VASK Forum (VW Audi SportKlub of NZ)

VOLKSWAGEN => Mk2 Golf - Jetta - Corrado => Topic started by: 80 Vert on June 28, 2020, 12:08:36 PM

Title: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on June 28, 2020, 12:08:36 PM
New project.....
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on June 28, 2020, 12:15:26 PM
Waiting
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on June 28, 2020, 03:50:35 PM
As many will know I used to own an 89 16v many many years ago and I've never really forgotten that car. Over the years I've been pretty fortunate to build some pretty rad mk2's for people but recently I did my most favorite one for Rambo005.
His oem plus 12v VR6 swap set something in motion urging me to start looking for another mk2.
I'd always kept half an eye on the market and while surfing TM one Friday night I stumbled on a 91 big bumper, sunroof 3 door. My ultimate mk2.
It was too much money but called the guy and went to see it the next day.
It was clear very quickly it needed a LOT of love but the basics were there, bonus mk3 Recaros already in place and mostly straight, rust free, already had 5 stud hubs etc. Few small rust spots but nothing I can't handle.
Very poorly executed ABF swap which I knew immediately would be going anyway and replaced with a 2.0TSI from a mk6.
I wanted something no one had really done before and something technically challenging.
Seemed to drive ok and felt kinda neat to be back behind the wheel of a classic Golf.
Deal done and took it home.
The harder I looked the more I found, many bodged repairs and barely anything worked so the first thing was to repair the 1" plus travel in the gear mechanism before it did anything. Machined new bushes to remove the slop and sort that for now until I updated the entire shifter box.
Sunroof didn't work, took that apart to find missing components and seized mechanism. I made the parts that were missing and broken. Once adjusted properly to again have a working sunroof.
(https://i.imgur.com/IHvDY7y.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on June 28, 2020, 04:33:40 PM
As is often the case these things are slammed to the ground on cheap rock hard coil overs, this one was no different. Yip they had to go, and go immediately.
Took them out and fitted some temporary oil shocks with a new set of Eibach lowered springs, fitted some 8L S3 312mm front brakes at the same time which *just* fitted inside the 16" Work Pietra Corse wheels I intended to keep even though all 4 were kerbed 360 degrees and the center caps were all broken.
It seemed reliable enough so I kept it on the road while slowly working on the interior.
(https://i.imgur.com/0188T6D.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on June 28, 2020, 10:00:58 PM
looks promising, very promising
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Poonmobile on June 28, 2020, 10:50:13 PM
Its complete!!!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: mark2 golf on June 29, 2020, 07:44:51 AM
Nice. Good to see another real project.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: [email protected] on June 29, 2020, 08:04:36 AM
Soo cool to see this is still on the road.
I owned it from 2005-2011. Owned it as a student and could only really afford to keep it running, but eventually I had the original 8v 1.8 rebuilt and it was an absolute gem. Did several track days at Ruapuna. I eventually sold for a 2002 S3 as I felt it was time for a change.. I had instant regret.

Bit sad to see it's not as original, but awesome that it's still alive and being enjoyed!! Well done.

(https://www.vask.org.nz/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F6DSr4QA.jpg&hash=b7fa3bb20a4093d0f37cf85906c333c90bc4c818) (https://imgur.com/6DSr4QA)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: [email protected] on June 29, 2020, 08:08:23 AM
This was owned by Brian before I owned it.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on June 29, 2020, 09:05:59 AM
Interesting, looks great in that picture. I've only owned it 18 months so it's really gone down hill in the last 5 years.
Clear coat is peeling off in places etc.
Never mind tho, in good hands now.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: [email protected] on June 29, 2020, 11:32:25 AM
yeah great to see it's in the hands of someone that loves it. Special little car
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on June 30, 2020, 09:29:49 PM
With the car on the road and useable I started planning the swap. I had a rebuilt EA888 engine and another broken one which had suffered the failed tensioner so that seemed like the logical choice.
Stripped the engine down and found 16 bent valves, 2 broken roller rockers but thankfully no holed pistons or cam damage.
Valve impact marks on the pistons but nothing major. Chucked the stripped head in the degreaser tank to soak the carbon off and ordered 16 new valves, new roller rockers, head gasket, head bolts and a new timing set.
While I waited for the engine parts I started thinking about what gearbox to use, I wanted to stick with the smaller lighter 02A 5 speed (the car had one in it already) with gear ratios matched to mk2/3 wheel / tyre size.
I ended up buying a spare one off Anton to pull apart and rebuild. At that time no one made a flyweel for that swap so I made my own.
ABF / 1.8T are 6 bolt, TSI are 8 bolt. Can't use TSI flywheel as these are 240mm for 6 speed.
Got the South bend clutch and flywheel out of our old Vento track car and decided to modify that.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: superfueler on July 01, 2020, 04:36:30 PM
A beautiful golf you have there 80 vert, a real gem.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 05, 2020, 09:17:23 AM
Using the ABF flywheel wasn't going to work as its cast steel, not a good idea to weld.
The old Southbend flywheel and clutch from the Vento track car however was billet steel, this will work.
First I made a solid drill jig from a thick lump of steel, using the dsg flywheel as a guide for the hole spacing.
(https://i.imgur.com/0cVtc4M.jpg)
Flywheel next, chamfered the holes and welded them up, let it cool slowly and back in the lathe to clean up both faces.
Once machined my drill jig locates firmly in the new flywheel to drill the 8 new holes.
One unfortunate thing I didn't count on was how hard weld material is to drill through. Near impossible with ordinary drill bits!!
(https://i.imgur.com/8asHSXc.jpg)
I must have sharpened that drill bit 20-30 times to get those suckers drilled. Got there in the end but took ages.
Sent the clutch assy out to be balanced and whammo the first problem solved.
(https://i.imgur.com/OF0fO40.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 05, 2020, 09:25:26 AM
With a box of new parts arrived I fished the head out of the degreaser and finished cleaning it, all new valves and roller rockers went in. Car was staying true to the badge it was wearing on the grille. 16V.........all be it enhanced just a little  :laugh:
(https://i.imgur.com/5aMGZyf.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 12, 2020, 10:06:58 AM
Searched through my boxes of crap to find a turbo with only 10k km on it which would be ideal for this build. Managed to piece 99% of the engine together out of stuff laying around. Bought a new inlet manifold as these pox out on a regular basis and didn't want the hassle of pulling it all back apart later on.
Had a complete engine wire harness as well but no ECU yet or car side harness, really needed access to a whole wreck for that part.
(https://i.imgur.com/ktYvF9v.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/DMIXe5K.jpg)
With most of the engine together I really put some thought in to how all of this was going to work, it had to have AC and a mk5 set up just wasn't going to work due to the variable vane compressor. I would find out later just how difficult this was going get to enable it all to work!!
Decided to go with a mk4 pump, MK3 AC box and custom everything else made up of Mk 2,3,4 and 6 parts.
Made a mounting bracket to attach the Mk4 pump to the Mk6 engine, a Mk3 belt was just long enough to do the job.
(https://i.imgur.com/7hdkAFM.jpg)
Put the engine aside for a while and started looking at the interior, oh boy!!
Someone thought they would "fix" the headliner, as I'm pulling it out it was becoming clear that things had not gone well.
It had been glued together poorly with fiberglass and looked like utter crap, really needed a new one but try and find a good used sunroof headliner.
Once stripped of fiberglass and covering I was left with a board broken in 4 pieces. No choice but to figure something out.
The base board is made from styrene which over the years becomes brittle and starts to crumble. Started making repairs with epoxy glue at first filling holes and getting a basic shape.
Glued the main sections back together and used foam, filler and epoxy to keep working the shape and lines / contours etc.
Sounds easy enough but it really wasn't, this headliner has over 35hrs in it to turn it in to something useable.
(https://i.imgur.com/mLe5Ibd.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/qpBwPCq.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 15, 2020, 07:45:58 PM
I forgot I had this pic, shows just how fu#@ed the headliner board was, still find it hard to believe I managed to save it.
(https://i.imgur.com/wHEKB0a.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Period_Correct_ on July 16, 2020, 06:46:58 AM
Have I got a job for you... haha
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: LouieP on July 16, 2020, 07:20:24 PM
Unsure if you mentioned this but did you use an o2a or o2j box?
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: rambo_005 on July 16, 2020, 07:41:18 PM
Quote from: 80 Vert on June 30, 2020, 09:29:49 PM
...I wanted to stick with the smaller lighter 02A 5 speed (the car had one in it already) with gear ratios matched to mk2/3 wheel / tyre size...
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: LouieP on July 16, 2020, 08:01:11 PM
Quote from: rambo_005 on July 16, 2020, 07:41:18 PM

::) I scrolled up and down like a muppet. Thanks Rambo. Would like to see what you did to get rid of the sloppy shifter
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 16, 2020, 08:28:05 PM
I machined new bushes out of nylon but have since biffed that shifter box and updated it with a mk4 one.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 19, 2020, 10:12:03 AM
The headliner now resembling something useable it could finally go back in the car. 2 of the grab handles were missing as well but lucky Rambo005 had spares so got those from him as well as some other interior bits I was missing.
The headliner isn't perfect but considering what I started with I'm extremely satisfied with the outcome.
the material I used is the same foam backed material as what's used on mk5/6 GTI sourced locally.
(https://i.imgur.com/YAncsI3.jpg)
With the worst job done, or so I thought. My attention turned towards the door cards. Hmmm not good news there either.
Door membranes not attached properly meant the boards were soggy at the bottom, effectively ruining them.
Decision made, rip all the material off and try to salvage the boards.
The boards themselves are quite warped in places but nothing I can really do about that. The bottom 3" was just mush as these things are pretty much compressed cardboard so when they get water logged they just fall apart.
(https://i.imgur.com/PVYJ7Dt.jpg)
2 part epoxy resin seemed to soak in quite well and putting bulldog clips on while drying seems to have glued them back together somewhat. took ages to reconstruct the corners and bottom edge in to something useable.
Once the basic shape was there coarse sandpaper to straighten things up and then a few coats of resin on the entire bottom half of the panel.
Came across a funky green tartan I wanted to use on the Recaro seats and thought it would tie in well if it was on the door cards as well. Keeping the car the original Caprigruen so green tartan fits the build well I think.
Im still not quite done with them as I want to incorporate probably a red stitch of some kind somewhere but that will come later.
(https://i.imgur.com/07fDBzC.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/5EJqIeL.jpg)
Rear panels done in the same vane, much better condition so much less work.
Very slowly the interior is starting to come together.
(https://i.imgur.com/dZBrdpq.jpg)




Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on July 19, 2020, 11:18:10 AM
That looks brilliant
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: McDoof on July 20, 2020, 03:43:16 PM
Very nice.
I remember trying to negotiate to buy that same golf a few years ago, but the seller wanted too much money for the condition of the car. Great to see it's getting a proper vert makeover.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: gti vr6 on July 20, 2020, 06:12:46 PM
Nice work John, looks smick!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 26, 2020, 10:22:26 AM
Gearbox time, with the spare gearbox completely stripped and cleaned the cases got hit with aluminium cleaner which has brought them up really nice, taking off the years of crap and grime but of course raw aluminium never stays that way so I've put an etch type of 2 pack paint over them.
Used OBX diffs in the past with no issues at all and looked to do the same again this time but prices of them have gone up soo much and once you add shipping I wasn't crazy far off the likes of a Pelloquin or Wavetrac so in the end a Wavetrac as ordered along with a set of ARP ring gear bolts.
Everything looked pretty good inside so it was mainly replacing the critical bearings on the main shaft, diff bearings and re shimming the pre loads on everything.
Used a 9N2 Polo shift tower so that I could use a late MK4 shifter box and cables.
(https://i.imgur.com/LdkjDQw.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/mZ3CSxL.jpg)
Within reason this completed the engine and gearbox to a point, few more things to do but it really was a wait till the car came off the road for the swap to begin so I shifted my attention to the seats.
Wanted to use the same green tartan on the seats, fortunately the car already had front and rear MK3 Recaros in it so that's one less thing to go and find.
Took the seats completely apart and of course the usual bolster wear to fix up from years of in and out.
Got some foam from my upholsterer mate and got to work shaping it with an air sander......VERY messy job!
Cut the stitching to release the centre panels of the seats so that those could be used as patterns for the new material.
Decided I would wash what was left of the covers which on reflection was a mistake as everything got horribly twisted and quite a bit of edge fraying.
I should in hindsight have washed the whole thing and then cut them apart. In any case it came right but wasn't as straight forward as it could have been.
Got the bolsters nice and tight so pretty happy with that, embroidery done the first centre panel went in. Pretty excited at this point. The green won't be for everyone but I absolutely LOVE it.
(https://i.imgur.com/kDTxz7H.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MYDAU7D.jpg)
Had a bit more of a fight with the bases, taking the cover off a few times to add more foam here and there but over all they came out pretty good for a home job. pretty stoked actually.
(https://i.imgur.com/yINtNzn.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/EcoBAfz.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 02, 2020, 10:20:11 AM
Being fairly useable now I was driving it most days running errands and what ever else came up, strong smell of fuel at times I found the fuel return to the tank in the engine bay didn't even have a hose clip on it. How this thing managed to pass a modified vehicle cert is beyond me but of course these things could have changed post cert. who knows.
(https://i.imgur.com/oEiw20n.jpg)
Talking to GTIVR6 one day he mentioned having an early VR6 / Corrado steering wheel which I thought would look cool. It had seen plenty of action and the leather was worn through on top but that would make a nice side project and besides I've always wanted to have a go at doing a steering wheel.
Cut the old cover off and separated all the pieces to use as a pattern. My upholsterer mate laughed when I told him what I was doing but he was on board to help with scrap pieces of leather and to sew them together for me. Leather is pretty tough so you really need an industrial machine.
(https://i.imgur.com/dICihau.jpg)
Watched a few videos and one suggested using a sewing machine to pierce the holes for sewing the cover around the wheel, this actually worked brilliantly and made the cross stitch miles easier to do. Kind of chose the wrong type of stitch as it took forever, as in 8-10 hours  ;D
I didn't get the pattern perfect but hey its my first go at it so I'll improve on the next one.
(https://i.imgur.com/7hLQmPK.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/OIS47Es.jpg)
The easy part done I could start on the cross stitch, bought some curved needles for the job which worked well........just took forever.
Looks like I've picked one of the harder stitches to do, 2 needle cross stitch. Having to go back through the same hole twice in order to make the X but I did it, looks cool.
Feeling pretty jazzed at this point, thinking this will actually all work.
(https://i.imgur.com/Rsdk0hG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/kstqWjG.jpg)


Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on August 02, 2020, 06:56:56 PM
Looks awesome John.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 09, 2020, 10:29:59 AM
During 2019 I had planned to take December off to work on this swap so that I could do it most as a job rather than as time allowed, I also didn't want this turning in to a year plus long project.
Anyways fast forward to November 19 2019 and I'd gotten all my jobs finished early so rather than taking something else on I decided I'd start a couple weeks early which looking at it now I would fully need.
At the time I didn't know just how big the project would become but from past experiences I should have known this was going to happen!  >:D
Drove the old dunger in the shop and on the hoist, time to dismember it.
First things first, pull the ABF out. At least I could fully vouch for this engine having been driving it for a while and fortunately I'd already pre sold it to another VASK member which in early Jan 2020 I fitted it in to his car for him so that worked out very nicely.
(https://i.imgur.com/Doc5uK9.jpg)
With the front off it was nice to see the car hadn't had any frontals, only a battery box replacement which looked like it would need some work again this time round.
Decided to label the wiring I needed to keep so that once its all on the floor its easier to figure out what to discard.
Off with the axles, cut the exhaust in to pieces and in to the steel bin as I won't be using any of it.
(https://i.imgur.com/wsVu5Is.jpg)
Rolled the car forward to the gantry and yanked the engine and box out. As easy as that. Now what?
The ABF looked pretty dry so I was confident the new owner would be happy with it, took the gearbox and clutch off which could also be on sold to recover some $$ to put in to other stuff.
Having finished all my paying work for other people it meant I have a spare car space in the shop so everything that got removed from Projekt  Zwei could be laid out on the floor until I was needed or could be sold.
(https://i.imgur.com/dkMwOHj.jpg)
Up next the sub frame, struts, brakes, steering rack and lines, basically everything underneath including the fuel tank and lines were removed.
The wiring wasn't overly tidy and holes had been hacked indiscriminately where ever needed which wasn't going to fly and at this point I decided to do a semi wire tuck as well further complicating a short build time.
But hey projects are meant to grow right?
(https://i.imgur.com/gtvRRsD.jpg)
On one of my trips to Wellington during the year I'd bought a few things from Lane including an un cracked dash. The original one was badly cracked and looked to have shrunk in places, mainly in the corners near the speakers. Not nice at all.
Front seats out, carpets and dash out.
It had to all come apart back to a bare firewall for the new AC box and hydro clutch swap. Who ever did the conversion to ABF had converted the 02A gearbox to a cable operation which was never going to work for this swap so very early on I decided to get rid of it and swap to hydraulic.
Not a lot left of it now but tearing stuff apart is easy right, putting it all back together is the fun part.
(https://i.imgur.com/5JXPDz6.jpg)


Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: albert7550 on August 10, 2020, 09:59:46 PM
Hi, what kind of aluminium cleaner can you recommend for parts like the gearbox casings? Thanks
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 11, 2020, 07:01:22 AM
I can't recall the brand but I bought it from Supercheap.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 16, 2020, 09:52:24 AM
The end of the year fast approaching there was a bunch of stuff I really needed to get done and organized before most companies shut down for the holidays, kinds of things that stop you in your tracks.
Chris at Tyretech had gotten me an incredible deal on a new set of Michelin Pilot sport tyres so the logical place to start was stripping the Chinese tyres off those Work Pietra Corse wheels, a pretty rare wheel these days.
Kerbed 360 deg on all 4 wheels  ::) Don't know how that's possible but there you go.
Machined all 4 lips back smooth, ready to go to Pro Coat.
(https://i.imgur.com/CQwHByT.jpg)
The sub frame in the car turned out to already be a mk3 one but they had cut the rear lugs off instead of adding threaded holes to the floor of the body.
Since I had a good K frame I binned the other one, added the mounts and bolted that in. Plan was to get all the fabrication done and figure everything out fitment wise before looking at paint.
Modified the engine block to fit the Mk2 front mount bracket giving me 2 points of reference to fit the engine, the gearbox mount is all Mk3 locating one point and the mk2 front mount locates the front.
This gave me a starting point to make the rear engine mount from scratch.
(https://i.imgur.com/QbL4vzM.jpg)
Engine sitting in place I didn't like the lean it was on so started playing with heights and angles to get things lined up. Modified the front cross member for AC pump pulley clearance.
The easiest part done I started to quickly realise all the problem areas of dealing with such a narrow engine bay. A bunch of engine in and out to finish the rear mount, made really problematic by the turbo and its associated piping.
In all heavy modifications needed to make it all work.
(https://i.imgur.com/lthYVcg.jpg)



Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 23, 2020, 10:37:56 AM
Another trip to AA wreckers armed with a drill and spot weld cutter yielded a factory mk6 coolant tank bracket and the whole left trans mount brackets which also incorporate the mounts for the battery tray and air box. These will be cut down to just the pieces I needed.
Temporarily re fitted the bonnet for checking clearances etc, one major problem I noticed immediately was the Mk6 pancake pipe out of the turbo was never going to work. The turbo exits directly against the RH chassis rail, a problem made worse by a drive shaft being in the same space.
Looked at all sorts of options, odd shaped flat pipe etc but nothing was really going to work so I carried on getting other problems solved.
(https://i.imgur.com/P9T8DvO.jpg)
Turned my attention to the AC system instead, funny how things change over the years. Wrecked MK3's used to be everywhere but not so anymore. Found a complete AC box and took the thing apart to clean the evaporator and re foam the control flaps.
Fitted a new heater core at the same time.
My car was a non AC model so a few extra holes had to be drilled for the box to fit, its very similar to the Mk2 one but just doesn't fit 100%. The box I ended up with was the Mk3 AC part coupled to the Mk2 control head.
The air intake doesn't line up quite right with the hole in the rain tray and as a result the dash vents don't line up either.
I decided I couldn't live with that, The box needed to go further forward where the pipes exit to make it line up so I just sectioned that part of the firewall to bring it forward the 20 or so mm it needed.
This made the box line up well and also brought the dash vent in to line, full custom pipes would need to be made once I knew what space I had left.
(https://i.imgur.com/tqRHD2s.jpg)
Having made the mount for the mk6 engine bay fuse box I was able to cut down the mounts I got from AA wreckers to find a spot for those where the battery box and air box could live for an OEM look.
I was never going to use a so called "cold" air intake with a pod filter.
A, they look crap and B, sound like crap. Not for me thanks  >:D
Anyways, I'm doing 8-10 hour days by now and things are starting to happen but around every corner there's another problem.
My friend Filx had decided to wreck his TSI wagon which gave me the car side wire harness, ECU, exhaust sensors and a bunch of other useful parts I'd need. Spent a Saturday helping him wreck that and stripping the parts I needed out of it.
Another dead VW off to scrap.
(https://i.imgur.com/H9GSqdH.jpg)


Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 30, 2020, 10:25:54 AM
Motor out again to start on the ABS unit and brake lines. Bit of a guessing game at this point but I was fairly certain the ECU would want to see the brake light switch and clutch switch so that would entail fitting MK6 stuff as its all totally different to anything I've used in the past.
I didn't have a new clutch cylinder yet as it had not yet arrived from overseas, this would have to be figured out later.
The MK6 master cylinder has the brake light switch on the side of it which is operated magnetically, this posed a challenge. Due to space and other factors I couldn't use a mk5/6 booster.
Lots of measuring and looking at various parts I ended up with a mk2 booster and fitted a mk6 master cylinder to it. With the ABS unit positioned I made lines from the master cylinder to ABS and out to each wheel.
(https://i.imgur.com/PuedRRv.jpg)
The majority of the braking system figured out the engine and box could go back in for now to start on the cooling system. I wanted to leave as much of the front end as standard as possible.
I really wanted to use a Corrado VR6 radiator as it fits the MK2 but little chance of finding one here as the Corrado VR6 was never sold here.
Called Qualitat and a few other vw  places but no was the answer.
Decided worth calling my local radiator shop I've dealt with for years, YES!! In stock, unbelievable.
Not only that but it was cheap!! and turned out to be a German made Behr one.
Radiator in place and slam panel on it becomes pretty clear things are going to be tight, not to mention how to get the coolant hoses from the engine to radiator with the front cross member in the way.
I modified a MK4 AC condenser to fit on the front of the radiator which worked out really well, new drier in the factory location left just enough room for intercooler piping........hopefully.
Custom fan shroud would need to be made, if the ECU cannot see the factory fan control unit it limits power. Control unit is in the main fan.....which is far to big to fit my application.
(https://i.imgur.com/aUXQ1qy.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GIOF7vf.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: LouieP on August 30, 2020, 12:57:55 PM
That radiator was a score! Out of curiosity, how come you reached for the mk6 ea888 and not the MQB ea888.3? I know you have one in stock >:D
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 30, 2020, 03:30:17 PM
Yeah I couldn't quite believe it, especially once I got it to see it was Behr and not some cheap rubbish brand.
The motor, suppose it was the fact I had two mk6 EA888 exchange engines and decided I didn't need two of them so it made sense to use one myself.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 06, 2020, 10:52:10 AM
With the slam panel on it looks like I just have enough room between the chassis rails and the radiator to run the intercooler piping, at this point I'm able to measure up and order a suitable intercooler for the job.
The one I ended up with is rated for 350hp so that leaves plenty of scope for any future tweaks if that eventuates.
By now I've also made the pipework for the A/C, using a mix of mk3 / 4 here but didn't really take any pics of that. Plenty of work in just those alone.
The wiring was often in my way but decided to leave it as it would eventually end up  semi tucked in the chassis rail to clean the bay up a little.
(https://i.imgur.com/cr8XJvz.jpg)
On to the next issue, power steering! No provision for power steering pump on these engines and not really any room for it anyway due to the oil filter housing being on that side of the motor.
Mk5/6 electric rack wont work as its far too big. Back to the Mk3 p/s rack and a hydroelectric pump to run it.
After doing a bit of research I imported an Opel Zafira pump, it even has a control unit so that it only runs when there's load on it ie when driving straight it draws little to no power but its able to run as stand alone so it has no can bus type issues.
Luckily there was a perfect spot for it in the LF inner guard.
(https://i.imgur.com/0neOUlV.jpg)
Modified the mount that came with the pump to get it in there, its very very tight but seems to work well.
With the pump in place I made new high and low pressure lines back to the steering rack that just run under the chassis rail back to the stock clamp on the sub frame.
(https://i.imgur.com/G8dsRdH.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/731Zan9.jpg)
Since I'm using a mk6 engine bay fuse box this already has a power output dedicated to an electric steering system with a 80A fuse so its quite nice and tidy.
soo many problems, so few solutions haha. On to solving the turbo outlet issue. Drastic measures needed but more on that next week if anyone is still reading this!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: gti vr6 on September 06, 2020, 02:04:49 PM
still reading  ;)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Trofeo on September 06, 2020, 07:07:50 PM
Another epic build. So much talent!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: slowburn on September 08, 2020, 04:25:30 PM
def still reading
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Worms on September 09, 2020, 09:01:48 AM
Quote from: 80 Vert on September 06, 2020, 10:52:10 AM
... if anyone is still reading this!

