Andys Sportline

Hey all, so wanted to start a thread for my own benefit partially so I can look back in the coming years but also I think when your a part of a forum always nice to share rather than just take!

So I got My sportline on 24th June. Took me 18 months to find one because A. I wanted black which seem impossible to find these days, and B. wanted low miles. Over that period only 3 came up for sale, a really nice one in Scotland for £11k which had 82000 on it, and then a non runner in Barnsley that went for £4650 with 120,000 on it. Couldnt afford the Scotland one as it wasnt perfect in my eyes and wanted 'good' money for it despite work to be done. Went to view the one in Barnsley and not only was it a none runner it had been sat outside for about 5 yrs and was in a terrible state……
………….So that brought me on to car number 3 which felt like it had been waiting for me, 1992 model with 86,000 on the clock. Had spent most of its life in france so the most solid car I have ever come across and last owner had done £2k worth of work in the last 12 months including fuel tank, filler neck, brakes all round, pumps, belt ect…. I bought the car sight unseen really as put a decent deposit down to secure it, when I turned up it was what I expected from a 'running condition' as in all mechanically sound however body work looked like it had never seen a polisher in its life and that someone had washed it with stones, also interior needed the usual refinements. Mrs wasnt overly happy but bought it anyway as you cant be picky when so rare and mileage/ age and everything else was right.

Long list of work to do but first up before and after picks of body






 

After 3 days and £150 worth of product….

Up next was a wheel refurb, I was going to get them stripped right back and repainted but at £350 for a 'proper' job doing I thought lets get some elbow grease on them and see how they come out first… I hated this job as the wheels are so fiddley I couldnt use my DA on most of them so lots of hand rubbing. Got the black up looking almost perfect, and wasnt happy with the silver no matter what I tried, however then I came across some Autosol for £3.50 wow…. worked a treat look 95% perfect now so well worth the hard work

Badge refurb kit………. great for the money tricky to apply perfect but time and patience pays off… Also did the Karmann badges on side but no pics as I did them while on the car as stuck on not pined like these

Exterior jobs left to do:
Suspension - feels like its running on none so assume its a bit worn out, plus it needs a bit of a drop. Debating what route to go at moment, coilovers or eibach/shocks
9 inch servo upgrade as brakes are not inspiring got all the bits just waiting until summer over and then I can get it parked up and sorted over winter.

Interior jobs to do:
New carpet bought just needs fitting
Seats want a wet vac and 2 small cig burns sorting out
Door tops 'leather/vinyl bit' needs replacing as cracked from sun - bought just need fitting
Full deep pile carpet set - bespoke red stitching
Also going for the red clock surround and vents like the euro spec cars to match new wheel below….. most to follow in coming days

General replacement of tired looking parts on the list for winter!!

However couldnt help myself, bought a steering wheel end sent it to royal steering wheels for re-trimming, looks and feels amazing.

Decided to take car to work for the first time on the way there disaster struck…. Turned out rad had blown. Was a blessing in desguise however as the car had been running hot (almost in the red on temp gauge) turns out 1. fan wasnt plugged in and was knackard anyway and assume rad had a blockage as it blew side of rad out…. any how new rad/ fan and collant along with a flush and 2 new hoses runs perfect on temp now at about 1/3. My fan comes on when temp gets half way however is this right seams a bit early but does the job as its never gone over half way since all new bits….

So thats the story so far, lots planned over winter as I have a garage full of new parts to fit and looking to bring the dash alive a bit more with some red trimmed euro spec pieces. Will get some interior pics up over coming weeks.
Advise on suspension would be helpful as I dont want a harsh ride but I think front sits too high and rear just about right (35mm differance between front a rear) so worried if I use a set spring like eibach it might not give me the same stance as coilovers where I can get it perfect… looking at AP coilovers any good?
Also do you think the rear wheels need a 15mm spacer to bring them out of the arch slightly?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

This is awesome!

Very nice work so far. Paint looks great.

Shame about the rad but at least it was only on the way to work and nowhere important

I'd highly recommend Vogtland Coilovers  (  http://lowerks.com/vogtland-coilovers-vw-golf-i-typ-17-74-93.html ) this is the cheapest I could find them for as they normally seem to be up in the £500 - £600 price range.
I had NJT coils on before (at around £300) and the difference is like night and day. My Bro in Law uses the Bilstein shock / spring kit at a drop of about 30mm and they seem to ride about the same tbh. If anything I'd say my coils are slightly more forgiving and less harsh!

Steering wheel looks great too. Any links to the company you used?

Ian

Spacers. I always use them on the back of a Golf.

Looks odd to me without them.

My 15x7's with an ET of 37 have a 15mm spacer and my 15x6'5's ET 37 have a 20mm spacer. Just to give you an idea.

