Carsnz123's 1984 Volkswagen Mk2 Golf 3 door

[Carsnz123 1,514]

“I have no idea why why i'm doing this, it was a good idea at the time.” The story of this project begins with a little 1.3 Mk2 golf 3 door with a 4 speed manual delivered to MR J.G. Morton of London on the 4th of April 1984. The car was then imported into New Zealand in 1987 with 23000 miles on the clock. It enjoyed regular servicing and maintenance right up until a couple of years ago when someone decided the car was totally worthless and used it as a piss wagon. They drove it up a beach path and into a tree. It was green stickered, dereged and stuck on facebook for $300 which is where I come into the picture. I bought it to nab the trans and make an auto 1800 Mk2 golf a manual. When it was bought home we had a good look and realised the engine blocks were different. Wrong box...shit. A few bits were taken off it to make the auto pass a warrant and the little 1.3 was parked at mums and forgotten about for six months. 

 

Now I want to get it on the road. So, are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then we shall begin.

 

First step was to clean the inside of the car out as it was foul. I picked up The seats and door cards out of a GTI off trademe so that saves me getting the originals fixed but the rest of the interior still needes work. Ill get to that later. 

 

 

 

 

Discussion is here //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53908-carsnz123s-1984-volkswagen-mk2-golf-3-door/

[Carsnz123 1,514]

The front struts were shot, there were no exterior door handles and the only key I had was for the ignition. There is a fantastic website https://www.vwheritage.com/ which sells genuin and repro parts for old vdubs at very reasonable prices. So new front struts, locks and door handles came from the UK. 

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

Another Mk2 3 door came up for sale in Nelson with straight(ish) panles and as every panel on mine is dented I jumped at it. It was a wreck, 1.6 diesel manual with a run big end. A few bits had already been taken including the trans and front guards dammit. My brother and I went for a road trip with the car trailer to get it. There was a few unexpected goodies in the diesel including factory central locking, powersteering and A/C. Those might make it into the 1.3. 

 

At some stage a resonator had been added to the exhaust system but the car still sounded weak so in the spirit of stupidity the back half of the exhaust and the muffler were cut off and replaced with 2” pipe. Now it sounds good. 

 

The interior gutting continued with nasty carpet lifting which revealed damp and mouldy sound proofing. All of which was promptly put in the bin cause weight reduction bro. 

 

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

The last couple of weeks have been filled with sorting small issues, lots and lots of small issues. The indicators and hazards don't work and after spending most of a day on them I'm still confused as to why not. I made the rear fog light work, helps to have a fuse in it. It was missing a little so I decided removing the distributor cap was a good idea. I was greeted with scenes of butchery I cant even begin to fathom. Someone in the past couldn't get the right dizzy rotor so decided packing an 1.8 rotor with electrical tape so it fitted on the shaft was a good idea. Problem is there was nothing but hopes and dreams holding it in place and was rotating out of time. Getting the right rotor is proving difficult so a dot of super glue is keeping the timing for the short term. 

 

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

The oil looked like it hadn't been changed in a while and the inside of the motor was a bit grimy so a bottle of flushing oil was put through the engine and after 10 min of idling and subsequent overheating due to the fan deciding it didn't want to work (more electrical issues... great) the inside of the engine was all shiny and clean. 

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

After changing the air filter, cleaning and re gaping the plugs, setting the valve clearances which were almost 3 times what they should have been and tweaking the idle speed I had the little golf running smooth as a fancy gold watch. It was running so well I decided to go for a quick squirt up the road. It accelerated well, sounded good and road well. The gearbox has a massive jump between second and third, almost feels like there should be an extra gear in it. Pretty much now its just needs the electrics sorted, new tires and the seats bolted in and it should be ready for vinning.

 

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

 

The Parts, The Project and The Work Horse

 

 

Bucket seat for extra... er... race-car-ness?

[Carsnz123 1,514]

Quick update in minimal work.

 

Turns out my little 1.3 has an Audi 50 distributor on it. With broken dizzy cap and rotor in hand I walked into Butler Auto (best place to find rocking horse dung in Christchurch) and got a replacement. Timing back in spec and she runs great...except at idle. More problems to fix. 

 

I went on an excursion to pick a part looking for wheel and brake parts. Didn't find brake parts but there was a set of Mk3 D slot steelies. They need a lick of paint but the slightly increased dimensions make car look a little more in proportion.

 

  

 

 

Tyres, Grille, Lights and seats then VIN. Cant wait to take it for a run over Dyers pass

[Carsnz123 1,514]

IT'S VINNING TIME!!!!!

 

I Bolted in a basic interior consisting of door panels, seats and dash. No need for anything fancy. The original gauge cluster had Chernyobled a few components resulting in nothing working so the diesel parts one was sub in. the kms have jumped up 100,000 (no I can't be assed pulling it to bits and winding it back) but everything works and I gained a clock. Plus it has a redundant glow plug light which might make people confused.The diesel parta also donated various nuts and bolts, a straight front bumper and rear seat mounts.

 

 

 

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

I decided to pull the brakes to bits to inspect them, in hind sight this was a bad idea. The rear linings were down to minimum, rear wheel bearings and seals were on their last legs, a CV boot was split and the front discs were heavily pitted from sitting for ages.  The rear was cleaned and reassembled (it works so it is fine for now) but the front required action. Upon inspection the diesel discs, pads and calipers were in good condition so I spun the discs on the lathe and cleaned them up with a bit on emery paper and then all was installed. While I had the brakes apart I replaced the CV boot and cleaned and re-greased the CV itself. It was the first time I pulled a CV to bits but it's really simple.

