Advice Needed For My 1990gti

[andyh-poole]

Hello I just joined the forum I would like to ask for some advice on what to do with my gti.

I have a white 1990 corolla gti had it 10 years love it to be honest, It's done 130k I fix the rust

when it gets bad so it looks reasonably tidy from a distance but it's now got a bad engine knock :( ,

I think it's coming from the bottom end not the head.

I think it could do with an engine rebuild I guess, just wondering how much this would cost to get

done and if it's worth doing is this car a classic yet or soon to be classic?

Should I fix her or scrap her folks?

Thanks

Andyh

[andyh-poole]

Hello I just joined the forum I would like to ask for some advice on what to do with my gti.

I have a white 1990 corolla gti had it 10 years love it to be honest, It's done 130k I fix the rust

when it gets bad so it looks reasonably tidy from a distance but it's now got a bad engine knock :( ,

I think it's coming from the bottom end not the head.

I think it could do with an engine rebuild I guess, just wondering how much this would cost to get

done and if it's worth doing is this car a classic yet or soon to be classic?

Should I fix her or scrap her folks?

Thanks

Andyh

Anyone?

[4afte]

keep her going, you'll regret it if you don't rebuild the engine and uprate it whilst you're rebuilding. my engine rebore cost about £250 but i gave them a headless block with the flywheel still attached (the pistons had rusted to the bores) and they put the new crank and pistons in after they'd re-bored it so that's were most of the money went.

[andyh-poole]

keep her going, you'll regret it if you don't rebuild the engine and uprate it whilst you're rebuilding. my engine rebore cost about £250 but i gave them a headless block with the flywheel still attached (the pistons had rusted to the bores) and they put the new crank and pistons in after they'd re-bored it so that's were most of the money went.

I know I should do it my heart is saying fix it but my head and wallet say its not economically viable, I think I am looking at the best part of £600 to have engine taken out rebored and worn parts replaced it may even go way over £600 I don't know.

I took it to my regular garage for a quote and he said it just wouldn't be worth doing he didn't give me a price just said hundreds.

I don't currently have any of the skills to do the work myself so if anyone can recommended a place in the south that could do a job like this (at a reasonable) price let me know.

[4afte]

for the engine i recommend banda engineering, really small company in portsmouth but they know their stuff and their work is top notch. but you'd have to gie them the engine, the more you can strip off it yourself the cheaper it'll cost. i forgot to mention in my rebuild i sourced the new crank (old one was scored from knowing) and conrod, but they sourced me all the bearings at about £50 for everything!

[andyh-poole]

Thanks I've found a number for Banda I'll give them a call, I think what I may do is become a two car man get a newer rolla and keep my baby as a classic that way I can have a go at lifting the engine out stripping it down and sending off for rebuild.

When it's all done I may have to treat her to a respray!

[ae92 lover]

i have a low mileage engine if you are interested . . . . . . . .

[andyh-poole]

i have a low mileage engine if you are interested . . . . . . . .

I may be how many miles and how much £ for it?

[RedBullAE92]

Get in touch if you want a complete engine and box with all the bits attached, came out of a very nice MR2. It's even on a pallet if you have a means of collecting. Worst part is I'm in North London, £200 and it's all yours.

[bridgy]

keep it running mate gti's seem to be bocoming more uncommon these days

[andyh-poole]

Get in touch if you want a complete engine and box with all the bits attached, came out of a very nice MR2. It's even on a pallet if you have a means of collecting. Worst part is I'm in North London, £200 and it's all yours.

hmm I may be do you know how many miles it has done, and is it the same as a corolla engine?

[4afte]

Get in touch if you want a complete engine and box with all the bits attached, came out of a very nice MR2. It's even on a pallet if you have a means of collecting. Worst part is I'm in North London, £200 and it's all yours.

hmm I may be do you know how many miles it has done, and is it the same as a corolla engine?

should be but the gearboxes are different, your head/intake manifold (large/small or TVIS non TVIS) might be slighty different if it's a later year than the Mk1 MR2

[Twincam.GTi]

andyh-poole Posted Sep 3 2008, 10:22 AM

I took it to my regular garage for a quote and he said it just wouldn't be worth doing he didn't give me a price just said hundreds.

