My first Golf - 82' gti Black

So my plan to have it ready and M.O.T'ed for the car show didnt work out there was a few wee jobs that were giving me hassle but I got there in the end new M.O.T date is this wednesday coming.

one big problem I had was that I never routed the fuel lines behind the steering rack so that had to come off to re-route the pipes, This took alot longer than expected was a c*nt of a job to do aswell  .

I also wrapped my downpipe in heat proof titanium wrap so that should keep the heat off the bulk head and the steering rack boot that always gets toasted.

I think it was last Thursday that the car did its first start, seemed to fire up no bother once i had the ignition timing set right. The car runs up to temperature and the fan kicks in when it should the only problem i had was that my new heater valve that goes into the heater matrix is leaking when its open so i put my old one back on and thats doing the same, so just got water in it just now till my new valve comes then i will put coolant in it. I took the car for a wee spin when it was running my tracking was all over the shop so i have adjusted it today and the gears are quite hard to find so ill think ill have to readjust the fork again as it might be slightly out.





Just need to put the bumper on, run the bonnet cable and re-bleed the brakes then it should sail through its mot on wednesday  

I also wrapped my rubber UJ boot as well as wrapping my exhaust down pipe, this size Matt is just right to wrap around the boot and I used a couple of the stainless steel ties to hold it in place.

It's possible to do this job with engine in and down pipe fitted.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heat-Resistant-Soldering-Brazing-Plumbers-Mat-300mm-x-250mm-Woven-Glass-Fabric/231607785661?epid=1988749576&hash=item35ece658bd:g:hHUAAOSwyQtVkQWm

Looking great!

Have you seen these for sale for protecting the UJ Joint. 

MK1 Golf Shield Protector for Steering Rack UJ Boot https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F333193112175

£35 for a boot cover is more than I would spend.

Solder matt fitted for £4 but my car is a daily drive and not a show car. 

tnotty said

Looking great!

Have you seen these for sale for protecting the UJ Joint. 

MK1 Golf Shield Protector for Steering Rack UJ Boot https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F333193112175

 Great idea but a bit pricey, i think ill just use some of my left over heat wrap on it

It passed it mot!! cant wait to take it out a drive this weekend

All the hard work pays off! Good effort sir!

Not updated this in a while…
So after the engine rebuild all has been well, I done the NC500 once I finished running in my engine and changing out the oil, The car never skipped a beat the whole 700 odd miles it done, only thing i did notice that my odometer stopped working just as I started my trip.

So I took it out the car a few weeks ago and gave the the whole unit a refresh, I started with sourcing the small gear that had hairline fractures on it which was stopping it from turning another gear for the millage to turn, I then decided to replace the LCD as a few of the pixels were dead on it as you can see by the photo there are a slight leak on the left side. I also decided to give the yellowing needles a touch up with some white acrylic paint.








Next on the to-do list was get the BBS RM's on the car for the spring time, I went for a BMW grey for the centers (Ferric grey) Pretty pleased with how they turned out , I was wanting a staggered set up on these. My initial plan was to go for 1" lips on the front and 1.5" on the rears in Radinox (stainless steel) but I found out they dont make 1" lips so I ended up going for the 1.5" in radinox all round. I also went for full stainless hardware too, These photos are them bolted together without sealer for just now to get a idea on how they will look.





The car is booked in to get the doors painted as they have been done in 2k black, Where as the rest of the car has been done with base and clear coat and you can notice the difference in the colors if you look close enough.

After that it will be getting ceramic coated with krypton K5 or K7 depending on how much funds I'm left with  

So seeing as I cant do anything  due to the corona virus lock down I thought i'd update this.

I finished getting the doors pained at the end of February then took the car to the detailers.

I ended up going for the Krypton K9 ceramic coating. This coating has a harness of 9H and last for 5 years I also got the plastics done in the K5 as this one dose not need to be baked on with the heat lamps. The whole car then got a final top coat of K3.

