New recruit saying hi...

[eddypeck]

... Hi


Quick intro, I'm 40, live in Bristol and have a love of 'modern/retro' classics.
I'm sure there's lots of debate as to whether my cars qualify as classic or not, but either way I hope I'll be accepted here.

I have an 1986 VW Golf Mk2 GTI


I've owned this for just 2 years, it was bought to relive my 20's and replace the one I had back then. It's been partially restored and is a bit of a rolling ongoing project, it was in daily use until a few months back when the k-jet fuel system gave in. It's currently being refurbished and I hope to be back in it soon.

After attending a few shows and meets with me my wife started to get jealous of all the lovely cars and wanted something for herself, so we got shot of the 2008 Focus estate in favour of this:


It was a BMW 318 e30 touring I had after my first golf, and the car I had when me and my wife got together. My bachelor tourer became the family wagon and a much loved member of the family. So this one was bought for her last year when she said she wanted a BMW like we used to have, but she's just changed jobs which sees her needing a daily for travel, where before she worked locally but now we're in a position where we don't want to add miles and wear and tear to this appreciating classic. So it's up for sale.

Meanwhile, I saw this up for sale.


I resisted for a while but eventually caved in and it's now sitting on the drive awaiting it's turn to get some attention.
I anticipate this one being a ground up (almost) bare metal nuts and bolts build. I want to do it properly and very thoroughly and as it's not required to be transport I can take my time. Hence why I looked around for a new forum as I'm sure once I start digging around I'll know doubt have lots of questions.

[sierra3dr]

A pleasure to have you here Eddy. I'm not a fan of VW's and BM's. I suppose the GTI has some interest to me. But hey,that's the variation the forum has. The only BMW I like,is the 8 series. Is the GTI with Bosch Jetronic?

[eddypeck]

A pleasure to have you here Eddy. I'm not a fan of VW's and BM's. I suppose the GTI has some interest to me. But hey,that's the variation the forum has. The only BMW I like,is the 8 series. Is the GTI with Bosch Jetronic?

Yes the white one is an early one so is a 1.8 8v on Bosch K-jetronic Continuous Injection, it's currently off the road having pretty much the complete fuel system reconditioned after numerous options. It would have been much cheaper to just 'bung in' a 2.0 16v from a later Mk3, or even an 1.8 20v from a Mk4 but I really wanted to keep the car original and retain it's character.

I gather from your user name you're a Sierra fan? I don't know if you've heard of them but the car is currently in Interpro in Bristol having the above mentioned work done.

This is what their car park looks like on an average Saturday:



The Blue GTI is a later one so runs the PB engine with Digifant introduced in 1987, I've only had that one a month. It got delivered by trailer, parked on the drive and that's where it will stay, untouched for the foreseeable future, patiently waiting it's turn.

[sierra3dr]

Yes the white one is an early one so is a 1.8 8v on Bosch K-jetronic Continuous Injection

Ah yes,thought so. I have it on the XR4i. Can be a nuisance when the warm up reg packs up,not exactly easy to get

I really wanted to keep the car original and retain it's character.

Same view as me on my Sierras,but with some additional parts,i.e turbo/supercharger

I gather from your user name you're a Sierra fan?

I am indeed. But I like cars that we don't see anymore,even BMC

I don't know if you've heard of them but the car is currently in Interpro in Bristol having the above mentioned work done.

I thought you would have had an educational experience yourself

The Blue GTI is a later one so runs the PB engine with Digifant introduced in 1987, I've only had that one a month. It got delivered by trailer, parked on the drive and that's where it will stay, untouched for the foreseeable future, patiently waiting it's turn.

You are as bad as I,got a couple of projects to do,but work loads of hours

[eddypeck]

I don't know if you've heard of them but the car is currently in Interpro in Bristol having the above mentioned work done.

I thought you would have had an educational experience yourself

Not sure what you mean by that but after fighting against it for the best part of a year, swapping metering heads, warm up regs, injectors, fuel pumps etc etc. I finally throw in the towel and took it to a specialist along with a big box of spare parts. Luckily the old gut there was around when K-jet was introduced and told me some good stories about the Bosch training sessions back in the day.

All of my parts are now with these guys getting professionally refurbished
http://www.kmipetrolinjection.co.uk/Bos ... tronic.htm

Might be worth saving the link if you ever get in difficulty.

[sierra3dr]

Not sure what you mean by that but after fighting against it for the best part of a year, swapping metering heads, warm up regs, injectors, fuel pumps etc etc. I finally throw in the towel

That's what I mean,have a bash yourself. Evidently you have. Does the GTI not have an accumulator to dampen out the pump pulses

[eddypeck]

Not sure what you mean by that but after fighting against it for the best part of a year, swapping metering heads, warm up regs, injectors, fuel pumps etc etc. I finally throw in the towel

That's what I mean,have a bash yourself. Evidently you have. Does the GTI not have an accumulator to dampen out the pump pulses

Yes it does have one. There's an arrangement under the car with reservoir with internal pump, accumulator and filter. There's a second lift pump in the tank to get fuel to the reservoir. Not sure how different the Ford stuff is but the guys do a fair bit of those too.

Popped in to check on it on the weekend. Patiently sitting there waiting it's turn. Hopefully I'll have a positive update by the end of the week, I'm missing the show season and have the Mk2 Golf Owners Club National Meet next month so I have everything crossed.

[sierra3dr]

a shame it's taking a while,evidently the garage doesn't have enough staff to cover the amount of work. Did you change the accumulator?

[eddypeck]

a shame it's taking a while,evidently the garage doesn't have enough staff to cover the amount of work. Did you change the accumulator?

That;s true, they are a man down, one of the main guys got knocked off his motorbike a few weeks back and quite badly I believe. Just a couple of days after I spoke to him and he laid out the plan for the coming weeks.... that then had to be put on hold. That kind of thing can never be predicted and can be crippling for a small business. I gather he's going to be OK thankfully.

I'm reluctant to say just I've retired from biking as I hope one day I'll get another but after 15 years of all year all weather riding I'm taking a break which is why I have this renewed interest in these cars.


I don't think the accumulator is on the list of replacement parts. But I'll check. I'm kind of leaving it up to them to get it right. I gather you'd recommend changing it regardless then?

[jpsh120]

Welcome to the forum. I for one think you have made some good selections! I ran 2 Mk2 GTI's, firstly a 1988 8v and then a 1991 16v. I somehow managed to damage a big end on the 8v engine at just 69k, it went to TSR for a rebuild and they were perplexed as to what had happened. At the time, they were racing stock 8v GTI's and never had any problems! Anyway, the car was awesome when it was finished and putting out in the region of 130 bhp. That, combined with the much greater flexibility of the 8v engine made it a great car to drive.

Thumbs up, looking forward to seeing the progress you make.