Picked up a 95 GTI

So...I picked this up about 2 weeks ago, found it on Craigslist and got it for cheap! Have some plans for it, nothing crazy as it has to be a full time daily driver for all roads. It's kinda rough in these pics, this is the day I got it.





It came with a set of Longbeach wheels, 2 are on it in these pics...along with some HUGE tires.  The suitcase muffler has already been deleted and it has Koni yellow struts and H&R springs. The tires are all crap and the front lower control arm bushings are pretty much pounded out. There is a variety of trim items missing from the outside,the pass. Window regulator is a rat nest of cable and the cluster is dead...no gauges work except the clock. 
It runs great,the chains sound good and the trans/clutch feel good..oh yeah the a/c works good to. I mounted a newish tire on one of the 15in. wheels and slapped them on, then scrubbed it..


I ordered a number of things and as they come in I'll post p pics.  Here it is with the new sill trim(just below the doors)


I pulled the massive tires off the longbeaches and mounted some 205/40's, but the control arm bushings had to go before I put them on, Sooo.. Here is a shot of the pounded to crap bushing.

Here is the original and the replacement, I went with some TT/R32 solid bushings.

For those that don't know, the rear bushing is the one that usually gets killed, so I just replaced it on both sides. Here is a shot of the control arm.

The drivers side is wide open, but the pass. side has the oil pan in the way of the front bolt. There is a few different ways around this, I just pulled the oil pan off as it was seeping and I wanted to see what if anything was in it.

It was clean inside.  So it was on to other things like more low.. The springs bring it down but not far enough for me, the 205's are the same diameter as the 195's and there was WAY too much fender gap.  Off came 1 1/2 coils on each front spring trimmed the bump stops and reset the rear spring perch on the struts to bring it down. Casualties of war

Looks way better with the 17's.

I replaced the cluster with a eBay unit and it's good to go again.  More to come..

You make quick work of stuff. Great job. Looks good.

That is some amazing work! You really cleaned it up. Congrats on your score.

Nice looking ride.

I like the older GTI'S

Thanks everyone! I was working on a strict budget, knew exactly how much I had to spend so I went to buying crap right away.  Today I got a couple packages. I bought a set of used black trim from a fellow on the Vortex and my 5mm spacers came in from Raceland. Most of the trim was missing on the pass. side but some 3M double sided tape got them mounted.

you can also see the missing center cap on the rear in this pic too...that's what the spacers are for.





Spacers, these are needed (5mm) to step the wheel away from the bearing dust cover enough to install the centers.



Done for the day

Not much of a update, but I did get my wheel mounted today. Completely changes the feel of the car. I figured that if you spend a couple hours a day in it, it may as well have a nice wheel. Bad pic though..

Ok, so today I did the GM coil conversion.  The factory coil on these are pretty good but they do suffer from some problems over time. I was getting a random misfire for no particular reason whenever it felt like it and I already had this stuff from some other engine jobs in the past so I figured why not.. For those that don't know, the VR6 coil is somewhat high dollar and the aftermarket parts are notoriously failure prone...the GM coils are very cheap, can be replaced one at a time and are EVERYWHERE! Not to mention they kick out about 10k more volts 8)here is a pic of the coils mounted on the bracket that came off a 3100 v6 I think.  I just removed the ignition module that usually mounts under the coils and bolted them straight to the bracket. I had to cut away some areas so the coils can be wired from underneath but otherwise pretty easy.


The factory coil and module is on the left. Here is a back side view..


More in a bit..

I had to straighten the bracket a little and make a few windows for wiring. On the original coil the metal base is a heat sink/spacer and the ICM. The coil is removed from this and the new coil bracket is bolted in place. The 4 wires from the bottom of the GM coils go to the 4 prongs on the ICM, then the plug wire ends are changed to the GM style. That's pretty much it. The plug gap can be opened up some more now..all good!

I know it's going to be getting cold soon so I bit the bullet this weekend and replaced the heater core, the P.O. had it bypassed. The core itself is pretty cheap, just labor intensive. Some people take the dash all the way out,pull the steering column, passenger side air bag, blah blah blah..then the full heater box. That sounds like too much work so I just did the bare bones and pulled the dash back far enough to pull the heater box far enough to squeeze the core out. I probably would have left the steering wheel on if i didnt have to change the wiper stalk. I also recovered the temp and directional control doors cause they have been spitting black junk at me for bit.  Here are some pics.



