# New to vw's but not new to cars



## uber_slow (Jul 21, 2010)

hello my name is michael and im from NYC , i used to mess with hondas but they were breaking my pocket and i couldent sleep at night because i was scared that someone will steal my car .. i seen some waterfest pics recently and couldent stop looking .. i just love the style of a vw even the rat rods look sexy ... 


so tell me the do's and dont's of a 1991 vw gti what do i have to look out for when i buy one .. and who works on vw's in nyc or long island ... 


thank you !


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## omgheyitsken (Jul 16, 2010)

hondas gets stolen 


Vw's cost alot for maintenance and break down 



=P


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## dval372 (Mar 20, 2010)

mk2s are nice
one of my first cars
1986 gti 5 speed

wish i would have kept it:banghead:


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## rugbychad (Apr 12, 2010)

*stolen Hondas?*

Dude,

I don't know about NYC but I've never heard of a Honda being stolen. What would it be good for? If it's modified any fence/ chopshop will want nothing to do with it since most buyers aren't going to want performance mods. If not modified, well, you get the picture. A Honda is an appliance with wheels and they are a dime a dozen. It's not like they're rare or hard to afford on their own. I'm pretty sure that most people that want a Honda can just go out and buy one. Maybe things are different in NYC in that any car is liable to get stolen. If that's the case then I'm not sure you're going to have better luck with a VW. 

That being said, welcome to the forum and to the world of German engineering. You'll most likely find that while parts for VWs aren't necessarily cheap either, the way they are designed makes working on them infinitely easier than a comparible Japanese car. A former GF had a Honda Accord (was about a '94 model year or so) and the thing was so poorly designed that the filler cap for the washer fluid was about a foot and a half down in a nook between a radiator hose and some other dirty wires. Good luck if you needed to fill it up and were wearing sleeves. You could get your hand down there to pop the top off the reservior but good luck getting the stream of fluid to actually hit the opening in the top as your poured. No funnel would fit in that hole either. There were all kinds of annoyances about that car that pissed me off every time I had to do something to it for her. I would never have endeavored to work on it to any real degree.

Meanwhile, the MKII you have, you'll find, is SO easy to work on. Check out the pulley on the alternator. Notice the design that provides a toothed nut mounted to a toothed piece of straight steel that work together as a tensioner. YOu loosen the lock nut and turn the inner, toothed bolt head with an open end wrench. THis moves the alternator back and forth along the track because the alternator housing is shaped like a cam. the point of the cam is the other mounting location, which acts as a fulcum for the alternator itself to pivot on when the aforementioned lock nut is loosened. When you get the belt to the proper tension simply tighten up the inner bolt and you're good to go. The reserviors, if they had to be located down in the mess of wires and what not under the hood are molded so that a "filler" tube protrudes up to the top of the engine bay so that you can pop the lid, fill and close it without getting your hands/ arms dirty or burned on the hot radiator hoses.

It sounds trivial but it's attention to little details like these that make German engineering so legendary. I have never taken a class in any kind of mechanics or automotive work of any kind but while in HS and college I owned an '86 BMW 325es, '88 Jetta GL, 87 Audi 4000s (which basically has the GTI motor in it) and a '95 Passat GLX. I never once paid a mechanic to do anything to any of those cars. I completely rebuilt the entire front end of the Audi 4000 in my dad's garage removing everything --including the sub-frame from the chassis-- with hand tools. Actually, I did pay someone to machine my rotors for me a few times but I did all the brake jobs myself. Traded the Audi in with 240k miles on it for my first Passat. I'm presently driving an '06 Passat 2.0T. Have not done anything to it as it's pretty much mint but I can't wait till it's a little older and I can start playing around under the hood. 
You'll be much happier in VW's I think...especially if you like to tune them up and take them to the track. You can't kill a VW tranny. That's for sure.


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## rugbychad (Apr 12, 2010)

*Audi 4000 engine*

The Audi 4000s had the normal 1.8 litre VW engine with a slightly larger throttle body and some other mods that didn't come on the Jetta/ golf of those years like an oil cooler and braided steel fuel lines. This was essentially the GTi (not the 16v GTi) engine from that era. The car was too heavy to put the regular VW motor in it and it was severly underpowered even with the added oomph of the uprated motor.

That being said, I apologize to the OP. I didn't mean to come across like a dick to you in my post. I don't remember but perhaps I was having a bad day that day. I just re-read my post and it was combative at best. So, sorry.

