Campaign 'woken up'. - out again for 2018 and meets my latest Golf

​Having finally decided to get my Campaign back on the road today was the first step in getting it dug out of the garage whee it has sat for 14 yrs. Thought it would be a good time as it was 25 yrs last month that I first bought it. I put the majority of the miles on in the first three years, and then it was retired as just a weekend/show car.  A house move in 1998 followed by three children meant little time to devote to using it, so the plan was to mothball it for about ten years, I knew that if I sold it I would struggle ever to get one again that was in such good condition yet totally unrestored.

So, here is how it looked on opening the garage.



The next job was to clear everything out of the way



it pushed out quite easily, nothing was seized thankfully and looked quite clean in its first glimpse of full daylight.






i had picked up a new battery and whilst I was not expecting it to start, it did turn over quite freely, just seems to be a fueling issue which hopefully Ross Irvine will be able to sort shortly, after which plans are for new brakes all round (it's on original front discs still) cambelt and an original exhaust put back on.

Having seen some of the horror stories with some of the project cars on here I was a bit nervous about what it would look like underneath, and whilst I don't have a ramp to get it up on, everything seemed really sound - before it went away it was liberally coated with Waxoyl and old engine oil - won't win any concours awards anymore but has done its job well.

Until Ross comes to sort the mechanicals just gave it a wipe over with some quick detailer and dusted the cobwebs off the underneath and pushed it back in to its garage.




think i I have a bit of a thing about red cars?

Fab, read on another post you've had 40+ other cars but always kept the Golf. What made to keep the Golf and not one of the other 40+ ???

Early-1800 said

Fab, read on another post you've had 40+ other cars but always kept the Golf. What made to keep the Golf and not one of the other 40+ ???

I guess being in my early 20's when I bought the car, the Mk1 GTI was the real cult car at the time.  I remember seeing someone who had bought a MK1 Lotus Cortina in the 60's and he had put it away for 20yrs and thought if I could ever afford to do it I would. Sometimes you just know when a car is 'right'.  I get bored with cars quite easily and cover a lot of miles each year so this is the reason why I have changed so many times. Record was having. 7 cars at once back in the late 90's

Looks like you've been using her every year tbh mate. Looks really clean especially under the bonnet!

Good to see another one being used again. Oh yeah you do have a thing with red cars don't you

im liking that, looks like it was well looked after before you put it in for hibenation

ive got a mk2 jetta coupe that i'll be doubt full if it see's the road again after this year thats if it does see the road this year due to the fact that i want to get on the property market and clear some debts, wont ever get rid of it so will probably just moth ball it for the next few years

I got up to 4, GTI, Cabrio, Diesel Caddy and daily driver Renault/Ford, 5 if you count Mrs Earlys daily.

Nowhere to store Caddy so slimmed down fleet. Mates into minis and old BL stuff. He often has 6-7 but most are broken or not MOT'd so it has been known he has to cycle or use public transport even with having all those cars. Prob best to a few that actually work.

does look mint!!! especially for one that has been stored so long. looks like the waxoyl has done its trick well.  
how many miles are on it???

and yeah, red cars rock!! (especially mk1's     )

richievr said

how many miles are on it???

97k - just dug out all the old MOT's

1986. 22164
1987. 24148
1988. 27748 when I bought it
1989. 46123
1990. 70440
1991  80276
1992. 87235
1993. 92699
1994. 95397
1995. 96550
1997. 96707

Nice, no wonder it looks so tidy! bet you are very glad you kept hold of it enjoy the reawakening!!

WOW that's really nice! great to see it being used again, wish I could open the garage and have a mk1 that looks as nice as yours .

Is it possible you could take a picture of the power rohr pipe so I can see the sticker on it please?

Love it 😄👏👏👏

sp8y said

WOW that's really nice! great to see it being used again, wish I could open the garage and have a mk1 that looks as nice as yours .

Is it possible you could take a picture of the power rohr pipe so I can see the sticker on it please?

Bit difficult as only have ipad and bit of glare from spotlight - hopefully it gets you what you need.

There spot on thank you .

Wow that looks so tidy, you wouldn't believe how long you've stored it!

