My Daily drive 1988 Gti cabriolet

I've owned the car for 21 years and driven it 210,000 miles, the car has covered 270,000 miles in total so average mileage! The engine is now a little tired and burning alot of oil so in August I pulled the engine out. The car has been reliable in all the years I've owned it I give it a regular service and a very good clean underneath before and after the winter so the car has not had any welding done. The car lives out side and has done since I've owned it.
The engine has done will at 270,000 miles as it's never had any head work done as it's never been off the car, it's still got the original clutch and most of the other engine parts!

Some pictures of the car starting with some older ones when running lowered springs and steel winter wheels as they are easy to clean.






I needed a new roof



Rear bumper brackets rusted away so I had some made as I could not find any!


Winters here.


Old leak from the oil cooler gasket, what a mess.

Clean and tidy for the summer



At 1/4 million miles…


What it's like at the moment


I'm the new engine!





Let the cleaning and painting begin….



The car is a daily so I've cleaned up some of it the put more waxoly around the engine bay to protect it.





Old and newer cleaner engine to go back in.

Just fitted gearbox.


A picture of my weekend car…


The 2 together.


More to come……
 

That's a decent mileage, it deserves some love after all those, keep up the good work

I thought I would have a good clean and check under the rear wheel arches and fuel filler neck as I have a rusty mark under the plastic cover by the filler cap so I removed the fuel filler neck as I could see some bubbling inside the filler neck. I gave it a scrub with a wire brush and I've made a hole! At least I've found it now as I don't want dirt and water getting into the fuel system and blocking up my nice new injectors.
Just some surface rust when I ground it back.


This is more of a problem, cabriolet filler necks are not cheap so I've bought a tin top one which I thought you just had to shorten to fit but I've just found out you have to bend it a little as well! I'll find out more at the weekend when I hope it fit it….


 

Great pictures Mark and a true testimony to the reliability of the car and your skills don't forget!       

Still not managed to get the engine in as still tackling the fuel filler neck and the car has the back jacked up on axle stands. the tin top fuel filler neck DOES NOT FIT A 1988 cabriolet with just shortening it, the angle will be all wrong at the end of the pipe, I did not want to heat it and bend the end as this could crush the pipe at the end and was not sure I could get a good seal at the end with the rubber hose going to the fuel tank so I found someone to chop a section out and then weld the end back on all at the right angle.
Pictures of filler necks.





I'll upload the shorten filler neck when I get them later today off the camera.
 

This is how much needed cutting off. Test fitted last night and all ok so it's getting a coat of 2 pack epoxy mastic. Well worth the £10 to get it all done.

Good to see such an original car being used as intended! I had the same problem with my fuel filler neck but ended up taking the plunge and buying the correct filler neck as I was start to loose the will to live trying to get the hard top neck to fit.

clipper624 said

Good to see such an original car being used as intended! I had the same problem with my fuel filler neck but ended up taking the plunge and buying the correct filler neck as I was start to loose the will to live trying to get the hard top neck to fit.

I think cars are meant to be used and I do enjoy driving it, no good having a car stuck in a garage which no ones sees.
This is the second filler neck I've bought the first one was for a cabriolet at £70 many years ago and I could not afford the £100 for another one with the engine rebuild etc so a £25 tin top one and £10 for the welding is worth the saving, God only knows why cabriolet filler necks are so expensive!

Amazing to see! big respect to you & the Dub 

Fuel filler neck now back on the car and it all fits.

Painted with rustbusters epoxy mastic then a coat of stone chip paint.


Test fit and I've fitted a new rubber hose joining the fuel tank.



Then I took it off and painted it in underseal and left it for a couple of days to harden off.


I thought I had uploaded the pictures of it fitted but I'll do it later.
 

Fuel filler neck all fitted and after a coat of underseal and good covering in waxoyl.
Mk1 golf tin fuel filler necks for smaller fuel tank do fit a cabriolet with a larger fuel tank but it does need to be chopped and welded.

The engine is back in and it started and ran 1st time on Monday, could only run it for a short time as no radiator or coolant in the engine it did make we jump when it 1st started as I only had the exhaust down pipe fitted so was a little noisy.

Last night I added coolant after fitting the radiator and hoses, it then started to leak from various places so bit of tightening of clips etc and all was fine so ran the engine to bleed the system all ok so cap back on and play with timing and idle while it warms up, get up to temputure and the hose going to the oil cooler decided to split and spray hot coolant all over my freshly painted engine and garage floor! It was all going so well.
Picture to add later     

  great to see such a loved car. Where did you find the new engine? Or was it off the scene. 

Kenneth Cartwright said

  great to see such a loved car. Where did you find the new engine? Or was it off the scene. 

The engine was new to me not a "new new" engine, it was taken from a car which was being scrapped and had covered 90,000 miles and the paper work and servicing all looked good, I did take the head off and check inside as my brother had stored it under some tarpaulin outside his house for 4 years before I picked it up as it was getting in the way and he'd not done anything with it.
The bores all looked good so I had the head checked over, 4 exhaust valve guides, new valve stem seals and a skim was all that was needed and bolted it all back together.