 

 

So with everything bolted up it got loaded on the trailer and dragged to Ashburton. I put it up on the hoist at work and gave the underside and engine bay a steam clean, probably removed a few kilos of dirt and yuck. Hopefully the list from the compliance place isn't to long. 

 

 

 

For all anyone knows this pic could of been taken in the 80s

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

Well my lack of action on the rear end bit me in the ass. It got chucked out on noisy rear wheel bearings, terrible rear brakes and the exhaust pipe moving too much. plus the high stop light was flashing with the right indicator. I must have wired it in wrong  . So it's off to buy brake bits and do a little wiring. 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

So, a little welding, hammering and cursing at springs (damn you Volkswagen and your multi spring rear brake setup) later the new wheel bearings and brake shoes were installed as well as a couple extra hangers for the exhaust. It went for a recheck earlier in the week and today I picked up some plates for it. So now its road legal HOORAYYYYYY         

 

 

 

 

With new plates cable tied on I, as any sensible car enthusiast would, decided the first thing on the agenda was to go blasting up the main street of Ashburton with the little 4 at full song. The car was dirty as shit but it had the desired effect as lunchtime shoppers looked round to see where this symphony of amazingness was originating.

 

Agenda item no.1 marked off the next step was to address the issue of rather neglected paint. A bit of aggressive cleaner, water blaster, car wash and super sheen later and the car looks much better, not great but better. 

 

A bit of before and after

 

 

 

The maiden voyage of sorts will be on Sunday where I shall embarrass myself with my noisy piece of dented gloriousnss at a large euro meet. 

 

 

       

 

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

1 month in of driving. The gearbox is making bad noises, the carb is not working properly but running in a reasonable AFR range so its ok, all the door and heater vent seals leak and it fills up water, IT IS SLOOOOOOOOOOOOW. 45kw makes it no rocket ship. Time to change that.

  Watch This Space...

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

Photo time!!!! I thought I'd do some drag racing in lieu of any actual work. Best ET was 17.931@74.05mph. It will be interesting to see what it will do with the 1.8T.

 

 

 

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

Had a bit of spare time on my hands so I decided it was time for a little work on the mighty Golf. First port of call was removing the carb and giving it a damn good clean because the car has been running like shit for the past couple months. I cut out a new gasket for the 2 halves of the carb but was lazy with everything else and used grey RTV. Next was breaking out the Bosch one way lowering kit. having a extra set of springs from the parts car comes in handy about now. After a bit of measuring I thought lopping a coil out of each spring was a good start. I could probably take another coil out of the rear springs but the fronts will no longer be captive if I make them any smaller. I should just stop being cheep and get a set of coilovers if I want to go lower. It hasn't made a huge amount of difference but the rear end has come down getting rid of the "Stink Bug" stance.

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

WOF time and one problem I hadn't fixed is the gauge light didn't work. Upon spending an hour removing the gauge cluster I was reminded some pratt had glued the gauge lights in with RTV. So the fix was to reinstate the original poverty spec gauge cluster and repair it with parts from the diesel one. I realized that of the wires that were cooked only 2 needed connecting up. A few hours work and I had my MPH gauge cluster with functional illumination installed in the car. Leaving mums place the first bump I went over the speedo light went out... bugger. The second bump set off lights and sirens in the car. turns out the oil pressure sender wire came off and grounded on the engine making the car think there was no oil pressure. The car got a wof and is now ready for another 6 months of driving and breaking down.   

 

   

[Carsnz123 1,514]

I want to throw money at my Chrysler so this lot is up for sale.

 

[Carsnz123 1,514]

I did a thing to the thingy to make it shiny

 

Things will happen to these thingys tomorrow 

 

It is still for sale if anyone wants it. I'm doing bits of work to tidy up things that annoy me when I drive it.  

[Carsnz123 1,514]

Due to me still not having the Crown Wagon going road worthy yet and getting sick of burning almost $100 of fuel a week in the Crown Coupe the Golf is going to get some use. Problems to solve were:

1. Pissing oil everywhere 

2. Pissing coolant everywhere 

3. Dodgy cam belt as a result of no.1 

4. Radiator fan not working properly 

5. No wof or rego 

 

Oil and coolant leaks were solved with liberal use of RTV, 518, new crank and camshaft seals, and new gaskets. I removed the crappy single speed fan and retrofitted the 2 speed fan from the parts car. The thermo switch for the 2 speed fan actually works so no more manual switch on the dash. Turns out a cam belt for one of these is a shit of a thing to find and I got lots of nada from pretty much every autoparts store in Christchurch. Top notch bloke Bob at Stanmore road auto had one on the shelf though. With new parts fitted and the little 1.3 ticking over like a gold watch I took the car for its first drive in 4 months and didn't have to worry about it crapping out in the middle of the road. Hopefully it passes a WOF tomorrow. 

 

Pics (or lack there of)

    

[Carsnz123 1,514]

Went for wof check. Got chucked out on an exhaust leak.Fixed that and got wof/rego. Welded a muffler in the back because the novelty of being loud and obnoxious has worn off. All sweet for daily use again.