83 Tin Top Project

Hi Guys, im new and from the West Yorkshire Area. got my mk1 about 2 weeks ago and loving it. ive come from a BMW Z4 3.0 so as you can tell this is a massive change for me and something im still getting used to lol.

Im going to try keep a record of the bits im going to do to the car as i progress along! she is also my daily car so things may be a little slow lol

anyway here she is at the moment.







just put two new tyres on last week.

List of things i need to sort.

1. need to order 2 new sills and 2 front wings. have seen these on VWHerritage price at £22 for sills and £49 for wings. are they decent parts? i understand they are not genuine but this does not bother me too much.
im currently waiting on a price for having the sills and wings fitted plus painting. Both door will be included in the painting as well.

2. The boot currently works on a boot popper and for some reason the button has stopped working so this is something ill need to investigate.

3. I also need to install some new bulbs in the instrument cluster and i already have them, however im a complete novice with doing anything on these cars so although ive read the instructions on this site im still too nervous to do it lol.

4. The speedo is also 10mph out so i need to figure out how to resolve this. if anyone has any ideas that would be great.

5. Cold mornings have been an issue lately, i bought the car from my best friend and he has advised that over the last 4 years it has fired up straight away with no hesitation even in -5. With this is mind i need to figure out what could be causing it to struggle.

6. Gear linkage. finding a gear is like stirring porridge. apparently a common issue? my engine is the 1.8 16v MK2 KR engine and ive been informed that there is a repair kit for this? can anyone point me in the right direction?

7. Door speakers are only working on the left lol,  been told they are the original 1983 speakers so obviously need to get these replaced with some more up to date ones. does anyone know which are the most popular, what the sizes are ect and also how to remove them?

8. blowers! the controls for the heater need looking at as the hot and cold one does not slide all the way up and down as it should. i also want to take a look behind the dash and make sure the pipes are all connected as i dont think as much air is coming through as it should. any info on this?

ok so thats my list so far lol!

quite a lot to sort out!

Welcome and congratulations. I've had lots of modern stuff too but just keep coming back to Mk1s! The front speakers if standard should be 6x4s I believe. JBL and Alpine make them still. The heater sliders can often get fouled by the stereo wires too so may be worth a look. Good luck with the project!

sportlinecab said

Welcome and congratulations. I've had lots of modern stuff too but just keep coming back to Mk1s! The front speakers if standard should be 6x4s I believe. JBL and Alpine make them still. The heater sliders can often get fouled by the stereo wires too so may be worth a look. Good luck with the project!

That's great buddy thanks for the info on  the speakers I'll definitely be buying some. Do you know how to gain access to them at all? I believe there is also speakers in the rear as well,  would you know what these are?

Your blower is not working very well because someone has cut the scuttle panel out so you can't have the standard rain cover over the blower fan, looks like you have a cover but it is very close to the blower/air intake.
As for the controls not sliding all the way there is a valve in the engine bay which cuts the hot water supply off make sure it opens and closes all the way with the lever, there is stops on the valves each way. In your 1st picture I can see the valve is set at 1/2 way and is the wrong way to standard set up as the cable comes in from the top not the bottom.

Heater valve looks like this.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MK1-2-SCIROCCO-Heater-valve-T25-Golf-Mk1-Cabrio-Scirocco-/181784968410?hash=item2a533a7cda:g:KMYAAOSwgQ9V1OTM

There is no hot air feed on those bike carbs so that may be why it's hard to start when cold or they may need to be set up again as I think they do go out of tune easily?

If it's the standard gearbox and linkage you should be able to use a standard repair kit, I think there is a how to guide on the homepage of this site.

Picture of your front speaker cover may help but if standard fitment there is 1 screw holding the cover on.

What size wheels and tyres do you have, could be why the speedo is out.

thanks for you advice buddy, ill take it on board and see what i can sort out.

had the call today from the bodyshop i contacted. i asked them to quote me on the fitting of 2 outer sills, 2 new front wings, repair the rust on the drivers door and paint the sills front wings and blend the doors.

The quote came back in at £750 which does not include the cost of parts :-(

In relation to the carb set up they were set up with Bog Brothers a few years ago and my buddy who I bought the car from advised me it wouldn't need doing again? He told me in his 4 years of owning the car it has never struggled to start even in -5 and snowing! So now I'm. Confused lol 

I'll defiantly have to investigate the heater controls and thanks for your keen eye on the engine bay

I think the wheels are 15s or 16s wouldn't think it would make a 10mph difference? 

In terms of the speakers it would appear that my door cards have some pockets in front of the speakers so  unsure how to remove the pockets to gain access?

Welcome along buddy.

One thing that might help is classic vw (run by a long standing member on here) stock pretty much most of the things heritage do, but can be cheaper - http://www.classic-vw.co.uk/classic-volkswagen-298-c.asp

If his site does not list what you want just give him a shout.

The speakers if you have standard Mk1 GTI door cars I believe you will need to take whole door card off door then the speakers pockets at bottom are screw onto the door panel from the inside if that makes sense. Although there might be one screw at the front by speakers grill so you can just get that off

A good search around the forum should find some how too guides on some of the bits you are looking for above.



 

Well the car has been running rubbish lately, not idling correctly and such. Im hoping that a change of the HT leads,  distributor cap and rotor arm has solved the problem.



