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Messages - ianmac86
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
Following the gearbox f**k-up, I booked a day at Bedford Autodrome with Dan in his 20v.
As usual, we made an early start, meeting at Tesco for a meal deal and fuel before cruising over. Obligatory car park photos!
And a few from the day
Dan managed to snap one of his rear arm bolts. Luckily, the on-site workshop had some high-tensile bolts in stock and kindly helped us out.
I also had a few passenger laps in Dan’s 400+ bhp 20v. Not much was passing him all day!
A couple of the professional photos:
Looking at the photos, I think some stiffer front springs might help reduce the body roll. However, I don’t want to compromise it too much for road use, so it needs to remain a sensible balance.
Dan’s car only suffered the snapped bolt, which was fixed quickly, and mine was good all day. My oil temperatures were a little higher than I would have liked, although it was a hot day. I might look into fitting an oil cooler further down the line.
After we packed up and started driving towards the exit, I noticed the steering wheel shaking from side to side quite aggressively. We stopped, jacked the car up and discovered that the front-right wheel bearing had given up. The driveshaft flange nut also seemed to have worked loose. I tightened it up and, rightly or wrongly, carefully limped the car home.
When I started stripping it down, I couldn’t remove the track-rod end for the life of me. In the end, I chopped it up and pressed the remains out.
With a fair bit of effort, it eventually came out.
The DS2500s didn’t look too clever either. This is now the second set that has done this to me!
The wheel bearings were also extremely difficult to remove. I eventually gave them to Dan to do at work, and it took 12 tonnes of pressure to get them out.
New bearings and drive flanges fitted on both sides:
Wheel studs correctly torqued and secured with Loctite
Mintex M1144s came recommended as a good alternative to the Ferodos, so I decided to give them a try.
I also raised the front BCs by a few millimetres. I had noticed a small amount of tyre scrubbing through hard left-hand corners, and this was the ideal time to sort it because the alignment would need redoing after replacing the bearings anyway.
July 2026 – Mk2 Owners Club National Meet at Curborough
Next up was the Mk2 Owners Club National Meet at Curborough Sprint Course near Lichfield.
I go every year and it’s always a brilliant weekend. The people I originally met through the club have now become friends, and it’s a great opportunity to drive the car to its limit in a relatively safe environment.
Plenty of passenger laps were given and received. It never gets boring seeing people’s reactions, and it was nice to receive a few compliments about the car along the way.
No prizes for me again this year! They went to Dan and Woz, and both were thoroughly deserved.
My car behaved perfectly all weekend. The new Mintex pads have a really strong initial bite and I’m very impressed with them so far. Hopefully, they’ll also last better than the DS2500s.
I made a couple of minor alignment tweaks on Saturday, but otherwise I just drove it within an inch of its life all weekend and it didn’t complain once. I’m very happy to have seemingly overcome all the self-inflicted problems!
The plan now is to enjoy the car while the summer is here before deciding what comes next over the winter.
Back to the weekend itself, driving Dave’s 3.2 was a massive highlight for me. I also took Ash’s track-prepared ABF out, which was wild. It’s a seriously fast car considering it still has a standard engine and gearbox with no LSD!
Woz last minute repairs
Helmets made mandatory even for cars without cages now
Pushing Dan back to the pits after he snapped a driveshaft. He had to drive home to collect spares, but returned, repaired it and continued racing for the rest of the weekend without any further problems!
Mine and Da's with Paulina's 3.2 Corrado in the background
Parade lap
BBQs and bonfires and a few quiet beers to wind down in the evening
Cheeky Rallye came along
Another brilliant National Meet and a faultless weekend for the Golf. After all the recent self inflicted problems, it felt good to just drive it hard and enjoy it again.
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
That looks terrifying!
If I tried that, all I'd end up with is a bunch of fancy coasters!
haha hope thats not the case for me! Amazing how confidence inspiring it is having someone doing it with you thats done it many times.
A couple more photos before refitting
Aslo bought a vibra-technics front engine mount to try. Initially liked it but the harshness soon wore thing and back to OE!
As you can see the gearbox is back in. Keep forgetting to tilt jack the car higher so that the gearbox doesnt hit the chassis leg! So again took me far too long to refit.
Some Millers gearbox oil 2 litres put in although will top up to 2.1!
