Tips on Golf Mk1 upkeep?

Hi everyone,

I've recently inherited my dad's 1981 Golf Mk1 after he sadly and unexpectedly passed away in September this year. Unfortunately he failed to pass on his knowledge of keeping an older car functioning as it should and now it falls upon me to seek this advice myself.
It was restored from scratch after he purchased what was literally a rusted chassis in 2004/5 and five years later completed it. It only went out in the summer months (6 months of the year) then spends the winter in a garage under a cover.
I'm 22 so I haven't had the pleasure of understanding the ins and outs of an older engine including the wonders of no power steering! Luckily I have driven it once when my dad was alive so I have an idea of what a 1981 car feels like!
Unlike other girls, I have an interest in cars and did help in some aspects of the restoration process including the glorious task of re-fitting the engine!
I noted he kept it polished and did put something into the petrol tank to, I believe he said, clean the engine through? Not sure what it was as I didn't think I'd have to take over its maintenance as soon as now!

I'd really appreciate it if I could have some advice on keeping the car in good order. More engine/running it maintenance as being recently restored there isn't a rusted part on it! It's currently SORNed but I am hoping to get it on the road again in April. After re-charging the battery I did get it started in the garage and got the engine warmed up and running with no known faults, all lights and wipers work.
I understand the car needs regular start ups to prevent long periods of being idle but any other tips would be most grateful.

Thanks, Imogen. 

Morning
I'm a little short for time as I'm just leaving for work but I wanted to say first of all I'm very sorry for your lose!

Now I've no doubt that the members on here including myself will give you all the advice you need in the coming days and months in order to protect and cherish this Golf Mk1.

Mike.

Hi, welcome to the forum,  ..
Sure you will get plenty of help on here,  
Whereabouts are you  ? .Might be a few owners living near to you. 

I am in North Devon, Barnstaple area. 

Sorry too for your loss Imogen

richyhill is Bristol way but helps run the region so may be able to hook you up with someone local.

The important thing now if it's staying off the road over winter is how you store it. Do a search on here as there's a few threads on what to do.

One good bit of advice is to store the car with a full tank of petrol as it helps prevent the tank starting to rust whilst its sat.

Do you have any photos of the MK1 to share with us?

sorry for your loss,

Im from south somerset, Yeovil area. im usually heading out to croyde, saunton, putsborough area for a surf.

i stored my car for a few years while i was travelling, one of the best things is making sure you leave the handbrake off, if your on a slope chock the wheels but it ensures the brakes dont seize on,

over inflate the tyres helps prevent flat spots. if you can keep it off the floor even better, ive also heard off keeping carpet under the wheels helps

before putting it away give it a good clean and polish although it has been restored recently the best way to keep it at its best. dont put it away damp thats for sure. ensuring interior is always dry otherwise you come back to a nice green interior if your in a garage opening the windows slightly helps air circulate.

id expect the substance being put in the fuel tank was an injector cleaner. possibly redex.

Hi and welcome,
Sorry for your loss.
There's plenty of good tips already mentioned.
Especially the handbrake off and tyre ones.
I use a Kampa damp buster (just google it) these help keep the moisture out of the air. It holds damp crystals that pull the moisture out this collects into the bottom bit. Just need to empty the water out periodically.
Keeps the mildew or mustiness down.
I'd also check the drain grommets under the bonnet  windscreen where the wiper motor is. You'll see them. These get leaves etc in and can block. So it's worth a poke down there with a blunt pencil there's two one either side.
I'm sure others will add to the list.

Cheers

Chortle

Hi Imogen

Sorry to hear your loss, but what a fantastic car to love enjoy and always think of your dad when your driving it.

Most of the things I would have been said have been mentioned above. Think leaving handbrake off is parking for long period also stop the cable stretching.

When I stored my cabriolet over 4-6 months over winter I used to just start every 2 weeks to a month, pulled out of garage to free up brakes, let it run up to temperature and run for a while, always kept min of 1/2 tank of fuel to stop rusting inside tank.

