Bought a MK2 GTI

[sports racer]

Back to the gearbox after I had calmed down a bit. I tried to take off the right side flange but it needed an allen key to get to the circlip that holds it on. Even with not-so-gentle persuasion with a hammer it wouldn't budge so I did the left one which came off pretty easily. Like the other gearbox it just had a metal bung that came out with the help of a screwdriver and hammer. Once off I just had to take off the circlip and the flange popped off. Good thing I did it too because there is a tapered ring that goes tight inside the bearing and it was in 2 pieces. Fitting the correct size flange from the old gearbox was easy so I went back to the right side flange. Then it hit me, this flange is bigger than the one I took off on the left side.

WHO BUILDS A GEARBOX WITH DIFFERENT SIZE FLANGES??? Should be shot! No wonder when I checked it before putting the gearbox in it measured the same as the old gearbox.

Now all I need to do is put the gearbox back in and put the car back together.





That was 3 hours ago and I still haven't got the gearbox in !!! It has to be lined up a bit askew to get the right side flange around the flywheel then swing it straight. Not easy when you're doing it yourself and it's balanced on a trolleyjack. And it has to clear lots of stuff.

You can see why I hate doing gearboxes!

Going to bed and try again in the morning.

The strange thing is, I've reached a state of Zen. I know it's me against the car and the car is just playing with me, making it easy to put the gearbox in when it knows I'll have to take it out again. Then when it knows the gearbox is good to go back in it toys with me and makes it bloody impossible to get right.

I just need to go to my happy place now.

Really, I can be happy.

I can.

Really

[sports racer]

All ready to tackle this again. I've got a mechanic mate coming to help so it should be a bit easier to get the gearbox in.

Check out the different sizes of the flanges. Like I said, who in their right mind builds a gearbox with 2 different sizes???

[sports racer]

Gearbox is in.

Amazing how easy it is when someone helps AND that someone is a mechanic who knows the tricks to get the gearbox in.

Headlights don't work and the fan only comes on when the ignition is turned off but it's nothing to sort out compared to the hassle getting the gearbox in.

Did I say the gearbox is finally in?

[RedMk2Gti]

Did I say the gearbox is finally in?

Can feel the excitement Well done ! hope it get back to the road without drama.

[sports racer]

On the way to work this morning there was a slight rumbling noise from the front left (where the gearbox is). It got louder and louder until after 50 ks I had to check it out. The driveshafts were on tight so it looked like the gearbox had problems. I still had another 50 ks to get the kids to school so kept driving, hoping it would last the distance and get us home but it got worse.

By now I'm getting heart palpitations and breaking out in a cold sweat. Then I remembered I'd forgotten to tighten the front left wheel nuts! One bolt was so loose it needed 4 complete turns to tighten it. The others weren't much better.

Wheel tightened and no noise!

The speedo still doesn't work and somehow I've blown the fuse for the tacho. The radiator fan stays on for a long time when the ignition is turned off and my wife thinks I'm a d[ckhead.

OK, some of these I can fix so I'll get off this keyboard and do some troubleshooting.

Wonder why she thinks I'm a d[ckhead? There's just no understanding women.

[sports racer]

Speedo now works but it's 11% over - when I'm doing 100 ks the speedo shows 111 so I need to get the correct cable extension. Tacho started working by itself so that's a plus.

I still have a problem with the fan staying on until the radiator is cool. Normally when I've been driving it turns off after about a minute but now it turns off after about 10 minutes. If I turn the ignition on anytime during those 10 minutes the fan stops but as soon as I turn off the ignition the fan starts again. Also, if I wait 10 minutes for the fan to stop I can turn the ignition on then off and the fan starts again.

Every time I leave the car I'm disconnecting the power lead that goes to the fan and reconnecting when I drive. It doesn't overheat so the fan is working fine. The power lead has power when the ignition is turned off but 10 minutes later it doesn't have power.

Somewhere I've connected the wrong plug when I put the wiring back. Looks like I've got some more tinkering to do.

Wife's opinion of me hasn't changed.

[RedMk2Gti]

you may have a faulty Radiator cooling fan after run relay

[sports racer]

I'm a bit sad to do this but it's time to sell and find something else.

All of you who have read this thread know how much I love driving this car and how well it drives so whoever gets it is getting something pretty special.

It's listed in the For Sale section for $4250.

Cheers

Paul

[sports racer]

I'm still driving the MK2 while I get my MK1 running and registered. All the annoying little electrical problems from the time of the gearbox swap have fixed themselves. She's up to 311,000 k's now and still running sweet.

If I'm really lucky (fingers crossed) I'll keep both Golfs, then I can decide each morning which one to drive to work.

[RedMk2Gti]

It's a good idea (apart from wife issue to keep 2 old Golf, you wouldn't know when you need to put one of them off the road to wait for parts. I have been having 2 cars since I bought my first Mk2 Golf. Now I have a E30 and E34 to decide which one I want to drive to work in the morning

[sports racer]

Sorry to hear you've gone backwards. I'm sure one day you'll be able to afford a Golf again.

[RedMk2Gti]

Whether it's gone forward or backward is subjective, if I'm debating BMW is better than VW in a VW forum surely I'll lose.
Having said that I still love Mk1/2 Golf, my biggest problem is I don't have space to keep more cars. If I move to rural area when I retire I'll get another old Golf.

[sports racer]

I'll admit the BM's are a lot better than the old Golfs but if anyone else asks I'll deny it.

When you retire you have to try small town life, highly recommended but get used to knowing everyone you see by their name, marital status and political beliefs. I'm even starting to know the names of their pets.

[ryana89]

Rwd > fwd

[sports racer]

I’m trying to sort out timing problems on my MK1 so thought why not see if I can tweak the timing on the MK2. I’ve had the car back for a year now and haven’t done anything about ignition or fuel injection settings because I assumed everything was spot on from the guy who tuned it for the previous owner. How wrong could I be!

With the engine running I advanced the dizzy and it kept idling faster and faster the more I turned it. After turning an extra 10 degrees I took it for a test drive but it had way too much detonation so back it went about 5 degrees.

The difference those extra 5 degrees made is amazing. No more sweet spot starting around 3000 rpm and going to 4000. It’s all sweet now and revs easily to 6500. I thought it was the standard exhaust that was choking the car above 5000 rpm.

Normally the trip computer shows around 7 litres per 100 ks on the way to work but today it went into the low 5’s and ended the drive showing 5.8. That’s the sort of numbers I was getting with the old 1.8 motor. I thought the conversion to a 2.0 was the reason it used lots more fuel.

There’s a little bit of detonation on full throttle up hills but some tweaking of the vacuum advance should fix this.

And yes, I’m kicking myself for not doing this a year ago.

Cheers

Paul