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well been thought of putting pics of my pulsar up for a while but never had time.
Anyway I bought it back in 2011 of ebay
I know, but I did go and look at it before I bid.
it was running but the turbo was completely shagged and there was a very noticeable tapping noise coming from the valve train.
the usual rust around the rear arches and had loads of shite stickers around the engine bay.
anyway not perturbed by what was on the first sight a bit of a shitter, the add stated it had hks pistons, forge expansion tank, re-ground crank, acl bearings front and rear gab strut braces, spax springs, scorpion exhaust and a turbo timer. other than that she was pretty standard. the lad that had it had just rebuilt the engine but had run out of money and flung the rest back together to sell it, which was noticeable on further inspection. Anyway I managed to acquire it for under £800 and in hindsight I should have looked a bit further afield as I'm sure I could have got a much better example.
Once I got it home the interior was all removed and the obligatory screwdriver test was carried out on the floor, only to find that there were holes in both rear seat passenger footwells and drivers footwell. all of which were cut out and welded back up.
with the interior back in I focused on the engine and the tapping from the valve train. with the rocker cover off i noticed that one of the shims was completely missing allowing the rocker to slap against the top of the valve stem, quick call to bob and a new shim was purchased for £7. During fitment I also noticed that the cam caps had also been fitted incorrectly so that there was no oil feed to the cams. so both cams were removed and checked over for wear as well as all the rockers. luckily the engine had not been run that much due to noisey tappets and turbo so all was fine with valve train. Once restarted engine ran fine with no unusual noises.
next on the list was the turbo which was replaced with a new genuine Garrett which cost nearly as much as the car.
after that a full service with all the oils changed and the brake pads, discs, front ball joints and got rid of the awful OZ titan alloys for a set of standard rims, she was ready for her first MOT in 3 years. which it passed with no advisory's, winner!
As the engine had been newly rebuilt I started the 1000 mile agony of running in with regular oil changes. but since the car got used only on weekends that took nearly 6 months to the point I ended up driving it to work and back just to get it done (400 mile round trip!)
With the car up and running I was enjoying driving around with a nearly standard car and what a difference from a diesel golf
then disaster, after a quick run about the local countryside I came back into my local town and noticed some blue smoke on the overrun 
after having it checked over it transpired my boost control solonoid was tits up and the car had been running unlimited boost (no wonder it was quick) and turbo now gone in only 1600 miles, pissed off was an understatement and I was ready to sell up. But after reading a few posts that seemed to be what everyone does when they have little experiance of the pulsar rather than fix it, I didn't want to be one of those people who would slate them as it was my dream car when I was 20 so I saved up and started spending.
First came a set of tein superstreet coilovers (I know i had a blown turbo but they were a bargain)
then a couple of phone calls to bob and him relieving me of the cash burning a hole in my pocket came a gt2860rs turbo, z32 maf, nistune with 4 switchable maps and a whitline rear anti roll bar. Then came a set of JUN 264 cams and hks pulleys, greddy rocker stoppers, front mount intercooler and apexi avcr
once that little lot was fitted the car was once again alive and due another MOT which she passed again fine.
whilst driving i always felt the brakes were shit even with new discs and pads she was still a bit hairy when coming up to anything unexpected so i looked out for a brake upgrade but like everything i'm a bit of a tight wad and like my bargains, so when a set of wilwoods came up in the local rag I snapped them up for £150 renewed all the seals and a couple of pistons and with new discs and pads fitted them up
the differance was instantly noticeable and confidence was back in the car.
I spent the rest of the year driving about and enjoying the car but still had been worrying about rust as my local mechanic said that although she was fine for the mot she was getting a bit crusty around the back end. so in march this year I took her off the road and proceeded in stripping down the backend in order to clean her up and rust protect for the future.
few pics of the strip before cleaning:-
subframe dropped out
after getting the wire brush out i found a few holes in the usual places so they all got chopped and welded up and all parts were powder coated with all new bushes fitted:-
you can just see where I removed the rust and welded, the point were the subframe attaches to the chassis.
cleaned up arches and hubs and fitted new brake lines as they fell apart when subframe was removed.
also fitted new brakes on the rear too:-
anyway that about it to date sure there's some stuff I missed but here's the current spec and what she looks like to date. Paul
Engine:-
HKS 87mm pistons
Reground crank
ACL bearings
JUN 264 cams
HKS vernier pulleys
greddy rocker stoppers
gt2860rs turbo
Z32 Maf
HKS air filter
Sheepdog prof dump valve
Nistune ECU
Apexi AVCR boost control
50mm radiator with greddy cap
samco and sfs hoses
AM performance turbo elbow
mongoose front pipe
scorpion exhaust
forge expansion tank
Front mount Intercooler
Suspension:-
Tein superstreet coilovers
tein pillow ball adjustable camber plates front
tein pillow ball rear mounts
fully poly bushed mixture of whiteline and powerflex
rear camber bolts
whiteline front and rear anti roll bars
whiteline anti lift kit
nismo front strut brace
gab rear strut brace
Wheels and tyres:-
Ultralite atec 7x16 et 38
hankook 205 45 16's
Brakes:-
Front - Wilwood dynapro 4 pot calipers, yellowstuff pads
310mm rotors and alloy bells
Rear - reconed original calipers, yellowstuff pads
300mm disc conversion
goodridge hoses and gulf RF800 fluid
Interior:-
Standard apart from flocked dash and door panels,
Nomad pillar pod and prosport boost gauge,
battery relocated to boot
Anyway I bought it back in 2011 of ebay
I know, but I did go and look at it before I bid.it was running but the turbo was completely shagged and there was a very noticeable tapping noise coming from the valve train.
the usual rust around the rear arches and had loads of shite stickers around the engine bay.
anyway not perturbed by what was on the first sight a bit of a shitter, the add stated it had hks pistons, forge expansion tank, re-ground crank, acl bearings front and rear gab strut braces, spax springs, scorpion exhaust and a turbo timer. other than that she was pretty standard. the lad that had it had just rebuilt the engine but had run out of money and flung the rest back together to sell it, which was noticeable on further inspection. Anyway I managed to acquire it for under £800 and in hindsight I should have looked a bit further afield as I'm sure I could have got a much better example.
