MK1 Cabriolet GTi 2.0L, Helios, Restoration - MORE UPDATES!

Hi all,

Thought I'd start a build thread on here as otherwise I'll lose track and also it'll help with assistance along the way. First a quick intro about the car I've got! It's a 1990 GTi Cabriolet in Helios blue but has been recently resprayed to refresh the paint, fitted with a mohair roof and black leather interior. Having owned a MK2 GTi before this I badly wanted a MK1, but I really needed a daily to even consider getting one. Circumstances changed and I started the hunt for my future project, and after a couple of time wasters I found this little beauty only 15 minutes from my house! Unfortunately the weather has been awful and I've not even had the chance to get started properly!

Over the last few days I've managed to take a good look inside and my bank has now been raided and lots of new parts have been turning up! Got some big plans but first things first and I must sort out the current issues. I don't have many pictures (and those that I have are posted in the welcome thread) but for those who haven't seen them I've attached them below.

The recent shopping list includes the OEM front, side and rear lamps/indicators, gear linkage repair kit, new pedal rubbers, clutch cable, 3 piece single lamp front grille (also picked up a twin lamp too, just in case it doesn't work with the theme) and I've got my eye on a few other bits too. It's leaking from the corners on both sides of the roof where it meets the windscreen/A-Post and it needs a drivers door outer scraper seal too. Tomorrow's plans are to completely remove the interior carpets and dry them out before they cause any issues with the floor, and I also need to tighten up the cable that runs around the roof.

Although it doesn't seem like it, there is a massive to do list! There is plenty of help on the forum and the member discounts pay for themselves! Hopefully it all goes to plan and I can keep this thread up to date with the progress!

Thanks!

Daz

That looks a very sound base to start with Darren.    It is amazing how much you can spend on a car that seems already sorted.

I've already spent over £1500 on my MK2, although a fair share was on alarm and stereo, just buying bits here and there to tidy it up it soon mounts the bills up!

Looking forward to your progress, and hope you get the roof down for a drive soon  

Thanks bud, yeah I can't wait to get the roof down when it warms up a bit!

Finally had so me time to spend today so decided to whip off the roof and start stripping out the carpets as they were soaked causing major condensation. The leak appears to only be coming from the top of the roof where the roof meets the window, just behind the handle on both sides. I've ordered a new scraper seal for the outer drivers side as the previous one is none existent! I am going to try and get a dehumidifier to absorb any lasting moisture.

What sound insulation are people using? I don't really have hundreds to spend on dynomat or anything like that at the moment because of priority with money but was thinking that using underfloor foam would be a good idea to dampen any noise and protect the carpets?

I also managed to take out all the seats and remove the centre console with gear stick. I've got a linkage repair kit but it looks like a bit of a messy job so I might see if a VAG specialist can fit it for me. I had a go at tightening the roof cable too but access is ridiculously limited and I would say it even needs a couple of hands!

Anyway a few new pics 

Yeah carpet underlay may help. I used some of this stuff in my MK2

http://www.deadening.co.uk/collections/cld-sound-deadening-mats/products/silent-coat-2mm-deadening-mat

It's not too pricey, I had found an audio shop selling sample packs that had a few sheets of this plus some other types in which worked out cheaper at the time.

The gear linkage will be a messy job in that it will be covered in muck but it really is a simple job as long as you're methodical. Well worth doing yourself and not spending a fortune with a garage. I'm fairly sure there's a 'how to' somewhere on the forum so have a search for that  

Nice car mate,
I think the previous owner of yours and mine must have been friends as they had done almost similar things to the car!!

I to, like you, had to go out and buy many products to get it back to looking standard, mainly with the front grill and lights etc…!

Love the car (Obviously). Those carpets really do look wet though!!

Couple of things I did with mine which also suffered terrible leaks;

• Drilled an extra couple of draining holes in the floor pan where the puddles were biggest!!
• Used a clear sealant on the roof near where you described
• Used a water proof material to slide over the middle fold of the roof to help water drip down and not run down under the lip and into the car

Not saying any of these are the right thing to do, but certainly helped mine for the time being until a full solution can be bought !!

All the best.

Thanks for the replies!

I'm planning on going to get some underfloor foam from the DIY store and lay some of that on top of the sound deadening sheets. What is the quality like on those sheet and should I go for 2mm or 4mm? Also how many sheets do you think I need?

The original owner gave me all of the original grilles and lamps etc so I'm going to try refitting those at some point. The bumpers need realliging first though!

I used the 2mm sheets on my MK2, it's quite dense stuff. from memory I used 8 sheets in total, two in each front and rear foot well, but didn't cover every inch of the floor or the bulkhead.

I just laid them down when I was installing an amp and had the carpet out anyway. It did make a difference though.

One thing to consider though is if you don't keep the original sound deadening (assuming it's still there and ok) then without it the carpet wont fit well at the edges - it will seem 'short' like it's shrunk, so if the original is gone, you will need to get something of a similar thickness under the carpet, like underlay and these 2mm sheets.

