1991 Golf GTi project

[browne174]

Mk3 doing Mk3 things. Being a parts car

 

[natogreen16v]

That is very cool.

What’s the craic with the mk3? Just had your fun with it or further evolution?

Cheers Pete. I pulled it off the road a few years back with the intention of doing rust repair, paint, a new engine and pushing it much further than it was. I was making good progress on it then covid, a garage build, Lee's Jetta etc got in the way. I don't have the time or money at the moment to get it where I want it for this year and I'm going mad not having something to enjoy so this MK2 is filling that gap this summer. Hopefully lol.

Mk3 doing Mk3 things. Being a parts car

not wrong lol

 

[natogreen16v]

So the fuel system. As I'm swapping to the mk3 tank and binning the external pumps I got to removing the pumps.

Once again I'm very impressed to see a how a very reputable business cut brackets off, left it untreated and bolted their tank and pumps up anyway I'll address this myself obviously

At this point my plan was to retain the AN lines, filter etc and adapt it all to fit the OEM tank and fuel rail.

I sorted the tank end but the fuel rail was becoming a messy affair which wasn't for me. Combined with me not actually liking the stainless braided hoses in the bay I made the call to rip it all out.

So I'm currently waiting on an OEM fuel filter and I pulled the plastic fuel lines from a certain mk3 and fitted them like so then cable tied my air line to it

I ordered up some black braided hoses for the engine bay end and mocked them up last night. With the rest of the brackets to hold them and some nice hose clamps it should look ok.

Once the fuel filter arrives I can sort the tank end and that'll button up the fuel side of things and keep me happy - ISH.

Connor

 

[cauld1]

Is that external set up still with you?

 

[natogreen16v]

Is that external set up still with you?

it is indeed

 

[Tufty]

it is indeed

May i ask what your plans are for it? If you decide to sell would you let me know?

 

[cauld1]

May i ask what your plans are for it? If you decide to sell would you let me know?

Get in the queue

 

[Tufty]

Get in the queue

I knew I would be to late.

 

[Gaz86]

Is there much left of poor Otis? lol

 

[browne174]

Is there much left of poor Otis? lol

 

[cauld1]

View attachment 422715

Bloody hell, didn't know he bought a MK2. Hadn't heard about it

 

[natogreen16v]

@Tufty Matt owes it but I do believe @cauld1 has been making noises about it. If he doesn't take it I'll let you know though.

Is there much left of poor Otis? lol

Anything I've taken from Otis was all getting stripped anyway. With an underbody resto I'll not be reusing the original tank or fuel lines. The engine I have a 24v sitting to replace it and the brakes I want to go to 310mm phaeton disc anyway. So no panic lol.

@browne174 **** you

 

[natogreen16v]

Not very many visual things to post in this update.

I got the last of the bits and piece for the fuel system finished up when they arrived. It's now plumbed from pump to fuel rail and back so I'm happy about that.

I did find this wonderful piece of work from a big Motorsport company in the south.

The bracket with 2 jubilee clips to hold a fuel filter is fine. The execution however is abysmal. This is why I don't trust anyone and prefer to do things myself so I know how it's done.

I've reused this but I'm going to have a new one waterjet cut by a guy down the road.

Blackline sorted me out with some air fittings and I managed to get the air ride all plumbed up. I roughly wired everything and I've just a battery terminal to fit and it should all work nicely again.

I got a pleasant surprise too by finding out the boot build from my mk3 fits perfectly in the mk2. So that's a huge time saver.

I need to remake the panel closest to the boot as it has warped and I'll change the grey carpet to black to match the mk2s carpeted strut towers but I'm very happy with that.

Don't mind the mess there. I'd everything ****ed in for a test run to make sure it all actually operates.

And something I love about this digital management. You can change the colour of the background, lines and text. So it can be set to green and black to tie in with the mk2 dash clocks.

Once I've the battery terminal and battery hard mounted I'll tidy the wiring under the false floor, leak test the system then it's engine wiring time.

Connor

 

[Big Pimp]

Just reading this and listening to the podcast. It’s flipping mad the hack that was sent back to an unknowing customer.

 

[natogreen16v]

Just reading this and listening to the podcast. It’s flipping mad the hack that was sent back to an unknowing customer.

Yeah it's brutal. I'm genuinely glad to remove most, if not everything, they've done to this car.

Their inhouse paint shop painted the car too. The finish is great but they've missed under the sills, rear panel etc. I can fix those myself but the bay is blistering and I will eventually paint it myself but I just want it on the road to enjoy for now. It's not a show car. It's a fun one for me. Which i need to keep reminding myself lol.

But yeah, people putting work out like this is why I try do 99% of the work myself.

 

[natogreen16v]

Finally got some time this week and finished wiring the air ride. Compressor works after lying up which is a bonus too. Thankfully it's not as loud as my phone would have you believe. Some rubber pads better the mounts will help isolate it.



Once I have wheels sorted I'll dial in the speed of the rise and drop etc

I'm off to get more tattoo work done today so the next few days I'll likely look into the engine wiring so it's cleaner work for a bit.

Connor

 

[natogreen16v]

Now the air is in and working, I decided to get at the wiring. I'd kinda got into my head about doing this (I don't know why cos I enjoy wiring) so I finally decided I had to tackle it.

So the loom should run through the firewall. But because all the holes are gone I want to run it in the wings. I need to lengthen it to do this but I wanted the engine running first with the loom to make sure any issues weren't my doing.

The windscreen doesn't sit right and needs refitted so Stefan and I decided to pull it out and run the engine loom through the windscreen opening.

