Hello from Lancashire - Back in a Mk1 20 odd years later

First post to say hello,

New to this forum but not to Mk1 Golf's and GTI's in general. I've had pretty much every Mk of Golf through the years but have just 'accidentally'  bought a 1988 GTI cabrio in Helios Blue as a project and toy to keep long term. I've never been so excited to get a car and I'm itching to get it legal and driving again to relive my youth a bit.

I will probably be asking a good few questions to get the old timer back on the road because I've forgot more than I knew, having had a 1983 Mk1 1.3 Driver as my first car and then a 1.8 16v engine modded 1982 GTi, that I stupidly sold back in 1999 and have regretted letting go of ever since.

The car I have just bought has been off the road 10 or 11 years but is very solid and doesn't look like it will need too much more work to get sorted other than some dodgy wiring fixing and missing nuts, bolts and odds and sods. The lad I've bought it off has modded it a bit with Porsche D90 wheels/Cayman seats and suspension mods plus its running CBR bike carbs on the overbored 1900 8v but I'll be honest its right up my street.

I've already spent a few quid on Classic VW website this morning but happy to hear of any other good sources of parts to assist me on the way.

Who's best for insurance, bearing the above alterations in mind? I've used Adrian Flux in the past and it will be a second/third car with very little mileage added. I've got 10 years no claims on my own car but guessing I'll need to start again.

All the best,

Mike

 

Just answering my own question here about insurance.

I gave Lancasters a try yesterday and they have come back with a brilliant price fully comp, far less than I was expecting, so that's one job off the 'to do' list.

A couple of shots from the original Ebay advert

Looks very tidy, Is the clutch pedal heavy as what's going on with your clutch cable, it should not sit like that and I guess it wobbles around when you press the clutch?
It may also be sawing it's way through the gearbox mount, there should be a cover on the cambelt and the clutch cable runs just above the cambelt cover and should have a plastic clip to hold it to the brake master cylinder (you can just use a cable tie or some thick wire to hold it) so it goes straight down onto the gearbox mount.  

Just been in the garage and checked the clutch feel. Yep, it's awful!! And I can only select 1st, 2nd maybe 3rd and reverse…….another job on the to do list 😁😁

I've fixed all these things before on my old mk1's so hopefully it will come back to me…just like riding a bike.

I've bought a new bushing kit for the gear linkages so I'll see if that improves things. And I've got the cambelt cover, but I'll be sticking it on before the car hits the road.

I'll need to get the bike carbs set up properly once it gets an MOT and I think the timing is advanced a bit on the dizzy at the moment so the previous owner had left it off to check things.

Welcome. There are a few of us who are reasonably active in Lancashire - depending on where you are…. not many in Carnforth though!!  

Mostly central/ east Lancs.

Cheers mate,

I'm a bit further back down the M6/M61 on the outskirts of Chorley.

Will be getting out in it as much as I can this year once its street legal again (famous last words!).

Keep and eye on the NW meets section. There'll be some to be had once we're allowed to, usually held at the Macron stadium car park and a beer across the road later on. 

Come up even if the cars not ready. 👍

Cheers Dano,

Yep definitely will do, Macron only 10 mins drive from me.