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7 years and a Callaway GTI later

133K views 762 replies 70 participants last post by  Hoffa 
#1 · (Edited)
7 years and a Callaway GTI later

After a long hiatus (I never really left but was VW-less too long), I finally have a GTI. I have been hunting for a good GTI to do a full restoration/restomod on for the last 8 years but never found a good candidate. I have met a ton of people on here and in the community along the way and about 7 years ago made contact with a local guy from a Craigslist ad. He bought the car new and put a ton of time and money building what was to him the ultimate GTI. It was so clean with 51k original miles I finally got it together and took it home. Last registration was 1997! My wife thinks I am absolutely insane but to me it's like coming home!


My story
My first car @ 16 was a 1979 Rabbit purchased dead with a hole in the side of the block. For reference that was 30 years ago! On a starving student budget, a subscription to VW and Porsche magazine for motivation, and no mechanical experience I slowly transformed it with a scirocco engine, a diesel 5 speed transmission conversion, a used Bilstein kit and a GTI interior. I had to learn how to fix things myself (sometimes twice!) and believe me I had to touch just about every nut and bolt on that car. I had a ton of fun and converted a few American muscle car friends to the VW side after competing in non-sanctioned street hill climb events! After selling it I went American for a change but immediately regretted it. Then just before college I lucked upon a really clean 83 GTI from the original adult owner but with a blown head gasket. I purchased an almost brand new cabriolet that was rolled from a tow yard and swapped out the engine in the driveway.



That GTI was really something and I had untold life experiences including meeting my girlfriend & now wife (coincidently she owned a 1980 Scirocco S at the time so you can start to see the power of the VW influence on me). By buying and fixing up broken MK1's and2's it helped pay for part of college and gave me some great life skills. This attachment to old VW 's baffles my friends a bit and seems immature in some respects, but I don't care and have found kindred spirits here on VWV. I can relate well with Mr. Spratt, vdubspeed, echassin, racerlance, scirocgvnr, and just about everyone else here in some way so excuse me for the babble as I get to the next chapter on my new GTI.

The GTI
The original owner was in in the SF Bay Area VW scene showing this car in the late 80's to 90's and I'm certain I crossed paths with it a time or 2. It is ultra clean with 51k mi, has a perfect body, zero rust, a mint full Recaro interior incl door panels, Callaway Stage 2+ with intercooler and Microfueler, oil cooler, Koni's, Neuspeed, Zender, Hella, Momo, etc.





Basically it's a time capsule of all the period performance parts you could want back in the day. I want to be respectful of it's past but make it my own. Outside of the maintenance of recommissioning a car that's been off the road for 15 or so years, the first changes I want to make include ditching the 16" wheels in favor of some 15" RML Snowflakes, ATS's, or Zender Phase1's. Mid-term I'm debating going back to stock on the body and removing the Zender kit. I know that seems absurd to some but I'm more of an OEM plus guy and love the stock Westy look. I'm gathering parts to accomplish this (thanks Leo, Ron, and Shawn!) and so far have picked up NOS badges, amazing original front and rear seats, an air dam, stock VDO panel, and a bunch of small items.



I'll update my progress as I get it sorted and legal. I can't wait to get this roadworthy and hit the coast and mountains this summer.
Hoffa
 
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#431 ·
Ha ha, no it's about to go out for the rebuild before EOM. I'm compiling my long list of items that I'm replacing "while I'm in there" and mounts are on my mind as I had someone comment that mine was installed upside down in the picture by the PO.
 
#430 ·
Even if the mount has failed, with no tension on the rubber, the bolt eye should be below the center line.
When the mount fails and sits long enough with the engine's weight on it, plus repeated heat cycles, the rubber will stay like that and appear upside down.

In any event, whether the old mount pictured or upside down or failed, the point is moot because it needs to be replaced either way. At that time, make sure the bolt hole is low in the ring with the mount bracket in the installed position.

People really struggle with this and there's no reason for it: the engine bears down on the ring, the bolt holds everything to the car's frame, you want the ring to start high so the engine's weight enters everything.
 
