1991 Clipper Cabriolet - A Laundry List of Questions from a New (and Incompetent) Owner

LONG POST WITH LOTS OF QUESTIONS - APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE

Good afternoon!

Firstly, thank you for welcoming me to your amazing club! It has been so helpful (and I love reading through everything)!

I recently purchased a 1991 Clipper Cabriolet, which I absolutely love. I am far from a mechanic (slightly handy in general, but a lawyer at heart), however, in my humble opinion, the car drives wonderfully and seems to run well. Here are a few pics if you are interested in seeing it!



As I am new to owning a car in the UK (I am a Yankee transplant to England, but I drove a 1990 VW Jetta Wolfsburg Edition thousands of years ago when I was in high school back in the States), and, as mentioned, only slightly capable of fixing things, I was hoping to get some input on the following cosmetic and other minor issues that I am trying to rectify.

If this is the wrong place to post this, please let me know, but I thought that I would post all of my questions together rather than make a ton of different posts! If you are able to input or offer advice on any of the bits below, I would be very grateful!

***

Handbrake Fitting

The cover for the handbrake is not attached to anything, and I can’t figure out how to get it to stay put. Looking at parts online, it looks to be intact, but I can’t figure out how to fix it in place. Your thoughts would be appreciated! I should also note that I bought a black leather gaiter for the shifter and the handbrake on eBay which I will install after I get this fixed. Please see the photo below:




Center Console

This is in good shape for the most part, but it’s not attached firmly. It looks like it attaches by screw, but I can’t get a normal screw to “attach” and secure it. Does this require a special screw? Or, can I just buy this at B&Q (brownie points if you know the model screw needed)? Does this need to be attached in the front as well into the dash? Please see the photo below:



Glove Box

The glove box itself is in good shape actually, but the clasp on the left seems to be broken and it won’t latch as the hinge “loops” aren’t closed off (so it just falls out). Any suggestions as to how to fix this? Please see the photo below:



Ash Tray

As you can see in the photo below, the ashtray is a bit dull in color. I am not sure if painting it is the right route, and the unit itself is fine (needs to be attached a bit more firmly, so any suggestions welcomed), but what would you recommend to get it back to its former glory? Please see the photo below:



Door Handle

Speaking of paint, I bought some grey spray primer and black car spray paint at Halfords to touch up a few parts on the body. However, please see the attached photo around the door handles. Should I use a different paint to bring this back to life or is the spray primer and paint combination ok here? Please see below:



Logo

I am trying to keep things as original as possible. Do you know if the “Volkswagen” and “Golf” logos were meant to be black or were they painted over by the last owner? If black, I was planning to paint these with the spray primer and paint combo described above (unless that is a horrible idea!). Please see the photos below:



Roof Bolts

As you can see in the photo below, one of the bolts is quite rusted. Do you know if I can just replace this with another bolt or is this a special bolt? Sorry to be a pain, but if it’s just a normal bolt, do you know which one? Please see the photo below:



Seats

And, last, but certainly not least, two questions about my front seats:

1.) On the passenger's side seat, the previous owner did something to (what I assume) fix a bracket that had fallen off that “catches” the seat from going too far forward. Problem is, that I can’t really move it forward at all. I have bent it so that it will slide a bit, but it is missing the mechanism (the catch and the spring) that is on the working driver’s side seat. Is there a doable fix for this or replacement part? Or, does this require major surgery? Please see the attached photos showing the difference in the two seats:



(the bad seat - note the lack of spring and bent, welded on makeshift clasp compared to the "good" seat photos below)



2.) On the driver’s seat side, the side handle that allows the seat to fold forward so people can get into the back seat only goes up about 3/4 of the way and stops. Needless to say, I can’t fold the seat forward. I don’t want to force it and break it (more), but I wasn’t sure if this was a broken cable or something? I looked online to see about fixes and saw something about untightening something / using WD-40 on something at the base of the seat to get this to work. Any thoughts? Please see the photo below (which shows how far I can pull the lever up before it stops):



***

So, that’s “it” (for now). I really apologize for all of the questions (which are probably all super simplistic in nature compared to all of the other far more technical questions that I have seen). But, I’m a newbie to all of this and trying to learn! And, if you happen to be close to North London, give me a shout and we can show off our VWs!

