1991 MK2 Golf GL More Door

[polodan]

Hi everyone. I have been away for a while but now I'm back. Some may remember my blue OEM+ polo coupe (still have it but for sale soon) but I have recently bought a slightly more retro ride.

Car in question is a 1991 MK2 Golf 5 door GL 1.8 4+E in Diamond Silver.

It is all original and has had no welding or panels. Totally solid in all the usual MK2 places and runs and drives lovely and smooth and quiet. I was very impressed with it when I jumped in for the 3 hour drive back from Kent and it happily took me home at a steady comfortable 70. Lights were a bit rubbish though, but I understand that's normal

It has had some paint in the past to the passenger rear door and quarter and the same door has the only rust, with some bubbling in a few places. Also has scrapes to 3 of the arches and some small dents and chips associated with a car that is 22 years old and original.

Interior is the blue/ grey velour and is in a word, Mint. Back seats have barely been sat in and fronts have no wear, even to the usual bolster. Carpets are dark blue, as is the vinyl part of the door cards, the parcel shelf and supports. Original mats are still in, though the drivers has worn through from 136,000 miles of use. Has the plastic boot sill trim with no damage.

Spec wise its pretty good too. With electric mirrors, steel sunroof, central locking, rev counter clocks, door speakers, time delay interior light, heated washer jets, split folding rear seat and still has the original Panasonic pull out cassette player and aerial with 2 keys to pull it up. Everything on it works

As you can probably tell I am pretty happy with it and couldnt wait to get stuck in to some improvements and a general tidy up

Started by giving it a good wash and blacked the trim. I started with a tooth brush, scrubbing around all the rubbers and window scrapers, and in any little corners (around filler flap etc) to get some of the green off. This car clearly hadn't had a proper wash in a long time. Then gave it a good wash with autoglym shampoo. Once rinsed and dryed I cleaned off some tar from under the side trims and put some Autoglym trim gel on all the plastics. Unfortunately, although it looks loads better, my trim didn't respond as well as I would have hoped is still a bit patchy and grey, Any suggestions? Then it started to rain beore I could get the hoover out to tackle the inside. So I took it down the road for a few pics:

The worst bits of the bodywork. Its not done badly for its 22 years on the road. Scrapes to front arches, looks like someone had a go at repairing them, driver and passenger side which is dented a little and started to rust. Rear door on passenger side has the only bubbles of rust on the car in various places, as it has been repaired in the past. By far the worst panel and will be swapped for a better one. Rear quarter was also repainted at the same time and paint isn't the best and it now also has a similar scrape to front arch on same side:







Engine bay. Not the cleanest, but is is original, with all the stickers and loads of waxoyl everywhere. Nice option of heated washer jets.







Interior. Seats are hardly worn and headliner isn't sagging at all. Parcel shelf is not bent or hacked to fit rubbish speakers. Original mats and stereo still in. Boot area is dry and has original plastic sill trim and arch foams, original stickers and straps for first aid kit and warning triangle. Whole lot just needs a good hoover and dusting.

























Gear knob had seen better days!



All the original manuals, salesmans cards, service book and both original sets of keys, with aerial tool:

Unfortunately service book is only stamped for first 6 services, all with supplying dealer, Drift Bridge Garage (still trading as I checked, may take it back there if i'm passing Epsom and get a set of number plates made up8-)) That's all the History I have, don't know what happened to the rest but can tell its been looked after.





I have these wheels waiting to be refurbed. They were destined for the polo, but as I may sell that, and these were a MK2 option, they may end up on it instead:

Votex 'VW Design' Pretty cool eh?:







Also came with 5 extra centres. 4 the same as the originals, but in much better condition and one slightly different, with the Votex logo:

[polodan]

I had part of my early Christmas present, well the MK2's early present, New Hella headlights .



Mine weren't a matching pair, one was the original Hella and the other an Autopal cheapo rubbish thing. And as the lights are not that good I thought new light units would be a good start to improving things. Also fitted them with new Osram Nightbreaker upgraded bulbs. I had bought an upgraded light loom for my polo 2 years ago, but the relays were in the wrong place (fouled the washer bottle) so never used it. Was hoping it would fit the golf, but isn't long enough to reach between the lights.

Grille came off and surprisingly, has no broken clips, leaving me with this:



Lights were then removed. No rusty bolts to be found and all the front slam panel area is in great condition:



Looks very strange without grille and lights:



Old lights versus shiny new ones:



Back up together. Looks much better. Amazing how much of a difference new lights can make:



I then ventured into the loft to invade my dads MK2 stash, some of which has been up there over 15 years.

Really only went up for one reason. This:





Mint NOS heckblende. Never been out of wrapping until now. It came as a set with the half smoked Hella lights. Dad only wanted the lights at the time, but this was bought cheaply so just left the Heckblende in the box unused.