#434 · (Edited)
Finally decided the engine was not going to fix itself and that we needed to just dig in and learn more. I removed the crank expecting your find a spun bearing. Everything looked great with very minimal bearing wear and all the crank journals looked perfect and measured to factory stock sizes.
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Lower rod cap bearing says 8 83 (production date?) then 026 701. The crank rod journal measures right on 47.76-47.78mm so it makes sense this is all stock and standard size.
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The main lower cap bearing says 83 05 STD then 2AJ and part#056105591A. I believe that STD (easy there Echassin!) means Standard size . The main journal calipers in right on 53.96-53.98mm and if I deduct .25 for the next oversized bearing the calipers do not fit over the journal. Please stop me if I’m making any poor assumptions as I’m still learning and this is my first rodeo.
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IM shaft and bearings inside look fine too.
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96mm bolts on the oil pump (no VW stampings found) and inside was super clean. Going to replace it anyways I think just for piece of mind.
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The new Mocal exact replacement Oil Cooler is here but slightly bummed it’s black instead of original alum.

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I’m thinking the babbitt in my oil was either from valve guides or the Rotomaster. Will soon see if I can get a definitive answer and feel better about putting this all back together. I wanna drive!
 

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#436 · (Edited)
01 no kidding very surprised!

OK so Techtonics Race (kit uses HD for the DS and PS) or Street motor mounts? Or go with OEM Diesel mounts? I'm not planning to race maybe someday an autocross or light track day so seems like I should lean towards the race mounts (TT ). Will ditch the poly front regardless. I'm going with Fast Bunny MW rad support brace if they get powdercoated versions in soon. Their new design looks like a better fit for my application and non-AC intercooler setup with minimal if any clearancing.
 
#437 ·
01 no kidding very surprised!

OK so Techtonics Race (kit uses HD for the DS and PS) or Street motor mounts? Or go with OEM Diesel mounts? I'm not planning to race maybe someday an autocross or light track day so seems like I should lean towards the race mounts (TT ). Will ditch the poly front regardless. I'm going with Fast Bunny MW rad support brace if they get powdercoated versions in soon. Their new design looks like a better fit for my application and non-AC intercooler setup with minimal if any clearancing.
That’s a tough call on the mounts. I was going to go with TT mounts but decided to go with the BFI stealth mounts instead.
 
#439 ·
I’d call and verify if TT has the right HD mount in stock... I think they’ve been out for a while. I wasn’t aware there’s a HD left mount.

I considered BFI poly, for the sides, being that I didn’t want to mar my plated mount brackets. I decided against it, thinking it’d be too rough. I’m running TT HD right and rear, stock left and a Prothane front. I have no issues with the front poly. I also run them in diesels.

-Todd
 
#444 ·
I'd go with the diesel mounts,
Issue with that is, there’s probably no difference these days. The V shaped side mount (G suffix?) and standard design (K suffix?) were both used in diesels. Finding the V shaped mount is difficult.... these are what TT sells as the HD. I got lucky and found one in my stash.

Back in the day, I was told to use the S2 16v side mounts. I still have a good left side, but can’t find a right side. These had an offset bushing.

-Todd
 
#443 ·
I’ll add I added a chunk of a paddle, from a single stage snow thrower to both side and rear mounts. Not sure if it’ll actually do anything worthwhile, but it should help support the engine as the mounts deform. I can only imagine it’s helping control the rear mount compression, as the engine torque rocks.

Total cost was $0.00.

-Todd
 
#446 ·
There’s an Ebay seller Rabbitparts advertising an OEM HD mount kit; wonder if that’s the diesel equivalent? I don’t want any Meyle made in Turkey crap that I’ll have to replace in 3 months! I’ll do some part # digging but will also check out Freddy as IIRC he sells mounts already pressed in which would be great.

Tech questions for you all…
When doublechecking main and big end bearings with plasti-guage do you use your old bolts at factory torque with angle or your new bolts? If you use new aren’t you basically ruining them torquing to yield only to undo them to check the plasti-guage? Are the mains stretch bolts because I’ve seen conflicting info.
Thanks!
 
#449 ·
If you don’t preload the poly, you shouldn’t have an issue. It’s almost a perfect fit in the cup, so it’s hard to leave any air gap.

If you want the rubber HD front, I’d call TT. I recall Collin telling me they had those made. I remember getting a TT HD from GAP, and it was marked HT (Hamburg Tech). I called TT and inquired... I was told they were knock off, and GAP likely had no clue. The others, I believe they just source; ie, the V HD is FEQ. You use what you can get...

Apparently, I don’t know right from left... I have the right S2 16v mount... been lazily looking for a left.

