operation clipper

Hi all,

 Just joined the forum and thought i best get my project thread started.

I bought the car as a none runner a few months back, I had been told by a friend that it does run but one of the previous owners had lost the keys so the ignition had been "modified" to get it to start in the past.
The car itself is a 1988 1.8 Clipper, it has been off the road for several years and although it wasn't garaged during this time, it was kept under a cover - which has bu&&ered the paint but at least there isn't any rust.

This is how it arrived





The initial list of this to do;

Too many to list!!

(hopefully this first post works)  :?

First thing i wanted to do was get the roof down to air the moldy interior and empty out all the rubbish that had been left in the car - it was disgusting!

My list started to take shape;

New windscreen
Door Locks
ignition barrel
boot lock
new roof
clean inside and out
charge battery

With the list of jobs getting longer i set about sourcing parts starting with the locks and windscreen. Locks were not much of a problem but the screen took about 2 months to find. Collected it from a friendly lad down in bristol, took it home and within 20 minutes it was replaced (except the chrome trim-had to order a tool)

Although the mechanical side of the car is the more important thing to get sorted out, i couldn't help but start toying with different styling mods. I like the shape and looks of the clipper but fancy tweaking things to my own taste. I'm sure some of you will like things i do and others won't, but i'm happy to receive any feedback and thoughts.



 



Sorry about the pic sizes!  

Hi Mate, I have a white 89 Clipper with the same interior and I have the same front seats in as yours, I was told they're from a Mk2?
 how hard was the windscreen to do?  I've got small rust issue in the frame of my windscreen. Pulling back the black rubber reveals a little hole!  I think taking the screen out would be the best way to solve the problem. Anyone encountered this problem before?

Robin

Hiya,
 No idea where the seats are from, they were there when i bought the car. The windscren was a piece of cake to do, providing you don't want to the same screen. The most frustrating part was fitting the Chrome trim but i found a tool on ebay which made life easier! As far repairing your hole best bet would be to cut the rust away and weld a plate in?

Thanks very much for your help. I like the look of the clipper, but really love the classic looks.  I've got a completely smooth tailgate just needs painting but I'm in two minds whether to keep it original or go for the de badged look. body kit or none, what do you think?

I would say that its your car, Do want you want! i'm mixing mine between different styles, i'm planning on having the original clipper kit, i've got some VW bbs alloys, i'm smoothing the front bumper and ditching the number plate holder, fitting a towing strap, slamming the car the down low, and as the paints f++cked i'm thinking rat look too

a sneak peek of how i want the front to look, Obviously the finished product will have paint on it.

Nice, rat style! is it hard to convert the single headlamps from twin?

I haven't done it yet, I literally in plugged the inner lights and swapped the grill over. All the wiring is still there.

Managed to get a saturday off work, the weather looks good, so once the missus has gone out with my son i'll be out spending time on the golf - well after i've thrown the christmas tree up!

Plan for today is get the front coillies fitted and the new roof skin minus the rear window for now.

a quick pic of the car currently

fair play mate looking good, did the tree fly up o.k and then how did you get on with golf bits? :-)

Yeah the tree went up ok, couldn't do the coilovers on Saturday but nearly half way through the roof change-how many staples do karmann put in the rear window frame! Must have taken about 300 out!

Hi mate, good luck with your project, i look forward to seeing the finished result.

Here is my before


and after

If mine looks anywhere near as clean as yours I'll be very happy! Sourcing the parts (at sensible prices) seems to be the hardest thing I've found so far!

Yeah, tell me about it mate, but that was the most enjoyable part. We went through numerous different headlights, rear lights, side trim, wheels and other bits til we were happy with the looks. The best bit is the wood porsche steering wheel which was hard to find and pricey but soooo sweet.  

Wood Porsche steering wheel? Sounds nice! When i got the clipper straight away I knew I wanted the 4 horn wheel, my dad had it in his scirocco when i was growing up. Been thinking about Porsche front seats but not sure yet.

Managed to get a couple hours progress over the last couple of weeks, Thought it best to get the roof sorted so the car would be watertight.

removed the rear screen without breaking it - BONUS!!! but how many staples do karmann use- must have taken out over 100.


Got to this point on the first day, then lost the light so had to stop. Last task was to remove the rear cable.


Had a stubborn trim screw that decided to not come out with a screw driver- set of grips sorted it out!


set about removing the rear cable, and found that it had corroded and snapped, B*****KS!!!!!

so another day has passed were i can't finish the roof, very very annoying!




Started removing the interior and cleaning the head lining ready for the new interior i'm collecting on monday!


P.s. The Hood Replacement Guide on here is fantastic!! really really handy and easy to follow!

just a quick update, Got the new roof fitted minus rear screen at the moment - but being me things haven't run very smoothly! Firstly as i was trimming the excess material away i managed to put a 2" slice in the new roof!! (lots of shouting and screaming didn't fix it) and now my new roof is soo tight i can't close it properly!!