Don't know whether the car will look any good with smoked lights, as would have to change side repeaters and front indicators to match. Don't think I will use it. May wait for an orange one to come up, but its damn cool all the same!

Also done a few little jobs on the car. Fitted a new earth strap to the bonnet as mine was missing. A new one is £20 and I refuse to pay that for what is essentially a flat piece of braid, some heat shrink and a few ring connectors.

So borrowed an OEM one and Dad took it to work, measured it up and got a couple made for free:



OK they aren't exactly the same, but better than nothing and do the job just as well .

Also managed to remove the stubborn gear knob and replaced it with one I had in the polo, and also found in the loft. Spot the difference:





Looks much better than the split and badly worn original, although not sure a Motorsport gear knob, although it is OEM, looks at home in an otherwise totally standard GL?



Unrelated to my car, I also found this in the bottom of the Heckblende box, and think its to cool not to share:





Those wheel trims !



Bet they didn't sell many of these!

[polodan]

Sticking with the Hella theme. Got this to fit:







Very rare Hella steering wheel. My pride and joy, currently in my polo and I always make a point of showing it to everybody. The best steering wheel there is in my opinion .

And this for the boot (I quite like Hella(rofl)):



And seen as the first aid kit holder is empty. I shall fill it with this. Also got an OEM warning triangle:




Picked up a NOS rear GL badge:



Also been parts hunting at my favourite scrappy. Must have been my lucky day 2 Saturdays back as for the first time I've seen, there was a MK2 in, and it was hardly touched. Late spec 5 door too! I only went for some trim bits. Namely sunroof winder/ interior light panel, Footrest, grille clip (ones from headlights), drivers side door trim. Got all but the footrest as it was, as usual, cracked. Also grabbed some armour door plates, some non stainless sunroof arms in excellent condition (plastered in wax oil),a selection of side repeaters, 5 speed gear knob and an OEM earth strap. Was leaving and noticed a MK2 scirocco in a very poor state, covered in moss and algae, in a corner (walked past 3 times without seeing it) Decided to check it for sunroof arms which it had, along with a working Tilt and slide sunroof! So began my first attempt at removing a sunroof. 45 minutes later it was out in one piece Then I went to pay. And drove away the worlds most smug man, just £15 lighter !


The haul. Except the badges. Those arrived from ebay land. Paid 99p for a selection of VW badges and out of all of them there was a decent MK2 rear badge and a GL badge:









Not bad at all I don't think. Not looking forward to fitting the sunroof though as I know its going to be a lot harder than removing it from a car I didn't have to bother about .

[polodan]

Right, to bring this thread up to date. Heres what I've been doing for the past few weekends, well, sundays:

Popped the side trim off to replace it with the one I got from the scrappy. Turns out it wasn't broken after all, just missing a clip, so I took one from the other and refitted the original trim. Annoyingly its been loose for a while and has rubbed through the paint in places. This was visible when the trim was loose, but now its fitted properly, cant be seen. I treated the rust before refitting. Think I will get some diamond silver touch up and paint over properly. Only other solution is to paint the door:



Then had a play with sunroof parts. Removed my sunroof winder panel as it was damaged (small hole). Replaced it with the undamaged one bought from the scrappy. Also fitted the 'Golde' winder from my Tilt and slide, as it just looks nicer, even though the button wont do anything until I fit the roof itself:





Removed my old broken deflector arms and noticed the deflector itself was rotten, so that's getting binned too:



New parts aren't perfect, but arms are rust free (set in same condition sold for £30 on ebay just!). Deflector itself has a bit of rust, but I will probably strip and paint it when the weather warms up. Its too cold for paintwork. Sunroof is now usable, not that I will need it for another 5 months :



Fitted the side repeaters I got. They aren't Hella, but are genuine VW, in good condition and have intact clips, unlike my originals which one was loose and the other held in with silicone. They will do until I get my new set of Hella ones:



This tiny clip may seem insignificant to most, and I can bet that a lot of people are missing either one, or both of them. Mine only had one, so did the car this one came from Grille now doesn't rattle



Decided to start on the more intensive cleaning process. Seen as I had some new badges, thought I'd start at the back, and work forwards. Started by removing the rear lights:

22 years of dirt stuck behind them:





Much better (I just love doing stuff like this):



Then started removing the badges to get the dirt from behind those. Slight mishap with the rear 'GL' script meant it snapped in two. Good job I got that NOS one! Rear VW logo I couldn't get off, no matter how hard I pulled. Had a look behind and saw these weird clips that spread out, rather than the normal badge clips!?