Once I got it home the interior was all removed and the obligatory screwdriver test was carried out on the floor, only to find that there were holes in both rear seat passenger footwells and drivers footwell. all of which were cut out and welded back up.
with the interior back in I focused on the engine and the tapping from the valve train. with the rocker cover off i noticed that one of the shims was completely missing allowing the rocker to slap against the top of the valve stem, quick call to bob and a new shim was purchased for £7. During fitment I also noticed that the cam caps had also been fitted incorrectly so that there was no oil feed to the cams. so both cams were removed and checked over for wear as well as all the rockers. luckily the engine had not been run that much due to noisey tappets and turbo so all was fine with valve train. Once restarted engine ran fine with no unusual noises.
next on the list was the turbo which was replaced with a new genuine Garrett which cost nearly as much as the car.
after that a full service with all the oils changed and the brake pads, discs, front ball joints and got rid of the awful OZ titan alloys for a set of standard rims, she was ready for her first MOT in 3 years. which it passed with no advisory's, winner!
As the engine had been newly rebuilt I started the 1000 mile agony of running in with regular oil changes. but since the car got used only on weekends that took nearly 6 months to the point I ended up driving it to work and back just to get it done (400 mile round trip!)
With the car up and running I was enjoying driving around with a nearly standard car and what a difference from a diesel golf
then disaster, after a quick run about the local countryside I came back into my local town and noticed some blue smoke on the overrun after having it checked over it transpired my boost control solonoid was tits up and the car had been running unlimited boost (no wonder it was quick) and turbo now gone in only 1600 miles, pissed off was an understatement and I was ready to sell up. But after reading a few posts that seemed to be what everyone does when they have little experiance of the pulsar rather than fix it, I didn't want to be one of those people who would slate them as it was my dream car when I was 20 so I saved up and started spending.First came a set of tein superstreet coilovers (I know i had a blown turbo but they were a bargain)
then a couple of phone calls to bob and him relieving me of the cash burning a hole in my pocket came a gt2860rs turbo, z32 maf, nistune with 4 switchable maps and a whitline rear anti roll bar. Then came a set of JUN 264 cams and hks pulleys, greddy rocker stoppers, front mount intercooler and apexi avcr
once that little lot was fitted the car was once again alive and due another MOT which she passed again fine.
whilst driving i always felt the brakes were shit even with new discs and pads she was still a bit hairy when coming up to anything unexpected so i looked out for a brake upgrade but like everything i'm a bit of a tight wad and like my bargains, so when a set of wilwoods came up in the local rag I snapped them up for £150 renewed all the seals and a couple of pistons and with new discs and pads fitted them up
the differance was instantly noticeable and confidence was back in the car.
I spent the rest of the year driving about and enjoying the car but still had been worrying about rust as my local mechanic said that although she was fine for the mot she was getting a bit crusty around the back end. so in march this year I took her off the road and proceeded in stripping down the backend in order to clean her up and rust protect for the future.
few pics of the strip before cleaning:-
subframe dropped out
after getting the wire brush out i found a few holes in the usual places so they all got chopped and welded up and all parts were powder coated with all new bushes fitted:-
you can just see where I removed the rust and welded, the point were the subframe attaches to the chassis.
cleaned up arches and hubs and fitted new brake lines as they fell apart when subframe was removed.
also fitted new brakes on the rear too:-
anyway that about it to date sure there's some stuff I missed but here's the current spec and what she looks like to date. Paul
Engine:-
HKS 87mm pistons
Reground crank
ACL bearings
JUN 264 cams
HKS vernier pulleys
greddy rocker stoppers
gt2860rs turbo
Z32 Maf
HKS air filter
Sheepdog prof dump valve
Nistune ECU
Apexi AVCR boost control
50mm radiator with greddy cap
samco and sfs hoses
AM performance turbo elbow
mongoose front pipe
scorpion exhaust
forge expansion tank
Front mount Intercooler
Suspension:-
Tein superstreet coilovers
tein pillow ball adjustable camber plates front
tein pillow ball rear mounts
fully poly bushed mixture of whiteline and powerflex
rear camber bolts
whiteline front and rear anti roll bars
whiteline anti lift kit
nismo front strut brace
gab rear strut brace
Wheels and tyres:-
Ultralite atec 7x16 et 38
hankook 205 45 16's
Brakes:-
Front - Wilwood dynapro 4 pot calipers, yellowstuff pads
310mm rotors and alloy bells
Rear - reconed original calipers, yellowstuff pads
300mm disc conversion
goodridge hoses and gulf RF800 fluid
Interior:-
Standard apart from flocked dash and door panels,
Nomad pillar pod and prosport boost gauge,
battery relocated to boot
rear end came up awesome after a freshen up 
