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Hey guys - newbie in need of some advice please.

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Mk1 Golf - Engine rebuild or engine transplant??

Hi guys,

I have owned my silver 1.5 GX for 7 years now and I love him to bits. He has been starting to give me a bit of grief over the last year or two starting him up when the cold weather sets in so its time to invest some money in the engine bay (plus other areas!)

Just wondered if you guys could offer any opinions / advice on wether I should be aiming at a more simple top end engine rebuild or full blown engine transplant??

My plan is to keep him forever so I'm not too fussed about resale value but I'm just not too sure what to do for the best and would really appreciate some advice  - I know there will be an obscene amount of knowledge on here to help me so I'm really looking forward any comments.

Cheers for your time
Ben

IMG_9124.JPG

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Whatcha mate, welcome along.

Nice looking car.

Is there something wrong with the engine? Unless it's smoking, using oil or water then it's probably fine.

Generally speaking the pierburg carbs can cause issues and wiring also begins to break down and bad connections and earths cause problems.

Any more details on issues?

Ian

Cornish Host.
1980 VW Derby
Clive the Cabby
Ujum the Invisible
Mynx the  Tintop

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Hi Ben and welcome to the club first of all.

As above and it seems ashame to rip the engine out for no serious reason other than you want lots more power.

We just need some more details from you as to the issue in order to give you a more accurate diagnosis.
There's not much that can't be fixed on these engines and as it has been said many times, there are near bullet proof.👍🏼

BTW
Your car looks great and real mean, so I think it would fun when people ask what lump your running how much power etc… and you can smile and say bog standard actually! ☺️😉

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Mike

There's me building mine 28 years ago, almost finished!        
  
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Be proud of your VW Golf Mk1, it's very special!

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Welcome,

I'll play devils advocate and say rip that tired old lump out and put something more modern in it. 

Go on, you know you want too. ;)

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Have to agree, something with more valves and fuel injection will make for a much better car.

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Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly guys. Really appreciate that! Loving this community already!

The 1.5 GX has only done 104k so definitely a shame to rip it out. I just need a bit more reliability from him - especially with the gf on my back when he is playing up :)

So the main problems are:

He hates starting from cold in the autumn/winter months. He has a manual choke - he needs the choke but its almost as if he doesn't want i like he's fighting it. Obviously needs it when idling but if i try to drive for more than 20 seconds with choke out without the engine starts spluttering. Driving to work in traffic is a nightmare juggling with the choke in and out. I feel like a one man band - choke, gears, clutch  :)

When the engine is cold or warm there seems to be a flat spot when accelerating. For instance if I want to pull out of a busy junction or overtake a car - as soon as I put my foot down the revs just drop and it takes ages to build back up again. Not an issue in higher revs.  Is this a carbs issue do you think?

He also burns oil quite quickly. Smokes when in reverse but not when driving forward (seems random to me).

There is a strong smell of fumes in the car. Much worse if I'm at a standstill in traffic. So bad that i can't have the fan on - which is also an absolute nightmare in the winter months if i am trying to de-mist the glass. Someone mentioned to me that it could be the manifold? I didn't know what best to do depending on what I do with the engine.

Thanks again for taking the time to read / help me out.

Cheers,
Ben
 

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104K is not alot of mileage for a VW engine, I managed 270,000 miles before my engine was in need of major work.

If you are burning oil and blue smoke from the exhaust it's properly the rubber valve guides have gone hard and are leaking oil into the cylinders.
Remove the head and general check and new seals is about £150 ish depending on what needs doing and how much you can do yourself.

Do you know what carb you have fitted?
Some of your problems could just be down to adjustment and setting up carb along side a major service should help.

What sort of air filter do you have and do you have the hot air feed pipe from the exhaust manifold to the air box?

It all depends on how much money you have, what you can do, it's your car so really upto you.

If it was me I would refresh the head then you can check inside the engine for wear, get the carb set up or if you still have the Pierburg carb swap it for a webber carb as easy to work on, the original VW engine are nice and simple to work on, easy to maintain, cheap to run and are reliable, in 21 years of driving mine I've never been left on the side of the road or on the back of a pick up truck.  :thumbs:    

1988 Mk1 Golf GTi Cabriolet 1.8cc DX, K-jet. Daily drive. 317,000 miles and counting
1978 Mk1 Scirocco GLS 1.6cc FR, Webber carb. Weekend toy.

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Great advice guys. I will get straight onto it. I will always try a mini service myself but not sure id bee comfortable taking the heads off and poking around. Can anyone recommend any Mk 1 specialists in Bristol / South west area? I have a great garage that I have used for a long time with all of my cars but I would prefer this job to be done by someone who knows a MK1 inside out if you know what I mean... ;)

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Strip it out and drop a 1.8t in it  :thumbs:  :thumbs:

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I would say abf all day had one in my mk1 for years never let me down and it's cheap to do
Nas
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