So after about 4 months of scouring craigslist, vwvortex, and several quite unsightly finds, I've managed to acquire a 1989 VW GTI 16V. This is my first car, and I was very intent on making my first car be something I like and am interested in, rather than some beater civic that will merely drive from point A to B dully. I stumbled upon this one on VWvortex, but what stood out was that it was a midwest car with no rust. It had 172k on the clock, but that didn't matter much. The only problem was that the car was in Kentucky, a mere 400 miles away.

After I had the guy send me dozens of pictures, and even a video of the car starting & running, I showed my dad and convinced him this was a good idea. He agreed, and yesterday at 5am we set out to pick up my new ride. We got there, checked the car out, and liked it. It ran fine, had a few dings and dents, but was very solid overall. What was strange but awesome, was that the owner was born in the same town my dad grew up in some few thousand miles away in Bosnia. After we had our little nostalgic moment, we agreed upon $1400 and rolled out.

It was only then that I underestimated the magnitude of our trip, that we were driving 800 miles to pick up a thousand dollar car. Both my dad and I only slept 3 hours the night before...so coming back was fucking madness. We had to stop every so often to fill up on coffee and/or red bull, followed by intermittent piss breaks. We got home at 8PM, after leaving the house 15 hours earlier.

Now comes more $ spending. The car needs to be tuned up, and little things like brakes, oil, spark plugs, filters etc are going to be replaced/fixed. Once everything mechanical has been brought up to date, I'll start taking care of the body. One of the doorhandles broke off, so that needs to be replaced. The rear bumper is obviously not pretty, so that's on the list too. There's a junker 16V nearby with a good Recaro interior, so maybe I'll ask the owner if he'd get rid of it. Little shit, making the car look and drive great while still being stock. Maybe in the summer I'll consider actually tuning it up if there's time and money. Wheels? Suspension? VR6, who knows? So here's to the beginning of my little red rocket.

Sounds like a solid purchase. Enjoy...

Start off with changing all the oils/filters/belts. Best thing you can do with a used car.
Otherwise, looks like a nice project car.

Good stuff dude. Looks pretty sweet.

and hoses

looks like a good find.... G/L with it.

Now slam the thing to the ground and watch it go over speed bumps.

slamming is a definite in the foreseeable future

I love the way the MkI and MkIIs look. I'd keep it stock and just add some BBS RMs to it.

^most agreed.

Only the members who have been here for 3+ years will get the reference. Also, please dont slam the car .. they all look retarded.

Don't pay attention to dukenukem - get some coilies installed and slam it!

Looks pretty good for an 18-year old car though! Big bumper model too. And are those Alulines I see?

Moe is right. Mk2 Golf + BBS RM = superb.

nice!!!!!!! Aside from the rear hatch and the bumper it looks like it is in the great shape. The engine looks really clean for the age too.

Good luck!

Might be worth mentioning that this car has the 2.0 liter 16-valve from a 1994 Passat, which has far less miles than the rest of the car on it (104k if I recall correctly from the original ad that hex showed me).

Ehm, why are we keeping it stock?

Clark, the engine is actually from a 1991 Passat with unknown mileage. And while I do intend on doing mods when the time and money are right, everything will be kept tasteful. Getting rid of that wheel gap will be one of the first big purchases I think.

Moe, RMs would be pretty damn awesome, it's just that they're expensive as heck and I'd be really hesitant to have such nice wheels here on Chicago streets. I'd be shitting bricks if I were to drive over one of the millions of cow-sized pot holes we have here.

I'll keep you guys up to date on what stays, what goes, and what comes.


edit:

I just remembered: In the back-seat is a Zender spoiler that goes around the rear window (where you can see the black scratched tape used to be). Either I'll sell that or keep it, but as it looked from a test fit, it's not my style really.

God don't put BBS RMs on it. EVERYONE and their brother has RMs on a MkII Golf. Do something different for crissakes. But most of all focus on making it mechanically awesome before you get tied up in the aesthetic of it all.