If the forum software wasn't so crap/antiquated/broken, there'd be a buttload of "Likes" to tell you we're still reading and interested  8)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: signalh on September 09, 2020, 09:22:16 AM
Still reading.....and very grateful to all those who contribute their time and imagery to keep the rest of us entertained.  Thanks!!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on September 09, 2020, 10:45:12 AM
Also following with interest!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on September 09, 2020, 10:56:04 AM
meticulous, as always
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on September 09, 2020, 11:35:47 AM
Silent follower
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 13, 2020, 11:08:07 AM
Cheers fellas, looks like the forum isn't dead yet!
Anyway, the turbo......That was really the next port of call. Engine out again and the only way to make this work was to cut the outlet off the turbo and re position it to clear the chassis rail.
(https://i.imgur.com/HMJyeJf.jpg)
Below that you can see the work in progress of the rear engine mount using existing mounting holes in the block.
With the outlet cut off it was more or less a matter of rotating the outlet fitting 180 deg and tig welding it back on. Also relocated the boost solenoid at that fouls on the chassis rail as well. Its all pretty tight in there but just enough room is just that!
Nice to be able to retain the factory quick dis connect fitting for the intercooler pipe. While doing the fabrication I really tried to think about how this would come apart if I needed to work on it down the track. Often things are built in a way where its a nightmare to take apart later on.
(https://i.imgur.com/WBKbYFt.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/VwgxCFj.jpg)
With that situation resolved I just moved on to the next problem, the radiator fans.
The ECU will throw a wobbly if it cant see the fan control unit and on mk5/6 that's in the main fan so somehow I'd have to use it but the diameter was far too big. (I would end up redesigning the whole thing later on due to A/C issues)
Started looking at other fan blades from Mk4 and ended up finding a smaller blade that I modified to fit the mk6 fan motor and that also rotated the correct way, in all a huge amount of wasted time here since I'd end up re visiting this.
The two fans fit the radiator well size wise and looked like this was a winner....for now.
(https://i.imgur.com/P5BNLvz.jpg)
I designed a new fan shroud and had a local shop make it from Aluminium, they have a large press brake that can fold pretty tight complex edges where as my folder is more of a simple right angle type of machine.
Bit of trimming for the Mk4 drier and radiator hose fitting it fit like a glove.
At this point the radiator, condenser and shroud were taking shape and I had just enough room to stuff it all in there, the A/C turned out to be a huge headache in the end and most would have to just left it out but summer is hot and I need A/C  >:D
No compromises around here.
(https://i.imgur.com/E4VLxPl.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 20, 2020, 05:16:47 PM
By now its early December and Christmas is just around the corner. Some of these issues have really eaten in to my fabrication time and doing 40-50 hour weeks on the project is seeing little forward progress at times.
Fan shroud made and fitting on the radiator I cut some holes in it and cleaned those up, made some simple stainless braces to attach the fan motors to the shroud.
Since the main fan has the fan control unit inside it its quite a bit bigger so I had to make a ring that I welded to the shroud to fill the large gap between the blade and shroud.
(https://i.imgur.com/MynkRwr.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2RQxlM1.jpg)
Little did I know at this point I'd be re visiting all of this but for now it gave me a more or less completed cooling pack to fit in the car and start thinking about an intercooler. Things were looking mighty tight in there, had to make a coolant pipe to route one of the hoses downwards and under the front engine / gearbox mount to the bottom of the radiator and the other one up to the top without getting in the way of the charge pipe.
A/C hose fouls on the slave fan but a simple bracket off the shroud will keep that from doing any harm.
(https://i.imgur.com/2ZtIiGG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/wuTvPAy.jpg)
I already bought a 350hp capable intercooler quite early on so that would be the next job. I really had to get a move on to make the IC piping if there was any hope of getting them coated before the holiday shut down.
Looked like this would work ok, bolted to the slam panel with the lower support cut away to enable the IC to sit as close to the condenser as possible so that the bumper would fit. Plan was to replace the lower slam panel support with the intercooler.
Now the intercooler also acts as the lower slam panel support which seems to work really well.
Had to drop the IC down a bit to make the pipes work better and more so for bumper fitment, there's been very minimal cutting needed on the bumper. Just a nip here and a tuck there.
(https://i.imgur.com/8R21U1r.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/z7D9WYi.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/VAHCq3c.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on September 20, 2020, 11:29:19 PM
December? is this work not current?
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: rambo_005 on September 21, 2020, 04:14:25 AM
Quote from: the phantom on September 20, 2020, 11:29:19 PM
December? is this work not current?

Vert is driving around in this now.

He was working on my Mk2 when he first picked this one up... I may have inspired him somewhat :D
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 21, 2020, 06:09:06 PM
Correct, building Cam's VR6 MK2 made me really want a mk2 again hence buying UU9774.
Kept it all pretty quiet till it ran and drove 😅
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: slowburn on September 21, 2020, 08:10:42 PM
one day when i have enough coin i am going to get you to work your magic on my b2 coupe quattro....love your attention to detail. the poor old thing needs a mild rebuild, smarting up
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 27, 2020, 11:24:21 AM
Wheels are always exciting right? Got a call from Pro Coat to say my rims were ready so promptly went and picked those up and dropped them at Tyretech on my way back to get new Michelin PS3 tyres fitted that they had been holding for me for several weeks.
A vast improvement I'm sure from the Chinese Minerva tyres that were on those wheels when I got the car.
Still center caps to make but this is a great start to make it a roller again.
(https://i.imgur.com/ua0eWqd.jpg)
Finished off the driver side intercooler pipe as well, messed about for ages with the intercooler to throttle body but got there with a combination of MK6 and custom pipe with a mounting block welded on for the MAP sensor.
It only just clears the main radiator fan as it runs directly in front of it.
In fact its SO tight I had to cut a chunk off the gear selector weight just to make it all clear.
Although behind schedule, Really feeling like getting to the paint stage is creeping closer
(https://i.imgur.com/Gr7rU6e.jpg)
One of the last major fabrication things left is the exhaust, I HATE doing exhausts  >:D Mainly because I have shaky hands so my tig welding sucks and I don't have a band saw to cut pipe squarely so fitting things to have little to no gaps is always challenging.
I bought a NZ made Adrenalin resonator as Id used one on the Ghia and I was really impressed with it. For the rear muffler I wanted a single in and dual out.
After looking at all sorts of stuff on TM I really couldn't find anything I liked so I contacted Adrenalin to see what they had. They didn't have anything on the shelf but said we could make you something?
I really needed something right away to be able to carry on so the guy said ok, we'll make it today and ship it out tomorrow.......and they did!!! How good is that!
(https://i.imgur.com/AtHn7fY.jpg)
Also bought a couple off stainless V bands off them to have one at the front on the down pipe and one at the muffler so the whole thing comes apart really easy.
Id scored a 3" stainless mk5 downpipe to cut up and the rest of the bends are from left over stainless exhausts I've collected over the years.
Cut off all of the Mk2 hangers and changed them all over to far better mk4/mk5 ones. Benefits of wrecking cars and hoarding junk.
Using the short flexi at the front off the 3" downpipe and also using its high flow cat.
(https://i.imgur.com/zUVYXTN.jpg)
Rear box on I really wanted tail pipes that are in keeping with how they were originally angled on a 16V.
The tail pipes were 2" but I'd later change these to 2 1/4" to fill the cut out in the bumper more and suit it much better.
Exhaust mig tacked together I had a professional welder tig weld it for me. Did an amazing job despite my pretty average pipe fitting skills. Super happy.
(https://i.imgur.com/EsZTFgF.jpg)


Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 04, 2020, 11:24:16 AM
New Michelins mounted, just center caps to repair. Thankfully all 4 nuts and center plates were there, those would be near impossible to replace now.
I'd ordered a set of Work caps but they are smaller diameter than the hole in the cap nut so I'd have to machine something for all of that to work.
(https://i.imgur.com/8WklqL8.jpg)
The Mk6 clutch cylinder finally arrived so that would be the last fabrication job left to do, time to strip out the engine bay and finally remove absolutely everything and that mess of wiring that was constantly in my way when fitting the engine.
Everything out I modified the original mk2 pedal box on the bench and placed the clutch cylinder exactly where I wanted it on the firewall. This way I could also make sure it had its full range of motion for the push rod.
The clutch cylinder has the clutch switch as part of it which the ecu wants to see, a lot of extra work for a stupid switch.
The mk6 uses a twist in style attachment which meant making an aluminium type locking nut to install it. Reinforced the paper thin firewall and pedal box with 5mm steel plate.
(https://i.imgur.com/wLeCEpb.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/BhVV18J.jpg)
At this point something happened that always does with me, the project took a turn and became much MUCH bigger than I had originally planned for.
Thinking if I'm going to paint the engine bay then why not paint all the wheel wells? Ok if I'm doing that then I should really paint the under body as well, along with susp, sub frame, calipers etc etc..........after all it will be easy right? This is how the process starts..........down the rabbit hole we go..
Last minute parts I sent out for plating came back, those awesome people at Terei Bros turned them around in less than a week before closing for Christmas. Thanks guys!
(https://i.imgur.com/8MsuIcg.jpg)



Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 11, 2020, 08:51:26 AM
Time to open a can of worms. Engine bay stripped there's a bunch of work to be done before paint can happen.
During the ABF swap some pretty big holes were cut to run wiring through, don't really understand that as Mk2's have heaps of extra holes as is, guess it was easier to cut a hole than just taking the rubber plugs out...
In all I filled around 20 un needed holes, a few that were drilled but mostly extra factory holes that are no longer needed for a cleaner look.
Process is pretty simple, make a slug and weld it in, grind it smooth, repeat about 20 times.
(https://i.imgur.com/zzKDbNp.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/KuUNAZM.jpg)
I found some rust in the rain tray seam on the firewall so it was best to remove the factory sealant from the seam you can see above in order to sand blast it back and epoxy prime it which hopefully slows down future rust.
Cut out the rot in the firewall and rain tray, made new pieces and welded in.
Only a small section but it had rusted right through to the cabin, this is all from water making it through the seam sealer in the rain tray and rusting out the seam.
(https://i.imgur.com/i4Gl191.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/jCJ4gRm.jpg)
The rust on the side of the strut tower was a little more difficult, I cut a big part of the rain try out to get access to it, as it turns out most of the rust was the side of the rain tray where it attaches to the strut tower. Scraped off the factory sealer until I found clean paint. Rust has a tendency to creep under sealer especially in seams.
At this point I really needed to do some sand blasting of all the rusty areas on the body, a lot was just surface but like the strut tower a bit heavier.
Plugged all the holes with duct tape to hopefully stop most of the sand and dust entering the interior.
Repaired the rain tray section on the bench ready to go back in once sand blasted.
(https://i.imgur.com/TYSF05H.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 18, 2020, 09:35:50 PM
All the welding done I ended up scraping off factory undercoating where ever it looked dodgy and found quite a bit of rust starting to travel under the undercoat, mostly due to the factory stuff going hard and cracking allowing water to get underneath.
This was the start of the project taking another turn but in the end will make a much much nicer car when finished.
(https://i.imgur.com/T78Sdbj.jpg)
With these areas exposed, sandblasting could take place. I have my own pressurised blasting tank and a big 3 phase compressor at work so even the onslaught of Christmas wasn't going to stop me.
Metal as clean as it was going to get the 2 pot epoxy went on to seal everything up. Quite surprised at how little dust made it inside the car.
In all really glad I took the time to do these extra steps.
(https://i.imgur.com/5aLSXm9.jpg)
On with my most hated job of all, filler!!
Tried a new filler on this car which I must say sands really nicely, took me ages to smooth out all the areas worked on
and also then re primed with epoxy. Block that down and repeat.
All 4 wheel arches and some of the under body got new coats of under coating to match the factory finish as much as possible.
At last this bucket of crap is starting to look like something.
(https://i.imgur.com/j8jEOPO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/yxMM8BJ.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 25, 2020, 10:33:44 AM
Engine bay nearing painting there's a lot of detail to sort out. Since I'm now tidying up the under side as well I couldn't really leave dirty ugly calipers on so they got taken apart, blasted - primed and painted.
Smaller stuff like this is pretty easy, blast it and shoot a coat of epoxy on and then once the epoxy has flashed off but isn't yet dry shoot the red on eliminating the need for sanding.
The roller door making the perfect paint rack on a calm day, the sub frame and suspension components were done in a similar manner but skipped the blasting part.
I really had to be careful not to go OTT otherwise it just becomes a show piece that is never driven.
(https://i.imgur.com/ykvAaT1.jpg)
Cam pointed out my car had the incorrect 7 slat grille on it which I hadn't even noticed and thankfully he offered me a really nice condition 4 slat one he had.
All it needed was a good clean and a re paint of the red edge, masking took longer than I would have thought but well worth the extra time taken. A nice grille is a must as its a bit of a statement piece on a mk2.
(https://i.imgur.com/UyfHaT4.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/rIS3el0.jpg)
Organised some Caprigruen base coat, clear and hardener before my painter shut for the holidays.  With a few last jobs to tackle in the engine bay things were looking pretty good, I'd already painted the under side and wheel wells at this point with the main event still to happen.
Got everything set up first day after New Years to hopefully keep dust down and over spray from getting on the rest of the car.
Hard to believe this bucket o crap had about 5 weeks of full time 40+ hour weeks in it at this stage.
(https://i.imgur.com/xueb5AA.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Dy4Wu2f.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 01, 2020, 10:13:04 AM
When my painter mixed the Caprigruen he also made a dark green base coat to lay down first so that the factory colour would cover better and not take so many coats over the grey primer. Great idea, worked a treat.
2 coats of base and 3 clear, job done. My only screw up was not leaving the 2nd clear coat long enough to flash before my final coat which resulted in the paint staying soft for a very long time.
If done in a booth you could just bake it but I couldn't do that, had to wait it out but was a concern for a while.
(https://i.imgur.com/GF1xS6G.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/I46t4JY.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/dk4wnuA.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/KaeNJi1.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on November 01, 2020, 11:47:28 AM
Really enjoying these project reports.
Looks like you are keeping the forum alive single handed
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 01, 2020, 12:04:45 PM
Haha thanks, become a bit of a Sunday morning thing.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 08, 2020, 05:12:55 PM
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/mZGnRrM.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gCEClJi.jpg)
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.......
(https://i.imgur.com/gczYo0a.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 15, 2020, 08:48:45 AM
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/gtPGgZc.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/OczxWnU.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/ciLa9Wz.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: coons on November 17, 2020, 06:31:53 PM
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  ;D
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 17, 2020, 09:56:24 PM
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.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 22, 2020, 09:58:33 AM
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/6hspi9J.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/86kLWok.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/GUPcMTU.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/I5EWq2z.jpg)

Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 29, 2020, 11:01:16 AM
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  ;D)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/kS7vqD6.jpg)
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 (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.
(https://i.imgur.com/dscMYc2.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/T49j8GU.jpg)

Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 06, 2020, 10:37:38 AM
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........
(https://i.imgur.com/WnvUA9S.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/QGGScyD.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/eSXYTlf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/HtEdHR3.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on December 06, 2020, 12:18:01 PM
Really enjoying these updates, car looking fantastic and the attention to detail on another level
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 13, 2020, 09:43:45 AM
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/3BfNlQ6.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/evfyDCJ.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/2rZPWp2.jpg)
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.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: McDoof on December 16, 2020, 10:59:27 AM
Still enjoying this thread. You make most other builds look like butcher jobs.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: slowburn on December 17, 2020, 08:44:22 AM
this ^^^^^^^^^^ 8)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 19, 2020, 11:07:15 AM
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.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 20, 2020, 10:02:22 AM
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/JSCmUrv.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Tqj7hZL.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/VIBV3EW.jpg)
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
(https://i.imgur.com/4czGpGQ.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: slowburn on December 21, 2020, 10:41:57 AM
sweet result! merry chrstmas pressie to yourself, excellent. such a cool car
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 21, 2020, 01:01:47 PM
This was back in March, I'm still catching up the thread to where I'm at now.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: coons on December 26, 2020, 04:07:29 PM
Awesome
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 27, 2020, 10:37:41 AM
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/7wcQm6R.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/b6VnZjk.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/1H9o9YQ.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: nordschleife on December 27, 2020, 01:55:14 PM
This is awesome to see.  Thanks for the updates - makes me want to get to work on my MK1.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 03, 2021, 09:30:59 AM
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/dDyBv0G.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/5aZmfEt.jpg)
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/sLBnF0w.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: rambo_005 on January 03, 2021, 09:36:34 AM
I was lucky enough to go out for a ride in this beastie on new years day. Such an awesome car!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: uzumati on January 03, 2021, 09:27:29 PM
Geez . I thought I was lucky to set eyes on it in the metal yesterday lol .the attention to detail is scary.the opportunity was much appreciated and great to put a face to the name.this build is next level.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 10, 2021, 05:34:01 PM
Finishing detail always takes forever and certainly no exception here. Most of the engine bay finished and sorting out the last of the wiring I realised there wasn't really any room for the mk2 washer tank.
Wanting to keep the engine bay as clutter free as possible I decided to make my own and hide it in the rain tray where the stock ecu used to be and it even has a handy cover over it to hide it away completely.
Made one out of cardboard to play with sizing etc and placement to clear the wiper motor arms.
(https://i.imgur.com/rz4dFPm.jpg)
Folded it up out of scrap sheet aluminium and tig welded it together, had to make a neck for a Mk5 cap to clip on to and used the stock mk2 washer pump.
Uses the stock clips and tray mountings which used to hold the ecu to keep it in place.
Coat of wrinkle black from a spray bomb completes yet another little detail, doesn't hold much water but plenty for wofs and the odd screen wash. Never going to daily this car in winter or anything so will be just fine.
(https://i.imgur.com/rvingpR.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2Hu5hGa.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 15, 2021, 09:09:13 PM
Johnnytron you absolute legend, contacted me out of the blue to say he'd found the original owners books and wallet for the Mk2 from when he used to own it. Nice to reunite these with the car after a 10 year absence.
Thanks bud, appreciate it.
(https://i.imgur.com/hEoWqh1.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: rambo_005 on January 16, 2021, 12:27:50 AM
That's so cool 8)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 17, 2021, 09:57:04 AM
On wards with the interior, both front floors were super solid but did have surface rust starting and the bitumen sound insulation was cracking and falling apart. Now was the right time to take all of it off, treat the rust and apply new material.
Heat gun and scraper worked wonders, passenger floor was the worst compared to the driver floor which still wore most of its factory primer.
Wire wheeled the minimal rust and treated it with Brunox, once dry new sheets of Bostik tar board went down heated and pressed in to all the recesses of the floor panel.
Rear floors were in great shape so I decided to just leave them alone, before and after.
(https://i.imgur.com/idJdpdg.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UUshNmi.jpg)
Time to start thinking about the front end and bumper. New / used grille restored and inside of the lights cleaned a nice easy job.
The bumper not so much, obviously had fog lights as the switch and wiring was there but no lights. Bought some Ebay re pop lights which are very average in quality but do the job for now. At some stage I'd like to find some originals somewhere.
The bumper, well that was a complete mess. Every single clip and tab holding the steel reinforce to the cover was broken. Crudely screwed together with some self tappers and wood screws. Some real geniuses have worked on this poor car.
This turned in to a 2 day job to straighten out the reinforcement bar and make new brackets to attach the cover so that it fits tightly together and to the body again.
Ideally it needs a new bumper but little chance of finding a nice one here, let me know if anyone has something.
Looking at it now you'd never know how poked it was.
(https://i.imgur.com/KPTXRGB.jpg)
Using the factory Mk6 airbox I wanted to retain the oem plastic intake pipe as well but due to placement being slightly different the 2 would not meet. Looked at joining 2 pipes together but that didn't really work out.
In the end just a simple extension machined from some intercooler piping did the trick nicely.
(https://i.imgur.com/xEFK4RJ.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on January 18, 2021, 08:43:44 AM
Great score getting those original books and owner?s wallet. So good of the previous owner to get in touch and send those to you. And as for the rest of it, a truly epic resto-mod. Such a cool car.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: dubstar on January 18, 2021, 12:49:19 PM
That engine bay really does look OEM
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 24, 2021, 09:41:17 AM
Front end on for the final time or so I thought at least, that was until solving the A/C became a problem.
The engine ecu has full control over the cooling fans speeding up and slowing down as it deems necessary to control coolant temps and on a Mk5/6 the Canbus handles the A/C on messages turning on the fans.
There didn't seem any way to break in to turn the fans on when the A/C was switched on, this became a real headache to solve in the end. I did get to a point where disconnecting the outside air temp sensor would turn the fans on so I thought about the A/C switch simply breaking this contact and the fans would run.
Problem with this was that the fans would run full bore.....not ideal.
The more I thought about it the more it wasn't for me, at that point I remembered I had a single factory fan from a late Mk7.5.
This could work, use the 7.5 fan for the engine and the Mk5/6 slave fan (normally driven by the mk5/6 main fan) for the A/C.
Cooling pack needs to come out......again...
(https://i.imgur.com/hw6E9sC.jpg)
Took the Mk5/6 main fan and control unit out and swapped in the 7.5 one, had to pretty much re make everything at this point including the attachment for the fan blade.
Rewired everything to suit and now the engine ecu just controls one fan however both are connected to coolant temp so that at high temps both fans can run.
Found that the Mk3 Cabriolet had the simplest wiring for A/C so I would use that.
(https://i.imgur.com/Ufyk49G.jpg)
Had to make room for some extra sensors which would go in the coolant pipe I made to run under the front engine mount, at the same time I made and added a centralised coolant drain as I was tired of the mess it created pulling a hose off to drain the coolant.
New Mk3 sensors for coolant and A/C these were wired up to a separate Mk3 coolant fan control module to run the A/C and fan for it.
This way if coolant gets too hot with A/C on its cuts the A/C off as well, nice safeguard.
Although a huge amount of work this is a 1000% better solution, besides we were in lockdown....what else am I gonna do!
(https://i.imgur.com/IcVDMHs.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/wnLyURr.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: coons on January 24, 2021, 02:35:34 PM
Nice one. Coolant drain plug is great, why don't they do this from factory. I remember I never got the AC figured out on my Mk3 - I kind of gave up. But being a bit of an OEM freak it always annoyed me that I knew it didn't function..
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 31, 2021, 09:29:45 AM
Time to start thinking about finishing the interior, the speedo cable is too long since on a mk2 it used to reside on the front of the gearbox where as now it's on the back at the firewall.
Didn't  want to wait until after lock down  to have a new one made so I decided to make my own.
Somehow I had to make the cable end square again after cutting the length down so I made these V blocks in the mill.
Once at the desired length just put the cable in the blocks and squeeze them in the press to get the square drive I need. Easy peasy.
(https://i.imgur.com/PSTjTJi.jpg)
Replacement dash from Lane without cracks cleaned up really  nicely and looks a damn sight better than the mess that was there before.
Front carpets back in as well starting to look like a car again.
The carpet looks great after 2-3 waterblast sessions and vacuuming half a dozen times.
Each time getting a bit more crud out of them.
Used a std dbw pedal to blend in with the others, wiring just about there as well.
(https://i.imgur.com/785tCNN.jpg)
Got a nifty unit from Tanks Inc in the states that matches any sending unit to any gauge and is fully programmable in my case matching my mk6 sending unit to the mk2 cluster.
(https://i.imgur.com/3OdJUFs.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on February 07, 2021, 09:50:35 AM
Never thought getting the tach to work would be this difficult. Thanks to USRally team it was, they had a can bus unit that extracts an rpm signal from the can bus. I'd bought their unit after emailing them and explaining what engine I had and what I wanted to achieve with it.
After waiting endlessly through youshop I installed the unit which came with no instructions (had to google these) and it didn't work, after sales support was less than helpful. Soo typical of an American company.
Feeling fairly annoyed at this point I just needed to put that aside and move on.
Had to find a solution for a check engine light, came up with a nice solution in the end by modifying the central hand brake light and fitting the Check Engine, EPC light on one side and put Low Fuel and ABS on the other side.
When off these are completely invisible and you'd never know they are there.
(https://i.imgur.com/ocRWmav.jpg)
As is usually the case with old cars a lot of things don't work, on this Mk2 most of the bulbs in the switches and heater controls were burnt out. These are part of the unit and can't be replaced simply.
I wanted all of this stuff to work so took each one apart carefully and soldered in new bulbs, quite fiddly but that's what is so great about old stuff you can actually take it apart and repair it.
McAllister radio repair had expertly replaced the leds in the radio so with new speakers in, all wiring fixed the period Blaupunkt could be fitted. Happy days.
(https://i.imgur.com/psoKch4.jpg)
Lockdown announced to drop down to level 2 soon I could almost taste a proper full test drive in a mostly completed car, In the meantime I'd found something very special for the Golf (for me anyway haha) and as soon as we were to drop to Level 2 I was planning to go pick this up.
Until then short drives in the industrial estate would have to do. No tach still but I did buy yet another unit from another supplier in the US, incidentally a unit I considered before buying the USRT one. go figure.
With the Global pandemic in full effect this would take nearly 2 months to arrive but that was the norm then, still is today from some places as I've recently experienced.
(https://i.imgur.com/VgLSJ94.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on February 07, 2021, 10:54:01 AM
The attention to detail on this build and all the lateral thinking required is next level.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: coons on February 07, 2021, 01:55:25 PM
Maybe you're glossing over a lot of it, but getting it to work with the Mk2 cluster (or dash in general) is impressive - obviously the tacho caused a few headaches.

Is the whole car converted to a Mk6 loom or have you spliced in a Mk2 loom for most of the cabin?
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on February 07, 2021, 03:21:53 PM
Thanks Jon, yes massively frustrating at times but a proper challenge which is what I wanted from this build.

Sam, the whole car is stock CE2 MK2 wiring with the MK6 engine bay fuse box (which powers the engine ECU) spliced in.
The Mk2 tach has its own unique required pulse signal to work which is why the USRT can bus converter didn't work, they had me wasting a bunch of time splicing it in different places but as I found out myself in the end the signal their box puts out the Mk2 tach can't read hence no worky.
The tach, Alt light and oil pressure light caused the most grief to get working, some my own failings but persistence prevailed.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on February 09, 2021, 12:21:38 PM
Don't want to bore anyone with detail but the Alt light was a good fail on my part and can laugh about it now but it was pretty annoying at the time.
Couldn't get the light to work, tested the wiring, cluster bulb etc. Grounding the alt wire made the bulb light up so I knew the MK2 wiring was fine, once that wire gets 12V+ from the alternator the light goes out.
Had to be the alternator on the engine, but was it? Charges fine with the engine running so wtf?
After a lot of head scratching I decided to pull the alternator and change the regulator as i didn't have a spare alternator to chuck on. NOPE, nothing.....
Decided it had to be the alternator so took it off again and with it on the bench I started looking more closely at the regulator and noticed a production date of 14, hmm that's possibly MK7...
2nd regulator was also dated 13, also potentially MK7 meaning STOP / START so the light is handled by the canbus and not the regulator.
Went hunting and found a MK5 R32 engine uses a different alternator (won't fit my engine but the regulator does).
Installed that and guess what, light on and goes out as normal.
How I ended up with a MK7 Alternator on my engine is still a mystery but that's just one tale of some of the problems I came across on this build.

Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on February 14, 2021, 09:01:17 AM
Once on its wheels outside in the light I felt the tail pipes were too small, I'd used dual 2" and these didn't really fill the bumper cut out nearly enough for my liking. Easy fix with a couple new 2 1/4" pipes made and welded on.
Minor thing but looks a lot better, doesn't give much away as to what's hiding under the hood.
(https://i.imgur.com/2jhfpl6.jpg)
Job done
(https://i.imgur.com/LMSKvvm.jpg)
Our lockdown had been dropped to Level 2 so it's road trip time. Been on the hunt for a wrecked Audi B2 80 or 90, much like Mk2 Golf's there's not many of them left.
I'd come close to finding what I needed a couple times but every time didn't quite get there and then heard about one at Smash Palace so I emailed them straight away but due to Covid never got a reply. Once at level 2 I got straight on the blower to them.
Yes, a 90 5 cylinder sedan! Excellent.
Parts I wanted were there and they very graciously agreed to let me remove the parts myself.
Really really great people to deal with, especially  Barbara in the office.
Sent me some pictures and we planned a weekend away on completely eemmmmptyyyyyy roads, was awesome. No traffic, camper vans........nothing.
Down via Otorohanga taking advantage of Chateau Tongarero offering cheap rates to get customers in after a very quiet Covid period.
The R was awesome, what a machine. Never ceases to amaze how each generation just gets better.
(https://i.imgur.com/PQqjwi9.jpg)
I'd gone past this place heaps of times but never stopped in so I was quite excited to finally explore this legendary place.
They had gotten rid of heaps of wrecks and changed the layout a lot to make it more user friendly and cars easier to find which was a little sad to see but it is a business after all so..
I got a good laugh at all the English junk that was there, Rubbish when they were new. All the worst English cars I remember seeing on the roads, Land Crabs, Maxi's, Avengers, Hillman's oh lordy!
Britain's finest where they all belong  ;D ;D Never stood a chance against the Beetle and Golf.
(https://i.imgur.com/o5rkqpN.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on February 21, 2021, 10:02:09 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/dUla0nU.jpg)
With acres of crap in two yards to look at this could take a while but the suffering placed on my wife would be too much haha so best to have a quick look around and get on with the job at hand.
Righto lead the way to what I came here for, through several buildings and work shops, down a narrow path to a small yard there it was sitting beside a shed.
What a thing of beauty!
(https://i.imgur.com/0l0qGUW.jpg)
So what are we here to get? Correct, its manual operated 2 way tilt / slide sunroof. Direct bolt in to a Mk2 Golf which was never offered with a tilt / slide roof.
Was a bit concerned that it would be rusty due to the length its been sitting but nothing was visible from the outside and I'd already decided anyway that no matter if rusty or not I was going to save it and make it work.
Brought a bunch of tools with me that I thought I might need. As expected the roof no longer operated, it would try to open a little but I didn't force it.
Managed to open it enough to slide the interior panel back and disassembled it from there, easy once the main panel was out.
Removed all the cables and guides as well as the crank mechanism, with just an empty hole in the roof you could easily see the metal sunroof box was exactly the same as a Mk2 Golf.
Placed an old windscreen sitting nearby over the hole, collected all the parts and job done.
Had a chat with the owners and asked if they had any other VW's, he said there's a Santana somewhere haha.... umm ok yeah maybe not. With that we hit the road, a really memorable experience going there.
Back to Auckland via a totally empty Ohakune and Taupo.
Once back time to strip the paint off, first mistake. Used a stripping disc which even using lightly put too much heat in to the paper thin metal.
Thankfully I noticed it early on and stopped, paint stripper on the rest to bare metal. Sandblasted the inside frame and acid washed the whole thing.
Found a small area of rust that needs repair, much better than I could have hoped for. The black circle is a low area most likely caused by my stripper disc as the panel was straight before I started.
Had to remove a section of the inner frame to get at the rusty area that needed repair, the main outer panel is only 0.7mm so very thin and mig welding this would distort the crap out of it so I'd be trying to tig weld this.
(https://i.imgur.com/dHOy0W4.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ubzGSrl.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on February 28, 2021, 09:31:45 AM
Next up was to take everything apart, clean everything and lube the cables and guides.
Quite a few pot metal parts, one of which was broken as were a couple of small plastic pieces.
The pot metal drop down guides were both bent from being forced at some point so with a little heat I was able to straighten those back to where they should be.
The broken side guide I copied in steel, no doubt at some point the other side will break as well so I'll make another one at that time.
The pivot pin was able to be removed from the old part and tapped home in the replacement I made. The plastic guides I made out of nylon, these still need some refining which I decided to leave till it comes apart again for exterior paint.
(https://i.imgur.com/1WPlPRf.jpg)
Mechanism sorted its back on the roof panel, tig welded the rust repair patch in and in doing so the big low spot I had I managed to chase to the middle of the roof panel and became a big boing boing high spot.
Went and saw my old school panel beater for advice, he confirmed it needed shrinking as the heat from welding and stripping the paint had expanded the metal. He said weld the inner frame back in and fold the edge back over to give it some rigidity back.
No matter how I tried no dice fixing that high spot and I wasn't game enough to try shrinking the metal as the panel is very thin and getting another won't be that easy.
Greig laughed and agreed to help this fool with his stupid sunroof, well......It was a real privilege watching a true master of his craft. A few shrinks here, a few taps there, lots of feel by hand in little under an hour its a straight piece of metal again that needed no filler prior to primer. I'm always fascinated by old school metal work and wish I possessed even some of that skill.
(https://i.imgur.com/yN3XruP.jpg)
Couple of coats of primer later its close enough for a test fit with the GTI's original sunroof seal on it. Put the mechanism in the body and adjusted that, lucky I had one piece of headliner material left that was large enough to re cover the inner trim panel which consists of 2 pieces.
When in the tilt position a flap in the trim panel opens for air flow, bit of faffing around making adjustments but it works as expected.
The only issue I'm having is to slide the roof back it needs a helping hand but that's either an adjustment issue or down to the thickness of the trim panel material but I'll deal with that once it comes apart for paint.
(https://i.imgur.com/OCPDnyf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Z8fL5tn.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: slowburn on February 28, 2021, 03:34:06 PM
sweet , that is awesome.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on March 07, 2021, 10:13:08 AM
Couple of small things left to finish in the engine bay now but its mostly complete and pretty happy with how OEM it looks.
No getting away from a packed engine bay with modern engines, power steering and A/C.
Everything has its place and looks good, tacho converter is nearly here so that's next on the list once it arrives.
(https://i.imgur.com/xor2TjL.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/IDvxMUE.jpg)
Another annoyance to be dealt with was the ugly stick on rear glass high stop light, typical thing of the time but looks arse so its going. Spoke to Rambo005 one day and he mentioned a Mk3 high stop in the spoiler which was OEM then, I knew I had a Mk3 spoiler somewhere so went looking.
Found it buried but still had the high stop in it and wasn't broken, harvested that and binned the spoiler.
The shape is a little different being a little more curved than the Mk2 spoiler but it will work.
With the Mk2 spoiler off I cut a hole in it for the light bar then made brackets for each end of the light that then are pop riveted to the Mk2 spoiler. This enables the light to be removed to change bulbs etc.
In all reality there's far more to this modification but there's no point posting the detail as I doubt anyone will ever be dumb enough to bother doing it.
(https://i.imgur.com/VTbJUGz.jpg)
Works and looks a bunch better.
(https://i.imgur.com/WKMzZSD.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on March 14, 2021, 08:56:15 AM
It arrived!! Took nearly 2 months but the wait is over and curiosity was killing me as that's the very last part left to get working in the original cluster.
I'd left the wiring in place from the last USRT supplied tacho box that didn't do as promised so hooking this up should be a snap, except it wasn't.
This one needs an actual pulse signal it converts so has to run a wire from the ecu but my TSI has no such connection in the ecu as the canbus handles that signal so had to take a signal from one of the coil packs back to the unit, the unit then multiplies this and converts it to a signal the Mk2 tach can read.
This can be used for any engine, being a VR6, V8, 4 cylinder what ever. Very clever thing, set of switches inside the box to tell the unit what output you want.
Got it wired up and started the engine, tacho works......but seemed to be reading low. Letting it warm up the rpms settled and sure enough it was reading half what it should.
Couldn't really see how to get more pulses out of it going by the settings on the back cover so I emailed the company and told them how I'd connected it and what I was doing with it.
Sure enough there's more settings they don't tell you about, in my case because I only have one pulse from one coil pack  I needed different settings.
Mine now multiplies by 16 and divides by 8, job done. Accurate and totally stable.
(https://i.imgur.com/4Rg7Ujw.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/jh0iNRs.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/R3RZq8W.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on March 14, 2021, 10:59:46 AM
Result!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: slowburn on March 14, 2021, 09:57:25 PM
trick
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on March 21, 2021, 09:35:03 AM
By now I'd been driving it quite a bit, making little changes to refine things even more and one thing that became pretty obvious was that I'd over specked the clutch.
The clutch actually came out of the old Vento Coupe's 1.8T that was making 250kw at the wheels so it was a pretty stout unit.
Started looking at heaps of options and more than once I came across posts suggesting a stock VR6 clutch would handle near enough to 300lb/ft of torque and 260+hp once bedded in correctly.
Decided I'd give that a go as they are dirt cheap and offer a nice light pedal. If I decide to go Stg1 at some point that clutch in theory should just be enough to handle it.
FCP Euro was the winner, placed the order and the clutch arrived at my door 6 days later all the way from Connecticut in the U.S, friggen awesome.
Not wanting to mess up the paint in the engine bay wrestling the gearbox out by myself I decided to pull the front off again to make the job easier.
(https://i.imgur.com/w5tuZRc.jpg)
Sat the engine on my engine table which made removing the gearbox fairly easy, clutch off and new Sachs one ready to go in.
In all not too bad, only thing would be no abuse for 800-1000km to break it in properly, that's going to be difficult!!!
All back together the clutch feels amazingly light, must be getting old......
Boy this old bucket has come a long way, all just dirty hard work.
(https://i.imgur.com/kslpotl.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Agent-H on March 28, 2021, 12:43:04 AM
that's one sweet looking ride mate!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on March 28, 2021, 09:35:29 AM
Bit of tidy up time around here, with Project Zwei getting closer to being completed until the exterior paint job happens I sorted through the parts no longer needed to advertise them.
As always though projects like this are never really finished as the next few posts will prove. I had sitting around a 2016 Mk7 GTI I wrecked, as it was fairly well stripped I started thinking about scrapping the body and having the scap man collect it.
That is always a great opportunity to load the body up with all kinds of other junk that is normally difficult to dispose of.
As I started loading the shell I had in my hands the plastic interior sill trims to throw in it, these have a really nice aluminium trim with a red LED strip in them that lights up.
Such a shame to throw away.......hmmm I wonder.
Yup, you guessed it...custom fit them to the Mk2 hooked up to the door contact switch. Took quite a bit of effort but I'm pretty stoked with the results for something that would have been thrown away.
(https://i.imgur.com/zbV7hRx.jpg)
Getting ever closer, until some stupid old fool in a BMW backed in to the right rear side as I was getting out after parking at my upholsterers shop very nearly pinning me between the 2 cars!!! When I say very near, I mean inches!!
I saw him coming as I stood up after getting out and by the time I reacted by shouting and slamming my fist on his boot he slammed in to my car.
Shifted the back of my car over 1/2m, damaged my newly powdercoated wheel and damaged the right rear wheel arch and 1/4 panel.
He was totally deluded and denied causing the damage, lucky for me I had witnesses but he refused to lodge a claim with his insurance company.
Since I wasn't insured yet that became a problem, he was a fairly well known figure around these parts so I started calling him gently reminding him he should do the right thing and he had all sorts of stories like CSI had measured a car like mine and it was impossible his car caused that damage even though he acknowledged he had hit me, not much I could do but remain calm and keep pushing him to do the right thing. More and more a problem of the society we have created, total lack of responsibility.
Eventually after many weeks we got there, he lodged a claim but he still denied responsibility however my letter from the witnesses got his insurance company on my side and claim processed. This damage will be dealt with when it gets painted.
A funny twist in this was the contact person at his insurance company I dealt with was a really nice friend of a friend who remembered my name as I'd done some work on his 70's Toyota Celica over 10 years ago (which he sill owned)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZG58NsN.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: gti vr6 on April 02, 2021, 08:48:12 PM
Man that sucks that some old coot damaged your car. 
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on April 04, 2021, 09:10:05 AM
Yup was pretty shocked how irresponsible a man in his 70's could be, still that's the way of todays society.
Onwards with little refinements, the column stalks had seen better days with the white markings mostly worn off.
FCP Euro had brand new Meyle ones on sale so a late Saturday evening spending splurge saw those ordered and on their way here, I don't quite know how they manage to ship stuff so cheaply around the world but it works for me.
New stuff is always nice, little details make all the difference.
(https://i.imgur.com/dZL2zTz.jpg)
Column apart and out with the old, you tend to forget how far this thing has come.
In with the new looking much better.
(https://i.imgur.com/yfc58Cr.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/oV6Cdc9.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on April 11, 2021, 09:07:42 AM
There I was one day driving down HWY 18 and saw a tow truck going the other way with an ED35 Mk6 on the back that had a massive frontal hit, have no idea why but it immediately reminded me of the one I used to own as it was the same dark grey colour.
Carried on my merry way but started thinking about all the little extra touches these have making them different from a regular GTI.
One thing always stood out was the seat belts, black with a nice red stripe either side. The seat belts in Project Golf Zwei were pretty ugly, as old belts tend to be faded, stiff, don't retract well and dirty..........I wonder........
Anyway, decision made. Hopefully it comes up at auction, buy it and wreck it for the seat belts.
Wait am I saying buy an entire car just for the seat belts? Yes, you bet.
About a month later it popped up, duly bid wayyyy to much on it and still didn't win.......bummer.
Couple days later it appeared on TM, a wrecker in Takanini bought it, managed to do a deal with them just for the 4 belts. Win.
Took all the seat belts out and rebuilt them one by one, a lot of dirt and other things I'd rather not know in the roller mechanism.
Giving them a good clean made a huge difference, the rear plastic hangers were very very faded to almost a light grey.
I'd read that hitting plastic with a heat gun made it back again so I decided to try that, but with a propane torch instead!
Worked a treat, full set of rebuilt belts done with the help of a local seat belt guy.
(https://i.imgur.com/7xYzOZG.jpg)
We are just about up to where the car is at today, just little bits and pieces happening until paint time. Just enjoying using the thing.
(https://i.imgur.com/4vvorGr.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: spooln on April 13, 2021, 05:46:00 PM
Enjoying the thing....Vert driving sedately in a gear higher to keep the revs down for fuel efficiency. Yeah nah...tui.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on April 13, 2021, 06:21:02 PM
Fuel economy is terrible, probably related to the gas pedal.
I try and take a piece out of it when ever it goes out, it's sooo much fun and not at all how a mk2 is supposed to go.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on April 18, 2021, 09:34:49 AM
With the car more or less done for now I needed a new project to tinker with and since I really enjoyed doing the steering wheel I thought about doing another one.
There was lots of room for improvement on the last one even though I had the old cover for a pattern, this one however would be different and much more difficult since I had nothing but a bare steering wheel.
Bought some leather and a few other tools I'd need, sewed a seam to make a sleeve to wrap around the wheel.
Then used a wax pencil to mark out the centre line of the wheel so that I could mark out the cut / sew line on the leather.
Bit by bit working around the wheel marking out as I go, once completed cut along the marked line.
(https://i.imgur.com/yylYcf5.jpg)
In hindsight I should have stretched the leather more, I:E made the sleeve smaller.
With the leather cut the sleeve went back on to test fit and make adjustments as needed, quite complicated trying to hold everything and I'd need to make small cuts as I went sewing it together.
(https://i.imgur.com/lSnzo25.jpg)
Started my cross stitch as the bottom where the seam is, I realized another mistake I made here but too late to turn back.
I'll have to fix that on the next wheel I do........for the Porsche.
(https://i.imgur.com/RZKmuVl.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Noisyland on April 18, 2021, 08:43:10 PM
Astounding skills. Well done so far!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Noisyland on April 23, 2021, 07:50:06 AM
Hi there. Where could I purchase the same Bostik tar boards that you used on your floorpans? Were they easy to work with?
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on April 23, 2021, 10:29:10 AM
They were purchased many years ago, have no idea who sold them sorry.
Yes easy to work with, just heat them up with a heat gun and press down, Wurth is another brand that has the same thing.
Maybe try R.A Johnstone? They might have something or Forman Insulation.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on April 23, 2021, 12:08:48 PM
I remember a how to cover steering wheels utoob vid, the guy ran the edge through a sewing machine with no cotton in to punch regular holes for the stitching
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on April 23, 2021, 03:58:26 PM
I did that but one side at a time instead of doubling up the leather before poking the holes which meant the holes didn't all line up. Fail...
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on April 23, 2021, 04:20:45 PM
ahh, just a learning opportunity  ;D
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on April 25, 2021, 10:02:49 AM
Hand stitching continues, working my way around the spokes using a two needle cross stitch.
I'm pretty keen to do another one now and apply things I've learnt from this one.
(https://i.imgur.com/frP8oaQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZSuoGLy.jpg)
All completed, pretty stoked with the results. Suits a Mk2 to a tee, classic 90's style.
(https://i.imgur.com/SMQL8aj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ILnuDfM.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on April 25, 2021, 10:54:57 AM
Fantastic result
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on April 25, 2021, 07:49:12 PM
Oozing with retro goodness!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: spooln on April 27, 2021, 08:31:53 PM
Went for a zap with Vert today in this car. He is right in that any more power this the mk2 chassis would be unable to handle as its on the edge of being crushed every time the loud pedal is pressed.  A normal mk2 is tame by comparison. Easy to see why he likes it so much.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on May 02, 2021, 10:26:34 AM
Although my interior is sort of finished I'd ideally like better door and 1/4 cards so while in Wellington earlier this year I called in and saw Lane for a few parts I needed.
As usual he had everything I was after and had his last set of Golf 3 door panels and 1/4 cards , now or never so bought those off him.
They are non GTI plain jane ones which are actually better because the boards are plastic, not that compressed cardboard crap mine are.
Plan is to use the same green plaid for the inserts, leather on top and the rest plain black material with some red accent stitching.
The plastic dividing strips on my cards are all cracked and broken, one reason I wanted to do new ones. Did a lot of research on something I could use as a break between the different materials and came up with Aluminium trim.
Had to cut, bend, shape it in to trims to fit each panel pretty accurately and then devise a way to attach it.
Bought a hide of leather for the job so I'm well and truly committed now.
(https://i.imgur.com/dLEzpnq.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/3tGnaiE.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on June 13, 2021, 05:25:38 PM
Been a while since an update but fact is I'd run out of material! Caught up to where the car is at now.
I have been chipping away at the new interior panels as well as finding a bunch more rare NOS parts such as new Hella front bumper fogs, Hella smoked tails
and some unobtanium door glass seals (totally stoked to find those actually)
They are all still at my parents place in Germany but will end up here once I actually need them.
As I said I wanted to incorporate a red stitch in the door cards and after trying a bunch of things that didn't work I've settled on this.
The original plan was to sew all the pieces together and glue down but it became evident very quickly that was going to be beyond my capability so I've settled on doing it in 3 pieces glued down separately.
Top will be black leather, this will then be separated by the aluminium strips.
(https://i.imgur.com/kj3Ovnx.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on June 13, 2021, 07:14:17 PM
That looks great.....maybe there is a place for you sewing interiors for Audi
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on June 20, 2021, 08:20:03 AM
More progress, and progress I'm actually happy with.
Finished one of the rear cards apart from painting the aluminium trims, its a pity I have to paint them but the anodizing is damaged from having to shape, file and sand the trims to fit the profile of the card.
Its been a very challenging process and still have 3 more to do, these are going to take some time.
On the lower part I did a single red top stitch and glued this down, the lower section is also foam backed giving it a softer feel.
The top part I went with black leather to add a bit of class (if that's possible with a Mk2 Golf)
Then test fitted both trims to see how it ties it all together, certainly a vast improvement over the last set and a lot more like what I was thinking from the beginning.
(https://i.imgur.com/wAwm8SX.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/0EVaDv1.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 04, 2021, 09:41:20 AM
Continuing with the interior panels and next up are the door cards, as I suspected these are much harder to do and also I cannot make any mistakes as the green plaid and black material has all but run out.
There's only just enough to finish what I need to do so if I screw up measuring something I'm well and truly stuck.
The black cloth is old stock my upholsterer had and matches my seats perfectly, measure 5x and cut once is the order of the day.
Lots of issues with the sewing machine so had to unpick things a few times but persistence prevailed again, one more left to make.
(https://i.imgur.com/7ikMBGr.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/rIXMh5X.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on July 04, 2021, 01:18:08 PM
Very nice, looking forward to see pics of the finished car
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on July 04, 2021, 06:36:36 PM
Superb!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: coons on July 11, 2021, 07:16:06 PM
Those look ace John - good work!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 18, 2021, 05:04:17 PM
Last door card, it's been fun and I've really enjoyed it but its time to knock this on the head and be done with them.
Made a couple of simple templates to ensure at least some symmetry left to right, not perfect but close enough.
The last thing to do is all the alloy trim, not sure yet if I'll paint them silver or take all the anodising off and do a brushed finish then clear coat them.
Think I'll do a couple test pieces and see what comes out best, getting the anodising off is probably going to be the most hassle.
(https://i.imgur.com/Z2ImHLm.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/eTzCRKk.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/mhKKcdJ.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: gti vr6 on July 18, 2021, 07:54:05 PM
Love that green tartan, nice work John.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 01, 2021, 09:42:41 AM
Last few bits on the interior cards, strip the anodising off and clear coat them.  Oven cleaner has caustic in it which is great for attacking anodising but still takes a few applications.
Then cleaned the aluminium with steel wool so that it has a brushed look, clear coat with automotive clear and job done.
Once these are dry enough and installed the 4 panels are 100% done.
(https://i.imgur.com/C41rrXR.jpg)
Started uncovering some previous quality work on the body as well, lefts save $10 on clips and urethane the door mouldings on, looks like a bunch of the attachment points are broken so I'll either need to find others or try and repair what I have already.
(https://i.imgur.com/lKbwHpe.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on August 29, 2021, 10:11:34 AM
Time to start major work on reviving the exterior, plan is to totally strip it and have it painted.
Sticking with the original Caprigruen, its had many questionable repairs over the years which will need to be investigated / taken back to bare metal.
I'm not going to bare metal the whole thing, rather use the existing paint on it to block it straight and then fix the areas needed.
I'll be doing some of the body work, repairing any rust I find along the way and obviously taking it apart and reassembling it.
As the underside and engine bay are already finished and together I do not want over spray on these areas so mask mask mask everything up, multiple times at that due to the various stages of primer.
Disassembly begins, everything is coming apart.
(https://i.imgur.com/edwS0Me.jpg)
Been working with this awesome PDR guy for a while now, absolutely awesome talent. Had him come round and spent half a day getting a bunch of damage out.
Not as easy on older cars as the steel has no memory / spring so it takes a different skill to work with it.
I'd already started sanding this side with 120 grit paper, its plenty wobbly and needs lots of work.
(https://i.imgur.com/52niXMt.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 05, 2021, 10:09:55 AM
Bought a variety of Durablocks last time I was in the States as these seem to be the go to tool to get things straight.
The sandpaper comes on a roll and is self adhesive, I'm starting out on the flat panels with 120 grit so that it cuts through the high spots.
I'm no body work expert so all of this is trial and error, have painted plenty of cars over the years but never really know of any of it is correct or not.
Keeping the glass in for now to minimise dust and crap getting in to the interior, very dirty job in a shop not set up for sanding dust but trying to keep on top of it by vacuuming as often as I can.
To complicate matters further I want to eliminate panel roll in at the edges where door meets fender and door meets rear 1/4, panel fit needs to be on point to avoid loads of filler which you don't want on door edges.
(https://i.imgur.com/QKN2xDQ.jpg)
To achieve this I'm just moving the edges of the doors the small amounts needed with a hammer, running the block across the surfaces shows me which areas are low or a small straight edge across in some places.
The body swage lines are all over the place as well, some repaired some badly aligned. All needs to be fixed.
(https://i.imgur.com/aZVtvxv.jpg)
I always knew the left rear corner had been hit and the panel join was full of filler, also had some rust under the filler pushing out so all of it needs to come off. Was able to hammer / dolly the panel back so that it only needs a tiny amount of lows to be filled.
Re sealed the seam as its supposed to be.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on September 05, 2021, 12:48:47 PM
Appreciate the updates John!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on September 05, 2021, 02:24:39 PM
Quote from: le mans on September 05, 2021, 12:48:47 PM
Appreciate the updates John!

