1991 GT Coupe Recently Acquired - Advice/Info Needed

Chat about your MKIII (86C) inc GT/G40 Polo
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DaveP
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1991 GT Coupe Recently Acquired - Advice/Info Needed

Post by DaveP »

Morning folks,

I have recently acquired a 1991 GT Coupe from a friend's parents (nice freebie) to be used as my train station daily hack. The car's MOT has very recently run out, but having covered only 85k miles (270 in the last year) it is by no means a basket case.

So, the reason for the thread (get on with it!) is that I am looking for some advice on what I should be doing prior to the MOT as I want to avoid a retest scenario ideally. I want to give it a complete overhaul to make sure that it is not only as reliable as possible, but a little more enjoyable to drive.
Having recently owned a lovely run-out edition Mk2 Golf GTi I am reasonably comfortable with working on VWs of this age, and my toolkit is pretty comprehensive.

My current plans are as follows (please feel free to dissect):

* Clutch is slipping - Replace auto-adjusting cable with manual item from main stealer (and cross fingers that this cures it).
* Brakes are appalling - Replace front pads with OEM-spec stuff, change fluid for new DOT4, bleed and check all lines/hoses.
* Suspension has seen better days - I have found some budget spring/damper packages available from German EBay, so may invest in a set of these combined with new topmounts and wishbone bushes.
* Use Wynn's Engine Flush, then replace oil with Synta Silver and replace OEM-spec filter.
* Replace fuel filter with OEM-spec item (assuming this is underneath the car).
* Replace rotor arm and dizzy cap with OEM-spec stuff.
* Fit new plugs and potentially new leads.

Is there anything I have missed, or anything that should be replaced as par for the course with this genre of Polo?

Also, a couple of quick questions - Is this car fuel-injected? I haven't had the opportunity to poke around under the bonnet, but I would have assumed that it was not, given it's name. However I read on here about someone fitting a remapped chip to the ECU from the same EBay seller as I bought a chip for my Golf GTi - If this is the case, then can someone reccommend a budget-priced chip for my car?
Are there any other cheap modifications that can be done to make the car a bit more fun to drive?

Thanks in advance all!
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SpikeyG40
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Post by SpikeyG40 »

hello there,

firstly, welcome to the forum! :lol:

right, polo GT's are multi point fuel injected. its what gives them that pokey power (that and the short ratio gearbox in comparison to the G40). i'm not aware of a specific chip for the GT's as i believe there to be a fair few out there. hunt around in this section of the forum and you might come up trumps. other than that, someone might be able to help you out. something i do remember hearing about was people using the golf flow meter or something, worth a search round for.

an upgrade which alot of people recomend for the GT's is to upgrade the brakes to the G40 ones. i believe they are the same size but the G40 ones are ventilated. but for now, i suspect a good overhaul (changing pads, fluid etc) should surfice.

as for engine wise, i'd say change the cambelt and water pump. that is of course if it hasn't been done already. if it hasn't, better to be safe than sorry. always a good idea to change the water pump when the cambelt is done (two birds with one stone).

a very good idea to change the auto adjusting clutch cable. they are complete rubbish i found from my experience, and vw only seem to supply the manually adjusting ones. however, i'm not sure it will cure the clutch slipping problem. but i could be wrong! :wink:

hope thats been of some help to you. and make sure you keep us posted on your progression! :P
Tahrey1043
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Post by Tahrey1043 »

The brakes are ALWAYS crap, thanks to the small discs, hokey drums and laughable servo. If you can manage to lock at least one of them when you stand on the pedal at 30, you'll probably be ok for emergencies, and will certainly sail through the MOT (where that's pretty much all they're testing for, as ancient sh*t like ford anglias have to be able to pass).
jonboy
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Post by jonboy »

there is a guy on clubpolo who sells perfermonce ecu chips for the polo gt, and yes the car is multi point injection
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