Paul's 89 Mk2 GT2

[pajsh]

Travel down to the Nats in the North West convoy, enough Knowledge and spares to get you there. We meet at Lymm services.

Mark..

Current state of play Mark!! No wheels, engine, exhaust or seats. Not even going on a trailer yet. Got a lot of work to do but the suspension is done, the engine is ready to go in and hopefully some brighter nights and warmer weekends will see me back on the tarmac. Got 4 months but will need them.

If I do get it done I may join around Sandbach or Keele services as I live near Crewe.

[james butler]

i would seriously think twice about having the bulkhead welded.
plenty of people on here have welded their bulkheads only for it to crack again. i think something in welding a repair panel in makes it brittle and prone to happening again.
also there was someone on here a few years ago that noticed the clutch pedal doesn't line up with the hole in the bulkhead properly too and did a modded clutch pedal to remedy the issue.
because i bolted my repair panel in i was able to line up the plate with the pedal almost perfectly before tightening the bolts and ive NEVER had an issue again in 9 years.
like i said before you can bolt a plate in no probs making it easier to fit or remove in future should you need to.
plus one more usefull mod is to move the speedo cable over so it comes through the hole on the other side of the clutch cable.
this takes out the nasty kink where the cable is forced into an s shape over the pedal box and is clipped into that useless plastic clip below the clocks.
when i moved the speedo cable over i noticed it took a lot of the speedo wobble out of the clocks when slowing down.

[Village Idiots]

Reading James' post above, I was thinking there's really no structural need to weld in the bulkhead patch. And you needn't have delayed fitting your engine!
However we can still do the patches in the boot tomorrow.

[pajsh]

Big shout this morning to Jem for coming and welding my bulkhead and wheel arch yesterday. Very much enjoyed your company mate and your pretty Rado .

Really big deal for me getting over this hurdle and now I can tidy things up and get on with dropping the engine in.

Lots to do and 4 months to do it .

[Village Idiots]

My pleasure, Paul. Got the job done, had a good chat about all sorts of stuff! Look forward to meeting up at the national meet and/or Tatton.

[pajsh]

Can anyone advise where I might be able to get an exhaust system for my Mk2 with an ABF.

It's the main piece of the jigsaw I'm missing and whilst I know there will be someone somewhere who can do it, I could do with knowing it's not going to bankrupt me before I start spending big on other things I need.

I'd like a 4:1 and full system to the back but if I had to make it work with a standard manifold and system I'd probably accept that for now.

Any help and advise much appreciated to help me make the Nationals in August.

[bengould]

See http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?2 ... t-manifold lots of good info on manifolds although a few dead links due to the age.

As far as the rest of the system I found it was cheaper to get someone to make it than to buy an "off the shelf" exhaust.

Ben.

[pajsh]

Thanks Ben .

I'm sure there are people out there, last time I looked I found "Dub Power" but not sure what or how much. I think the famous Bogg Bros might be able to fabricate something as may my local friendly "tuner" but any other options much appreciated.

[pajsh]

Got started in my quest to make the Nationals yesterday and hit the first problem.

I fitted the refurbished drives shafts and on tightening up they bind and don't move. Bit of a disappointment that .

Now thinking about it this can only be one of two things as far as I can see.

Either the CV joints are wrong or the hubs have not been pressed in far enough. As there is not much clearance between the hub/carrier I'm thinking it's the former. If anyone has any bright ideas or can tell from the pictures please let me know. (except I can't seem to get the pictures up as Snapfish and Flickr seem to have changed how they work ).







Aside from that I refitted the front D/S brake line, fitted the brake push rod (getting that rubber bellows in was a real bugger), refitted the lower strut brace, tidied up the welding patches and bolted the engine mounts to the gearbox.

Fuel pump and filter arrived on Friday so they are probably next.

Need to get the hubs sorted though as that's key to getting it on it's wheels and dropping the engine in.

[pajsh]

OK so I'm really trying to get this back off the ground again (well back on it actually) after coming very close to scrapping it several times last year. I've done so much work though and spent quite a few £££ I really must get it back on the road, plus I do love the car. If only I could get over the stupid problem with the CV joints binding I'd see a clearer path to the finish.

Tried again on Saturday to see why they bind when the hub nut is tightened, but still can't see what the problem is. I even put some black marker on the hubs to see where it rubs off but if it did, I can't see where.

So no further on yet and the CV joints have also rusted away having only been on the car about 9 months and not turned a wheel, under a cover too.

They so make some crap these days. Guess the thinking is they are normally covered in oil and shit and not seen so the plating only sees the factory before it falls off!



Hopefully will have a Eureka moment soon.

[steve bain]

keep plugging away. next step is secondhand hub and driveshaft that you know work together!!

[pajsh]

Thanks Steve,

Can't be much wrong as they turn up to the point you nip the nut up so it may even be the fact I've painted the inside of the housings.

I'm determined to sort it so I will.

.

[BlackGTX]

i got my mk2 abf 421 from heritage

[GT Matt]

Had this issue before. Think there are early and late hubs and early and late joints or may have been pattern joints but was only cured when a matched pair fitted together. Ask Ant at Rust Republic as I can't quite remember what the cause was, only that an alternative joint sorted it.

[pajsh]

BINGO!!

So a bit of time and some nice weather over the B/H weekend gave me the opportunity to get under the car and get my thinking cap on.

Turns out the problem was the "ears" on the circlips that were fouling the shoulder of the CV's.

I measured it with a vernier first and it seemed tight but looked like it had clearance, but then I took one out and the hub was fine when tightened up.

A quick bit of metal removal with a file, clips back in and good to go. Spot on!!

So no excuses now to get back on with the re-build.