Made a mistake! Fitted the wrong bolt on the front cable bracket. It was too long and fouling the clutch fork, had mild meltdown fearing something was wrong and all the hard work on the box was in doubt.
Correct one found
So the box went in and went for a test drive, couldn't believe the noise was still there! 😭 I used Dan's driveway as a ramp, we took it in turns to lie accross the engine driving down in gear, out of gear, clutch in and out, engine on and off fearing the box. We were about to try a spare 02j that was lying around when Dan said it sound s bit like something is dragging. When i looked under the car i remembered... the exhaust heat shield had come detached at Bedford and i had cabled tied it back up temporary and hadnt cut eh tail off the end of the cable ties. These were dragging on the floor! Cut them off and the noise went! Absolutely unbelievable 😂 rebuilt a gearbox because of two cable ties i hadnt cut the ends off. Still the input shaft had proven to be rough and I have a future proofed box now.
Amazing difference. 2x 15x7 rims both with 195 50 tyres. The Accelera is so much skinnier than the R888
Track wheel coming off
Road wheels back on
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
A big puller was borrowed to get the gears apart so we could reach the bearing near the bottom of the gear stack. I didn’t think it was going to come apart, but after applying a bit of heat it suddenly popped — scared the living poo out of me 😂
Next job was to clean this all up and not cock the order up!
Ran out of time again, but despite there being no photos, it’s now back in one piece. The box is basically ready to be rebuilt properly, apart from one bearing in the casing that still hasn’t been done yet.
I doubt I’ll get the chance to finish it over the weekend, or even next week, so for now I just need to sit patiently and wait for some spare time that lines up with Dan as well so we can get it finished off.
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
Here is the new an old pumps side by side. I might of just wasted £70 here but i'm willing to take my chances! I will hang on to the old pump for now, if my fuel issue disappears i can refit old pump to see if it returns to pinpoint the issue.
New pump in. The old clips seemed impossible to redo up so i've fitted some jubilees but will get some replacements.
i got some connectors and loom off another mk3 hoping to use to replace some of the wiring that goes to my throttle body switch and other wiring that goes past the exhaust manifold. I ordered a de-pinning tool and practiced on the off cuts and seemed pretty easy to use.
I looked at de-pinning the loom on the car but i could see this getting out of hand very quickly! So decided to cut away the damaged crispiness and join them and see how that goes
heat shrinked
and doubled insulated
i taped the loom back together and wrapped some heat resistant sheathing over to give some sort of protection
i over ordered on this as scaled price made better sense so wrapped it over the brake pipes also. there is some excess so may as well put some over the clutch line too. Probably overkill but better that nothing?
Went back round to Dan's to start replacing some bearings in the gearbox.
Some of the old bearings
Started by replacing the easier ones on the casing
We couldn't find the right puller so had to leave it there for now but hoping to get the rest of the bearing done and all built backup before the weekend so i can refit and test!
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
The input shaft bearing is definitely worn, which would explain the glitter in the oil. That’ll teach me for cheaping out and not having it fully rebuilt when the Quaife was fitted.
The rebuild kit arrived today, so I’m hoping to start cleaning everything up and get it back together this evening.
Also taken delivery of my new fuel pump and I cut some sections out of a spare loom at Dan’s to repair the crispy wiring I found the other day. That should keep me busy tomorrow!
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
Haha do you think yours is louder than mine? I don’t seem to have issues anywhere else other than Bedford, but I know where the sound meters are so I can normally just be a bit careful.
Gearbox Out
Gearbox out time. Might be straightforward for some, but I’m still somewhat mechanically challenged! To be fair it’s been in and out enough times now that it’s getting easier. The only real struggle was twisting the cup past the flywheel, once I removed the cup it came out pretty easily.
I timed myself — 1 hour 40 minutes.
While I was there I replaced the slightly suspect ball joint.
It’s a bit oily in there I think my rocker cover gasket is still leaking.
The ball and socket on the clutch fork looks OK to me.
Fuel System Check
I can’t remember the last time I changed the fuel filter — probably five years ago. So I fitted a new MANN filter.
I took the cover off the fuel pump and discovered the breather pipe has a bolt stuck in it!
Not sure what the logic was there, but that’s going to get vented properly when the new pump goes in as i cant see that its helping matters.
Wiring Loom Inspection
Started unwrapping the loom to inspect it and… diagnosis is a bit crispy.
