Unfortunately selling the polo soon for a few reasons, (see my build thread for it). So had to start thinking about what I will replace it with. Looked at quite a few VW's and even the odd Audi. Anything from a 6N2 polo to a B1 Audi 80. Eventually settled on a MK2 Golf GL and picked it up from Kent a few weeks ago, and drove home rather pleased with myself

Car is a 1991 5 door GL 1.8 manual 4+E in Diamond Silver.

It is all original and has had no welding or panels. Totally solid in all the usual MK2 places and runs and drives lovely and smooth and quiet. I was very impressed with it when I jumped in for the 3 hour drive back from Kent and it happily took me home at a steady comfortable 70. Lights were a bit rubbish though, but I understand that's normal

It has had some paint in the past to the passenger rear door and quarter and the same door has the only rust, with some bubbling in a few places. Also has scrapes to 3 of the arches and some small dents and chips associated with a car that is 22 years old and original.

Interior is the blue/ grey velour and is in a word, Mint. Back seats have barely been sat in and fronts have no wear, even to the usual bolster. Carpets are dark blue, as is the vinyl part of the door cards, the parcel shelf and supports. Original mats are still in, though the drivers has worn through from 136,000 miles of use. Has the plastic boot sill trim with no damage.

Spec wise its pretty good too. With power steering, electric mirrors, steel sunroof, central locking, rev counter clocks, door speakers, time delay interior light, heated washer jets, split folding rear seat and still has the original Panasonic pull out cassette player and aerial with 2 keys to pull it up. Everything on it works

I started my new project by giving the outside a good wash and blacked the trim. I started with a tooth brush, scrubbing around all the rubbers and window scrapers, and in any little corners (around filler flap etc) to get some of the green off. This car clearly hadn't had a proper wash in a long time. Then gave it a good wash with autoglym shampoo. Once rinsed and dryed I cleaned off some tar from under the side trims and put some Autoglym trim gel on all the plastics. Unfortunately, although it looks loads better, my trim didn't respond as well as I would have hoped is still a bit patchy and grey. Then it started to rain before I could get the hoover out to tackle the inside. So I took it down the road for a few proper pics. Looks really good now and I haven't detailed it yet :

The worst bits of the bodywork. Its not done badly for its 22 years on the road. Scrapes to front arches, looks like someone had a go at repairing them, driver and passenger side which is dented a little and started to rust. Rear door on passenger side has the only bubbles of rust on the car in various places, as it has been repaired in the past. By far the worst panel and will be swapped for a better one. Rear quarter was also repainted at the same time and paint isn't the best and it now also has a similar scrape to front arch on same side:

Engine bay. Not the cleanest, but is is original, with all the stickers and loads of waxoyl everywhere. Nice option of heated washer jets.

Interior. Seats are hardly worn and headliner isn't sagging at all. Parcel shelf is not bent or hacked to fit rubbish speakers. Original mats and stereo still in. Boot area is dry and has original plastic sill trim and arch foams, original stickers and straps for first aid kit and warning triangle. Whole lot just needs a good hoover and dusting.

Gear knob has seen better days

All the original manuals, salesmans cards, service book and both original sets of keys, with aerial tool:

Unfortunately service book is only stamped for first 6 services, all with supplying dealer, Drift Bridge Garage (still trading as I checked, may take it back there if i'm passing Epsom 8) ) That's all the History I have, don't know what happened to the rest but can tell its been looked after.

Already been buying parts, well had my Christmas present early. Got the parents trained well

New Hella headlights:

Mine weren't a matching pair, one was the original Hella and the other an Autopal cheapo rubbish thing. And as the lights are not that good I thought new light units would be a good start to improving things. Also fitted them with new Osram Nightbreaker upgraded bulbs. I had bought an upgraded light loom for my polo 2 years ago, but the relays were in the wrong place (fouled the washer bottle) so never used it. Was hoping it would fit the golf, but isn't long enough to reach between the lights.

