Front End Resto slowly moving towards Rear End! (New pics)

Hoping somebody may be able to advise me with my restoration on the front of my MK1.

I bought a new front panel from my local panel shop for ?35 and thought great:-

front wings off

old front panel off

new front panel and wings on - easy (not the case for me!)

I didn't realise that the front panel was a pre assembled item to the front cross member.

once i realised this i thought i may be able to get away with just removing the lower valance part by drilling out the spot welds then spot welding a new valance on. I could still probably do this but it seams a shame to butcher my brand new assembly to be left with just the valance.

See photos as to how far i have got, just ready for a steam clean, rust treat and hammerite now:-











Just hoping someone could either:-

1. give me the reassuracne i need to cut up my new panel assembly and spot weld the valance on leaving the new cross memebr in pieces in the bin (shame).

OR

2. anyone in the sheffield area that would like a paid welding job and has done the front panel before to pay me a visit and i would either cross their palm with silver (pound notes) or anyone who would do welding in exchange for the mk1 in the background of the above photos would be even better as cash flow is a bit of a problem at present.

thanks in advance for any help recieved and sorry about the long waffeling post, i'm rushing a bit as i'm at work, naughty naughty. :twisted:

sorry can't help on the help front - live too far away!

but someone on here will certianly help you out - front panel is a common job. get the whole thing cut out and fit the new one.

thanks carbs, guess ireland is a bit too far to travel from and they might not let you on the plane with your welding gear.

Think your right about replacing the whole panel but my expertease will only really allow me to change the valance.

do you know if this has been done and if you can just buy the valance?

looking at how far you've gone i'd say change the whole panel just spend a little time carefully seperating where the welds have been with your grinder then de-burr where the welds were, by that time you should have someone to help you weld it on wont take long to get it welded

The guy who did mine left the cross member on to keep as much orginal and lined up properly as possible.

The front panel didn't look too bad to start with :dontknow:

I'm sure you can get a replacment skin, IE, without the cross member attached…

Might be worth checking out first as you seem to have done a good job of removing the old.
Otherwise, you need to cut the cross member out too.
I was worried about thing moving around when I did mine so I got a chunky piece of wood (2x4 or something) and cut it so that it was a perfect tight fit between the chassis legs. I then cut out the panel and cross member and put my "Spacer" in position. Sure enough, the weight of the engine hanging on the mounts did pull the legs together a touch as I had to hammer my wood into place. New panel lined up well though…

nice one guys, thanks for all your help.

decided i'm going to go with just the new skin as this quote is pretty relevant to my car.


The guy who did mine left the cross member on to keep as much orginal and lined up properly as possible.

The front panel didn't look too bad to start with.

does anybody know if you can just buy the skin and where from

i got my cross memebr assembly from GPC so they obviously dont sell just the skin.

last option is to chop this up but don't really want to as think it will be difficult splitting them without harming the skin.

i'll post some more photos if this is the route i take

thanks again, anyone want to buy a complete front assembly if i get a skin, or even swap one fer tuther?

managed to find time this week to hammershite the front cross member.



decided to leave it in place due to being to lazy to remove it, er i mean so that the car retains most of its original body panels.

this means i have the monster task of spliting the new cross member from the valance tomorrow morning, whilst hungover with an angle grinder in hand and doing my best not to feck the valance up or mutilate any of my body parts.

wish me luck

may the cider be with you (helps get rid of the DT's)

I thought you could still buy a front valance skin from Hadrian panels? Good luck splitting a full panel  8O

thanks for the luck,

i needed luck plus balls, managed it in the end though, only just started back on the car 3 weeks ago after selling my audi sport daily driver.

i have taken a few photos along the way which i will post over the next few days.

thank the little baby jesus its nearly ready for the road as it is now my only method of transport other then shank's pony.













I knew drinking all those stella's would come in handy for something and for those that have noticed the filler in the nearside top corner…… IT WASN'T MY FAULT, HONEST

It was delivered with a bend in that corner, i'm guesing either a delivery problem or as it came of the 10 bob press it was made on.

Still pretty pleased as you can't see it now though

Been looking at some of the other posts for restorations and some what embarrassed now to continue with my post as it looks a little sub standard to other restos.

