Project Cabby

At about this time last year I went to buy some parts from a guy in Uxbridge and as usual came away with more than I was expecting.

I brought at 1987 Golf Cabriolet GTI.

It came with 70000miles on the clock.  The interior has mostly been removed. It also came with newly fitted sills and new rear arch. Also there was near new hood with it.

Here it is ready to be moved back to mine:




Got it home here are a couple of shots of it was getting bit dark by this point:



Engine bay was pretty tidy but not for long



Striped all the interior out:



Then the engine had to come out:



Got it up on the start ready for a rebuild:

looks a good project for ?500 what are your plans mate..

?500 your brave!! 8O good luck look forward to seeing your progress

Hehe seems to be a bit of confusion there's not much chance me this project for ?500,  I wish I could.  I simply wanted a name for the project. The first 3 digits of the reg are E500

Ok, here is my rough plan for this car:

• Full respray in a metallic paint
• Rebuild of the original bottom end
• New manual head rebuilt with a stage 2 cam
• New injectors
• Coilovers
• Lightened Cam Sprocket and Intermediate Sprocket
• Replacement/refurbishment of all engine components
• New 16v mk2 brake servo and 22.2 master cylinder
• 280mm Solid brake discs
• Goodridge Brake lines
• Samco coolant and ancillary hose's
  [/list:u]

After stripping everything from the car I then began cleaning it and rubbing down the panels.







I then moved on the priming the car. I did both the inside and the outside I used a 2pack filler primer. This was probley not a good idear as the quality of the spraying wasnt great because of the environement. Most of the outside primer is going to have to come and be put back on when it is going to be sprayed.







Here is how the shell currently stands:

good priming  8) keep up the good work

haha just read it properly MY BAD!! soz mate

My Cabrio's a E600.  

Its rust free    but not a GTI  

Good work so far

looking good mate

like the look of the caddy too, get soem pics of that up too

didnt think a caddy was capable (legally anyway) of towing that much weight

Whenever someone says E500 I always think of the Velvet Hammer:

Thanks for all the positive comments.

I think thats the only image of the caddy I have unfortunaly. It belonged to the guy who I brought car of.  The towing was sketchy to say the least. We borrowed the trailer from a friend of his.  One the wheels wouldn't hold air because it had rotted and we only got 2 straps  :?  Luckaly I now know someone with a proper car transported so I can get it safely to and from the painters.

I will make an update later this evening with some of the other bits i've been doing.

It's been along time since I've made and update. As the weather is so poor today it seems like a great opportunity to update this thread let you know what I've been up to.

Firstly I have a few pics of some of the strip down and body prep.

Removing the fuel tank and other fuel related parts



Looks like new under the fuel tank


Would seem I have the old filler neck rot.



Arch Before



Arch After



Seen alot of people paint the arches in body colour personally I thought it would be a waste of time as it going to be filthy up there anyway.

Trial fit the new un-dented door



After spending a lot of time and money on the body work I decided I wasn't very good at it. So to make good progress and get a good finish I should get it finished if professionally. I got a few quotes from different companies on getting it done they all seemed much higher than expected.

How ever I bit the bullet and went for it, I was told it would take 3 weeks as the guy doing it was doing in his spare time. Which I didn't think was a bad thing.

Before it went to the painters I decided I want to fit a few luxuries to my cabby like power hood and electric windows.

I got a  full power hood kit to fit to it. I had to fit it quick as I only had 1 day before it was due in the spray shop. I'm still looking for a electric window kit if anyone's got one.





This was only the second time I had ever welded and I thought it wasn't to bad.

I then set to work on rebuilding the engine. This was something I probably didn't need to do but had always wanted to so I went for it.





Removing crankshaft


Then the pistons


The old head and the next head comparison:


I have more pictures to come with the engine rebuild.

Then it went into the spray shop

Firstly a another layer of primer




Then some paint!!!!







It seems like the sun has now come out to play, I've got loads more to update on and will try and make it bit more regular
Anyway thanks for looking.

respect for doing it in a tent

lack of garage puts me off doing loads of little jobs that need doing