My Mk1 Cabby project

Hi all, I am new to the site and have been reading up on some of the resto projects on the forum and thought I should start my own … hopefully I can start it and one day finish it!

I bought my first ever Mk1 Cabby on an '88 plate 1.8 just over a month ago, spent around a year looking for one and then finally found the perfect one for me.
The previous owner had taken care of her, he owned it for 18 years and only changes he had made was a Clifford alarm, Tracker device and Alpine head unit - he had it dry stored and took care of engine / servicing on time.
Full service history, all keys present, all MOTs present, mountains of receipts …. 75k on the clock and the most important part in Black.

I knew she was the one as soon as I went to see her … money and keys exchanged I found my way going back home with my first ever Mk1 VW Golf, I let my mate drive it however just because I didn't really want him driving my daily … Merc CLK55 AMG ( he would rip the s*it out of it ! )

The plan is basically to strip the car down fully, get any rust sorted ( hopefully there is not too much ! ) and slowly build her back up to original spec with a few suttle tweeks - deep dishes, coileys - retrim on interior , maybe engine work … who knows, as long as she keeps me busy on the weekends then I will be happy!

Day of buy, mate looking well chuffed in it



Few pics of her day after - car was covered in thick dirt, dry stored in a barn and very rarely driven as previous owner is a BBC journalist for the Middle East!




Few pics taken with the Merc side to side


 



Storing my mates Bike in the garage - moving it to make space for the cabby







Ok so first day on working on her - taking of arches and skirts, drivers side arches and skirts off with no probs at all, slight surface rust on lower sill






2nd day working on her - Passenger side skirts and sills off - no rust )



3rd/4th day Interior strip down









So far have had all seats and carpet out - no pics got too tired, so far floor looks all ok, need to move sound deadening sponge to really see how it looks, but seems all dry. Its my first ever resto project so learning as I go - man its hard to keep all screws and bolts nice and tidy and in order to make life easy when it comes to putting it all back - hope I do ok … eeek !

Started on taking off all chrome / rubber outer seals, didn't do a very good job as I bent some of them but I am looking at replacing all seals with new ones and need to know where to get blacked out strips instead of the chrome, after much deliberation have decided to not go down the chrome look, maybe just the outer bits on the front grille but all chrome strips I want to change to black. Started to find some surface rust on these bits - dreading on how to take the roof off - hope I can be patient and not start ripping things off! 10 years ago I worked on a little fiesta and as I was only 18 and had no money , no tools I used to get very inpatient with some parts !



After all this decided on giving my other baby some TLC so took her to my local car wash for a little attention )   …. sorry I know its a VW site !!



Hopefully going to get more off this coming weekend, hope you guys can help me when I get stuck - the Haynes manual is not much help !

Looks like a nice little project. A bit of a tidy and new wheels and it'd look sweet as. Very similar to my car which is probably why I like it.

Nice looking project, it looks in very good condition!

Nice car (the Golf's not bad either!).
One word of warning though, try to discipline yourself to NEVER put tools, especially screwdrivers, on upholstered seats, Many times I have seen damage to seats and people caused by someone leaning or sitting on tools because they forgot they were there.
Really do like the Mk1 Golf in the darker colours, yours looks a good buy!

Cheers guys hopefully weather stays decent over weekend so i can really get to work on her does anyone have a link on how to take the roof off and front dash?

I did do a search but didnt find anything with a great 'how to do'

PeteB - yep u r right with the tools !

Had a good day today, so far been working on the car by myself but had one of my top buddy's come and start helping me, mad how much you can get done with another hand!
We used to work on our Ford's when we were younger so always get more done when working on a project together.
So started on taking more seals off, windows and front windscreen - like an idiot I should have just cut the seal to the windscreen and pushed out the windscreen but unfortunately cracked it while trying to be a smartass and remove the seal intact - so will require a new windscreen - a little down about that as all the windows were original Got the front and rear bumpers off too, could not believe how heavy they are - definitely needed 2 people to do todays work on the car

Some of the pics:

Next weekend - dash removal, and maybe just maybe tackle taking the roof off and slowly start taking bits out of the engine bay ( never done this before no looking back now ! ) Wish me luck guys

Going to look at some storage space this week - might get one of those storage depots as you can see garage is getting quite full

Luckily had a massive roll of bubble wrap so wrapped the windows and stuck them in the back of car, and got the bumpers in the back too - trying to keep everything nice and neat !!



