83 Gti set to get full resto

The mods to the beam look great mate! When you'd mentioned in an earlier post about shortening it, I couldn't get my head round where you'd loose the steel without affecting any of the fixing points. A picture paints a thousand words an all that! 

Cheers Spen. Tbh I stole the idea from someone else so can't take all the credit  I just hope I've taken enough off the beam but I wont know till that big turbo kicks in

Bit more progress today.

Got the headliner in with some help(mainly me just watching) from a lad 2 units down from mine who works in a bodyshop, he had it in, in no time.









Got the rear glass in


she's starting to look more like a car now

Much easier to do with the glass out, great job.

Very handy neighbour to have    starting to look like a proper car, loving the constant progression.

Was it easy getting the glass back in? You got the name of the cavity wax you used?

Took 5 mins to put the glass in mate. Forgot about getting the name of that wax

I'll be back down the unit in a couple of days as I'm out on the lash tonight and probably not make it tomorrow

Headliner looks great

pazwaa  The name of the cavity wax is Mipa  http://www.colourweld.co.uk/mipa-cavity-wax-corrosion-protection-aerosol-500ml--probe-1008-p.asp

Got a bit more done today, it defo takes longer putting these cars back together than taking them apart lol.

Replaced the foam seal on the heater blower as it was literally falling to bits




I've got a big sheet of squashy closed cell foam that I used to make the new seal. I'll also be using it for some underlay beneath some -not so squashy- closed cell foam.

squashy stuff


Got my rear callipers back from Bigg Red and they done a fantastic, I really recommend them, the turn around was less than a week from sending them off as well.




Most of the wiring is done inside the car thanks to rubjonny this guy is a leg-end!!

Got most of the dash in too!


Other jobs I've been doing is soldering and heat shrinking all the wires I snipped when I was stripping the car down.

That's it for now peeps.

Looking good.

Cheers Andy 

How much was the caliper refurb?

£138 including new slider pins and return postage

Once again, cheers  

Are you doing a hidden loom?

No hidden loom at the minute, Matt,  might consider it for next winter while the car is off the road though. Just going to concentrate on getting her together.

Very wise!

How've you found the wiring? I haven't started it yet, but brings me out in a cold sweat 

Not as bad as I thought so far as everything inside the car has a plug on it, plus I've had help from rubjonny. May get a bit interesting when I move on to the engine though!!

Small update. I've been trying to get the tailgate sorted as I just couldnt get it to shut, ended up having to get the grinder out and take some off the lip that the seal fixes to, even now I have to really slam it, I assumed that the body shop had sorted this out but apparently not  Anyway, here's where I'm up to..

Bought some new SA rear lights and tried them in


That's about 7mm I had to take off


ground up and primered


Top coat back on


Here you can see the lip further in than the back of the panel, it was running the same line before the grinder came out. Still won't shut without slamming it hard and there's no more adjustment on the latch.


That's it for now peeps, tomorrow I'm off down to rugby to pick up some small bumpers and when I get back I'll be whipping the rear axle off to go to the powder coaters on Saturday morning.

At least it's progressing  

I had loads of problems with my boot latch, couldn't get the latch and pin to line up, had to keep opening the fixing hole diameter up for adjustment. Not sure if that helps?

They say a good tradesman is not someone that can do the job but someone who can fix the job when it goes wrong

Its one of those lessons we learn the hard way.
When I was 18 I welded a new inner arch on a mk3 cortina without trying the back door before paint and it all had to come off again as the door wouldn't shut

The rework never usually takes long once a decision has been made. Its the head and chin scratching before that takes up the time!

Did you fit a new aperture rubber seal? These can be a problem for closing the tailgate. Are there holes around the edge of the rubber to let the air out? Did you fit a new rear panel?

pazwaa said

At least it's progressing  

I had loads of problems with my boot latch, couldn't get the latch and pin to line up, had to keep opening the fixing hole diameter up for adjustment. Not sure if that helps?

Thought about opening up the holes but I wouldn't be able to fix the paint properly. At least just by removing the lip I can hide my paintwork under the seal

Yomp said

They say a good tradesman is not someone that can do the job but someone who can fix the job when it goes wrong

Its one of those lessons we learn the hard way.
When I was 18 I welded a new inner arch on a mk3 cortina without trying the back door before paint and it all had to come off again as the door wouldn't shut

The rework never usually takes long once a decision has been made. Its the head and chin scratching before that takes up the time!

Yeah you're right mate, didn't take long to sort it out, it was just the thought of doing it. I thought it was one of the jobs the bodyshop would have sorted out before paint