The NWesty 1984 GTI

[andymccauley]

I recently bought a 84 GTI after my ABA swapped Rabbit Convertible was totaled by a Jeep Wrangler... I hate Jeeps.

My ABA swap will be going into the GTI in the next few months so look for that.

This is the way it was when i got it with 4 bald tires, removed bumpers, a leaky brake master cylinder, and somewhat stripped interior, and a rebuilt 8v BIG valve with ported head and intake mani with a Audi 4000 throttle body with 15K on it and a Close Ratio trans of course.

Oh did I mention I bought this car for 1500

[andymccauley]

I swapped in my Power Recaro seats from my Rabbit and removed the Ratty Jetta seats that were in it. Still working on Fixing a few dash pieces. Acquired a clip already for the left underdash cover. The PO covered every exposed area that wasn't covered with plastic or carpet.

[andymccauley]

Stripped the paint off the bumpers that came with the car. And spray bombed them with some lacquer paint and a clear coat, the paint was very dull and had a lot of rock chips.

Also swapped some H4 housings in before I put the front bumper on and did a HID coversion

This is how it sits now with my BMW Bottlecaps.

Next weekend Im going to scrap my totaled Rabbit and grab my Rokkors, Rear Disc swap, all the bushings that have maybe 10K on them from that car and will be swapping everything into the GTI in the next coming weeks, then the ABA swap will happen soon after that..

[andymccauley]

This is my Rabbit that was totaled...

im parting it out aside from the motor wiring and a few odds and ends. I have a add on Clist in the Portland OR

[andymccauley]

Finallllly got some work done on the GTI..

Front Rokkors are in along with the strut bearings from my Totaled rabbit with maybe 8K on them and also a strut bar I traded for my Ebay crosshairs that were off of the rabbit

AND then phase 2 the rear Coilovers. i was debating on just leaving the rear axle bushings but they were really bad so I changed them out and put in the polys that were in the rabbit.

allllll the brake lines need to be replaced, tire rod ends/boots, and sway bar bushings.. Ill be getting to those things in the next few weeks. I have tire rods/boots, balljoints, and control arm bushings ready to go in. just didnt have the motivation today lol.

I will be purchasing some smaller tires for it too. I was thinking 195/45s but i think im just going to go with 185/60s for the cheap factor.

I still need RED A pillar plastic so i can Cover this head liner!! hit me up!!

[andymccauley]

Busted out my balljoints, and control arm bushings last saturday.. no pics of that

Also installed the plastic that holds up the rear parcel shelf, and installed the parcel shelf today.

got some fresh plates n tags today as well

[andymccauley]

first layer, foamed out n trimmed up.

2nd layer untrimmed

I trimmed it and installed it yesterday kinda F^cked up in a few spots but this was my first so i wasnt expecting perfection.

My rear hatch seal had calk all around it and I pulled it off to put the rear fabric under it, and now it leaks not sure if it did before but it soaked the headliner i just put in..

Going to clean the the seal and mating surface today glue the headliner to the body n reseal the hatch seal today after work

[andymccauley]

PICS of the headliner.. installed visors and resealed the hatch seal a few days ago before the rain came.

still need to install the B-pillar plastic, Acquire some A-pillar plastic and install rear hook/hangers that go above the rear passenger windows.

This clean little Rabbit was parked illegally in front of my car the other day when I got off work. Was thinking about throwing a note on his car to see if he wanted to get rid of the 8" wide rims he had instead of a back seat

185/60R14s back on the snowflakes. getting real seasonal in this B!TCH

[andymccauley]

FRESH wash n wax for my first time owning the car, the paint is amazing on this thing.

