[Vwdiesel] New member

[Marcel]

Hi,

Thought I'd introduce myself.

My name is Marcel, I live in the Netherlands.

I drive an '84 Golf II GTD. Well not really a GTD. It used to be a basic 
NA but many many years ago one of its previous owners (a friend of mine) 
installed a 1.6 TD lump that he found on an Italian junkyard, of all 
places. Then the 4-lamp GTD grille from the same donor was added, along 
with the struts and springs, 15x7 alloys etc. So we tend to call it a 
GTD even though it's not authentic.

The odo that came with the engine now reads 346,000 km (~215k mi). The 
car shows it age, but the engine definitely does not. I did have some 
hesitant cold starts recently but then I noticed a handle on the dash, 
that operates a lever hidden down the back (engine side) of the diesel 
pump. Oops... now that could have something to do with cold starts ;)

Goes to show that I don't know the first thing about diesels. Other than 
that, I consider myself a fairly good DIY mechanic, but this is my first 
diesel. Other than helping my friend change glow plugs on his Volvo 
(with the LT engine which is a Golf + 2 cylinders) I had never driven or 
worked on an old diesel before. I've put about 1,000 km on it so far, in 
just over a week and I kinda like it.

There is a large cloud of blue smoke right after cold starts, but it 
does not use a lot of oil, or smoke at all after the first 20 seconds. 
All in all, I think the engine is running pretty good, so I don't intend 
to mess with it apart from perhaps adding an intercooler.

Before I got it, it had been sitting in someone's front yard for a 
while, but all it took to make it roadworthy was two new tierod ends, 2 
tires, wiper blades, a few light bulbs and fixing the emergency brake 
mechanism. Oh, and it still needs a new downpipe gasket really, to make 
the interior a somewhat healthier place to be...

One more funny thing about this car is that the drivers side door lock 
is WORN. It works, but it doesn't care AT ALL what you stick in it. Even 
a pocket knife will operate the lock just fine :)

Marcel