Hello from Cornwall

I have been a fan of VW's for some years and currently have a T4 as my daily drive. I have recently sold my Rover SD1 V8 and fancied a diesel classic. Constantly monitoring eBay, I had my eye on a 1983 Golf C Diesel. I then had a search of this forum and came across its story, titled 'Barn finds do happen' by mk1gtc. I put a bid on it as it looked like a great start for a daily driver rolling resto. The next day I was on my way to Bristol to collect it, or Ohty as it is known.

First impressions were good, Dave had done loads of work to the underside and it drove beautifully. Yes there is bodywork to be done, but nothing major. We were on our way. I dropped it at a friends in Bridgwater for collection the following weekend.



This last Sunday morning (8th) I got the train up to Bridgwater with a couple of friends to bring Ohty home. Other than being full of water the car looked great and thankfully had not been stolen! She started first turn and we were on our way. Being such an old diesel I was expecting tractor performance as well as noise, but again I was impressed - 70mph was refined and comfortable, Ohty having the optional 5-Speed (4+E) gearbox. I put £20 Diesel in and it almost filled the tank!

I got back to Liskeard and dropped my friends home, reversing into their parking space. An hour later when I wanted to leave I encountered a problem, when engaging 1st gear there was a strange noise. Being on a hill I rolled down it and put it into 2nd, brought the clutch up and it did not want to move. Put it back in neutral and brought the clutch up, stalled.

Got my friend back out to watch the linkage as I moved it through the gears, all was connected ok and moving as it should. Oh dear. I tried it a few times, starting only with the clutch down. Every gear was like trying to pull away in 8th. I had no option but to call the AA.



Sunday night I spent trawling the internet for an answer, Monday morning I spent at a local gearbox specialist who confirmed the problem was internal and then phoning everywhere trying to track down the correct (FF) gearbox. Plenty of petrol boxes with incorrect ratios and a few 4 speed manuals. I finally found a caddy breaker who had a 6W box available with 5-speed compatibility and very similar ratios.

I am now preparing the car for gearbox removal and the replacement box should be here on Thursday. The plan is to swap the boxes over as I want to use the car as my daily drive and repair the original box.

Straight in at the deep end! I was rather stressed and upset that it decided to do this to me so soon, but now can't wait to get it back working again. I plan to swap the boxes on my drive, the Haynes makes it sound fairly simple so I will give it a go and take a few snaps to post on here…

I am sure I will be posting again soon. Regards, Matt.

Welcome to the club!

Thanks bouchay. I have FINALLY got the gearbox swapped and am loving the Golf. I had to battle every evening in the rain with it but got there so now the summer sun can come out. Looking forward to attending some shows now. First one Boconnoc Steam Rally tomorrow. Matt.

Coool…. gearbox can be a pain but try it on a new car and the mk1 looks like childsplay  :mrgreen: !!

Welcome to the family mate!!!

Welcome to the Diesel Club Mate

Any updates dude

Not much to report, since changing the gearbox it has been 100% reliable except the driveshaft bolts unscrewing themselves from the gearbox. They haven't done it again! I am currently trying to eliminate the excessive leaks. So far I have replaced the sunroof seal and unblocked the drain tubes, siliconed around the tailgate glass and the lower part of the windscreen. I won't let it beat me  

I am trying to find some alloys with tyres to replace the originals so that I can spend some time refurbing the originals. I spotted some nice scala/snowflakes on here but they disappeared yesterday.

Also gearing up on taking it through 10 countries within 7 days in October, so getting together spares and ensuring all breakdown prevention precautions have been put in place.



I'm doing it all for charity, for more info please take a look at my site; Ten Country Challenge

Thats awesome dude…. All the best for it… Please take pics and post it up here

Wish you all the best….