The 1993 Clipper cabio I didnt know I wanted. It found me.

Feb 14th 2015

 Over the past 20 years I have owned a string of old VW's (several custom and restored Beetles, type 2's and type 3's).Because of the old VW's I got a call from an old friend through the week. A friend of his cousin had moved away a few years ago and was looking to move again but had a 1993 Golf Clipper cabrio in their garage. With no use for it they were going to scrap it but remembered that there was a guy in the last area they lived that was into old VW's and wondered if he would like it….. That guy was me and after the message had been relayed through 5 people it finally reached my mate who passed the details onto me. (still with me?)

Short version, today I went for a look at a Golf that I had no real need for…..Guess the outcome?

As found in the garage where it was last taxed until October 2012;


Flat battery so it was pushed outside for a look.









The roof is badly damaged from age and a previously patched over vandal attack and a small dent on the rear corner but other than that its in full working order.Power windows, power roof, alloys with the original wheels included, full service history (2 previous owners), CD player, thatcham alarm/imobilizer and hood cover.

What do you know, I going back to bring it home on Tuesday. What did it set me back?????? £100   His wife was giving me it for nowt but I felt bad and had to give him something.

Once its down the road I will MOT it and get it a new mohair roof then decide if its replacing my Audi A6 estate, just need to work out how to carry my bike in or on it.

Feb 17th 2015

Today was collection day so I met up with my mate with his truck and off we went to pull it out the garage.



As I needed to do a bit of car shuffling to get it on the drive I thought it would be a shame to miss the chance of a group picture;



All nice, relatively clean and rust free under here;



The battery is missing in the picture above due to it being convex in shape…….Never a good thing for a battery;



Its not running at this point due to being sat and I fear it also has something to do with the fusebox being in this position when I got the car;



After 2 hours looking at the above spaghetti I gave up and came home for a look through the paperwork;



2 owners from new and 300 miles in the last 4 years, 12000 miles in the last 11 years.

This car has wanted for nothing through the years and has been really well looked after.

Feb 18th 2015

Small update for today. Battery charged so a chance to try things and compile a sick report.

Not working:
Wipers
Clock
electric windows
Door speakers

Working
:Lights
power roof
starter motor
radio (needs attention and the plum that fitted it put speakers on the back panels that stop the back windows going down fully Ermm)

It did fire and run but only for a short burst. I have a feeling that its full of old fuel and may have a blocked filter and the fuel pump relay is ticking constantly so may be something wrong there.

Exciting to get the roof working and its booked to go to the auto spark on Monday and all being well it will have an MOT by the weekend.

If this little car is going to replace the massive Audi I have been floating about in for a few years I really need to get hold of a tow bar to carry my bike. This is the frame I made for my Audi so will swap onto the Golf If I can get the tow bar, any help with details/dimentions or sources would be gratefully received.

Whitlees winter cycle 8/2/15 by route9autos.co.uk, on Flickr

Feb 20th 2015

Not my usual cup of tea but I think for now I will keep the wheels on there that it is coming with for a few reasons.
1: Not my usual cop of tea but not damaged.
2: all fitted with Uniroyal tyres that were brand new when laid up (old ones slashed at the same time as the roof)
3: still might sell it on so don't want to make it too personal incase it reduces my market.

Mean while I treated it to a brand new battery so total spend so far is £195 including the towing cost.

I pulled the speakers out of the rear panels, didnt take much as there were no screws holding them in and the windows still don't go all the way down so must be the way they were designed?
Anybody have a pair of rear speaker grills?

Last point, I tried to decode the options from the sticker but none of the lists I can find show the below codes, can anybody help?





Feb 24th 2015

Booked a tow today to spin the car up for an MOT and while I was waiting I decided to give the roof a try while the rain was off;

http://youtu.be/asskJZek35s?list=UUIDIqg7LhjLFCyD2awY_38g

I didnt think to check the fluid level so got a shock when it wouldnt close again and it started to snow  Used the manual bypass to shut it and going to go to the VW dealership tomorrow for fluid.

Feb 25th 2015

Local VW dealer turned out to be of little use. Spoke to a boy who looked younger than the car who went away and said he couldnt find the fluid on his computer even though I was armed with the part code from this here forum.

So thats us up to date and I will add to the thread when I have more updates.

Dave.

P.S. Looking for a tow bar and rear speaker grills, please let me know if you can help.





 

You did a good job of bringing this post over from the other side, if you know what I mean!  

I have the info for the fluid you need and you can buy it from all VW- Audio service departments,  it's that universal.

But darned if I can find my info on my Mobile right now so I'll hand you over to my mate chortle and others! 

I can't believe they were going to scrap it!! Looks a good find.

If you've not tried yet use this for the options codes - http://igorweb.org/equidec/

I'd of took his arm for this little find.

have a look here
http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&type=misc&id=projects%2Fyour-mk1-golfs_2%2Fchortles-project-green

You must check the fluid with roof down anyway. I had a little leak on my rams, it was the union from the hose into the ram body, took the rams out cleaned them up undid the unions and put a few turns of plumbers PTFE tape around the threads job done. Sometimes the plastic reservoirs can crack at the bolt holes that secure it to the bottom of the pump.

