My Resto - THE epic saga

anyone who knows me will know I've been well and truely neglicting my Mk1 over the past few months! lost motivation for it when everything I did previously started rusting again (thanks to Halfords 'not so!' anti-rust primer   )

For anybody that doesn't know me or my Mk1.. here's a few photo's of what I did with it a couple of years ago (previous thread on here no longer have the pics for some reason)

how I brought it

























I spent ????'s on parts, paint etc.. did everything myself with no previous experience in welding/spraying

ran it for 2 years, during which other cars came into my life meaning it was declared SORN approx. July this year




anyway. it looked like this at 10am this morning


it's not dumped, just part of my gravel drive  

decided to work on a little bit each week, this is how far I got today






and fitted a powder coated fan cowling I brought AGES ago


which has tidied up the engine bay nicely, just need to paint the other covers etc..

Cool - looks better already

What have you got planned for it?

Rich

Cheers mate, going to be painting it again, get those wheels on, sort out the few mechanical issues and finish the tidy up on the interior

I keep toying with the idea of a different engine but think I'll keep it standard and keep it's original character  8)

Keen on driving it again

Nice. Good to see you've got the bug again! Can never leave mine alone for long…

Good to see you're sticking with it Phill, keep the 1600 engine! Still reckon it would look better with the arch covers on and maybe side stripes? What wheels have you got for it?

Cheers, got the wheel arch trim, took it off a month or so ago to see how bad the rust is under them! not too bad and easily removable but worse than I'd hoped   means it definately will be getting another fresh respray.. but the trim will be going back on  :y:

not sure on the stripes though, will see how my spray job turns out

can't be bothered to find my previous post on my wheels (and it'd be nice to have everything in one place) so here's what I'll be putting on it





one's got a nasty flat spot but now found a place that can straighten that out (and check the others), but personally I don't think I could find a set that'll suit the car better 8)

Oh and definately keeping the 1600 lump in it now  :y: just going to add a few small tweeks

Random pic of the rear boot floor I did

PhillTMK1GTI said

Cheers, got the wheel arch trim, took it off a month or so ago to see how bad the rust is under them! not too bad and easily removable but worse than I'd hoped   means it definately will be getting another fresh respray.. but the trim will be going back on  :y:

not sure on the stripes though, will see how my spray job turns out

can't be bothered to find my previous post on my wheels (and it'd be nice to have everything in one place) so here's what I'll be putting on it





one's got a nasty flat spot but now found a place that can straighten that out (and check the others), but personally I don't think I could find a set that'll suit the car better 8)

Oh and definately keeping the 1600 lump in it now  :y: just going to add a few small tweeks

Random pic of the rear boot floor I did

If those rims are 15" I have two practically brand new 195/50 tyres ,pm if interested

Thanks for the offer Collo, but I've had a set of 195/45's waiting for them in the cupboard for a few months    ops:

Cool - love the new rims especially :y:

I've got to get cracking with mine soon - first up is to sort out that exhaust which I bought off some dodgy geezer for a baguette IIRC!

Rich

Are the rims MIMS Phil? I love em! :wink:

Time has flown!

Hard to beleive its a couple of years since you did that!

Good to see you are getting stuck in again!

Good on you Phill - get that motor back on the road

Thanks guys.. it'll feel good getting back behind the wheel of the Mk1 again, but as I rushed the prep work towards the end before (and constantly picked holes!) this time I will get it right  

Andy, I think they're RH classics, IIRC MIM's have flat faced spokes. but I can't really find much info on RH classics  :dontknow:

next job on the list is derust the front panel and passenger inner wing then start working back

hopefully I'll have it back on the road by Feb

cracked on with the passenger side today









also painted up a spare rocker cover I've got but no pictures of that

next weekend I'll sort the front panel then I can work back to the rear panel! now I've started work on it again I really miss driving it, but won't be rushing the respray… want it so people at the berkshire meet won't hear me picking holes!  

Nice one! Seeing the weld reminds me of the repair you had to do - cracking job! :wink:

couple more updates

rear arches are rolled ready for the wheels, all derusted and primed (with the good stuff  :wink: )

difficult to get a pic of the rolled arches but here's a couple of pics





and another pic just because  



that's the bulk of the rust taken care of, just a couple of random bit's here and there to clean up and the front/rear panels then respray it

once that's done I'm going to start tackling some mechanical + braking issues and some interior work, then time for some new goodies  

will keep you all updated  :wink:

How did you roll the arches? Have you got access to a proper roller? I did one of mine with a hammer and dolly, the other side that has been welded at some point was too thick to do it that way…

Looking good anyway. Hopefully the proper primer will do the trick this time!

did the same and just used a hammer, suprised how easy it was! possibly due to not spot welding the 2 edges together when I did the original repairs

Thought I'd spend an easy hour or so on it this morning… well I got carried away  :roll:

stripped the rear suspension and thought I'd get this removed:



  thankfully there isn't much rust and managed to get the bolts undone pretty easily (although have been spraying WD40 on them every so often for about a year   )



bit of a wire brush and red oxide will tidy that up a treat


anyway, this is how it stands now, so much for doing a few bits and respraying it!  


just hope I get it ready for the club trip to the nurburgring

Looking good :y: I must get cracking with the same stuff on my red one…

While you've got the rear beam off, I can recommend a good shot blaster & powder coater in Newbury, who'd probably blast and recoat if for ?20 or so.

There's a minimun order price of ?20 so if you gave them the front wishbones at the same time they'd probably do the whole lot for ?30ish.

Rich