Mk1 resto - list of items completed now added

Hi all,

You may have seen my car in another thread, I picked it up three weeks ago and today was my first day at the workshop with it. I am going to include pictures and commentatry on the various stages of the restoration, my aim being to get it looking and driving like new while keeping it as standard as possible (apart from the brakes!) Below is the first shot I took at 9am this morning..



Poor thing was a bit cold after sitting for three weeks but she started first time and I drove her straight inside to start stripping….

Firstly checked everthing under the bonnet and started undoing the nuts on the top mounts so I could removed the strut brace to facilitate removing the head at a later date..



Next I started taking apart the rear and found a few maladies..



This rust wasn't surprising and it looks pretty bad but the bodyshop assures me its minor and easily fixable. Here it is again close up



Once I had got the rear arches off it was more bad news, as the out arches were rotten and will need replacing. Again, this isn't too much of a problem as repair panels are cheap, and the inner arches aren't too bad.







The last picture looks worse than it is, its just surface rust.



Round at the front end I took off the grille, headlamps, bumpers etc then carefully removed the side trims. I need a new grill and one of the driving lamps needs replacing, along with a headlamp.



The door cars then came off and I started taking off the small trim parts that will need romving before the car is sprayed. I also removed the wiper arms to get sand-blasted, as well as the number plate holder below..



Above is before, below is after. Good result I feel, just need to paint satin black now!



Its the small details like the one above that will make this car special.



The dash above is in good, original condition and the car came with a CD player!





By the end of the day I had a car looking like this..



and a boot looking like this!

The next step is to get the engine rebuilt. Its getting a new head and the bottom end overhauled. Once that is done i'll do some detailing and prep the body for the paint shop, or maybe do the body first, then the engine.

The list of parts I need it getting longer, too. I need a new boot seal and two door seals, a door trim, a good passenger door, servicve kit, engine gasket set, new clutch, uprated brake disks and servo, new grill, new wheel arches, new front spoiler, new bumpers, re-furb of the alloys…… Its going to be a long spring/summer but it'll be worth it..

Any comments very welcome!

o

brrrrrrrrrrrrr  too cold to be doing that today  

Your a brave man working in this weather !.  Looking good already. I too have been doing a spot of resto on my rear beam/ fuel tank area etc. I am almost done, just got to fit my new fuel lines when they are ready.

I did enjoy doing it, it's just all the runing around getting new parts, and returning the wrong ones which was a pain, but all worth it in the end  

Might even post some pics too!

too cold you say?! purrlease! Working hard keeps you warm…

NOt sure when i'm next going to see it, the poor thing is going to be sitting around for some time again me thinks

Keep everything labelled and well organised and take plenty of pictures before everything gets pulled apart.  Try not to take everything apart at once and focus all your attention on certain areas then move on.  My car is my dads garage and we will shortly be getting on with it again.  I have probably done everything i said not to do and now wish i had taken things more slowly and methodicly!.  I have taken some pictures and will take more and post them up once i have it sussed.  Work to date includes, new rear arch and inner are other side still to do.  Repaired spare wheel well, removed and rebuilt rear axle with new arb and main bushes.  Loads more work still to do and hopeing to get cracking with it soon.

I thought i was looking at my Mk1 ! My back panel was like yours , thanks to crazyquiff its now new . Personnally i would sooner replace than repair yours looks teminal? Number plate lamps are still at VW dealers .
     Are you contracting out all the bodywork , can you trust them to do a good job ? Have fun and think of driving the finished product .

Just stuck a comment on this on clubgti!

Great work!

A new rear panel would be good but I think it would be a bit expensive to justify, unless anyone knows where to get a cheap one?

I'm doing the prep work myself, the body shop is doing the painting. I used them last year on my MK1 cab and the work was soo good it was better than VW did originally! A good finish is so important.