Yours is the JH engine so injection instead of the Carbed model.  
No the rear windows don't wind down fully either.

As for the other niggles I'd look at the fuses, there's a layout of later fusebox with fuse numbers in the Electrical section. Sometimes folks look for a problem and end up making more work.

There was post I read where there is a beetle rack that clamps onto the boot lid of a cabby. I have this bookmarked so I think it was this one. C13-15-2014 - EMPI - DECK LID LUGGAGE RACK - SILVER POWER COATED FRAME WITH WOOD SLATS - MOUNTING HARDWARE INCLUDED - BEETLE SEDAN 46-67 - SOLD EACH

I'd give it a service and drain that old fuel out. Some fresh fuel can't hurt.  looks like someone has spliced into the wiring for an alarm. That's the first thing I'd look at maybe it has an imobilser? I'm sure you'll have this up and running In no time.
As for tow bars IIRC there's 2 types as the earlier one doesn't fit around the rear bumper cover. But I'm sure there is a version for the later cars.
Dash electrics is usualy poor earth and a culprit is the head earth on the engine, the dash etc is earthed via a brown/white wire that goes to a plate on the upper right stud on the rocker cover then a braided earth strap to the coil mounting bracket. Plus take the clocks out and clean the copper contacts on the blue mylar foil that goes to the multi plug on the clocks (all in my Post)

Just a few pointers to wet your whistle lol.

Door speakers can be blown speakers them selves I had that on mine. Leccy widow, do you hear the relay click when pressing the window button?

I had the issue with mine, try holding the button down and opening the door slightly a bit at a time if the window operates then its a break in the wire that goes into the door in the rubber tubes.
Another issue is have you cleaned the rubber drain tubes out in the scuttle tray? These block up with old leaves etc, so need cleaning out just poke a little stick down them and whilst you're at it check the door bottom drain holes are clear.

LK5T is Inka Blue paint code.

Manufactured in 1993.

Cheers for all these details guys, plenty to get on with so will work through the issues.

The dash clock dosnt work because the LCD has leaked and gone black so if removable it needs a new screen.

I saw the picture with the Beetle rack mounted while searching through tow bar threads last night. I actually have one of those racks for my MRS's 1967 Beetle;

 

To be honest I dont see it being strong enough to support the bike without flexing as its fairly thin walled aluminium.

I found this tow bar in my shed (I have a habit of collecting bits I have no use for then finding them when I need them) and wondered if it looked like a Mk1 bar?
 


I think the person who gave me it said it was a Polo tow bar but if its close I can always modify it.

No reaction from the leccy windows at all, think there are issues with the fuse box that need working through.

Service is on the cards as soon as its running. Is the cam belt swap an easy job? Did my V6 Audi recently so dont imagine its as complicated (twin cams) but access looks a bit more restricted.

Cheers again and hope to have more progress on the car to post soon.

Dave.

LCD I got one from a similar year polo, MK2 will do also from the scrappers, bit of a faff but I did it, just be careful as the little rubber contacts can be disturbed.
It's a strip down  clocks out job but yep doable.
have a gander here.. The info is there when you have a look see.. just scroll down.
http://www.4130-products.com/step/gl/index.htm

Lovely Find mate.... look like a keeper...

Right, no big updates so far due to lack of time, weather, clearing out garages and ordering parts.

Roof job booked, dark blue mohair outer and new headliner and cables, £750.

Scrapped my tow bar bike rack idea. On the Audi the bike is only marginally wider than the car but looking at the back of the Golf the bike is much to wide to mount the same way;



I do have a plan however.

More to follow, things will start happening in the coming week, especially if my Audi sells


Dave.

I have another update but still not quite an MOT'd and on the road update.

Car spark has sorted the fuse box issues, as expected the fuel pump relay was goosed but with that fixed the car is now a runner  .

Sounds good but with a slight hint of hesitation from idle. I'm hoping with a service an replacing perished vaccuum hoses that will go.

Only thing still not working electrically is the power windows. My spark says he can hear the motors clicking so there will be a feed but rather than paying him to strip the door panels I'm gonna do that myself and see if its lack of use thats seized them up. Thats the best case, worst case is they both need replaced.

More to follow soon I hope.

Dave.

door cards off check motors unplug and put 12V across them, very rare for both to go.
Try opening the drivers door slightly a bit at a time with the window switch pressed down, Usually break in the door wiring that runs through the rubber tube between the A pillar and the doors. If it's the window module that's located under the dash Drivers side. Pop your head under you'll see the module.

Its been a while since I did much with my wee golf. I had a week in Canada over easter so decided to finish off some other projects before going away and dealing with the car when I got back.

Back to the car and its been a day of ups and downs….Please pardon the pun.

Electric windows were job one. Fault traced to the window module as both motors were working with a 12v supply.

