[Vwdiesel] Success ! Heater Core etc. 86 Golf (rambling of a NB-er)

[Mike & Coreen Smith]

Well guys, after many hours of cursing, swearing, blood, sweat n' tears I
have heat in the $100 Golf !
(Bondo Golfy.......nicknamed after Hagars Bunny Bondo.)  What a job to get
that Texas heatercore in there.
My 10 gallon (45.5Liter?) hat is off to you sir ! (bows & tips hat towards
Texas)

My garage bill after all said and done was $1200+$100 for the
car+blood/sweat/tears+misc parts$100 equals a $1400 car that I'll
(hopefully) get a year or more out of.   $116/month (for only a year)car
payment is not bad if I don't have any more breakdowns.

The windows still get a tiny bit misty, but I'm hoping that's just
antifreeze residue I wasn't able to get completely out of the heater box..
(and not a fresh leak-guh!).....there was 20 years worth of leaves and crud
in there and I got 90% out, but there was still antifreeze slime in the
corners I couldn't get.  I never cracked the box open, nor removed it from
the car. (cables still attached etc.)

This sucker blows real nice heat !

I bought an NGK glowplug (I know I know...should've bought Bosch) for $7.00
today to replace the one that's blown, but I'll be darned if I can get the
old one to turn.  Ideas?  After all this work, I'd hate to snap it
off......that would be a $1000 mistake I'm sure.

I also replaced the tired #2AWG positive cable from the battery to the
starter with a nice #1AWG.

I also replaced the fresh 15w40 with 5w30 synthetic........some said it
would really help with cold starts.(?)

There are still various quirks and repairs/upgrades to perform,(like I need
a radio) but I THINK I am on the road. In about 1-2 months I think I could
call it a daily driver..........just too cold here  to be reliable right
now..... I never plugged it in tonight and will see if it starts @ -20*C
with 3 GP's running....I'm really doubting it. Even with fresh battery
cable, charged battery and synthetic oil.

I doubt it'll start in -25*C->> -30*C temps which we'll see in
Feb.........in fact I'm nearly sure of it.  I wonder.......if I took it to
work, how much fuel would it burn if I just idled it all day?  Or maybe I
could do like a coworker used to do (he had 3 rabbits and a Golf) ..IE: go
out every 2-3 hours and run it for 10 minutes.

Very tired Mike in NB..........now I have my other 2 daily drivers to fix
up........it never ends does it?

Mike, Coreen & Corey Smith
699 Rte 616 Keswick Ridge
NB
Canada
E6L 1T1