1982 Gti Resto

I've owned this car since 2003 and am the 5th owner

she has been a daily driver since ownership

I have had no garage either as we live in a street of terraced victorian houses and the parking is at a premium. still habe managed to get some jobs done though…

fitted new wishbones and bushes.
top mounts and coilovers.
replaced the steering rack and gaitor
new track rods ends and gaitors
4 branch manifold and full stainless system.

this car been solid whilst on the road, but has not had the tlc she deserves, until recently this year when 2 key factors have help with the restoration process, my wife passed her test earlier this year so we now have a polo 6n as the family runabout and after a few year on the council garage waiting list i now have a  decent place to store the golf while I work on her in my spare time.

happy daze

will add some more updates as and when, until then heresa  few pics

more pics for ref, bonnet off better one fitted but will need spraying
decided i want to make the engine bay clean as possible before going in for the respray so took off the metering head but marked up the hoses first :wink:

a cheap n cheerful 10 quid drill from b n q and a metal polishing pack of ebay and a few dabs of hammerite and the metering head now looks like this.



tommorow is another golf day hopefully!

Nice car, should clean up well as it looks like only surface rust, bonus  :y:

I never knew there was such a thing as a council garage list  :dontknow:  but i don't know anything…

It's all the small jobs that make the difference, i started cleaning stuff under my bonnet too, you get a bit carried away spending time on tiny parts, but if you have the time and patience it all pays off  

Good luck and keep the updates coming especially the photos, i like photos..

Nice one.  8)

1982 … I thought that would have been an 1.8?

what you cut the redbull can with? I tried this four times on my ignition coil and then gave up, kept making a total balls of the can, leaving it crumpled/full of dents.

looks a good project.

Good to see it getting some love!

WeeTony said

what you cut the redbull can with? I tried this four times on my ignition coil and then gave up, kept making a total balls of the can, leaving it crumpled/full of dents.

looks a good project.

How do mate, yea i think i cut it with a scapel blade you know them swann morton ones. just toook the top and bottom off then down the back before trimming it to size on a cutting mat, werar gloves for the first bit though

Ok been busy. getting home from work at 3pm somedays so luckily can get into the shed and get some bit s polished up.

my fan motor packed up, the bearing had gone i think as it wasn't spinning true


after a bit of trawling I managed to find another one for a fiver, it was more cruddy than my old one when i got it but a fter a few hours of wire brushing and polishing compound it now looks like this


more goodies on the way , i wished i'd photographed then before they went… ive send my fan cowling, cam cover, rocker cover, number plate holder, windscreen wiper arms, winf mirror bases and external door handle trims down the powder coated to be coated in matt black.  quite looking forward to gettring them back, so hopefully will get some more photographs up of those when theyre done

Ok I know its been a bit of a while since any update.
anyway decided to degrease as much as poss to see how much 28 year old grime i could get rid of :wink:  :wink:  :wink:  :wink:  :wink:
thing is every time I Gunk stuff it makes me wann a remove more parts so i can get a deeper clean.
this is after a few attempts (alternator off)

since this photo Ive had the water pump off,its gonna be replaced as the old vw was a bit ropey and the pulley wasnt aligned too well either.
The inlet manifold is off now too and will be getting a good clean too.
Is this normal to have this behind where the water pump was???? :dontknow:  :dontknow:  :dontknow: do i need to worry about this?

I'll be removing the oil filter housing and the distributor aswell. I want to paint the block in situ (if i hade a crane it would be coming out)
has anyone painted their block whilst on the car?? should i take anything else off? cheers

other plans are to replace the bay wiring,  as some previous owner had gone a bit mad with the scotch locks, along with some other bodged wiring and i don't think i'm getting enough voltage to the horn connector.

Iv'e got  agood collection of shiny parts a nd genuine panels etc accumulating in the loft and am looking forward to putting her back together soon.
heres a picture of the alternator after a bit of polishing :mrgreen:

Alright people Long time since update,

Weather is loads better, makes it so much easier for laying on your back on the tarmac :wink:
decided today to remove the wings and further identify all the blemishes and problem areas for the body shop so they can give me a figure before i commit for the respray.



wings off ^


most of the underseal off, a little bit here at the front needing to be cut out and replaced^


same again here^



today i finished taking all the underseal off the rear arches.  I didnt take any photos of that tho. gonna finish the fronts soon…all brand spanking new VAG replacement panels going on. anyway gonna be ready to go off to mv developments weekend after next, where it's gonna have some minor fabrication work and all new stone chipping and underseal and full repaint in original black. can't wait :mrgreen:


I have the following parts to aid with the resto….

1x genuine brand new front panel
2x genuine brand new wings
2x rear arch repair sections
1x genuine brand new single lamp grille
full set of green glass inc. brand new screen
big up tallpete :wink:  :wink:  :wink:  for donating his s/s filler neck too (since he sold his s1)
etc.  will endeavour to proto the parts that i'm saving in the loft nearer to when the time comes to refitting them

any comments suggestion fully welcomed cheers john

a few bits of crud that are gonna need cutting out and welding in.  think it's where a previous owner had a nearside prang and had a new front panel put in badly. anyway hopefully get round to doing the rears when i fix the genny and get a new grinder before she goes off to mv development in cambridge in their new spray booth, well looking forward to it…

heres the latest pics from mik at mv.

looks tidy so far… miks workshop has a few more tools lying round compared to my garage
















to say i'm stoked is a bit of an understatement!!
watch this space…

latest update.. bye bye rusty crap…


hello mr repair panel





miks started tackling the rear arch repairs… fair play to that man..taking shape bit by bit… bit nerve wrecking thinking that your car's being cut up…seem to be coming together ok though me thinks….

















the arches on the outside have been skimmed with filler and then dolphin glazed over to give a smooth finish before paint. then inner skins have been acid 8 rust protected then seam sealed and finally stone chipped before painted black.

good work man :wink:

Will probs be popping in MVD's wednesday so i'll have a nosey over your golf

caddyrage said

Will probs be popping in MVD's wednesday so i'll have a nosey over your golf

cool bud let us know how its lookin

 maybe mik will send me some more pics over in the meantime  :wink:

To say I had a big smile on my face when i received these pics was a bit of an understatement ENJOY!









so looking forward to getting her back home.gonna  keep it pretty OEM really. my brain has been kicking out steam trying to decide on what rims..  

my 9 spokes will take pride of place for a while whilst the slow reassembly process gets going…

Shiny shiny!! Nice one John, bet you're well chuffed

looks a lovely coat o black on her now 8)

this is still coming together slowly but surely.  had a lot of inspiration off another thread 'engine detailing' by chrissy (if I had more space and a crane would be getting really carried away with it!! ) after seeing the results of the yellow zinc work on chrissy's thread i started make some enquirys and found a guy local to me that runs an electroplaters who was happy to help out.



i have pretty much removed all components except the actual block, box and head.

somebits are still at the powder coaters and some are still in the attic, basically more photos on the way soon.

cheers john