Half way through getting the glass out, guess what happened:

Back at the start of this build thread I mentioned the wiring to the clocks had been "reworked" for the very professional install of a standalone ECU wires cut and left lying bare (presumably to stop the water and oil gauge going nuts with the standalone fitted), other wires with insulation stripped (presumably to probe) and left bare and others soldered to and just taped up.

I dropped the fuse box down and unplugged the loom to bring it into the house to work on it in the heat.

I cut out all the bad bits, soldered the wires, used heat shrink over the joint the wrapped the loom in cloth tape

Much better and less **** to worry about now

Connor

 

[PaulYDP]

Bodged wiring looks very familiar to what I had to sort out too!

Can’t beat doing it right with soldering, heat shrink and cloth tape! Great work.

Still love a mk2 golf!!

 

[carmad.]

Now the air is in and working, I decided to get at the wiring. I'd kinda got into my head about doing this (I don't know why cos I enjoy wiring) so I finally decided I had to tackle it.

So the loom should run through the firewall. But because all the holes are gone I want to run it in the wings. I need to lengthen it to do this but I wanted the engine running first with the loom to make sure any issues weren't my doing.

The windscreen doesn't sit right and needs refitted so Stefan and I decided to pull it out and run the engine loom through the windscreen opening.

Half way through getting the glass out, guess what happened:
View attachment 423703
View attachment 423702

Back at the start of this build thread I mentioned the wiring to the clocks had been "reworked" for the very professional install of a standalone ECU wires cut and left lying bare (presumably to stop the water and oil gauge going nuts with the standalone fitted), other wires with insulation stripped (presumably to probe) and left bare and others soldered to and just taped up.

View attachment 423705

I dropped the fuse box down and unplugged the loom to bring it into the house to work on it in the heat.

View attachment 423704

I cut out all the bad bits, soldered the wires, used heat shrink over the joint the wrapped the loom in cloth tape
View attachment 423707
View attachment 423708View attachment 423709View attachment 423710View attachment 423711

Much better and less **** to worry about now

Connor

them wee milwaukee soldering irons are a good job

gutted about the windscreen can you get a replacement handy enough ?

 

[Boydie]

Much neater - nice job!

 

[cauld1]

Now the air is in and working, I decided to get at the wiring. I'd kinda got into my head about doing this (I don't know why cos I enjoy wiring) so I finally decided I had to tackle it.

So the loom should run through the firewall. But because all the holes are gone I want to run it in the wings. I need to lengthen it to do this but I wanted the engine running first with the loom to make sure any issues weren't my doing.

The windscreen doesn't sit right and needs refitted so Stefan and I decided to pull it out and run the engine loom through the windscreen opening.

Half way through getting the glass out, guess what happened:
View attachment 423703
View attachment 423702

Back at the start of this build thread I mentioned the wiring to the clocks had been "reworked" for the very professional install of a standalone ECU wires cut and left lying bare (presumably to stop the water and oil gauge going nuts with the standalone fitted), other wires with insulation stripped (presumably to probe) and left bare and others soldered to and just taped up.

View attachment 423705

I dropped the fuse box down and unplugged the loom to bring it into the house to work on it in the heat.

View attachment 423704

I cut out all the bad bits, soldered the wires, used heat shrink over the joint the wrapped the loom in cloth tape
View attachment 423707
View attachment 423708View attachment 423709View attachment 423710View attachment 423711

Much better and less **** to worry about now

Connor

Yea, as said yesterday that wiring was a bit of a mess alright. Good to see it a lot neater going back in.

I did the exact same to my windscreen taking it out, was gutted as it still had toll stickers from the early 90s on it when it was in Austria etc. at least they're handy enough got still.

Thought about a heated screen?

 

[natogreen16v]

Bodged wiring looks very familiar to what I had to sort out too!

Can’t beat doing it right with soldering, heat shrink and cloth tape! Great work.

Still love a mk2 golf!!

It's mad Paul. Like I'm some dickhead doing a better job in his living room. I'm just glad to put it right.

them wee milwaukee soldering irons are a good job

gutted about the windscreen can you get a replacement handy enough ?

Yeha it's Stefan's but I'm 100% buying one. I'll never go back to a corded one.

Yeah you can get them starting from like £150 upwards. **** but at least it's available.

Cheers @Boydie I'm a lot happier with it.

Yea, as said yesterday that wiring was a bit of a mess alright. Good to see it a lot neater going back in.

I did the exact same to my windscreen taking it out, was gutted as it still had toll stickers from the early 90s on it when it was in Austria etc. at least they're handy enough got still.

Thought about a heated screen?

Yeah I'm much happier about that wiring. Couldn't believe it when I seen it.

Im tempted by one. It's just the cost lol

 

[Ian A]

Your repaired wiring is very tidy. I find it a strangely satisfying job to do.

Mind blown that what was there before is from professionals. I could understand it from a boyo in a shed, but dear me.

 

[Ben]

them wee milwaukee soldering irons are a good job

gutted about the windscreen can you get a replacement handy enough ?

@cormac81 lol

 

[natogreen16v]

I'm not updated this recently as it's mostly been trouble shooting wiring the engine due to the mess the fusebox was left in. I will come back to this however.

But, I was gona sit on this til dubshed but **** it. I was looking to try something different for wheels. I took a notion for these after doing a Photoshop and couldn't find them. Thankfully within mins of mentioning them to a friend in Scotland she found a set, did the deal and lifted them for me. I got some adapters to try them out and this is how it sat. The back needs spaced big time but I think it's gona work well. They show off the brakes and are certainly different from what I've seen on a mk2 before.

I know they're gona be a huge love/hate thing but I'm delighted with them

Fully dropped:

How I'll prob have it sitting when I get tyres and play with spacers:

And showing off the brakes:

Connor