Thank you so much in advance if you can help out with any of my questions above!

Thanks!!!

 

just normal…… someone has had not time or money to fix things correctly… nothing that a few emails and bit of shopping cant fix.

Good luck and hopefuly some close by can show you the way forward.

Thank you so much!!! Very helpful advice!!!

Hand brake cover has 2 circular 'holes' inside. Take a look, these clip over the metal pivot bit. (push it forward and down)

Lift the centre console up and you should see a bent metal tang with a hole in it. Find a suitable sized self tapper.

Glove box, not sure without looking at one thats not broken, sorry

Ash tray, they all seem to do that. I use some 'back to black' polish or you could try shoe polish?

Door handle, looks like cheap metal security plate to prob cover up some damage when someones screw driver'd the lock to break in. Remove and hope the underneath is OK or replace with higher quailty items (aerospace spec metal)

Badges, badly painted modification. If you can get them off without removing half the paint on the boot lid, do so and either repaint or replace.

Should be a stainless fixing like the one on the right

Seats, look they've been bodged, the bolts are wrong and it look like extra non factory welds and cuts?

Seat handle, its a simple pivot that pulls two wires so they have been bodged or become jambed? The seat material is fixed with vicious metal spikes at the bottom, bend these back and lift up the cover to see whats what

All simple DIY jobs apart form poss the seat.

Looks bascially sound but with a previous owner with more ambition than ability has been working on it.

Good luck!

Thank you thank you thank you! Have already ordered new badges and some "back to black", plus the center console bolt! I'll be back with more questions, most likely around the seat!

I also bought a new seat glide set, which I'm going to put in myself (I saw a video on YouTube and it looked doable, but I am scare to remove the seat!). I hope it works out!

On the handbrake, I am so sorry, but I am not sure I understand what you mean about clipping on the metal pivot. I have two screws at the base, but they don't snuggly fit into anything on the plastic cover. 

I'll get more pics of the glove box!

If you pull the plastic handbrake cover off and look inside of it you'll see were it fits. There are no screws it simply clips ontop on the metal lever/pivot.

Looking at your pic push it down and forward

bsteph50 said

Thank you thank you thank you! Have already ordered new badges and some "back to black", plus the center console bolt! I'll be back with more questions, most likely around the seat!

I also bought a new seat glide set, which I'm going to put in myself (I saw a video on YouTube and it looked doable, but I am scare to remove the seat!). I hope it works out!

On the handbrake, I am so sorry, but I am not sure I understand what you mean about clipping on the metal pivot. I have two screws at the base, but they don't snuggly fit into anything on the plastic cover. 

I'll get more pics of the glove box!

Early-1800 said

 Glove box, not sure without looking at one thats not broken, sorry

Thanks so much again for your help! Here is a photo of the the "working" hinge in the glove box on the right side. As you may be able to see, the hinge's top two bits are fully "closed", keeping the pin in and securing it.



For reference, here is the photo again of the broken hinge mechanism on the left side.

seat back?
2-Door\Cabriolet Seat Back Cable Replacement | Volkswagen Owners Club Forum

seat rock
Cabriolet/Rabbit Seat rocks, and hard to slide | Volkswagen Owners Club Forum

Look in the archive section how to's briano mostly 1990 for engine and us… but there is a ton o'stuff link in my signature.

Oh, and the e-brake cover.

Hook it over the handle then slide it back and let it clip in to the Circular tube, it will hide everything when it is positioned right.

I think you've answered your own question, it's broken. The right hand sides been snapped off too and bodged with a self tapper. The spring that holds the lid open is also missing, see link below.

I do hope you spotted some of these bodges and negoiated a suitable discount when buying the car. Also it might be worth getting someone to check over the running gear and engine for missing and broken bits if the previous owner conducted repairs to those in a similar manner.

https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=helllllpppp%2Fcabby-glovebox-removal

bsteph50 said

Early-1800 said

 Glove box, not sure without looking at one thats not broken, sorry

Thanks so much again for your help! Here is a photo of the the "working" hinge in the glove box on the right side. As you may be able to see, the hinge's top two bits are fully "closed", keeping the pin in and securing it.