Unfortunately you have to work with what you have and lack of work space, tools, good weather, experience and more importantly CASH are all factors without forgetting finding the time to do it.

Anyway enough banging on, more photos,

Let me know what you think, be kind……..





















Sub assembling your new suspension in the kitchen after a few beers isn't allways a good idea as things start to look a bit like this,











thats front end suspension, brakes and hubs rebuilt, now for the back to follow……..

Nice work.
I had to go back and check whether it was new suspension or whether you had just restored the original.
I cringed when i read the first part. I bought a new front panel skin and just drilled holes in it and welded it onto my first project.  Bet that would have been cheaper than butchering the panel that you had.
Still you have done a good job.  Keep us posted.
Hopefully I wont have to renew the front panel on project #2.  Once I'm finished it and if I dont find any takers for whats left of project one, the front panels coming off and the rest is off to the crusher :cry:

looking good mate keep up the good work and i know where your coming from when you say about the time money experience ect ect looks like your not the only one with these problems

1stgolf said

looking good mate keep up the good work and i know where your coming from when you say about the time money experience ect ect looks like your not the only one with these problems

I agree.
Meant to mention, is that the apprentice in one of the photos

Some nice work there my mate , well done .

Looking forward to seeing the finished article


Cheers………….

Macca said

1stgolf said

looking good mate keep up the good work and i know where your coming from when you say about the time money experience ect ect looks like your not the only one with these problems

I agree.
Meant to mention, is that the apprentice in one of the photos

you saying that to me mate? if so yes thats me in one of the pictures

Sorry 1st golf, Iwas agreeing with u and asking 6uile about the dog in his thread.

thanks all,

just been reading 1stgolf 's post about his sick mk1, amusses me every time a read peoples post about where there car is rusting,

mine is going in exactly the same places to within a millimetre of 1stgolf (as is everyone elses i guess) its almost as if VW thought,

"yep there going to rust, we'll just make sure they all rust in the same place then people will know where to look"

I incidently didn't know where to look otherwise i would have never bought my mk1!

Anyway done some work on the rear arches now and and rear suspension, still got the rear wheel bearings and brake shoes to do though

Macca, unfortunatly my apprentice Bruce has found a new home at a friends house due to my current situation of being in the middle of a visa application for OZ, the sooner he gets used to his new home the better for him i thought.

This also means that the car will be up for sale once it is finshed, well it may still be in primer but the lucky new owner can decide on the spray job then.

Anybody have any ideas of how much it will be worth, i don't want to make money on it but i'm really hoping i get back all i have put in to it.

I know i won't get my time back but it wasn't intended to be done and sold, I was really looking forward to running it  :cry:

More photos, sorry about the quality of them all but i don't have a digital camera so they are all taken on my phone,

Once these are fitted it should hopefully start to look like a car again



The proof



Back arches still let the side down,



soon sort that













the picture quality get worse as it starts to get darker so you can tell i've been working as late as i can



These are some doors from a donar car with little rust but some clown decided to fill the swage line with his eyes shut and hand fulls of filler that he put on with his forehead.

All soon to be removed, shouldn't be difficult though as it isn't preped underneath and is quite cracked, infact if i just look at it for long enough i'm sure it will just fall off.



Decided to give it a service now as i'm well on the way to getting rid of the dreaded rot.



old rotten suspension off, was hanging on by a thread anyway, the top spring mounts were nothing but fresh air in most cases.



The before and after of the rear inner arches, you can just see the repair plate i welded in place where the pipe cover mount stud used to be, hardly needed as it has another 3 anyway. Just covered in black hammerite as soon as i had doen it to stop it rusting….. again.









Amazing what just soap and water can do, now ready for paint





Finally paint and shockers,





And the very final stage, the freshly cleaned black plastic piper cover, really liking how clean and fresh it looks under there now.

looking good now mate  8)

sweet man, gotta love the little engines, got alot of time for what uve done…white is a sweet colour, once its nice, cos it shows up stuff so badly, it makes a clean one look that bit smarter…

my m8 used to have a sweet white mk1 driver, came off the road nearly a year ago….poor thing is undergoing 'racer' treatment, stripping of anything that isnt an absolute road necessity…no dash etc….i think what u r doing is much nicer
Josh