Bought a MK2 GTI

[sports racer]

Sorry to hear you've gone backwards. I'm sure one day you'll be able to afford a Golf again.

[RedMk2Gti]

Whether it's gone forward or backward is subjective, if I'm debating BMW is better than VW in a VW forum surely I'll lose.
Having said that I still love Mk1/2 Golf, my biggest problem is I don't have space to keep more cars. If I move to rural area when I retire I'll get another old Golf.

[sports racer]

I'll admit the BM's are a lot better than the old Golfs but if anyone else asks I'll deny it.

When you retire you have to try small town life, highly recommended but get used to knowing everyone you see by their name, marital status and political beliefs. I'm even starting to know the names of their pets.

[ryana89]

Rwd > fwd

[sports racer]

I’m trying to sort out timing problems on my MK1 so thought why not see if I can tweak the timing on the MK2. I’ve had the car back for a year now and haven’t done anything about ignition or fuel injection settings because I assumed everything was spot on from the guy who tuned it for the previous owner. How wrong could I be!

With the engine running I advanced the dizzy and it kept idling faster and faster the more I turned it. After turning an extra 10 degrees I took it for a test drive but it had way too much detonation so back it went about 5 degrees.

The difference those extra 5 degrees made is amazing. No more sweet spot starting around 3000 rpm and going to 4000. It’s all sweet now and revs easily to 6500. I thought it was the standard exhaust that was choking the car above 5000 rpm.

Normally the trip computer shows around 7 litres per 100 ks on the way to work but today it went into the low 5’s and ended the drive showing 5.8. That’s the sort of numbers I was getting with the old 1.8 motor. I thought the conversion to a 2.0 was the reason it used lots more fuel.

There’s a little bit of detonation on full throttle up hills but some tweaking of the vacuum advance should fix this.

And yes, I’m kicking myself for not doing this a year ago.

Cheers

Paul

[sports racer]

Now this is an extension bar!



The next time I get a car for spares I'm not buying it from a VW mechanic. Every single bolt and screw was a fight to get undone to take off the disks and calipers. Took over an hour to do a 10 min job.

[sports racer]

I had a couple of hours to spare so replaced the Hottuning coilovers with Spax gas shocks and springs.

Much, much better.

[sports racer]

The coilovers are for sale for $250, check out the Parts for Sale section.

[golfmeup]

Your teasing me Paul! I still haven't changed my springs.

[sports racer]

Yours is still looking good Locky, those wheels really suit it but a bit more lows would be nice.

Here's mine back on the 15's.



Since I advanced the ignition I've started running 98 octane for the first time which let me advance the timing even more and the Golf has come alive. It pulls like a freight train and revs cleanly and easily to 6000. It's using less petrol too.

The occasional sprint to 180 ks is quite easily now but at that speed, at night, in the fog, the kangaroos and wombats on the road come up really quick. Turns the drive home into an Aussie country version of Mario Cart.