1983 GTI Cabriolet

I've posted a bit about this before but thought I would stick a bit in here to show what I've done to it since I got it. I've had threads about it on other boards so I've copied some over.

Here goes:

Shown here as purchased back in December:



I picked this up for the princely sum of ?250 with tax and MOT! (+?50 for him to leave the DAB stereo in there!) Scene tax exempt if not Road Tax! I suppose the fact that it was 2 days before Xmas will have helped, not a time most people go shopping for a Cabby!

OK so it needed a bit of work. In it's favour it's had the engine replaced and the previous owner told me he'd spent ?250+ having the brakes sorted - more of which later. Now on to the problems….

The roof seals were leaky and there was a swimming pool on the passenger side. I later found that the leak was so bad because the plastic sheet behind the door panel was missing, so that got replaced with some polythene I had.

The brake pedal had to go right to the floor before it worked when I bought it. I replaced the master cylinder with a ?15 second hand item and also adjusted the rear drums properly. Works as good as a Golf gets now! To say the previous owner had all that work done on the brakes I think it's a bit shoddy that they didn't set the rears up properly.

I was thinking of using it for a bit and then selling it on. It wasn't to be though, time to sort it.
My major gripe (apart from the leaks!) was that the shocks were knackered. It wallowed and bounced round corners and the rear was lower than the front.

So to sort it out I decided that the way to go was:



New top mounts too and you can see my "official tool" for replacing VAG strut top nuts. I grip the box spanner with stilsons and away you go.

mid repair:


Goodbye wallowy old leaky rusty oily thing….



That's got to be better 8-)



That was all done back in January and it improved the handling no end.

MOT next…..

Some more pics of the shock fest!

Fitted the rears today and set up the front.
Rears are dead easy on the cabby. Drop the roof, tilt the back seat and lean over the side. Beats leaning in the boot!


Problem with changing suspension components on a Golf is that you monkey the camber settings, but…..


I got a second hand tracking/camber gauge set as my Xmas present. This is the first time I've used it in anger.

Make sure the weight of the car is on the front suspension and that it's level.



Then attach the fantastic technical looking yellow jiggery pokery.



Set it at 1/4 degree positive camber and then turn the eccentric bolt until the bubble in the gauge is central. That simple!

MOT next….

Took it for the MOT in February and it failed on>

Cracked front numberplate
Headlights wrong colour! (had some fancy bulbs in when I got it that look green)
Steering rack insecure.

The last one's not as bad as it sounds. There was some lateral movement of the rack in it's mountings rather than wear in the rack so decided to replace the mounting bushes:

Not the most exciting pics but here goes:.

To get at the rack mountings the gearbox mount has to come off on one side and the downpipe on the other.


Then the dog can see the rabbit!


This is the one causing all the trouble:


The new one, they're only ?3 each from GSF too!


Noticed some slight flex in the bracket as well so stuck a blob of weld on to be on the safe side (bottom right). There's no evidence of cracking or that it was spot welded, I think it's meant to do it.


And the new one the other side:


Took it for a retest and it passed.
 8)

Next thing was to sort out wheels and tyres.

The tarantula alloys it came with were a bit scabby and whilst the tyres were legal I had a hairy moment in the rain. I went through a bit of a puddle and the car aquaplaned for a moment! Grip was restored before anything happened but it did drift toward the verge a bit.

I managed to get some 14" steels with good tyres for very little so fitted them. To dress them up I got some moondiscs from Ebay, again for very little.




Thought it looked fairly smart but the first time I took it to work I lost a disc   
Couldn't find it anywhere so had to re think.

Went through a few options:

1. Black wheels & VW caps. Not really suited to the cabby.


2. Period Audi plastic trims. Looked OK and could have seen them looking smart in white.


Nearly went with that but I tried some chrome trims I'd originally got to put on my Bedford CF



I decided to go with these. I think they go well with the white and changing the mirrors and door handles to chrome would fit too. Just need some centre badges.

I did originally intend to fit these at some point:


Cups do look good on Golfs but they've been done to death, I think my 60's style chrome and white is a bit different but still looks smart.

Next installment….

Having spent a day or 2 removing what seemed like 25 years worth of grime from the interior it came up quite well!
The next big job to tackle was replacing the roof. Armed with the guide I downloaded from here I set about it.

Enough blue to make a sailor's trousers - should be OK to go roofless!


Back window out, now to remove 3257598275 staples….


A bit of Hammerite needed here, I think


Changed the headlining for a ?5 Ebay one as mine was slightly mouldy and ripped.

Yuk!

Now the whole lot's gone, including the frame. Looks a bit like a boat now I think!


Frame fitted and horsehair pad repaired. I decided to cover it with one of those foil blanket things as the fabric covering was gone on the top. Not sure how successful it'll be but so far it works.


Slightly better headlining! Not perfect but OK.


Stopped taking photos of the rest but it went on OK. The rear cable was a fiddle and I did need to cut a U shape in the back as the whole thing seemed to be 3 inches too short when I first folded it up.

Here's one I made earlier…

Another bit of tidying.

Owing to how soggy the car was when I got it, the parcel shelf was in a state.

Strip the carpet off and I'm left with


So take one sheet of MDF a Jigsaw and some blackboard paint and create


Then put the carpet back on, fit some more subtle speakers than the bright green and chrome ones it came with (another sub ?10 ebay job for some nice Boschmann ones).


The rear seats were in a mess. As it's a "white" edition it had that cord seat covering that has fallen apart. I can't afford a re-trim so this is what I did to tidy it up


The seat back is the flag of Lower Saxony, the region of Germany where Wolfsburg is. The base is just some pirate nonsense!

And so this is how it stands now.




Arty shot!


I've replaced the door seals, fitted chrome mirrors & handles, given it a good clean and a polish and painted the sills with white stonechip instead of black.
It's also had a decent 2nd hand radiator and I had to seal up a nasty oil leak as the gasket had gone where the filter housing bolts on to the engine block.


It's come up fairly well for a 25 year old car that's "unrestored".
It could do with a new passenger wing and front panel really. The front panel is too bent to get the spoiler on. There's also some filler bodgery on the passenger sill at the front and a bit of damage to the door. I think it may have fallen off a jack or something. The filler appears to be covering a dent, I don't think it's rust. The boot lid has been replaced and not sprayed too well, there's also the matter of me having done some patch ups with Halfords Alpine Beige! That paint is just the wrong colour.

Anyhow, it's all jobs for later. Time to drive it around and enjoy it for what's left of the summer.

keep up the good work mate, looks like ur doin a good job, wheels are very retro