'79 diesel LHD

Hi,

I haven't posted on here a lot, but I've had a blue '81 cab for over a year, and this afternoon I found this:



It's a 1979 5door GLD, a 1600 I think, and not too rough. There are a few scabs and a dent in the rear:



Plans are to get it home at the weekend, to give it a major clean, and to get it running.
It hasn't run for a couple of months, and the starter solenoid wasn't happy, so I haven't heard it running, but it only cost me 150 euros. It has done 160k kilometres, and the engine is very oily, but looks sound. The interior is clean and mostly undamaged.
 The body is still very clean, with just one rear arch needing welding and a few rusty seams

I'll be looking out for tips on diesels, and some advice on 5-speed gearboxes, I expect.

More news and photos soon.
Robin

Great to see it, It could well be a 1500 ? 4 or 5 speed ? I should imagine one like that is pretty rare now so well worth doing up,great find mate and keep us posted on your progress

Nice find!
Any photos of the engine? I would suspect a series one (small rear lights) model from 1979 would be a 1.5 but could be wrong (the French market may have differed from the UK market).
Look forward to seeing your progress.

Nice diesel!

So it could be a 1500 or a 1600. How can I tell? Is it the engine codes? 1600CY and 1500CK and where do I find them?
It will be home as soon as I have time to collect it, so I'll get some more photos then.

Thanks for your comments!
Robin

Hi,
just found the reference 17CK on the registration doc, so it's a 1500.

Robin

cool robin… look forward to some pics

cheers

Nice one mate, keep us updated on the project please!

Mike.

Hi,

picked up the car and trailered it home this morning, finally finding time to look a bit more closely.

Some photos:

Not bad at all from a distance
[.url=http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=730&u=12948636]

One or two odd wheels:


A hole under the trim, needs welding:


Some 1970s reflective safety tape:


Interior nice condition:


Seats nice too, if dirty: (sorry, I posted the photo sideways)


Door panels perfect!


Nice dash, all present except radio, but no speakers either? And no holes for them, phew!


Engine bay needs a good clean:


Dodgy early brake calipers: (can I fit VW2 calipers easily?)


Gave it a clean outside, and fitted a battery. The starter motor is dead, as I thought, so I'll strip it tomorrow and give it a clean.

Nothing happening when I try to start, heater light goes out after 10 secs, but no sign of life from the starter. What the hell, I thought, I'll fix it tomorrow, and I put it away for the night:

Well, actually I lied. I called out to my very understanding wife to come and find me if I wasn't back in ten minutes, switched on the ignition and gave it a push.
I live at the top of a hill, on a private road, and with no tractors in sight, and as soon as I popped the clutch it simply started.
I would like to say it roared into life, but, no, it simply started and ticked over quietly.
There is very little engine noise on tickover, a lot less that the rattly diesel I expected, though it booms a bit when you rev it. That may be something to do with the lack of connection between the downpipe and the exhaust.
I rolled it to the bottom, testing the brakes, selected reverse, turned and drove home. The gears change easily, though the clutch bites at the top of the pedal stroke, and everything works with little or no fuss.

Plans are to give it a good service, find some better tyres, replace the front end with bigger calipers that I have lying around, clean it thoroughly, and put it in for an MOT.

More news soon,
Robin

Hi there,

no spectacular progress today, but a lot of little things done and a lot of confidence gained - this one is going to be a good one.

I push started her and let her warm up, then changed the oil and filter.

The starter was stripped, dodgy brushes changed, brass collector cleaned up, and it turned over on a battery.

After a few seconds it ran up to normal speed, so that's one part that doesn't need changing.
Then I removed the solenoid and cleaned it up, and got it retracting on jump leads from a spare battery.
All refitted, I had a look at the disconnected exhaust system. It was fractured just after the front box. I struggled with rusty fittings,but managed to get it all off, re-weld the crack, fit a sleeve over it to reinforce, and refit with the correct number of rubbers.

