Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Anyone want to buy my Mk3 GTI for £350?
Needs a bit of work, but I'm offering it here at a proper low price, before I have to get the work done.
Long MOT, few months tax, around 80k miles. Leather interior, stereo system incl some random ass add on speakers.
Works perfectly, just a few annoying issues.

If you have the time/ space/ skill/ a bit of cash- you could sort it out and probably make a tidy profit in a few months.

Reason- I can't really afford (time/money) to fix it up and sell it.

my dad's away for a whole year so for the time being I'm using his golf.

Hi soperRiva, got photos? and what are the issues? - would be very interested!

pm me if you want to

@Dale.

God work mate, been interesting updates.

When do I take delivery?

Reminds me the peanut butter and faded plastics, I used cruncy as it was the cheapest available and it did wonders on the plastic on the motorbike and car.

Its really odd as the peanut butter goes black.

Reminds me the peanut butter and faded plastics, I used cruncy as it was the cheapest available and it did wonders on the plastic on the motorbike and car.

Its really odd as the peanut butter goes black.

?!

?!

Mentioned up thread about getting fadded plastics back to the original colour and using peanut butter to do that.

That includes under bonnet heat fadded plastics.

It's the oil in the peanut butter, it permeates the dry, brittle old plastic and makes it darker- you can achieve a similar effect with many oils.

Nutella? I want my car to smell lived in.

Who needs a V8 Ariel Atom, when you can have a turbocharged Honda K20?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUl-4BPLgfQ&feature=channel_video_title

Rimmer brothers - reassuringly expensive

^^ppfftt.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqrk8bfosno"]Mini
VTEC @ Nürburgring - YouTube[/ame]

(yes, repost)

still been busy.

after pulling starter, inspection cover, trans cooler lines, eventually got the auto and convertor out after a little bit more of a fight keep it on the jack (bigger wood next time). old one looks massive compared to the hi-stall. stil under car, slotted new convertor in with a good thud making sure it was all the way in. then got it back up and aligned put main bolts in but convertor just didn't want to line up with flywheel, so after a while dropped it and tried it again, viola in. tightened all the bolts up, there was a bit of noise taking in the last couple mm's but i think it was the dowels aligning and fitting in. then fun task getting the cooler lines back on, trans tube, breather, wiring shifter linkage. then lifted it up and bolted main support bolts. fitted tailshaft straight in, then a pushed the rear section of the exhaust up and loosely bolted the extractors up to get them out of the way. bolted rear wheels back up, starting to get there.

heads post 100thou, man PTV will be tight!!!!!

cleaned up the valves tonight, started with steel scourer, then moved on sticking them in the power drill and using a stanley knife to knock off carbon. worked a treat, still took a couple hours to do all 16. put the valve stem seals in (black for inlet and red/brown for exhaust), tapped them down with big socket. got out the new monster g-glamp valve spring compressor and fresh box off beehive valve springs (new collets). once i worked out how to set-up, it went really quick. only flung one collet across the garage. gave them a bit of tap with wooden mallet handle to set them. another job off the list!

you want to spend some money on a digital camera, doggy.

it died when i left. the camera phone is actually good in daylight, but crap in poor light. meh!

Are you not recutting the valves seats or the valves?

Have a new found love and respect for the K series engine.

stainless steel, not going anywhere!

Have only had to heavily recut A series valve seats in the past, But always check, as its only really a grinding/polishing stone with a centering pin through the valve hole, but if theres no pitting I don't if there is any actual benefit.

But have bought a valve cutting machine, basically a drill/small lathe and an a adjustable point for the cutting stone/tooth I always do my valves but all the heads I've done with this are multi valve heads and its supposed to improve flow.

Ever thought about cutting concentric rings in the back of the inlet valve heads, its supposed to improve atomisation and hence power and economy.

Thinking about it the last set up I did was the ducati as I was rebuilding the whole engine and I wanted something special.....didn't even take the valves out on the MGF head.

cunty mc fucking cunt!! both valves just touch the pistons. need to relieve the pistons.

intake is 2.165" (55.0mm) and exh 1.59" (40mm).

while i was thinking, i bolted up the water pump and radiator to get some of the shit off the garage floor. connected all the water hoses and transcooler piping.

ok, sorted the direction i will go. going to dremel out the fly-cuts, i've made a template and checked against heads and current marked piston. taped off the hole top of the engine. place template down, mark, then will cut to depth 100thou.

also got me thinking about the cam (LS2 204/211@ 116.......lift is .520 in / .525 ex) and what type of comp i have. stock is 10.4:1 and from what i can gather, if you take 30thou off it would go to 10.9:1 which is ls2 range. but with 100thou, it will be 11.5+:1, seeing the flycuts will take some of that out (blessing in disguise). lucky i changed to E85, this thing WILL rock and roll.

11.5 to one should be OK on 97/8RON with ally heads and EFI etc? What does Super come up at in Oz?.....Won't you run out of injector much quicker with E85?

My motor is running just under 11:1.

Really enjoying your work btw. The car looks like it will be an awesome sleeper....aside from the noise ;)

@ Joe.

Did you get in touch with your mech? Still awaiting that ride up to Ace.

^count me in on that shit

Capri will be back from the sprayers then, I'm up for an Ace visit too!

I rented this for a couple of days this week. We absolutely loved it, and are thinking about buying one to put in my dad's garage. Maybe he will let me if I let him drive it... How much do they go for, and are they reliable/cheap to fix?
Something very special about tootling around slowly, wrestling that big steering wheel around, and having people grin when they see you come around a corner. Great fun.
I don't even own a car at the moment, haven't done for ten years, and don't need one, but would love to have this hidden away for quiet weekends.

Mentioned up thread about getting fadded plastics back to the original colour and using peanut butter to do that.

That includes under bonnet heat fadded plastics.

Gotcha.