1988 Caddy 1.6D

Oh no, I’ve done it again !!  I’ve taken on another mk1 project….

I've been advised to lose the nasty aftermarket sunroof ….. so….. there's no going back now…

And I've found a little bit of rust in the front scuttle panel, hidden while the windscreen was in place…

So had a high biting point to the clutch pedal, I checked the adjustment on the cable and it seemed correct, so I think it needs a new clutch. So out comes the gearbox. Might as well change all the oil seals and check everything with the gearbox, and replace the shifter bushes as the gears were all over the place with a floppy gear stick.

I found some corrosion to the front crossmember around the front engine Mount

…. So I fabricated a repair section.

 I would rather have used a cut from another shell but couldn't find anything available, but I didn't  want to replace the whole front as I didn't think it warranted such invasive work at this time

I wanted to get the repair section done while the gearbox was out, which gave me more room to work.



So I got on with it and then replaced the crank rear main oil seal (while I'm here) and the clutch

My set up to get the gearbox back in.

The panel across the cab below the back window was corroded through so had to be changed

I had to repair part of the rear window aperture and then weld in the new panel, bought from "retrofication" - a very good quality panel to be fair.

More rust lower down on the cab bulkhead where it meets the floor. I had to get that cut out andrepaired…

So I was considering an alternative bed floor. Alternative to OE. I asked fellow mk1 club members on Facebook for their ideas, and got a few images of what others had done, and also a couple of comments that I should stick with what VW did, so the jury is out on that one for the time being, I'm hanging up my welding torch and getting my spanners out , and I'll come back to the load floor another day….

So I put the front suspension and steering together, everything pretty much new, new dampers on the rear, and I fitted new copper fuel lines front to rear

New brakes, new fuel lines, some new brake lines

The floor pans are all good, just one of the blanking plates needed renewing, so I made one and fitted it.

So she's up and running with all new suspension, brakes, clutch, fuel lines, etc etc the list goes on. …

I've fitted a new radiator and the plan now is to run her up to temperature and see what happens, I'll flush the cooling system and try and get the temperature gauge working , I've rewired the coolant fan and switch and would like to see the fan kick in without the engine overheating, I'm not confident, I suspect I need to change the thermostat as a matter of course, plus likely the heater matrix, and thorough inspection of the heater valve etc