[andymccauley]

The rear door cards that i got with my car uninstalled laying in the back were kind of rough so I recovered them to match the already recovered front door cards.

and installed

[andymccauley]

Well im on the grind for the next few days 1.8 is and the 2.0 is nearly in. 2 mounts holding it in right now. I plan on completing this conversion in about 5 days. Should be pretty much plug n play. Gunna need to rewire the rear light harness, headlight switch and the clock on the cabby cluster. Should be running tomorrow

[andymccauley]

Another late night cr@p pic but you get the idea. just need to reinstall the axles, rear trans mount, speedo cable, throttle cable, rear O2 sensor, then finish wiring.

[andymccauley]

After a couple days of trying to diag a no start problem, I finally came to the conclusion it was the ignition switch.

Installed a new lock tumbler and ignition switch today and bammer fired right up..

Wired the Headlight switch for the GTI dash and the door switches for the dome light, and ran wires for the glove box light.

Not getting any power to the gauge cluster it seems like, no fuel gauge with key on and tach reading on start up. kinda weird.. I want to figure this issue out before the dash goes back in..

[andymccauley]

Figured it out!

I removed 3 "Optional Equipment Harnesses"

1 of which was D, Which Connects to E using 2 black connections from each harness, which then goes to U2/1 which is power to cluster... Hooked all that up and everything worked.

[andymccauley]

Running and driving again with no leaks for about a week now. I need to sort out an exhaust leak Im having trouble finding and replace my passenger axle, But everything is working great so far. Im thinking of either a Cabby dash swap or a black MK2 dash. havent decided which but money will not permit right now. the Cabby cluster i have in the GTI dash doesnt quite fit but the US cluster i have is kinda mangled so Im gunna use what I have for now.

Dirty A$$ car, why wash it in this Oregon weather right?

pretty much the same setup.

[andymccauley]

Picked up a oil pan cage for $15 haven't test fitted it yet to see if it fits the 2.0 block.

My custom upper ABA rad hose. I used some copper pipe adapters that i found on Begay along with a Dayco upper rad hose that i removed the plastic Ts from and cut up a little.

As it sits been my daily for the past month with no issues, things to do--- swap in heater core from my last car; coolant smell from the fan, right drive flange seal, right axle

[andymccauley]

On my way to work today had a AWESOME experience with my first broken CV joint. The bearing race broke when I was aggressively accelerating from a stop sign... took the day off work to get it fixed.

After a $100 tow and getting it all apart to replace both axles, ordered a couple reman axles from carquest when I went to go pick them up, well lets just say one was defective right out of the box the inner joint came apart and the ball bearings were rolling around in the bag. Going to pick up another at 2:30, hopefully this one is altogether..

when I took the axle out pieces of the race fell out...

DESTROYED

[Old n' slow]

Ugh A broken race in the CV joint . After about 300,000 miles of commuting in old / high mileage VW Diesel Rabbit's that was the breakdown I feared most . No advance warnings . Most everything thing else I could patch up and limp home but not that . I wonder how common it is ?

P.S. From what mechanics tell me ( I deliver auto parts for Advance) rebuilt CV joints are not the most trusted parts out there . These days they seem to be all ordering new (Chinese made ) for as little as $60. each . Very little , if any , defect returns . Unlike Chinese front wheel bearings which are junk .
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Currently own : 1969 Beetle w/ 1600cc, Single Port, Solex 30 PICT 2, Dist. 113 905 205 T, stock exhaust.
All my daily drivers gone but not forgotten;

1964(sunroof)1967 & (2)1968 Beetles , 1968 Squareback , 1963 (23 window )Deluxe Sunroof Bus , 1969 Westphalia camper, 1974 Dasher , 1985 Vanagon , (2) 1981 Rabbit Diesels & a 1991 Jetta Diesel .

[driverlost]

Nice score & work progress. Sorry about the vert.
My son & I put this together and he took it to SoWo in 2012 before he went active duty Marines. Has the CIS with a 2.0 16V

Hope to do an ABA on my Vanagon soon but I'm doing an ABA lower JH head upper for my Corrado now tying up the shop.

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Rob

May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby.

[andymccauley]