Grille came off and surprisingly, has no broken clips, leaving me with this:

Lights were then removed. No rusty bolts to be found and all the front slam panel area is in great condition:

Looks very strange without grille and lights:

Old lights versus shiny new ones:

Back up together. Looks much better. Amazing how much of a difference new lights can make:

Unusual choice, but nice car. Looks nice after a clean. A must on these is pas.

That it is. Not what I was originally looking for but went to look at it and fell in love with the originality and lack of rot.

Its definitely a step up from the early polo's i'm used to when it comes to driving experience. So much quieter and smoother, although doesn't seem as responsive and fun in the lower gears, but think that's due to longer ratios.

My mate had an f plate one of these, nice car but his had no pas. Is the polo going.

Very tidy I like 4 door mk2s but not a big bumper fan but not my car :)

What's the plans long term?

I've had 2 without PAS and a mono 280 don't be gay Elijah

Polo is going unfortunately, don't earn enough to own 2 cars and fancied a change. Would love to keep it.

I prefer big bumpers to small, but only if the car was fitted with them from factory. Only GL and GTI ever were.

Not sure on long term plans really as it doesn't really need a lot doing. Just going to replace parts that look tired or are broken, either get a new door for rear passenger side, or get it sprayed. Get the damaged arches sprayed.

Get these refurbed, new tyres and bolted up:

Try to find some OEM parts to make it the MK2 Golf version of my polo, like fogs, Hella heckblende, headlight washers (not much of a chance), maybe fit electric windows to all doors.

It could get quite expensive quite quickly

haven't updated on here for a while. Not that anyones really interested, but here's what I've been up to anyway:

Fitted my OEM VW motorsport Gear knob from the polo, though not sure it suits:

Replaced my snapped bonnet earth strap. Saw the price (£20!) of a genuine one, and wasn't going to pay that for whats basically a length of braided wire, 2 connectors and some heat shrink. My Dad measured a borrowed genuine one and got a few made up for free at work. Not the same but close enough and do the job:

Invaded my dads stash of MK2 Golf parts, some of which has been in the loft over 15 years. Came down with this:

NOS Hella Heckblende . Had never been out of the packaging until I got it out. Unfortunately its half smoked rather than the red/orange one so wont work with my car as I want to keep all the orange lenses. Nice to have though and worth a fair amount.

Also found these Kamei X1 decals. Cool 80's graphics but again no good for my car as they are for a 3 door, plus the sticky has decayed and they have been damaged in storage

Also found this old skool Hella leaflet in the bottom of the Heckblende box. Those wheel Trims!

Sticking with Hella. Need to move my Hella steering wheel across from the Polo:







And this for the boot (I quite like Hella ):



And seen as the first aid kit holder is empty. I shall fill it with this. Also got an OEM warning triangle:




Heres my new GL badge:



Went parts hunting at my favourite scrappy. Must have been my lucky day as for the first time I've seen, there was a MK2 in, and it was hardly touched. Late spec 5 door too! I only went for some trim bits. Namely sunroof winder/ interior light panel, Footrest, grille clip (ones from headlights), drivers side door trim. Got all but the footrest as it was, as usual, cracked. Also grabbed some armour door plates, some non stainless sunroof arms in excellent condition (plastered in wax oil),a selection of side repeaters, 5 speed gear knob and an OEM earth strap. Was leaving and noticed a MK2 scirocco in a very poor state, covered in moss and algae, in a corner (walked past 3 times without seeing it) Decided to check it for sunroof arms which it had, along with a working Tilt and slide sunroof! So began my first attempt at removing a sunroof. 45 minutes later it was out in one piece Then I went to pay. And drove away the worlds most smug man, just £15 lighter!


