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Topic: "Helga" the 1988 8v GTI (Read 2725 times) previous topic - next topic

"Helga" the 1988 8v GTI

Sun Oct 02, 2016 4:40 pm

I bought my GTI in 2013 from a work colleague who had bought it 10 years earlier with the intention of turning it into a track day car. He sent me a few pictures and said "I only want £300 for it" so I agreed to buy it.

He had used it for a couple of months before putting it in his garage and that is where it stayed for 10 long years!!!

The Rescue

This is the sight that greeted me the day I went to pick it up:



As you can see, it had not been stored very well so was pretty filthy!


The interior was partially stripped and filthy as well as having Mk3 front seats


All ready for the journey to a new home

Despite the general filth, the car is absolutely solid and once the MAF sensor was lubricated and a new battery fitted it burst into life and drove & stopped like it had never been off the road.

The Fixup - Part 1

First job was to get rid of the Mk3 front seats so I sourced a complete interior from a 1990 GTI and fitted it



Much better!!

After this brief flurry of activity and a partial service plus new grill and indicators, the Golf went into my garage where it sat for 2 years so I vowed to finally put the effort in to get it on the road again.

It is now booked in with a local mechanic (my brother-in-law :cool (y): ) to do whatever is needed to get it through it's MOT plus change the cambelt, waterpump and all the hoses so it will be mechanically sound.

The Fixup - Part 2

Below are a few pictures I took today:


No rust here!


This is the only "significant" spot on the car so I got rid of the rust and put rust killer on it. Just needs finishing off properly.


No sagging........


Even the light in the heater controls works and who needs a radio when you have a GTI soundtrack??


Think the tax may have expired.............


Not pretty but it all works and once again, there is no rust in here!!


The general condition of the car makes me believe that this is genuine

Work on the car will start tomorrow and we have provisionally booked an MoT for Friday so I will update on progress and I hope that I get to drive it for a while before winter sets in properly.

I would dearly love to do the mechanical work myself but I am undergoing some pretty intensive treatment for cancer which makes even the simplest tasks pretty challenging and it will be like this for the next couple of months. The car is one of the things that will get me through all this treatment and make a full recovery :D :D :D

The car was registered new in Brighton and I am led to believe that it spent all of it's life in that general area latterly being used as a trade vehicle between various VW enthusiasts so if anyone has any information on it's past, I would love to know.
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #1 –
Fri Oct 07, 2016 4:50 pm
The car is nearly MoT ready. Jobs so far have been:

Changed wheels & tyres for good set (£40 eBay bargain including 4 nearly new centre caps!!)
New cambelt & tensioner
New waterpump
Replaced both rear calipers
Replaced nearside front bottom balljoint
Replaced airbox & MAF sensor (the original airbox had a mouse living it when I got the car so had been well chewed. Replacement airbox, MAF sensor & brand new air filter was a £9 eBay bargain!!!)
New air filter
New plugs
New HT leads
New distributor cap
New rotor arm

Today it will have an oil/filter change and all the lights, wipers etc will be checked and bulbs replaced as necessary and I have a full set of coolant hoses arriving tomorrow which should be the last bit before it is finger biting time at the MoT test station on Thursday!!!

So far, including the cost of the car (minus what I have got for some surplus GTI bits I have sold) I have about £800 in the car so I will be pretty happy if I do not need to spend much more.

Once I have the hallowed piece of paper showing a valid MoT, I will borrow my brothers mop & some compound and go over the whole car to try and make it look more presentable as I am sure my bank manager would have a coronary if I tried to fund the respray right now!

Was given this piece of paper today by a nice man in overalls......


All it needs now is tax & insurance!!
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #2 –
Sat Oct 08, 2016 2:32 pm
Took it out for a run last night seeing as I had just taxed and insured it and it would have been rude not to!!!

I must be getting old as I had forgotten what it was like to drive a car with no power steering but boy what it a great feeling and I promise that I drove it sensibly and did not give it the full beans at any point....... :angel:
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #3 –
Tue Mar 28, 2017 8:41 pm
Took the cover off on the Saturday, took it out of the garage and left it in the sun for a few hours whilst I requisitioned the garage to put a GTI interior into the wife's Mk5 GT TDI (yes I know it's her car but the drab grey seats, even though nice & comfy, were really depressing and a bit of tartan was needed :D :D ). It's now back in the garage, under cover and waiting for me to get my backside in gear and drive it as I have taxed it for another 6 months so there is no excuse.

Apart from de-scening the lay-flat rear wiper to appease the OCD of Eddypeck ;) and getting new pre-2001 spec number plates made up for it, I've not touched it and am even getting to quite like the crappy paint finish.
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #4 –
Wed Sep 27, 2017 1:27 pm
Well today was the day normally filled with dread for any owner of an older car......yes it was time to see the man from the Ministry!!!

