The Red Rocket! My Mk1 Tdi build

So, about 3 months ago I bought a part finished project from someone planning to leave the country.
The previous owner had dealt with all the body work issues; all the rust in the usual places has gone and then sprayed it himself.
It's not a bad paint finish but I think I may get a re-spray at some stage. The engine and G/Box had also been fitted along with the Mk4 wiring loom and clocks.



The details;

Originally a Mk1 Golf C 1.1, now a 1.9Tdi PD130 from a Bora. It's a good runner and goes pretty well. Having covered about 1800 miles since bought and averaged 54mpg I'm quite chuffed and looking forward to getting her properly sorted.

Some people on the forum may recognise the car as I believe the previous owner was a member here.


 

Exited to follow this Project Kev!

There's a few things that needed sorting right away:

The speedo didn't work properly; it was reading 100mph while it was parked on the drive! Out come the clocks;



A quick dig through the dash found lots of things needing attention; unprotected sections of loom, bad connections and loads of plugs not connected to anything.



I 'found' lots of trim parts in the garage from previously owned cars; gave them a clean up and set to swapping them over;




I managed to find the Cig lighter connector; surprised to find the plug fitted straight into the 30 year old ashtray I had!



While I had the dash in pieces I was able to trace the fault with the indicators not working; turned out to be dodgy wiring at the lights;



Then it was on to stripping, cleaning and inspecting the brakes; to be sure I was going to stop if I tried! Re-painted the calipers while I was there;



A quick clean and the first polish; didn't come up too bad;



Then our first proper trip out, to Santa Pod;




I got to try her out properly on the drive up there and boy does she move!
Over the last couple of weeks I've been generally tidying her up here and there, trying out some wheels I had lying around;



Stripped, cleaned and re-built the rear coilovers with new bump stops;



Fitted some more trim bits; parcel shelf lift clips (note the VW Man Cave!);



I also bought a 3" inward rolled tail pipe to see what it looked like;



I found some re-trimmed Gti seats on flea bay and managed to swap my seats with the seller and £170 his way, cleaned up nicely;



Repaired the tilt mechanisms and fitted new handles;



Don't look too bad;



I found some blanking plugs to fit the headrest holes in the rear bench as I don't have another usable set of headrests yet;



I haven't fully decided what I'm going to 'do' with the interior yet so i'll keep the seats as they are now until I've sorted the rest of the car.
I am thinking about a dash change as I don't like it as it is now; it's not very neat. Maybe TT dash……………….

 

Kev this is an amazing project to have! 100mph standing still, it's fast too!

I really want to get a PD lump in my motor now!

Do you actually have working aircon too?

36thCrazyFist said

Kev this is an amazing project to have! 100mph standing still, it's fast too!

I really want to get a PD lump in my motor now!

Do you actually have working aircon too?

The Aircon is another area for attention. It's not functional……….yet.

The compressor, Condensor, Mk4 airbox, wiring and controls are fitted, I just need to get a set of pipes made up to connect it all together; shouldn't be too difficult but we'll see how it goes!

PD is cool. I'd like to do it but old mechanical is gonna be easier. I'm all for the easy life. Be good if you can get more of the MK4 features working.

heartagram said

PD is cool. I'd like to do it but old mechanical is gonna be easier. I'm all for the easy life. Be good if you can get more of the MK4 features working.

If I'd done the engine work I probably would have gone for the Mk3 Tdi too, but seeing as the hard bit had already been done I thought I'd give this a try.
It really is great to drive and knowing that when you are cruising on the motorway at reasonable speed you're getting 55+mpg!



It would be good to get some of the other available Mk4 functions working especially things like the central locking and boot release on the key. The cruise control worked for a while but has given up now; think it might be the clutch switch.

Nice, looks smart !

I've been trying to tidy a few more bits.

The doors weren't closing fully; it didn't look great………..



The seals came off, got cleaned and re-fitted. Wasn't sure which way round they were supposed to go.



There's an extra 'lip' on part of the seal so I fitted them the neatest way I could work out.




I was then able to re-align the doors and adjust the strikers to get them to close better.



Still not perfect but the seals are still pretty new so need to settle in a bit.



I also fitted the wider sill trims I had lying around.



I then tackled the drivers door window. The runner keeps pulling off the bottom of the glass so I stripped it all out, cleaned up the regulator, the support and rubber strip.



I thought I would try a little double sided carpet tape to help the rubber grip the glass; we'll see how it holds up, or pulls down, literally!



I gave the back end a quick clean using Autoglym detailing spray; came up ok.



I got some tartan cloth from a mate who has recently had some curtains made for his T2 so I tried out a little tester on the seats with the help of Photoshop;




The pictures are a bit dark but you get the idea…………..

 

Good work on the doors mate, they look much better!

Also get those seats made up, they look awesome!

I managed to find the build thread done by the previous owner;

http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&type=misc&id=your-mk1-golfs_2%2Fmk1-1-9-pd-engine

Lovely car Kev, I agree with 36thCrazyFist, those seats will be wicked with the tartan

Very nice car.... Saw this on Pistonheads ... was tempted but scared of the work involved.... Loof forward to seeing it sometime soon.

Not done much work on the Tdi lately; just been enjoying driving her……….


The run out at AGM…


She's getting well used as my daily driver…..

Covered about 4500 miles now and averaged 51.5mpg!

I'm thinking she needs to be a bit lower; maybe another 40-50mm?


Might have a problem getting lower; the sump will be a bit close to the floor, currently about 100mm ground clearance.


I know I can get a hybrid sump that will give 11mm extra clearance and being a steel bottom will be a bit safer should I hit anything!
I am thinking about raising the engine in the bay as well; only problem with that is the oil filler cap is only 14mm from the bonnet.
I put some foam on the filler cap with some grease on, closed the bonnet and it ended up stuck on part of the bonnet frame.



I thought I could probably afford to trim the frame a bit without affecting the strength too much but don't really want to hack bits off the fairly good paint.


Then had an idea………..99p on flea bay later:

Not sure what VW it's from (old apparently) but it's about 22mm shorter than the standard one so I can now afford to raise the engine 20mm.

Once the engine is moved I will get the exhaust remade for a better fit and it will hopefully make it a bit quieter to drive; I'm going deaf…….

at 70mph on the motor way!

I've got the TT dash to fit as well; challenge accepted!

 

I'd love to do a PD engine as my next project. Looks absolutely cracking mate. Looks like you're really going to town on getting it right from a pretty ropey start too!

Looking great and also like the changes your making. Would like too see what a MK1 looks like with a tt dash fitted although I wont do it myself.

Nice, we've got a couple of Caddy's with TDi conversations running around here by us (in SA) but nobody has done one in a MK1 as far as I know.

Any updates on this kev ??

Looks good Key. Now stop dicking around with houses and get it done!


Oh yeah……..guess who?

TwoFourDonkey said

Looks good Key. Now stop dicking around with houses and get it done!


Oh yeah……..guess who?

But with the new house comes a new garage and way more space for playing!