The haul. Except the badges. Those arrived from ebay land. Paid 99p for a selection of VW badges and out of all of them there was a decent MK2 rear badge and a GL badge:









Not bad at all I don't think. Not looking forward to fitting the sunroof though as I know its going to be a lot harder than removing it from a car I didn't have to bother about

Popped the side trim off to replace it with the one I got from the scrappy. Turns out it wasn't broken after all, just missing a clip, so I took one from the other and refitted the original trim. Annoyingly its been loose for a while and has rubbed through the paint in places. This was visible when the trim was loose, but now its fitted properly, cant be seen. I treated the rust before refitting. Think I will get some diamond silver touch up and paint over properly. Only other solution is to paint the door:



Then had a play with sunroof parts. Removed my sunroof winder panel as it was damaged (small hole). Replaced it with the undamaged one bought from the scrappy. Also fitted the 'Golde' winder from my Tilt and slide, as it just looks nicer, even though the button wont do anything until I fit the roof itself:





Removed my old broken deflector arms and noticed the deflector itself was rotten, so that's getting binned too:



New parts aren't perfect, but arms are rust free (set in same condition sold for £30 on ebay recently!). Deflector itself has a bit of rust, but I will probably strip and paint it when the weather warms up. Its too cold for paintwork. Sunroof is now usable, not that I will need it for another 5 months



Fitted the side repeaters I got. They aren't Hella, but are genuine VW, in good condition and have intact clips, unlike my originals which one was loose and the other held in with silicone :



This tiny clip may seem insignificant to most, and I can bet that a lot of people are missing either one, or both of them. Mine only had one, so did the car this one came from Grille now doesn't rattle :



Decided to start on the more intensive cleaning process. Seen as I had some new badges, thought I'd start at the back, and work forwards. Started by removing the rear lights:

22 years of dirt stuck behind them:





Much better (I just love doing stuff like this ):



Then started removing the badges to get the dirt from behind those. Slight mishap with the rear 'GL' script meant it snapped in two. Good job I got that NOS one! Rear VW logo I couldn't get off, no matter how hard I pulled. Had a look behind and saw these weird clips that spread out, rather than the normal badge clips:



Cleaned up the rear panel and removed dirt from where the script was with G3. Clay barred the whole panel to get rid of the contamination. Then used the G3 to remove all the scratches that were all over the panel. Quite pleased as almost all of them disappeared. Followed up with some Autoglym super resin polish. Good result I think:



I cleaned the lights and their seals before refitting. Came up well but were looking a bit dull. G3 paint renovator works rather well on plastic light lenses if you rub hard enough. I tried it on my polo lights 2 years ago and they came up great so did the Golfs. Removes a lot of the scratches and brings the glossy finish back. For extra protection I used super resin polish after. No before and after pics though. I tried, but camera couldn't pick up on the difference.

Cleaned up light, new GL badge and polished rear panel all together. Got to say, Diamond Silver is really growing on me :

My fresh air hose was looking rather tatty. All split and gaffa taped up:



Found a nearly new one on ebay. Nice easy job to fit it, but makes a difference to that corner of the bay:



Then I continued with my panel by panel cleaning. Tailgate was next on my list for some attention. Started by stripping everything off. yuk:





Typical rotten boot plinth screws:



Will need some new number plate lights. Both are scruffy/ melted/ broken and one is missing the seal. The screws for them are also typically rotten:



Cleaned up the boot plinth. Much better:



Then cleaned where it mounts too and the area behind the number plate and used G3 to remove any stains. Then Gave it all the same 3 stage traetment as the rear panel. Clay bar, G3 paint renovator and Super Resin polish:





All built back up. Used stainless bolts for the boot plinth as i happened to have some the exact size. Looks so much better without the plate. Showroom fresh :



Couldnt resist, as the rear plate was off anyway:



Just wanted to see what it looked like

More new parts :




Manky old front indicators removed (one was broken and both were faded):



Brand new genuine VW ULO units fitted:





Third and last set of side repeaters. Brand new Original Hella:



New number plate light units. Just need some stainless screws now:



Manky old lock seal. Totally disintegrated when I touched it:



Replaced it with the new one Without breaking anything . Took some figuring out though but got there in the end.

removed the 2 screws from the central locking actuator itself so it was loose:



Used a large flat screwdriver to push in the tabs on the lock housing, whilst pulling on it from outside, one at a time. This gets it out far enough to allow fitment of the new seal:



However I did lose something. For some reason decided that the boot lock button and barrel would be best removed from its surround to make removing the surround easier. Didn't really know what I was unscrewing and ended up making the barrel loose and losing a tiny ball bearing from part of the mechanism. I got the part out fine, but when I realised my error and tried to refit it, I dropped the ball bearing 3 times. First time I was lucky enough to see where it landed on the drive, second time it went in the boot, but third time it bounced off the bumper and was gone.

