21st Century Golf GTI Resto
It may look standard, but this Golf GTI hides modern mechanicals.
Michael King wasn’t looking for a Golf specifically when he first came across this MKII GTI back in July 2008, nor was he on the hunt for another project. However, events conspired to send the car his way… and for a bargain ‘price’, too. ‘My mate had owned it for a while, but it was suffering from a badly knocking bottom end and he didn’t want to get into the works required to sort it. I decided that I wanted to save it and use it as my daily driver.’
In the end, Michael got the Golf, plus a secondhand bottom end, in exchange for – wait for it – a front bumper for a Volkswagen Type 2 ‘Split Screen’ van!
With the engine repairs completed and a suspension refresh undertaken, the Golf was back on the road, with Michael using it as his daily for the next year or so. ‘However, it had a few niggling issues with fuelling, plus several oil leaks, so the car came off the road again to be fully restored. My plan was for a stock rebuild – I even bought a donor car in the same specification to make life easier when sourcing parts.’ It was at this point that the project took a change in direction. ‘While the stripdown was ongoing, a crash-damaged MKIV Golf GTI came up for sale locally for just £250 and I decided to do an engine conversion. The plan was to end up with a reliable and more powerful engine, but in a car that still looked as stock as possible.’
Keeping it simple
The conversion process itself is well documented online, so it was relatively straightforward… or so Michael assures us.
‘I decided to use the MKIV gearbox with LSD, which isn’t the simplest way to go, but I wanted to retain it for both reliability and
for the hydraulic clutch to make it easier to drive.’ Michael swapped the gearbox driveshaft cups to 100mm items to enable standard MKII driveshafts to be used. He then modified a Corrado pedal box to fit, which also called for him to make some slight bulkhead modifications to allow for the hydraulic clutch compared to the original cable-operated unit. A Golf MKIII gearshift setup and cables also replaced the original rods. Some things were easier than others though, as Michael recalls: ‘The engine mounts are in the original location on the MKII bodyshell because, despite coming from a MKIV, the engine block still has the drillings and threads for the MKII rear mount to bolt in, while a Corrado gearbox mount also slotted into position perfectly.’
Now you’re talking my language
Getting the newer engine to play nicely with the older car’s existing systems wasn’t too painful either. ‘The ECU was sent away to have the immobiliser removed’, explains Michael, ‘which meant that the more modern looking MKIV keyfob and complicated instrument cluster didn’t need to be used. An adaptor was also required to enable the original rev counter to work, too. ‘Since I had the complete donor car, I was able to work out what wires I needed for what, plus I’d had the engine running in the donor with all the wiring separate
‘I wanted the car to look as stock as possible on the exterior’
from the car, so I was confident there would be no issues once it was all installed in the MKII.’
An aftermarket intercooler is fitted neatly behind the front grille, but in front of the standard radiator and fan. Michael carefully modified the front panel to enable it to fit, and moved the radiator backwards to allow for extra room. ‘Making a neat job of the installation was important to me’, explains Michael, ‘because I really didn’t want the intercooler to be seen from the outside of the car. As a ‘small bumper’ car, this meant that the intercooler had to be tucked away behind the front grille.’
The intercooler pipe work was made up from an aftermarket main pipe, while Michael made up the rest of the setup from scratch with a series of hoses and joiners. The exhaust system uses a Seat Ibiza down pipe including integral catalytic converter, with the factory MKII first silencer deleted, but the rest of the system is standard, including a NOS back box to keep things looking original out back. ‘Once again, I wanted to avoid having to use an aftermarket back box because that would give away the fact that the car has been modified’, says Michael.
From in to out
With the engine and running gear in hand, Michael still had some work to do. ‘The bodywork was fairly tatty all round, while there was historic accident damage to both the offside front wing and driver’s
door, too.’ Michael also needed to replace sections of the rear arches and part of the rear valance because of the creeping onset of corrosion. ‘I replaced the panels with donor ones, so they were straight and genuine. The rusty areas were all rectified, before the entire body was taken back to bare metal and treated to a respray in the original Diamond Silver.’ To finish things off, new decals were applied, along with a NOS front grille.
Putting it all back together
By this time, Michael was approaching the fun part of any project, when things start going back together again, as he recalls with a smile: ‘The most enjoyable part was the fitting-up process postpaint. Seeing it all come together was extremely satisfying.’ The Golf’s interior is completely stock and looks all the better for it. ‘I rebuilt the driver’s seat using the parts from the donor car’s passenger seat, so the dreaded side bolster wear is now a thing of the past.’ Michael also junked the dodgy aftermarket central locking system and electric windows and replaced them with good oldfashioned manual locks and ‘keep fit’ windows, again using parts from the ever-useful donor car.
Finally, after more than a decade, the project had come to a successful conclusion, something that Michael relished. ‘The hardest part of the entire restoration and modification process was keeping my motivation levels up at times. I must admit that, at one stage, it did get to the point where I couldn’t see an end to the project and struggled to stay motivated. Trying to make the engine bay look as stock as possible was quite a challenge, for example, although thankfully I was able to get it to the point where I’m now very happy with it. But I’m so glad that I stuck at it – it was hugely satisfying when the car finally came together as I had envisaged at the beginning of the project.’
In July 2019, Michael took the Golf for its first MOT test since way back in 2008 and happily it passed with flying colours. ‘The first drive was great’, enthuses Michael, ‘as was each one after, as my confidence in the car grew.’ His next mini project is to replace the fifth gear from the current gearbox with one from a MKIV diesel gearbox to make motorway driving more refined. This is necessary because the MKIV came on 16in wheels with higher-profile tyres than the MKII’S 15s, which means that the MKII is a bit ‘busy’ revs-wise when travelling at higher speeds on the motorway. ‘Beyond that, right now I just want to keep it as it is, while enjoying driving it and surprising other people in their modern cars!’ Sounds good to us!