1989 MK2 GT2 1.8 Carb

[LeonDixon]

Hello guys, My names Leon, i'm currently 21 and i've recently acquired a MK2 GT2! I'm unsure on how long i'm going to keep this but I love doing Progression blogs and reading others so i thought i would give this a crack. It's had a 'custom' paint job. It's a bit marmite tbh. When i first got this car it was covered in tacky stickers that said things like 'Built from eBay' and 'Boobies make me smile'. As soon as I got it home all the horrible and ugly stickers came off so I don't actually have a before picture!
I picked the car up knew it was going to be a project.


The next day I drove it into work, checked the 2 front tyres and noticed they were a little bald. When i say a little i mean a lot.


That night I started work on it. First things first when i'm so OCD about having a clean car.. is that I had to clean it.






Then onto the exterior..

[LeonDixon]

In the attempt at tidying the old girl up, I decided the wipers needed freshening up. So i replaced both front wipers and sprayed the wiper arms black as they'd gone faded and had little white paint splashes on them.

I noticed as soon as i bought the car that the steering wheel had been put on funny. So this had to come off and be put on properly. It now sits nice and straight.

I've purchased a new rocker cover gasket for it also. It's a cork type one? Not sure if this matters or not as i know someone mentioned it to me before.

It started running lumpy and cutting out on my on the way home from work which wasn't ideal. I began to scratch my head at what it could be. I changed the fuel filter in hope it was this. I think it was the fuel filter as i took it out for a test drive and it didn't cut out on me.

But what did happen is the alternator belt decided it wanted to be a strong independent belt and travel the UK roads solo. Yes, it decided to snap on me. I arrived home, popped the bonnet and to my amazement.. it was no where to be seen. Water was pissing out over my coolant filler cap. So i decided enough was enough and it's been in my garage for just over 2 weeks now and will probably stay there.

I fitted a new alternator belt and turned it over a few times, when it was on idle in my garage (not sure if this is the cause?? Lack of fume escape?).. i saw smoke arising from just under the carb (what i can guess is the manifold?) So that's my next job to do. Find out where the smoke is coming from.

[ianaudia4]

A cork gasket was origianlly fitted when new but an uprated one piece rubber one can be fitted from a MK3 Golf (after changing the studs).