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Let us know , I got a set of new ball joints in boxes with my car, but the also seem to be the non GTI ones. I looked into it and I Can get genuine here in Japan but they're well over 100 GBP a side!

yeah I found that post the other day, was the RTS Spanish Ball joint. 93-90973-156 for right and last 3 digit 256 for left. Looked them up but it says for - 6X1 AND 6E1, but skajme seemed to get the right ones http://www.rts-sa.cn/fr/actualidad/nouvelles-sur-les-produits/93-90973-156256-available-vws-ball-joint-right-left-sides

yeah mate! 100%. I'll let a body shop sort out the paint action. Pretty confident i can get her straight(ish) I got a scissor jack and a big lump of wood in there today and actually wound the face out the where it should be It didn't quite pop the big crease out yet. but it's close. i'll give her some beating treatment and wang it into shape a bit more on fri. . Doing it in a car park with rattle cans could be fun though haha

haha!, yeah! It's fairly common around tokyo. saitama. not alot of people have parking where they live, and the parking spots they have a are pretty tight. So a supermarket carpark oil change at 2am is fairly common in the burbs haha I'm thinking of making a YT channel with some driving and meet ups. I'm usually riding shotgun with beer in my friends 350Z. More fun behind the wheel of a VW (minus the beer) lol

Hey all, I'm Benny, Australian living in Japan. Iv'e owned mostly mk1 and mk2 golfs over the years, Now i'n in Japan, The Lupo GTI seemed the best bet. searched for a while and found this 03 with a dent in the rear right quarter and a host of DIY f&*k ups by a previous owner, but the price was right, and over all she's neat, with 170,000 klms on the clock. She was cheap* for here* tad under 100,000 JPY* with 1 year shaken (bit like reg / MOT type deal) it already had H&R coil overs also, and some BBS RA that really don't suit it ( fix that later) Hopefully this will be the story of it being modded/ revived/ lapping the C1 loop in Tokyo beating r35 gtrs and...... cough....:P Now owned for a bit over a month, mostly happy overall! has a few little issues to sort in the near future, but here she is. Cheers!. Benny

yeah! all good, it's not leaking. Done a few helicoils over the years (ex mechanic) fixing "back yarder" DIYs, plenty of grease on the tap, a real good blow job, and a wind over without plugs in any of the cyls. Biggest issue where i'm living at the mo, the usual Jap apartment where you have to park your car miles away in a privately owned parking area, so the main option for fixing is midnight in a supermarket car park, LOL. (take for granted having a shed/drive way in Australia) But have rented some space in a workshop with a lift for this friday. Have helicoils (if it needs) Strut top bearings ( got the bang bang on the bump action) Front ball joints and a new timing belt/w/p kit, doesnt need just yet, but i'll see how much time I can get on the lift.

Yeah Mate!, I'm thinking it's been cross threaded or slogged out, LOL. I don't want to un wrap it just yet haha. But that's the only reason I can think of for that set up! If it was just a lead issue, i recon it would be easier to just replace, than that . I'll make a new post when i get into it! Cheers, Benny.

Nice! Yeah I had My Mk2 for around 13 years. It was imported to Aus early in it's life (89 i think) was an 87 model. I thought i would keep it forever! but after i moved , the cost to get it legal on the road here in japan was stupid. *around 6,000 GBP for all the paper work and tax after it was landed here* Mk2's here are way over priced, so the lupo gti was the best choice i think. Needs alot of TLC , but she was cheap *around 800 GBP* Lupo has a dent in the right rear quarter, but nothing major, H&R coil overs, 170,000 KLM (Japanese freak out if something is over 100,000 kl , lol ) Everything else is fine now (Italian tune up fixed the pinging for now ) Other than a very odd brace someone has put over one of the plug leads. I havn't investigated yet, I'm just hoping it isn't some D**& Head has stripped a thread and decided to brace the plug in there! that's the only reason i can think of for such a , um... brace. lol Will take it off and investigate over the winter

150,000.KLM ish on it at the moment. I'll give it a decoke and see how it goes. took it for a long run today and it didn't ping at all. Was pretty chilly today though. Being around Tokyo and stuck in traffic half it's life would more than likely point to a carbon build up though, I think you're right! Cheers!

Correct, Had a mk3 2.0 swap.

Cheers Mate! I'll have a look!

Silly question maybe, so i thought i'd post here. Had a search without much luck. Suddenly I'm getting pinging from low in the revs when i put my boot into it, even under not alot of load in 2nd on flat roads (very slightly, but a fair bit on hills in 3rd well within it's capable range) Running 98 oct always, and data outputs are giving me 3-5 deg advance at idle, and around 15-16 deg advance when flooring it. No codes, no issues when just driving normally. *** also new plugs, all the usual culprits check out... very odd.

yeah 100% agree! Japan is a bit like Aus with the 2 doors. VW Japan only had the 4 door GTI , but Yanase Japan also had rights to sell VWs, so the majority of mk2 gti 2 doors here are LHD direct imports. Quite a few in RHD, but not many. Japan did get the CLI mk2 2 door in RHD though, so alot are Fake GTIs. and they all want silly money for them over here!

Dynamically they feel a lot the same. Lupo feels a little more nimble though. I think overall I prefer the old Mk2 Golfs though. Sounds a bit cliche, but the Mk2 Golfs have a bit more soul Still love the Lupo thou! Only had her for 4 week so far.

Ah No, Not me. My Mk2 has been in Aus since 1989. First in Sydney when the UK owner moved to Aus n bought the car over. (as far as i know one of the first Mk 2 GTI 2 door in aus...possibly) It then went to Tasmania and was a tarmac rally car for a while. I got it in around 2004. When I initially moved to Japan in 2011 i was planning on bringing it here eventually, so it was n storage for a few years. But recently had to sell, and it's gone back to Sydney. Was nothing over the top, still a 8v K-Jet, but a warm 2E 2 litre.