1985 GTi Cabby

My trusty brother picked up my new purchase today. Here he is giving me the good news, and the bad……



Good points are the bodywork is not completely falling off it, there is 11 months MOT on it and it runs, turns and stops.  The worst things are the paintwork, it looks like it was painted by someone using rattle cans on a windy day whilst drunk and wearing sunglasses  8)





The only bit of rust we found



and the top needs replacing.

Engine wants a good tidy up.  It's lumpy on start up but seems to run well once warm and going.  Will look into this as priority number one.



Inside seems pretty tidy and can be saved for now.





I'm loving the brown plastic dash, but not the misfitting CD player.



Tarantulas are in good nick and will stay for now.



So the plan for now is get it serviced,drive it around a bit when I get back (I'm working in Singapore until Nov 8), make some plans for the paintwork - it's too good to go Ratty and not good enough to drive around with any sense of well being, but a drop and some BBS may solve that, I need to get the karma of the car first.

Oh and I forgot, one other good thing IT'S A MARK 1 GOLF GTi schweeet.  

I need some input on lowering springs, what's a good drop to go for on current wheels which will still be comfortable and not ground the sump or exhaust on normal driving?

Sorry I'm new to the Upgrade scene as I couldn't afford it back in the day.

Mmm, don't seem to be generating any replies, maybe I need to change my avatar.

I am on the look out for a new hood now, thinking of going beige but can't seem to find a supplier, or should I just go to a hood fitter?

Cheers

nice cabby you got there, she doesnt look bad from the pics (ive had worse and loved it) as for the hood, do a search on here i think its northern car hoods that do a good deal, if your attemptimg a hood change on your own, contact chotle on here he knows best and has info that may help (he helped me out), i changed mine with help but took all day to do, bbs will look sweeet on her, wouldnt mind a set myself although i love my p slots too  40mm drop is a good average

chris  

there is a pdf file knockin about on how to fit a hood somewhere on ear i fount it the other day, car looks nice nothin a little tlc wont fix. i just got me a set of coilovers off ebay for £150 n lowered the car 40mm and the rides the same but drives 100 times better its like i got a little power steerin now lol.

Thanks fellas, 40mm sounds like the way forwards, or down, whatever…

Northern Hoods sounds a bit far from me, Leighton Buzzard in Beds.  I saw the pdf, there are some great tech files on the site, not sure though I want to tackle it myself, I'm more of a grind, weld, club hammer kind of guy  

Cheers

So we've had a good look over and around the car.  Apart from the poor paintjob most of the work needed is mechanical.  The list so far is:
Rear drums binding
Front discs need replacing
Hood needs replacing
Rear tyres need renewing - although tread is fine they are cracking on the sidewalls
The main job however is worn diff bearing.  I'l have to search other threads to see if anyone else has had this problem.  Looks like the gearbox will have to come out and be sent to a specialist.
Car drives great though.
Plan now is to get the mechanical stuff done, drive it for a month or so then decide if to do the body work or start on the coilovers, wheels etc beforehand and stay ratty.

I got a mohair hood off ebay mate took a day to do not really alot to it apart from the rear window I'm going down a simlar route really abit retro bbs and coils love the colour too beige hood and maybe trm too would look very classy

Bit more progress today but it's two steps back and one forwards unfortunately.  Rear studs were stripped as someone had forced the threads with wrong nuts.  New drums are going on in any case.
New discs on the front.
Diagnosis says injectors are blocked.  We're trying some fuel cleaner but might have to replace these by the sounds of things.  Guess this is not uncommon.
Cambelt and clutch are being done for good measure.
I guess its just a case that it's had one too many home repairs in the past which weren't quite up to scratch.
Going to have to keep this one economical for now as just bought a 1954 Oval today and the split still isn't finished and just for good measure the Touareg needs new tyres. Ouch.

Hi Fella,
welcome aboard, the hoods are straight forward to do, but consider the interliner and padding that sits between the top and headliner at the same time, as you cannot retrospectively fit the headliner or interliner afterwards without undoing all your hard work.
You could consider camel colour as opposed to beige.
However I have a plan, I potentionally know where there may be a fairly new Beige one that I may be changing over for someone, so if it's going spare and we get it off okay, I think there could be a deal for you. I know it's history so it's reasonably new.
I wouldn't normally reccomend Secondhand as you don't know how old it is or the history. The last thing you would want to get is a porous roof that lets the water in, ending up getting a new one anyway.
 I did sell a chocolate coloured one to a member on here, but he is selling his project car and the new hood with it.
It's Pinpoint vynil so it's correct grain for your year too.



Just to give you an idea.
I will pm his details over and perhaps he may part with it  :dontknow:  :dontknow:

I am away now till Dec 7th so if you not sorted by then give me a shout and I will see what I can do.
Cheers

Strange, thought I replied to this…

Would be interested, my only concern is location as the car is in Bedfordshire.

Cheers

Great looking little project!, Love standard cabbys. Keep us posted!

Dib

dibbler said

Great looking little project!, Love standard cabbys. Keep us posted!

Dib

Cheers, it's growing on me too, I think chortle has got the colour combo right, a camel. p would look great.  I'm not sure if to leave it on the tarantulas or go BBS.  Were BBS an option on these or did they only come in on MK2's?  I guess 14 inch rather than 15 to keep it more standardish.

Did 200 miles over the course of the weekend, took a bit of time to get warmed up - the large vents in the dash blow cold whilst the little ones above them leak warm air - once it got warm it was great but is this right?



Brakes are done, just waiting for the new injectors to go on, hopefully that will help the massive flat spot from 3,000 RPM on.

Here is a pic with my 3 other projects - Raleigh Aero Burner Stormtrooper stylee, 1983 GT Nora Pro and my brothers '89 Mongoose Expert.



My nephew insisted in driving with the top down, not for long though  

I've been looking at an American catalogue for the 85 Cab which shows the centre pod with Volt, oil pressure, and temperate gauges. My car has the pod with the gauge slots which are blanked out.  I guess then that these were an option in the UK?  

Anyone got any information on the gauges - brand (vdo?) and do they ever come up?

My speedo pod also has the MPG module on it at the top, but doesn't appear to work.  The computer is fine at the bottom, are the two linked or is there a separate sender for this?

Cheers

there should be an airline that runs from the speedo cluster to the engine bay for the MPG guage-check or replace this before changing the cluster as this is a common fault.

The guages would have been made by VDO, they come up all the time on ebay and the like. (were also fitted to Audi coupes/80s so there are loads on the market!).

cavs said

there should be an airline that runs from the speedo cluster to the engine bay for the MPG guage-check or replace this before changing the cluster as this is a common fault.

The guages would have been made by VDO, they come up all the time on ebay and the like. (were also fitted to Audi coupes/80s so there are loads on the market!).

Thanks for the help.

Ok so I am now on the hunt for the three gauges and necessary senders.  The shift light may be working but with my trashed injectors the engine won't run properly so I'll get those done first.

The owners instruction manual would be useful, has anyone got a scanned copy available - I have been looking on Ebay but have only seen a 1985 tin top version come up.

Cheers

Sorry for all the questions, but I am starting to get into this now and I just Googled 1985 Golf Cabrio dash and my %^&#*@ car came up!

What is the switch top right of the cluster with the arrow marked 1 2 for?



Cheers

Unfortunately he has sold the hood with the car...