Also noticed the coil was damaged so will have to look at sorting this out later


In other new my gear linkage has arrived and soon I'll be getting round to fitting it.

Im still trying to find out which is the best oil to use as I've been told to use mineral and not synthetic? Us this right? I've put some 10w40 semi in for now.

Another big update is that the car is going to the bodyshop on the 9th for the repair of the rust on the drivers door, both front wings and sills. Plus it will all be repainted to freshen it up. Been told it will be around £570 but I'm expecting more.

Tomorrow I'll also have to order a new choke cable as it just spins and won't lock lol

Thanks for reading guys!

For oil, use this stuff: AVS Car Parts

They are good source for most service items.

If you want a fairly standard set-up for replacement front speakers, these are a straight fit: SXE-4625S 150W 6" x 4" 2-way speakers

Lee

LeeO said

For oil, use this stuff: AVS Car Parts

They are good source for most service items.

If you want a fairly standard set-up for replacement front speakers, these are a straight fit: SXE-4625S 150W 6" x 4" 2-way speakers

Lee

Wow Lee thanks buddy, great speaker! Just need to work out how to remove them as the covers for the speakers are in the bottom of my door pockets!

I got my speakers from here as they are much cheaper.
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-sxe-4625s

They are pretty good but do lack bass as they are in a door pocket which does not help but I have a sub in the boot so it's not really a problem.  

Mark,
that is a good price for those speakers!

Nova 15 - what type of door pocket do you have? If they are the black plastic type with the speaker at the leading edge, like these - http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=third-party-links_2%2Fnos-door-pockets-with then the speaker section is held in with a screw in the leading edge, and then the whole section comes out, with the speaker attached.

Lee

LeeO said

Mark,
that is a good price for those speakers!

Nova 15 - what type of door pocket do you have? If they are the black plastic type with the speaker at the leading edge, like these - http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=third-party-links_2%2Fnos-door-pockets-with then the speaker section is held in with a screw in the leading edge, and then the whole section comes out, with the speaker attached.

Lee

Hi buddy, my door cars are different. I'll get a picture posted up later today. Just ordered an aerial as the car currently doesn't have one. Going to have it installed while the wings and bodywork are being repaired. Also ordered a new choke cable as it's currently broken lol

mark1gls said

I got my speakers from here as they are much cheaper.
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-sxe-4625s

They are pretty good but do lack bass as they are in a door pocket which does not help but I have a sub in the boot so it's not really a problem.  

Look good however I'm looking at sound deadening the door and putting some speakers in with decent bass 

Well today the new aerial and choke cable have arrived.

Also this is my door cards



They silver speaker cover is held on with 2 screws top and bottom

well another day and another update. went along to the garage where my brother in law works to see if we could get some bits done.

new choke cable fitted today. took the dash apart to locate why the button that operates the boot popper wasn't working. turns out that behind the dash is just a complete mess of wires which appear to go all over. cables that go nowhere and have a live current! anyway managed to find a new live for the boot popper button only to find out that its also the button that no longer works. also was going to have a look at the dash bulbs but didnt get round to it! also tried to fix my driver door lock pin which just pulls out! took some of the door card out and cant seem to see what the door pin needs to hook into? looks almost like something is missing?







anyway she is all back together now. if anyone can see anything in the wiring that they recognise then please let me know lol no wonder my drivers side door speaker doesnt work!

Who ever worked on that fusebox for the engine conversion should not be playing with electrics, it looks a right mess!

What are those white square grills behind the door pocket, is that where your speakers are?  

mark1gls said

Who ever worked on that fusebox for the engine conversion should not be playing with electrics, it looks a right mess!

What are those white square grills behind the door pocket, is that where your speakers are?  

You're right buddy, I think the car was originally on this owners club while being done but I've no idea how to find anything on it.

I'd love to get all the wiring sorted but I wouldn't know what to do or where to start tbh.

Yeah that's right. The speakers are behind there. 

well today the car was delivered to the bodyshop where the bodywork is to be carried out. seems there is more work involved that first thought and already a nearside sill and rear arch have had to be ordered.

i took a few pictures before i left the car with him this morning










i didn't think he would be working on the car so soon but after a few hours ive had some pictures come back from him.








so seems there is going to be more work involved than first anticipated. what more did i expect lol. ive ordered the new sill and arch on next day delivery and should all be delivered to the bodyshop directly by Wednesday! i know this is going to cost a lot but im trying to see the end game and remind myself that its going to be solid once complete and then i shouldn't have to worry about any further bodywork issues for quite some time.

You are doing the right thing with the body work, as the saying goes "Do it nice or do it twice!"

If you do use the sill to jack the car up once the body work is done us a bit of wood on the trolly jack as it saves the paint. I don't jack mine up on the sills but use the rear beam and a bit of MDF on the trolly jack pad as it's soft and does not spilt like real wood and on the front I jack under the front wishbone bolt there is a big weld running underneath the wishbone.
Pictures to get the idea.


In this picture there is no MDF under the trolly jack as it was already up on axel stands and the jack was there just in case but you get idea where I jack mine up from.

 

well more updates from the bodyshop, even more work found lol! looks like this is going to be expensive lol

The new sill has arrived and the old one has been cut out and revealed some further areas that need some attention.






The new rear arch has also arrived so im sure ill have some pictures of that coming soon as well!

Hopefully its all going to be worth it!