I can't wait to start driving it, i'm sure it'll pull even better after it's engine rebuild  :mrgreen:

Keep the comments comming

o  

Hey all,

thought i'd update you on how its going. I've been out getting parts since I was last on this thread. Today I went to Volksbits in Birmingham to get my cross-drilled and vented disks, pads and genuine oil filter. I purchased a pad fitting kit also, but realised that this was already included with the pads when I got home  never mind, only ?3 I suppose…

Last week I got a couple of wheel-arch repair sections for the rear from Euro car parts in Wembley, only about ?7 each which was great, and they also had them in stock, which was even better. I also got a used sunroof panel out of a Mk2 Golf GL at my local scrappy for a tenner! Have just looked in the Euro car parts catalogue and seen that you can still buy a rear panel for my Mk1 so I may do that insted of faffing around with the existing one, especially as the new one is only ?26!

The bodywork should start in earnest next month, if I can wait that long! (LOTS of uni work to do before then…)

Thanks for reading!

o

Also thought i'd show you some better pictures of the damaged passenger door and engine. The strut brace has now been removed from the engine bay.




I want to get a new rear panel welded in, does anyone know if the unit from Euro car parts is any good?

Cheers,

o

Don't know about the ECP panels, but I am guessing at that price it will just be the lower part of the panel?

From your pictures, it looks like the number plate panel area is going to need some patching and I don't think the ECP panel goes that far up does it?

If you were doing the work yourself then I would say patch the original - might be time consuming but will save some cash and keep things original.

As you are having a bodyshop do it I would have thought a complete new rear panel would have been a better bet. Rich (crazyquiffs) rear panels are genuine VW so quality and fit will be good as opposed to pattern ones. Also I would have thought the extra cost of a new panel over the patch panel would be easily recouped in the reduction in labour time for the bodyshop.

I'm no expert, but I would guess its far quicker to remove the whole panel and replace with new than to carefully patch and finish the existing rust holes and fit a lower panel? Not only that but a new panel will be easier to prep for final painting I would have thought - no worries about surface irregularities where a panel has been repaired.

Top choice of Mk1 btw  :wink:

Cheers,

Chris

Cheers for the advice Chris, i'll check the panel spec. I'm going to be doing a lot of the body prepping myself, so I consider that free labour so don't mind taking a while over it.

Top choice of car yourself too!  :wink:

Anyone know what the Euro car parts rear panel would look like?

Cheers,

o

o just this bit the lower only "Hadrian do them for ?22.00 "




not worth it unless its just that bit thats rusty , if the tops gone buy the rear panel from crazyquiff ..

I would replace whole panel - it is very easy to remove once you have cleaned the sealer from the inside the boot floor seam…

New panel makes a great job of them..

I'd love to do that but its just too expensive for me at the moment. They are ?130ish right? I've allocated as much cash as I can to the project but can't really go any furthur than what i'm spending already.

I've heard the labour time saved arguments and they are fair, but i'm doing 90% of it so thats free!

Keep the advice coming please

Cheers,

o

Hey all,

My restoration begins again this friday after a 2 month+ break. I've got more bits now and the final engine spec is just being decided.

I was looking for parts but came across a complete car that was too good to miss. My new car (my 3rd at the same time, eek! ) is a 1991 H reg Mk2 GTi 16v 5 door in rare Oak Green (it IS rare, honest! :p). It needs a bit of work, including a couple of new panels and a bit of paint, but other than that its great. Its done 104k miles, has FSH and the interior is excellent. I'm please as punch with it and very happily surprised at the pace/economy balance!











Any comments welcome, I think my Mk1 and Mk2 will look really good side-by-side

o

I know its not the rear panel   , but I got my front panel and bonnet etc from GSF and the fit was surprisingly excellent. Went straight on without and chopping, bending etc what so ever.

Nice find on the Mk2 valver o. I had a Mk2 16v Jetta and it was a real hoot to drive - the Oak Green is one of the best Mk2 colours as well.

I still think in the long term (assuming the Mk1 is a keeper) the whole new panel is the way to go, especially if you plan on getting a full respray. A new panel removes any worries about rust lurking in areas you didn't find and if properly sealed and painted will last a lifetime.

Cheers,

Chris
P.S. 0 - I feel I am following in your footsteps as I am now having to sell my five  :cry: . Just down to the Campaign for now (assuming it gets through its MOT).

o, im pleased ive read this thread as im going to strip down my Lhasa green MK1 sometime soon(ish)! Ive got rust in exactly the same places as you! The only problem is i cant afford a second car at the moment because two insurances would be a little steep for me at the moment ! But i'll keep my eye one this thread.