The car got a full 3 stage machine polish before this was applied. Really happy how this turned out    
























I used Bodyshine Auto Valet & Detailing Specialist in Kirkcaldy, Fife. I highly recommend using them!

I also fitted 2 OMP strut braces - front upper and lower. What a difference they make when chucking the car into corners!! I have smaller and simpler OMP stickers to go on them as I don't like the look of the ones that are on them currently. Theres a few other goodies in my garage that I'm waiting to fit.


One thing that I'm not to happy with is the Bumpers That are on the car as both front and back have slight dents in them that annoy me. I bought both front and back bumpers from Werk34, I'm happy with the quality but the fit like sh*t   they bumpers seam to be sitting to one side so the bumper touches the body at one side and sticks out on the other  
Will try a few things before I chuck them in the plastic bin  


Maybe not the best photos but ils alot worse when seeing it with your own eyes.

I luckily managed to get to 1 car show this year a bagged a trophy, hope thats not the only show that ill get to this year but they way things are going just now it its looking that way….  








 



 

Your paint is absolutely stunning, you must be really pleased

How did you find the plastic after the K5. Is that long lasting like the ceramic coat on the paint?

Rich. said

Your paint is absolutely stunning, you must be really pleased

How did you find the plastic after the K5. Is that long lasting like the ceramic coat on the paint?

Thanks mate! to be honest just had a look when i was cleaning the car and have noticed some white marks on some of the plastics but the detailers said they will re-do it no problem not sure what happened there…
The K5 lasts 3 years if I remember correctly, thats the same stuff i used on my engine bay before I put the engine back in.  

Rich. said

Your paint is absolutely stunning, you must be really pleased

How did you find the plastic after the K5. Is that long lasting like the ceramic coat on the paint?

Still slowly crossing out jobs on my to do list over the past 2 weeks.


I've managed to fit my new sunroof seal. I was putting this job off for a while but 5 days after ripping the old one out the new one was successfully installed, I decided that the easiest way would be to do it in sections.

I started with removing the old seal and using a plastic trim tool to scrape most of the old sealer out that was underneath the old seal then i used some wire wheels on a dermal to remove the rest, Then the new sealer was put down before the seal went in. I did 1 corner at a time, once all 4 corners were done I ran a small bead of sealer under the outside edge. No water had appeared on the inside of the sunroof after I gave it a good power wash so I would say that job was a success  

 






Next on the to do list was to change out my 195/50R15's for some 185/45R15's so now I'm hoping that gets rid of my scrubbing issue. Looking at the back it looks like its got plenty of room but it think the front might be a bit close bit will test it once I've wound the coilovers down.





  This may not be mk1 related but I built a couple of work benches in my garage so now I dont have to work on the floor plus made a wheel rack that I can store my old wheels and tyre that I have just taken off (uniroyal rainsport 3's with 1000 miles on them)






My new Recaro's arrived today, going to order a set of bases and sliders for them at the weekend.
I do like the look of them how they are just now but I'm considering getting the centers trimmed in the factory material so they match the rear bench. I will play about on photoshop to see what I'm going to do




Next on the to do list is replace the small fuel mixture screw  
The car was misfiring like mad the last time it was out, I thought it was a timing issue but once I got it checked it was bang on, we later discovered that when accelerating that the adjustment screw was lifting up and dropping down so i think its worn out so my car was over fueling





Hopefully its a quick simple job so I can test out my new seats and tyres soon

Car is looking awesome.  Love the new Recaro's, would like some more info on where you got them and what model they are as I've been looking at 2nd hand Mk2 ones on eBay for a while now but they are silly money.

I would consider putting the side stripes back on to break up the black and it would look really well with the BBS centres.

Pistol said

Car is looking awesome.  Love the new Recaro's, would like some more info on where you got them and what model they are as I've been looking at 2nd hand Mk2 ones on eBay for a while now but they are silly money.

I would consider putting the side stripes back on to break up the black and it would look really well with the BBS centres.