Might be a daft question but could the fueling issue be old fuel, or remnants of if you added new fuel?

Looks like a bit of a once over, belts and fluids change and job done  

What are the tyres like? Will they need replacing?

I wish I could roll mine out the garage now looking like yours, you must be well chuffed with it

Nice. There must be some people who read this and thought 'I wish I'd have stored mine instead of selling it'!

It's like going back in time! Beautiful. Any chance of a few more interior pics? Particularly the seats? I want to see how some proper original interiors look like, as my future campaign hasn't got one!

i bet the fuel is jelly in there now! mate had one that had stood years and the pipes had turned to vasaline inside
clean out fine though

Hairyarse said

Wow that looks so tidy, you wouldn't believe how long you've stored it!

Might be a daft question but could the fueling issue be old fuel, or remnants of if you added new fuel?

Looks like a bit of a once over, belts and fluids change and job done  


What are the tyres like? Will they need replacing?

I wish I could roll mine out the garage now looking like yours, you must be well chuffed with it

It might be the fuel as it's got 4star in the tank! but what stumped me was that despite turning over for sometime, the plugs were still dry, although there was a feint smell of petrol fumes from the exhaust pipes. I'll get some fresh fuel ready for when Ross comes over, don't want to do more harm than god in meantime. The fuel relay clicked when I turned the ignition on, but I could not hear the fuel pump buzz - does it on a Mk1, or was it from my old Mk2 that I remember this?

This raises a question - what fuel does everyone run theirs on now - super unleaded with a lead additive?

The tyres seem better than I thought, only one has stood flat, so I will put the spare on this for now and once it's running I will see how they all feel before changing them all.

I think I have been really lucky with the garage being totally dry and joined to the house relatively warm, and the door is open at weekends to get at all my cleaning tackle.

Hi,

having taken my Mk1 out of a similar long hibernation a few years ago I would strongly recommend checking the state of your fuel tank. Mine was fine externally but internally was full of rust. Sadly I only found this out after replacing the entire fuel system! including the pump twice.

It is well worth taking the fuel sender out (under the rear seat) and shining a torch in to see what the tank is like internally before you try to start it again otherwise you risk dragging rusty old fuel through everything and end up having to replace the lot.

If you can't hear the pump its most likely seized  as it is pretty noisy at the best of times, but this may have saved you in a way! Its also worth checking the plunger pin in the metering head as this often sticks (mine was seized solid).

thexvw said

Hi,

having taken my Mk1 out of a similar long hibernation a few years ago I would strongly recommend checking the state of your fuel tank. Mine was fine externally but internally was full of rust. Sadly I only found this out after replacing the entire fuel system! including the pump twice.

It is well worth taking the fuel sender out (under the rear seat) and shining a torch in to see what the tank is like internally before you try to start it again otherwise you risk dragging rusty old fuel through everything and end up having to replace the lot.

If you can't hear the pump its most likely seized  as it is pretty noisy at the best of times, but this may have saved you in a way! Its also worth checking the plunger pin in the metering head as this often sticks (mine was seized solid).

That's a great recommendation - and pretty quick and easy to do. Also might be worth replacing the fuel filter in the engine bay just to be sure.

Regular unleaded should be fine and you wont need lead additive, these engines are ok on unleaded without modification

Hairyarse said

thexvw said

Hi,

having taken my Mk1 out of a similar long hibernation a few years ago I would strongly recommend checking the state of your fuel tank. Mine was fine externally but internally was full of rust. Sadly I only found this out after replacing the entire fuel system! including the pump twice.

It is well worth taking the fuel sender out (under the rear seat) and shining a torch in to see what the tank is like internally before you try to start it again otherwise you risk dragging rusty old fuel through everything and end up having to replace the lot.

If you can't hear the pump its most likely seized  as it is pretty noisy at the best of times, but this may have saved you in a way! Its also worth checking the plunger pin in the metering head as this often sticks (mine was seized solid).

That's a great recommendation - and pretty quick and easy to do. Also might be worth replacing the fuel filter in the engine bay just to be sure.

Regular unleaded should be fine and you wont need lead additive, these engines are ok on unleaded without modification

Thanks guys, another job on the list then.