88 cabby, can it be saved

I recently bought this cabby as it was local and had an eibach front arb which I wanted for my tintop and some 17" alloys that would go on my audi, I initially thought just break it for parts as it has stood for 6 years with a hole in the roof and has questionable mods,




it had a tdi engine fitted at some point but instead of fitting the conversion mounts it had the subframe and bulkhead welded in from the mk3, also inner wing cut so the mk3 servo would fit, this was welded in with the bulkhead so cant be removed without cutting.



it also had a polo dash fitted


but to do that they had to modify inside


the knee bar has been used to mount the steering column


now you can see why i thought just break it as could sell the 100mm shafts and hubs and a few other bits to get my money back and a free arb and alloys. So started to tear apart and it became apparent that the body (apart from the mods) is actually in quite good shape,





i also have this, it was bought as a donor for my tintop as i needed an mfa gear box from an 83 car and as im located 5 mins from lands end its sometimes the only way to get parts, many years ago i bought a complete 5 door gx for £100 just for the quarter light glass
 


you can see what i am thinking, i really doubt anyone else would even consider fixing it but i do have most of the parts needed from other golfs, only parts i dont have is an engine loom and a decent dash. am i crazy or just ambitious

Could be fixable, it's usually only tin top cars that rust badly as Karmann seem much better at rust proofing compared to VW.  

Depends on if you get a huge discount on welding gas and cutting discs I suppose!  

And how bored you are  

Ian

made a start and took both front panels off, made it a bit easier to cut the bulkhead out and get a better idea of where it was welded, also removed rain tray, chassis leg and panel with brackets for dash and steering column from the donor

donor bulkhead removed

"Hats off to you" for attempting this repair, looks like you are making good progress so far.    

got a bit more done

more panels removed

if anyone needs a chassis leg or inner wings let me know, I would put a classified ad on here but the site wont let me, located in penzance cornwall