yup, it must be Sunday!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 06, 2021, 08:02:08 AM
Back to regular program and Sunday updates, Thanks to Cindy I have more material  :laugh:
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 12, 2021, 10:00:01 AM
There I was working away on a Saturday doing some more body work. In the week prior you could just feel it in the air, a lockdown was coming I felt and an ideal opportunity to do some solid work on Project Zwei if it were to happen but I was missing a lot of the materials I would need to do a job I wasn't planning to do myself.
On Monday I thought, I'll get everything I need......I didn't. Then Tuesday the 17th happened and Cindy was on TV blabbing about one Delta case, as I'm watching I'm thinking first thing tomorrow morning I'm going to Manukau to pick up what I need.
Wrong, by the end of the news story of course we went in to lockdown that night!! Now what...
Called my usual supplier as he's mobile but as guessed, nope closed under Level 4. Great.
Got a tip off from a friend about someone on-line and as it turns out this company has been A-MA-zing at supplying everything I've needed so far in the last 6-7 orders placed during level 4. Project Zwei continues.....

Anyway back to the Saturday prior to lockdown.
Having block sanded what I could with 120 grit you could begin to see how wobbly this old thing was.  Both rear side windows were taken out and to my complete surprise only the drivers side frame had a tiny bit of rust to weld up.
So minor that the hole could just be welded, didn't even need to cut anything out. Happy days.
Windows out, masked up the window holes to keep the dust out of the interior, more work this way but I prefer keeping things as clean as I can.
Even though its had some repairs over its lifetime its in pretty amazing rust free condition, no gaping holes anywhere and repairs done are probably in keeping with std insurance jobs done at the time.
(https://i.imgur.com/rfM6qWQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/8R9yAwA.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 19, 2021, 09:34:02 AM
By now with lockdown in full effect I'm at work doing my normal work day but on my own car instead!! Amazing what you can get done with no distractions or phone calls.
Doing 40-50 hour weeks quite easily without trying too hard, big push on to get that first prime done and thankfully the on line paint supply shop had come through with the materials I'd ordered.
They sent a PPG epoxy surfacer that can go over bare metal and its also a filler primer eliminating the need for multiple products.
The doors were quite a struggle for me and are still not perfect, just in pretty poor shape and having previous repairs on them but thankfully no rust.
(https://i.imgur.com/oJjQpNV.jpg)
Having no sanding machines I'm doing everything by hand with sanding blocks, takes ages doing it the hard way but it also hugely reduces the amount of dust flying around the place.
Roof feels not too bad, little dent by the sunroof but was able to pull that up with a glue puller and block it out.
Getting close now to primer, quite a journey to get to this point, not just a simple scuff and shoot.
(https://i.imgur.com/elkarUc.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/7ttA6Mv.jpg)

Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on September 19, 2021, 11:43:37 AM
that's a lot of sanding by hand!  8)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 19, 2021, 05:24:42 PM
You're telling me, as of yesterday I've got about 200 hrs in it doing body repairs and paint prep.
Still not ready to paint.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: GLIDN on September 23, 2021, 03:33:43 PM
Quote from: 80 Vert on September 19, 2021, 05:24:42 PM
You're telling me, as of yesterday I've got about 200 hrs in it doing body repairs and paint prep.
Still not ready to paint.

