VW Golf Mk2 Owners Club

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #60 – January 12, 2021, 04:39:21 PM

This is marvellous bud!

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #61 – January 12, 2021, 06:43:40 PM

Great attention to detail. Loving how clean your floors are. I had thought white ones (paint thinner?) always looked rougher under the carpets. My white corrado is a prime case - i've had to touch up lots of of exposed bits under the carpets.

Love that Gamma radio. I have just bought a Gamma 4 for my rado.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #62 – January 20, 2021, 01:28:20 PM

Cheers... I've the carpets and underlay up at the moment and noticed VW seem to have applied quite a thick bitumen type material in the foot wells before over painting it.

The final body coloued coat is a slightly more creamy shade in those areas than the rest of the floor pan, seems to be because of the bitumen beneath causing a slight reaction all these years later.

The 205 was apparently full body galvanized by the time mine was made and in fairness it's stood up to the test of time but the MK2's definitely leagues ahead as far as quality of materials and design go.

Picked up the Gamma donkeys years ago when they were still cheap, wouldn't be able to afford one now. The surrounds on their own now seem to fetch more than I paid for the whole lot posted from Germany!

Stuff's taking an eternity to arrive at the moment, piddley things are holding up moving on with the bigger jobs.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #63 – January 20, 2021, 07:38:38 PM

I've still my old Kenwood that I'd in a few cars reaching back to around the early 1990's.

It was a pretty good set up for it's time and would even run an optional CD multichanger which was a bit of big deal back then (but pretty pointless as I couldn't afford one.)

It's definitely a superior set up to the Gamma 3, which if I'm honest I'll only be putting in because it's OE and visually suits the dash.

The Kenwood has one of those after market cable adapters that allows it to plug straight into the existing VW wiring, so changing them about is an easy job if the notion takes me.

I foolishly thought I'd maybe be able to get a multichanger now that they're old tech. but they're surprisingly serious money and things like cables or CD cartridges can be equally pricey or hard to find.

Don't have many CD's anyway and nowadays even old ones (sorry, pre-loved) of those are fetching strong money too... worlds gone mad!

Saw this thing though - looks to be the same idea as the cassette adapter in the 205 and just as cheap, but it's hardwired in so no problems having to keep it charged.

eBay 13 PIN Adapter

I think some other brands (like Alpine?) ran the same number / pattern of pins for their inputs, it wasn't unique to Kenwood.

As a side note - If you have an older set and the display is orange some can be changed back and forward to green if you go into a sub menu.

I recall some Blaupunkts I had could do it and this Kenwood does too - in its case it's through the source button (src)... something to check on your own perhaps.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #64 – January 21, 2021, 08:07:37 AM

If you still want to keep a bit of Bluetooth for your mk2 with the Gamma, you can always install a Parrot hands free kit.
It can all be hidden behind the dash and as it interrupts the ISO connectors, it doesn't matter what head unit you have fitted.
I used it in mine and don't actually have a head unit at all, just connect my phone to the parrot and use that.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #65 – January 21, 2021, 10:05:09 AM

Definitely worth looking into - and there's me thinking I'd have a few spare slots in the new fuse-box to use in the future, all accounted for already!

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #66 – January 28, 2021, 02:48:16 PM

Things are getting a bit out of sync. waiting on the small stuff to turn up so moving on to adding insulation / sound deadening while I'm in limbo.

I'd some of the heavy duty jute insulation and a few bitumen pads left over from doing the 205, mainly off cuts and odd shaped left overs so limited as to what was possible.

The Peugeot's never going to be quiet but it's not that far off modern standards and the doors now close with a thunk, almost Mercedes like!

In fairness the Golf's not too bad to start with, way better than the 205 was specially the underfloor insulation and there's already quite a few bitumen pads on the inside of the larger panels.

The only obvious scrimping I could see was under the rear seat and the rear 3/4 cavities.

