1983 Blue Two Door

Bit of boring background on the car. A friend of mine bought this and another mk1 as a pair. I saw this one and loved it immediately. Just how patina it is was right up my street. But he bought the two but only really wanted this one so sold the other (Silver 5 door). Skip forwards 6 months and he as always had too many cars on and was open to selling this one. I had space for it which I did not originally so I bought it. Had no time to do anything so its just sat outside my mates unit for the last year or so. Finally bothered myself to do some work on it yesterday. Cleaned the interior out which was in a really bad shape.

The reason I love the car is because its a solid shell but looks rough. Had a hard paper round. Needed two bits of welding done which have already been done. Had a once over it yesterday and it needs one more little patch as a preventative measure more than anything else.

Patch on the rear driver side arch


Patch behind the drivers seat:


Where it was lifted with a strap and a hiab:


General state of affairs:


Plans are leave the bodywork exactly as it is. I have a set of Montreal MK2 wheels to put on it. Coilover suspension with all new bushes.

This morning I ordered new wishbones, ball joints, track rod ends, CVs, rear flexies (front are out of stock), brake shoes, handbrake cables, front and rear wheel bearings. I need to get some GTI hubs/discs/pads cause the front brakes are non existent.

I already have the AAZ out of my old MK3 removed and ready to go in. I've got someone lined up to redo all the brake lines as well. Mechanically everything will be replaced or refurbished. Interior will be cleaned up so its a nice place to be. Not sure what I'm doing about seats yet. Has blue interior at the moment and I'm in two minds about if I should keep it all blue or go for a different colour. Headliner is mouldy so thats going to have to do the distance.

I have no time scale on the build so I'm just going to get on with it as I go. So I'll just update as I go along.

Welcome to the site mate and I think once you have the coilovers on she will be just my cup of tea   I am a sucker for an extremely low car and a bit of rat look!
I don't know if you have ever thought about it but one thing I wish I had done when I fitted my coilovers was to tunnel or channel the chassis leg. I was driving with Goly (my Mk1)  quite low but the driveshafts hit the chassis every now and then! If you tunnel them you can go lower  

I'll have a look once its lowered and has the wheels on it. If I can get away without it then I'll make do without. Hopefully my goodies will arrive soon!

First box of bits has arrived.

So I haven't done a lot since clearing it out. I need to have the car moved to my drive but first I need to move the Cabby off my drive. So in limbo at the moment. I have decided to sack of the AAZ because I'm not a huge diesel fan and bought a G60 instead. Its a bit rough at the moment but plans are to rebuild it so its a good strong base.

G60 engine will look very nice in your bay  

matt

will look forward to the updates i was getting giddy when you said diesel but the g60 is still also great…. did you once have a lupo sport?

I didn't have, I still do!

Did you used to frequent Club Polo by any chance? Matt?

Cleaned off the door cards. Didn't realise just how dirty they were. I did have a set of good uncut black ones with red/orange strip GTI seats but someone decided to break into my car and steal them so I'm going back to the blue. They don't look great but as least they ain't muddy anymore.

Like the tombstones cheers reading your unfortunate news with the break in I have got a pair of front black gti door cards with no speaker holes if you would like to do a deal?

Made more progress. Been soaking nuts and bolts in penetrating fluid as they haven't been touched in years. Had a free hour so removed the front suspension as well as undoing all the bolts for the steering arms and wishbones. One side is fighting as the nuts are corrdoded so the heads are ruined. Needs a bit of persuasion. That and because it has no brakes removing the hub nuts is challenging. But getting there. Once the shafts are off can get the engine out which is a good leap forwards. Everything is disconnected. 

Also weighed up the costs and I think I'm going to stick to the original diesel plan.. 

More progress today. Few bolts I was unable to remove because they were siezed solid and just hammering a socket over them and a big bar wasn't working. So bought a blowtorch and heating them up worked a treat.

Managed to remove the rear axle, fuel tank, as well as most of the front end stuff other than the driveshafts. The bolts aren't in a good way so need to cut the bolt heads off and remove the studs. The hub nuts are also seized onto the shafts so there is a whole load of fun to be had there.

Digging into the fresh underseal on the rear drivers arch was interesting. Showed good use of 'structual underseal'. The more I picked away the bigger my problem got. Needless to say it needs a lot of welding in that one corner.

As it stands at the moment:


Slightly parked in a bush:


Soid side:


Not so solid side:


Next task is to borrow a crane and get the engine out.

Had another hour on the car today. Driveshaft bolts were wrecked, the splines were ruined so had to cut the heads off. Can't find my mole grips so need to buy another pair to remove the studs. Literally just need a crane now and the motor can come out.



Pile of parts from the MK1 is slowly getting larger. Still have some left over Corrado bits too. Really need to sort this out…

More progress yesterday. Didn't bother with a crane and just dropped the engine out of the bottom.

Turned out the jack wouldn't go up high enough to get the engine out so had to split the box which meant it could lay flat and come out.

Few more bits to remove then can start refurbing/renew stuff and put it back on. 

More bits arrived today. Steering rack bushes, springs for the drums and handbrake cable guides.

Next job is to rebuild the rear drums.

Weather has been pretty poor for the last few days so haven't managed to do anything. More bits have arrived too. I figured these would be easier to install than the OEM type ones. 

Looking good, will be following this one!
Hope all goes well, would love to see a diesel mk1 on the road.

Progress has slowed once again. My wife is back at work which means I have a day off I have the kids. Which isn't a problem with the three year old because he likes to 'help'.. but with the one year old he just wants to eat everything.

I have managed to get a few more hours in. Cleaned up the rear axle and gave it a lick of paint. The axle carriers are past their best so need to find replacements. I guess if it's holding the axle on better safe than sorry!

Have also stripped the drums down and painted them. Didn't have replacement bolts for the rear cylinders so it's on pause at the moment. Can't be bothered to traipse round hardware stores with the kids so just ordered some online. Hopefully will be here tomorrow. 

Also my Coilovers arrived so once the axle is done can get it back on the ground (on the rear at least.