Projekt Golf Zwei

[80 Vert]

Paint drying worryingly slowly I put the electro hydraulic power steering pump together and modified the bracket a bit more to get it centred in the hole I'd cut. Once the pump was in place I assembled the front sub frame with all new bushes, ball joints, tie rods and wheel bearings. Mainly to get the steering rack installed to enable new feed and return lines to be made back to the mk3 rack.
Bit of a guessing game without a gearbox in place but have plenty of room as it turns out.


Got the ABS unit in and started thinking about brake lines to the wheels, engine bay fuse box and wiring. Little did I realize at this point how much work the wiring would become, it was quite important to finish as much as possible before the engine went in.
No room in rain tray for the ME17 ecu apart from where the stock mk2 ecu would have lived on the drivers side but my TSI engine harness wasn't going to reach that far. Lengthening all those wires just wasn't going to happen so another solution was required.
Also looked at putting it inside the car and if I hadn't fitted A/C that would have worked but with that big AC box in the way there's no room there either.
Ran the Mk2 wiring for the headlights and stuff I needed through the RH frame rail to hide it away. Not a full tuck but just tidy up an otherwise messy look.
It was starting to look like I had no choice but to lengthen the engine harness.......

[80 Vert]

A new day and more problems to solve, with the battery box in I spotted an opportunity. Quick measure I knew it would work so I set about attaching the factory ECU cradle to the bottom of the battery box. Perfect spot of the ecu, all the wiring more or less works out and its all hidden away making use of otherwise wasted space. Couldn't be any better if I'd planned it.
Power steering lines to come out again to have the ends crimped but they fit nice, starting to get pretty excited for engine install which isn't far away.

Onwards to the front suspension, new wheel bearings in and even though the front brakes were ok but had a slight judder I decided to bin everything and get new 8L S3 rotors with some new Mintex pads I already had.
New Koni sport adjustable dampers and harvested the Eibach springs from the old set up. The shocks were too long as I found out due to them being Corrado ones, the don't make the yellow Koni for Mk2 Golf as it turns out.
This would turn in to a saga all of its own later on down the track.......but for now I thought all was well.
Repainted calipers back together and on the front end was more or less back together other than drive shafts.
I intended to use all Mk3 abs sensors and reluctor rings, unsure if it would work it was just going to have to be suck it and see approach.

Started putting the rear end together and looking at the rusty rear beam was a let down and the only thing left untouched, nope not going to work.
Removed that, ground the rust off and treated it. New coat of black and some pivot bush inserts. Rear brakes were a bit worn and rusty so guess what, yup in the bin and new discs, wheel bearings and seals.
Koni yellows in the rear as well with the Eibachs I already had. Repainted calipers finishing off the rear brakes. Removed the rear bias valve due to the ABS and Mk3 rear sensors / reluctor rings.
Much better, now absolutely everything has been gone through.

[coons]

Only just found this thread - I don't come here often enough any more..

Awesome work John. I think the thing that stood out reading this was that steering wheel - did you hand stitch that thing?? Bloody good on you for attempting that. Looking forward to seeing the remainder of the build.

You and Omar should do a build together. With both of you having such anal attention to detail it would go one of three ways; 1. It turns out amazing, 2. It takes 15 years to complete because of so much detail and complexity, or 3. You kill each other after getting on each others nerves. But I bet the weapon of choice is in immaculate condition. Either way, I'd follow that build thread 

[80 Vert]

Yeah hand stitched, took bloody ages. Have a new (old) steering wheel coming which also needs recovering but it's a lot more complex. Looking forward to doing that.

[80 Vert]

One of the last engine issues to resolve was the wastegate actuator, since I'd cut off the turbo outlet and rotated it 180deg it now lived where the actuator can used to be. Even looked at lengthening the rod to place it further out but the chassis rail and strut tower are both in the way.
With the engine and gearbox on the bench the solution was simple in the end, place the wastegate actuator at the gearbox end of the engine.
Modify the wastegate on the turbo so that its operation is reversed now that the actuator is pushing / pulling from the opposite direction.

Battery tray and ECU in for now to start on the car side of the wire harness. The wiring was a mission, really no other way to put it.
Both the brake and clutch switches are on the firewall and I must have checked these 3-4 times as they will be near impossible to change if wrong once the motor is in.
A lot of the wiring couldn't be finalized length wise until the engine was in and the whole A/C electrical still needed figuring out as well.

Engine time, hopefully the final install.
Getting it in and bolted up was pretty sweet, looks at home in there. With the suspension already complete it became a roller fairly quickly allowing me to crack on with the wiring towards getting it started for the first time.
I'd sent the ECU to the US months earlier to have the Immo defeat done and on its return had put this in my MK6 GTI to confirm it worked so I knew that part at least was going to work.
Front cross member on the drive line is in.
A/C pump back together with a new pressure control valve, new drier on the condenser and modified lines I'd figured out at the fabrication stage.

