I picked up a Golf on Thursday, to replace the Polo which had it's MOT booked on the 15th. It popped up on the local cars for sale page on Facebook. The guy had posted it in the morning and wanted £1,200. He then reposted it and wanted £1,100. I got it for £950. No service history (I haven't learnt from the Polo apparently) and it's far from a perfect example, not to mention I've discovered some lovely rust patches, but it's a good base to start work on. And hey, it's a Mk2 Golf for £950. That doesn't happen too often nowadays! Here are some photos from when I got the car home on Thursday evening.

The list of things initially wrong with it is a bit lengthy, but not major;

Rocker gasket is leaking and there's a fair amount of gunk all over the block. Doesn't seem to be leaking too fast though, think it may have been old oil.

The gear linkage is very loose. We had a look the next night and there's a lot of play, you can move all the linkage by hand. The linkage repair kits are about £25 and a lot of people put mk3 weighted shift rods in place of the single metal rod that is standard.

The boot wouldn't lock. We've temporarily fixed this by locking it from the inside. The barrel seemed to be in the wrong way?

Alternator belt was missing 'some' teeth but he provided a new belt and we've fitted it.

There was no filter or piping over the end of the air intake tube, which didn't seem right, so for now I've got a cheap cone attached just to get clean air in.

The airbox was filthy so we cleaned it out. Unsure whether the throttle body/carb itself was cleaned so that may be a job.

The drivers door has slipped and I have to sort of lean on the door while pulling it to open. Makes it look like I'm stealing the thing!

The drivers door handle locks with a separate key, the passenger door and boot are on the same key as ignition but neither actually lock from outside.

Ruuuuuuuuuuust. Well disguised, but rust nonetheless. As Kwijibo said, the plastic trims can hide nasty surprises!

Squeaking from the front drivers side, think I've narrowed it to scoring on the brake disc, something probably stuck in between pad and disc.

Getting a slight 'ticking' that correlates to the speed of the engine. IE the ticking is faster at 60mph than pulling away from a junction and stops when braking. (Any ideas?)

Clocks don't work.

Tracking needs doing.

She's lowered on coilovers that have seen better days, and she's on 8.5j front and 9j rear banded VW steels.

Some interior shots of the car, dash looks good. Think it's been oiled;

(Wheels are straight here, that's how the wheel sits. Tracking needs sorting)

No idea what the box in the last photo is for! (EDIT; It's a cassette box! Don't have a cassette player, it's in the boot.)

A shot of the engine bay. I don't know if it's the EZ engine or the RF engine. Not sure where it would be on the block, and it's pretty covered in oil at the moment!

Saturday's work consisted of getting her up on a jack and raising the coilovers up, as she was rubbing on about 2/3 lock at the fronts, and the second anyone got in the back, on the rears.

Found this gem hiding under the passenger side wing trim.

The coilovers have definitely seen better days.

Drivers side wing.

There's also a hole in the underside big enough to fit my hand in (not balled into a fist, thankfully)

Here's the scoring on the drivers side brake disc. Looks like maybe a stone got stuck in between pad and disc and has scored all the way round. Shame because the pads and discs don't look too bad but I'll be replacing them now. I haven't taken pads off before and had to drive away later that day so I'll wait until I have fresh pads.

Rear drums are rusty and somebody clearly couldn't be bothered to properly route the brake lines. Need to get new clips and reroute the brake pipe. Brake pipes make my head hurt at the moment though. My handbrake is quite weak so I need to think about that too. Not a clue at the moment though.

My mum's drive got taken over that day.

Not normally a fan of stretch, but kinda like these. They might be going though, and the alloys from the Polo may be going on.

I'll miss the Polo, it will always be the first car I ever owned. But it's been a frustrating last few months with her. I want to just get on with the work now and get her sold on. Hopefully someone else will have more like with her than I did and I really want to tear into the Golf now!

Edited 18 May, 201511 yr by mbusby993

should be a filter in that black plastic airbox...wont be helping it having a double filter

Think they took it out. I was sorting out the boot lock while they did it. What would be the best way to do it, filter in the box with nothing on the end of the intake, or on the intake and not in the box?

The breather from rocker to airbox was just making a right old mess, so they blocked that off too. And the hot air pipe from mani to air intake tube was split and doing nothing so that was removed. Might look into getting a new one cos I'm sure an older carb probably needs a hot air feed for cold starts. They did all this without me really realising what they were doing, as I was occupied at the other end!

Stripped the dash in an effort to try and get the clocks working. Didn't succeed as I think I need new clocks altogether.

At least I now know how to pull it all apart and put it all back together again. Just got to sort some clocks out, may go for some with a rev counter if I can find them on the cheap (£70-£90 on eBay!) but if not regular clocks will do. Need to work out why none of my dash lighting seems to work.

