'78 1.1N

Hi all,

Well its been a long time since i posted on here.  Looking back through the (very few) old posts i made, it has dawned on me that i have owned my little golf for six years.  It was to under go a relatively light restoration, and i started in earnest, however a house purchase, career change etc have hindered progress over the last few years.

Today was the first time in a few years that i have done any work on the car.  I am hoping to slowly but surely plod along and make some progress on this over the coming months.

The car is a base spec, small bumpered Series 1, and clicked over 50000 miles the last time i drove it. The original owner had it Ziebarted from new, so it is in remarkably solid condition considering it's age.

Here's a few photos:

















As you can see, i stripped it to a running shell and labelled and boxed all the parts up, photographing them as i went, and actually made quite a bit of progress on it before i laid it up in my (thankfully dry) garage a few years ago. I also removed all the sealant from the drivers side inner wing, rust proofed and zinc primed (still got the passenger side and rears to do) rubbed down the rear panel, rust proofed and zinc primed it, cleaned the scuttle tray/gutters etc (removing surface rust and treating where necessary). I also had the foresight to purchase a genuine VAG front panel (it's from a cab with towing eye) 2 x genuine front wings (again later wings) and a full set of NOS VAG door/glass seals.

My plan is to repaint it in the original colour and keep the 1.1. This will be removed before paint, so that the horrible ziebart can be removed and the bay painted. It will be restored back to standard, with the only mods being coilovers and a change of wheels.  I have a done the whole engine conversion thing with my caddy, so quite fancy keeping this one simple!

I was also lucky enough to have a buddy who was breaking a series 1 (he only wanted the dash) so i have a loft full of spares, including tailgate and doors etc.  Plenty to keep my busy.

And thats pretty much where i am with the car to date….hopefully you're still awake!

I have a few questions if anyone knows the answers:

-Today i stripped the doors down and noticed that one of them looks to have been replaced at some point with a non genuine item.  Where can i find the VAG stamps on the doors to confirm this? as ideally i would like to replace it if so.

-With regards to the front panel, i would like to keep the car as correct and original as possible-would it be better to cut'n shut the lower half of the new one (from a cab with towing eye) with the top of the series 1 panel?- as far as i'm aware the main differences are around the slam panel? are there any other differences?

-With regards to the wings- the series 1 wings i had were completely rotten and fell to pieces when removed.  What are the differences between series 1 and series 2 wings, bar the repeater indentations/aerial hole/bumper clip holes?

-Also if any of you have a preferred method/products to use when treating/painting the inner wings, i'd love to hear them. I've heard good things about epoxy mastic?

Thanks for taking the time to read, hopefully this thread will be updated sooner rather than later.

Paul

Wow Paul, firstly welcome back to the madhouse mate.

Secondly lovely series one you have there. Not many left and I am glad you have decided to restore her and keep her going. Will be watching this thread with interest.

Good luck with it mate.    

Hello and welcome back, lovely little mk1 s1 you got there! I sooo want an S1  

Regards, Andy.

Nice to see another yellow s1 1.1 being restored. Getting that Ziebart stuff off isn't the nicest of jobs. Keep the updates coming.

Thanks for the warm welcome back! I think i've got my mojo back on this one…

Stripped both doors down yesterday, they are pretty solid with only a minor amount of surface rust, however one has either been replaced or re-skinned at some point.  I've got a couple of spare doors from a later s1, and the hinges / check straps are slightly different (one bolt as opposed to two where they mount to the body) so I think i'll repair the ones that were on it.

Headlining removed in one piece today, and i've almost removed the dash, which i'll finish tomorrow. I managed (i hope!) not to break anything other than a rather brittle speedo bulb- are these available (including the plastic holder) and are they the same as S2 instrument bulbs?

I'll post some photos tomorrow when i get a chance