Great work John, the more effort is put in at this stage (as you know), will result in the better the final product. I also know how you feel. Done much the same with mine.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: dave on September 25, 2021, 04:05:40 PM
Is the ppg primer your using the epotec 408 epoxy primer?
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 25, 2021, 09:37:35 PM
Sure is yep
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: dave on September 25, 2021, 10:02:11 PM
It?s good stuff aye. Pretty cheap and sands super nice
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 25, 2021, 10:31:41 PM
I've used a lot of different products but this is one of the best, especially like the fact it's a surfacer as well as an epoxy.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on September 26, 2021, 10:11:04 AM
Working towards priming the main body, there are the never ending amounts of small repairs to do, treat all the bare metal areas and then masking everything up.
Since my engine bay and under body are pretty pristine I do not want over spray of any kind on those areas so masking absolutely everything every time any priming is done is essential.
This was my main area of concern when I was thinking of leaving this stage to a body shop but then lockdown came along.
Also with so many different colour layers on the body I find it difficult to get an accurate feel for how things are looking, shoot an even coat of primer on making it all one colour the problem areas show much easier.
Masking I actually quite enjoy, did the engine bay first followed by all the holes for fixtures in the body followed by window and door openings.
Put a couple tarps down and taped a skirt from the body down to the floor, I have a set of boards that go between the floor and roller door with a big hole in it for a large extraction fan. All works quite well.
When you don't have a booth you gotta be creative.
(https://i.imgur.com/NSAFS1J.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/KsJRvbd.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/m3H9SaE.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fjZMvKk.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 03, 2021, 09:21:40 AM
With the main body primed I could move on to the panels, doors, tailgate and sunroof panel.
Doors I got as good as I could for now and all the lines will be fine tuned once back on the car, tailgate had no prior damage so that cleaned up nice.
I'll need to remove the doors multiple times for different things and I didn't want to waste time aligning them each time so I drilled a 2mm hole through each hinge to take an alignment pin. This way the doors go back on in exactly the same place each time and once the car is painted it will be a huge help in assembly & alignment of the doors.
(https://i.imgur.com/fitthTt.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/uIukcdQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/TsFu1f2.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on October 03, 2021, 04:04:52 PM
Looks good. I?m quite digging that primer colour.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 04, 2021, 07:44:23 AM
Thanks, yeah I like it as well. Should just leave it and put it back together now.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: spooln on October 05, 2021, 06:35:28 PM
Hah the primer is like a 60s fiat green color
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: dubstar on October 07, 2021, 01:04:33 PM
Would be a good colour for a 911??
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 10, 2021, 09:52:07 AM
Inside of the doors next, years of crud and old wax rust proofing to be degreased first and cleaned off. Thankfully the hinge pins seem pretty good so I decided to leave them even though I'd bought new ones.
From all accounts they are a bit of a mission to change ideally needing a press tool to force the old ones out, with minimal play in mine I didn't feel it was worth the headache.
180 sanded the inside of the doors to prime them, hard to believe but there's nearly a whole day in each door. by the time you degrease, clean, sand, feather out all the chips and edges and prime with 3 coats the day is pretty much done.
(https://i.imgur.com/uuYMUOa.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/jcHWHBk.jpg)
My drilled alignment holes in the hinges paying dividends already making it a snap to line the doors up, started out 220 blocking from the 1/4 across to the door. No panel roll in allowed here.
The sides of the body, especially 1/4 to door and door to front guard will at least need another prime but even at this stage things are starting to look pretty good.
There's probably easier ways to do it but I don't know them so I'll just keep chipping away one bit at a time.
(https://i.imgur.com/ySGWlbJ.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 12, 2021, 09:14:41 PM
Finally, my big box of new and NOS parts arrived today from my parents place in Germany.
Been collecting parts there for close to a year and adding bits here and there as I found them.
NOS pair of smoked Hella fogs are the shizz nizzle, pretty happy to have all this stuff here now.
(https://i.imgur.com/lsaeGKX.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: liv on October 15, 2021, 03:21:43 PM
just read through this entire thread from start to finish.  WOW!  This is absolutely amazing!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 17, 2021, 09:38:49 AM
I've said it before and the same is true here, these projects always become much bigger than intended. Looking at the boot area I removed all of the wiring and other components to scrub it clean.
It actually came out really good but here's where it starts, hmm well while everything is like this I could paint it right?
Yeah why not, I have base coat and clear so....see where this is going?
Feathered out the worst of the chips, not intending for perfection in any way but just a tidy up. Primed the spots where I went through to metal and had deeper scratches then wet on wet base and clear. Tidy again.
(https://i.imgur.com/tpgL59t.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/svH3LfO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/I9X1Zyh.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on October 17, 2021, 12:26:02 PM
Like new! And yeah, famous last words eh... "while I'm in there..."
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 17, 2021, 02:52:59 PM
It's a dangerous thought process to get in to Jon  :laugh:
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 24, 2021, 09:46:20 AM
Time for a change, sanding bumpers!! haha.
These would prove to be a boat load of work, the rear one I thought wasn't too bad actually wasn't good at all. Been hit at some point bending the inner reinforcement. With the metal parts straight and fitting the car properly again attention could be turned to the bumper cover.
Block with 120 grit reveals how wobbly it is, I don't know how these things end up like this but same as the body its a case of reprime, fill, block, block, block. At least the upper textured part hadn't been painted but that also needs repairs before I can re texture finish it.
(https://i.imgur.com/frAxG3Y.jpg)
The front bumper is a mess, that I already knew. When I did the engine swap I already invested 2 full days in just making it useable and creating a rough intercooler opening. I should have called it quits then and found another.
I didn't realise at the time it would take over 30 hours to turn this junk in to something I'm happy with, not a good use of time.
There were 100's of cracks in the paint, top part re texture painted littered with cracks, once I started sanding I realised someone had sprayed it with spray filler and the filler was cracked down to the plastic.
The 3 lower vertical fins I cut when making the intercooler opening needed extending to make it look like its supposed to be that way, plastic welding and then shape it to suit.
(https://i.imgur.com/ihgWPUs.jpg)
Sanding the spray filler down to plastic to eliminate the cracks just so you can re prime it is pretty soul destroying, little did I know the worst was yet to come but at least the lower part is starting to look better.
(https://i.imgur.com/GBSFHl3.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on October 24, 2021, 10:15:26 AM
Is this what is meant by a 'labour of love'?
I wouldn't like to be paying for the hours spent on this masterpiece but great to see such craftmanship and attention to detail.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 24, 2021, 11:09:34 AM
That's what they call it I believe, ha could you imagine getting a bill for 35 hrs work just to fix a bumper.....
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: McDoof on October 24, 2021, 11:48:13 AM
Would have been worth getting the reproduction ones sent over. https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/au/wc898002b-big-bumper-kit-with-fog-lights.html.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on October 24, 2021, 12:23:10 PM
Quote from: McDoof on October 24, 2021, 11:48:13 AM
Would have been worth getting the reproduction ones sent over. https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/au/wc898002b-big-bumper-kit-with-fog-lights.html.

Way too easy
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 24, 2021, 01:02:12 PM
Quote from: McDoof on October 24, 2021, 11:48:13 AM
Would have been worth getting the reproduction ones sent over. https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/au/wc898002b-big-bumper-kit-with-fog-lights.html.

That's exactly what I should have done but by the time I'd invested two days making the IC opening I was already committed. Things just got worse from there 😃
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: McDoof on October 25, 2021, 06:33:49 AM
Hindsight is always so clear.  ::)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on October 31, 2021, 10:00:46 AM
Terei Brothers comes through again, these guys do such a great job turning dirty rusted components in to something that looks like it just came from the dealer.
Anything like door latches that has plastic components integrated can just go through the process and the plastic is un affected, I just remove the springs due to the hydrogen embrittlement that takes place so things like spring washers etc can be affected and do commonly break when re used. Small price to pay.
(https://i.imgur.com/exOtJZo.jpg)
Continuing with getting the body panels ready for paint, quite nervous about laying the doors down to sand the inside of the frames putting all the doors weight on the door skin, something I've spent loads of hours straightening out.
In the end I did them standing upright which was interesting to say the least but managed it.
Couldn't resist wetting the door down with water to see if it meets expectations, it does. happy days.
(https://i.imgur.com/KOErXQA.jpg)
Maybe, just maybe next update we have some painted parts......all going well.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 07, 2021, 09:00:22 AM
All the hours doing prep are for this moment, top coat.
Left the final stage to my painter, he cast his eye over everything and got the doors and bumpers painted on Friday.
Ill collect these tomorrow and drop off the bonnet, rear gate and sunroof at the same time.
(https://i.imgur.com/0IkPHZj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UcOKhOK.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/AauhBvK.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on November 07, 2021, 10:11:31 AM
Oh yes!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on November 07, 2021, 12:11:26 PM
top work
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: coons on November 08, 2021, 10:56:10 AM
Looking sharp
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Period_Correct_ on November 08, 2021, 11:59:01 AM
fantastic! looks great John.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 14, 2021, 09:45:00 AM
Looked forward to the Monday to pick up my doors / bumpers and at the same time drop off the bonnet, tailgate and sunroof.
Couldn't be happier with the paint finish, the painter got the clear to lay down super flat and all my block work paid off massive as everything is pretty damn straight.
Finished the last few bits on the body this week so hopefully that will be painted by next weekend, then assembly time.
(https://i.imgur.com/qWHdgyO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Q1l3UC7.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fjqGZQH.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on November 14, 2021, 09:52:54 AM
It?s going to look better than new when it?s all back together.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 14, 2021, 09:54:44 AM
Thanks Jon, yes gone waaaay to far again but then that was bound to happen.
Been a lot of work but soo stoked to see paint on it.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: brian on November 14, 2021, 10:09:24 AM
Crystal clear reflections, look amazing when it is all together
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: LouieP on November 14, 2021, 11:55:41 AM
Surely you're going to building a set of BBS RS003's for this when you're done John, it certainly is worthy  8)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 14, 2021, 12:02:29 PM
While I like them I don't love them enough to make me want a set. A set of 16" Superleggeras however....
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 21, 2021, 09:46:03 AM
I had hoped that the body would be painted by now but delays at the painter on other jobs means the car is still sitting at work, with a bit of luck this coming week will see it done.
In the meantime I got on with another thing I've been putting off, re texturing the top of the bumpers.
3M makes a bumper texture paint applied with a spray gun which I thought would be better than a rattle can but it seems that tip size, %of reducer and air pressure have a huge influence on the level of texture you get.
In the end it was just a case of suck it and see, just have to do it. Came out not too bad in the end, I'll have to do all the other plastic parts as well to match anyway so all should look fairly even when completed.
(https://i.imgur.com/E9bBqNj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Qp9pi0A.jpg)

Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on November 28, 2021, 09:44:09 AM
Paint at last, boy this has been a journey and a ton of work. Got a call on Wednesday to come and have a look as they guys had found a couple of very minor things that needed a bit more attention, came up with a plan to resolve those and they got on with it.
I'd left the final DA sanding stage to them so that they would cast their eye over everything as a double check.
Fast forward to Friday morning and its in the booth, 2 of them painting one side each to get the clear on without dry patches.
By about 6pm it was dry enough after a 45deg bake for me to go check it out, did I want to come and have a look? Duh, yep of course I do!
Unavoidable dust specs in the clear but those will get addressed when all the glass is back in and it goes back for its final cut / polish.
Grabbed these pics on Friday.
(https://i.imgur.com/8ODLPQJ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/I6sq03n.jpg)
Saturday morning Joe and I unmasked it, put the wheels back on and I had a quite a breezy drive back to work with no windows or doors! No  :police: thankfully so all is well.
(https://i.imgur.com/Tq7jVhe.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Period_Correct_ on November 29, 2021, 09:02:55 AM
Christmas has come early mate... It looks great!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 05, 2021, 09:41:56 AM
Sure has Nigel, first thing was to drag all my boxes of new parts out of hibernation.
The urge to start bolting it together was pretty high but also realise from past experience that is a bad idea due to paint being pretty soft for a while. Therefore leaving the paint for a week is the best thing to do while I chip away at the inside and other things that can be done.
I started with the core support and grille etc, reassembled the lights with the metal parts that were re plated.
Cleaning parts you re use before re fitting is also one of those things, some of my stuff had overspray on them from previous repairs but a paint stripper made for plastic takes care of that pretty easily.
So stoked to have it back, will work towards getting the panels on and glass in so that it can go back for its polish up in the coming week or so.
(https://i.imgur.com/klNt5Yf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/RWCeHXF.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/tMUTSAW.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: the phantom on December 05, 2021, 03:16:05 PM
completely off topic, but I've recently tried to reduce my google dependence and Firefox loads this pic heavy post much faster than chrome
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: gti vr6 on December 05, 2021, 03:30:14 PM
That car is looking 🍒 
Nice work John.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on December 05, 2021, 06:07:53 PM
One of the best restomods out there.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Period_Correct_ on December 06, 2021, 09:06:52 AM
you're a legend John. cant wait to see it again
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 12, 2021, 09:54:34 AM
Assembly is always enjoyable and with the exterior paint still needing to have debris removed I started on the interior, most of it is just a matter of reinstalling but since its all apart I thought I'd clean up each part as much as possible and try to find better parts for the few items that are not so nice.
Starting at the back with the carpet, seat belts and the new interior cards I'd made previously. Rear seats in as well this is going together faster than I thought it would.
Oem+ car stickers came through with a set of reproduction stickers that I've been waiting to install, quality is awesome. Just like original.
Glad I went with red stitching on the panels in the end, matches the seat belts nicely and ties in with the whole GTI red trim.
Trying to do a bit each day, no matter how small its progress. Goal is to have this done and back on the road by the end of the year as I actually miss driving it.
(https://i.imgur.com/yN2cykQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Mr1Exid.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/asxghXy.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on December 12, 2021, 11:26:15 AM
Quote from: 80 Vert on December 12, 2021, 09:54:34 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/asxghXy.jpg)