I would absolutely love the Porsche 944 phone dial wheels. I can get them cheap, and maybe even from a junkyard if what I've read is right. The only problem is that the car would require a 4lug to 5 lug swap which requires VR6 suspension components to be installed.

I've found very few examples, and this picture shows it quite well I think:

coooool car. I agree with making the car run awesome mechanically is waaaaaaaaay more important than anything cosmetic.

^ Agreed. And I take back what I said about keeping it stock. Once it's up and running properly, go crazy...performance wise that is.

www.awetuning.com

Re the Porsche rims: your Dub will be 4x100 PCD, the later-spec VR6 Golf hubs etc will be 5x100. Porsche rims are 5x130. What you would need is a set of H&R or FK (just two examples) hubcentric adapters that will bolt on to your 4x100 hubs and allow you to fit 5x130 Porsche rims. No need to be looking to swap out the entire suspension!

If not RMs then grab yourself a set of G60 steels, they will look great and they are cheap... if you can find them!! Not sure how many sets there are in the States but you can still buy them from the dealerships here for about £35 each brand new.

Cheers

^
Not much later after I mentioned the suspension swap, I saw the H&R adapters online that would allow the Porsche rims to fit. In any case, that'll come later, but it's good to know that there are easy solutions available for such mods. sweet.

I forgot to say this earlier because your car was so cool. Great, another VAG owner...

So today I went out with a friend to get used to driving stick. Went very well, until the car turned off and didn't want to turn back on. No power, no electricity, nothing responded. Jumper cables didn't work, and the battery had juice. Then we saw some thick wire hanging loose (one of the hundreds, heh), and moved it aside. Oddly enough, car turned right back on. We suspected it was making ground somewhere and causing the thing not to start. Anyway, here are first pictures of the car at home (the others were from the owner)

eeee-gad...that sounds like you have some frayed wires in your wiring harness (that sounds like the big bundle of wires you were taking about). That could be a major pain in the ass...my first car had that same problem.

You need one of those golf-ball gear knobs. Actually, everyone with a Golf needs one of those.

boost had one of those on his MKV.... they are mad $

He didn't even have a Golf though...

I have a custom made shift knob in my car made by this guy. It feels and looks awesome.

damn, looks nice and they cheap... I always wanted some of that sort only made out of wood... something a la Porsche Carrera GT

I have the stock Mazda shift knob. It's nice enough...

I still need to get better acquainted with driving a stick...

And there are soooo many better things to spend your money on.

^what do you mean? I just said that I need to actually learn how to drive the car... I didnt make a mention of buying anything?

^ I think he mean to quote me, saying you needed a golf ball shift knob. If that's what he meant, he's not wrong.

So uhh..... yeah. I'll let the picture explain itself. Oh, they're both mine btw.

perhaps the return of the DS project car ?

Well that was unexpected.

shit got real

It's a 1992 GTI 16V w/ Recaros, BBSs, nice stereo, and other bits that I will swap into my car. I got it for an insanely little amount of money, obviously low enough for me to justify owning two for the moment. I'll keep you guys posted with pictures and details of the (build?).

Clark, this is the last thing I expected to happen today, but I'm glad it did. I guess this project kicked into high-gear a lot sooner than anticipated. Hooray for me. Hooray for Boobies.

Oh, some guy is also offering me a turbo kit for the 16V for 500 bucks. He claims that it's the entire kit to get the car running. While i'm quite tempted to check it out, I think it's way too early to even consider such a modification without being sure that the car is bulletproof. And on that note, I also changed the starter today.

keep it N/A.

rgr.

gotta say man you got a tasty little project going here, gonna be watching this one.

Yeah skip the FI in a MkII. 2.0 16v is awesome enough.

Sweet. I want a project car

Sorry, I was just rolling eyes at all the discussion about gear nobs, I fully support your learning to drive stick better.

Just keep at it, i learnt to "properly" drive my car after about a month of beating on the clutch and tranny. Good luck