It used to live here. On top of the spring in this lock paddle. Luckily its not essential:



Something good did come of losing it though. Had to remove the jack and spare wheel to retrieve the ball bearing the second time. I had looked under the carpet before, but a quick check for water/ Rot when buying the car was about it. Was very surprised to find the spare wheel, jack, wheel brace, spanner and even the centre cap removal tool still in un-used condition, after 22 years and 136,000 miles! I just love that kind of thing and I wont be putting any of those items to use . Wheel well itself is mint and no signs of rust at all.

Rubbish pics as it was nearly dark, but you get the idea. Dark patch on the foam isn't damp, its just where the tyres been rubbing. Boot is dry:







Also got an Autoglym valeting case for Christmas. And managed to grab a decent sized pressure washer from Halfords in a flash sale event. £49.99 instead of £99.99. So that lot should make cleaning it properly so much easier. Pressure washing the arches out sure beats lying under the car with a bucket and a brush, on my back, with 20 years of dirt dripping on my face and running up my sleeves

Decided to have a go with my new pressure washer. Took ages to get it set up and then realised my tap connector was not the best and my usual method when using just a hose of running it off the bath tap, didn't work, and ended with water spraying everywhere in the bathroom and not enough water coming through the washer to get enough pressure in it .

So wasted 2 hours setting it up, finding it didn't work and then putting everything away.

Went back to the traditional hand method for cleaning out the arches. Tried and tested on my previous 2 cars.

Jacked the car up from the rear beam mount. The sills/ jacking points aren't rotten, there isn't a spot of rust, I'd just rather not risk any damage. Here was 22 years of road grime and mud:



Brushed most of the thick dirt off, then sprayed the arches with Autoglym engine cleaner and scrubbed it and rinsed it off. Then used an old wash mitt and a bucket of autoglym shampoo to remove the remaining dirt, then gave it a wipe down with an old cloth. The result, nearly 2 hours later:





Also found out something I didn't know about my car. It has Gas shocks and almost new springs (on the back at least, haven't looked under the front yet). No wonder it rides so nicely :






Then did the passenger side:

Before:



After:



Looking good, but thought for a few hours I'd found my first and only bit of rot in a totally unexpected and weird place

The (badly) circled area below felt soft and like it was only the underseal and paint and a hole underneath. Although no rust is visible and it didn't feel crunchy around it. Found out that there should be a factory hole there, that's sometimes plugged with a bung, but sometimes with a piece of tape, then undersealed/ painted over, like on polo MK2/2F sills where the holes for GT/G40 trims are.



Half expected to find a bit of rust down the bottoms of the arch, where all the muck collects, as their had to be some hiding somewhere. But was pleasantly surprised, as their is none.

Pretty pleased with the result

And to bring this thread up to date as of yesterday:

Sorted myself a stereo. Spotted it on ebay. Picture was blurred, but I was sure despite it's mid 90's origin, it had an AUX input. Searched the model number and I was right, the thing that looked like a 3.5mm AUX input, was. Then I forgot to bid on it . Messaged the seller, and bought it for £15 posted. It turned up yesterday and it not only has the AUX input, but it has an amp preout to run a sub. Bonus Also it has a removable faceplate. Made in Germany too so know its good quality.

Here it is. Its a 1995 Panasonic R525LEE. Standard fit stereo is a Panasonic too, so seems right to upgrade it with this:





The all important AUX socket:



Preout:



Pretty pleased with it as its suitably retro, in near mint condition and I should be able to listen to my MP3 through it and run a sub. I just need to do some repairs to the wiring and then I will see if it powers up and works, seller assured me it does. Hoping the backlight is green too.

Isn't what I'd have gone for mate, but glad you're happy with it, and absolutely loving the attention to detail!

