Newbies from Norway

So, me and my father have been talking about getting a classic car for some time now.
We were looking for a beetle, but when this '81 GTI was listed in a nearby town, it was a nobrainer.

The car has a little over 120.000 miles on the clock, a 1983 DX engine, Spax coilovers and nasty, nasty F&F-style interior trim (gear knob, pedals, CD-player and a subwoofer). It was also resprayed in the late 90's in a chevy colour, which I really don't fancy at all.

Short term plans:
- engine service (fluids, ignition components, valve adjustment, timing belt)
- make the interior original
- sort out some minor electrical problems
- gear linkage overhaul
- rear brake replacement
- thorough check for rust

Long term plans:
- new paintjob in either the original black, a dark gun grey or a dark bronze/brown.
- sort out the handling. We really want to do something with the steering and brake response, any advice here?

My father is a plumber who hasn't worked on cars since the 70's, and I've only worked on 90's japanese cars, so we are not mechanics in any way, wich means there's a lot of research to be done!


Any advice on repair manuals and good sites to buy parts?

Hello and welcome.  Good choice of cars for a classic. Hope you don't find too many hidden nasties. For parts check   http://www.classic-vw.co.uk/mk1-golf-14-c.asp or you could contact funk-star who is the owner.

Service parts, oil, filters etc can be bought from Eurocarparts, GSF etc.

Andy.

Thanks! Fingers crossed that it´s not too rusty. According to the seller it should be very little rust on it, but I guess you never know..

I found vwheritage to have a good stock of parts, so I think we´ll start there