'88 Golf GTI - Rotbox Round II

[Greg|H]

I'm in love.

Haha Thanks for the kind words

I know the feeling, i have the "maybe i should pick up a mk2 before players" plan in my head haha

You have roughly 10 days to make it happen! haha
If you really want one though, just chill until something special comes along, there might even be the odd one advertised for sale at players

This is a neat little daily! The Mazda looks mint as well.

Thanks! I love driving it on a daily basis, I don't get the point of owning a car you love, and only using it on weekends The mazda was a lot of fun also, I wish I still had it to be honest. I didn't realise how much I enjoyed driving that car until I sold it.

[Greg|H]

I've got a few small updates on the mk2, apoligises in advance, a bit of a boring post!

Firstly bought a new tail light to replace the cracked one it came with. I used some T Cut on it and it really restored the shine.



It was both unusual and nice not to find rust hiding under here!



Next I fitted the omp steering wheel to the interior, it was kind of a stepping stone towards fitting a nardi that I'll eventually buy. But its a nice change for the time being
I think the yellow stitching works surprisingly well with the interior trim.




I also found some genuine vw mats in my shed from my previous mk2 that I completely forgot I had, they made a nice replacement for the ford mats this one came with lol



Next up I refitted the mint carpeted parcel shelf supports and parcel shelf. I left the rear seatbelts out to keep it looking tidy in the back, its too low for people to sit in the back without the tyres scrubbing the paint off the arches anyway



I have given the car a good clean and polish in preparation for the weekend, but found the paint to be lifting quite badly on the rear quarter. I think its just reacted from where that section was resprayed after having the welding done.



I have ordered new front wings from vw heritage as I've heard that their repro's are a really good fit. And I'd had a bit of trouble finding any good condition second hand genuine wings for sale locally, but I'll sure these ones will be okay. I just need to find some early spec doors for sale, then it'll be all set for a respray!

I plan on respraying the whole car myself. I figured I can make a little booth in my back garden to prep and spray the bonnet, doors, wings, front valance and boot in. Then I'll find somewhere clean & sheltered on my girlfriends farm to do the shell. The paint currently is terrible (much worse than any of the previous photo's show), so I really have nothing to loose by having a go at doing it myself + I have always wanted to paint a car. I think it would be so rewarding, even if it takes a few attempts to get it good.

[Greg|H]

My new wings arrived today. They seem to be of fair quality considering they are reproduction ones.



They don't have any holes drilled for the rub strips, which suits me perfectly as I won't be running any. I want to keep the exterior lines clean and uncluttered.



I will need to chop the tabs off for the arch liners so that I can roll the arches so they clear the tyres without scrubbing.



(Bottom left of photo) This was the only section that was bent out of shape, but I'm sure I'll be able to straighten the corner out without too much hassle



Time to start saving for a spray gun and get practising!

[P78]

i know these are for a ghia

but they do exist in yellow for mk2

[Greg|H]

i know these are for a ghia

but they do exist in yellow for mk2

They are very cool, and would tie in with the interior nicely! I will have to keep an eye out for a set for sale, thanks

[Greg|H]

Players Classic was a lot of fun on the weekend. Despite the torrential rain on the way there in the morning, the sun came out for the afternoon and it turned out being pretty hot (By UK standards anyway )! Some gorgeous cars were on show. I definitely left feeling inspired to step up my game with the golf!
Here's just a single photo of the Rotbox next to my old Mazda Eunos.

[Greg|H]

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I've had to put my college studies before the mk2 so haven't really got anything done. Things will pick up in the coming weeks though Here's just a single crappy instaspam pic to keep the thread alive, I'm pretty sure it's got to have been the hottest day in the UK today so far this year

[aljonizle]

simple and clean, looks awesome!

[Jrs85]

Hey mate I think I saw you this morning around 8am near Bramber. Was it you ?

[Greg|H]

simple and clean, looks awesome!

Thanks I picked up a daily recently, so I'll have more time to get back to work on it now. Got a few plans in the pipeline

[Greg|H]

Hey mate I think I saw you this morning around 8am near Bramber. Was it you ?

Sorry for the late reply! Yes I suspect that was me, I live in Upper Beeding. Are you local?

[Greg|H]

I picked up a daily last weekend, because using the golf on a daily basis meant I didn't have the time to work on it, and enjoy it as a project. So hopefully now I'll get the time to take it to bits and work on it over the weekend, without the rush of putting it all back together so that I can drive it to work come monday morning..