-Todd
 
#452 ·
Got the manifold and turbo separated. Turbo had more play than it should and can see the hot side wheel has just kissed the housing a bit. I’m thinking and Gavin agrees my babbitt in the oil was most likely from the turbo journal bearings. Otherwise the turbo was very clean minimal coking. Will send off for a rebuild likely to Rotomaster in AZ. Ordering new engine bottom end bearings, oil pump, water pump, seals and gaskets. Considering adding a mk3 aba wind age tray or a TT baffled oil pan with windage trays to keep the oil where it should be. Anyone use these or is it overkill?
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#454 · (Edited)
Given the age I decided I might be good to buy new injectors out of some concern over potential leaking (I have not tested them yet). My Gti is a Jan 1984 build date and I pulled out non shrouded injectors. I was about to order non shrouded, steel VW/Audi #049133551A=Bosch #0437502023= 62277 which my car should have (thanks Kamz!) but then I looked at my actual injectors and they are marked 0437188551A. I have the air shroud port between cyl #3 & 4 which is blocked off (head is a 1983 casting date and looks original from everything I can tell). Some posts suggest that air-shrouding offers better atomization and is a performance upgrade and lowers AFR's plus with different cups is a direct install VW/Audi #026133551=Bosch #0437205045. Is this going to make a real difference in a turbo application in the real world or are we just splitting hares (sorry:ROFLMAO:)?

I don't find any info available for 0437188551A so does anyone have insight to the spec diff on this vs. stock or if it was a Callaway spec thing?

Appreciate as usual any insights!

On a side note Peter Tong mentioned in another post that the brass Bosch 0437502047= 62274 (Mercedes 190E spec) that some have said are a great alternative to our stock ones are not optimal for performance but didn't say why. Apparently they will work just fine in our 1.8 8v's and @ $20 is a bargain. I dug in out of curiosity and in a Ferrari thread where this part number crosses over, someone who tests/cleans Bosch injectors said these "have an average higher opening pressure by approximately 0.5 bar (approx. 3.5 bar for -010 vs. approx. 4.0 bar for -047)" & " the original steel injectors have a 35 degree spray pattern while the brass injector spray pattern is wider (about 42 degrees)".
 
#456 ·
Mercedes did change their CIS injectors by raising the opening pressures [to prevent vapor lock between the injector and distributor] and improved the sealing of the injector. Raising the pressures also improved the atomization too. They changed from steel to brass when all that happened.

I've never understood the issue people have with CIS injectors. Their job is to atomize the fuel and that is about it. They do not regulate the quantity of fuel, that is the job of the distributor. So 'high flow' injectors are really not such a thing. Can some injectors flow more than others? Maybe, but if the fuel distributor can't flow that much, then the injectors would never get in that situation.
 
#457 · (Edited)
Thanks Butcher that was my understanding as well since the FD regulates the pressure sent to the injector. What I'm trying to wrap my head around is what the difference is (opening pressure, spray pattern, other?) between these three injector part numbers that we know "work" and what if any benefit they may provide. I'm posting because I did not find anything specific discussed here on VWV previously and Peter's comments carry some extra weight for me. I PM'd him to see if he can comment.

Have you ever heard of injector 0437188551A? Nothing in the Bosch catalog listed or any other Google searches.
 
#458 ·
It's much easier to think of it this way.

The fuel distributes the quantity [flow] of fuel. The injector just sprays that fuel in a way that will burn once it gets into the cylinder. Changing the opening pressure that little would do little, if any, of that quantity. Sure, the the injector is stuck closed, it certainly could change the amount that is delivered. The restriction for the flow is inside the distributor. That's what determines how much gets to the injector.

There is only pressure when the flow is restricted. So it's easier, for me, to ignore the pressure aspect of this system. Same thing applies to fuel pumps. All they do is move fuel, they do not apply pressure. The restriction [regulator] causes the flow to build up the pressure.

When the new injectors came out, the engineers insisted that you did not have to change all the injectors [to the updated version] if only one was bad. The were adamant that the different injector opening pressure would not change the quantity in any meaningful manner.

Would I change all the injectors? Yes. Why? I'm a butcher and with the age of these injectors, they are probably too old to reuse.

Still have a hard time wrapping your head around this. Google simple hydraulics. Maybe you'll find out that I'm totally wrong.
 
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