However, I have done quite a bit of work on VW's and Audi's over the years and I don't recall really ever having to buy any special tools to do it. There's one for the top of the strut cartridges (which you don't really need as I have replaced those struts countless times and I've never owned nor rented this adapter)and I can't really recall anything else I did that required a special tool over the years. Granted, I wasn't setting them up for the track just doing things like brake jobs, shocks and struts, engine mounts, CV joints, wheel bearings, fuel pumps, alternator replacements, (took my alternator out with a ratchet set between the dorm buildings of my college. Got a ride to Rutland and had it rebuilt and was back at campus the next day with it installed and running and it was winter in Vermont)

Oh, and I completely rebuilt the entire front end of that 4000s all the way to removing the sub-frame from the car and replacing every bushing...I did it all with f*c*ing hand tools! The only thing was that you had to have the control arm bushings pressed out with a hydraulic press which you'd find on most any car -if you don't then you have a problem because the bushings are going to come off at the wrong time. This included tie-rod ends, steering knuckles, control arm bushings etc. etc. till the front end was completely refurbished. *No special tools required*.


As for your comment about not being able to kill a VW tranny, well, if you're hooking up something with like 700bhp to a stock tranny then I guess you'll have a problem since it wasn't meant to take that but it's pretty well known --as far as I always understood-- that stock VW trannies are capable of handling way more power than any car they're put in will ever be putting out in real world circumstances. I'm sure someone on here is going to correct me on that, and I admit it's been a while since I've been all that involved with cars, but I don't know too many people that modify a VW even by putting a turbo onto a normally aspirated motor (something that's going to significantly increase crank output) and ever really have to think about swapping the tranny to handle the increase. I'm sure many have killed VW as well as Honda etc. trannies on the track but you can kill anything if you beat on it hard enough. Newer one's I don't know about but late 80's and earlier VW trannies are indeed pretty bullet proof.

And, by the way, the most stolen vehicle of all time is the Buick Grand National; or it was for a looong time. As of now, The Cadillac Escalade is the most stolen in USA followed by the F-250. Family cars (of which any Honda clearly fits the ticket) are some of the least stolen cars of all because they are, as I said in my previous post, a dime a dozen and most people that want one can generally afford one on their own. No chop shop owner is stealing Accords to get parts to put together black market Accords since the typical Accord buyer wouldn't be interested in going black market). http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/i...-ranking-for-insurance-theft-losses/19578796/
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/autos/1008/gallery.most_stolen_cars/index.html

Also, Honda's, Toyota's, VW's BMW's etc are much less likely to be stolen because they are harder to steal. The more complex electronic ignitions make them much more difficult to hotwire. American cars and trucks are almost always the most stolen vehicles since they are very simple and easy to get running without a key...as the two links above will demonstrate.

Before you go calling someone an idiot you should learn to use google. Not a Honda in the top ten. Almost all are GM's. Big surprise there. They have the most basic ignitions of any car. Really though, where are you getting that Honda's are the most stolen cars of all? And they certainly aren't any cheaper to get to go fast. They're not more expensive but that wasn't my point. 

I'd like to see the study where it shows that Hondas are the most (or even the top three most) stolen car. Since I'm such an idiot, as pointed out by you, you must have some data to back up this claim, right? 

Again, I offer my sincere apologies to the OP. I didn't mean to come across the way I did. I'm glad you've joined the forum and are finding happiness/ interest/ excitement in VW Audi. Welcome.

-RugbyChad


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## skywalker38 (Aug 15, 2010)

its great to see people step of the Jap platform and make a wise decision of buying a veedub,but i think that when you make a real nice mk2 you also dont sleep al lot,of course i only can speak for my country (netherlands) but every nice ride parked outside is an interesting object for dickheads to steal.In terms for wat you have to check out on an mk2 is the suspenion mountings both front and rear to see if that is ok (depending to what part of the country the car is coming from) further if he runs ok go on and buy it, its the best thing that can happen to you.

greetz and good luck with your search, skywalker


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## Sillyrrabbit (Aug 25, 2010)

if ur looking for a shop. dubcreations in queens only work on vw/audi's and i've seen plenty of mk2 there


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## NoRespect (Jul 26, 2010)

*Yes Stolen Honda's*

Just a little heads up Honda's are one of the most stolen car in the United States stock customized or in any state for that matter.


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## Clif (Jun 27, 2010)

I don't why so many people talk **** about hondas. There are a lot of all motor hatches that would put many VW's to shame. Sure I like VW's but it's all preference and performance of the individual car. 

And the Integra, a honda, was THE most stolen car in north america along with many other honda's for quite some time.


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## RODTECH87 (Jul 1, 2010)

becuz there easy to steal. stolen parts on hondas are easy to sell that why meth attics steal them. honda may have the potential to be fast but its a boring finish and a lack of style potential. never wanted one never gonna buy one. not the handling i prefer either. F!K JDM. plz treat that mk2 with respect.


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