Ebay came to the rescue with a new module which I climbed under the dash and replaced today and while I was down there I replaced the rubber bush on the end of the accelerator pedal;

 

All excited I tried the drivers door window and success, a window that goes up and down with the button. Passenger side…….Nothing. I know the motor is good so must be a break in the wiring somewhere so stripped the door card back off to start tracing the fault;



If you look closely you will see the fuse box hanging down again. Replacing the fuel pump relay (with the correct one this time after employing the services of another auto spark) still hasn't solved the lack of power supply to the pump so the spark is back out tomorrow to look into the fault again and I might get him to have a go at tracing the electric window fault.

On an aside, do the doors need to be closed before winding up the windows? I wound up the drivers door window and it went so far up the frame the door wouldnt close properly and the seal to the top of the 1/4 frame was stretching. Is there an adjustment to stop the window lifting too far?

Like to think it will be MOT'd by the end of the week but the way this car throws up problems we will see.

Dave

Very nice car. Great purchase.

With the build sticker located in the boot reads as;

JH = Engine type

Aug = Close ratio gearbox

LK5T = Paint code, Inka Blue

JP = Interior trim colour.

Your car was #57 made on Wednesday 19th August 1992. the 1,9xx off the production line for the 1993 model year (June 1992 to April 1993)

Option codes: 061 is Speedo in MPH,  130 is rear lap belts, 197 is 45 amp battery and 571 is rear fog light.

93cab said

Very nice car. Great purchase.

With the build sticker located in the boot reads as;

JH = Engine type

Aug = Close ratio gearbox

LK5T = Paint code, Inka Blue

JP = Interior trim colour.

Your car was #57 made on Wednesday 19th August 1992. the 1,9xx off the production line for the 1993 model year (June 1992 to April 1993)

Option codes: 061 is Speedo in MPH,  130 is rear lap belts, 197 is 45 amp battery and 571 is rear fog light.

Useful info I've seen the option code decoders online but I don't think the info on how to decode the build date, # on a day etc.


Ref the windows, I think the window mechanism will purely dictate where the windows stop - ie you can't adjust. They should work with the doors open - they do on one I have in stock at present with electric windows. If yours don't I would think it's a break in the wire need the door hinge.

Cheers Hairyarse.

The windows are working with the doors open (found the broken feed on the passenger side today).

I was just trying to work out what applies pressure to the window when it reaches the top of its travel when the door is open.

I think I will strip the drivers door to see if there is adjustment to the mech or perhaps there is wear to the bracket.

Will keep you all posted.

Another wee update to add.

With both windows working I headed up to reassemble the n/s door card and have a look at an adjustment for the electric windows.

Rubjonny replied to my request and confirmed the existance of an adjuster and after a bit of chin scratching to work out the mechanism I had it sussed out.

With the door card off, loosen (but do not remove) the nut highlighted by the red arrow.



If you look behind the door skin you will see that the winder mechanism comes to rest on the white nylon shoe at the back of the adjuster (again marked with a red arrow).



Loosening the nut and sliding the adjuster towards the hinge will increase the movement range of the electric window and moving it the other way it will restrict the windows movement and stop it going too high or too low.

Important point to highlight. Be careful not to loosen the nut too far as the white nylon shoe on the bottom of the bracket that stops the window dropping too far can fall out and from experience, can be a fiddle to get it back in.

Engine now starting reliably from the key. When the fuel pump relay had died it had melted out the plastic fuse box so a bit of cleaning up had it starting and running but badly. Fuel filter ordered as the contents of the tank resemble Bisto gravy and a service will be carried out but getting closer.

On a lighter note, removing the speaker pods revealed a nice set of uprated speakers.



Dave.

Ah great bit of info Dave    It's useful to know that

I got another step closer to done in the last few days but as always this car is refusing to be straight forward.

Fuel tank cleaned out and new filter means it starts and runs but a little bit lumpy so I am borrowing the use of a CO meter to set it up.

It has slightly worryingly cut out on me a couple of times while idling, started again but cut out if its left to idle so need to press the accellerator to keep it running then mysteriously gone back to running fine. Hope this is not the sign of an intermittant un tracable fault?

I also changed the gear linkage bushes. The change over was straight forward but getting the linkage set turned into a huge ball ache.

When I got the car reverse gear would be there then would not be there when the gear lever was put into reverse (no drive in reverse).

I assumed worn linkage so changed out the bushes, first thing I checked was reverse and happy days, reverse is there but go to drive off and cant get 1st or 2nd, just 3rd and 4th. So more adjusting and I could get 1'st to 5th but no reverse………

After 2 hours of head scratching I found that the base of the gearlever could move very slightly and the front bolt holding the gear lever to the floor had been stripped. Under neath the car the bolt had no nut to tighten into so I replaced that and was getting all gears though reverse still needs a particular touch to get it to go in so I think a little more adjustment there is needed.

Other than that I managed to find a pair of rear speaker covers for £20 the pair which I thought was good going and the car is now insured (£200 fully comp with direct line) and hopefully going for its MOT on Tuesday.

Dave