New member from across the pond.

Wow, I have to say that your site is just what I have been looking for!  MK1 fans!  No MK4 people looking for 17" wheels and angel eyes, just MK people looking to keep up the tradition.

I am in the state of Tennessee in the U.S. and my name is Josh.  Right now I am the proud owner of an 83 GTI.  She is mechanically sound, runs great shifts smooth.  Good straight body with no signs of a wreck, no serious rust.  She does have some rust at the bottom of the windshield which will be the toughest part of bringing her back to original condition.  She sits of FK Silverline Plus X coilovers with Koni Yellow adjustable, Autotech 28mm sway bar, front upper and lower braces and rear triangulated brace.  TT cat-back exhaust and MK2 Recaros (the seats came in the car, I'd rather have the originals).  Other than that she is all stock.  I plan to bring her back to life as time and money allows while driving her daily.  I want to bring it back to OEM+, not looking to go exotic; they were great just the way they were made IMO.

This is my 4th MK1, I have also owned an 83 GTI, 84 GTI, and 84 Scirocco.  The first two were sold when I was young and dumb and the Scirocco was totaled this April.

I have attached some pics.  I dont have many because I have been squaring away mechanical issues and havent had time to detail it yet.

Welcome aboard Josh..

Looking good mate, shame about the rocco…

hi there josh welcome to the site.

glad you like the look of the site…

Welcome, I love the look of thr rabbit without those big big bumpers!

Looks like you have some nice roads to strech the rabbits legs.

Chris

chriswizz said

Welcome, I love the look of thr rabbit without those big big bumpers!

Looks like you have some nice roads to strech the rabbits legs.

Chris

so true! i live in a great part of the country for carving up roads.  there is a road called "The Dragon" which is well known country wide by car enthusiasts.  on the dragon there are about 200 turns in 11 miles, it is quite the roller coaster.  about 1 or 2 motorcyclists die there every year.

anyway, i live about 30 miles from it and it is where these pictures were taken.

about the bumpers: yeah the NA bumpers are HUGE and the Euro bumpers are expensive over here. i took off the NA bumpers to recondition them and kind of like the look; needless to say, i havent started on the reconditioning!  not sure what to run long term but for now i am running without and i am OK with that.  there is a safety argument to be made but over here with all the SUVs and tall trucks, if i get in an accident then the car is going to get bent anyway.

That is a serious bit of road, won't be much to catch a sorted rabbit on there!

Why are euro bumpers so expensive?

Is it just the postage, as a few of us have a few spares kicking about, I have a spare front.
But it does look good without them  

not bragging because its more the car than me but my MK1s have never been caught from behind on the dragon.  i have run up on a few porsches, BMWs and motorbikes.  :twisted:

i have just recently seen them coming down in price as BFI has started stocking them new.  one bad thing about them is that they have the blinker holes and lenses and i dont need that because i have the corner blinkers; it just looks redundant.

http://store.blackfore…s.com/mk1eurobumpers.html

Easy to sort out euro indicator holes. Buy some clear lenses and use them for fog lights. I've seen other people swap their side lights and indicatos around before, so the indicator flashed inside the headlight and the indicator was then used as side lights. Or spray some normal indicator lenses black and hole filled!

bouchay said

Easy to sort out euro indicator holes. Buy some clear lenses and use them for fog lights. I've seen other people swap their side lights and indicatos around before, so the indicator flashed inside the headlight and the indicator was then used as side lights. Or spray some normal indicator lenses black and hole filled!

i like the fog lights idea! thanks

Welcome to the site  :clap:  :y:

Takes a little getting used to the square headlights on the Rabbit, keep thinking Jetta  :mrgreen: , but I do like them even more without the huge bumpers.

That Dragon is a fantastic looking road, just looked through photobucket and found a video…….certainly is Mk1 Golf/Rabbit territory  :y:  :cheer:

what an idiot in the Civic! thats how people get hurt, crossing the double yellow constantly and driving on the edge of out of control. he nearly ran over the motorbike!

there are roads like that all over the place here in the foothills and mountains of Tennessee.  i run a few "tracks" on the way home sometimes, it makes daily driving a MK1 well worth the hassles of keeping one fit for the road.  nothing like a good road to remind you why you put all the time and money and blood and sweat into these things.

i am having a problem with my front end though. i aligned it myself and later had a shop do it and still it will gain camber as time goes on.  drive it hard and it gains camber faster; its like the bolts arent holding or something.  i am getting with a friend this weekend to take a closer look but something is amiss.  anyone ever seen this before?

Does sound like the bolts that attach to the stub aren't holding tight, dont think it could be anything else, good luck with it, let us know how you get on.  :wink:

Thought I should throw in a pic or two of the old 'Rocco on the Dragon:







I miss that car. All she needed was euro headlights and it was done!

Hi and welcome to the site anyone else round your parts got a Mk1?

you could start some meets  :wink:

hope you enjoy the site. lets have some more pics  

finally got around to cleaning and getting some better pics:







Enjoy

hello, car looks well,  have you got the right bolts fitted ? ie the ones with a cam fitted,and one flat edge which cost silly money from vw.

UPDATE:

i took it back to the shop that did the alignment and they re aligned the car. they also admitted that it was not done correctly the first time. so the camber issue could have been my poor aligning skills combined with the shop not getting it right the first time. good enough, the camber doesn't appear to have changed in the week since the re alignment, at least to the eye. toe also seems good, just a little toe out. and feel is good, no pulls or vibrations.

however, here is what i am experiencing now and a localy renowned VW guy recommended strut tower bushings:

if you are making a gentle turn everything is great, if you make sharper turn where the steering wheel rotates more than say 90 degrees then sometimes when you straighten the steering wheel back up after the turn then the wheel is slightly off center and it pulls a little bit. when this happens, i can snatch the steering wheel back and forth one good time, hear a pop under the hood (and feel it in the steering wheel) and the wheel centers. from my limited understanding, the strut tower bushings allow for the strut to rotate freely and without kinks. could it be that i simply need strut tower bushings? the pop i hear could definitely be coming from there but its hard to tell of course.

thanks for all your help!