Jake's '83 Tin Top Project

Thought I'd get a thread started nice and early for this, I've posted a little bit about it already on UK-MKIVs but this is a more appropriate place for a full build thread.

After finally getting my Mk4 to a point where I'm happy with it as a reliable daily, I decided I needed another project to properly get stuck into. My dad considered giving me his unfinished Triumph Spitfire project for my 21st, and I went to have a look at a pretty cool Mk3 classic Mini shell with a Metro Turbo swap, but in the end when I discovered my uncle was selling his Mk1 Golf I couldn't resist…

The car is a 1983 1.3 Driver edition. My uncle adapted some Mk3 Recaros to fit and it was fitted with a towbar at some point but apart from that it seems to be completely stock. The plan for this is to do a full restoration - bare metal, nut and bolt rebuild. I'll hopefully be swapping in an ABF 2.0 16V and most likely running it on ITBs. Currently I'm thinking the shell will be painted in RAL5009 which is similar to VW Monaco Blue, and will run small chrome bumpers, riding on 3 piece 15" wheels. This could all change as I work on it though!

This is how I found the car…



And after bringing it home…







So it's in pretty decent nick, a bit of rust in the usual areas but on first look it doesn't seem to be anything overly concerning. My uncle decided to throw in the rear arch repair panels and a new bootlid from VW Heritage which is handy!











The roof gutters are a bit rusty but there are no holes, hopefully it hasn't penetrated the seam too far.





Also a bit of unusual looking rust below the driver's A pillar, hopefully this won't reveal a rotting sill…



Rust in both rear arches in the usual places too.





Thankfully the boot floor and engine bay are both extremely solid with barely a trace of rust (excluding behind the tow bar reinforcement where there's some surface rust.)





After a clean it looks considerably better! I removed the front and rear bumpers as well as the tow bar while it was out. (obviously the rear one was still on when I took the photos!)





That's all I've got for now, but I'll be updating as I do things or buy parts 

Started picking up a few parts, got a genuine single light front grill on eBay for a good price, great condition just needs a clean up. Also ordered a chrome VW badge, didn't realise they were still available from VW and didn't realise they were plastic!

Bought a cool little date of manufacture sticker from the US as well. It goes on the inside of the window which is why it's reversed.

Started stripping out the interior yesterday. Found the driver's side rear seat belt mounting had rusted a lot, went to crack the bolt off and the whole thing came with it…





Easy place to fix luckily as I have access from inside the car and also through the wheel arch. I like the fact that it seems there are very few cavities that are completely boxed in on the Mk1, I was quite surprised to see that you can see inside the arches by removing the rear interior panels, Gives me a good chance to check the insides of the sills for rot with an inspection camera.

Here's the surface rust caused by the towbar reinforcement. Most of it is from the untreated steel bar that was used as reinforcement.



Managed to crack one of the interior wheel arch trims. Not overly bothered, I'll retrim that area in vinyl anyway.



Got the rest of the interior all stripped revealing the condition of the floor, which is luckily just very dirty rather than rusty. Also took the dash out revealing the slightly daunting amount of wiring to be labelled and removed.







Here's how I've been keeping track of the nuts, bolts, screws, and other small parts from the car…

Had to take the windows out to remove the headliner, turns out one is tinted and the other is clear, a bit odd!



Rear windows, windscreen, and all door seals off, and headliner removed. Ended up cracking the windscreen taking it out, needed a new one anyway!



All wiring removed from the rear of the car…



Boot lid off, this will be replaced once the glass and wiper mechanism have been removed.



The interior is looking pretty empty now.



Anyone have any tips for removing the felt sound deadening on the roof? It's proving quite tricky to remove…

JakeMcC said

Thought I'd get a thread started nice and early for this, I've posted a little bit about it already on UK-MKIVs but this is a more appropriate place for a full build thread.

After finally getting my Mk4 to a point where I'm happy with it as a reliable daily, I decided I needed another project to properly get stuck into. My dad considered giving me his unfinished Triumph Spitfire project for my 21st, and I went to have a look at a pretty cool Mk3 classic Mini shell with a Metro Turbo swap, but in the end when I discovered my uncle was selling his Mk1 Golf I couldn't resist...

The car is a 1983 1.3 Driver edition. My uncle adapted some Mk3 Recaros to fit and it was fitted with a towbar at some point but apart from that it seems to be completely stock. The plan for this is to do a full restoration - bare metal, nut and bolt rebuild. I'll hopefully be swapping in an ABF 2.0 16V and most likely running it on ITBs. Currently I'm thinking the shell will be painted in RAL5009 which is similar to VW Monaco Blue, and will run small chrome bumpers, riding on 3 piece 15" wheels. This could all change as I work on it though!

Ive sent u a pm mate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just bought an ABF off a nice bloke on eBay. Has a ported head and a baffled sump which is nice! Need to sort out a gearbox, flywheel, and clutch now.