That looks fricken awesome!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 12, 2021, 03:33:05 PM
Thanks Jon, I'm pretty happy with them. Certainly much better than my first attempt.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Period_Correct_ on December 13, 2021, 10:35:57 AM
those seat belts are a bloody good touch!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 19, 2021, 09:58:16 AM
Sometimes you just have to laugh at how out of hand things can get, my last situation like that was my door handles. I'd bought brand new Febi ones and my plan was to drop my lock cylinders in to those and done......but no. Wasn't that simple.
Lock cylinder fitted fine but when I came to put the handle gaskets on they were too small and didn't work, comparing them it turns out the handle bases are a different shape (bigger) and the gaskets will never work or fit.
My old handles mechanism were worn out but the plastic handle itself was in good shape so now what?
That's right, take all the handles completely apart and put all the new parts and re keyed lock cylinders in to cleaned original handles.
(https://i.imgur.com/cxjyspF.jpg)
Even half way through I'm thinking wtf am I doing this for but once I had one together with NOS gaskets and on the door the reason was clear. Looks and works like a brand new one. That old lesson of nothing fits like genuine parts is very true.
Was it worth 4 hours of my time? probably not. Would I do it again, yep probably  ;D
(https://i.imgur.com/iWJRn3h.jpg)
At this point it seemed like a good idea to fit the doors before there's any weight in them, my little trick of drilling 2mm alignment holes through the hinges made that a very simple task. Used a couple small nails as pins to align them going back exactly where they had been.
Lined up the striker pin to have them open and close correctly, you can literally spend hours on lining stuff up but little tricks like that make this job a lot simpler.
Starting to look mighty fine.
(https://i.imgur.com/FIJEUFe.jpg)
Going for the black out look means Hella Tresers, these things look epic against the Caprigruen. Will tie in well with smoked NOS fogs, front blinkers and NOS Hella smoked side repeaters.
Can't wait till final polish is done to assemble the exterior.
(https://i.imgur.com/188Xjyc.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: slowburn on December 19, 2021, 12:57:17 PM
this is easily my fave build i'm watching anywhere. super slick
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on December 19, 2021, 11:48:49 PM
Yeah that back light looks great. Can?t wait to see this thing in the flesh.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 26, 2021, 10:00:37 AM
Getting closer all the time Jon, should be done by years end. Well, done for now that is as I still have some things I'd like to change / get working 100% but then project cars are never truly finished are they.
Onwards with the bumpers, re texture coated and NOS smoked fog lights and indicators installed. Quite a faff in the end getting the fog lights to sit where they should. Probably due to the bumper being so beaten over its lifetime but managed to get there after 6-7 goes at it.
(https://i.imgur.com/rBrHwwG.jpg)
Started at the back with the tail gate, rear lights and wiring. As usual lots of cleaning and repairing previous hack jobs.
Tail gate on and assembled ready for the glass to go in.
I did have Novus come out and polish all of the old glass as it was pretty scratched in places, though it looks much better the cost vs result probably wasn't really worth it but then buying all new glass wouldn't be cost effective either.
New OE windscreen on order from VW Classic through Giltrap was yet to arrive and that's really the thing that makes the biggest impact.
(https://i.imgur.com/VIXcT2S.jpg)
I'd ordered all new badges and warning label decals of course but my vin plate was very tatty looking also, the supplier for the decals was also able to make me a new one and the difference is quite astounding and 100% correct on every detail.
Little details that no one else will probably notice really stand out to me and make such a massive difference to the over all project.
(https://i.imgur.com/HE8VkMp.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on December 26, 2021, 02:04:18 PM
That vin plate is a very nice touch.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Pristle on December 26, 2021, 02:17:22 PM
Have to agree on the VIN plate.

As for the 4 hours on the door handles? I recall going through the same process and thinking the same, until I stood back end then walked around the car opening each door. Totally worth it.


If someone tried to described the mint green tartan with red accented trim, I would've said no. But now that I've seem it, it works. Where did you get the belts done?
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on December 27, 2021, 12:29:46 PM
Thanks yeah I'm loving the red accents. The belts are actually MK6 ED35 ones adapted to fit the MK2 but I left the sewing on the one end to a seat belt specialist.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 02, 2022, 09:55:32 AM
Slowly but surely its coming together, back from polish the exterior bits can go back on now.
Started on assembling the doors, new parts where ever possible, clean, detail or restore the rest.
(https://i.imgur.com/MmNvSRM.jpg)
Onwards to fixing more stuff, by this stage I'm pretty tired of fixing things someone else has broken or ruined but had no choice as I'd not been able to find replacements.
Both door rub strips were no good, broken clip mounts, bent and cracked trim just some of the issues. These were stuck on with huge globs of urethane prior to me stripping the car.
I made aluminium brackets to hold the clips and epoxied these in to the rub strip which seemed to work well, painted them in the same texture paint as the bumpers and installed new 16V badges I had made for them.
Unfortunately they are still not very straight and don't really fit the doors all that well so I'm still looking for a better pair to replace them as soon as I find some.
(https://i.imgur.com/JXRLNS2.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/qdavFCx.jpg)
The arch trims also had to be painted to match everything but these had been painted before and although they looked fine I thought it best to strip them to bare plastic first.
Paint stripper worked well on this, I've had mixed results with paint stripper on plastic but seemed to work well on this type of plastic.
With a lot of this stuff you can't buy new its a matter of finding the best used ones you can and making do.
(https://i.imgur.com/FogNrO7.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 09, 2022, 09:52:37 AM
Time to tackle the door membranes, I've tried a bunch of stuff over the years and some successful but most of it not.
Last time round I used EVA foam sheet 3mm thick and contact glue, while this worked well its impossible to get off without creating a huge mess if you ever need to get inside the door again.
On that thought I tried a bunch of different tapes that would stick to metal as well as the foam, Aluminium tape seems to be the answer.
Last discussions with Rambo005 were to use a plastic sheet to deflect most of the water back inside the door and as it turns out aluminium tape sticks well to polythene as well. That's what I decided to do here, not that this car will see lots of rain but anyway.
(https://i.imgur.com/NvujPHo.jpg)
The foam sheets cut to fit I initially did them in one piece for a nice tight fit but realised that the arm rest of the door card needs a bit of clearance so I cut them in half to make allowances for that.
I'll need to remove these again once my replacement door rub strips arrive so that will be a good opportunity to see how the tape has stuck to the foam and also how its all held up in general.
Door membranes on mk2's have always been a pain so hopefully we're on to a system that works.
(https://i.imgur.com/siEOSkU.jpg)
Last but certainly the most exciting, the new door cards go on completing the doors for now. I had huge amounts of hassle with getting the door rub strips to stay on, and to be honest don't look all that great against straight doors.
Mostly down to the fact they are so beaten and repaired clips etc so I've found replacements that hopefully are better and are coming from the US.
(https://i.imgur.com/XbaeNSX.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on January 09, 2022, 10:53:04 AM
Oh yes, love the door card.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 16, 2022, 09:59:21 AM
Final bits, last major thing to do were the side skirts. Lot of to and fro ing with these.
Being aftermarket and not sure about the fit I was worried about painting them to match the other plastics and then having to faff with fitting them. I really did spend ages looking at the best way to do this.
In the end I decided to fit them and paint them on the car, thankfully all the clips and attachment strips were ok on the broken originals as these are not included in the new skirts.
Placement of the attachment strip on the body is important as well so what I did was attach everything to the skirt and slap it on as one unit so to speak.
Didn't like the way it all fitted together and settled on small pop rivets with a washer on the other side to spread the load on the brittle plastic, nice secure attachment that way.
New 3M trim tape on everything ready to fit.
(https://i.imgur.com/f3Z42fz.jpg%5B/imp%5D%3Cbr%20/%3EBit%20of%20careful%20jiggery%20pokery%20and%20on%20they%20go,%20fit%20remarkably%20well%20for%20aftermarket%20parts.%20Colour%20isn't%20miles%20off%20but%20definitely%20needs%20to%20be%20painted.%3Cbr%20/%3EMasking%20took%20another%20couple%20of%20hours,%20in%20the%20end%20I%20could%20just%20have%20pre%20painted%20them%20but%20there%20ya%20go.%3Cbr%20/%3ECouple%20coats%20of%20plastic%20adhesion%20promoter%20and%202%20coats%20of%203M%20bumper%20texture%20for%20an%20even%20look.%3Cbr%20/%3E%5Bimg%5Dhttps://i.imgur.com/lAB7D76.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 16, 2022, 10:05:51 AM
Last images don't want to load so I'll try a new reply.
(https://i.imgur.com/lAB7D76.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZtREZww.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on January 16, 2022, 11:11:13 AM
Man that looks so nice all together. Did the windscreen arrive?
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 16, 2022, 11:37:27 AM
Yep sure did, nice new Pilkington one.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: le mans on January 16, 2022, 08:34:29 PM
About ready to drive then?!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 16, 2022, 09:19:15 PM
Been driving it for weeks already, got it wof and reg before Christmas. The thread is running behind as usual.
Just a couple of really minor things to finish off now.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Period_Correct_ on January 17, 2022, 12:13:56 PM
This is an awesome Restomod! well done champ.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Skilfil on January 18, 2022, 08:44:44 AM
Love this kind of restomod stuff, have been doing something similar to my NA MX5 and aim to do the same for my Mk2 Jetta. Would love to have a look at this if it shows up to a meet sometime.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: coons on January 18, 2022, 02:42:14 PM
That 3M tape is bloody good stuff. The car looks great John!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 23, 2022, 10:17:21 AM
Mostly complete for now, few small things to finish and a couple new mini projects for it in the pipeline. Did I mention these projects are never really finished?
Anyway been driving it for the last few weeks and happy to report it still goes as well as it did before, maybe chuck a tune on it maybe not. Another 50 hp and 60nm torque could be fun.

I went back to the same spot I took this photo when I bought the bucket of molested bolts.
(https://i.imgur.com/IHvDY7y.jpg)
And 2 years later in the same spot, Doesn't look any different really.......apart from there's over 1000 hours of hard work between these two pictures.
(https://i.imgur.com/F4no1oa.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/9akl8A2.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: liv on January 24, 2022, 08:54:32 AM
That is an amazing transformation, and thank you for taking the time to document the process to share. It?s threads like these that got me my first mk2 project some 15 years ago, and I really miss being able to read these end-to-end and see the vision all come together.

Edit to add: what?s your thoughts on adding the swage line vinyls back to it?
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 24, 2022, 09:52:15 AM
Thank you, I did think about it but I like the clean look myself. I'm also not sure if the big bumper cars still had them, not that I've really looked in to it so far.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: Skilfil on January 24, 2022, 11:30:21 AM
Got bored on Friday night and read the whole thing from start to finish, definitely a good read. I can relate to the fixing previous owners pain, I've encountered some questionable decisions on my Mk2 ABF swap.

The aircon part is brilliant, I'm an advocate of taking the time to install it, gives me the craps when people bin it in street cars "to go faster".

Where did you source the Hella rears from? Last time I had a Mk2 was 13 years ago and it seems a lot of the usual sites I visited have dropped off the earth.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on January 24, 2022, 09:09:04 PM
eBay.de was my go to place for lots of things.
AC is a must, anything I drive regularly must have AC.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: tyz-fly on February 12, 2022, 09:43:51 PM
As always, a man with fine taste in cars and the skills to build them. Nice work John!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on February 19, 2022, 04:24:54 PM
Few more little things done, the oem VW sunroof seal I bought just didn't want to work with the tilt slide roof. Don't know if multiple layers of paint added too much thickness or what but the roof had difficulty (in fact didn't want to at all) transitioning from slid back to the tilt position without a helping hand. No good.
What I did initially to prove my point was to use the VW seal at the front and sides and a piece of E30 BMW seal at the rear as its not as wide, problem solved but looks ugly with visible joins.
Ordered a brand new BMW seal from Ebay and fitted that today, thankfully its longer than needed so the fit is perfect and the roof works flawlessly.

Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on February 27, 2022, 09:53:29 AM
Last bits on the sunroof completing that. The BMW seal works a treat, couldn't be better.
Finally painted the air deflector flap satin black as well.
Still have my replacement door rub strips to paint and fit and that will be the last of it. Until I decide to change something else of course.
(https://i.imgur.com/N8nhYED.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on May 04, 2022, 04:38:44 PM
Not much to report here other than just driving it / enjoying it. Did have a few niggly rattles in the dash I wanted to sort out plus some other maintenance that I still had to do.
Got that done today, passengers side drive shaft out to try and locate an annoying squeek but didn't find anything out of place there.
At least everything underneath is bone dry, no leaks what so ever from anywhere.
Rattles in the dash were from the glove box and the main one was the radio which wasn't supported at the back like it's supposed to be. Those issues easily resolved.
With some spare time left I did a test fit of it's next set of wheels, I like the Work wheels and will keep them but I'm also quite partial to OZ Superleggeras, these in 17x8. The Work Pietra Corse are 16x7.
Next is a bit of machining on these wheels and decide on a colour for them.
(https://i.imgur.com/0rKEJm2.jpg)
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: The Admiral on August 01, 2022, 09:25:00 PM
OMG. In. Cred. IBLE. What an outstanding job. Very inspiring too!

Thanks for the pump!
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 23, 2023, 11:44:30 AM
Looking at converting this to a 6 speed, have a nice O2S gearbox lined up which uses the same architecture as the 02A and 02J but before I can do anything I need to find the gear ratios.
Nothing on the net so far, box code is MXQ if anyone knows of anything.
Came out of a 5C Beetle.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 25, 2023, 08:06:01 AM
This is why forums are still the best, a very nice member here reached out to me and gave me the gear ratios for the MXQ.

DPA 02A                     MXQ 02S
1st   3.3                     3.77
2nd  1.944                 2.11
3rd   1.303                 1.36
4th   1.029                 1.02
5th   0.837                 0.85
6th                            0.73
Final  3.68                  3.64
With the 205/45/16 tyre I run on this car I was able to calculate the following,

108kmh @ 3000rpm for the DPA
107kmh @ 2550rpm for the MXQ
giving me a 450 rpm drop at motorway speeds, not as much as I was hoping for but still a huge improvement, the next thing is deciding if its worth building one
gearbox from the two for 450rpm.
I have to use the bell housing from the DPA for the speedo drive and the rear case from the 02S to make it all work.......
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: 80 Vert on July 25, 2023, 10:49:25 AM
Ideally I would build the new gearbox up with a new diff instead of having to disassemble the one in the car now which leads me on to another question,
is anyone looking for a built 02A with Wavetrac LSD?
I'd still need to source a 02A or 02J 4 cylinder bell housing but there must be some broken gearboxes around somewhere.
Title: Re: Projekt Golf Zwei
Post by: coons on July 25, 2023, 04:58:50 PM
I'd do it, ~500rpm makes a decent amount of difference. Cruising at 3,000+ rpm is no fun.