There are a few sections like this that don’t look too healthy, so I’m not sure if this could be contributing to the intermittent running issues.
Gearbox Oil
Drained the gearbox oil and it definitely had some glitter in it, which isn’t encouraging.
For now I’ve left the car like this. The engine is sitting on one mount and supported with some wood.
Next Steps
The gearbox is now at Dan’s garage and the rebuild kit is being delivered today. Hopefully we’ll get it stripped later this evening and have a better look at what’s going on inside.
Still need to order:
75W-90 GL-4 gearbox oil
Heat shielding for the loom where it runs past the exhaust manifold
My new fuel pump is also on the way and I’ll sort the tank venting properly when that goes in.
If all goes well I’m hoping to have the car back up and running by the middle of next week. 🙏
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
The day before washed, fluids and nut and bolt check.
Early start at 5am. I got up, walked the dogs, forced some food down and then met Dan and Dion at Tesco to get fuel and grab some lunch for later.
We had a steady 65 mile drive, 1hr 30 in the wet. The forecast suggested it might dry out later in the afternoon so we were hopeful conditions would improve.
After signing on and getting the driver briefing out of the way (with a bacon sandwich) we went out for some very wet sighting laps. At that point it was clear I wouldn’t be making full use of the R888Rs.
Initially I considered waiting to see if the weather improved, but it looked like everyone else had the same idea so I decided to get straight out on track.
Grip levels were exactly as expected in the conditions, but it was still great fun. After a 15 minute session I came back in to check the car and tyre pressures. I was surprised to find they had climbed to 35psi, so there was clearly still a decent amount of heat building up. I dropped them back down to 28psi and went straight back out for more laps.
As the day progressed the rain started to ease and grip levels gradually improved. Bedford is a very forgiving circuit with lots of run off, which gave confidence to start pushing harder and explore both my limits and the car’s.
That said, I did manage two spins in one lap 😳, so I decided it was a good moment to come back in and rest.
Unfortunately a couple of issues began to appear:
A rhythmic grinding noise and what felt like fuel surge on sharp corners.
My first thought was that the grinding noise might be an inner CV joint, I’d brought spare driveshafts with me so carried on. The fuel surge could also have been due to being down to about ¼ tank of fuel, so I brimmed the tank and went back out to get as many laps in as possible.
As the day went on the Mk2s were definitely starting to feel the strain:
Dan' 20v melted the clutch line O-ring at the master cylinder
Woz' 20v had his turbo oil return pipe come loose and start leaking
Dion's ABF had fuel cut issues too, which were cured by topping up the tank
We called it a day around 4pm, which was a shame because the track was really starting to get grippier as the conditions improved.
I managed to get some laps in with Dan and Woz, both following them and passenger. The 20v cars are a lot of fun — the low down torque makes them feel very different compared with the ABF.
That said, I did follow Woz for a couple of laps and managed to keep him in sight — though the weather probably helped level things out!
One questionable highlight was the marshals waving signs at us for “NO DRIFTING” and “STEADY” 😂
I also managed to get black flagged twice:
Once when I drove down a bit of closed track with hazards on when I first experienced the fuelling issue
The second time was for noise — 1 dB over the limit
Despite the weather, the car was surprisingly good fun in the wet, especially with the lift-off oversteer. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from back to back wet trackdays at Donington and Bedford. I did 240 miles of which 130 were drive there and home. So must be something like 110 miles covered on track so approx 29 laps covered.
Post-Track Inspection
We all limped home and compared lists of repairs needed.
Having had the car up on the ramp since:
Nearside ball joint definitely needs replacing
The grinding noise has now been diagnosed as an input shaft bearing 😞 noise can be heard when I gear with shafts disconnected.
As for the fuel surge / misfire, I initially suspected the fuel pump assembly, as it seemed to happen during long corners. However, the fact that a brimmed tank didn’t fix it makes me think it may actually be related to the TPS or throttle switch wiring.
When I unwrapped some of the loom tape I could see exposed copper, so I suspect there may be a short or broken wire somewhere.
Gearbox Decision
It briefly crossed my mind to just find another gearbox, remove the Quaife LSD and sell that on, then treat gearboxes as a bit of a consumable item since they’re relatively cheap and plentiful.
