Jamies Volkswagen Golf Gti Mk2
Jamie's gorgeous late 91 spec MK2 Golf Gti came to us with a slight knocking from the engines big end bearings. The original plan was to strip the original engine and rebuild it to standard spec. However, after stripping the engine, the damage to the big end was far worse than we had imagined. The crank and conrod were both very badly damaged.

The cause of the failure was traced to a blocked oil pickup which is a very common problem. Due to the extent of the damage, Jamie decided to have the car converted to run a 2.0 Litre bottom end. We sourced a complete 2L engine which had covered only 56k miles and stripped it down as a precaution. In went new big end shells / bearings, a new oil pump, water pump, cambelt and tensioner and gaskets. This was then coupled to Jamies original 1.8L cylinder head which was also rebuilt with new valve seals.

The car was then rebuilt and set up, and we have to admit the result was beyond our expectations. The car is beautiful to drive and very powerful, but the torque it produces is quite astonishing. It is now a very fast car indeed - quicker than most 16V golfs we have driven. Jamie also says that it returns 40mpg if driven sensibily.

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