*Please help. VW Golf GTI Cabrio engine stolen.

v300

Basically the engine was on the ground beside the car and was stolen, probably for scrap. Some eastern european mechanic was doing the work for her on her car in her own garage. He's gone home now, the car is in bits, and no engine. It's a bit of a disaster, and the retired lady owner is quite upset as you can imagine.

Does anyone have an engine anywhere to install into a 1988 VW Golf Cabrio ? It's a GTI model. I can get a chassis number if that is required, or would any other VAG engine cheaply and easily squeeze into the car to make it mobile again ?

There is a hard luck story attached to this tale.
The lady concerned is in her 70's and bought this to ferry herself around, and got the car resprayed last year at a fair good cost, and is now heartbroken that the car is missing the engine. She retired here from the UK (was a nurse and helped people all her life) and wiped out her savings with some essential maintenance needed on her new house in Ireland. Upshot of all this is that she has feck all cash apart from the state pension, and is hoping for a good but low cost engine to throw into her Golf so she can get it going again.

This happened last September 2009, and I just got to hear about it today. She was embarassed about it and said nothing to anyone until recently, and I said I'd ask for help on boards.ie and if any VAG heads could spread the word within Ireland either by forum or by ear about this to help get her a replacement engine, I would very very much appreciate it.
Thank you.

One like this, a 1988 model.

chiefwiggum

try vagdrivers.net...its an irish website with vag fans...im sure someone could help you out...good lads on there

v300

chiefwiggum wrote: »

try vagdrivers.net...its an irish website with vag fans...im sure someone could help you out...good lads on there

That's a good tip. Thanks Chief Wiggum.

v300

I went up myself to check out this car this morning. It seems she (under what she thought was good advice) bought another Golf a while back, a UK reg GTI to swop over the engine and necessary bits and bobs into her 88 Cabrio, but it seems this generation engine will not fit easily as it's a different generation of Golf. I think the rad is missing too from the white golf as it may also have been taken for scrap by the thieves. I was unable to ascertain as to which exact kind of injection system is fitted to the 1988 Cabrio. Hopefully the picture of the chassis number will help in this regard.

She just wants the white one back on the road, and one idea suggested was giving the whole UK car as a payment to finance the restoration of the white car to running status. Would this kind of idea be much of a runner ?

I took pictures of both cars, the apparently unsuitable Black VW GTI, and pictures of the White Cabrio including it's vacant engine bay and it's chassis number.

Black Golf pictures first then Cabrio pictures underneath.





White 1988 Cabrio:

chiefwiggum

i have an 88 gti cabrio myself.... the mk2 8v engine should fit no problem...the mk 3 would fit with a bit of effort as i have seen a vr6(2.8)engine shoe horned in a mk1 but that took a good bit of work...ive seen a few mk1 cabrios on donedeal for alright money..there was one for 1100(dunno if it was a gti , i doubt it) she could buy it for the engine and then sell the rest as parts?

chiefwiggum

here it is

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/1389100

chiefwiggum

here's an engine

http://vagdrivers.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=48230

BeardyGit

Forgive me if this is a genuine story, but you do realise what this looks like, don't you? :rolleyes:

If the owner is indeed a pensioner in her 70's with no savings and a need for something to ferry herself around in, she can't afford to own that car. Plain and simple. There's no sob story here. It's simple economics, and a pensioner without savings, living on a state pension or a modest private pension income WILL know better than to plough money into something they just can't afford to own.

Likewise, if the owner was a much younger man who'd bought the car needing an engine and a respray, perhaps with a donor Mk4 vehicle, had some paintwork done and then realised the work to fit the engine would cost more than he had to spend etc, he also couldn't afford to own that car.

Tell the owner to sell it on as a project complete with the donor Mk4 and buy a Micra, Starlet or Yaris or something else affordable and reliable for getting around the place.

v300

Thanks RoverCraft, a healthy dose of reality is most likely needed, but read on further and prepare to revise your opinion !

I was talking with the owner Claire last night for an hour and took a very nice photo of her, complete with her framed picture of her love "Valentine. The cabrio's name is Valentine, as she bought him new in the UK in 1988, on Valentines day.
She is a dote, and as we were talking it emerged that she has distant dream to get out trackside, lapping around Mondello, both as a pax, and maybe even in Valentine. I didn't put that thought into her head lads, she had an old flyer for Mondello on her coffee table ! And on her sideboard ? A framed photo of a white Lamborghini Countach with the a show plate that says "Claire" as she is a Claire herself !

