My 1990 GT2 story "Black Shuck", expensive? Yes, worth it? Totally!!

[Macc]

Where do I start? Beginning sounds about right!

Bought this from a friend who had quite literally carried it a year ago into his garage with all the engine etc in boxes and bags. Had not been run in 8 years prior to this. Anyway, he got it all together but just "put it together", no tuning or anything, resprayed it tornado red, put it through its MOT and sold it to me about 8 weeks ago (£1500)

I should have put my sensible head on at the time but I couldnt help it, first thing I did was put about 5 mile on it, giving it some serious beans in the process, then off to be resprayed (The red paint job was good, but only as good as a man with a can in a council garage if you know what I mean!)

Came back from paint and then the problems started

Oil leak, now diagnosed as coming from the crankshaft, transmission end. (Seal acquired and also sump gasket as at the time we couldnt figure out which one of the two it was)
Fuel leak, now also diagnosed as the tank itself (on order), cracked at the seal where its welded together
Coolant leak, now fixed thanks to the advice on this thread viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18663
Bonnet release, damn thing just wont pop up, tightened the cable and it releases all the way but someones always got to be by the bonnet to lift it a bit
Auto choke, never intended to keep that anyway as I have a weber 1.6 that ive now ordered the correct jets etc to turn it into a 1.8, always revved about the 2000 rpm, usually at gear change but I found that putting my foot under the pedal and pulling back would make it drop making me think that the cable also might need adjusting.
The jigsaw that is the sunroof! everythings water tight etc and I can ONLY get it to tilt up not slide back, most frustrating thing however is trying to attach the interior trim, it seems too big for the hole! Ive got the manual but to be honest someone may as well tell me how to do it in mandarin! I can attach the spring ok its everything else! Very frustrating!

I forgot the exhaust rattle! Brand new exhaust was fitted prior to purchase but it knocks against the car in two places on low rev, according to my mechanic, easy enough to sort, just needs putting on "correctly" this time!

[Nate]

Some of these aren't gonna be as bad as you think.

Oil leak for starters. What oil is in it? Don't bother with fully synthetic. It seems to find its way out of these engines way too easily. If that is what's in it, and it's just a weep, changing to 10/30 or 10/40 semi may well cure it.

Bonnet is probably a very easy one. Clean all the congealed old grease off the latch and the pin, little spray of your preferred penetrative oil. Open and close the bonnet a few times to let the oil work in, then a bit of clean grease. I normally use a spot of spray grease, but use the straw on it so it doesn't go everywhere.

Cable might need lubricating, or could even be fouling on something under the dash. Might not be routed over the top of the engine correctly too. Or possibly just the return spring on the carb snapped or missing

[Nate]

Some of these aren't gonna be as bad as you think.

Oil leak for starters. What oil is in it? Don't bother with fully synthetic. It seems to find its way out of these engines way too easily. If that is what's in it, and it's just a weep, changing to 10/30 or 10/40 semi may well cure it.

Bonnet is probably a very easy one. Clean all the congealed old grease off the latch and the pin, little spray of your preferred penetrative oil. Open and close the bonnet a few times to let the oil work in, then a bit of clean grease. I normally use a spot of spray grease, but use the straw on it so it doesn't go everywhere.

Cable might need lubricating, or could even be fouling on something under the dash. Might not be routed over the top of the engine correctly too. Or possibly just the return spring on the carb snapped or missing

[Macc]

Yeah that bonnet release, had the problem before painting and a mate of mine sprayed some wd40 on the springs which sorted it, since paint its back and wd40 no longer fixes it. Ive filed down any excess paint in the holes in case its catching there and made doubly sure the bonnet release mechanism goes "all the way over" but it still sticks, springs are pretty free of any grime and go up and down quite easily, is there a way of tensioning those some more?

Regarding the oil, no idea what is in it to be honest, doubt its fully synthetic but you never know, got a 5l 10/40 semi here with a new oil filter standing by for when the works done though.

Just spoke to the guy who sold it me, he forgot to tell me the acc cable has no gromit at the pedal! Had to bodge it in! lol, all there to test us I expect!

Updated original post as there was a noisy problem I had forgotten about!

[mark1gls]

Accerator pedal bush, 96p from GSF, Mk2 golf ones fit the Mk2 Scirocco.

http://www.gsfcarparts.com/732vg0010

I fitted one to my Mk1 Golf cabriolet (same bits as a mk2 Scirocco) a few weeks ago, I found I had to put a little smear of oil on the bush to squeeze it through the pedal then push the end of the cable through.

There is a little guide on this link but the cable end will be different on a carb car so don't worry about that bit or a clip of the end of the cable as long as the metal part is at an right angle it will stay in there, he also just repared his old one but I would just buy a new bush as the Mk2 Golf ones are so much better quality foam/rubber as I said in my post on this link towards the bottom of the page (same user name) the genuine VW ones are rubbish...

http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php ... ccelerator

[rhysjones]

If the bonnet was taken off for the paint job maybe it's been put back on a tiny bit wonky therefore preventing catch releasing properly?
Have a good look at the gaps either side the bonnet n maybe slacken the hinge bolts n give it a wiggle

[Macc]

Hi Rhys, I would say bonnet gap is maybe no more than 2mm wider one side than the other, could be enough!

[Macc]

lol, got to love this car! Saw something else just now (pictured), fairly certain that fuel pipe should be clamped, theres a clamp, no screws in it! Also at the cap end it seems as though the pipe has shifted to the left by a few mm (I can now see a bit of daylight to the right of the cap and it seems to have sunk inside too) its on the ramps having everything else done on Wednesday by a proper mechanic (who used to sell and repair these back in the 80's and 90's) and he knows what he's got to do but I really dont want to give him any more work to do

[Nate]

Put grease on the bonnet catches (wd will wash any grease away and actually make it worse) and then lower the bonnet gently until the catches just touch. You will then see where they need adjusting

[Macc]

Good tip Nate cheers!!

[Macc]

IMG_3252.JPG

lol, forgot the picture, two posts up!

[Macc]

Right its in the garage! Be getting it back when I get it back, told him not to rush, just make sure its ready!

Decided not to tinker with it before I handed it over so basically he's got to;

Fit Weber carb/Manual choke/Tune
Fix oil leak on camshaft/sump gasket
Sort bonnet release out (told him about possible misaligned bonnet, he agreed that was what was probably at fault)
Fit new fuel tank
Re-align the exhaust
Investigate and remedy "springing" noise on full steering lock

Also threw the interior trim of the sunroof in there in case he fancied a "challenge"!

[Macc]

Went down today and dropped off a box full of new parts the previous owner had accumulated in case they are needed, some progress, was up on the ramps and oil leak was definitely the crankshaft seal, he showed me, had gone very brittle to the point of snapping! Anyway, new one on, sump gasket also replaced as even though it wasnt leaking, it was an old cork one and I had bought a rubber gasket so in it went. Tomorrows tank replacement so its all happening!

[Macc]

Been slow progress to date but had a call today to inform me that I had forgotten to order the base conversion plate for the carb, anyway, ordered that and its on its way so that leaves the carb to be fitted and the exhaust repositioned and its done!

Tank went in no trouble, I was shown the old one, split at the seam and had gone rusty around it, so much so that his hand went through it when taking it off!!

Springing noise when steering was the top strut bearings, seized solid, detailed in another thread here but now sorted.

[Macc]

Got the call today to let me know that all thats left to do is tune the carb now and it will be ready tomorrow at the latest!

Now why did that news just make a 40 year old bloke giddy with excitement??