GLD .. Another winter off the road.

Okay so I thought I'd start my own Mini-resto thread
I bought the car in January 2001 From a guy called Gary who gave it it's regal name (Malik) I had had a look at a couple of others which were complete dogs when I came across GLD in the local free-ads paper it was in gloucester but my mate was willing to give me a lift to go check it out and when I got there I fell in love with it..

It was a Pirelli edition imported from germany but it had the majority of "Campaign" features but was basically standard and the guy didn't scrimp on parts or servicing so I snapped his arm off..

I then drove it quite happily up until 2008..

here are the pics when I took it off the road in August, which was for a couple of reasons :

1. I couldn't afford (at the time) the fuel it was costing me to drive it round town which in turn was slowly killing it and coking it up..

2.The rear beam was starting to die. One of the mounts had come loose which I hadn't noticed for a good while and it had ovaled out the mounting point so it came off the road..





Had a couple of teething troubles along the way.. the old seat belt anchorage problem..





And the clutch cable pulling through the Bulkhead, Both of which are now remedied..   

But for 7 years on the road as a daily driver I don't think it did too bad.. and if I Didn't use my breakdown cover I wouldn't be getting the most out of my insurance would I?  :?

Anyway now the weather is getting better I am (trying) to get it back to it's former glory..

Bit of Powdercoating & cleaning is on the cards I reckon.



Just got this problem to sort out.. I think my screen was Leaking for quite a while judging by the soaked sound deadening material in the drivers well (It doesn't anymore by the way) but I don't know what to do about this floor? It solid but do I sand it back and coat it with something or just re-carpet? advice would be very much appreciated..

Nice looking GTI blans, nice shine to it 8)  - and nice to see when someone has owned one for a fair few years

I would clean the floor up. May not be anything major but you wouldn't want to leave and it get worse. Upside is under the carpet so no one will see, so you could sand back to ensure no surface rust and clean then just black smoothright for example - easy!

Look forward to seeing the progress

Andy

i have had that problem with the floor.

if you look underneth wear the wishbone bolts on under the floor this is where it could be rotten

if not i'd get some treatment in there to protect

have a good look now as it was all to late for mine so it's a new floor for me    

nice looking car!!! :y:

Cheers Jelly will do..

Got the rear beam back from the powdercoaters friday .. i'm well happy with it. Got the brackets, anti roll bar and back plates done at the same same time wil try and get some more pics up.. sorry about the quality it's from my phone..



 :mrgreen:

i got exited when i saw the GLD bit,i thought it was a diesel  
Bert

Not quite Bert …… although come to think of it anyone wanna buy my plate    

Got the car finally back under cover this week and am hoping to soon get back to working on it. after having stripped the brakes down and then being asked to move it for a couple of weeks     Electricity is something I don't want to be reliant on because I got the garage rent free!! (Don't wanna take liberties!!)so I bought one of these the other day.
http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Fasteners-Production-Equipment/Power-Tools/Cordless-Drills/18V-2-speed-Cordless-hammer-drill/78403/kw/40765
after reading this review..
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/214173/cordless_drill_test.html
Love those auto express tests. always seems like they give a good mix of prices and specs.. anyway it was the cheapest I could find it online and it arrived next day, can highly recommend them!

Was starting and running the car every couple of weeks until one of the fuel lines decided to give up and was firing puddles of petrol onto the garage floor everytime the pump primed!! Might have to give that up for a while!!

So now i'm gonna wire cup the floor pan and get a nice smooth rust free surface and then comes my next dilemma. Which paint to use. I'm gonna take the worst bit i.e the bits with crackled paint and rust back as far as I can to bare metal but don't really wanna strip all of it so I've narrowed it down to 3 paints.. Por-15, Epoxy mastic or Kbs rustseal ( http://www.kbs-coatings.com/ )
Don't know too much about the last one but it's is kinda middle ground in cost between the two others anyone ever used it or can recommend either of the other two?

Bert said

i got exited when i saw the GLD bit,i thought it was a diesel  
Bert

thats wat i thought lol

Looks like a well looked after example.

And another mk1 in Bristol :wink:

Good luck with it.