I then drove back to Falmouth to pick up Hope from uni and discovered this in the engine bay, hanging completely loose.

Thought it might have been the speedo cable but the only person who commented on it on the Golf forum seems to think the speedo cable is the grey one... This definitely goes up into the back of the engine bay though, around the same sort of area as the dash. So I'm not sure what it is, or where it attaches!

you need to do more digging before buying haha, it is pretty stunning though and I love the fog light covers.

You may be able to help me actually, i know them lights were on when you got the car but i dont suppose you know what size diameter they are?

Yeah, think I got a bit overexcited because it's a mk2 Golf! Which lights, the headlights or the fogs?

She came up alright with a good old polish. Unfortunately the paint is pretty weak, there are stonechips and scratches and it's just not very good. A respray is on the long term plans, once the engine is mechanically sound!

And it quickly became very obvious why the rocker gasket was leaking, once I whipped the rocker cover off!

It practically jumped off! Now I'm just waiting on my ECP order to do an oil and filter change! Also found a guy on the Mk2 Golf forums who's going to sell me some GTI clocks with the speedo for £20, which is pretty good as they seem to go for £70+ on eBay. Cam looked okay though!

Not sure if I've got a temp sensor issue or anything, but this is where the temp gauge tends to sit. It will go up to 90 and the fan will come on, but it seems to hover around 80-85ish.

Yeah, think I got a bit overexcited because it's a mk2 Golf! Which lights, the headlights or the fogs?

I nearly gave in once on a visually tidy mk2 at nearly 300k on clock but my family told me to stay clear haha and the fogs mate

This one's not too bad, I've seen worse and it's no worse than the Polo was really. The arch rust is fixable, new wings if it comes to it. The underside's got a hole that wants welding. Hopefully with the new rocker gasket on the engine will stop leaking. It's not perfect but it's a good base. In the long term I think it's going to be used for a base for an 'ABF + Bike carbs' conversion. 147k on the 1.6 so it's not the worst. Just needs some love

I'll do my best to try and remember to measure the outer diameter of the fogs for you later mate. I think the fogs as standard are wired in for full beam only though? Unsure.

This one's not too bad, I've seen worse and it's no worse than the Polo was really. The arch rust is fixable, new wings if it comes to it. The underside's got a hole that wants welding. Hopefully with the new rocker gasket on the engine will stop leaking. It's not perfect but it's a good base. In the long term I think it's going to be used for a base for an 'ABF + Bike carbs' conversion. 147k on the 1.6 so it's not the worst. Just needs some love [emoji38]

I'll do my best to try and remember to measure the outer diameter of the fogs for you later mate. I think the fogs as standard are wired in for full beam only though? Unsure.

Good luck for you mate, I can deal mechanical personally but hate bodywork lol I'll be watching this one though, and cheers mate

Well I'm only starting out so I'll base my future successes on how this one turns out!

Measured the fogs, they're 5.25 inches mate.

Sure you will do alright, plenty of help here if your not too proud to ask lol and cheers mate

Yeah I've got the forums when I get stuck. Far more help than a Haynes. :)

No worries mate

A quick mock up of how the BBS' from the 6n will look on the Golf. Think they're perfectly suited to it!

Not sure if I've got a temp sensor issue or anything, but this is where the temp gauge tends to sit. It will go up to 90 and the fan will come on, but it seems to hover around 80-85ish.

Every time I've had this trouble it's been the thermostat. Sitting idling hits 90 then as soon as you start moving moves down to 70-80.

They're like a tenner.

Edited 24 May, 201511 yr by vdoubleu

I'll give it a look then. She doesn't like traffic. Was sat at traffic lights and it went up to about 100, maybe a bit higher.

Will look into the thermostat.

just refresh all the cooling system and sensors and you should have a sweet runner from then on

Yeah, when I get paid on Saturday I'm gonna give it a full service. So I'll do all the filters etc and oil, but I'm also gonna do the discs, pads, shoes and flush the coolant etc. I'll check out the thermostat, once I've had a good poke and found where it is. Probably replace the stat and temp sensors. It seems to eat fuel, but I don't know how to approach that as I know nothing about carb engines at the moment! Hoping it will be a good runner when that's all sorted. Needs the tracking sorting too!

Goes like stink though, especially compared to the Polo. I reckon the Polo had lost a fair amount of its 60 horses though :P

Taken a couple of snaps in the last few days.

Currently sitting lower on the back. On thursday I'm going to even out the ride height all around, give her a deep clean inside, replace the barrels from the orignial handles with the ones from pattern locks I've just bought from eBay, do an oil and filter change and hopefully fit the RXII's from the Polo.