You can see the top of the core in this pic

Core removed

Bare door


Heat works great now!

nice ride i want a gti one day

Ok, it's been a while so time for a update on this one. I picked up a mk4 afp code vr6 a number of months ago that has under 90k on it. Had a chain guide break and one of the cams got out of time, bent 3 intake valves. So I pulled the head had the bent valves replaced and new guides installed reassembled with new chains, guides and tensioners and swapped it out this last week. That's really no big deal, the AFP and AAA engines are easy enough to interchange but I didn't want to just swap out old for ... less old lol I wanted a AFP. The primary difference in the 2 other than intake looks is torque. The combo of metal head gasket raising the compression .5 point, the variable geometry intake and matching cams brings on more torque at lower rpm than the AAA the hp numbers are really close to the same but at a slightly different curve. I swapped in all obd1 sensors, moved over the cam sensor trigger and used the obd1 upper timing cover to run the engine on obd1. This has no provision for controlling the intake change over VSV because the AAA doesnt have one, a simple rpm activated switch can do this fine, it's basically a plastic version of the Schrick intake.
I have a couple time lapse videos of the engine being pulled.. Both are very short, the first was just the bumber removal until it warmed up enough outside to slide the car out enough to pull the motor. I'll add more pics and info soon.
https://youtu.be/AfHKjjADE2g
https://youtu.be/D_xHwSfDO_o

Here it is hanging out.

And the nasty 200,000+ mile engine.

The replacement..

Here it is set in and bolted down. The intake can be seen here but it is just setting in place. You can also see the obd1-2 adapter plate for the throttle body. It is supposed to be used to run a obd2 throttle body on a obd1 intake but I modified it to do the opposite here.

Here it is in running condition but no where near finished. Still a number if things to do, for one the stupid flex hose for the air pipe has to go...need to mount the washer fluid bottle on the passenger side and finish the controls for the intake VSV BUT it is a runner in this pic.

Deleted the secondary air,EGR system, and ISV. Clipped the wire to pin 10 on the ecu for the EGR delete and left the VSV for the secondary air plugged into the harness along with the ISV,the result is no check engine light. Idle is set with the throttle plate stop screw, idles very well just below 1000 rpm.

So the last time I drove it with the old engine the side to side shift linkage broke off at the transmission shift tower... It's made out of plastic on the 02a transmission...seems like a good idea lol.  Anyway, I bought a 02j shifter swap earlier in the week and installed it too. I must say if you have a 02a trans in your car this swap will completely change the driving experience! If you don't do anything else do this swap it is WAY worth it! Here is the shifter boxes side by side. My shifter and shift tower was fairly tight but no way even close to the 02j.
02a on the left 02j on the right. Hands down best mod on the car!

So I managed to pick up a used exhaust system, Jetex 2.5in stainless steel unit. The car had the factory exhaust with the suitcase muffler removed by one of the previous owners, in the process of deleting it they put a poorly bent pipe in place that was a little larger than 1 1/2in at the bends. I liked the sound but felt there was something to gain with a free flowing system. The muffler had been resting on the bumper at some point in the past as well and had melted plastic on the tips. Here is a shot of old vs new..

I had to cut the old exhaust right at the bend for over the axle. It got quite small there. The new exhaust fit pretty well, I trimmed the melted bumper bits and the muffler tips look alright in place. The new stuff is WAY more quiet then the old setup! Has a good sound with no drone.

I also relocated the battery to the trunk and made a cold air intake using a old K&N filter I had been saving, gone is that crappy flex hose and the furry looking filter I had been using. I picked up a open element intake air temp sensor from a 1.8t and mounted that in the tubing. Relocating the battery and getting rid of the battery tray let me keep the washer fluid bottle in the factory spot. Also I got rid of the prop rod for the hood as it interfered with the dipstick handle, I guess it was closer to the core support than the AAA dipstick. Used a cheap hood strut setup from ebay.

dang thats sexy

Thanks man!
I got a pair of Votex roof bars a few weeks ago and finally got around to making a basket for it.

The car has really come along way. Nice job!

Thanks! It's been a lot of fun!