newbie

hi
I just got into car resto. I got a 81 Golf CL 4 door. I've got a mk3 for daily use and was looking for a reliable useable classic. I got it for 200 buckeroos and drove from sothhamptop to Glasgow without  missing a beat.
I've MOT'd it last week (faulty horm spring missing, faulty fog light, fuse gone) retrimmed the seats and am  rust treating and undercoating at the moment.

Any advice on the rear arches would be great. They are repairable without welding on new ones. What's the best way to do this? I've seen lots of kits in Halfords etc for patching holes with gauze and filler etc. Is that the way to go? I was thinking this plus full length spatts. It wouldn't be original but thjey'd cover up my work.

cool site.
Hope to have some photos soon.
con {:O)

BTW
I speak OK German if you need translations done for parts etc on http://www.ebay.de.
Ich speche ja nicht schlechtes Deutsch bruauchst du was uebersetzt
bis dann
later
Con

Hi and welcome to the forum . Sounds like you got a good deal on the CL - looking forward to photos of how its tidying up. Just finished doing the O/S rear arch on my GTI, had to weld in new panels as a lot of rust - photos etc here.

If the rust isn't that extensive and hasn't moved into the sills, upper parts of the arch e.t.c, you an patch it up with filler or fibreglass. Not used fibreglass (can get messy) for patching, so not so sure of pros and cons. Alluminium gauze and filler is pretty striaght forward and you can get very good results.

If you spend your time rubbbing back and refilling you should be able get a perfectly smooth finish and the repair should not be noticable once painted. That being the case you don't need longer GTI spats to cover up the repairs unless you particularly want to fit them.

Have a look in the Restoration section of the forum, lots of pics and advice on this sort of work.

Cheers