So this may be a long one as there is a lot to update! I am doing this thread for my friend Martin who bought the car off me, he doesn't do forums!
So I owned this G reg 89 8v Helios Blue GTI since 99 when it was 10 years old, I ran it as my daily for 8 years and parked it up in the garage, nothing wrong with it just was going through different cars.
So pulled it out in around 2015 to get it back on the road and gave it a clean, it's an original car, never welded or painted to my knowledge, FSH and technically 1 previous owner to me, I spent a lot on keeping it tip top but never really washed it lol.
So I had multiple offers monthly to buy the car as people saw it sitting but couldn't bring myself to sell it but didn't have the time myself to get it on the road, then my mate of many years wanted to buy it and I knew from his previous cars this was going to get the full treatment from him so sold it to him on the provision I get to buy it back if he ever wants to sell it, deal was done for mates rate and less than I had been offered by passers by.
This was pretty much after I pulled it out the garage and gave it a wash after about 7 years.
Everything is original except wheels, exhaust and I replaced the rear bumper about 18 years ago, also fitted a leather interior way back from a Passat VR6 but it never felt right and always fancied putting it back to totally original.
This is the day he picked it up, looking sorry for itself, it was just a bit dirty but still solid, started pretty much first turn and drove onto the trailer.
More to follow, lot's of pics incoming!
So the idea was to keep it original paint and freshen it up in the engine bay, there was hardly any rust, just one spot around the windscreen which I had treated many years ago and turns out the inside of the front wings were a little crusty but not showing through, Martin started by wet and drying the bonnet and was coming up well until he went through the paint, so plans changed.
So onto the engine bay spruce up instead.
Came up quite well
New headliner
and leather wheel, correct I believe for non PAS
spruce up
Original interior acquired
So new parts started arriving...
Crusty but the discs had done no miles as I had replaced them and the calipers also were fairly new and done low miles but had sat for a long time but I had brand news ones he got with the car...
Cups got polished but things changed......
Coilies on and clean up on all corners started...
Rear bumper came off, this is one I replaced about 18 years ago but the stripe had faded and bar was rotten once side, also had a small scuff, front one was fine, so we searched for good originals to no avail so he ordered new ones from Werk34 as we had fitted Heritage ones to his old valver before and they were terrible......
As I had said before the cups were polished but Martin went to the darkside after being whispered in his ear, he had had RM's before on his previous 16v and I personally think they are done to death and prefer something different but he went there anyway, I had originally told him that I would burn it if he put BBS on but well you will see, enter side left, BBS RS001...
Cups were sold to a fellow dubber who wanted them off me a year before so they went to a good home, the BBS were blasted and sent off for powder coating, new lips were ordered.
While that was happening Martin decided as the exhaust had to be fitted from the manifold back then the engine was coming out and the bulkhead and other bits could be inspected and tidied up...
Engine out..
Not too bad in there either but the brake line job was the same guy that did the exhaust for me and it was crap so that needed sorting.
The steering rack looks grubby but I had replaced that myself as I wanted to poly bush it so it had less than 10k on it, not a refurb rack either but a new one that was available at the time, I had also fitted Bonrath poly bushes on the shocks which have been reused as they had little miles on also...
Subframe is in good order so painted up.
Engine cleaned up and painted at the back..
So while the engine was out it would be rude not to treat the surface rust in there, no welding was required, it's one solid car, Martin did a great job himself....
Some new bits..
The original heatshield that channels heat to the airbox wasn't great but then again it wouldn't have fitted with the 4 branch so Martin modified it....
I missed this one so will add it here, battery side which is usually rotten was fine and painted up also...
The gearbox got the 'Martin' treatment and he replaces seals etc, also the rack got new arms and TRE's...
As the box was out would be rude not to put a complete new clutch in..
So onto to the seat saga, they had been at the trimmers a few months and he got a call to say one had been done but there was a problem, not enough bolster material to do both!!!
This was a problem as the material was from Heritage that a fellow dubber had spare and Heritage were out of stock so it came to a standstill, lots of frantic searching, we scoured the internet and came up empty, he eventually found some and got it ordered but when it arrived it was a different shade.
This raised a question on the stuff that Heritage supply, it wasn't actually correct as the stuff he sourced overseas was bang on OE colour near enough, as you can see in the pic it's off a bit, wouldn't have made a huge impact if both would match but they wouldn't.