At this point, I tested the starter…

About 15-20 secs of pre-heating, and it started instantly, with very little smoke at all.
I let her warm up and then took her out for a short run, and eveything seems to be tight and rattle-free, so the MOT will be fairly soon.

Things to do:

Fix two very stiff windows.
Weld a small patch on the outer wheel arch.
Purchase one (or more) new tyre(s)
Change coolant.
Fix rear screen wash.
Maybe fit a radio?
Fit a r/h mirror
A Tailgate strut to replace the piece of wood

Nothing very difficult.

I'm going to keep the small calipers for the moment, as the brakes seem very good, but I'll probably fit the VWII setup later on. I'll have to start looking seriously at the 5-speed gearbox install, as the 4-speed runs out of revs very quickly. I took her up to 100kph, an the engine makes itself present. There's no lack ofpower, just a lack of 5th gear!

Some photos:

Both my mk1s together - One is slightly lower than the other!


I actually prefer the chrome surrounded grill on the diesel!


The interior is nicer after a good clean:


The middle section of the exhaust I repaired:


Pretty soon I'll be putting the cabriolet away for winter and using the diesel to go to work, I hope:


More soon,
Robin

Nice to see an old Golf just being used for what it was designed and built for. Not weekend toys (like mine  :redfaced: ) or lowered with a 20v turbo motor and 19 inch alloys.

Hi all,

getting there slowly, bu tit's hard to find time to play with it.
This week, another good clean, a check on the brakes front and rear, fixed the wipers, washers, indicators and number plate support.
I cleaned up and fitted some 5J steel wheels from my cab, with a good set of 175/70/13s, and it looks so much better:



A quick spray-can job after a good scrub, and they're like new (well, not really, but they'll do until I can afford something else)



The only remaining job today is the heater blower.
I've checked the motor, and all three speeds are fine with a jumper from the battery, at the fuse box (n°10) there's no power, but again with a jumper I can power the switch, and get all three speeds, so the fault must be in the power supply to the heater blower fuse. Is there a relay for this? I've been through the diagrams,but can't identify the relay or power supply to the heater fuse.

Here's the fusebox: (LHD '79 diesel GLD with rear wiper, etc)



Any ideas?

Robin

looking better with every photo!! you can't keep a good dub down!!  

Good news,

got the MOT today, which is good for two years in France. There were advisories on crusty bits in the rear arches and a split steering rack gaitor, but that's it.

Apart from loosing a hubcap on the way (and finding it again on the way home) I'm happy.

Robin

This is such a good car to drive, I just don't believe it.

Everything is working as it should, I did 250 klms in her on Thursday and Friday, without missing a beat.

A photo just for pleasure:



Today I'll give her another good clean, fit a R/H mirror, fit a radio and an aerial and do some tidying.

I've got two weeks holiday coming up, so the welding can wait until then.

Thanks for looking!
Robin

Updates plz

Coming soon - I'm using it every day, waiting for the tank to run low to see how much diesel it's using. So far I've done 400 kms on 2/3 of a tank.
I've fitted an old Blaupunkt radio I found in a box in the back of the workshop, with only LW/MW and KW! I can only pick up three stations so far…

On Saturday I'm picking up some mirrors and an aeriel (the coat hanger may be responsable for the lack of stations) and I've got new plates to fit.

Photos soon, I promise.

Robin

Hi,

finally filled up with diesel today, but I could only get 34.7 litres in. The tank is 40 litres according to the drivers manual. I had done 699 km since my first tankful, which is 4.95 litres for 100km, or 434 miles for 7.65 gallons. That's 56.7 mpg in old money.
I can't believe it's that good! Have I made a mistake in my calculations?

Robin

When I had a 1.6D Caddy it would average 55+mpg on a bit of a run (5spd gearbox). A previous Jetta 1.6D (4spd G/B ) used almost entirely on short runs would do @40-45mpg. So your average sounds about right and about right for a Diesel, you sound surprized? Are you used to filling up a V8 petrol?