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The final Chapter? So this might be the last chapter of this story. But is a project car ever really finished. This time I have just a few bits and bobs that I have sorted out along the way. Tank Straps First off, these were really rusty and looked completely out of place. The new stainless ones will be good for many years to come. At the same time I added a vent pipe as I had managed to block this off during the engine conversion and it was making the tank pressurise! Fuel filter to stop debris getting in there. Engine tidy I wasn’tRead More →

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Another new Sump? Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Another one? Already? Well it goes something like this. We went to the Players show over in Essex. A lovely event, that I make sure I go to every year. This year however, I had to drive down some roads I didn’t know. That’s when things went wrong. *Bang* Yup, I hit a raised manhole cover. I wasn’t expecting that. Didn’t look too bad initially. Oil wasn’t leaking and the oil pressure was fine. *Phew* Ordered a new sump from ECP while I was at the show, ready for the following week. Keen for this notRead More →

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More interior added Well as you know, I had fitted the lovely  green Color Concept seats, but still had done nothing with the rest of the interior panels or trim. Sadly the headlining in the car had started to drop and the door cards were grubby and mismatched. It was time for a change. I had considered wrapping the door cards myself but when an full interior came up for sale already done, I couldn’t refuse. A short(!) trip to Wembly in rush hour traffic and I came home with this little lot. Headlining Sadly the headlining was covered over the top of the originalRead More →

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Digifiz time! A quick history lesson for you before we get started on this episode. Back in the 80’s there was a phase of people wanting more futuristic looking dashboards in their car. Think of the Astra GTE with it’s cool dash and even KITT from night rider and you are on the right kind of wavelength. Well VW wanted in on the action and produced the Digifiz! This is a very rare factory option that was only available in Germany as a special order. So special that the car had a different loom to the stock cars and included special dash, fog and heatedRead More →

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More suspension and wiring!   So.. thought I would replace the rear beam to match the front subframe. Now I’ve done a rear beam replacement before, and there was no way I was going to put the standard bushes back in there. Bit of sandblasting and a new coat of powder and we have one of these:   As you can see the old one was a bit grubby and looked like it had been at the bottom of the sea! Weird floating car look! As you can see some of the nasty copper lines gave me some trouble! Got the new beam on andRead More →

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Oops! Oops that wasn’t supposed to happen! The ever vulnerable sump pan was toast! Just as well it needed an oil change too. Another MOT So a year had swung round again, and it was time for the MOT. Reason(s) for Failure: nearside Side repeater missing (1.4.A.2b) offside Side repeater missing (1.4.A.2b) nearside front Brake pipe inadequately clipped hose (3.6.B.1) nearside front Brake pipe inadequately clipped hose & pipes (3.6.B.1) offside rear Brake pipe inadequately clipped hose & pipes (3.6.B.1) rear Brake load sensing valve seized (3.6.E.3) offside Ball joint has excessive play rack end (2.2.B.1f) Well, That was fun. So the Brake pipes areRead More →

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Interior time! As with most terrible plans, this part started with some late night browsing on eBay, resulting on a 600 mile round trip to pick up these: They were very dirty but with some scrubbing they have come back to being a lovely shade of green. Fitting the Front seats As you may know, these seats were designed for a mk3 Golf colour concept and weren’t just going to fit in without some modifications being made to them. Time for some cutting and welding! Basically the legs need to be narrower to fit in the mk2 Golf seat runners. Some plans I saw wereRead More →

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MOT time came around and she failed. Sad times. Being 27 years old has taken it’s toll and the fail sheet included two new sills and a bit of floor repair, usual stuff for a mk2 Golf. Minor things were a leaking exhaust and a tiny petrol leak from the fuel filter. Thankfully I have a very good welder close by who was willing to get stuck in. I ordered the panels and he set about the repairs. Time for some pictures! Looks bad here: Getting better here: After throwing in the interior and swapping the thermostat housing, she was good to go with aRead More →

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I finally got round to fitting some silicone hoses I ordered a while back. Rather than spending £350 on a set of Samco hoses, these came from China and cost more like £40. Sure they took 2 weeks to arrive but the quality is excellent, and a very eye catching colour too! Looking Snazzy! Sadly not enough to get into the Players at Goodwood Show and shine. But I’m pleased with it! Worked out where this small kinked hose went too! A usual problem area on the VR6 engine. Bad news So I was happily driving the car yesterday, about to pop off on aRead More →

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Soon after getting the car back on the road and driving, I noticed that the steerting was very notchy and suspected the rack to be worn out. So some work was needed and I decided to refurbish the subframe too. Thankfully a friend of mine had a spare mk3 subframe, wishbones and rack I could have for a few brass buttons. So after a few months of picking up all the bushes I needed and working out when I could do the swap I started. All the bushes needed: TT rear wishbone bushes, poly front bushes, poly ARB bushes, new droplinks, steering rack bush, newRead More →