For reference, here is the photo again of the broken hinge mechanism on the left side.

Early-1800 said

II do hope you spotted some of these bodges and negoiated a suitable discount when buying the car. Also it might be worth getting someone to check over the running gear and engine for missing and broken bits if the previous owner conducted repairs to those in a similar manner.

Thank you so much! And thank you to everyone for their helpful advice and input.

To be honest, I didn't spot any of the "bodges" (didn't even know this term until now). So it looks like there was so questionable repairs made.  And, it looks like I need a new glove box to get it right (though in the meantime, I am going to try to do a simple repair myself for functionality). 

I am taking it to a VW specialist garage in North London on Monday to have it looked over for winter and will ask these questions. But, from what I can tell in the engine bay, it looks clean and standard (radiator will need replacing and the cam belt will need to replaced soon), and well looked after.

I also suspect I'll need to replace the doors locking and closing mechanisms in general as they very much "soft close" (it's hard to know if they are fully closed), and my key does not work in the passenger's side door (as you mentioned, probably evidence that someone tried to break in). It's garage kept now in my flat complex's car park, thankfully!

Briano1234 said

Oh, and the e-brake cover.

Hook it over the handle then slide it back and let it clip in to the Circular tube, it will hide everything when it is positioned right.

Thank you! And thanks for your helpful links! I will give it a go!

I forgot to add that it is easier to replace the door handles with new.  Well you can clean the old ones but it takes a Dremel tool, and Plastic polish and about 20 minutes per handle… Used to do it prior to car shows.

For the Mis-Matched keys that is very common on a new to you car where the original or previous owner didn't know a tinkers spit about how to take the Key locks out so the new handle works as the old one did on the same key… Now that you know you can remove the lock assemblies off the handles, you can now know that they can be re-keyed with new wafers or pins to work alike.

http://cabby-info.com/Files/RepairingDoorLocks.pdf

www.cabby-info.com is a good site to know as well as the archive section here, as well there are an amazing amounts of how-the-hades-do-I-dude-this here.

The seats are easy to remove, simply take the nut and bolt out and slide the seat back all the way out of the runners. Replacing them can be an effort, to get all three elements lined up at the same time, and the seat slides back into place.

Once the seat is out and up on a bench, if you look at the pivot point between the seat back and the seat base, there is a hook type affair which is connected by a cable which runs up to the operating lever - these can seize up, free it off by movement and a penetrating fluid like WD40, and hope that the cable hasn’t snapped!!


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Early-1800 said

 Seat handle, its a simple pivot that pulls two wires so they have been bodged or become jambed? The seat material is fixed with vicious metal spikes at the bottom, bend these back and lift up the cover to see whats what

Me again - and thanks so much for everyone's help. Parts have been ordered and my tinkering has started.

Sorry to be a complete moron (I should start all of my posts this way), but I was feeling around the back of my seat (the seat back part of the seat), and I couldn't find these spikes / prongs that people have mentioned. Any further detail around where these are located exactly and how to pull up the upholstery / seat cover would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

see Brianos link from above

seat back?
2-Door\Cabriolet Seat Back Cable Replacement | Volkswagen Owners Club Forum

2-Door\Cabriolet Seat Back Cable Replacement | Volkswagen Owners Club Forum

bsteph50 said

Early-1800 said

 Seat handle, its a simple pivot that pulls two wires so they have been bodged or become jambed? The seat material is fixed with vicious metal spikes at the bottom, bend these back and lift up the cover to see whats what

Me again - and thanks so much for everyone's help. Parts have been ordered and my tinkering has started.

Sorry to be a complete moron (I should start all of my posts this way), but I was feeling around the back of my seat (the seat back part of the seat), and I couldn't find these spikes / prongs that people have mentioned. Any further detail around where these are located exactly and how to pull up the upholstery / seat cover would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

Fixed it - the cable and the hinge mechanism were just gummed up, but a little WD-40 and some movement to get it lubed up did the truck! Thanks everyone! I'll have more questions for sure!

The ashtray could come up with something as simple as a "dash shine" pad or a bit of silicone spray. 
My centre console had gone a bit like that and a wipe over in summer returned to it its proper colour.

Cheap and easy in the first instance.