My 83 Mars red Gti AHN 502Y

Ok, picked it up on Monday and trailered her back to sunny Harrogate!

These are the pics from the ad …









On inspection the drivers door is the worst part of the car and will need changing at some point. The previous owner was on about the valve guides being worn but it runs fine and there is no smoking from the engine, maybe something ill need to look into when I get an MOT on it!

The car has a 60 thou overbore and a K+N panel filter and I must say revs quite nicely.

So far ive found the gear change is slack as a wizards sleeve too so ive bought a repair kit, also the brakes are non-existant, I might as well stick my foot out of the door to slow it down    I intend to give her the full polish this weekend (might as well get it nice and clean before I get my hands dirty! Ive had the rear clusters out and in the bath to get the muck out too, I was very popular with the Mrs …..

Few pics today after a wash and windows done





Plan is to get a mint standard Mk1 so Ill keep you guys up to date as I do it bit by bit

Cheers, Tim

nice car tim  8)

it's come up really well with a wash and a polish.

try and get hold of some kiwi liquis shoe polish - about 2 quid from tesco. use it on your bumpers and arches to bring them up nice and black! each coat will last you months, and the bottle will do plenty of coats.

cheers

john

Very nice indeed!!!

Like the fact your keeping it standard, i thought i was the only one!

looks great now you polished it, nice car

Thanks for the comments! Looks like the weather had put an end to any more work today unfortunately, Ill just have to sit and stare at it out of the window  

Mk1Henry said

Thanks for the comments! Looks like the weather had put an end to any more work today unfortunately, Ill just have to sit and stare at it out of the window  

Nice clean example you have there mate,
    did you get it for a good price, doesnt look like it needs a lot doing to it.
       keep the updates coming :wink:

Paid 625 pounds for it  8)  A steal in my opinion! It was fully restored in 2002 but the guy who had it previous to me hasnt really kept on top of it. Im expecting to have to do some work on the engine as it needs a press of the pedal to get her started, also its pretty worn gear change and brakes as mentioned, however Im really looking forward to doing all these jobs.

I will need a new drivers door as the hinges are shot and the bottom of it has quite a lot of rust - any of you chaps have a good recommendation for getting a door?

Mk1Henry said

Paid 625 pounds for it  8)  A steal in my opinion! It was fully restored in 2002 but the guy who had it previous to me hasnt really kept on top of it. Im expecting to have to do some work on the engine as it needs a press of the pedal to get her started, also its pretty worn gear change and brakes as mentioned, however Im really looking forward to doing all these jobs.

I will need a new drivers door as the hinges are shot and the bottom of it has quite a lot of rust - any of you chaps have a good recommendation for getting a door?

nice one, you got it for a good price, why did you trailer it back? you will be able to source most of your bits on here. keep at it and you have the basis of a good car.

Nice car. Keep us posted with its progress.

I had to trailer it back as the brakes are diabolical - Even standing on the pedal has virtually no effect  ops:

Also no Tax, Test or MOT on it at the moment, its SORN

looks nice. my brakes are terrible aswel got a mk2 16v MC and servo coming though so that should help them along.

Finally! Some decent weather    Managed to get a good look around the car today and find out where any potential problem areas (eg rust!) are, these are my findings







As I thought its going to need a new drivers door and the sills will need attention.

Did a full wash then decided to dismantle the front end! As yer do



This cleaning spree then decended into the engine bay and I managed to get through the grime down to a very solid chassis leg and inner wing …













Cleaned out all the rubbish and dead leaves from under the scuttle panel and cleaned out the drainage holes. It was then time to lay some polish on the bonnet and see how she comes up, these are the results …



Pulled the badges off the back as these are looking very tatty and need a clean





After all the polishing (hard going lol) Ive ran out of steam and if I see any more Mars red at close range tonight im going to start foaming at the mouth! Heres how she sits tonight ……. Until tomorrow  

Is that big black box on the oil filler cap a 1970's alarm?  :wink:  nice shine coming too  8)
Bert

Hiya mate,
              to get your badges looking like new, go to halfords and buy some chrome paint, you can get it in a little jar, then get a STIFF sponge that doesnt give very much and put some paint on it. then simply wipe the old badge over it upside down, dont push too hard as you dont want the paint to bleed onto the rest of the badge
      OH MY GOD just reread this post that i put on last night, it looks like something out of viz's top tips. it is effective though and a fraction of the cost of new badges
before
after

Awesome, Cheers    I was wondering how I was going to get them looking mint again and had vision s of being sat with a small paintbrush or something!

Weathers is good again today so time to get stuck in again, more pics later

Whatever you do dont use a paint brush because even the calmist of people is going to slip slightly and make a mess of it.

Hi all, not much got done today as other things came about, I did however manage to get the radiator cowl off as it looked a bit rusty from the top!

When I did actually get it off it was in a right state so I spent a while chipping away at rust, great Sunday afternoon leisure  

Nothing else apart from a 3 stage polish on the wing then had to leave it, more as its done

 As you can prob tell by now I have no real list of things to do in order Im just finding something then sorting it out! A bit random but really good fun, Im loving the old Golf

Cheers

Car looks great that hard work polishing definatly paid off!
Is you car on standard suspension and springs or has it been lowered??

Car looks great, good to see someone local
(I'm over in York)

If you're quick at addymans scrapyard in Knaresborough they have a Mk1 in, although its five door I'm unsure if the front doors are the same?!

Dom

Car is standard all round as far as im aware Fozzie, though it does look nicely in proportion with the road I must admit!

I live in Knaresborough Dom so ill be over there seeing what I can salvage from it if its still there at the weekend. I could do with some clips to hold the grill on as Ive gone and lost one taking it off  :cry:  Ill see what else might be of use on it though I know the front doors are smaller on a 5 door

Cheers for the info  

Good to see someone else local too, havent seen many from this area yet.