My first cabby, here comes the summer!!!

Hi, fistly, if i've put this in the wrong section, sorry. Just bought my first golf, a great looking F plate karman cabby, got it from a guy in london on ebay for an absoloute steal, ?360! I picked her up yeaterday and had a great drive home, it really put a smile on my face and i'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I guess with any car, you get what you pay for and although there are a few things that need sorted, i'm looking forward to spending the time and money getting them done.

The cars got a manual choke, this is going to get some getting used to…..i tried to start her this morning and it took some time to get done, but once it was up and running, it turns over nicely. Is this a common problem with the mark 1? Due to my job, i have to leave early and i'm not really wanting to be waking the neighbours up every day with the sound of a car trying start. Are there any tips or anything i can do to ensure the engine starts and turns over first time without sounding like i've bought a bag of nails?

Second, is the mark 1 known for its tappets going? When i picked the car up yesterday, first time it started there was a tappet knocking sound. as the car warmed up, this started to go and on the test drive, it sounded great. I did 180 miles to drive back home yesterday and though the engine was responsive and had no problems, there was still the tapping sound. When i started it this morning, she turned over fine and there wasn't too much of a tapping, but then you could start to hear it. it doesnt sound too major, but it doesnt sound too good either. Anything i can do to stop this?

As i said, you get what you pay for, so i'm not going to complain too much. Its a gorgous looking car and the drive back yesterday was one to remember. looking forward to making this a project to get it up and running at its best, i know it'll take time and mney, but any tips or advice to help me on my way would be much appreciated. Cheers!!!!

Start it like this in the morning:

Make sure the car is in neutral, then fully depress the accelerator once (this doesn't actuate the choke 'cos it's a manual, but it makes sure you've got a decent squirt of petrol to start the engine with). Pull the choke knob fully out. Depress the clutch pedal, then turn the ignition on and try and start the engine. It should fire up first time if all your ignition components are in good order. Then let it rev at around 2000rpm for about 30 seconds, then let the choke in a bit to around 1500rpm. Once you've been on the road for a while and the temp guage needle starts to rise, you should be able to push the choke all the way in, which you should do as early as you can 'cos an over-rich mixture is bad for the engine and for fuel consumption!

If you are trying to start the car again later in the day after leaving it parked up for a while, I always just pull the choke out a little bit from wherever it was when I parked it up; with practice you can judge the correct amount of choke in this circumstance. Alternatively you can start with a touch of throttle and no choke, and then adjust the choke to the correct idle once you're up and running. If you've only left the car for a few minutes, then you can start it just by turning the key.

Hope this helps!!

Thats great, thanks for the advice, i'll be trying that and see how i get on!!!

No worries - post up your findings on here I'll be interested to see how you get on!

btw- yes, noisy tappets are a quirk of all old VWs, but are usually nothing to worry about. I'd leave it alone if I were you!

pegasus797 said

 a great looking F plate karman cabby, got it from a guy in london on ebay for an absoloute steal, ?360!

?360 Bargain!!! Get some pics up mate!

where abouts you from?

Welcome to the site by the way!!

Welcome aboard!!

Manual choke  8O , I forgot non gti's had manual choke, oh how the memories coming flooding back   . Put some photos up soon and welcome to the site  :wink:

My 89 karman cabby has an automatic choke and its not a gti  
And welcome to the site.

welcome mate

i too have memories of changing the fuel filter every 2 weeks

newrez said

My 89 karman cabby has an automatic choke and its not a gti  
And welcome to the site.

Yeah, it was only the small block engines that came with a manual choke from the factory. My GX would have had an automatic choke on the Pierburg 1b3 carb, but as these so often prove troublesome, it has been replaced with a Weber with manual choke. It took me a bit of getting used to - even my 1971 Beetle has an automatic choke!

Btw if the autochoke on your Pierburg 2E2 isn't playing up yet, it probably soon will!

Thanks for all the info guys………and gals. Spent an hour walking round halfords yesterday getting my valleting kit and few extras before i start to turn the cabby back to her former glory. It's chucking it down here in gloucestershire so i can only sit and stare at my new toy through the window. Its given me chance to start my list of jobs to do and start lookin through ebay for bits and pieces. Have decidetaken d to start my project with small steps at first. I want to keep it as original as possible, so have decided to replace the dark trim on the sides with some chrome to give it a (hopefuly) classy look and to make it stand out against the dark blue. As its an old car, there are quite a few scratches and a bump to sort, but this shouldn't take too long. Theres not really too much i want to do to the outside, as i said, i want to keep it original. i will at some point need to replace the roof, but i've found a company on ebay that'll do 1 for ?160 so not bad! Once the outsides done, then its time to get the inside up and going with some new front seats and a replacement back seat. The carpets not at its best, but got some new mats yesterday so they'll do for the time being. I could spend all day writing a list of things to do, theres no rush, so i'll do them as and when i can. I've added a photo of her as she is now and hopefuly i'll add a few more over the coming months as the project starts to take shape.

I'll keep you posted and will probably be on the site a few times more to ask questions and bend your ears. Thanks for being friendly and for the advice!!

Simon

Welcome  

Hey Buddy

Just got myself a GTi Convertible - needs some work doing to it, but cant wait to get it done and drive it round in the summer, get such a buzz and big grin when driving it.

Hope all goes well! Get some pics up!! If you get to know of any good places to get parts etc, let me know!