 Thanks mate, yours is coming along nicely too! I got then from up garage uk on instagram they have quite alot of stock! Was always toying with that idea, my car had never had the side stripes might have to play about on photoshop with that idea too

Not very good at keeping up to date on this Since my last post I have done the NC500 with a bunch of mk1s.
I borrowed a 2nd hand Fuel distributor off of one of the people going on the trip it seemed to work okay, I had a issue a couple of times on the trip as some times it would randomly struggle to accelerate i felt like it was overfueling again, It was also popping and crackling out the exhaust but i've managed to source a feul distributor that came of a 1.6gti so i'm hoping its just a case of whipping this one off and sticking the other one on to solve this problem.

I've began to strip the underseal off the car to completely redo it myself. I've also ordered myself a welder as I think ill need it  

I managed to source the panel I need but its from a mk1 jetta so ill have to weld part of my old panel that sits inside the car onto the new panel, ill be getting one of my mates to weld this in as it will be a bit challenging for me as I have no experience with a welder. I'm also using a undersealing kit from a uk company called buzzweld heard good reviews on them and there products are mainly used on big off-roaders so pretty confident that it will do for my wee golf.
 





I was trying to think of the best way to have the car in the air on axle stands safely so i made up these blocks at my work so that the 2 mounting holes for the axle sit inside it and also tapped a m8 hole in the bottom of it so i can bolt my axle stands to it so there's less chance of the car falling on my head    





There's 2 massive holes on the panel that's in the car that's getting replaced no point in even trying to just patch them as no doubt it will just come back.







Heres some more pictures of areas I'm going to have to weld, I feel like once I've got the hang of welding ill be confident enough to tackle these areas. If i get stuck I have 3 friends that weld/restore cars so I shouldn't get too stuck.









Going to have to redo the 2 corners that come off the back panel as the last place did a shocking job on them and have started to rust out already that's why i'm motivated to learn how to weld so i know its done right and don't have to rely on just taking someones word for it. Luckily The fuel tank looks brand new inside must have been changed at some point in its life also underneath the tank looks really good too couple of patches of surface rust but all is solid under there

The rear beam will be getting the works too.
Its all stripped and away to the powdercoaters and will be getting some parts off it elecroless nickel plated should look better than new once its done
heres some before photos.

I love the jack mount, always such a pain to jack the rear of a mk1. Never like to use the pinch welds even with a jack pad.  

Rich. said

I love the jack mount, always such a pain to jack the rear of a mk1. Never like to use the pinch welds even with a jack pad.  

I dont like using the pinch welds either I couldn't find a good solid spot to put my axle stands when the rear axle was out, wouldnt want to trust them on the sills on a block of wood with a slit in it

Got some more work done over the weekend

My friend Daniel from lynwood restorations came down to remove the inner wheelwell panel, hes done a lovely job, I'm getting him to weld the new panel in as I think it would not be the best job to do when just starting out learning to weld. Ive slowly been building up my welding supply's should have everything ready to go in a week or so.






I also have a few panels on the way as you can see i need to replace both chassis legs, I'm Planning on doing this myself and I'll give Daniel a shout once i've managed to get them welded in!

I've got both side chassis rails, front sections and rear sections, 2 rear corners, rear valance and the outer wheel tub that you can see in the previous photo in the post should hopefully arrive this week.

While he was taking out this panel i started to buff back the paint on my N.O.S panel but i did notice some slight surface rust under the primer that was on it in some places so i decided to strip the whole panel back to bare metal and paint it with some rust encapsulator primer that came with my undersealing kit. i managed to get 1 coat on one side and 1 and a half on the other till it ran out   I've got 2 more can on order so ill scuff up the panel with some scotchbrite before applying a extra coat or 2

Dont know how well you can see it in the photos but heres some photos of the first part i started stripping and you could see some slight surface rust under the primer











I also went to pick up some bits from fife powdercoatings on friday, my rooms turned into a parts room again  
I guess ill have to move into the spare room again haha

I've got both front seats and rear bench on my couch and i have that panel in my room also now that its touch dry along with all the goodies on my bed