She was crying tears of joy tonight with these forward developments that have been wrought on this unfortunate series of events. She literally can't wait to have Valentine parked up outside again.

Now, Octane.ie, one of Ireland most eminent motoring and motorsport and trackday orientated forums, which would be my home forum these days, on there yesterday people emerged on that site to provide engineering, logistical, and financial support to get this car, (and lady) back on the road again ! They have taken up her cause and are rowing fullsquare behind her. The details make heart warming reading.

Here are the links. Read down through it to see the developments:
Link one: http://octane.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=40597

Main link: http://octane.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=40571

Dreams can come true sometimes. Thank you

RoverCraft wrote: »

Forgive me if this is a genuine story, but you do realise what this looks like, don't you? :rolleyes:

If the owner is indeed a pensioner in her 70's with no savings and a need for something to ferry herself around in, she can't afford to own that car. Plain and simple. There's no sob story here. It's simple economics, and a pensioner without savings, living on a state pension or a modest private pension income WILL know better than to plough money into something they just can't afford to own.

Likewise, if the owner was a much younger man who'd bought the car needing an engine and a respray, perhaps with a donor Mk4 vehicle, had some paintwork done and then realised the work to fit the engine would cost more than he had to spend etc, he also couldn't afford to own that car.

Tell the owner to sell it on as a project complete with the donor Mk4 and buy a Micra, Starlet or Yaris or something else affordable and reliable for getting around the place.

jomo99

Chill out man. This woman has owned this car since new, and it is very important to her, it's more than a car. She's been through a bit lately, and all we are doing is chipping in a bit to help a fellow petrolhead. Sometimes common sense and economics are not the best approach.

John

RoverCraft wrote: »

Forgive me if this is a genuine story, but you do realise what this looks like, don't you? :rolleyes:

If the owner is indeed a pensioner in her 70's with no savings and a need for something to ferry herself around in, she can't afford to own that car. Plain and simple. There's no sob story here. It's simple economics, and a pensioner without savings, living on a state pension or a modest private pension income WILL know better than to plough money into something they just can't afford to own.

Likewise, if the owner was a much younger man who'd bought the car needing an engine and a respray, perhaps with a donor Mk4 vehicle, had some paintwork done and then realised the work to fit the engine would cost more than he had to spend etc, he also couldn't afford to own that car.

Tell the owner to sell it on as a project complete with the donor Mk4 and buy a Micra, Starlet or Yaris or something else affordable and reliable for getting around the place.

Muckie

Hope things work out for the woman, Good on you v300 for helping

her realise her dream of driving her car once again.

BeardyGit

Nice to see people doing nice things. This internet stuff brings out the cynic in me, but I'll hold my hands up and say I got it wrong there. I'll happily eat my words

Good on ye for taking care of an old lady and her owner

Now, where's that big piece of humble pie?

chiefwiggum

lets not be too harsh on rovercraft...i've seen loads of these sob story's that are utter con jobs so give him a break...i had to read it a few times myself before i decided..

v300 good work and i hope it goes well,keep us updated please

v300

Thank you for all the phone calls, PM's and offers of financial assistance lads and ladies.

Here is Claire, with her framed picture of Valentine the convertible Golf. Who can see the picture of the Lamborghini on the mantlepiece ?

jomo99

RoverCraft wrote: »

Nice to see people doing nice things. This internet stuff brings out the cynic in me, but I'll hold my hands up and say I got it wrong there. I'll happily eat my words

Good on ye for taking care of an old lady and her owner

Now, where's that big piece of humble pie?

You could bring some of that pie to my workshop when were all putting in some work,

John

trevorbrady

don't know if it's any use but I'll offer an '89 Passat 1.8 single point injection engine and cable change gearbox for free to help get the lady back on the road. Engine would need to be extracted from the Passat this week before it goes to the crusher...

Co. Laois

v300

Thanks Trevor. Will you PM me a phone number and we will call you soon. Thank you.

v300

www.octane.ie + www.vagdrivers.net members have joined forces, along with JOMO Engineering www.jomoengineering.com and have decided to support what has now become a major project.