Ignore garages these days - a lot of mechanics in the trade today just ain't interested in cars as such - they just look upon the 'trade' as a 'Job' (I'm not saying ALL, there are a few decent chaps out there)!

If you got somewhere to keep it then buy another (newer ) car and keep your 'old-skool' as a project.

That way time is never against you, plus if you don't have the ability to do jobs now perhaps in a couple of years you wil have and then be able to apply it to your project.

Good luck.

:)

[andyh-poole]

andyh-poole Posted Sep 3 2008, 10:22 AM

I took it to my regular garage for a quote and he said it just wouldn't be worth doing he didn't give me a price just said hundreds.

Ignore garages these days - a lot of mechanics in the trade today just ain't interested in cars as such - they just look upon the 'trade' as a 'Job' (I'm not saying ALL, there are a few decent chaps out there)!

If you got somewhere to keep it then buy another (newer ) car and keep your 'old-skool' as a project.

That way time is never against you, plus if you don't have the ability to do jobs now perhaps in a couple of years you wil have and then be able to apply it to your project.

Good luck.

:)

Yes I think that's what I'm gonna do my mates will say I'm bonkers but I don't care, on auto trader some fella has a red one

like mine that's done 160k and he wants £1600 for it, so I'm thinking may be it's not money down the drain to keep it running.

I have a plan to buy a cheep diesel car and convert it to run on chip fat, I'll use that to get to work so I don't pile the miles on to my gti.

[RedBullAE92]

Get in touch if you want a complete engine and box with all the bits attached, came out of a very nice MR2. It's even on a pallet if you have a means of collecting. Worst part is I'm in North London, £200 and it's all yours.

hmm I may be do you know how many miles it has done, and is it the same as a corolla engine?

Afraid I don't know the miles of it, just that it came out of a very nice looking MR2. Being the MR2 lump it's the TVIS engine ( you haven't said which one yours is ) only difference could be the gearbox though I can split that from the engine for you if you wish and you refit with your box ? Some MR2 box's fit the Corolla, just depends if you can move the linkage rod to the opposite end of the box from the MR2. I managed this on my last Gti ( fitting an MR2 box ) over to you...

[Twincam.GTi]

andyh-poole

on auto trader some fella has a red one

like mine that's done 160k and he wants £1600 for it, so I'm thinking may be it's not money down the drain to keep it running.

:o :o

HOW MUCH!

Oh my! I know they are fun cars to have but I don't think they're ready to command those prices yet!

Me thinks it will be for sale for a very, very long time!

[andyh-poole]

Just thought i'd update the thread, I've not fixed the old girl yet I went and got my self a 2003 T sport with only 20k on the clock.

I am now officially a total lift addict, my old GTI is on my front lawn waiting for me to clear the garage out so I can keep her dry over winter, then next summer if my lift habbit has not meant all cash went on petrol I'll try and get her back on the road.

I have to say the T sport is great still smells new, it's due a 20k mile full service anyone know how much that is likely to cost me.

[Rash@R.A.Motors]

:D :D What happened to the ''cheap diesel and running on chip fat'' idea

Rash.

p.s. I sold my fully restored 92 GTi done a little over 70k for over £2000 (there is a before and after thread of the car somewhere here in the corolla section).

So there are people paying the money for good examples however the one done 160k is probably a bit overpriced...

[andyh-poole]

The chip fat plan was a mad panic moment I still like the idea of it but oil prices will need to go crazy before I resort to that.

I didn't plan on buying the T Sport it was near so I thought I'd just take a look may be a test drive, it was way above my budget so no harm in it I thought.

A 2 minute test drive and about 5 seconds of lift later I was in the office buying the car in a bit of daze.

[4afte]

glad to hear you're going to keep hold of her. look forward to the finished repairs