Bought a MK2 GTI

[sports racer]

The oil leak was just left over oil from when the oil cooler spat out 4 litres all over the road. It's all been wiped up, tie rod and rust spot fixed and as of this morning she has NSW rego.

Time to fit the 17's, wind the coils down and get the 16v organised.

I should at least be able to get the first 2 done for the Nationals.

[golfmeup]

Good work Paul!
Hmmm nationals coming up. I wonder if I can make it.

[sports racer]

I hate fitting new number plates, you have to do so much work to make sure they are level.



Then you have to do it all again to make sure the rear plates are level too.

[Jarred]

LOL Paul,
whats going on here?

[sports racer]

Heater core replacement.

Worst job you can do on a MK2, takes forever to take it out then another forever to get all the vents realigned when you put it back together.

At least it gave me the chance to tidy up some of the wiring. I found two aerial connections and both weren't connected to anything.

[golfmeup]

Holy ****e!! Talk about getting to know your car
I've got a new heater core here- you just put me off doing it!!! Haha
Needs to be done, but putting it off till it gets colder and have a bit more time on the hands!
So did you get it all back in??

[sports racer]

It's all back together but make sure you start early Saturday so you have all day Sunday to finish.

I've done it twice now and it's easier if you take out the heater fan and air conditioner housing as well as the heater box in the middle of the dash.

[golfmeup]

Congrats on getting all that spaghetti back in!
I've successfully done stereo, ignition and a few other dash jobs, but never all at the same time!!

[sports racer]

Here's a bit of advice for all the MK2 owners out there - don't run 17's, they are crap. They look good but are really stiff to drive on and for some reason chew up a lot more petrol.

On the way up to Sydney for the Nationals I was averaging 8 litres and thought it was because I was sitting on 120 with two of us in the car. Normally I get low 6's. Today I drove to work and got 8.3 which is the worst I've ever got by nearly 2 litres. All I can think of is the slightly bigger diameter of the tyres (20mm bigger) stuffs up the gearing and the wider tyres (205 vs 195) offer more rolling resistance.

They are also a lot stiffer and with my already hard suspension made the drive unpleasant.

The gearing also suffered. Hills that I normally cruse over in 5th slowed me down so much I was looking at 4th and then 3rd to speed up again. It's amazing such a small size increase from the 15's to the 17's could make such a big difference.

So far I've tried 185x60x14, 195x50x15 and 205x40x17 and the 14's have been the best for comfort but the 15's best for cornering. The 17's squealed through corners that the 15's normally take easily. Maybe it's the different tyre compound but I couldn't stand the 17's any longer and put the 15s back on as soon as I got home after work.

This weekend I'll fit standard shocks with shortened springs and see what difference it makes with both sets of wheels but there's no way to get around the problem with the gearing unless I fit a different gearbox.

Cheers

Paul

[sports racer]

At this time of year I drive for an hour in the dark each night to get home. After putting up with my dull headlights for way too long I decided it was time to fit a couple of relays and wire the high and low beam directly to the battery.

It took about 4 hours (due to one of the relays being faulty) but now I have bright white headlights and when I turn on the spotlights they light up the road instead of being useless and making the high beam go dimmer.

I highly recommend doing this mod and all it costs is some thick wire, 8 spade terminals and a couple of relays.

[golfmeup]

I need to do this still too Paul.
I was going to wait until I fitted new headlights , but wouldn't hurt to do it now.
Will check out jay car after work on Saturday.

[sports racer]

You have to do it. The light on the road is now pure white, not a yellowish shade of white and with the driving lights I get the road lit up for at least 200 m. It's like driving a modern car.

I mounted the relays behind the grill, next to the passenger side headlight and spliced into the headlight wiring on the passenger side. This meant the wiring going to the passenger headlight was used to power the relays so I cut off the wiring to the driver side headlight and spliced those wires to the wires coming off the plug that connects to the passenger side headlight.

I used 2 relays, one for high beam and another for low beam. If you're really serious use 4 relays, 2 for high beam and 2 for low beam. This would prevent loosing all lights if something shorted out on one side.

[RedMk2Gti]

I did the headlight relay first thing I had my Mk2, it made such a big difference.
if I need to do it now I'd buy this H4 H4 Headlight Black Booster Wire Harness Bywg | eBay.

[golfmeup]

Cheers for the info paul and Redmk2!
Just need to find the time to do it.
Working 6 days a week at the moment.

[sports racer]

You just need to get your priorities right.

Is the Golf more important than work? Yes, otherwise how would you get to work.

Is the Golf more important than your wife? Yes, otherwise how would you get to the florist to buy her flowers to apologise for spending so much time on the Golf.

Is the Golf more important than your kids? Yes, otherwise how would you get to the toy shop to buy them toys to apologise for all the flowers you're buying for the wife.

Is the Golf more important than your other cars? Do I really need to answer this?

Is the Golf more important than chocolate? Sorry, you have to draw the line somewhere.