jon.k Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 After deciding that my 306 gti wasn't really rubbish enough for my liking and also quite thirsty, push came to shove when I was offered this delightful Golf that had been laid up for a year and was about to go to the scrapyard. (Pics on previous page) It just needed some expert work with filler and a few strategic screws on various bits of trim, along with wipers, bulbs and a battery to get it back on the road and mot'd. I've been really pleased with it. The last golf I had was a mk4 estate with high miles. I overpaid on that one, expecting VWs to be the epitome of reliability, but I quickly realised that this reputation might not be fully earned. This one only has 90,000 miles and has cost me not very much, so I am enjoying the nice torquey engine, boat-like feeling and padded dashboard. There has been one issue which I would like to pick your brains with, please. A couple of times it has lost a lot of power when I've been using full throttle, then kept like that as if the turbo isn't being activated, until I turn the engine off and on again. A read on the internet suggested an N72 valve, MAF or dodgy vacuum hoses. The mechanic who has looked after the car for the last 20 years suggested a fuel filter. This afternoon I duly replaced the fuel filter and had a look at the turbo vacuum hoses on the car. I found a definite issue under the scuttle, where mice had made a nest over the year the car hadn't been in action. The vacuum hose running from the manifold to the ecu was completely unattached. I cleared the nest and put the hose back on to the ecu and on my fairly short test drive the car didn't do its limp-mode thing. My question is, what does that hose do, and why was the car able to run absolutely fine for 95% of the time without it plugged in? Lacquer Peel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 Bit of an update. The 305 has had a bit of welding and a dab or two of filler around the arches, followed by a steam clean and dinitrol fest all over the underside. It does puff out a good cloud of smoke on these colder mornings but I’m hopeful it will soldier on for a while yet. A couple of photos of the van in action. Dirk Diggler, puddlethumper, loserone and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 Weapons grade ldv shite I got to drive, including privy seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 And probably one for the bangernomics thread, but zoom in on this one to see a gr8 bit of bodywork repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Spares & Tyres Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Giffer repair! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 There was some satisfaction in doing a proper giffer job. Further down the car are the self tappers I had to put in to secure the trim for the mot. I expected the golf to last a matter of weeks but 3000miles on it’s going great. D spares, do you remember how many miles the engine you sold me for the 305 had on it, please? It was from a yellow estate according to the label I found. I’m just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Spares & Tyres Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Yes. This 305 van I think then van had 160k ish on the clock but not sure if it was the original engine or clock, who knows! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 Thanks for that. My van is in 130000 so not too far off anyway.. I quite like the yellow, it’s jazzy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 Time for an update here because I spend lots of time enjoying everyone else's threads and haven't contributed anything of my own for ages. To recap the previous pages and a bit before - Started shitin' with this Morris 1000 which was the cheapest MOTd Minor I had seen before or since. This was enough to tempt me to the dark side of running a dodgy old car. 6 months in I thought I'd had my fun and was beginning to tire of spending every weekend trying to make it work, so I sold it to buy something more sensible alongside my Mx5 (not sure if that belongs in this thread but I am enjoying the other MX5s on here at the moment so have a picture with the snazzy red wheels it came with). I bought a 170,000 mile mk4 golf which nearly bankrupted me with typical tdi big bills, and then after a couple of years replaced that with a 9-5 aero estate. This was just an amazing car and I wish I hadn't sold it. Tickman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan_dyane Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Your Saab was the twin of mine! Why on earth did you sell it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 Foolishly I began to get a bit bored of the Saab and bought this e39 instead. It was lovely but the polar opposite of the saab in that I've never felt so uncomfortable being seen in any of my cars as this. Everyone had a smart remark to make about it, my wife hated it, it drank fuel, and I was terrified of a big bill... I've always loved peugeots and been brought up with strings of 205s and 306s in the family as a kid, but by this time I hadn't actually managed to own one of my own. When I saw a nice 205 parked up in a local garage I tried my first "cold call" car buy. It worked and I was chuffed to be in a 205 at last. After a few months I began to feel a bit guilty about using a fairly nice XS as a van, and we were moving house and didn't need the mx5, a massive beemer and a 205 so I sold it. . . As everyone knows, though, such sensible considerations rarely last long and about 2 days later a chap parked on my neighbour's drive in a 305 van. Buoyed up by my success with the 205 buy I knocked on the door to find out about it. A couple of days later I was the proud owner of a 305 van and the 530i was sold soon after when I realised which I preferred driving. loserone, scdan4, Tickman and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 I was looking for photos of what happened next but the van suffered a HG failure which meant that a new engine had to be fitted, which took ages. In the meantime I bought a 406 for £250 and was really beginning to feel like Mike Brewer. The 406 was hands down the most surprisingly good car I have had and I honestly thought it was more comfy than the E39, but I decided that with the van off the road it would be a good time to fulfil the ambition to own a peugeot GTI. With 205s out of price range it had to be a 306, and looking through old photos I remembered that this clearly became an important job to do over the Christmas break. The 306 was ok but as soon as the van came back I preferred that (again) and it really drank fuel. So, a few months later that was gone when a friend mentioned that he was scrapping his mk3 golf. "TDI with 90,000 miles" was enough to see me over there very quickly and the golf proved to be the cheapest to run, most reliable car I have ever had until it was sold to Kiltox for his youtube challenge and then roffled. I hope whoever has it is still enjoying it. Skizzer, Tickman and loserone 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 By now the 305 van had swallowed up a lot of money in hard-to-find parts and I was also beginning to feel guilty keeping it in the rain and generally using it as a workhorse. After paying for storage for a while I decided to sell it and it entered the capable hands of Garbaldy. I have never been so sorry to see a car go! There was also a new arrival. T4s were not my thing but this had been standing for a year on a friend's drive and they agreed to let me look at it before it was being "towed away to the garage" the next day. Needless to say I was there like a flash. Tickman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 This brought to a close the peak period of frequent fleet changing and caused the lack of updates on here. Earlier this year, after selling the Golf to Kiltox, I did crumble and buy my first newish car (VW Up GTI) which has been fun and hassle free, but by last month the urge for an old peugeot had returned. To be continued.... Thanks for reading. Skizzer, mk2_craig and Tickman 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 44 minutes ago, jonathan_dyane said: Your Saab was the twin of mine! Why on earth did you sell it? I really shouldn't have. No car has lived up to it since! jonathan_dyane 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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