 

not much of an update - managed to get the dash out today , heres what shes looking like :







got the front grille and lights off too - but no pics, everything at the front is looking clean so far

Will start taking the loom out soon hopefully, few more bits and pcs to come off - then the big rub down !

well work has been slow lately, been busy with booking a holiday with the Mrs and sorting out some other stuff … but got in the garage today, firstly moved my bumpers, seats and dash to my mates garage to make space.

Bought a Dewalt sander and power drill - wire brush and safety glasses from screwfix - that place is dangerous you end up buying so many bits!

Anyway pics of how the car is looking now, after the holiday I think I am ready to start sanding down to metal, sorry they may not be in order just took random snaps as I went along - also found rust on the lip that holds down the roof


























By the way I have the original front grille with lights available for sale and rear lights too - taking offers

fair play mate your not hanging round with this, hope it all goes well :-)

Good progress !!

Looking forward to the ongoing pics :-)

yeah like this a lot i have just started to strip mine out too, your more than welcome to come and give me a helping hand with mine

Hey guys, been back from my holiday 2 weeks now, having difficulty getting back in the garage !

Plus my bank account got well and truly hammered after a round trip to Amsterdam, Paris and then New York with the wifey … but hey ho was well worth it.

So basically I need the engine out … started thinking if anyone is interested in wanting the engine and gearbox, 1.8 manual - it has 75k on the clock, has not been started now for over 2 months but before I started stripping it was perfectly running, and I really mean perfectly - previous owner took care of her.

Would anyone be interested in coming over removing the lump and gearbox ( minus any ancillaries ) one weekend

If not then I am looking to sell it for some cash

Once it is out - I can really get to work on rubbing down back to bare metal - need to then get a quote on the bodywork.

So guys after 5 years I have finally plucked up the courage to start working on the cab again!
Its been dry stored im my garage nice and safe since my last post!
I moved home and now have a decent set up with my garage and started working on it again … engine removal and full strip down and then sanding down to metal ready for body work!
Will post up latest pics when i figure out how to upload photos using this on my iphone!
I need positive encouragement as you all know with projects how they can die down !!
To be continued… 

Looking forward to following your progress. I am also working on a Mk1 convertible 

5yrs eh?      

Glad you're back at it. The good thing is that it's probably doubled in value at least in those 5 yrs and bits have gotten easier to come by as well.

I was going to suggest the use of plastic bags for all the bits but as it's been this long I doubt even that would have helped.

Keep on it mate  

Ian

Been difficult to get time to continue the strip down but managed bit more today

Need to get under the car and start removing brake lines, fuel tank … i dont have a ramp but decent set of stands … any good tips to remove these items ? 

The plan is to get a well known company to do the r32 conversion and smooth engine bay with hidden wires and battery and other its relocated to the boot

Power steering also to be added 

Seeing as this is my first project and majority of major works being completed by he experts would you guys recommend i get the body work sorted first or should i get bay smoothed and engine dropped in all running before i start on bodywork?

If your doing the body work and giving the old girl a new paint job, putting the engine should be last get the body work done and engine bay smoothed then get the whole lot painted then put engine in, this would be most cost and time effective way of doing it. I’m doing the same thing but on a mk2 escort


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wilko13 said

If your doing the body work and giving the old girl a new paint job, putting the engine should be last get the body work done and engine bay smoothed then get the whole lot painted then put engine in, this would be most cost and time effective way of doing it. I’m doing the same thing but on a mk2 escort


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Thats what i originally thought, till someone else said get the bay smoothed , painted and engine in all runnings … then go and get bodywork done so at least the car is running and can be driven if needed.
Im just confused lol