Back in a Mk1...this time a Jetta

Over the years ive had plenty of Mk1s, a caddy, cabrio's etc but one can i kept and built for  around 5 years called Mango. But, around I 7 years ago i parted way with my 1983 Mk1 GTi. My ex-GF was pressuring and made me sell it to buy our first house together….so guttingly sold it…18months later….we split.

Ever since, theres been a mk1 hole in my life. New partners, houses, jobs etc have happened inbetween and now thankfully i have a Mk1 back in my life.



Its a 1982  Surinam red Jetta 1.5 and i love the thing. Its had some questionable paint over the years, but i general has been loved. Ive managed to track down a few previous owners who have told me about its travels around the UK and into Europe which is cool. The cars been off the road for around 18months after MOT failure

The car came with a new drivers pattern wing, as the original had rotted through and began eating into the inner wing too. That was the first job. So i took the rotten wing off, offer up the new wing for fitment. Next i emery wheeled the surface rust off, etched primed all the areas and matt blacked as a temporary fix to protect it all.






Next was the bonnet. The original bonnet had some heavy damaged around the latch area as i think the original mech must of been jammed and bonnet couldnt be opned. So someone has been very heavy handed. So sourced a another used bonnet, orbital sanded the rust off, etch primed and mattblacked for now.





Next was removing the p-slots. Ive never been a big fan of p-slots and managed to source some MSW cheap locally and stuck them on. Happy with how they sit, but they wont be staying orange.






 

So next on the list was sorting the bonnet shutting, it wouldn't engage and click. on closer inspection, one of the pop rivets holding the bonnet latch in place meaning it was pushing down every time.

So i drilled out the remaining 3 pop rivets and removed the assembly. I ground off the rivet stubs and punched all 4 out with a hammer / punch. I think given it a quick buzz over an emery wheel, a sand and then began stripping the full mech down to give it all some love.



http://s1152.photobuck…mech_zpsngn1rced.jpg.html

Once broken down i put everything in vingear for a few hours to degrease and remove any crud. Then i sanded and prepped everything for paint. I got a bit carried away with the striker plate itself and ended up polishing it which should look nice when fitted. I then etched primed and matt blacked all the remaining bits and reassembled it all.

http://s1152.photobuck…ease_zpskiitx1qo.jpg.html






 

Welcome back to MK1 ownership, even if it is a Jetta!    

Looks a good base to start with. Looking forward to your updates