Cleaned up the rear panel and removed dirt from where the script was with G3. Clay barred the whole panel to get rid of the contamination. Then used the G3 to remove all the scratches that were all over the panel. Quite pleased as almost all of them disappeared. Followed up with some Autoglym super resin polish. Good result I think:



I cleaned the lights and their seals before refitting. Came up well but were looking a bit dull. G3 paint renovator works rather well on plastic light lenses if you rub hard enough. I tried it on my polo lights 2 years ago and they came up great so did the Golfs. Removes a lot of the scratches and brings the glossy finish back. For extra protection I used super resin polish after. No before and after pics though. I tried, but camera couldn't pick up on the difference.

Cleaned up light, new GL badge and polished rear panel all together. Got to say, Diamond Silver is really growing on me :



Did some more this weekeend gone. Starting in the engine bay.

My fresh air hose was looking rather tatty. All split and gaffa taped up:



Found a nearly new one on ebay and it arrived yesterday. So fitted it. Nice easy job, but makes a difference to that corner of the bay:



Then I continued with my panel by panel cleaning. Tailgate was next on my list for some attention. Started by stripping everything off. yuk:





Typical rotten boot plinth screws:



Will need some new number plate lights. Both are scruffy/ melted/ broken and one is missing the seal. The screws for them are also typically rotten:



Cleaned up the boot plinth. Much better:



Then cleaned where it mounts too and the area behind the number plate and used G3 to remove any stains. Then Gave it all the same 3 stage traetment as the rear panel. Clay bar, G3 paint renovator and Super Resin polish:





All built back up. Used stainless bolts for the boot plinth as i happened to have some the exact size. Looks so much better without the plate. Showroom fresh :



Couldnt resist, as the rear plate was off anyway:



Just wanted to see what it looked like

Parts list is growing every time I touch the car. don't really need alot of it, as most stuff is still usuable, but if anythings broken or scruffy, i'm just replacing it with brand new, genuine VAG parts (where possible) as once I know it isnt as good as it could be it will just annoy me .

As such. Just ordered another £80 of new genuine VAG parts. New ULO front indicator units, Hella side repeaters, number plate lights, tailgate lock seal and some rear badge clips. Hopefully should be here by the end of the week.

What does everyone think so far then?

[The Transplanter]

looks like an honest posh spec Golf

Put the heckblende back in the loft, it will be worth a mint in a few years, plus I'm not sure it will work with your theme.

You can buy "Amber/red" coloured ones for the MK2 which would suit your car more but these are fetching £200

[The Transplanter]

And non Hella

[polodan]

Yeah, you can get quite a lot of different ones. There is also an all smoked Hella, and a clear/red version. Bottom one is a pretty Rare all amber Sacex. They made all amber tail lights to match I think. They did an all red and amber/red too. Kamei also did one and Treser did an all black one that actually covered the boot plinth. The theres the Richard grant tailblazers, which required reloctation of the rear plate and used the plate lights backlight the heckblende, making the 'Golf' script on it visible at night

[bald1e]

looking pretty good mate..

[polodan]

Think I've decided what I will be doing about the stereo. Going to try and convert an original Panasonic unit to modern internals, so more powerful amp, MP3 input and hopefully some RCA's so I can run a sub and or Component speakers (all hidden of course). Whether I am successful or not only time and having a go will tell .

Done a few little jobs this afternoon when I'd braved the town to wrap up the Christmas shopping.

This lot arrived Friday :



Managed to get most of it on the car:

Manky old front indicators removed (one was broken and both were faded):



Brand new genuine VW ULO units fitted:





Third and last set of side repeaters. Brand new Original Hella:



New number plate light units. Just need some stainless screws now:



Manky old lock seal. Now totally disintegrated. Couldn't figure out how to remove the lock to swap it for my new one though:



Ran out of light to tackle the stubborn rear VW badge.

[Mercdan68]

liking the golf,looks very tidy good work!

[adi]

Looks good that. I had one last year in exactly the same interior spec but the car was medium blue. That ended up running complete mk3 gti hardware underneath from a rotten donor I got cheap.

I'm breaking a mk2 over xmas, so gimme a shout if you need anything. Also, where did you get those number plate lights from? I wouldn't mind some for my tidy driver.

[whitbytom]

Really like the methodical OEM approach you're taking with this. Mines a year later but with a little less spec (manual mirrors), medium blue GL more door.



There's water getting in my boot as my lock seal is completely absent, so if you suss how to get the lock out, please share!

[adi]

I've got to remove the boot lock for someone off my breaker, I'l try and remember to get pics of how I do it next week. I've removed one before but can't remember how, but if I can't remember it can't have been too difficult

[SmokeEm]

Now I feel old! I had an auto 1.8cl from brand new as my 1st company car!!

[polodan]

HaHa. My Uncle had several MK2's as company cars, but didn't get high enough up the ladder to be given a GL

Medium blue seems to be the most common colour for a 90 spec GL. they're popping up everywhere. Not seen another silver one yet though, only small bumper cars WhitbyTom, yours looks tidy and I like the Discovery/ Range Rover 3 spokes.