But realistically that would be a step backwards at this stage, so the plan now is to:
Order a full bearing and seal kit
Remove the gearbox this week
Head back to Dan’s to replace the bearings and rebuild it properly 😁
I picked up this thick pile carpet off a mate whi was having a clear out. So might get this fitted whilst the car is off the road. I dodnt even know this was a thing?
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
We decided it was best to reuse some of the cable from the repalcement and solder them as we didn’t have new pins to hand or the weather proof grommets protect from mositure.
We replaced them one at a time to avoid confusion as there seemed to be two red and white cables.
All 3 wires replaced soldered and heatshrinked with some loom tape
These were the old wires and pins that had become brittle and exposed. Two of them snapped off whilst trying to remove so Is a good job done.
Strangley when I went to move the car it wouldn’t rev cleanly, it was like the fuel was being cut evwrytime I opened the throttle, it idle fine it just didnt like open throttle. It did this some time ago which I though was to to do woth the microswitch on the rear of the throttle body but maybe it was linked to the TPS all along. We decided to disconnect the battery and reconnect to see if this helped and fortunately it did! I drove it home varying throttle input and testing it to all extremes and couldn't fault it and have since used it to commute to work. Ill write that off as an anomaly and good old turn it off and on again fix IT fix as per Daves words 😂
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
This has freed up some money so I can spend on the car as i need 😁 initially i was ordering a new set of ar1's but had change of heart. Instead I ended up with all of this
Despite really liking the white ones, i would have needed to trim the arches to make them work without catching.
So settled for these Team Dynamics Pro race 2 15x7 et37 on R888 tyres. Not my first choice of wheel and a bit scruffy but will do the job for track time without having to worry about trashing my daily wheels and tyres. I went for a brief test drive to check they feel ok, even cold the difference in grip was noticeable
I managed to sell everything else so I effectively got a free set of track wheels and tyres and a bit of cash in my back pocket.
Also have booked a track day at Bedford for 28th February hence buying the wheels and tyres
I've noticed this on the front of my throttle body so needs some attention before long. Going to try and repin it
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
This came around quickly! An early start was needed to make the safety briefing and with a slightly damp forecast it was not ideal, but for December, I really can’t complain.
I’ll admit I felt a bit nervous initially. The conditions were tougher than the dry and there were plenty of much more modern powerful cars out there. I was conscious of not wanting to be in the way, but I reminded myself that I’d paid to be there just like everyone else, so I put the nerves to one side and focused on enjoying the day.
After the compulsory sighting laps, I decided to hang on and let the more eager drivers head out first while I grabbed a coffee. Around 20 minutes in, I went out for my first session. Grip was obviously down due to the damp conditions, after roughly 15 minutes I came back in to check everything over. There was hardly any heat in the tyres, I let the car cool down, checked wheel torque (to satisfy the OCD) and then headed straight back out.
Grip steadily improved as the day went on, right up until some light drizzle returned in the afternoon. I spent some laps with Dan in his Mk5 — a very capable car and a very capable driver. I also went out in Warren’s 20v Mk2, again excellent car with plenty of power and a very good driver behind the wheel. Tim was out in his R53 Mini Cooper S, which proved to be very evenly matched with my Mk2 a genuinely nice surprise and great fun to lap with. Unfortunately, Woz suffered ECU issues which sadly ended his day early.
I managed a few more sessions through the afternoon and was feeling increasingly confident, but resisted the temptation to squeeze in one last run before dark.
The 02J EMR gearbox with the 3.9 final drive has made a very welcome difference, particularly when accelerating and on gearchanges. The car feels much more alert and responsive out of corners. I had originally contemplated going even shorter with a CZM 4.2 final drive, but having now driven this setup in anger, I genuinely feel the current gearing is the sweet spot — hot enough to make the car great fun on track and on fast road drives, but still just about acceptable for longer journeys across the country or back into Europe.
Overall, I’m really pleased with how the car performed and have gained a lot of confidence in it following the head gasket rebuild and the gearbox/Quaife change over. I think the damp conditions levelled the field considerably (much like the National Meet). While I did have to move over for some genuinely quick drivers, I also found myself holding onto plenty of others and even getting frustrated at times with cars not moving over. My confidence in damp conditions has definitely improved.
I’m absolutely delighted with both the day and the car, and I’m hoping to get a few more track days in during 2026.
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
One shiny new Apec caliper. Not red like the other three corners 😅
Old one, i reckon this was from maxspeeding rods, i should have known better!
