All Torque

Right where do I start. My son bought a Mk4 Golf last year for 2.5k it is a 1.4 16v for insurance purposes anyway we have paid out nearly 1k now reconing the gearbox which if you do a search you will see they are very weak even the ones fitted to the 1.6s anyways tonight he text me to say he`s broken down again and it looks to me that its the diff, one shaft will turn while the other remains stationary. Anyways he`s telling me he`s pi$$ed off with it now and wants to scrap it as there are a few other jobs that I was going to be doing to it this year. I`m going to buy him a run around untill I think what to do with it as it is going to have to be SORNed when I thought about sticking a GTi engine/box into it and have some fun.
What will I have to do to make this road legal, will it have to have any reports done on it etc, I know I will have to uprate the suspension and brakes but is this feasable as to be honest me or my son wants to throw more money at this it`s just to unreliable as a 1.4 and it would be a nice project for him to learn on as well.

Dracoro

May be an interesting project for him but financially it's a bad idea. Cheaper to sell and buy a proper GTi (which is more than just a different engine BTW).
Insurance for a converted one will also be as much or more than a GTi.

Maybe a "valuable" project for him would be to strip the car down and sell all the parts, may get more than just selling it although worth finding out what is actually wrong with it (cost wise - so see a mechanic) and sort it then sell up.

All Torque

Yep was thinking out aloud last night, anyway car is now in the garage and it looks like it`s a CV joint thats wrong so it will be back on the road by the end of the week. Anyways as I have said in the 1st post he`s a little disapointed with it being his 1st car and all that has gone wrong in 6 months so we might just get shot of it once I do all the little jobs that needs doing (mainly cosmetic) now that spring is in the air as well.

Dracoro

Chances are, any other car at £2.5 is bound to have some issues. Stick with what you've got, better the devil you know and all that.