I am incapable of being practical when it comes to cars though, I buy with my heart and not my head, so I obviously didn't buy a spacious cheap practical diesel I knew wanted a BMW, with a straight six soundtrack, and idealy one in my favourite colour - Hellrot red. It had to be modern enough to be reliable, but old enough to still feel raw and fast like a drivers car should. I found this early e36 328i sport for sale, and jumped at the chance to own it.



It needs a little bit of work to tidy it up, it was used for drifting on and off for the last year or more, so it has a welded diff (which I will replace with an LSD). Its also missing the kidney grills and stuff, but that's easily sorted. The plan is to make it clean and original, and perhaps get it a little lower on some wider wheels, although the Golf is my main priority for now.



Drift stick!



Thanks for reading, more Mk2 based updates next time I promise! I may even make a separate thread for the '36.

[Greg|H]

Hey, I haven't posted in a bit due to being busy after buying the BMW, but now that I've got a few things done on that, I can turn my attention back to my mk2!

Ever since I bought the mk2, the front end has been bugging me. The crooked bumper, the dented rusty wings and the mystery of whether the inner wings were completely rust free or not. So I started off by stripping done the front end..

Splitter, front valance and bumper off. Inside of the chassis legs are solid



Next up I removed the driver side wing, after spending what felt like forever cutting away the rubbery underseal to free the wing



I cleaned off the wax oil and dirt, and removed the seam sealer in areas that are rust prone (by the sunroof and gutter drain holes at the top of the inner wing). There was a small amount of surface rust, so I sanded it back and treated it with kurust. I then painted over those area's.





While the wing was off I took advantage of easy access to the inner wing and front jacking point as I knew there was surface rust creeping through that needed proper attention. Any excuse to get the angle grinder out

This photo was half way through taking the area back to clean metal, the upshot of it was only one tiny hole on the inner wing which is visible in this photo. Think it caught it just in time.



I could either weld it (and inevetibly blow through it as the metal was very thin at the edge of the hole), or treat the area and skim it with filler. I pinned it the pussy route When I get round to buying a mig welder I'll cut it out and plate it properly, but being as its only 1 tiny whole, who cares for now



It did get painted, I suck at remembering to get 'after photos'.

I chopped the arch liner taps off the new wings and used the trusty copper/hyde hammer to fold the arch lips flat. I'd like the next wheels to be 8j wide up front so as much clearance as possible is necessary. That reminds me, I sold the BBS Rz's for a tidy profit a few weeks back, hence why its back on the teardrops at the moment..



Going to give them a final subtle pull with an arch roller to get the small kinks out. For repro pannels they fit pretty good. I'll get them painted along with the black bonnet so I can bolt them on and have the car looking presentable for the time being, although a full respray is going to happen, whether I get a workshop with some mates and do it myself, or end up paying a bodyshop to do it for me (I'm hoping the first option will work out).



I pretty much did all that all over again on the passenger side, which also had a little surface rust in the same areas, although nothing to worry about





That's all for tonight!

Greg

[Greg|H]

I did a bit more on the golf tonight after work. The left chassis let needed taking back to clean metal as there was surface rust creaping through, which I then treating, and finally painted over.
Picsss..



It looks like milk, this stuff's magic though (Kurust rust converter)




Paint







Inner arches finished, next job is to fit the new arches, give them one final roll, then get them painted. Part of me wants to just but the rusty arches back on though, it's not the rotbox without them..

[Greg|H]

My plans for keeping the golf off the road as a project didn’t last for long! I got tired of paying the expensive insurance on my 328i and upon receiving a steep renewal quote, I decided to sell it. I had missed driving the mk2 daily anyway..

Soo, with it back on the road, I decided I would fix the brakes once and for all. I have been putting off replacing the servo ever since I bought the car as it’s buried behind the engine with next to no clearance to remove it. Everyone I asked said I wouldn’t get the servo out with the engine it place. But I decided to go for it anyway.



Nope, still not coming out.



Throttle body off, and it finally had enough clearance to get out. In reality it was easy to change, I don’t know why I had put off changing it for the last year?? Life lesson learnt, just man up!



I put it all back together, bled the brakes, then went for a test drive feeling sure I’d fixed the problem of the brakes sticking when the servo is active. The brakes still occasionally stuck on, but only one of the rears. It turned out I had a separate issue with the handbrake cables sticking, but that is all sorted now.

The golf has never driven better, I’m glad to be back in it, even if it does look like a bit of a dog at the moment! Winter is looming and the roads will be seeing salt in the coming months, so it will remain on its standard teardrop alloy wheels until early next year. I'm also just running the old front wings for now, rotbox for the win! I've also raised the suspension up a little bit so it's got enough clearance for it's MOT test.