He had to bite the bullet and get the trimmer to take off the material he had already done and retrim which put the seat back even further...
So with no seats he cracked on with the little things, although the headlights were Hella and in good shape Martin as you can guess by now wanted 'New', he found some NOS ones at a good price...
He then turned his attention to the spotlights, these were original and and bit cloudy so he went for new ones but a set on EBay that he found and we were watching went for over £250 which is crazy so he cleaned up the old ones, the front grill is the original one and in excellent shape, just cleaned up...
Very nice car and a great write up.
So coming to the end of the build thread but have just been sent a 1.6gig folder of pictures from Martin so I will edit the thread and add in extra pics as needed, been a bit of a task but he wanted it documented as the car has a full history file, with the whole service book stamped up and everything I did has receipts and I wrote everything down with dates, I'm just as anal as Martin lol.
He would like to thank a few people who have helped, namely the 3 amigos who have helped him with the build, Jonny, Stevie and Aidy, they have really done a lot for him and donated some spare parts they had themselves.
Brendon Moss and Daz Preston for sourcing parts.
Myself for spending late nights finding part numbers and finding parts on the net, sadly I couldn't physically help due to lockdown and the distance he lives from me but as I knew everything I did and I knew the car inside out I helped via phone.
I owned it 20 years and it has took him 20 months to bring it to this, I am chuffed to bits for him and I am glad to see it back to it's former glory and some more!!
It has had delays and covid hasn't helped but he got there and it was recently MOT'd and flew through with no advisories.
This was it 20 years ago when I fitted Sebrings..
and this is it now...
Here is link for all of the build pics as there are a lot more, 1.6GB of them https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zPBnieLLUqpJZOiK1Vpzf2LCgLPljjs7/view?usp=sharing
Well done, that looks fantastic!
Martin had a bit of a bum clenching moment, Putting the car in the garage he put the lights on and smoke started pouring out the dash, frantically grabbed a 10mm spanner and disconnected the battery, dash removed and found this....
Looks like the switch has shorted taking part of the loom with it!
Already said Wow! to you... have to say it all over again now that I've gone through the thread.
Scary, scary episode with the switch - Must've been some major puckering going on when the smoke started to rise, did it all work out OK in the end?
Already said Wow! to you... have to say it all over again now that I've gone through the thread.
Scary, scary episode with the switch - Must've been some major puckering going on when the smoke started to rise, did it all work out OK in the end?
Yeah he got it rewired but it did it again shortly after, turns out it was to do with the dim dip resistor he had removed, CE1 must be wired different as a sparks removed the wiring and fixed it, seems all good now, second time it happened he had the indicator on to pull into a petrol station and removing the ignition key which put on the drivers side parking light and it fried, I traced the burn on the multiplug location to right side driver and rear light so it tied in.
Well done with this one guys! It’s properly awesome! Shame about the switch but glad he caught it early!
Well had a nice surprise visit from Martin today in the Golf, it is mint, I'm really impressed what he has done and it drives like a new car, took me back to 20 years ago when I bought it, fits like a glove!!
Hope he remembers he's only looking after it 'till you get it back.
Money was chatted, out my range I think!
Well that's the end of that, CAT B write off!! :'(
Oh no, so sad to see.
I hope yourself and anyone involved is not injured.
Hopefully with values currently high, and you documented resto here you’ll be able to get a decent settlement to soften the heart ache.
What a shame. Hopefully no injuries.
That's a sad sight. I'm sure you're gutted.
Would you consider building the good bits into a different shell? Or buy a lowly model in excellent condition which doesn't have the GTI premium price and upgrade it.
I've been noticing a few auto Drivers at reasonable prices, admittedly 5 door like mine that I might be tempted to do the same if the dreaded happens.
Edit....I mainly use my phone to scan/update posts. Just realised you used to own this!
Good to hear no injuries.
Yeah Martin is fine, was only a 20 ish mph crash, guy pulled out on him and admitted full liability, chassis leg is bent and the floor so thy have put a CAT B on it, he's bought it back just for parts but the shell will have to be scrapped, was agreed value so the build cost is mostly covered.
He has a deposit down on a nice big bumper one.
I was following this MK2 out of vw fest this year and telling my mrs how much I loved it. Sorry to see its been written off