It managed a pass again with no advisories!!!! :party!:
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #5 –
Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:09 pm
Another MoT pass with no advisories to report so all good for another year. Only downer is that the headliner has decided that after 30 years it doesn't want to be attached to the roof anymore :sad: :sad:

On a positive note, my cousin has just purchased himself a Mk2 with an ABF conversion. He's very much a yoof so I will have first dibs on the original parts he will be taking off to replace for modified bits. 2 things he has done right so far are to sign up to the FB pages (he is a yoof after all) and swap the Jetta front end for a proper quad lamp setup........................he did, however, purchase some cross-hairs as he thinks they look proper sick!
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #6 –
Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:40 pm
Treated it to a bit of love on the weekend by fitting a nice new blue expansion tank cap (still had black one on there) and decided that the cork gasket on the rocker cover was doing a really poop job of keeping the engine oil in so changed it for a new & improved rubber version. Managed to pick up a weighted shift rod for the princely sum of £9.50 from eBay so got that fitted as well.

I have a splitter turning up at some point so car is almost back to being a full GTI. I might even get around to fitting the refurbished heater box I managed to pick up from a top bloke called eddypeck so there is less chance of what I suspect is the original matrix (no bypass valve either!!) won't explode unexpectedly.
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #7 –
Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:09 pm
So, another year has passed and the man from the ministry has deemed the car roadworthy for another 12 months and the fact it is only £89 for a years fully comprehensive insurance makes this the cheapest car I currently own :D

To celebrate, I raided my comprehensive spares stash and dug out a boot light & switch because that's an absolute must in any car and then tidied the dash wiring so that I can finally install a stereo (it's never bothered me before but I've got a few stereo's kicking about so thought sod it!!).

Next on the list is to actually fit a stereo and wire in the door speakers then get some tyres on the set of BBS reps I have in the garage then fit the red stripes above the door rub strips that I have finally sourced which means it's slowly getting back to how it looked when new.

I still have a heater box purchased from Eddypeck a couple of years ago that I have refurbished but it's sitting in my shed so I might as well chuck that in for good measure along with a new heater matrix.

I'm going to do my best to get to the next South East meet at the beginning of November as I really need to stop being such a lazy bum...
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #8 –
Miss my old 8v! Most reliable VW I've ever had! Nice to see another one being saved.

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #10 –
Some progress has been made during lockdown.

First on the list was to replace the red side stripes removed by a previous owner.



Who knew that something so simple would make such a difference to how the car looks.

Next was something that caused a fair bit of "discussion" on the FB group page......................

I wanted to replace the heater matrix and at the time fit the refurbished heater box that I had bought about a bazillion years ago from @Eddypeck .  I decided to remove the dash at the same time and this started a "discussion" that followed a similar theme to the following:

  • 8v or 16v - which is the best?
  • big bumper or small bumper - which would look best on my car?
  • I have a Type 19 - does this mean my car is r a r e?



Anyway, it was my decision to remove the dash and I am glad that I did because it uncovered the following:

  • A pile of acorns left by a previous inhabitant from when the previous owner laid the car up
  • Chewed wiring to the clocks courtesy of the previous inhabitant
  • The ducting from the blower motor to the heater box was butchered beyond belief by a previous owner so was held together with fresh air and hope
  • An unused johnny from the 90's behind the dash

I was fortunate that I had a spare duct (another of the items purchased from @Eddypeck  so that was a straightforward replacement and I had to splice in 5 new cables to the clocks.

I also replaced the butchered panel that the switches are attached to and finally fitted the radio!



Last on the list of jobs was to replace the 2 temp sensors with new plus associated crispy wiring and non-connecting spade terminals.  Luckily, @Eddypeck  to the rescue again with the loom I got from him as it yielded everything I needed to make this look good.



As a final note, I managed to scare myself silly.  I took the car out for a blast after fitting the heater matrix and it ran very well.  When I got back though, there was an ominous knocking from the bottom end..........................feeling despondent, I put the car away.

Fast forward a couple of days to ponder and price up a replacement engine I decided to have a look at the car to see if it was miraculously fixed!! Started it to hear the knocking and my heart sank even further so thought I would have a quick look to see if there was anything obvious amiss.  Water pump pulley was wobbling quite badly which is where I noticed that the bolts securing the pulley to the water pump had worked themselves loose!!  1 quick removal, clean of the mating surfaces and plenty of threadlock on the bolts and no more knocking....PHEW
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #11 –
Don't you just love quick easy fixes

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #12 –
Best addition to the car is this badge.................................................

1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D

Re: 1988 8v GTI

Reply #13 –
The time has finally come to sort out the crunching gearbox............................new clutch & release bearing on order and will be delivered this week so will be fitted along with the replacement non-crunchy gearbox I have sitting in my garage.  I will also change the cambelt tensioner as the one I had fitted when the cambelt was done in 2016 is a bit squeaky!
1988 8v GTI, 3 door in black.  It's a bit like me, doesn't look too bad from a distance but up close.......:D