Rescuing the 79 GTI
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#672900
(In Topic #81111)
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Rescuing the 79 GTI
Seem to be alot of restorations on the go at the moment! Some quality work. Thought i'd tell of my project. Bought a black 79 GTI in a poor state earlier this year with the intention of saving. Car came with thousands of pounds of receipts for body work that had been done - sills etc rear arches. Closer inspection revealed alot of shoddy work - I have the receipts from a VW/Audi authorised gararge who carried out the work - I should name and shame them here but I won't. Anyway, I have cut out all of the shoddy work and rust and am left with a major restoration project. Here is a list of things to do in order of priority:
Turn car on its roof - fabricate new axle mounting sections with the aid of a jig so that measurements are spot on. On both sides the inner plates (within the rear sill area) that retain the bolts are very badly corroded. I am going to cut both sides out and re-fabricate them and add additional strength. This is not an impossible repair - although i've not seen it done before on this site.
Once I have aligned the vehicles track I will then -
Weld in:
Inner and outer sills
Inner and outer rear wheel arches
Inner front wings
Front valance
Repair rear valance
Repair sections of floor
Most panels are genuine, fortunately.
Thats the bodywork anyway. Hope to have some pictures up soon!!! Watch this space!
Slabbers
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1981 1.6 GTI - Work in Progress
www.thephirm.co.uk
www.thephirm.co.uk
Posted
Local Hero
Not seen anyone replace the rear beam mountings, how does the jig work? Presumably you need to use a jig when replacing the front inner wings as well? Look forward to more news
Cheers
1981 1600 GTI (coming to a road near you soon…)
1983 1100 C
1983 1100 C
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Life Member
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axle section re-fabrication
Got the rear axle sections completed last weekend. Took my father and I three days to get these sections right - how do I post pics - please advise and I will add them. Anyway heres what we did:
Before I cut out the axle sections I used a machined board to exact tolerances and took a print from the rear axle. After I drilled the holes out I fitted it to the car to make sure it was exact. Using this board I had a perfectly straight edge in all directions so that I could measure distances on the car. I knew that the original distance was 200cm from the 1st bolt at the plate to the front of the wishbone carriers (wishbones removed). These are the points that secure the vehicles track and how square on it is.
After cutting out the rot and rough work, of which there was alot, for example the inner sills had been badly bodged, the mid sill (between the inner and outer at the rear) was not repaired at all and the outer sill had been replaced three times - when it was repaired it was just hammered in and placed over the top - poor GTI.
Here I cut out a section of the mid sill and inner sill and the plate that holds the bolts within the axle section. Fortunately a depth of good metal remained for the inner sill so that i could weld a new section to. This section went forward to the beginnjing of the floor pan where it terminated with a lip that was seam finished. Once this was seam welded in I fabricated new mid sills with clean folds that joined onto the inner sill. This section was starting to feel incredibly solid already. On the inside of this I used a spare outer repair section for the bolts to pass through. Here I cut a section out of the area so that I could see where the 90 degree plate maybe situated. Having left one side alone I knew exact dimensions of this section - usign the repair section was just to look at siting the plate and tack welding so that I had an exact depth. After this I discarded the repair sections and I checked the measurements along certain points of the car and all were within < 1 mm., in fact the measurements to the front suspension were exact. Then I seam welded the internal plate that retains the bolts. Bolts were new. After this was done for both sides I offered up the outer repair sections and seam welded them. These sections are now incredibly solid.
Anyway thats how I accomplished these repairs - hope to show pics once I figure out how to post pics - sorry.
Offered up the rear passengers rear inner arch and outer last night - pig of a job cutting inner arch out!. Fit looks good though! Pics soon promise
Posted
Local Hero
To post your pics you can upload them to www.photobucket.com and then insert the url with the tags either side - no spaces . There's a more in depth explanation of how to do it here . Looking forward to seeing them.
Cheers
1981 1600 GTI (coming to a road near you soon…)
1983 1100 C
1983 1100 C
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Hope these images work.
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Posted
Local Hero
Btw - if you put around the links, they'll appear in your post
Rich
Posted
Local Hero
Posted
Local Hero
The problem with the pic links that didn't work was that you had put the tags the wrong way round. Try sticking either side of the link should make pictures appear in post - I've edited and sorted out the pics you've posted so far .
Cheers
1981 1600 GTI (coming to a road near you soon…)
1983 1100 C
1983 1100 C
Posted
Settling In
BTW: alot of guys on this forum tend to fit Hadrian panels. A friend of mine owns a bodyshop and highly recommends SVG panels (as is recommended by the Golf restoration manual). They are a much better fit (more like OE) and quality of panel and the following is still available for the Mk1 golf:
Outer sills
Outer wheel arches
Front and Rear valance
Wings
And they don't cost any more than Hadrian panels either. If you need panels contact auto-panels.co.uk - very helpful.
I'm interested in knowing how many black 79 gti are left in the UK. Not many registered on the forum! Also, my car was registered in early september so i'm guessing the five speed box is correct?
Cheers Slabbers
Posted
Local Hero
1981 1600 GTI (coming to a road near you soon…)
1983 1100 C
1983 1100 C
Posted
Old Timer
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ERROR: A link was posted here (url) but it appears to be a broken link.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d189/vr6lad/forumsig_h.jpg
Posted
Life Member
I would agree with you going for the POR15, really excellent stuff and very resistant to chipping. Don't forget to etch/zinc coat with Metal Ready first.
I estimate approx 20 black Series 1 GTis left in the UK (including my 2!), though many are not roadworthy. If your car is a '79 Model Year ("9" as third digit in the VIN) it should have a 4-speed box as standard.
Keep it up!
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Anyone know where I could find one?
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Local Hero
1981 1600 GTI (coming to a road near you soon…)
1983 1100 C
1983 1100 C
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