Got some wheels! 15x8J Image DM - 3 piece with hidden hardware. They're 4x108 so will need the inserts machined or hubs redrilled. Also got the centre caps but didn't have them on for the pics!

Taking a break from the Mk1 for a bit as I'm driving around Ireland in this with my mate Charlie, seen here broken down at the side of the road! It's a 1929 Austin 7

Got some of the engine stripped down before I left - alternator, water pump, oil filter housing, etc. all removed.



Cams and lifters seem to look in decent condition, oil is clean too.



A look at the head porting, looks very well done, good job around the valves as well. It was done by Dave Crissell, a well known name in the 16v head porting world!



Bores are in good condition, a bit glazed so will be honed.



Just thought this was a cool looking photo.



Also picked up a genuine chrome front bumper, chrome sill trims, and chrome waist trims from the classifieds on here. Got the chrome trim for the grill too but it's in pretty poor condition, I'll see if I can straighten it up and if not may have to go for a replica one.

Starting to look like a great project Jake. Nice to see an old school engine being used too, and if Dave has done the head it should be a cracker.

Keep the updates coming.

Looks like this is off to a great start!  

Pistol said

Starting to look like a great project Jake. Nice to see an old school engine being used too, and if Dave has done the head it should be a cracker.

Keep the updates coming.

I've heard he's the guy to go to for head porting on a 16V The guy that sold me the engine had planned to put it into a Mk2 track car so he wasn't skimping on quality work.

Fausto said

Looks like this is off to a great start!  

Cheers! Hopefully I can come up with some good content over the coming months

Started stripping the engine bay. Everything is now disconnected apart from the gearbox linkage.



Started on the suspension.



Bought some VDO gauges from an Audi 80. A little bracket bending and they fit nicely. That's voltage, oil temperature, and oil pressure.



Did a fitment check. Might be able to run 8Js flush but it'll be very tight. We'll see. Can always step the lips down to 1".

Collected some parts today - Klokkerholm rear arch repair panels, both inners and outers and for both sides.



And a brand new South African genuine VW boot lid. Very happy about this as my boot lid is a bit of a state and my uncle had this one stashed away!

Finally got round to lifting the 1.3 engine out. Not much left to remove now before I can send the shell off to get blasted!

Bit of a late update here, been busy with uni and messing around working with various teams… Did the 24h of Spa with Garage 59.



Plenty of messing with the University Formula Student car, I'm designing and building the engine loom for the 2020 car.



And have been working as a mechanic for Team Dolan and their Formula Ford 1600s (that's me on the right!)



Continued stripping the shell of the Mk1. The more I take off the more I'm surprised by just how clean this car is! Started stripping the sound deadening on the floor too.





Stripped the wiring loom, all labelled. All engine loom components will be removed as I'll be building my own loom for the engine, as I'm removing engine bay wires all other wires will be checked for damage. I'll likely also remove all of the mounting tabs for the body loom, as I'll be replacing those with a more modern solution.





Alloy radiator arrived, along with two fans. The fans had bullet connectors on them which I'm not keen on so they were promptly replaced with Deutsch DTM plugs. I'm using the open barrel crimp pins as I don't have a tool to crimp the closed barrel motorsport spec ones, I'll see how these hold up. The DTM pins are rated to 7.5A which is techinically enough but I might go up to a size 16 contact in the DT plug just to give a bit of safety margin as weight isn't a major concern.





I also picked up a set of throttle bodies, trumpets, injectors, and throttle linkage for a good price. (Need to get rid of one!) They're the real deal Jenvey 45s, I want to go a little shorter on the trumpets to match the inlet manifold I'm using and need to look at injector sizing. The injetcors are stock 1.8T ones which I imagine should be fine.



Did some CAD to check wheel and brake fitment. I picked up a set of Wilwood Dynalite calipers but they'll need spaced to fit the G60 discs as they're designed for much skinnier discs. Tolerance between the wheel bolts and caliper looks tight but it's just the perspective - there's plenty of room. The wheels will need 20mm spacers so rather than messing with redrilling the wheels I've decided to run 20mm adapters. They'll also need stepped down from a 2.5" lip to 1.5" to fit the stock arches.







Think that's all - my uncle gave me an AEM ECU he had sitting in the garage, not sure if he'll need it back but itll allow me to get the engine running on something. Progress will be slow over the next few months as I'll be back over in England but I should be able to continue sourcing parts.

Got a little more done today in between shed tidying and reorganising. Removed the drivers side door and wing. The wings are stuck on pretty tight, took a lot of effort to get them off! No alarming amounts of rust behind the panel which is nice.



Also drilled the spot welds on the battery tray and various brackets in the engine bay. I won't be doing a full shave and tuck but it tidies it up a bit as I'll be moving the battery to the spare wheel well and using a small Tudor washer bottle, no point having a few litres of washer fluid in something that's not driven daily!