New diesel owner

[DieselMk1]

New diesel owner

Got her started with a hell of a push start and a lot of bunny hopping....this poor car is dying in front of my eyes

[gldgti]

Check voltage at the glow plug bus bar, should be about 11V there with the key on.

If thats ok, you probably have a dud plug. Buy a set of new ones, they are easy to change and you can usually get a set of 4 for under $100.

[DieselMk1]

Check voltage at the glow plug bus bar, should be about 11V there with the key on.

If thats ok, you probably have a dud plug. Buy a set of new ones, they are easy to change and you can usually get a set of 4 for under $100.

Cheers mate, I'm 100% certain it's the glow plugs as I git her started this morning by pouring boiling water over the head to warm it up :/ will be on the hunt for plugs when funds are available

[DieselMk1]

New diesel owner

This FINALLY arrived

[DieselMk1]

New diesel owner

Did another oil change, this time to 20w60 diesel oil, she runs smoother now and no more smokey exhaust as far as I can see although I think I need to wind the coilies up.....sorry sump

[DieselMk1]

New diesel owner

Rear coilovers are in, sits like this with them wound all the way down :/ might need to take the helper springs out

[Water Boy]

Should go heaps lower than that. All the cheap coils go silly low in the back.

[Surfpig]

Re: New diesel owner

Are you sure youve wound it he right way? Cause that looks like the highest setting

[gldgti]

maybe they are mk2 rears!

[DieselMk1]

New diesel owner

I have a feeling they're Mk2 coilies all round as I had to file the front holes for it to line up with the holes on my hub :/

This is how compressed the rear strut was with the helper spring taken out and sitting like in the above photo:


So I took the standard springs off the old shocks and fitted the coilover springs:


And hey presto! A great looking and handling car!



Still am yet to hear back from veedubmachine regarding my concerns with the coilovers as a whole

[DieselMk1]

New diesel owner

Got a reply from Les Bray (veedubmachine) asking what my queries were regarding the suspension, so I sent him this:
Hey mate

Got some problems with the coilovers. First off the front bolt holes were too far apart and had to be filed down to line up with the holes on the hub. Now I've fitted the rears and on the lowest setting the car is sitting at standard height with the strut fully compressed, leaving no give for suspension travel. I will try and attach some photos of the rear strut. Are hey possibly for a Mk2 Golf? I bought them under the impression they're for a Mk1.

And attached some photos

[gldgti]

mate, whatever you have done with the suspension it looks bad. My advice would be to re-fit your original springs.

On the rear, looks like the springs are totally loose in the struts. Those springs are meant for coilovers, not for stock struts, and without pre-tension they are dangerous.

second, your top picture with the coilover fitted on the rear looks like you squashed a dust boot or something in between the spring and top mount? Thats not good either.

Finally, if the coilovers didnt fit out of the box, it is a bad idea to go modding them by filing the mounting holes in the strut.

I have dealt with veedubmachine many times without a problem - unfortunately since you have already modified the coilovers that you bought the first time its unlikely you'll be able to recover any of your costs there. Not that you would send them back to you uk, but you could always have sold them to a mk2 owner.

If in doubt, ask - I'm certain with a few questions the community could have helped you avoid this problem.

[DieselMk1]

New diesel owner

When the wheel is put on and the jack lowered the spring is not loose and works quite sufficient. It will be replaced with JOM cheapies when funds suffice. Putting the stock struts and springs back in the front is not attainable for me as they went to scrap a while ago. The dust boot looks like it's squished between the spring and the top bit when the spring in that pic has no tension in it whatsoever an the strut is fully compressed on itself. And I know that I should've not put the fronts on if I had to modify them but by the time I got to that step the old front shocks were stuffed from us taking them out and getting the strut top off (we had no idea what we were doing and the instructions that came with the coilies were in German).
I could've asked the forum for answers but I only had a mate's shed and tools for a couple of hours and just wanted the bastards in. Excuses, I know.

[gldgti]

My point about the spring is that when you go over a large bump/undulation in the road, suspension will extend (as if you had jacked up the car) and the spring will be loose - it could move, make contact with the road wheel. Its not inconceivable it could cause an accident.

[willwho]

There's a wtb for mk2 coils in the classifieds section atm man!