MK1 GL Auto

After much deliberation, Ive decide to keep this as my run about until my GX is finished and sell my MK2…I got it for free 3 years ago and it has been garaged ever since. It had failed its MOT on rear brakes and the exhaust front pipe blowing. It also had 3tonnes of sand in it! Spent the weekend getting it sorted (with a little help from my friends  :wink: )








these pics dont do it justice as it was getting dark - believe me, it looks mint inside! We took out more or less a bag of stone and sand - it was filthy!

the seats getting a good clean!

various trim removed, washed & polished

steve doing some housework!


gaz cleaning the allys

some essential items

after a good clean


painting the drums

some with the wheels on (getting dark, il do some more tomorrow)






Just need to give the outside a good clean & see what Mr MOT says!

Looking good Strewth! That boot wheel well looks solid :wink:  

Hey good idea with the geordie workforce! Water them with newkey brown and they're happy

kins said

 That boot wheel well looks solid :wink:  quote]

yep, boot floor is solid and didnt need any welding like the gx  

Looks very good, and a freebee, that never happens to me   . Mr MOT should be happy, but in the pictures the passenger headlight looks very cloudy, has the refector gone….MOT failure favorite  :wink:

Thanks for that, apparently my husband & Steve know but id not noticed! Not too bothered if it fails on little things as the mechanic who we're taking it too is cheap and will get it sorted and ticketed in a day.

I been caught  before on headlights but glad you spotted it,Nice motor though and well done for taking the post at the club.

Rob  

Nice one - another mk1 back on the road hopefully - alright when you have your own pit crew :wink:

I know - can't be bad can it?  :wink:

Seriously though, I do help as much as I can but my toddler will only put up with sitting pretending to drive for so long - then we have to go inside and play with Thomas The Tank Engine toys!

then we have to go inside and play with Thomas The Tank Engine toys!

Doh!! - I should have gone inside and played then - lol

Got a few more bits done this weekend:

washed the outside (needs some more tlc though)
clear indicator lenses
tightened wheels (always a good thing!)
hopefully sorted headlights
taped up rear light with special coloured tape (does anyone know if this wil be ok for MOT? I want some new lights but I cant really afford them until i sell the mk2)
tightened battery
removed grill, cleaned and brasso'd it - has made such a difference even if it did take me an hour ! (one of those nice jobs you can do inside in front of the fire though  :wink: )
put petrol in
checked all the lights work

MOT ON TUESDAY  

taped up rear light with special coloured tape (does anyone know if this wil be ok for MOT? I want some new lights but I cant really afford them until i sell the mk2)

MOT requirements are that the lights don't leak (ie. no water gets into the light units) and that they give out the right coloured light.  As long as they meet these requirements they will pass an MOT.

Did you reseal the units into the rear panel with a bit of sealant?  Thats where the water in the boot is coming from…

WHAT A MORNING!  

….Ever get the feeling that you really shouldn't have got out of bed?

Spent last night starting the auto every hour or so to check it'd start in the morning and it was fine.

We got up at 5am - Gaz has to leave for work at 6.30 and we had to drop it at the MOT place first etc etc.

Wouldn't start.

Tried jump pack, new battery etc etc. It's start but then as soon as you put it into Drive, it died.

Gaz reversed it off the drive, it died again and in the confusion he managed to back it into nextdoor's Ford Galaxy estate thingy! It didnt damaged the MK1 but has cracked the Ford's bumper. More money!! To be honest, the neighbour always parks right up to our drive so it's hard to get out - always leaving plenty of room the other side for their drive!!

The auto then makes it half way down the road and really does die a death. Great. The car was stuck on the road, no tax, MOT, insurance and in a permit parking only area. And its in my name!! Just what I don't need.

By now we're all fairly stressed and Gaz is late for work. Neighbours then saw their car, wife said it looked dreadful but its the husbands work car and he said he could barely see it and we'd sort it later on.

Gaz then went to Tesco and brought jump leads. I sat in the Driver with Marley and revved, eventually its going and seems to be ok! Drive along the road and its all good. Get it back onto our drive and come inside.

Over coffee we decide that if it starts again when we've finished our drinks, we'll make a dash for the garage!

And it starts first time with no help! So I jumped in the MK2 and followed Gaz down in the auto in case he breaks down. We get there fine with no probs.

So the auto is awaiting its fate! We have done a lot of stuff to it but we know it'll fail - just a question of how badly - hopefully it'll not be too painful!!

Hang on - isn't there a yellow "no parking" line across your driveway?  If that horid Ford Scorpio Estate was parked there then it's their fault - don't worry about upsetting them - they are moveing anyway - lol

Good luck with the MOT - hopefully it won't need too much doing to it.  You never know, it might pass - stranger things have happened!

Steve_Matthews said

Hang on - isn't there a yellow "no parking" line across your driveway?  

thats a very good point. ive never noticed that before. he left with the car for work sharpish so i cant say he was definately over the line although im pretty sure he always is

Well it failed - What a suprise!!  :mrgreen:

Could be a lot worse though =

horn inop (it wasn't inop this morning :roll: )

n/s headlight poor output (knew about this, gona get some bling bling headlights  :wink: )

o/s/f side light inop (not sure about this)

and the slightly confusing one:

Rear brakes low reading

Must speak to the geordie mechanic about this one! thought it was sorted!

nothing major though! suprised about the rear brake low reading though.. must have been REALLY low, when mine went it I got 1 light on on the test (compared to about 7-8 on the fronts) and it still passed  8O

later found out the cylinders were leaking on the back  ops:

hours work would sort those out (well.. make that 5 minutes with your workforce!   )

Yeh the work force have been alerted

I think the drums just need skimming or something on the back. They replaced the cylinders, shoes & brake lines a few weeks ago. When it failed its MOT 4 yrs ago they said the rear brakes didnt rise & fall at the same rate and that the rear brake compensating valve was inop. No mention of this though - Il check properly when I get the test sheet back later. Also it failed on exhaust front pipe blowing all that time ago and there was no mention of it this time!

The rear brakes do just 15% of your braking on a Mk1 Golf - that's why rear disc convsersions are a waste of time.

The car is running new rear shoes, cylinders and brake pipes upto the end of the rear beam.  If it's foot and handbrake we'll just skim the drums, if it's just footbrake, well repipe the rear brakes from the rear beam forward and bleed it up.  No major hassles - well impressed with that MOT result!

Not that bad Rewth . If its the footbreak it will be suprising its failed with all the work listed. If its the handbrake is the cable adjusted correctly. Is the gx servo asssisted? Maybe wack on an upgrade.

Serves that Galaxy right for being in the way!

The GL is an automatic.  Automatics always have bigger brakes than equivelent manuals.  Both cars are Servo assisted.  Fitting a servo to a non-servo car will not improve the brakes at all, indeed it reduced feel - that's why the Touring Cars don't have brake servos.