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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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#588 · (Edited)
Another way to reinforce Mk1 strut mounts
I got the expensive Opel eBay ones but have not installed them just yet. My mounts are still in good shape. I may just do the 3M trick or maybe even combine the two?
 
#591 · (Edited)
I had a great weekend making progress. I DEI wrapped the wires at the firewall with metal zip ties, resurfaced the flywheel, installed the clutch, trans and pan (next time I’ll final torque the pan before before the trans goes on!). This is what happens when you reach a certain age and things have been apart too long! At least I remembered the cover plate before installing the clutch. I put the engine at TDC, confirmed pulley marks on the ps side cover and dot on the VC, lined up the flywheel on the two dowels (early cars apparently have 1 dowel pin and late 83+ GTI's have the Mk2 style 2 dowel pin flywheels) and the TDC mark is in the window so I think everything is close timing wise. I’ll need to pull and drop my distributor as that is not in the right position. Also prepared the junkyard score TT turbo short shifter to try out and popped a spare bushing on my Neusppeed for storage. My son comes home this weekend so hope to have the engine in and fired.🤞
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#593 ·
The surfaces were good enough as is that he suggested just needed light sanding if I was so inclined and not an actual cut. Machinist for 55 years and the only one in my area that will actually cut this 2 step design said it didn’t need a cut and I’d be wasting $. Same with my pressure plate but he said to leave that surface as is. He agreed that the new Chinese made flywheels may come with its own issues and are made of metals that are more prone to warping in a high performance application. Given the very tight dual pin tolerance of my SRE pressure plate he did not advise getting new unless everything comes as a 100% matched branded kit. Given the good condition of everything and the premium made in Germany SRE parts he said just clean everything good and run it. I replaced all the bolts and a new TT supplied thrust plate (btw which is made in China 🤞🏻 🤢).
 
#594 ·
Does TT market that shifter as “turbo”? I looked and didn’t see it on their site.

I have it, since it comes with the A3 manifold dp. I wasn’t sure why they did a different angle, but speculated to save the bushing from heat. Laying under the car, I don’t think that notch is needed, either.

-Todd
 
#595 · (Edited)
Per Collin @ TT "It is a Turbo unit and some other downpipes using Mk2/3 manifolds. It shorten fore and aft".
I don't see it listed @ TT online store but he responded and ID'd it for me. I agree the angle is different compared to my Neuspeed and those currently listed @ TT for Mk1.

My Neuspeed fit without hitting but it was close. You can see where I got hung up by the S while dropping my motor out. My new bushing installed on the end of my Neuspeed unit had melted and dried out with very little use so it does take a lot of heat in that area. I should have ordered Delrin but I'll have to save that for later. The TT unit also has two adjustments so I'll try the upper one first and see how I like it.
 
#596 ·
Not sure how you ran the Neuspeed, but I’m pretty certain it was the same 35% or 50% throw reduction choices.

Neuspeed chose to mod 2 pieces to achieve front to back and a 3rd piece for side to side. Other companies took the easier route and only modded the part you show, for front to back. I think ABD offered 3 choices with the most being a 65% reduction. Closer to the end will lessen the throw.

-Todd
 
#598 ·
Many years ago Momo introduced a limited edition blue stitch Monte Carlo steering wheel which is a classic favorite of mine. I missed out and they became extremely valuable selling for upwards of $600 used and $1,200 new. There were foreign fake ones made that were terrible quality so watch out! I almost bought a regular one and was going to have a shop restitch it in blue but Momo just re-introduced it so I grabbed one on sale last week direct from Momo online and with free shipping. It’s a beauty and worth every penny IMO. Will look amazing with a blue GTI interior.
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#603 ·
Oh I forgot to ask were you able to lift the motor in with the turbo in place? Did you remove both axles?
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Yes we were able to get it in with the turbo on (no downpipe installed) and both axles bungeed up. It would have been a little faster to remove the passenger driveshaft as I intended but we got a little over-eager and just plowed ahead. There is a leveler on my hoist which allowed for some extra movement.
 
#607 ·
It’s amazing my hoses are still the originals with a date stamp of 09/83! I went to my parts cabinet and apparently I only ordered 1 new hose instead of the whole set. Now I remembered PPI was out of stock at the time and I intended to source elsewhere but never finished the job. 💩
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Theres a restrictor of some kind installed in the middle of bend on this u-turn hose connected to the temp sender; is that factory?

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I’ll save my originals as backups for the modern stuff which are not nearly the same good quality.

I was planning on ditching the braided sleeves because it looks a bit too F&F; what do you think?!
 
#611 ·
Theres a restrictor of some kind installed in the middle of bend on this u-turn hose connected to the temp sender; is that factory?
Is it a restrictor that controls flow or is it some doohickey (technical term) that serves to prevent the hose from collapsing at the bend…or both?

I had replaced that hose with a silicone version…only silicone hose I used. And not that I was looking but I don’t recall noticing anything tucked within the hose. Thx.
 
#609 ·
I may just run them temporarily while I’m waiting for a fresh set. They were holding fine and look pretty damn good but now that I touched them they will let go!
 
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