Robos 1982 1.6 GTI Quick Resto, Now getting 16V !

Bought this on 1st Nov after seeing an advert on this site,  ive been doing a thread on another site but thought i may as well introduce myself here !

Ive had a couple of mk2's and a mk1 cab before but i fancied an original mk1… this is what i found !



Couldnt believe my luck, been in a garage for 8 years after being resprayed, (still needs the arches putting on) it started with a jump start, i did everything a buyer shouldnt do, saw it, fell in love and bought it without even sitting in it ! Then realised i had to get it the 80mls back to liverpool. I drove it to the petrol station where a load of petrol spilled out of the holed filler neck (which explains the new one in the boot) and set off.

It drove spot on sweet as a nut, couldnt believe how smooth the gears were…. famous last words ! No rust, drives spot on, interior good, even the bolsters are in good nick. Ive a list of jobs that need done but nothing major… hmm i must be missing something…

 looking through the history (all the old mots, lots of tax discs and a full service history came with it) and it was first registered 11th October ! ! My birthday…. so it was brand spankers on my 12th Birthday, now i'm not a big believer in fate but what are the chances??

Another picky once i got it back home, plates held on with sellotape !



I made a start working my way through the 2 year old MOT failure
list. 1st job has been replacing all the brake pipes and hoses. I took
the old pipes off, took them to the local motor factors who charged the
princely sum of ?11.50 to make up all new copper lines. Bargain I think !
Also got a set of Goodridge braided brake hoses from GSF.



The front brake lines and came apart quite easily and went back together no problem, as did the servo to rear brake compensator. The back connectors were seized though  so i ended up cutting the rear hoses and dropping the beam to get at them. Good job I did as I still couldn?t undo them and had to cut them off with a hacksaw. Same went for the connector by the fuel pump which was a bit of a pain to get at and took about ? hr of me lying on my back !





With the rear beam off I thought it would be rude not to change the bushes to poly ones, bought from the ad?s section on here (thanks grunge is dead) and also replace the bolts. Bit unimpressed that VW want ?6.40/bolt but I couldn?t find M12 10.9 grade x 150mm bolts at the usual local suppliers and at least I know these are up to the job.







Ive also replaced the passenger door card with the spare that came with the
car (after swapping the trim over) and fitted a new battery.

Next job was fitting the new fuel filler neck, and having a general wire brush, clean up and waxoyl of the rear endunderside followed by refitting the beam etc?

Lots of rust on the old filler neck, breather pipe and the screws holding it onto the body just came away when i undid the main bolt and bottom pipe !



And the shiny new one ready to go on, i gave the top of it a good coat of waxoyl underseal !



Surprised (as the pipe was so bad) that the bodywork seems to have got off quite lightly



Next fitting the new exhaust,  it came with an adaptor to get from the 2.5 inch Jetex down to a 2 inch downpipe, unfortunately my downpipe was 1.75 inch, a phone call to jetex and they sent another one out, quite impressed with their service !  Also had too modify and fit a new
exhaust mount (the position of the front hanger on the
Jetex is different to mine? I suppose it must have moved
for the later 1.8 version?).





Also picy of the new downpipe fitted, top of it is covered in waxoyl so not as shiney anymore



Next i had a 2 hr drive to pick up some new wheels bought off e-bay, advertised as BBS but theyre not, chap i bought them off said they had bbs center caps when he got the wheels but couldnt find them? still they should clean up ok and they are et38 so proper fitment…. if you know what they are let me know, they have the following writing on them: KBA, KA90, 6Jx14H2, 60144, B3 or B8 and ET38



Took the tyre off this one when i got home, this is the worst, with a dent on the rim. The rest are all straight but scruffy. Decded to paint the centers gloss black and the rims silver or polished.



Couldnt wait to get the wheels shot blasted so i made a start on one with a wire brush in the angle grinder followed by a dremmel to get into the corners. Didnt come up too badly





Followed this with a couple of coats of high build primer



Then a stint in the oven….. dont forget to take the roast dinner out !




After a bit of a rub down, sprayed the rim silver, masked it up and sprayed the centre black….



then back in the oven! Followed by a coat of laquer now and its sorted .Quite pleased with the results, not up to professional standard but
then it will have cost me ?70 for all 4 sorted….. Including purchase!

Also got the brakes blead and the car back on its four wheels for now !  So hopefully only a few jobs left, just need  fit a suspension top mount, new steering rack gaiter, steering column gaiter and it should be MOT time….

spot on mate..!!

I think that must have been my advert....pleased to see it went to someone who knows what they are doing - where you from anyways.....hope to see it around when back on road which shouldnt be long by the looks of it

Nice one  mate

Good start there

looking good mate is it me or are the side stripes on upside down?

han glad to see you got the rear beam off in one piece with no upsets =] and good to see the bushes going to some use.

I would probably dous the filler neck in underseal, but its all looking good. Really surprised by how well your wheels have turned out. Was the primer Acid Etch?!

I wish i spent more time prepping my OZ's as theyve not stayed in top condition after a month or twos use compared to my friends castalettes she refurbed herself which are still faultless after 6 months and thousands of miles

The only thing id add to the car is a black badge on the grille, exhaust is lovely  too

Wow nice find! Looks like you doing a great job so far! Keep the updates flowing!  

MalC said

I think that must have been my advert….pleased to see it went to someone who knows what they are doing - where you from anyways…..hope to see it around when back on road which shouldnt be long by the looks of it

Could be it had been on ebay but not sold, somebody on here had been to see it but not gone through with the sale.  It was a bit further than i was planning to travel but as you had said it look ok i thought it was worth a trip.  Glad i did so thanks for the tip off ! !