Pete

Cheers pete! nobody got any opinions on the paint situation then?  :dontknow:

Bert said

i got exited when i saw the GLD bit,i thought it was a diesel  
Bert

Me too… Nice plate… buddy :mrgreen:

i'm a big fan of POR-15 and i'm sure a few more people on here are as well

never seen the other products so can't say anything about them

jellybelly said

i'm a big fan of POR-15 and i'm sure a few more people on here are as well

never seen the other products so can't say anything about them

Yeah por 15 seemed pretty good, tough but smooth finish, I think my mk1 has gained a couple of kgs from how much I have on it  

Pete

I had a little look around tonight and found this from march 2007.. seems the por-15 didn't fair so well.. reckon i'm gonna go with the epoxy mastic..

I have done a lot of cars with POR15. No sight of any rust in over 5 years. I wonder if the test above prepared the surface properly as this is essential. For example you need to have a grease free surface, and etched and zinc'd with Metal Ready. The test makes no mention of this. The zinc plays a big factor in the rust prevention….. :roll:

Mega update, felt really inspired to get on after seeing the cars at the AG and on build threads on here. Well I guess the car had come of the road just in time judging by the parts that were about to expire!  :?









First things first. To tackle the main problem why the golf had to come off the road in the first place. The rear beam. If there's one tip I can give anyone when working on old cars is use plenty of release oil/WD40 or whatever your prefered choice is. Be sure to coat every nut and bolt well in advance of when you intend to remove it, You'll save yourself so much time and grief.. So when attempting this be sure to soak the beam mounting and shock bolts with it







At this point detach the brake cables from either side of the lever in the car and pull them underneath through the floor. Make sure you place some support on the middle of the beam as it weighs a ton and I reckon would probably hurt if it fell on your head or leg!    also ensure you detach the load sensing valve from the beam before you drop it down.





The beam mounts are in surprisingly good nick really considering and came apart pretty easily, Although I took no chances and did a quarter turn forward and back as some on here recommended.







While the beam is propped by the jack, Clamp the brake hoses and remove the rigid pipes from the flexy pipes and get that rusty beam outta there!









Now it's off the car I can see The ARB bushes are a bit past their best as well..





The OS mounting point looks ok…



But not so good on the NS, at least I found out what was causing that seriously loud bang which was coming from my rear nearside wheel..

I use hammerite No.1

Its kept rust away for 5 years from a restored car I know of. It goes on thick too so hardly need to go over any of it again. Its also a third of the price of the epoxy mastic.

In my opinion there is no beating Epoxy Mastic ? you won?t get a better base coat ? straight on bare steel.

In my opinion the very best rust beating combination is ? first a coat of Zinga and two coats of epoxy mastic ? no more rust. I did two coats of epoxy mastic on the floor and on the inner arches and inner wings I did zing and epoxy ? belt and braces so to speak?.

I tested them myself ? when the bare steel rusted it stopped dead where the epoxy started ? no creeping. Epoxy is very very difficult to remove even with a sharp screwdriver ? very tough stuff.

For an extra few quid it is worth it ? means you can forget the underside of the car?..

just me tuppence worth

Cheers guys, I feel a bit more confident about the epoxy mastic now I know carbs has used it, you car is truly inspirational mate.. are you saying you zinga'd the underfloor as well as the arches? and did you go back to bare steel?

Started to bare back the underside using a drill and a brass wire cup brush and was a bit disappointed with how labourious it was.



also had a bit of a problem with the round bits of steel coming away from the floor?? didn't seem like they were welded? they just pushed through is that right?

Other than that boot floor seems really sound. Don't know what the stuff is on the floor but it is like tar/Bituminous and seemed to be doing a really good job. Is that stuff factory has anyone else got it or know what it is?







So after reading how much better it was using a grinder with a wire cup brush I thought I'd give it a crack… Can't believe how much easier it is to get off!! Then my grinder started making funny noises and chucking grease out so I had to stop (think it's killed the bearings, It's a black and decker one too I've only had it about a year but i've lost the receipt grrr!! why is it my dad and grandad have the old green black and decker stuff and it seems to last a dogs age!!) got myself a new grinder today and am looking forward to making some real progress under there  :mrgreen: