My mk1s...

I haven't bothered posting up any of my projects over the years onto this forum up until now, mainly because I didn't think anyone was interested.  But with my latest mk1 needing pretty much a full restoration I thought I'd stick up a thread so that I can get a bit of advice and encouragement to get it finished


This is my baby, had it 8 years since I was 16, learnt everything I know by working on it, and am never going to sell it <3



Had all sorts of trickery to get it low over those wheels, and a bunch of custom stuff throughout.  But once I started renting a unti space to store it I decided to tidy up the bodywork which had been bodged by numerous idiots before I owned it :roll: I found more horrors than I expected, got scared and the pictures will tell the rest

















I'm very anal about rust, and because this was the furthest I'd ever gotten stripping it I thought I'd just start again from scratch.  Space frame chassis so I can reach the back of all panels, silly engine, Q plate, and fun are the plans.  This is where I'm currently at with it.

Quality mate

This is my current daily which I actually bought for my missus, but haven't actually given to yet as I want to iron out a few niggles with first;





And onto the main project for the thread.  I bought this mk1 in December off a mate who bought it blind off ebay, and then decided not to get involved. Was supposed to be my daily so I could hand the cabby over to my missus, but has now turned into a full resto as I couldn't bare to strip and scrap it





It hadn't seen the road for 10 years, but unfortunately it hadn't been tucked up nice and dry for that period, it was outside getting full of water for a full decade :roll:








The whole rear end must have been filling up and emptying regularly for that 10 years, as all of the rust was concentrated there.  And some idiot had made a half arsed effort to fit a 1.6 diesel engine.  They had flipped and welded (I say welded, they had only welded the top of the mount on, so the mount was actually swinging off the two short welds, so zero support for the engine) the drivers side mount in the big block position, and left both the new mount position and the old redundant part of the chassis leg bare metal, so both places had rusted away and the engine was hanging on with hopes and dreams :dontknow:

allana13 said

Quality mate

Cheers fella

Dont understand people. Why would one want to convert a diesel engine & Do a half job of it

allana13 said

Dont understand people. Why would one want to convert a diesel engine & Do a half job of it

I know, it looks like they wanted to quickly shove the diesel in it and abuse it.  It also looks like they couldn't get it running, gave up and left it to rot in their haulage yard :roll:

I've since ripped the engine out and found a core plug missing

Got to work on the body.  All of the rust seems to be concentrated on the rear end.  Boot floor, spare wheel well, rear panel, rear quarters where they meet the rear panel, and the tailgate all needed replacing.


Repaired the window frame





As it was going to be my parts hauler I decided to convert it into a van.  Wasn't fussed about having genuine panels so I got some 2mm sheet and cut some out.  Stood on it until it matched the shape of the rear quarter and offered it up



Spot welded in



Filler and paint





Spare wheel wedge cut out





White mk1s wheel well came in handy





Sills are pretty good after a strip back to bare metal

Passenger inner rear arch was pretty good, needed rust cutting out and replacing where it met the rear panel though

Outer arch cut off



Inner stripped back to bare





New outer



Welded



Spat test fitted, and fillered






New rear panel bought and offered up

Some serious work going in there. Are you keeping it a Diesel then ?

Drivers side outer arch cut off, inner arch stripped back



Got right up into the rear quarter, was pretty good up there except for the part which met the fuel filler panel



Thought it wasn't worth replacing the whole inner arch so I managed to cut away the inner arch leaving the rear quarter there





Panels made up and welded in



Epoxy mastic thrown up there so it'll never rust again

allana13 said

Some serious work going in there. Are you keeping it a Diesel then ?

No I would have already gotten to that stage in the pictures already if my computer wasn't being a complete **** and making me want to put my fist through it Bare with me please


I put the engine out of my white mk1 in this as I know it's a good engine and I love electronic fuel injection :mrgreen:

New outer arch welded on





Inner arch where the fuel breather comes through had rusted so cut that out



Welded







New rear panel partially welded on



Bridged the gaps either side which needed to be cut out









Inner arches coated in epoxy mastic

The tailgate was OK apart from the entire lower edge of the window frame, and I managed to get another tailgate off a mate for free which was rotten in a different place, so I attempted to use it to repair mine but it didn't go as well as I wanted so I think I'll need to totally replace it

Rusty area cut out



Donor tailgate



Let in




Looked OK, but the face which the lock sits on was very rippled :redfaced:

Mr Sharma I <3 u xxx

Ripped the diesel engine out of it…



Removed the offensive engine mount and cleaned up the area where it was partially welded  :roll:





Seam welded the steering rack mounts



Managed to re-use the badly fitted engine mount and welded it back on in the small block position, after repairing the chassis leg where it had rusted away




Engine out of the white mk1 fitted with it's polo GT injection



Fished out my old radiator fan cowling and modified it to fit the slimline fan



Made up a lower strut brace using my lathe and TIG










Hubs cleaned up, painted and bearings replaced as they were like stirring a jar of ball bearings

just read the entire post, brilliant work mate

J1M said

just read the entire post, brilliant work mate

Thankyou Sir

Phataz is that van panels in there are you keeping it as a van then ?

very nice work mate.  

Wow you`ve been busy !

What size are the rears on the white mk1 ?? It looks awsome ..

Would it not have been easier to source a different tailgate ?? looks like a lot of work !

Ive just been doing lots of work under my golf too , if you want to get it back to looking factory as new try these gems

http://www.3mselect.co.uk/p-2872-3m-super-seam-sealer.aspx

They also do a 2k spray sealer thats amazing and a high build stone guard , been using loads of them over a PPG 2k etch primer and the results are as good as original vw and then some .. will try finding links to the other two for ya , only thing you have to remember when laying down all these rubberised materials is you have to use a really good adhesion promoter on top of it all before colour goes on or it wont stick properly !