[wolfsburgfanatic]

Hey guys, I've been wanting a MkII for over a decade and finally pulled the trigger last weekend. For the next year or so the car will be my daily, so the primary focus now is getting all the mechanicals upgraded and the car running 100%. Eventually I'd like to pretty much restore the whole car back to original condition aside from coilovers and Fifteen52 16" Teardrops (if they ever build them). That said the car refused to start friday morning and I ended up having to walk to work. I knew a 24 year old VW was going to need some TLC but I was hoping it'd make it at least a week without leaving me stranded :laugh:

Luckily my brother is a VW tech and enthusiast so he came over today and helped me look things over. Turns out there's oil in the distributor and we're getting no spark. Got online and ordered a new Bosch distributor, plugs, plug wires, and coil so I can overhaul the ignition system next weekend. Hopefully that'll do the trick. Anyway, here's a couple pics from monday when I brought it home. The MkVI is my previous daily - 2012 GTI. Its getting turned in on a 2013 TDI for my wife.

Can't wait to be able to drive it again :beer:

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

Some pics from the previous owner:

 

[VR6 GLX Man]

It seems like people sell these cars right about when some simple maintenance is due and then the new owners get stranded or have issues. Don't worry i've been left stranded also due to minor issues that a trip to the parts store would fix. Car looks great also.

 

[VR6 GLX Man]

Since your car looks pretty well maintained I would get some CRC wire dryer and spary your distributer cap and your ignition wires, and also get some CRC electronics cleaner to clean all your electronic connections, and also change out all your belts, timing, alternator, power steering.

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

Thanks for the advice! I'm definately going to start cleaning up the electrical connections; thats something my brother suggested as well. I also want to change the belts within the next year but the P/O had the timing belt done just 4,000 mi ago so I may try to wait until spring for that. The brakes are pretty sketchy and will take priority once the car is running again. The owner supplied a G60 upgrade with the car, but I may sell that and just do an OEM refresh all around.

Luckily the car has been well looked after and has only 98,000 miles so theres nothing too drastic to address. Just a bunch of niggly projects that I can handle as I have the time and funds. Thanks again for the input :thumbup:

 

[Magicshoes1]

Nice car

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

After nearly two weeks of carpooling with the wife my 16V is finally back on the road! My brother and I weren't able to get to it last weekend so I ended up having it towed to a local shop last night. Thanks to the guys at Eurotech Motorsports it is now running better than it did when I bought it. With the new ignition coil, distributor, plugs, & wires it fired right up, idled consistantly, and drove great. Hopefully it'll do the same tommorrow morning :thumbup:

Me savoring the joys of mkII ownership last night...

 

[slvrado93]

Hey saw u there at eurotech last night, I pulled up in my Helios. Yeah temperamental cars but fun none the less. Chris and Mark are right on and will take care of you whenever, great guys. I got 4 dubs and live by dutchs if u ever want to meet up. Later

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

Awesome man, it was nice meet you last night and the helios looked great! I was a bit distracted with the wife & kid and everything else going on - I don't think I even got your name. Definately send me a PM or something if you have some time to kill someday. I'd really like to get a better look at your mkII and it'd be nice to meet more local people into VWs.

yup, Marc & Chris are great! I used to stop by the old shop now and then and went to the GTGs they used to have but I always had a new VW so stuck to the dealer for service. Now that my daily is a couple decades out of warranty I will be seeing them a lot more :thumbup:

 

[GTIDamien_407]

Nice car :thumbup:

 

[[email protected]]

Cool car. Glad to see you finally pulled the trigger. :thumbup:

 

[nbvwfan]

Nice to come across another local MK2 owner. And to have some communication about your plans for it.
Looks like you are already treating it right.
I like it and will keep an eye out for you when I get my GTI out on the road again.

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

Sorry for the lack of updates, but there really hasn't been too much to report over the winter. I've pretty much just been driving it and enjoying it while getting a few mechanical issues taken care of along the way. Here's what's been done since my last update:

11.7.12 - 98,214 mi - My brother installed a new OEM passenger side front caliper since the bleeder screw sheared off in mine. Also installed new OE Zimmerman rotors with Pagid pads and stainless brakelines on the front of the car.

11.15.12 - 98,338 mi - Eurotech Motorsports performed an oil change with Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w30 and replaced the intake air filter and fuel filters with OE replacements. They also replaced my broken exhaust hangers so the car no longer rattles insanely at idle.

2.23.13 - 99,331 mi - New German Performance replaced the front wheel bearings, ball joints, control arm bushings, tie rod assembly, steering rack boot, and sway bar endlinks with bushings then got the car properly aligned. It actually drives straight and smooth(er) now! Unfortunately they discovered that the car was leaking from several locations (possibly the result of my choice of synthetic oil??) so I had them go ahead and replace the valve cover gasket, intake plenum gasket, oil cooler seal, crankshaft seal, and camshaft seal and throw a new timing belt on the car for peace of mind since they would have to retime the car anyway.

I still need to address a torn CV boot, leaking output flange seals, and worn coilovers (do not buy chinese-made FK streetlines :facepalm as well, but atleast the car is now safe to drive and I can let my bank account recover a bit before worrying about that. My wife bought me a few little goodies for my birthday as well so those should get here next week and I can freshen up the cosmetics just a bit. Finally, NGP shared this pic on their FB page and it pretty much made my day so I figured I'd put it up in here as well...

:beer:

 

[nbvwfan]

Looks good and like you covered a lot of the incidentals.
Keep it up.

 

[BarryV]

Interesting.. Havent seen you around in Frederick yet.


Ever head out to The Shop Autowerx in Woodsboro?

Pretty good bunch of guys out there. :thumbup:

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

I haven't been driving too much other than my short commute because of all the issues the car had. Now that it is mostly sorted mechanically I should be out more and once it warms up I will be at just about every GTG I can find


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[cdiddydo]

how do you like the falkens? thinking of getting some for my 7 slots aswell

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

They seemed good but its sorta hard to judge since the car had a bad wheel bearing, blown coilovers, and worn bushings while I had the Porsche wheels on lol. The biggest issue was that my fenders are stock so they chewed up the sidewall pretty badly. I'm definitely getting my fenders rolled this year. I'm torn myself on whether to buy another set of falkens this year or try another brand.


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[VDub2625]

Nice car but paint your grille trim strip! lol.

 

[wolfsburgfanatic]

Looks good and like you covered a lot of the incidentals.
Keep it up.

Thanks man, I'm trying to be proactive and fix all the small issues before they turn into big ones.

Nice car but paint your grille trim strip! lol.

I'm actually going to be removing the badgeless grille and replacing it with an OEM Aero set-up. My wife actually bought me a brand new OEM VW grill and emblem for my birthday. I just need to buy the trim strip and have it painted before I install it.

Here's a pic of the grille & emblem, along with the new shiftknob and Recaro Trophy shiftboot I got from Yally.