New copper washers
Did put a pressure bleeder on it but i always find i get better results having an assistant pump the pedal. Called the wife out and she slammed her coat zip in the door 😢
The handbrake cable on the same side was playing up. I did buy a pair but again thought I would opt to replace just the faulty one. It only took about 5 minutes to change so i decided to do both, which in the end proved to be a good decision. The handbrake has never felt so good.
Looks like its also seized up
The rivets on the side of the handbrake mechanism inside the car had become loose, causing the ratchet system teeth to miss each other, effectively causing the handbrake to fall down! I thought about drilling the rivets out and nutting a bolting it, but at the risk of making a bigger job, I stuck it in Dan's press and squeezed the existing rivets tight. This seems to have worked a treat.
You can see where i have previously tried to punch the rivets in an attempt to bodge it in the past.
Whilst the wheels were off I decided my multi colour tape protection on the BC's was a bit comical 🤣
Much better
I decided I had run the car in enough post headgasket so when for another oil change. Love a box of Quantum and a new genuine vw filter you can see i also temp removed spacers. I thought it wasnt catching but turns out the 1st speed bump the fronts weren't happy! I might take the angle grinder to the arches at some point because it looked so good but for now they're off
The induction kit still on here but I have now reverted back to gtd airbox
Also noticed my steering boot was split, massively underestimated this as a job 🤣
Got there eventually and car is now fully working ahead of Donington!
I've mounted a few gopro mounts so hoping to get a bit of footage. Fingers crossed for some dry weather!
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
Also refitted the camber bolts with some negative camber (still deciding whether to settle on -2° or -1.5°). Roughly set for now with the wheels drooped but sat completely level
whilst splitter was off i decided to get the dremel on what shoudl be the air ducts. I'm not sure if this was a 16v only thing?
First testdrive didnt go very well
Had a strange misfire that turned out to be the throttle switch had given up. Swapped the throttle body and it’s running fine again, although my old one was ported so there’s a noticeable drop in throttle response now. I’ll either try swapping the microswitch onto the ported body or port the replacement not sure yet but not a priority until i'm happy everything else it ok with the car.
Finished fitted my mk4 induction kit
I will probably swap the intake over to this at some point, it’s got a smoother larger diameter bend and slightly, so hopefully it’ll help improve airflow and throttle response a bit. I'll wait until a later point for this and fit a catch can at the same time
My HT leads had gone very hard so have fitted a new set an i need to relocate the air intake sensor into the intake at some point if i dont't swithc badck to the GTD airbox
Took it for a couple of test drives to work and everything feels good, just needs an alignment tweak. I might also reposition the air intake sensor so it sits inside the intake pipe again, or maybe go back to the GTI airbox setup.
<img src="https://i.ibb.co/7JbPwCp8/20251024-075936.jpg" alt="20251024-075936" border="0" />
I rolled the car around on a more level surface to try and set the camber and toe more precisely and is driving a lot nicer now- not quite 100% but a few more tweaks and I think i'll be there.
<img src="https://i.ibb.co/pBrSmqRj/20251024-113024.jpg" alt="20251024-113024" border="0" />
I've been using this Gunson trakrite gauge as it was recommended by Trackslag Mat who uses the same thing on his car
I’ve booked a track day at Donington on 13th December with Dan, Warren, and Tim. So something to look forward to and a good chance to properly test the car again.
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Members' Cars / Re: G135EPB 8v GTI
Finally got the chance to finish the box off. 5th gear went on, followed by the plastic casing, new output shaft seals, new clutch guide, and the 100mm cups bolted in. There’s no denying I couldn’t have done it without some help, but it definitely feels good to have been part of the process again.
Loaded in the footwell for the 1 mile drive home and to get it fitted
Probably bread and butter stuff for most, but for me, lifting the box over the flywheel was a pain. I got there eventually with a bit of help from the wife on the jack! After previously getting slightly stuck under the car with the box on my chest, I was a bit reluctant to pull the jack away until I knew it was properly bolted up 😂
In hindsight, I doubt it would’ve come down on me once it was nearly home, I just spent far too long faffing when it wasn’t really needed!
Started on the mounts but ran out of time. Still, it feels great to have it this close to running again. I’ll probably make the most of it being jacked up to sort a few other bits and pieces — planning to trim and refit the Powerflex topmounts, add the camber bolts and alignment, and finish off the induction kit.
