My Mk1 Golf GX Project

Hi All, I haven't started a build thread for my Mk1 yet, so thought best too!

 bought the car last January from a guy in Bolton, Manchester. I had to travel 160 miles each way after one phone conversation and one picture on the advert on Gumtree. He told me that it would run and idle, however it had some stuff in the tank so would cut out every now and again but should be fine if left off for a couple of minutes. Armed with this information, my mum and a mate set off on the journey to pick her up!

(This was the only picture that I had before I set off)



So, A few hours later and £900 lighter in the bank I had myself a good looking, fairly solid Mk1 Golf. I got told by the guy that it had lived in the same estate it's whole life and he had seen it everyday as he walked back and forth to school. It was garaged when it wasn't being used and was owned by an elderly gentleman. When he passed away, he left it to his grandson who then kept it garaged for a few years, not knowing what to do with it and eventually sold it to the guy who I bought it from. The way home was a bit of an experience. It broke down a few miles from the guys house, with the fueling problem. I was stuck on the motorway for a few hours until the AA could rescue me.
Got the tank off and cleaned it out Over 6 months of driving, I never really had any major problems with it, only a couple of small things including a split fuel line and the handbrake stopping working on the drivers side.

I managed to take it to a couple of meets, Including the Mk1 regional meet: Ultimate Dubs 2013:

By Big Bang 2013 I got a brand new Webasto open air imported and fitted by a company in Bedford. It has now been taken off the road to have some work done. The front valance has been cut off and the new one needs to be welded back on

And managed to get some Schmidt TH line split rim wheels for her

Got the wing off, waiting for a new one to go on

This is as far as I've got, Ill post updates as they come Any feedback is welcome!

Tidy looking 5-door. Shame about the breakdown when you picked it up but for £900 I think you did ok  

love this  

nice car with nicer wheels  

matt

Great little car, and love the webasto!

Cracking wee motor and the roof is cool as  

I have the same car with the same rust in the tank still to sort  

Keep the updates coming  

Thanks everyone for the great feedback  

richyhill said

Great little car, and love the webasto!

Massbad69 said

Cracking wee motor and the roof is cool as  

I love the Webasto, makes it so much nicer to drive in the sun! It doesn't cause any wind noise either It is a bit of a marmite mod though, not to everyones taste, but personally I really like them!

Managed to get her started the other day. Been sitting for about 8 months without being turned on, all it needed was for the choke to be pulled out and a little bit of power from the daily Mk2

Been working on the new engine for her today. I bought a 1.6TD from a Mk2 Golf about 7 months ago from a guy on the Caddy forum. While it was out I thought that I would change the timing belt and water pump which seemed to be a bit of a mistake…

When taking the bolts for the pump out, every bolt snapped in the housing. I found a new housing on VW Heritage, which came with a pump and set off changing it. It's a bit of a nightmare taking the alternator bracket off because 2 of the bolts are hidden under the diesel pump. I managed to do it without having to take the diesel pump off as well Just fitted the new housing and pump


Everything back together (Nearly!)

Well, its been a pretty busy couple of days really. Had Thursday and Friday booked off of work for about a month and a half for no reason, so I thought it would be best if I started on the Mk1. Thought it could be a good idea if i started to drag the engine out. So I called up my mate Dave and we set to work.

The drive shaft bolts were probably one of the hardest bits to get off, as they all were pretty stuck in there and the heads kept rounding off. After a bit of persuasion with a hammer though we managed to get them out!

It was quite an easy job after that really though, just a matter of unplugging things and un doing a few bolts. I was surprised at how little electrics were actually there!



We both made the decision that it was going to be easier to lift the car over the engine, but after finding out the jack was just a little off raising it up high enough I had to try and find one that would. I made a few phone calls, and it turns out that my cousin has a proper big jack that can lift over 2.5 foot. It was perfect for the job.



and me standing like a lemmon next to the car



Its now got an empty bay, that needs to be cleaned



And I like how it sits on the wheels at the back now (i know im cheating a little bit with it sitting part way up a hill!)

That's a mean looking rear stance!  

Good work, it should be quite nippy with that TD in there  

Hairyarse said

That's a mean looking rear stance!  

Good work, it should be quite nippy with that TD in there 

Thanks buddy, I'll have to roll the arches a little bit as they are scraping quite a lot

I'm hoping that it's a little bit better with the TD in. I've heard some good feedback about the lump but never had to deal with one in the past! Fingers crossed though!

I took the wiring loom for the petrol engine out today, and luckily the loom for the TD will plug straight in  I'll have a closer look tomorrow

Cool - have a word with Bert if you get stuck on anything, he's one of our oil burning experts!  

I used to have a GX so fell in love with this as soon as I saw it.  It looks lovely!

Curious on how you approached the fuel tank though.  I had the same issue but didn't remove the tank.  Just lots of flushing of the system … it worked but at great cost in time and money :/

Retro Specification said

I used to have a GX so fell in love with this as soon as I saw it.  It looks lovely!

Curious on how you approached the fuel tank though.  I had the same issue but didn't remove the tank.  Just lots of flushing of the system … it worked but at great cost in time and money :/

I lifted the back up and dropped the rear beam off. It took a little time to get everything apart, but it probably works out a lot quicker flushing the tank with it out than with it in, and probably  works out a lot better.

 had to change the fuel filler neck as it was past the point of usefulness. I will have to take it all apart again as the tank was on its way out anyway, and I didnt have the money for a new one. It will probably be better to do it now anyway as I'm changing the fuel type.

Travis

Awesome man…. so what's the plan on the diesel conversion

Looking good  

such a cool car  

allana13 said

Awesome man…. so what's the plan on the diesel conversion

Well, I was going to clean the bay and then put the diesel in to get it going, but I'm looking at another Mk1 as a daily now so I'm going to spend a little more time on the bay cleaning and moving bits about before getting the diesel in.

browner01 said

such a cool car  

Thanks Man

Ice2812 said

Looking good  

Thank you, got a few bits to be getting on with now that the weather is getting a little bit better

I started polishing up the schmidts over the last couple of days

They started off like this


and started coming up really well when I got started



Comparing them against each other haha!


And a trial on the car



They havent come up perfectly, but they are a hell of a lot better now than they were before! Now just to do the other 3