'97 Golf Mk3. No more, no less.

[stancefag]

Hi there

Name's Lukas, I'm located in Eastern Germany. Always been into lowered cars and shit, especially Volkswagens <3

I turned 18 in December, which allowed me to drive legally here. Since I'm still in school, this is going to be a budget build... But I could finally afford a car now, so I got this Golf about two weeks ago. Pics from the ad:





A `97 Golf Mk3 , equipment version 'Family'. I guess you didn't had these in the States, so here are the features of that version:

Exterior:
6 J x 14 steel wheels and tires 185/60 R 14
four doors
green heat-insulating glass
'Family' decals
color-keyed bumpers and side moldings
color-keyed door mirrors
color-keyed tailgate handle (Sedan only)
white front turn signals
tinted side repeaters
tinted tail lights
high-mounted third brake light

Interior:
Cloth seat in design "Morsestreifen" in black
height-adjustable front seats
1/3 to 2/3 split folding rear bench seat and backrest

Safety system:
Air bag system for driver and passenger
two side airbags in the front seat backrests
Electronically controlled anti-lock braking system
two rear head restraints

Function facilities:

heated windscreen washer nozzles
Central locking with 'Safe' securing
electrically operated glass sunroof
Radio system "alpha" with two speakers

(Mistranslated for sure...)

This one has a 1.8l engine with 75hp and 5-speed. It was equipped with those OEM alloys as seen above at some point in it's life, but I bought it on steelies with winter tires to save same money. The dealer I got it from bought it from the very first owner

So this is how she used to look on day one:



(Right, the first ones are crappy cell phone pics. I won't apologize.)

I just had to get rid of those awful tail lights ASAP. So this happened:





They were made by the OEM Hella in the 90s. I'd love to have all red tails, but since those are illegal in Germany, I'll go with the white/red ones.

Also I binned those hugely oversized license plate frames (fuck Germany), deleted the 'Family' decals which were all around the car and mounted original black front turn signals from a GTI (anniversary edition). One of the old ones wasn't watertight anymore anyways...



Much more hasn't happened yet. Just a little while ago I snapped some pics to show you how she currently sits. Enjoy my static fitment



Yeah, I slapped a JDM stache on. Am I scene yet? No seriously, I like it more than I expected, so it will stay for a while.





Those steelies are different ones as seen above, they're equipped with summer tires. Not pretty, but at least in somewhat better shape than may winter wheels





























There is some aftermarket speaker wiring in the trunk, which was left by the PO. I might use that.



Okay, that's it for the moment. Well, I bought some black headlights from a GTI anniversary edition, but due to bad packaging all those retaining pins inside are broken Sucks so hard. As soon as I have the spare parts, I'll fix them.



I'd really love to see them on the car...

You're right, there's no stance at all at the moment...



...but that will change soon. I know a guy who's going to sell me his coilovers, which will made me able to achieve some serious lows soon Plus, I'm looking for some appropriate wheels right now.

I know this is not going to be that most fresh stance build of all times, but I thought someone might be interested anyway.

[hinrichs]

not bad, looks super clean, curious to the bumper sticker tho? also weird how all reds are illegal you say but do light up the way they are supposed to when on...?

[stancefag]

Thank you

curious to the bumper sticker tho?

I've seen that question coming already Well I know, it doesn't match the car, but it's not meant serious There were some scratches which were repaired badly by the PO, so I thought I could cover it with a random sticker until I can paint it properly or something.

also weird how all reds are illegal you say but do light up the way they are supposed to when on...?

Welcome to Germany

It's illegal to modifiy any lights of your car on yourself, no matter if they can do the job anyways. You have to buy legalized aftermarket ones instead.
There are test seals on all stock lights, which turns invalid if you modify them (like smoking them etc.). My current aftermarket tail lights have such a test seal, because the manufacturer had them tested before they put them on the market. That means I can drive around with them legally, which is very important for me at the moment. I have my license less than two years and in those two first years it's very easy to lose your license immediately. If they would pull me over right now and they would find some illegal stuff on my car my license would be gone. That's the reason why I also can't go lower than 7cm off the ground Regulations are pretty tough over here.

[stancefag]

Okay so nothing actually happened. Because fml.

Firstly I bought me some coilovers.



Budget ones by TA Technix, were already used in a Mk2 for one month. Should be good for a lowering of 7cm at least, let's see how low we can adjust it.

Were supposed to be mounted by the 'seller', a buddy of mine, and me, but we failed because of a lacking impact wrench. We were unable to loosen the strut bolts That's why it's going to be installed by a befriended shop. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen until 4th july , because I'm going on vacation next week.

Anyways, I did another purchase.



Original French fog lights. Which made my front end looking like this:









You may recognize that I also swapped the headlights against original ones from a Jubi GTI (anniversary edition). Unlike the old ones these are blacked out (which is illegal in Germany when you do it on yourself, so I had to look for such original ones) and also twin headlights instead of the standard single ones.