So the car is back on the road for the last 6 days, a bit of tweaking with the timing and mixture and it's running a lot smoother now but I'm still running it in so only 1/2 throttle and no more than 3000 rpm!
Today it had its MOT and passed with no advisories so happy days.
List of what I've been up to.
Engine - head off, took apart tappets and cleaned, at engine shop -new exhaust valve stems, head skim and cleaned and washed. I fitted new valve stem seals, new gaskets.

Engine block painted, new sump, new water pump, new camber and tensioner, new alternator belt, new plugs, rotor arm, dissy cap HT leads, oil filter, new gaskets and all seals. New coolant, thermostat and housing, new radiator cards.

Throttle body removed and cleaned, inlet manifold cleaned, new fuel filter, K & N air filter cleaned and reoiled, new fuel injectors.
New 4 to 1 stainless exhaust manifold heat wrapped, new mid section of exhaust, new rubber hangers.

Engine bay - cleaned and re waxolyed, wiring tidy up and cleaned, battery tray re painted, bulk head touched up scratches, fuel and brake lines cleaned and waxolyed.

Gearbox, new flange seals and changed from 90mm to 100mm so I could keep my drive shafts, new input shaft seal, new brass bush, new thrust bearing, new reversing switch, new speedo drive, new green end cap, new oil.

New gear change bushes and cleaned.
New steering rack boots and UJ joint wrapped in heat cloth.

New fuel filler neck, rubber hose, and foam gaskets.

Body work - side trim, A pillar trim, grill removed and cleaned, paint clay bar and waxed and touched up the stone chips, wheel arch trim pealed back and cleaned underneath and waxolyed. Rust under drivers wing mirror treated and repainted. Inner spot lights cleaned inside.
bonnet cleaned underneath and repainted along the edge near the front skuttle as it was very thin paint.

Rusty bits near spare wheel well ground back to bear metal, treated and painted, sills checked and re waxoyled wheel arches and floor pan.

Front anti roll bar repainted and new rubber bushes, new clamps.

Still got to fit new wishbones and bushes as run out of time.

I think that's all I've done over the last couple of months during the evenings as having 2 young children do take up the weekends and work during the day time, I've had a few late nights in the garage!

its now ready for the winter. 

Fair play Mark - gotta love a white cabby. That was my first mk1 a 91 white cab. Great attention to detail as always.  

Any pics of the new engine in?

Sounds great… pics of interior after all those miles? My snowy is technically back on the road although I'm in t'gypt so can't ride out.. New old engine and box fitted whilst I've been away. New distributor and clutch previous to time I was away mot done and passed. Miles since bought in may.280..

I thought I had posted up some pictures already.
Exhaust manifold already in I then dropped the engine and connected up the drivers side engine mount then slid the gearbox underneath the car.


Gearbox then slid on, there was plenty of room from me to stand over the top of the gearbox and line up the drive shafts and fix the gearbox on.


Exhaust manifold fitted on.


Gear linkage and painted heat shield fitted, new bushes on the linkage.


Start to route cables and wires and fix on inlet manifold, it was a fiddle to fit at the exhaust manifold was in the way so I had to losen that off and retighten.


More stuff added.


New fuel injectors.


Even more stuff fitted, it took some time as I found I had to re route some cables and wires to get them in the right place and the right order.


Nearly there.


New VW radiator cards I bought a long time ago fitted.


Radiator in.


Bonnet fitted (I needed help for that bit) and a good polish, I also cleaned out the inner spots the main lights are only 2 years old so they are still clean.


Trim removed for cleaning and clay bar and waxed the car.


Still got theses to fit but I fitted the bushes.


I changed the oil the other day as I've done 500 miles and the engine is going well and a little flyer, I can how give it some beans!
I do have a oil leak at the back of the rocker cover which I will look at tomorrow, I did fit a rubber gasket so it may just need re seating as I tried to tighten it a little more but it made not differance.
I also have a blowing from the middle joint on the exhaust which need looking at, I did fit a new middle section and just cleaned and polished the rear box with some Autosol.




I do how have a big crack in my windscreen where a stone hit it the other morning so looking into windscreen at the moment but I do have some surface rust under the seal which I will treat when the screen is out but I'm hoping the crack won't get any worse as I want to do that job when it warms up and it's not dark at 4 pm!



 

Little update…
12 months and 10,000 miles since engine back in and going well with a couple of niggles, slight oil leak from dissy and cam cover which came with the engine would not seal so I guess it's been bent by over tightening it at some time in it's life so I've fitted my old one and leak gone.

At the moment it's back in the garage as I'm fitting a new white roof, going to change the windscreen I phone autoglass and asked how much for a replacement windscreen if I paid and did not go through the insurance and they want £270!!!! I said but I can buy a new screen for £65 and there answer is   "oh… well… that's the price why not go through your insurance as your excess is £75? ….." Still not decided what to do….

I also have a worn front wheel bearing which is now very noisy as I've been ignoring it for a couple of months so that's the first job and the bolts are soaking in Plug gas as I write this.

I'm pleased with the exhaust manifold, the engine is alot more eager at higher revs then only problem is getting the exhaust to fit right, it sometimes knocks on something during tick over, bring the revs up to 1100 and it stops rattling so a little adjustment needed somewhere.

Pictures to follow when I take some!
 

That's an expensive windscreen with AG!