Not too sure about "knows what they are doing", its my first go at something like this.

Im from near liverpool so it will no doubt be at Tatton Park and i plan on doing the odd track day ! !

mk1tt16v said

looking good mate is it me or are the side stripes on upside down?

You must get the award for eyes like a s%$t house rat…. i can honestly say i hadnt spotted that  ops:  ah well its another job on the list !

grungeisdead said

han glad to see you got the rear beam off in one piece with no upsets =] and good to see the bushes going to some use.

I would probably dous the filler neck in underseal, but its all looking good. Really surprised by how well your wheels have turned out. Was the primer Acid Etch?!

I wish i spent more time prepping my OZ's as theyve not stayed in top condition after a month or twos use compared to my friends castalettes she refurbed herself which are still faultless after 6 months and thousands of miles

The only thing id add to the car is a black badge on the grille, exhaust is lovely  too

Saf,
Yeh most bits have beem pretty straightforward so far.  I used high build primer for the wheels and liquid metal metal for filling any dents/scuffs.  Remains to be seen how long the finish will last !  You got those polos sorted yet?
Ste

Good stuff!

What did her indoors say about cooking your wheels!?!  8O

Rich

mcscrew said

Good stuff!

What did her indoors say about cooking your wheels!?!  8O

Rich

Well impressed, almost as happy as when i had my cunning idea to clean up the bush brackets in the dishwasher  

robos_rado said

MalC said

I think that must have been my advert….pleased to see it went to someone who knows what they are doing - where you from anyways…..hope to see it around when back on road which shouldnt be long by the looks of it

Could be it had been on ebay but not sold, somebody on here had been to see it but not gone through with the sale.  It was a bit further than i was planning to travel but as you had said it look ok i thought it was worth a trip.  Glad i did so thanks for the tip off ! !

Not too sure about "knows what they are doing", its my first go at something like this.

Im from near liverpool so it will no doubt be at Tatton Park and i plan on doing the odd track day ! !

Pleased it went to someone off here I just couldnt take it on at the time butu knew it was well worth the money

I've had cylinder heads in the dishwasher before.

Also had BMW E36 headlights in my oven the other day.

Oh the joys of being the master of my own domain - lol

Bit of an update, I never got it all sorted for xmas but got a few bits done. Ended up a bit ill and really didnt fancy lying under the car in the icey weather.  So slow progress, I decided to have a day off today and got a bit more sorted!

Photos of progress.

Swapped the top mount on the strut and have got the old boots off the steering column and rack.
 
Struts looking a bit rusted up!





New top mount on the strut, i plan on doing a suspension swap in the not too distant future but this will hopefully get it through the MOT!

 

The steering column and rack gaiters looking a bit the worst for wear

  

New gaiters next to the old ones. Got these fitted today, what a pain in the ar$? it was fitting the steering column gaiter, there must be a knack to it, double jointed or something !  of all the jobs so far this was the worst



Removed a load of old sound deadening off pretty well everywhere, its made of a fibre matting and seems to hold loads of damp in so it must have shed a few pounds….

 


 
 

To get out of the cold i thought i would clean up a few parts in the warmth of the house.

   

    

Also got the drive shaft off to replace the inner CV boot, a surprisingly easy job (so far), lots of little circlips and washers so it could be fun getting it all back together !

    

Hopefully fit the new CV boot tomorrow then Ive a bit of a problem with a strut to sort, followed by a final check over and it should be MOT time?. Hopefully !

After booking it on the CGTI curby trackday i ended up replacing all the suspension with Koni's… any excuse…. and ive actually booked it in for an MOT on Friday  :mrgreen: heres hoping !

Some more picys and some bad news ! ARRRRGH !

New suspension ready to go on….



Unfortunatly you have to reuse part of the old struts at the front so they dont look too hot and it was a bit of a parp getting the old damper out of the strut, had rusted solid, ended up drilling a hole in the end and battering it with a bolt and lump hammer….



Then it went in for its MOT….. FAILED on 9 counts.

Not too bad though

1&2 Front door wouldnt open from inside or outside (mech needed greasing)
3 Washer blocked (stuck a pin in it)
4 Shocker insecure (oops didnt tighten it properly)
then 5-9 were all rear brakes cr P

So new set of piston and shoes later and it was ready to go back in for its retest




Also fitted a new K&N and gave it a service, old one looking like its not been changed for a while !



Now for the bad news, headed of for the MOT, got 1/2 mile down the road and it cut out  

Looks like the dizzy is knackered… and they are obsolete… boy am i hacked off, was looking forward to driving around tomorrow and now it could be a few weeks again ! !

Anyone any ideas where i can get one from….

duno if it will help, but ive got a dizzy going if you need one? email me at ben.j.cuthbert@btinternet.com.

cuthbert said

duno if it will help, but ive got a dizzy going if you need one? email me at ben.j.cuthbert@btinternet.com.

e-mail sent thanks !

Yippee its passed its MOT, got a replacement dizzy from Crazy Quiffs fitted it and it was running OK so i booked it back in for the MOT and tune up and it passed   

Chuffed to bits, first time on the road since 2002 and it looks like i should be ok for the Curby track day.

Took it for a spin and running great now, i cant stop grinnig, amazed how many looks, thumbs up it got and even had people letting me out where they would never normally. Its taking a bit of getting used to having to rev it after driving the diesel but great fun