My MkII GTI Rebuild Project

[anarchycamp]

So my MkII is coming off the road for an extended (read..no end in sight) period of time for a rebuild.

Some of the plans at the moment are to do the following:

- Strip her down to the shell, fix some bodywork (including altering rear arches for G60's) and get a full Respray (Atlas Grey is front Runner at the moment)
- Suspension, Brakes, Wheels
- Engine Will be replaced (KR 16v is on my mind right now), as to what with i need to talk to a few people, Golf Loon...you will be getting a call!!
- New front seats (Recaros from the UK if i can find some)
- All Seats and Door Cards to be replaced or retrimmed. Look to be decided but will be classic...no leather.
- About a billion other things I am yet to find or decide on


I am under no illusions that this will get out of control but I am ready to take my time and do things when the time and $$$ is available, the car doest need to be on the road which obviously helps. Ive got 2 Auto Electrician Uncles, a Race Mechanic Uncle (Sierra Cosworth Background) and my old man who worked on Harriers in the RAF behind me so will be calling in some favours i reckon!

Will be documenting everything with photos (mainly so i remember how the hell to put the thing back together!!) and have no doubt I will be grilling you folks for answers and parts in the coming days/weeks/months/years

Will be keeping all the photos on a seperate site but will post a few here too. Started the tear out on Sunday....lord help me!!!





Cheers.

Simon

[ausgolfer]

Good to see, hope she turns out better than new!

I think I'll be doing the same in a few years

[KI11Z]

aw my gosh! thats awsome!! cant wait for the updates! you do realise of course that "Golfer" aka John will say "you copied my colour choice!!" But it looks so damb nice on the mk2's huh! . . .

[anarchycamp]

aw my gosh! thats awsome!! cant wait for the updates! you do realise of course that "Golfer" aka John will say "you copied my colour choice!!" But it looks so damb nice on the mk2's huh! . . .

I do love it....although im still not 100% decided.

[aliasmk2]

It looks like a very clean base to start with, so should lead to a good result when finished, I rekon deciding on what engine to put in it would be the hardest choice
1.8t v Vr6 ect ect eect
Good to see some work going into one of the oz imports (with the correct amount of doors), I think they are a great car in regards to build quality having most of the faults of the earlier models well sorted out , they seem to be much more solid & better than most of the imports you see around the place

cheers Ian

[anarchycamp]

It looks like a very clean base to start with, so should lead to a good result when finished, I rekon deciding on what engine to put in it would be the hardest choice
1.8t v Vr6 ect ect eect
Good to see some work going into one of the oz imports (with the correct amount of doors), I think they are a great car in regards to build quality having most of the faults of the earlier models well sorted out , they seem to be much more solid & better than most of the imports you see around the place

cheers Ian

I wont be going 1.8T or VR6 As much as I would like to, I want to keep it fairly easy to register etc. Have heard horror stories about people trying to get cars engineered, unless you know anyone local that can help me out on that front!

[GermanwithaVdub]

I wont be going 1.8T or VR6 As much as I would like to, I want to keep it fairly easy to register etc. Have heard horror stories about people trying to get cars engineered, unless you know anyone local that can help me out on that front!

you'd have to get it engineered no matter what engine swap you did. i'm sure a vr6 conversion wouldnt be hard to get reg'd

[aliasmk2]

you'd have to get it engineered no matter what engine swap you did. i'm sure a vr6 conversion wouldnt be hard to get reg'd

I don't think that a engineeres cert is needed if you do not exceed 15% of the original engine capacity & do not have any extras in the way of forced induction,
so you could do a ABF or any other 16v conversion without the engineering cert

Vr6 is aloud to go in NSW as it does not exceed the cubic capacity to car weight ratio, but you would still need to to be engineered

I don't think that you would have to do to much for a mk2 gti to pass a 1.8t or vr6 conversion, except some more front brakes (280mm),the rear are already disc
Mk2 golfs post 1989 were made to be able take engines such as g60 & most likely vr6 as well as there is provision for things like ABS in the fuse box & extra brackets for cableing through the strut towers

[joshyd-mk2gti]

you might have trouble getting it registered with a KR 16v. pretty sure theres a rule for registering engine swaps that says the engine can't be older than the car. im not too good with 16v codes, but i think KR is older than 1991. go go vr6

your car looks damn clean as it is. lamborghini have some nice greys.

[anarchycamp]

you might have trouble getting it registered with a KR 16v. pretty sure theres a rule for registering engine swaps that says the engine can't be older than the car. im not too good with 16v codes, but i think KR is older than 1991. go go vr6

your car looks damn clean as it is. lamborghini have some nice greys.

Interesting....wasnt aware of that.....would have to do some research about the VR6 swap...i know theres a lot of material out there for UK/US swaps...anyone done it over here that we know of? I dont want to be a Guinea Pig!!

[GermanwithaVdub]

Interesting....wasnt aware of that.....would have to do some research about the VR6 swap...i know theres a lot of material out there for UK/US swaps...anyone done it over here that we know of? I dont want to be a Guinea Pig!!

i've heard from a couple of people that theres one lonesome one out here. from what ive read about it, its not all that complicated. it would be good knowing someone else doing it to collaborate with... although mine will naturally be faster than yours

[Golf Loon]

You can use a KR engine, but would need aftermarket fuel injection, as kjet is not allowed in the later cars.

ABF engine would plug and play at the fusebox. I know a bloke with a brand new one in a crate with an early loom with no coded key for $2500.

VR6 engine is plug and play too, but you need a different gearbox, subframes, driveshafts, brakes etc. An early loom is important as coded keys are a pain.

There is one mythical Mk2 VR6 in Oz, and I know of at least one other being built right now.

In NSW if you put any engine other than one that was supplied in that year model of car, then it needs to be engineered!!

I can hook you up with an engineer if you need


Good Luck

[anarchycamp]

Matt...your going to be getting a call at some stage......that KR 16v motor you have on eBay....so your saying would need aftermarket fuel injection...Megasquirt? Other suggestions?

And that engineer hook up would be appreciated....wont be until next year sometime...have other crap on the go at the moment.

[peedman]

Are u sure about that Matt? Having a chat to the mechanic at work and he said that i wont need to get my 9A 16V engineered as it was offered in a chassis that was sold in Aus. According to the RTA specs where there is no major structural modifications necessary i.e. bolt in affair, engine changes are deemed as a minor modification and thus does not require engineering.

Oh well food for thought i say

[aliasmk2]

You do not need to change from the digi thats on there now but you will need to get a fuel rail & a couple of other bits,

although a after market fuel system will only help

try bahn brenner.com in the US they do a kit for tthe conversion or just the a alloy billet fuel rail alone

Some people say that the fuel pump will have to be changed as well & some don't

there is a thread on this forum about this KR & digi setup
the conversion has been done a lot of times