Hi everyone. This is my new (to me) 1985 VW mk2 Golf.
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*This is the only pic I have at the moment. More to come very soon.
I purchased the car for $500 from my cousin who purchased it from a friend who purchased it from a police auction. The information received during initial purchase was that the engine had been replaced with an 8v from an '88 Golf. I don't think it is a GTI. The car does not have a sunroof. After my cousin purchased the car he installed ebay coil-overs for $60 and traded the stock wheels for a set of Honda wheels and fitted them with cheap all-season Kumho tires. The interior was stripped and the engine bay was cleaned up.
While my cousin owned the car, he and I raced quite frequently in California, Bay Area autocross. We were both posting decent lap times for STS class, beating many $20K+ cars. This was also his daily driver. He eventually purchased a nice Datsun 510 and sold the car to me. I plan to keep racing it in SCCA and NASA. I also plan to keep the car as cheap or inexpensive as possible. Maybe even qualify for the $2009 Challenge.
I have owned the car for about 3 months and so far I have made a few modifications. All work, including engineering and fabrication will be done by myself. The first thing I did was remove the lower portion of the dash and heat/ac assembly. I then installed some Prothane bushings and new ball joints in the front control arms. I think this was a great mod. The springs seem to work better with more rigid control arms. Train tracks are now very smooth. I also installed some USRT shifter bushings which were desperately needed. There must have been about 1/2" of play in either direction when moving the shifter.
Thats it so far, but there is much more to come. I just received a RHB52W turbo from a Ford T-bird turbo coupe for free. I have cleaned it up a bit and plan to rebuild it. Brass bushings will be replaced with ball-bearings.
I have big plans with this car but I know very little about water-cooled VWs and mk2s. I have many questions to ask all of you. First, what are the capabilities of a stock 8v with unknown miles and a homemade turbo setup peaking at 8psi? Most importantly, what is the best suspension setup for a front wheel drive car? I have only owned rear and all wheel drive cars.
Any info or advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. Cheers and Enjoy.
-Sam
Modified by SamHandwich at 7:52 PM 1-22-2009
*This is the only pic I have at the moment. More to come very soon.
I purchased the car for $500 from my cousin who purchased it from a friend who purchased it from a police auction. The information received during initial purchase was that the engine had been replaced with an 8v from an '88 Golf. I don't think it is a GTI. The car does not have a sunroof. After my cousin purchased the car he installed ebay coil-overs for $60 and traded the stock wheels for a set of Honda wheels and fitted them with cheap all-season Kumho tires. The interior was stripped and the engine bay was cleaned up.
While my cousin owned the car, he and I raced quite frequently in California, Bay Area autocross. We were both posting decent lap times for STS class, beating many $20K+ cars. This was also his daily driver. He eventually purchased a nice Datsun 510 and sold the car to me. I plan to keep racing it in SCCA and NASA. I also plan to keep the car as cheap or inexpensive as possible. Maybe even qualify for the $2009 Challenge.
I have owned the car for about 3 months and so far I have made a few modifications. All work, including engineering and fabrication will be done by myself. The first thing I did was remove the lower portion of the dash and heat/ac assembly. I then installed some Prothane bushings and new ball joints in the front control arms. I think this was a great mod. The springs seem to work better with more rigid control arms. Train tracks are now very smooth. I also installed some USRT shifter bushings which were desperately needed. There must have been about 1/2" of play in either direction when moving the shifter.
Thats it so far, but there is much more to come. I just received a RHB52W turbo from a Ford T-bird turbo coupe for free. I have cleaned it up a bit and plan to rebuild it. Brass bushings will be replaced with ball-bearings.
I have big plans with this car but I know very little about water-cooled VWs and mk2s. I have many questions to ask all of you. First, what are the capabilities of a stock 8v with unknown miles and a homemade turbo setup peaking at 8psi? Most importantly, what is the best suspension setup for a front wheel drive car? I have only owned rear and all wheel drive cars.
Any info or advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. Cheers and Enjoy.
-Sam
Modified by SamHandwich at 7:52 PM 1-22-2009