This picture amused me. It consists of my mate Chris's Passat B5.5 TDI he picked up for around £400, my mate's 'work' Volvo lowered on springs and on 18" alloys (he gets some funny looks) and the Golf peeking around the back. We'd just spent the afternoon cutting various bits off of a Mk4 Golf with an AGU (1.8t) for the guy who owns the Volvo's engine conversion. Not in the Volvo though.

(EDIT; Regularly post images on instagram, mbusby993 is the username on there too. Some of you already follow me!)

Edited 26 May, 201511 yr by mbusby993

Why can't you keep the banded steels?

Mk2 golf + banded steels = perfect in my opinion.

Well my main reason at the moment is I keep curbing them because I'm not used to them and that's frustrating, plus they sell for around £300 and I could put that money into other areas of the car. I think the BBS' look pretty decent as well.

I'm also not overly keen on the stretch.

Today I fitted the BBS' to the Golf, changed all the handles and now all of my doors/locks are one key and actually work (no more having to lean all my body weight on the drivers door to open!) and did an oil change.

Think she needs spacers on the rear. Possibly 25mm Hubcentrics.

My spare tyre is very bald!

And because the wheel bolts off the banded steels don't fit the tatty alloys, the steels have temporarily gone on the Polo and actually look pretty cool haha. That poke though, no spacers.

Edited 28 May, 201511 yr by mbusby993

Had a bit of a ballache of a day today. I decided I don't really like the RXII's on the Golf, they tuck too much and they look a bit small. Which is bizarre as they're 15's and the bandeds are 14's, think it's the red lip against the red car to be honest.

When I got to my mums place where the bandeds are sat on the Polo, I was greeted to a flat tyre. Turns out a screw had broken off into the tyre and punctured it. So now i'm unsure what to do. I was going to put the bandeds back on and run those, sell the BBS and look for something more suited to the Golf and then sell the bandeds. But now I have to either fit one part worn to the bandeds or sell them with 3 tyres? 165 tyres on the bandeds don't seem great either. Too much stretch and there's distortion on at least one tyre.

Found a pretty awful weld job on the exhaust too. This section failed an MOT in Feb for excessive exhaust gasses, someone's 'repair' doesn't look fantastic to be honest.

Lovely hole in the underside too.

I do now have a working set of GTI clocks though, so not only do I now actually have a working speedo, I've got a rev counter too. (Hope took this photo)

These have precisely two more working bulbs than the previous clocks had!

Awful picture because I obviously had to take it with no flash.

I like this photo though.

I had intended to put the bandeds back on today which obviously didn't happen, and fit GTI discs and pads, but I didn't have the right bit to remove the caliper bolts so I was immediately hampered in both jobs I set out to do. Wish I had a driveway to do this on so I don't have to drive 28 miles just to find out I can't do the job in future.

Edited 4 June, 201511 yr by mbusby993

Some of the Mk2 Owners Club members has a mini-meet near Plymouth today. 8 of us turned out, which isn't bad. We chatted for a few hours, had brunch and took some photos.

Gorgeous G60 Edition One!

And this one is possibly the closest to showroom condition I have ever seen a Mk2.

The owner entered this one into a show n shine and the only thing he got marked down for was 'grass on the wheels' which is silly, as the show n shine was in a field.

A 1.3, GTI 8v and 1.8 GL auto.

My 1.6 Driver and the immaculate GTI.

This one's a work in progress and currently doesn't even have door cards.

Love the 'VMM' on the plate though.

I think this is the only panoramic I've ever taken that didn't go hugely wrong.

I was supposedly swapping the banded steels in their current condition with a guy on the Edition 38 forums. I don't actually go on those forums that much but I put a members rides thread up and he pm'd me to offer a swap. I haven;t heard from him, however, since I gave him my address so I don't know what's happening. I hope he gets back to me because it would be good to roll to the Polo Social on said wheels.

I'm also in talks with a guy on the Mk2OC Forums about sorting out front and rear bumpers. Somebody has previously fitted the correct period red stripe small bumpers from the GTI, but they're a very poor fit. I'm not sure if it's due to bent iron, or whether they're cheap repro parts. This is some of the worst of the fitting.

You can see here that it's higher on the right hand side.

Fitting seems poor on either side...

And the front's aren't any better!

Also talking to another guy who has both drivers side front wings. They're pattern parts, but at £30 for both wings I can't really pass that up. Depending on postage really.

So progress is kind of being made in regards to bodywork. Unfortunately she'll still be looking far from great at the Social. :(

EDIT; As I posted this, somebody's also messaged me about a Tornado Red tailgate. But I'm still as yet undecided as to whether to keep the spoiler or not! Might just treat the tailgate and refit it so it's a better fit.

Edited 13 June, 201511 yr by mbusby993