# Diamond in the Rough



## ryan1.8T (Mar 12, 2008)

well today as the title states i found a diamond in the rough. while on our way to the junkyard to find and alternator for my buddies MK3 VR6, i was talking to the owner asking him some questions about some of the VW's he had ( i own a MK4 1.8T, and i need a cupholder







). he told me he just got "an old GTI". well needless to say mine and my buddies ears both perked up. he showed me the car and let me tell you this guy doesnt know what he has on his hands! lol
it's a 1991 MK2 with the 8v engine.
from my first initial inspection i found one quarter sized rot hole above the rear fender thats the bad.
the good news on the other hand, is a full cat back stainless steel exhaust newspeed intake new belts all around and sport suspension. 
the interior is gutted pretty much but the seat are in good condition. no headliner either.
so after checking it out for about an hour







i asked the guy how much he wanted for it.
this is what he said. "well i'll let you have it for the price i would get it for scrap....so hows $450 sound."
$450!!!!!!! 
im pretty excited about this car and i think im gonna buy it this weekend when i get paid. my plans for the car are to just make a project car out of it and swap the engine out for something with alittle more "get-up and go" seeing as it's not the 16v.
so finally i can get to the purpose of this thread.
1. is there anyone out there (im postive there are) that have similar project cars like this one
2. what powerplant would you guys recommend?
3. could you belive the deal the deal im getting on this?!??1 lol
also the car runs and drives

im gonna go back and get some pics of the car so i can put them up on this thread.
so if you guys have any input please feel free to post, as you can probably tell im really excited about this car and hope to make a great summer project out of it.


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## quattrofun5 (Aug 17, 2006)

*Re: Diamond in the Rough (ryan1.8T)*

To be honest, I'm not sure it's an amazing deal - might be a good deal but it really depends so pictures would help.
Before you buy this, take a look at other Mk2's that are for sale. I'm restoring my Mk2 and as a result it's in piece's now but I could run out and drop $1,500 - $2,000 and get a running one with all the parts intact and functional. I know that by restoring the car I'm losing money on it, but that's not why you do it.
Missing pieces can nickle and dime you - especially interior and trim (never mind rust issues). If you are planning to swap the mechanical side that's fine - but when you start paying $50 for this, $100 for that just to get the car complete again...this is why you want to compare to the general market - basically you could get the car for free and it still could end up being cheaper to buy a running one and mod it.
Just some things to consider...
As far as swaps, there are tons of threads on the subject (Hybrid Swaps, etc.) starting from the basic 2.0 conversion, 16V, VR6, 1.8T, etc. Depends on what you can find and how much you want to spend and it's personal preference. I'm sticking with an ABA conversion with mine.


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## ryan1.8T (Mar 12, 2008)

*Re: Diamond in the Rough (quattrofun5)*

yeah i realize im gonna be losing money in this...but thats the point of a project isn't it. the car is running and driving aswell. thats why im saying it's such a deal IMO. i mean maybe im wrong but a mk2 with 147,000 miles on it in fair condition for $450 sounded like a deal to me. but im still excited about it still dont know what exactly i wanna do to it down the line but i'll cross that bridge when i come to it.


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## quattrofun5 (Aug 17, 2006)

*Re: Diamond in the Rough (ryan1.8T)*

Should clarify this a bit...not saying it's by any means a bad deal at $450...probably close to fair market value but the suggestion was just to compare what you found to any other GTI's that might be for sale. 
Because you are looking to do a swap, mechanical condition isn't as important but body condition probably is. You just don't want to be buying a rust bucket for $200 and spend $1,500 on rust repair when you could buy a clean one for $1,200 kinda-thing.
If the car is decent all things considered, then you can't really go wrong at that price. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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