1983 GX Project

Hi there guys ive been using the forum for a while now and thought id start a thread on my project. I bought my mk1 shortly after my bug fell victim to the scrappage scheme a few years ago  :cry: . It was a totally stock 5dr GX model owned by the same family since new and i used it as a daily till i bought my mk4 during the winter which is when I put the mk1 in storage. I pulled it out around september last year to be sent to a garage for a respray to make a start.

everything was totally original and the old sales invoice and brochure even came with the car. It was being held together by gaffa tape in certain areas but there wasnt too much rot so i went for it. During the time it was being used as a daily i bought new bumpers, parcel shelf, black badge, headunit, loads of speakers and amps, p slot alloys and did service stuff like the cambelt/water pump and weber conversion.

I sent it off to the paint shop to have the whole thing declutered, and resprayed



so stuff like the chrome trim, rear wiper and rear badges were removed and then a nice fresh coat of the original diamond metallic silver was applied getting it to this stage.

I started compiling bits and pieces i wanted to bolt onto the car like a single headlamp grill, series 1 gti wheel, golf ball gear knob, weitec coilovers, pressed plates amongst other things just to make it look a little less like a family car. As a result im now currently here with the project.

Looking Good

Ive started taking out all my old audio and ending up with around 5 bundles that looked like this.



what was i thinking    anyway after taking all that out i started taking out the seats in order to get a retrim. HOWEVER after going to Volksworld last week and seeing the aircooled mk3 up close i quite liked the idea of those seats in the mk1 so set about looking on ebay, where i was surprised to find that you could buy mk3 interiors for next to nothing. It then took another turn after my uncle took a quick look at the car and put the idea of bucket seats in my head SO back to ebay and we found ourselves bidding on a set of sabelt bucket seats which we're collecting this sunday from Bristol  

The direction of the project is currently a little weird as its going to be a stripped out 5dr with just 2 buckets and harnesses and bits of carbon fibre which will probably go unoticed. once ive sorted the interior to a point where it looks respectable im going to turn my efforts to the engine where i think ive decided on going down the well trodden 1.8 16v KR route as the orignal 1.5 litre engine isnt very impressive out on the road or to look at.

Ill post up more pictures when i get started on fitting the interior but in the mean time id love your opinions really. Thanks for reading

volkswarren said

Looking Good

Cheers mate its getting there slowly haha

Looking good, is it going to be back on the road for DATP?

Hiya mate how are you doing? I was hoping id meet you at the last ltv meet but attendance was a little thin to be honest what with the heavy rain and snow in March!

im not entirely sure about when itll be ready cause i dont want to rush it and cut corners but im hoping itll be on the road by the end of june (without the engine swap)

I might come to DATP in th MK4 depending on whether it clashes with uni exams are you guys gonna organise a convoy and if so can i join up with the MK4?

I might pop over to the LTV meet this Sunday if the weather is good, we had GX at the last Berks meet which I thought it was your's to start with

Yeah the will be a convoy to DATP, check out http://www.vwgolfmk1.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=111998 or on the facebook page.

I cant make it to this months meet cause im picking up those bucket seats in Bristol. Yeah i saw a picture of that GX, real nice cheers

Oh cool well on the basis that theres no clashes ill be up for that

Right so i havent updated in a while because progress has been a little slow due to money and time and weather constraints, however in the past month ive sold a few bits and pieces from my interior to fellow members which has helped me get back on track

Right so my parts list for April was:
Sabelt Bucket Seats
OMP Harnesses
Gear stick surround
Cobra Tailored Subframes
Carpet
Seat Adaptor Plates

First off i picked up my seats (Ebay FTW) and ordered up my cobra frames from Demon Tweeks only to find that the bolt patterns were off so i took some measurements and had these made up in 5mm aluminium at a local metal workshop (molesey metal works) ive been using for years



I checked the fitment and on a dry day got on with stripping the old stuff out and getting the seats in

Ive fitted my small gear stick surround (courtesy of Crazy Quiffs)because i thought the standard centre consolewas a little untidy, fitted a nurburgring grill badge, got a porsche fire extinguisher off my uncle and got on with stripping out the rear seats.

Since fitting the seats ive also cut the boot carpet from an offcut i bought from a trimmer, ordered up the other harness and realised the steering wheel has to go as its on top of my knees so have ordered up a momo team 300 from Rueben at Tuning werkes to sort the issue

Next time i work on the car i should hopefully be putting the wheel on, taking the washer bottle out the boot, fitting the other harness.