After a clean up, the existing waxing is still in great shape but you can never have too much so put some extra Waxoyl in the join between the wheel tub / body panel and sill, just for good luck.

Added some new bitumen pads too but it's such a big void I thought I'd try and seal it off even more.

Didn't want to permanently glue anything... no plans to be in here again, but you never know. Also didn't want it to be capable of soaking up and holding moisture if there was ever a leak. Suspending it away from the outer panel and sill area, it's held and pulled in against the inner panel by straps attached to that black spar for the interior trim.
















 

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #67 – January 29, 2021, 08:19:02 AM

I find those jobs really satisfying, done mine when it came back from it's resto, before the rebuild.

Found myself going from panel to panel knocking on them, just to see if I could hear a difference!!

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #68 – February 04, 2021, 10:28:45 PM

Saying as I'd virtually done it anyway went the whole way and stripped out the bulk of the interior just to satisfy myself there weren't any surprises.

Three decades of fluff and grit removed, but nothing more than that thankfully.

Waxoyled every nook and cranny plus cut the two types of insulation to shape... the light grey fleece like one is much, much thinner than the bitumen coated jute stuff but in combination with VW's own should do the trick.

Hopefully that's the ground work done that'll allow me to finally get the dash and new gauges plumbed in.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #69 – February 05, 2021, 07:33:08 AM

This is incredible.

Great job bud! Makes me want to do mine like this.. but also I don't want to find any issues haha

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #70 – February 05, 2021, 07:52:37 PM

That looks nice and clean. I hope you dont find you have a leak to mess it up.
Those grey plastic soundproofing mats seem to be filled with sand. I took mine out and temporarily put them in the garage. I was puzzled where the sand was coming from. One of the "cells" was leaking.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #71 – February 05, 2021, 08:46:10 PM

Had the same thing... looks like salt?

I wonder is it silica, the stuff that absorbs moisture, though if it is, I'm not sure how it'd work from inside the sealed plastic pockets.

Even it's just plain old sand it's likely a very good sound insulator, definitely attention to detail by VW.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #72 – February 15, 2021, 01:55:21 PM

Outstanding 1x VDO sender (oil temp.) which is holding me up, don't want to fit everything to discover later there's an issue.

In the mean time I've nigh on everything else sitting done so the final push to get the new loom and gauges in will be straightforward.

If it's at all possible I don't want to be cutting or drilling things that can't be replaced and found the following solution to getting things through from the cabin to the engine bay - might be useful to others as it's a simple job.

Can't vouch for non-RHD cars but on my UK car there's various plastic grommets on the bulkhead infront of the passenger side area, presumably where LHD cars have their brake bits fitted.

The largest is about 7.5 cm across so settled on it as the best access point... my new loom is probably too wide for some of the others.

Easy enough to take off and on plus it creates access very close to the center console area where the new loom is situated.

The bulkhead side looks like an area that may attract water meaning just cutting a hole in the VW grommet likely wouldn't do it.

Found this generic grommet on-line and while the dimensions didn't match the VW one thought it could be adapted.

As it turns out it's an easy job, water tight and fits exactly.

The VW item, pops out from the bulkhead side.



Generic grommet... that center 'pipe' pushs in or out from either side depending on what's intended.







There's a 5mm groove around the new grommets circumference, if you leave a similar amount when trimming the VW item it'll create the seal needed.







Because the new grommet is wider on one face than the other the smaller side has to be pushed in from the rear but then fits the recess of the VW grommet perfectly.

Engine bay view.



Hidden side.

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #73 – February 15, 2021, 01:56:59 PM

Where to get that particular grommet -

https://www.stmotorsport.net/product-page/bulk-head-panel-wiring-harness-grommet-rubber-seal

Re: 1992 Alpine White GTI 8v...

Reply #74 – February 15, 2021, 02:08:43 PM

That's really handy, I'm always using that hole for the ECU wiring when I do conversions and it's a right pain when I'm trying to keep everything water tight.