Ian

Thanks pal. What would my RAs need 15mm or 20mm. Sorry not up on all the 'ET' and 6.5/7 lingo and the like just want them pulling out to arch line really as the look a bit tucked under. Will get hubcentric ones.

Will have to look in to the springs as not heard of that brand before.

Royalsteeringwheels.com is where I got the wheel done having read through loads of forums supposed to be one of the best around and I have to say mines come out great as hes matched the grain/texture of the leather to the plastic centre horn push very well and colour also.

Assuming your wheels are standard BBS RA's then their specs are as follows.

15inch diameter.
6 inch wide
Offset ET35.

I see you're running 185/55 tyres from the pictures. Assuming you're running the same size all around what I'd be tempted to do is:

Remove the tyres from the back and replace with a 195/55 (you can keep them and then get them put on the front when the original fronts wear out    )

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BF-Goodrich-Grip-195-55-R15-TYRE-ONLY/401489183772?hash=item5d7a9ec41c:g:kzQAAOSwXEdaeY6a

This will move the sidewall 5mm closer to the arch. It's also a bit higher on the sidewall meaning that the car will then also sit 5mm higher at the back if you suspension is all ok and the car is normally weighted ( I know you've currently got problems with the suspension!) It also gives it a slightly nose down look and beefs up the view from the back a bit.

I'd then go for a 15mm spacer probably as ideally spacers should be kept as narrow as possible as the wider you go the more load you put on the bearing etc and the more wear you're going to get.

Overall this should take the edge of the sidewall out by 20mm.

Have a measure and see if 20mm is about right.

Enjoy

Ian

Thanks for the above advise 15mm spacers bought after measuring wheel inset from front of arch to face of tyre rears are defo 14-16mm more tucked under than front so should look nice one fitted and pull them out to match front. Got hubcentic ones with through bolts!

Latest job…. after someone drilling an alarm LED on the switch column but in the most random place (looked like they just closed their eyes and drilled wherever the drill landed first) I was trying to get a replacement. Either they were all drilled for alarms/imobilisors or there was an undrilled one on ebay for £100 which was mad. So I set about restoring mine first. Filled hole with apoxy glue, added light filler over top… then sanded it all right back and then to get finish back to original I coated it in some textured bumper paint. Im really happy with the results looks better than new as blanking switches now also match and colour is a good match.

After wanting to brighten up the dashboard I was looking for the red dash trim around the clocks and also the red air vents. Found a mint set on ebay but sold for £360 and all the rest that are advertised usually have some marks/scratches on the red due to being circa 30yr old pieces which would drive me mad. So i decided I could do my own. I got some mars red 1, red undercoat and lacquer. Im really happy with the below pieces as the paint is a nice smooth and flat finish (lots of wet sanding and coats of paint to get a high build colour) and as you can see no paint lipping over the edges. Did the airvents/ upper vents/ cig holder and dash clock still to do. ( also got a new lighter surround in red to replace the green to keep theme going) still have original parts should I need to turn back to totally standard look but think these touches really bring to life a bit of a dull dash. Will add pics once all installed.

Jobs over next few weeks:
Red stitched gear gaitor
New GTI gear knob
Red stitched hand brake handle cover
Red stitched hand brake plastic cover trim piece
New seat gliders to fit once new carpet installed

All need to be glued and trimmed to get them.perfect so should be fun!!

Small update trimmed handbrake and cover in leather… gear gaitor and knob up next. At £50 for a tiny bit of leather it wasnt cheap but will defo make it feel a much higher quality intorior…. much better than those big baggy covers I think.

That handbrake looks awesome.

Im not a fan of the red on the dash trim but you have made a really good job of it.

Im the same as others have mentioned, I have 15mm spacers on the back as well.

Although I like all Mk1 golf / jetta / caddys the clippers are probably my least favourite but yours is looking really good

Nice work on the dash bits.

I'm getting the feeling you may be a bit of a perfectionist!     

Ian

Lol… yes im pretty bad like that everything has to be just so. Had to buy some more door handle/arm rests as mine had sagged slightly drove me mad so got nice streight ones now. Mrs thinks im mad but… yeah im happy with how the red trim turned out. Have the originals should in the future I decide to put it back to 'totally standard' but for now i like the fact it will brighten the dull looking dash up plus match all my red stitch leather and sportline recaros.

Pulled old carpet out was hoping to get away with keeping the underlay but it was well past its best and flat. Got some top grade airwalk solid rubber underlay with 64db sound proofing to go in, 24mm thick so is a match for the original and should stop the carpet pulling away at the doors, although im also going to glue as well as clip it to be 100% sure

Ooh got the knee bar out with dash still in situ, no mean feat!