Hope that makes sense?!

Spent some more time this weekend getting the interior sorted. Over the couple of weeks I've been very busy cleaning the original interior parts, got the majority of it stripped now. Leather seats had at some point been polished with shoe polish and this had smeared black onto the blue piping, I hadn't seen this when I bought the car and to be honest I was sure I was going to have to ditch the seats and source cloth ones or get these retrimmed but after lots of cleaning and a good dose of leather conditioner they are now looking great again!

The doorcards will be coming off and replaced with the black leather/vinyl ones that other cabs had, so that should be nice and fresh. I haven't got round to fitting these yet because I've spent most of my time getting the underseal off from the floorpan. The factory underseal is fine but someone in the cars lifetime had layed down bitumen sided noise insulation and this combined with some bizarre foam sheeting (You can still see some that I haven't removed in the pictures). The hairdryer came in very useful in getting it all off and laying down a fresh base for the noise insulation sheets.

I bought 20 of the 2mm noise deadening sheets that were recommended and started getting to work on the floorpan. I've still got the bulkhead and rear seat area plus the doors to do but I've made good progress and the house is slowly becoming a MK1 warehouse! I've got new pedal rubbers including the throttle cover and new seat guide rubbers. The carpet that will be replacing with is a brand new Newton Commercial black set which I think will really complete the interior with the leathers and door cards. I just need to source the lower dash sections and centre console to complete the look I'm going for! I've also taken the steering wheel off and conditioned the leather, so that will be going back on at some point. I'm waiting for a golf ball gear knob to come back in stock @ heritage and will get a new gaitor to match.

Also got some new cloth loom tape to redo all of the original loom which goes to the boot for the roof and rear lights etc. The mrs helped me fit new foam gaskets on the roof handles so fingers crossed there should be no leaks anymore!  Anyway here are some pictures 

Looking very nice

Looking good, will be one tidy looking cabby when you've finished judging by what you are doing to it.

Looking really good, quick tip…

Be careful how much under material is used near the rear runners, once the carpet is down it can be to much and the seats grind over them and crumple the carpet (Voice of experience) !

 

Looks a good job, hopefully makes a good difference. I like your new steering wheel too.

Top tip Craig, never thought of that  

Thanks for the tips, will bear that in mind before I lay down the next layer of under-carpet foam

Do you think its worth soundproofing the sides of the seat posts and the sills? I've got plenty of sheets left but not sure if i'd be wasting my time  

That may not make much difference. You'd be better off removing front and rear door cards and adding it behind those which will have more effect. Might be too much hassle though with the windows and mechanisms

I've got to remove the doorcards anyway so I'll keep some for that.

Did the front underlay this evening, could have done the rear but ran out of material so going to have to wait until that arrives. Starting to come together now, just need to do the rear footwells in the underlay and then put down the new carpet! Decided to fit the new pedal rubbers too, which I think makes a big difference to how tidy it'll look. Got to remove the subwoofer wiring and sort out the electric windows so excuse the wires everywhere Some pictures to show the progress,

It's all looking good mate keep up the progress reports :-)

looking well mate, start striping my interior tomorrow! liking the look of the deadening stuff, along with the underlay. satisfying job I bet!  

Yeah it is pretty satisfying to get it all in, the soundproof sheets were very easy apply and I think they will make a good difference. The foam insulation is 6mm and the noise sheets are 2mm so there is 8mm worth of dampening plus the carpets to go on top. Hopefully sort out the outer scraper seal tomorrow and give it a good tidy up inside before the rear footwells get sorted.

Darren5591 said

Yeah it is pretty satisfying to get it all in, the soundproof sheets were very easy apply and I think they will make a good difference. The foam insulation is 6mm and the noise sheets are 2mm so there is 8mm worth of dampening plus the carpets to go on top. Hopefully sort out the outer scraper seal tomorrow and give it a good tidy up inside before the rear footwells get sorted.

Hey Darren,
Have you managed to lay the carpet back in as yet? How do they sit given all the extra padding you've put in? Having looked at yours I'm giving serious consideration to the under foam you've used. Was it costly?

Not had chance to lay the carpet down yet, hopefully get round to putting them in this weekend. Spent this evening laying down the rear footwell and surround areas in the foam underlay, I hope it's all worth it. Also wrapped any exposed wiring in loom tape and tucked it all back in the original locations.

It wasn't to expensive, although it has cost me £46 for the 2m x 2m worth of foam used. It's waterproof too, as I found out earlier when I knocked over a bottle of stella on the newly laid down foam http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Neoprene-Foam-Sheet-Self-Adhesive-Sound-Proofing-Insulation-1m-x-1m-x-6mm-/261393552158?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cdc45131e

Quick picture of the rear footwell, sorry the picture is poor but it was taken in the dark!