part-way through renovation of underside

great work and looks great on the 9 spokes.

Really impressive work on the camber :y:

I don't think I'd have had the patience to keep removing and refitting the wheels etc!

Bit more work, the end is in sight now that the final paint is going on……


I didn't like watching TV anyway……yay, the new tyres on newly-refurbished wheels have been fitted (Dunlop SP Sport 200 175/70R13, which is coincidentally the closest match to original equipment).


Spray can paint - I really loathe spraying, but I'd much rather its covered up than left in primer, so its getting a quick spray and maybe later on I'll seek the help of a bodyshop or something to tidy it all up.


The inside floor came up nicely using 2 thin coats of stonechip. All thats left now is the sides of the boot, in topcoat


A rare shot of the pair of little troublemakers together. The cabby is temporarily back on the Avus alloys, while the GTI has the 'second' set of 9 spokes. I don't want to put the fresh set of Dunlops on until I'm sure there's going to be no rubbing issues.

:clap: the end is close

question is though, which one will you be taking to Gaydon?  

Eeeek! I took it for a quick test drive and there was a pull to the left….so I checked the suspension geometry and its well out, probably due to applying a different spring loading factor during the camber setting. So, I've reset the camber and I also realised this gave me more clearance, meaning I can now go as low as -92mm from stock. It also means I've got to do the tracking all over again….

Yes I know the feeling of doing the camber and tracking several times over… A right pain! Looks great that low… What clearance do you have for your front spoiler? Speed bumps might be a problem?!

My car has been lowered 40mm and I have abbout 120mm clearance which doesn't seem a lot. There are loads of hills in Sheffield and I have a feeling my spoiler is going to get a lot of abuse!

Another test drive has revealed some rubbing on turning right, so the car's gone up a little again (this is getting like The Generation Game!) and the camber and tracking have to be done all over again! So I did it, but I'm getting inconsistent readings so I'm going to have to find a flatter piece of road to do it on.

Today's work has been the stripdown of the front calipers, flexi hoses, brake pipes, master cylinder and servo. Problems all round, starting with the new calipers having the wrong bolts/holes. The brake pipe connections were too far gone, so I simply sawed them off and used an 11mm socket combined with a breaker bar, to undo! The master cylinder connections were really yukky to get to until I took off the coolant expansion tank and fuel distributor, its well buried under loads of other components. But the connections themselves came off with not too much hassle. The servo was a right pain to remove, due to a little clip in a terribly inaccessible place, which held me up for ages, but eventually (through luck more than anything) came off. Only just finished, packing up at around 11pm under the floodlights. I also managed to cut my hands in 3 places and am now covered in plasters - ouch.


Draining the hydraulic fluid


Car once again in bits and tools all over the place


Part-way through


Master cylinder off, servo still attached

Mini-update: I'm part way through converting the servo and master cylinder to Golf Mk2 16V items. Thanks to this website, I knew the servo thread had to be cut down, and to use the clevis pin from the original servo. Here is a pic to illustrate everything:



From left to right are a 16V servo with original thread, another 16V servo with the thread cut down, and the original servo. I took measurements from the back of the servo to the end of the thread and its 97mm for the original and 107mm for the 16V version. You need to use the original clevis pin because it has a hole in it for the return spring. This pin is longer than the 16V version. If you were to drill a hole in the 16V clevis pin, then it would be in the wrong place, since its shorter.

For info, the plunger in the servo is in a markedly different place (the 16V one is much further in) which means that you need to use the matching master cylinder and servo together.

I spent the morning driving around parts stores buying brake pipe and researching T pieces. VW do it, its off a VW Beetle and the part number is 803 611 755. But its over ?15……..so I found that the part off a Mini, is the same, except its 3 times cheaper.

Bit of an update. Finally with all the correct hydraulic parts now gathered together, I could get on with plumbing it all in. Here's the 16V master cylinder connected up:

wait till you have a go with the 16v servo, like a different car

Good work Paul .

Not long now, in fact I've done very little on the car because I'm held up waiting on one tiny brake component, to get it finished and MoT'd.


German plates (needless to say, it will be wearing its UK ones for the MoT!)


A final check underneath, secured a brake line.

chudd said

Good work Paul .

Looks the Dogs ………


Well done , garden restoration deserves respect mate .

Cheers………

[rabbit okay ]

Very nice of you to post detailed pics of the servo swap very handy. Cheers.

Lookin good.  Keep us updated a to how the brakes compare.
 :wink:

comin together! more pics!

ah! you have what i had, two differnt front headlights, drives me mad.

Sorry!  Car is looking really good thogh.  

marsredgti said

ah! you have what i had, two differnt front headlights, drives me mad.

Sorry!  Car is looking really good thogh.  

Yeah you've reminded me, thats another job to do before the MoT. Luckily, I have 6 headlamps between the 2 cars, although only 3 are good enough for the MoT. So I need to swap them around a bit!

The tiny little part to complete the restoration arrived today (brake caliper guide pins) so I fitted them, re-bled the brakes and I can report back that the 9" servo and 22mm master cylinder conversion definitely gives less pedal travel! The first time I tried them I said a naughty word, they were so good! They'll need bedding in (all new brake components all round) but no worries for the MoT here.

Not much to do now before its proper debut at Gaydon (MoT dependant!)

Paul - glad you got them OK  8)