my suprisingly solid mk1 1.6 8v project

a 1600 4 speed mk1 golf gti

my mate troy has had this sitting at his unit for around 7 years in all weathers , he was gonna scrap it , iv rescued it





its been coverd in primer so it has very little rust , and from what i can tell no rot any where ,
the best thing is as a joke i said i wonder if it would start ,

some jump leads and a can of cockpit shine later and she barked into life for the first time in 4 years,

plan is to find out what the vehicles original spec was , as im 80% sure it was a campaign as there is quite alot about in the car that points to it being a campaign , i.e p slots , steering wheel , 1600 engine 4 speed engine , green tinted glass

gotta get this home and find out what i have and havnt got for the car , i know iv got a spare bonnet and doors , and lots of other bits n bobs ,

then the plan is to strip it to a shell , get shell painted , then nut and bolt rebuild the whole thing to an original condition , i may change silly things like coilovers just make it more me , but ill also have standerd suspension for it ,

no expense spared this is gona be some project ,

more pics when i collect it

project hi ho silver , away

costs this week :

£200 for the vehicle


right collected the project today ,

after i cleaned half the shit outa it

check all the water  :blink: :O at least that means no holes n rot in the shell

took a bulk bag of shit outa it lol

on the trailor full of the spares


the only dent on the car on the valence , will pull this out reasonabley easy








and belive it or not this runs original 1.6 8v 5 speed engine


lots of stuff to come this project will move quite quickly hopefully

looks like an handful

what colour you thinking of going??

Sweet, another one rescued.

Good man

going to go for the original silver , im not a huge fan of the original colour but to be original its the colour it has to go , have talked to my painter so it should be going in for paint in the next month or 2 , to be bare shell repainted

Its not a campaign mate, campaign only had the 1.8 engine not 1.6, at the very latest its a 1982. Looks like a decent find though mate, good luck!

Tom :wink:

your GTi looks like it has a solid body.

good luck with the build, and keep us posted.

if the factory sticker is still in the boot,that will tell you the spec. and options orignally fitted to the car.

kool thanks for the info people there is the original sticker in the boot , ill have a look tonight , is there a site to check it against ?

right went up and collected the rest of the parts today ,

found the chassis number as well which will allow me to get a plate and logbook

loads of goodies including a full set of green tint glass , a mint center consol , and what i think is the original plate , x plate

pics of stuff placed on to protect them from being run over






im hoping i can save the center of the seats and have the cleaned and put into the new trim ,

gonna get started asap

if the car wasnt supposed to have green tint ill sell it , starting to doubt weather its a 1600 now tho :O any easy way to find out ?

Date of Liability  01 04 1997  
Date of First Registration  24 05 1982  
Year of Manufacture  1982  
Cylinder Capacity (cc)  1588CC  
CO2 Emissions  Not Available  
Fuel Type  Petrol  
Export Marker  Not Applicable  
Vehicle Status  Unlicensed  
Vehicle Colour  SILVER  
Vehicle Type Approval  


just checked it on the dvla database

popped over to the garage tonight to see if i could get her started properly , didnt think id get anywhere , but after putting 5 liters of fuel in it and putting some jump leads on it , she was cranking over and sounding promising ,

after cracking off the fuel lines and getting coverd in really old fuel  , taking the plugs out , playing with the meetering head etc she barked into life i even pulled a set of clocks out of the lake in the footwell and plugged them in to my surprise , they worked :O rev counter etc , now i can really get working ,

i also got rid of the carpet underlay and soaked the water up , had to bang a hole again tho so ill need to weld those 3 little holes up

im so happy

gricey said

if the car wasnt supposed to have green tint ill sell it , starting to doubt weather its a 1600 now tho :O any easy way to find out ?

boot sticker will tell whether it had green glass or not, but it would better with the green glass,
from photo of the engine bay, your car is 1600 lump.

yeah i found out its 1600 , and i found the sticker , theres a spec list thing on here somewhere but i cant find it now

you're getting there mate ! , can i ask where you got your screen name from lol ?

thanks , my screen name is my sirname with a y mate

STEWART GRICE , —-> Gricey

why do you ask ?

i assumed it was our local word, which refers to having a party lol , i assume wrongly, sorry

lmao , its quite apt that its my name then as im allways the life and soul lol

my abandoned 1600 engine is there if you need anything major mind

thanks , if i come across anything ill definatly ring ya

had a few hours down the garage , cleaned the shell so i could see whats rust and whats discolouration , (not shown in pics)
also started to clean odds n sods up and start to figure out what i need


oh dear need new pipe work i think lol


needs rebuilding with good bushes n re sandblast n powder coat


needs a good clean up it should be black plastic


brand new filler pipe , coilovers coming asap

before:



After :




complete wiring looms x2 lol


loads of glass , one set of green tint , and lots of clear , just gotta get a green tint windscreen


nice clean original center consoul have the original one as well but it looks like its been in a pond


cool dash trims with the red striping , and a real good rear bench


metering head , needs all new braded hoses , new clips etc



original stickers


repair to the rear quater , been done ok just needs protecting


need to scrape the deadening off


need to scrape this off too , and i have cleaned it but i didnt take any pics


mould ftl lol , heater matrix brackets


rusty mouldy rain train , scuttle panel and chassis number


screen corners are nice n solid


need to clean the corners of the floor plan and chassis surface rusting up , nothing majour need a wire wheel onnit


inner arches coverd in underseal , need to wire wheel all this off ,


all nice n solid here


battery tray nice n solid as well


think i may have to change the fropnt panel , as its bent to f*ck and full of filler


nice n solid


looks like this is filler , need to investigate a bit deeper