Interested to follow progress on this as it's looking good so far

I have a mk2 jetta and just installed a stereo in that but I had to turn it on and off manually so checked all the wiring and the ignition switched lived didn't work so checked the out put from ignition switch and nothing turns out vw didn't put the connection for that on the ignition barrel easy solved by linking it to another switched live. Just to help you out abit.

Also when you going to lower it. I thought I may aswell ask as no one has yet

This is pretty awesome, haven't seen a silver mk2 in a while! Good work too makes me feel bad about neglecting my driver haha.

I know what I'm doing with stereos, fitted enough of them. I'm not bothered if the stereo has to be turned on and off manually. I always swap the yellow and red wires round to make it do that if it doesn't. I like to be able to play music without the ignition on.

Silver big bumper MK2's seem to be quite uncommon, not going to use the R word.

And its not getting lowered. Ever. Well at least not while I have it. Got far better things to spend the money on. OEM YO!

Far enough if you know what your doing but if there's no feed coming from the ignition switch swapping the red and yellow won't do anything. So your knowledge is questionable. I was only trying to help though

Far enough if you know what your doing but if there's no feed coming from the ignition switch swapping the red and yellow won't do anything. So your knowledge is questionable. I was only trying to help though

Not strictly true. Swapping them will result in the stereo working, but the memory function won't work. He will basically want to put the red and yellow together and connect to the perm. live feed for it to work all of the time, regardless of the ignition switch position.

He would indeed have to connect red and yellow to permanent live or sort the switched fees which is a piss of piss with a scotch lock going from one igniting live to the next and sorted. Personally I would forget to turn it off. And I like a properly functioning radio

That is fucking lovely <3 Great work cleaning it up too, it wants leaving stock in my opinion

Almost forgot I had these. Yes they really are OEM :

Had the day off Tuesday, and hoped to get on with a few bits of cleaning on this but it poured with rain most of the day. Did get a bit of paint restoration done on the left rear quarter though.

Before. C pillar Looked like someone had sanded it down for some reason:

After. Used G3 scratch remover to polish out the scratches as well as I could. Then G3 paint renovator, clay barred and polished. Not perfect but a lot better:

Below the pillar had plenty of scratches, as has the whole of this side, like its been run up against a hedge:

After. Same process as above:

Don't know whats caused this, but its too deep to polish out and is on the rear door too:

Best I can do. I'm going to paint this whole quarter anyway, along with the rear door, as the rear arch has the scrape:

Tedious task for Wednesday night was fitting ISO plugs to the wiring for my stereo. Much wire cutting, stripping and connector crimping. Only finished the speaker plug and didn't even bother getting a pic of it finished:

Also ordered a few things from Heritage. New window scrapers, well three, as one rear is out of stock, came Friday. Nice flexible rubber is much better than the shrunken old rotten ones on the car:

And a brand new set of teardrops (hopefully, as they don't actually know exactly how many are left) . Just need to get some centres refurbished as they are obsolete, and hope the finish will match.

Been parts hunting at my favourite scrap yard again on saturday, but no MK2's had arrived since last time and the one from last time was pretty much stripped. Even the filler flap panel was cut out.

So went digging through all The other VAG cars for OEM stereos and to see if anything could be used on the Golf. Found an Audi 80 B4 Avant and spotted the door latches. They looked almost the same as MK2 ones, but were shiny and chrome, with stainless bolts, so out came the allen keys. Took one off and went over to the MK2 on the other side of the yard. Took its door latch off and the Audi one bolted straight on . Went back to the Audi and had the full set off. For these and a few other bits I bought to sell on, I paid £15. Here they are after a clean up :

The backs have a nice rubber seal, and the mechanisms are mostly the same as on the Golf. A part of the mechanism (part bottom right in pic) is different to the golf though. But I think I can make them work:

WOW!! Just wow.

I have to say, I've never was a trully Golf MKII fan, but after see this one I'm in shock! I never saw any Golf MKII like this one. It's trully amazing after that awesome clean up. And that little things... makes total sense! It's great! A really nice polish and it's really really good.

Congrats, mate!

Edited 16 January, 201412 yr by JPN.PT

I cant see half the pics ?.....