i cracked one! 😂

Aside from the mk2, i sold the T5 a while back so i need of a daily i was using a gold mk4! PD130 mapped egr deleted and what a car she was. my kids name her Goldielove 😂

After enjoying the mk4 i made a decsion that i spend too much time driving to be in a 20+ year old car with no working ac and generally wanting somethiing a tiny but more modern.
I bought a mk6 GTD

Not a fan on wind deflectors or the wheels especially. Its mapped to over 200 bhp, working AC, heated seats and a whopping 195k miles! It was reasonably cheap and got it off a mate so felt comfotable-ish with the mileage. I quickly swapped the wheels and fitted some eibach springs so its more my own. Maybe need a carplay radio but otherwise is making a really nice daily so far.