Boot lock has now been conquered. Without breaking anything

removed the 2 screws from the central locking actuator itself so it was loose:



Used a large flat screwdriver to push in the tabs on the lock housing, whilst pulling on it from outside, one at a time. This gets it out far enough to allow fitment of the new seal:




However I did lose something. For some reason decided that the boot lock button and barrel would be best removed from its surround to make removing the surround easier. Didn't really know what I was unscrewing and ended up making the barrel loose and losing a tiny ball bearing from part of the mechanism. I got the part out fine, but when I realised my error and tried to refit it, I dropped the ball bearing 3 times. First time I was lucky enough to see where it landed on the drive, second time it went in the boot, but third time it bounced off the bumper and was gone.

It used to live here:




Something good did come of losing it though. Had to remove the jack and spare wheel to retrieve the ball bearing the second time. I had looked under the carpet before, but a quick check for water/ Rot when buying the car was about it. Was very surprised to find the spare wheel, jack, wheel brace, spanner and even the centre cap removal tool still in un-used condition, after 22 years and 136,000 miles! I just love that kind of thing and I wont be putting any of those items to use . Wheel well itself is mint and no signs of rust at all.

Rubbish pics as it was nearly dark, but you get the idea. Dark patch on the foam isn't damp, its just where the tyres been rubbing. Boot is dry:








Also got an Autoglym valeting case for Christmas. And managed to grab a decent sized pressure washer from Halfords in a flash sale event. £49.99 instead of £99.99. So that lot should make cleaning it properly so much easier. Pressure washing the arches out sure beats lying under the car with a bucket and a brush, on my back, with 20 years of dirt dripping on my face and running up my sleeves

[polodan]

Decided to have a go with my new pressure washer this afternoon. Took ages to get it set up and then realised my tap connector was not the best and my usual method when using just a hose of running it off the bath tap, didn't work, and ended with water spraying everywhere in the bathroom and not enough water coming through the washer to get enough pressure in it.

So wasted 2 hours setting it up, finding it didn't work and then putting everything away.

Went back to the traditional hand method for cleaning out the arches. Tried and tested on my previous 2 cars.

Jacked the car up from the rear beam mount. The sills/ jacking points aren't rotten, there isn't a spot of rust, I'd just rather not risk any damage. Here was 22 years of road grime and mud:



Brushed most of the thick dirt off, then sprayed the arches with Autoglym engine cleaner and scrubbed it and rinsed it off. Then used an old wash mitt and a bucket of autoglym shampoo to remove the remaining dirt, then gave it a wipe down with an old cloth. The result, nearly 2 hours later. Still room for improvement, but so much better, and worth getting filthy for :





Also found out something I didn't know about my car. It has Gas shocks and almost new springs (on the back at least, haven't looked under the front yet). No wonder it rides so nicely :





Half expected to find a bit of rust down the bottoms of the arch, where all the muck collects, as their had to be some hiding somewhere. But was pleasantly surprised, as their is none.

Only managed the drivers side rear arch, so 3 more to go, along with every panel except the tailgate and rear panel and the engine bay. Hope to do at least the passenger side rear arch tomorrow, but weathers not looking good.

Quite pleased with how its turned out, but Shock, rear beam and brake drum now look untidy...

[rlloyd91]

Firstly, love the golf, so nice to see a mk2 in original condition! I'll never forget the red mk2 'CL' my sister had as her first car back in 2001, it wasn't anywhere near as good condition as yours! I remember it used to leak so badly, my dad drilled holes in the foot wells so it drained straight out!

Secondly it's nice to finally see someone who goes to the same lengths when cleaning their car, ever since I got my first car over 5 years ago my cleaning has got worst, first jacking up and cleaning wheel arches to then removing lights and number plate lights to clean! Have to say my 309 had unused jack ect, which I planned never to use, but unfortunately I had to use it one day, so make use you keep alternatives in your boot!

Defiantly booked marked! Keep up the good work!

[polodan]

Cheers mate. If I get a flat tyre I just pump it up to a higher pressure than normal and keep driving. Its less effort (rofl)and seen as I don't really go far from home I just go home, pump it up again then go to the tyre place. Factory jacks have a tendancy to mangle the sills.

And like wise on the cleaning mate . I've always done this. All my previous 3 cars got the same treatment and its always the first thing I do when I buy a car. I always buy a new car before I sell the previous one, so I have time to do this without having to use it in between. The next one is always cleaned even more than the last too, so this will be the cleanest yet.

[keithyboy]

That's in lovely condition for its age and getting better all the time.

[The Jackeria]

I had one just like this 2 years ago, could almost have been the exact same car, although mine came with a bunch of surfer stickers in the rear windows.