My car came originally with single headlights and, consequently, with a different harness than Golfs with standard twin headlights. Because of that, the low beam was automatically shut down when the full beam was turned on (to avoid overheating in the single chamber). Since I have lights with two chambers now, there was no need for the shut down any longer, so I searched for a bypass to obviate that. Finally found one and plugged it in:



(The reversed 'C' in the pic)

Thus, the low beam finally stays on even when the high beam is switched on





Lastly another shot of the back of the car. It most definitely has to come down some inches



I promise you that I'll share a real update with you the next time... Just wanted to keep this thread alive

I'll leave you with some poor cell phone shots of the wheels I just bought a week ago.









Schmidt Modern Line splits.

8x16" respectively 9x16". Offset 34 / 08. Of course I won't use those huge tires!



Could be good with some decent tires. Looks like I'll have to rape the hell out of those arches, though.

Since the standard axles have another pitch circle than the wheels actually do, I'll swap them against GTI axles with 5x100 to match the rims.

[stancefag]

Finally some minor progress... Got the coilovers installed.

This is NOT how low you can go with these, but for the TÜV (road legality testing organization in Germany) I had to raise the car a bit to get it legalized today. The inspector ripped my lip off when he moved back from the lift, though...





























I'm going to drop it some inches more once the wheels are fitted. That's it for the moment

[Tubaman]

Sweet golf. I would have kept the "family" decals...Just because they are cool in my mind.

[stancefag]

Sweet golf. I would have kept the "family" decals...Just because they are cool in my mind.

Thank you. I can see your point, but I was going for a 'cleaner' look so decided to remove them. I even planned to shave the Golf badge too, but kept it eventually


Now I'm all about bringing the rear down, I don't like the rake.

[T3rd Ferguson]

Thank you. I can see your point, but I was going for a 'cleaner' look so decided to remove them. I even planned to shave the Golf badge too, but kept it eventually


Now I'm all about bringing the rear down, I don't like the rake.

It would certainly look cleaner without the stickers

[bennkishh]

I'm in Hamburg staying with a friend for a while now, and it amazes me as to how clean and rust-free all the MK3's are here versus the US. Sorry to hear about all the crazy regulations though!

[stancefag]

It would certainly look cleaner without the stickers

It surely would. But unfortunately both bumpers were scratched by the PO, so I used stickers to cover those scratches. They will stay until I can afford a new paint job.

Sorry to hear about all the crazy regulations though!

Thanks, it's a real PITA. Most of my friends don't give a shit and do illegal mods. The problem is that you can be punished with deprivation of the license, when you have it less than two years. I got my license in February this year, so...

I'm in Hamburg staying with a friend for a while now, and it amazes me as to how clean and rust-free all the MK3's are here versus the US.

Haha, that's interesting! Didn't expected that actually. Mine has some typical issues on the front fenders (which will be fixed when they'll be pulled), but otherwise it's quite mint.

Enjoy your stay!

_________________________

BTW I was able to grab this super rare Votex leather steering wheel off eBay recently. The upper part needs to be reupholstered, but I'm happy to have it nonetheless.









It's totally compatible to my car, so I can swap the air bag over I'm sure it'll look good after some TLC.

[Tubaman]

Sweet. Have a B5 S4 wheel in mine,

[stancefag]

Alright, was lurking on the Forums and felt like updating my thread although I didn't achieved that much progress. There were some minor technical issues I wanted to have sorted first. Since I started to work lately I'm dailying the car now and don't have any problems so far


First we swapped the compressor of the A/C. Was damaged because the PO apparently had no fluids in the system.
The only pic I have was taken before anything happened...



Well it obviously works again now.



Then we noticed that the distributor flange was leaking:



Exchanged that too. Car is running so much smoother since then.


Since everything was working again I decided to change the look up a bit.
Was looking for a used OEM VR6 lip for ages and eventually ended up with bidding on a "slightly worn" one on eBay. Seller was obviously talking shit



Several cracks and covered with something similar to shiny PlastiDip and tons of mud at the rear. Got mad at first but I'm cool with it now, I'd have raped it anyways. Plus, it was still kinda cheap and it's no repro, which tend to burst very easily.

Cleaned it and gave it some fresh paint. Didn't know what to do with the cracks exactly, was too lazy to glue them (which would have looked like shit anyway). Ended up with tieing it together with some zipties, because that was hip in 2008.







Removed some stickers to clean it up btw.


Always liked the GTI grills (with two instead of three bars in it). So I got one.







Wasn't supposed to be colour-matched, actually planned on getting a randomly coloured one to paint it flat black. But I coincidentally found this one and decided to give it a try. Wasn't too sure about it first but I like it now.


You may have noticed that my front fenders were fucking around Those rust bubbles were starting to bug me, so I went and got some replacements.



Deleted the inner fenders when I mounted them



Well those are pretty clean, already shaved which I planned anyway and... perfectly not silver. They'll be painted after I got them widened.


Since those 3pcs. Schmidt rims I showed above will require GTI axles to fit (which will be done, but not this year anymore) I thought about getting some transitional wheels.



Once again, some Schmidt Modern Line. These are 9x16 on 215/40. I plan on going with 215/35 later.



I'll get my arches rolled soon, so I can finally fit some 'real' wheels. Can't wait

That's it for now, more to come later.

[Nico]

nice build.

[enes_ca]

that looks great ! keep it up

[stancefag]

that looks great ! keep it up

Glad you like it, thanks

nice build.

Thanks! Just checked out your white GTI, is it still around?