Read here for a heart warming account that now runs to six pages of the details of this project on Octane.ie
http://octane.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=40571

And the parallel thread too on www.vagdrivers.net
http://vagdrivers.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=48258

Wish all of us good luck that we get this machine back to full health.

junkyarddog

Interesting thread,
I work in the motor trade and a couple of weeks ago had a couple of what I assumed to be polish guys looking for an engine for a mk1 golf.
I'm guessing it's the same car?

Hope she gets it sorted:)

v300

Nah, these particular wasters are long gone I'm reliably informed.

junkyarddog wrote: »

Interesting thread,
I work in the motor trade and a couple of weeks ago had a couple of what I assumed to be polish guys looking for an engine for a mk1 golf.
I'm guessing it's the same car?

Hope she gets it sorted:)

v300

Photos of Golf leaving.

WKD RWD's trailer broke on the rough road up to Neils en-route to collect Valentine. A quick weld repair was performed, and the trailer board roughly re-wired. We were in the clouds such was the fog and mist up there, and we all got saturated quickly. Come the time to move the car, the keys had gone missing from the ignition so we hope the keys are in the car, otherwise we wil copy Claire's spare set and post it up. The ignition showed the scars of previous encounters with scumbags, as the steering lock was broken. It was in fact handy for us, otherwise it would have been a nightmare to load her with locked steering and no keys.

All this drama led to big delays, and WKD RWD became concerned that JOMO wouldn't be able to greet him at the new ETA of Midnight. JOMO said, shure come on up tonight, I'm fixing a Honda while I wait. Dedicated to the cause !

Thanks again to all Valentines supporters.





Welding up the trailer and fixing the broken lightbar.

unkel

Fantastic story. Keep us updated here!

I've stickied it so it will be easy to find...

carchaeologist

When was it imported here? It seems a low enough Limerick city reg for an import?

v300

I'll find out the exact date of importation. Would that be on the logbook ? It was a UK ("F" I think ) reg for a while first.

carchaeologist wrote: »

When was it imported here? It seems a low enough Limerick city reg for an import?

JOMO's preliminary inspection report:

johnny99 aka JOMO wrote:

I had a quick look at the Golf this morning, only a quick one, as I'm up to my tits. It looks fairly good. Drive shafts are missing as well, but I have a few VW one's so we may be able to sort that. It was painted under the bonnet as well, it was raining but it looked good. The clutch cable had pulled through the bulkhead, common on Mkl's, and was repaired badly. It will need to be cut out, and repaired. You can buy kits for the repair, but there very light material, so I will make one myself in stronger material. It looks like it was some "dealer special" or someting, as it's more of a cream colour than white, and the wheels are VW alloys, bit instead of the standard colour, the paint is the same colour as the car, some VW fan may correct me, and say there not unusual, but I have seen a good few VW's in my workshop, and never seen wheels like that, and the paint colour. I am away for a few day (Mrs jomo made the order) and I will be back on Thursday, so by the weekend, I will get it up in the air, and have a closer look, but it looks very good.

John

Lads, Terminator guy here:
I'm looking for suggestions / assistance as to how to move on the blue wrong donor car, the UK Reg VW Golf GTI, to release it's value to assist with the project.
I reckon it would make a cracking track car or some such machine with a small bit of work. It's got a wheel at each corner, and the daintiest production steering wheel I've seen on standard car.

Anyone game for promoting it across the inter-webs to all and sundry ? Any trade people or good interneters able to assist with this ?
€500 was paid for it, so that would be the rough target, but at this stage we will take whatever can be got for it.

carchaeologist

v300 wrote: »

I'll find out the exact date of importation. Would that be on the logbook ? It was a UK ("F" I think ) reg for a while first.

Should be,and it should have a brown logbook as i guess it was imported pre '93.It may have been imported here in the same year as it was registered in england.

v300

carchaeologist wrote: »

Should be,and it should have a brown logbook as i guess it was imported pre '93.It may have been imported here in the same year as it was registered in england.

It's deffo' the new style ownership cert' and not an old brown logbook. I'm away at the moment so it will be the end of the week before I can check.