Fez

fez, listen up - I've a GX that I'm restoring to stock - she's in the paintshop right as I write

As you're removing parts to mod yours, any stock parts you remove and might be getting rid of let me know - I'll probs take them off you, and luckily you're not far from me either

IF you're ready for DATP, we should have a GX-convoy to the convoy…

I also know of another GX in the area which I think is coming to DATP too

Hi plurker, its really unlikely ill make it to DATP cause the cars no where near finished and ive got two major exams to revise for so unfortunately im going to have to be sensible id definitely be up for a meet after may though ?

I just had a look at your gx thread, really like the improvements your making. I found the before ride height pretty frightening though ;D are you keeping it the same colour or going for something different?

Parts wise ill be selling everything i remove in order to keep the project going, ive got quite a few bits and peices and what ill do is pm you a list of gx specific stuff i have and stuff im going to pull.

Fez

heya
pls do PM me a lis of anything you're selling, you never know what i might need/want…

having spoken to the bodyshop today looks like DATP might be looking unlikely for me too - might only be able to pick her up on Sat morning - that's a lot of parts to put back on in one day…we shall see how I get on tis a good show so gonna try my best…

And yes, keeping her original colour, she's being 'restored' to original spec (albeit -40mm 8))

Cool mate i will do as soon as i can get into the garage to see what ive got

Looking forward to pictures once its out of the bodyshop, i really like the dark grey. Whats the plan with the p slots? I sometimes wish i had gone matt grey or black on mine instead of the potentially hard to maintain polished look.

I think the 40mm drop doesnt look over the top and just fits in nicely with the oem look. Im not one of the stanced brigade but opted for collies in the end cause ive smoothed and stripped out the car beyond recognition of being a gx so thought it just needed to be that little bit lower. Otherwise at the beginning i was set on a 40mm kit.

I definitely think we should convoy as gx's up to inters if your up for it ;D

Right so i havent updated this in a while so i thought id post up some pictures of my new steering wheel



I put it on one notch over to one side so had to redo it but im quite happy with the result now as i no longer have the steering wheel on my knees however if i was going to do this again i think id go for a race/tuner 320mm. Dont get me wrong i love the Team and its a great looking, good quality wheel but i should have gone with my gut when i thought it was gonna be too small. Since fitting ive found (from my perspective) its not very practical for parking and it obscures the speedo a little so you do have to kind of look round the wheel. Apart from all of that it really makes you feel like your driving a very upmarket go kart

Other than this ive removed the rear washer bottle, and just done general tidying and cleaning. I'm so happy with the car despite it not being perfect ive decided im just gonna enjoy driving it around during the "summer" and then carry on with major work this winter. so updates will be a little thin on the ground.

Fez

so a little update for now.

The oil pressure warning light and buzzer go off randomly generally when going over 50, i thought it was an electrical fault cause it generally happens when its raining but it recently occured on a couple of dry days too. The car pulls well and its got fresh oil so im hoping its one of the switches thats decided to give up after all these years SO i went out and bought the two switches and tried to fit them today only to realise that i needed a 15/16" deep socket  

on a lighter note ive slowly started buying the bits i need for my 16v conversion    and im hoping ill be ready to do the swap over the winter.

Right update time

ive bought a set of slightly knackered small bumpers, a set of smoked rear lights off cabby brad AND a set of crosshair headlights

The moment everythings cleaned up and theres a relatively sunny day ill put the bits on and take some more pictures.

The KR parts stash is slowly building as i managed to pick up a loom and modified distributor setup too.

This is how the car looks atm, bumpers were powdercoated by Wicked Wheels in Guildford and im well happy with them.
The cars off the road now though as the oil pressure warning lights back and I decided that instead of spending money on an engine that lets the whole car down, I may as well get started on the KR conversion.

Thought I'd update the thread, the cars been off the road for a while and as it stands at the moment the old engines out and a KR's on a stand being rebuilt as and when time allows. Due to time constraints I've outsourced bits of work to a guy in another workshop on the same site (Sam Thomas Racing) cause otherwise I dont think I'd finish till next December XD he is a really cool guy who specialises in historic race prep and works on stuff like Cobras, Carrera GT's etc so i think I'll be well looked after.

I'm still collecting parts but the aim is to get the engine bolted into the bay before christmas and have it running for March. My task next time i'm down at the workshop is to remove the rest of the unnecesary brackets (done 2 out of 5) degrease the engine bay and then paint it matt black with VHT spray paint.

As well as the current engine swap project ive also been buying parts for other aspects of the project ie S1 dash conversion and extra VDO gauges

Pictures of current progress to follow