[80 Vert]

With the engine in the rest of the exhaust could be finished and installed, things are really starting to come together and a first start is not far away.
Plugged in VCDS to check the ABS for wheel speed and the unit was registering a reading spinning the wheels by hand, so far so good......I thought. (I would be proven wrong later  )
The exhaust pretty much completes the under side, had heaps of problems bleeding the brakes by myself but finally got a firm pedal. Looking forward to it moving under its own power.

Primed oil and fuel, turned the key and presto first start. All a bit anti climactic really, not sure what I was expecting but there you go.
I was greeted by 2 noises that shouldn't be there which upon further investigation with a stethoscope turned out to be a grumble from a bad alternator bearing and a squeak from the water pump on shut down.
Best to deal with that now since the front is still off. The water pump most likely would be ok with coolant in it but its not worth taking that chance so new water pump ordered and fitted another alternator I had sitting around.
https://i.imgur.com/ZFnoIpa.mp4
Changed tack and took a break from the car to repair the bonnet, when the ABF was fitted they smacked the inner frame with a hammer to clearance it, not going to do here. Needs to be repaired.
Cut that section out of the inner frame then repaired it on the bench, welded it back in and then metal finished it. Going to try and get the inside painted before heading away to the South Island so that the paint can cure while I'm away.

[80 Vert]

While waiting for a new water pump I got the rest of the frontal parts ready including painting the intercooler in a black wrinkle finish. I started to take the alternator apart to change the bearings but the electrical connections are welded so that became too hard and I just put another one on.
The center caps for the wheels all needed repairs as well, stripped the back paint off and machined new inserts that were pressed in to place and then cut the center out to accept the new Work caps.
Water pump installed with a new belt I assembled the front and sorted out the last of the coolant hoses including the overflow tank.
Started again and both noises gone, sounds like a 2.0tsi is supposed to sound. Not much holding me back from a drive........


Engine bay complete its test drive time with no.........bonnet, bumper, interior, dashboard or cluster. And wiring hanging everywhere. Thankfully I have a very quiet industrial estate very nearby that is deserted Sat/Sun.
Could tell this thing was going to rip straight away, no cluster of course so had no idea of speed or rpm but became evident there was a problem in the upper rpm range as the car felt like it would boost cut and fall on its face.
Seemed perfectly fine if driven under that point but without instruments I really had no idea.
In any case it drove, brakes felt terrible and felt like they had air in them still. Gearbox was really nice and LSD was doing its job straight away.
Having no bonnet I could see the front of the engine lift 50-60mm under power so the stock Mk2 front mount I'd used wasn't going to pass muster, have to come up with a new solution for that.
Quite a few test runs to try and figure out the power problem but didn't get anywhere really, car seemed dead reliable though and no leaks to speak of.
Tested the wastegate actuator and looked for boost leaks but everything checked out OK, I decided to crack on with other stuff that needed sorting while I keep trying to figure out what was wrong.

[brian]

Really enjoying these updates, car looking fantastic and the attention to detail on another level

[80 Vert]

With the car up and running I tested the ABS, not good news....Instant lock up. Obviously some more work needed there. Once back at work vcds told me there were wheel speed errors on all 4 wheels so that confirmed the ABS system did not like the Mk3 sensors, I had read in the meantime that Mk5/6/7 operate on a different wave frequency to the earlier "dumb" style sensors and the newer type also detect rollback.
Lucky I had some old mk5 wheel bearings so the first job was to press one apart to see if I could harvest the tone ring out of them and then see how these could possibly be adapted to the stuff I already had.
Pressing the bearing apart was pretty easy and the tone ring came out without damage, clear to see these are completely different to the Mk3/4 ones.
Started on the rear figuring that was the easiest place to start, and it was. Rear rotor machined very slightly to make the tone ring a press fit on the Mk3 inner disc hub.

Took the stub axle off the car as well to mount the sensor, worked out what clearance I needed to the tone ring and set the depth to machine the rear rotor hub to.
Used the existing ABS sensor hole and just had to drill / thread a new hole for the securing bolt. Looks pretty good.
Did the other side in a fraction of the time.
Had to change the connectors on the wiring as well of course as everything is different, rear completed  I'm getting readings in both directions and detecting even the slightest movement. Job done.

Had a hunch the front wouldn't be that easy and it wasn't. Took the front knuckle off the car and dug out an old drive shaft to see what could be done. Nothing really suited until I measured the nose of the CV joint, that was very close to what the tone ring was and seemed like there would be enough space for the sensor as well.
Machined a sacrificial CV joint and I installed the tone ring, looks good so far.
Clearanced the knuckle and made a bracket to hold the sensor in place with the required gap to the tone ring factored in.

Both CV joints on the car were different, the nose was too big to machine down weakening the joint too much. Lucky the one I machined had a part number on it so I just bought 2 new ones and machined those to suit.
Both axles sorted and everything back together just the front wiring to change over, with all the sensors connected and getting readings through vcds its time for the big test.
Back down the industrial estate with my half together car and hit the brakes......ABS is working!!!
Hoped this would also solve my power problem but no.....thought the ABS wasn't seeing wheel speed hence limiting power but no potato........bummer.

