buying GTI advice

[josh Wyte]

Well, I owned that exact same car for almost 10 years.

The sloppy shifter isn't the tranny, it's the shifter
bushings.  You can buy them in a kit for a little over
$100 and expect to spend 2 hours installing them.

The tranny's in these cars generally make it to around
150k miles plus before the pop rivets that hold the
ring gear on shear off and blow a hole in the case. 
If you're paranoid or the mileage is up there, go
ahead and pull the tranny and have the factory bolt
kit installed.  That'll solve the problem.  Replace
2nd gear syncro while you're in there and toss in a
new clutch.  I had 90k miles on my clutch when I
pulled it and it was only half worn.

The body likes to rust around the front windshield, so
look there closely, also inspect the lower edges of
the doors and the hatch around the license plate
lights.

Motor is pretty solid, check to make sure the
distributor doesn't have oil in it and the hall sender
is firmly attached to the distributor.  Compression
should be at least 180psi in all cylinders.  If it's
going thru more than a quart every 3000 miles it needs
a head rebuild, the valve guides have gone, although
you can continue to drive the car for many thousands
of miles like that, just keep an eye on the oil.

Suspension and brakes are very straightforward and
easily replaced.  They tend to go thru fuel transfer
pumps, so I'd replace it, you also absolutely need to
change the timing belts every 50k miles.  I'd change
it right after buying the car.

It's a good car that gave me very little problems. 
I'd have no reservations guiding a college kid into
one.

Make sure the wiring harness hasn't been totally
molested by previous owners installing aftermarket
items...

-josh

=====
Josh Wyte 
Momentum Motorsports
508-833-3024 After 5 pm EST

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