These cars are built well, and it sounds like your dad took his time doing the restoration, so you probably do not have too much to worry about.

Make sure the cover is a breathable one, if not take it off now and then, window slightly open or de humidifier to collect water as Chortle mentioned above

Keep an eye on the Southwest section / join it if your not in there. I run most of the shows across the Southwest and be great to have you along at some shows

Rich  

Everybody has their own way of doing this but personally I don't run an engine that's in storage unless I can get the exhaust up to full temperature - that would require actually driving it. Otherwise its just filling it with condensation which is very acidic and rots out the exhaust from the inside.

Modern unleaded fuel lasts about 6 months before it starts to go off. Long enough to fill the tank in autumn and then give it a good blast come the spring. Having fuel sat idle in the injection system longer than that could lead to problems with the system itself.

What is the garage its kept in like? If its not heated and/or prone to damp I would get some duckoil sprayed over any bare metal parts such as cylinder head, gearbox and zinc plated parts under the engine bay in particular.

If not heated, a well vented garage is better. Any airflow over the car will help stop condensation forming. I would leave a small gap in both the opening windows as well. The worse time for condensation is if we've had a cold spell for a while making the metal parts cold and then a warm front comes through. The moisture in the warmer air contacts with the cold metal and condensates. By keeping the air moving you stop the moisture having time to condensate.

I think most of the pointers on here my dad knew about already such as a breathable cover and leaving the handbrake off. I stupidly put the handbrake back on when I visited the car a couple of weeks after his passing (car is stored at my grandparents house) and after reading up on keeping an old car maintained I realised it needed to stay off and did take it off.

The garage doesn't have windows however it's not a cold garage and I believe all my dad used was moisture traps possibly to keep the air dry. He rarely did anything to the car when it was stored and it has resided in that garage a couple of winters now.

I know the car has leaked fluid in the past- don't believe it was brake fluid which dad knew how to patch up (he used to be an airplane engineer, before that motor/agricultural engineer so he knew his engines) so I'm screwed if that happens again.

I'll be sure to check the petrol meter (when I ran it on tuesday I believe it was just under half) and keep it above the halfway mark. Getting air in the tyres will be an interesting task to do so if anyone can give me any advice on what to use and how much pressure I need to put in them would be most appreciated.

Thank you everyone for all the tips so far. 

Morning again and I'm just going to throw my two pennies in as well.

You may not know this but I live in Austria and as you can imagine it gets darn cold here.
In about two weeks time my goes away in a very old, cold garage for at least the next 5 months.
Now there's always going to be subtle differences in what people do so here's mine.

I fill the petrol tank up to the very top until I can't get another drop in it.
The reason I do this is because I'd rather have fuel in the tank filler neck than air which can (might) condense and rust.

I also over inflate my tyres, I put 36lb in all round, basically make them very hard indeed.  
Then when winter is over I go the garage and normally there's about 30lb left, so no flats or flat spots.
I take about 5lb out and re-inflate to the normal level. (I'm very particular about my tyres)

 I take a new tin of wd40 and spray it over the engine, electrics and engine bay like a mad man.
Then I do the same to the wheels and even the front brakes. Just be careful there when driving it after the winter for the first 10 miles.
I will smell it for the first few miles as it burns off the exhaust etc… but not for that long really.

I remove the battery, put it in two thick, plastic carrier bags and take it home with me.
I place it in a room with a constant temperature for the winter and give in a 24 hours trickle charge before taking it back.

Leave all the windows open about 2" so as to let some air move around and put the cover on.
I go to the car half way through winter on a dry day and take the cover off and open the car for a few hours and then wrap it up again.

That's about it for me, what I do seems to work plus I do a number of the other suggestions already mentioned, like the handbrake, leaving it in neutral etc…

All the best with it and let us know what you do and how you get on come next spring!