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Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 12:02 pm
by sabre0699
Bit of history ,this was my wife's old 1990 Gt2 which in 20045 with 150,000 miles on the clock was replaced with a late Corrado 16v and ended up being shunted around the farm until it was stuck in an old set of stables and forgotten about until early this year when half of the stables were blown down by gales.

Anyway went down stuck fresh petrol in it , a fully charged battery and after 5 minutes and a bit of Easy Start it actually went and ran quite well, the tyres still have air in them and the clutch is free.

Since it was put off the road I have gone through a few other cars before becoming a diesel convert, at the minute we have an Audi 2.0 tdi sport , an A4 1.9 tdi and a Vw Polo GT (1.9 tdi 130 bhp), the Corrado has gone and I have just retired so it seems that the GT2 will become a bit of a project.

The main shell is very solid with only a small amount of rot on the ends of the outer sills and it will need a little bit of work to the floorpans where it had been badly jacked up using the stengthening ribs on the floor rather than the jacking points. All of the running gear ie shocks, springs rubbers etc are all shot , as are the brakes and they will all need to be changed.. a good excuse for polybushes, uprated suspension and uprated discs ( I have a set of 256 mm calipers etc lying around) .The interior is still very good and dry , although the headlining will need to be changed.

Basic plan is to strip all of the interior, and bodykit, put the chassis on a roller and sort out the underside then start from there, the body will need a full respray as it is no longer tornado red but dull pink and then there will be the engine.

Oops the photos that I took are to large will resize them and repost

Only option as far as I am concerned is a 1.9 diesel. either a mid 90's TD or an early 110 TDI with matching gearbox, uprated injectors and turbo plus a larger front mounted intercooler then a remap or tuning box, 140 bhp and getting on towards 300 lbs/feet of torque should be easily achievable along with 60 mpg.

How many diesel mk2's are there around and what were the pitfalls of the conversion

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 12:12 pm
by sabre0699
See if these pics will upload

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:56 pm
by treefingers
I'd say that's a barn find! What about the 130bhp pd diesel engine? Would be a very good choice for power/efficiency.

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:01 pm
by sabre0699
To be honest there will be too much wiring (for me ) involved with a pd motor, my old A4 had the 110bhp AFN motor fitted and with just a tuning box , air filter and a set of recon injectors it was putting out 125 bhp -on a motor with 185,000 miles on the clock.

Nice and simple to work on and with a suitable s/hand manifold and turbo plus a decent front mounted intercooler, recon upgraded injectors ( and maybe even a remapped chip) a 90 bhp motor should manage to put out 140 plus bhp for very little cost, plus I can pick up a slightly leggy golf/ Ibiza /skoda 1.9 tdi and rob all the bits for less than the price of a pd motor.

I am not that bothered by top end speed I just want plenty of torque and driveability with economy, my old Scala injection with only 110 bhp was fast enough

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:06 pm
by sabre0699
No pics yet but started on the strip down yesterday, all of the seats and carpets are out , including the 2 large mouse nests - one in the spare wheel well and the other in the headling beside the tailgate ????

The side skirts and front and rear sections of the body kit are off, the lights are out and all of the front wing bolts out .. will have to figure out the best way the separate the sealant on the mounts, by the feel of it when taking out the srews I think the front wing edges will be crusty.

The chassis legs front and rear are sound, inner wings front and rear and suspension mounts are good same as the floor pans but he floor plate reinforcement sections than run forward to the arb mounts will need replaced (crushed due to being jacked up on them in the past and now completely rotten)

The sills as far forward as the jacking points are excellent and only a 2 to 3 inch section around the jacking points will need replaced and no doubt when the full body kit is off the rear arches will be bad.

Strangely the passenger door is sound but the drivers door is rotten at the rear corner.

All in all it is a lot better than I thought it would be , although it has at some stage during storage taken a hit to the rear offside causing a small amount of panel damage .

Interior apart from the headlining is all good and all the electrics still work and it starts on he key.

Decided that it will be getting an engine from a pre PD 1.9 TDi out of a mk4 golf (hopefully a 110bhp AFN unit) and as I can't be bothered with electrics I am looking at a MTDI conversion using a Landrover 300 tdi Bosch pump.

One thing I will say is that the underbody anti -corrosion measures taken by Karmann on this late 1990 bodyshell are streets ahead of that on the two 1983 Sciroccos I owned in the late 80's a 1.8 gl and a 1.8 GTI and also the 1985 GTX I owned and they were in turn much better than the 1975 Mk1 I owned which snapped in half !

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 4:43 pm
by sabre0699
Well got the nearside wing off and there is no corrosion on the inner apart from a very small patch at the bottom next to the driveshaft cut out.

The wing might be salvageable

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 4:45 pm
by sabre0699
couple of more

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 7:49 pm
by sabre0699
Well stripped off the offside body kit and the wing is immaculate with absolutely no rot , same as the inner wing .

I got a proper look at the nearside jacking point the small hole ended up with having to cut away a section of the outer sill and end of the A post about 8 inches long and half the depth of the sill, the immaculate floor pan ended up with a strip about 1" wide and 6" long next to the inner sill being removed along with the lower half of the inner sill.

I've refabricated the inner jacking point so hopefull by the weekend I will have the inner sill section replaced and tied into the jacking point and get the floor sorted only leaving the outer sill and lower part of the A post to be repaired

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:45 pm
by sabre0699
Thought I'd see what theses wheels look like on the car

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:36 pm
by sabre0699
Body kit off, minor corrosion on the rear nearside wheelarch which will repair. the rear valance had gone around the exhaust so I replaced a section today, temporarily painted and will need a skim of filler.

Seriously contemplating doing it without the body kit

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:37 pm
by sabre0699
couple of more

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:16 pm
by sabre0699
Well this has dragged on longer than I thought, stripped out and started on the shell, front nearside jacking point replaced along with the inner sill , floor repaired and floor strengthener sections replaced.
The front of the sill was also replaced, the nearside rear arch was repaired with new inner and outer sections fabricated, followed by repairs to the rear valance and the rear offside chassis leg which had been kinked after it was reversed into.
Fettled the pattern front wing to get the anels gaps right and did a couple of small patch repairs to the front valance.
It will need a small repair to the front of the offside sill and both doors need a little bit of work.
On finishing a panel any stonechip needed is being put on and then a few coats of primer filler

Re: Does this qualify as a barn find?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:19 pm
by sabre0699
couple of more