[McDoof]

Still enjoying this thread. You make most other builds look like butcher jobs.

[slowburn]

this ^^^^^^^^^^

[80 Vert]

Thanks guys, another update coming up.
Its a pity that so much information is lost these days on FB etc but that's a changing world for you.

[80 Vert]

Did a bunch more runs down the industrial estate trying to pin down exactly when it was limiting power but without a dash and instruments its tricky, I then did some logging with vcds and it became apparent that it cut boost at 4k rpm.
Good to know when but no real solution as to why.
As far as I could tell everything was working as it should so I was a little stumped at this point.
As we were due to leave for the South Island in the coming days to do the Playday on Track southern tour I thought it would be nice to paint the inside of the bonnet so that the paint could harden while we were away for 2 weeks.
In the meantime I had figured out what went wrong with the engine bay paint, not enough flash time between clear coats meant that the solvents were trapped causing the paint to stay soft for ages.

Did the repairs needed and primed those areas, I had enough of the dark cover coat base left to do the bonnet followed by a couple coats of Caprigruen. Took my time with the clear this time giving it lots of time to flash off.
A few nice wet coats had it looking really good and a huge change from what it was.
Painted the hinges and metal strip for the grill as well, the grill strip was so badly stone chipped I ended up stripping it to bare metal and acid washing it to treat the rust.



Bonnet done, nearly ready to drive to Invercargill!! Everything sorted for the trip there was some spare time left to work on the car.
Decided to have another look at my fault codes and noticed I had a code for an oil pressure switch. I'd seen it before but dismissed it. I realised the engine has 2 oil pressure switches and I was 100% sure the important one was hooked up correctly.
Had a look at my wiring diagram and one switch is wired direct to the ECU, which it was.
The other switch however is wired to the cluster, which of course I wasn't using and the reason for that code.
Could this be it? surely not.......
Wired up a Mk6 cluster by just twisting the wires together for Can-bus, power, ground and ran the oil pressure wire through the side window for testing purposes.
Time for another test, YES!!!! Full BOOST.....no restriction in power and man does the thing pull lake a train.
Great to finally resolve the last power train problem just before taking a 2 week break, 5000km and 4 tracks in the 7.5R

[slowburn]

sweet result! merry chrstmas pressie to yourself, excellent. such a cool car

[80 Vert]

This was back in March, I'm still catching up the thread to where I'm at now.

[coons]

Awesome

[80 Vert]

So here we were, the last track day in Christchurch at Ruapuna on the 18th and Covid was really starting to dominate the headlines. I think everyone there was starting to think about heading home and we were booked to cross the strait on the 22nd.
Getting in to Picton there were lines miles long with people wanting to cross and lots didn't have bookings, the announcement had been made we were to enter lockdown on the 25th.
No issues getting across but things shut down a couple days after we got back.
Hmm, a month with no work.....what to do? Work on the Mk2 again full time? You bet.
Having resolved the boost cut the wiring could be tidied away and the dash installed, I traced and repaired all of the factory speaker wires as most had been butchered, no surprises there.

Installed a full set of brand new Alpine direct replacement speakers I'd sourced from the UK, the factory ones straight in the bin.
The Alpine ones are all the same dimensions and fit in the factory location without any modification.
These should go well with the period Blaupunkt I had for the car, again the stereo side wiring was hacked as well so that also was put back to stock.
The illumination didn't work unfortunately but as luck would have it McAllister radio repair was just up the road and he did an excellent job of replacing the green LED's in the radio. Soo much 90's goodness.

Engine bay starting to come together but many details to finish, the little things take all the time and the entire lockdown would be used up with this.
Next job on the list is a new front engine mount.

[nordschleife]

This is awesome to see.  Thanks for the updates - makes me want to get to work on my MK1.

[80 Vert]

Lockdown going great working on the Golf every day making great progress, decided to tackle the front engine mount next.
Removed the front cross member while supporting the engine and gearbox on my engine table. Cut the mounting foot off my brand new mk2 front mount simply because it saves time making another one.
With everything closed I spent a bit of time looking through all my junk parts to find a suitable mount but unfortunately came up empty so had to make something.
Solid mount was never an option and then came across a spare set of Super Beetle front control arm polyurethane bushes that would probably work.
Machined a steel housing for them to fit in to from a piece of heavy wall steam pipe.

There's boxes of odd bits and pieces left over from stuff we used to make many years ago and I'm forever using them for all kinds of things and this mount was no exception.
Side pieces pretty much a perfect fit for what I was thinking, just a couple of links to make to connect to the engine bracket.

Tack it together and in the car for a test fit, all looks pretty good.
Final welded the whole thing and put it all back together and seems to fit well. Time for a test.
Back down to an empty industrial estate and barely any front engine lift now so that sorts yet another problem out.
Some old fool on his bike obviously took exception to me being out and started filming me with no bonnet, bumper, interior etc but I decided to ignore him and carry on with what I was doing. Some people obviously think they were the lock down police or something...oh well.
Things are coming together.

[rambo_005]

I was lucky enough to go out for a ride in this beastie on new years day. Such an awesome car!