Project 'just get it back on't road and then sort the rest'

The poor golf has been languishing in the garage for a few years now. I think that it was last on the road in 2007. Two house moves, getting married and endless DIY have been a higher priority than the car but with some time this weekend and a wife at work it was time to start putting things back together. Short term goals are:

Put it back together
Get it running
Get it MOTd and back on the road

How it looked when i roled it out yesterday morning:





Pslots replaced with Tarantulas


Seats, carpets and belts back in



Grill that I reconditioned at some point in 2008 back on the car this morning and with batery charged it started first time having not run for well over 12 months. Engine is hunting a fair bit, I'll drain the tank and stick some fresh fuel in it next time it's out before looking for another cause for that.


Comments and encouragement always welcome

Very nice.. Bet you can't wait to be blasting around in that..

Wanna sell your P-slots ?

Thanks Walt, I've no idea how I've left it for so long. The seats had been out of it for so long I'd forgotten what it was like just to sit in. Can't wait to get out and about.

Mathers, Pslots are definitely for sale but was planning to hold on to them to stick back on whilst getting tarantulas refurbed. I think that there's a chip in the paint on one of them but other than that they're perfect with new pirellis all round. I'll stick them in the for sale section at some point with better pics.

Ok cool i'll keep an eye out for them cheers

Thread resurrection….

I'm back. The Mk1 has been looking at me mournfully as I pass it in the garage every day since I last posted on here in June 2011.

Project stalled when I couldn't get any further with diagnosing electric issues with head and tail lights flashing with indicators and was chasing myself round and round in circles. I had considered stripping the whole loom out and testing or even just replacing with a new loom. This last weekend I had a committed final attempt at finding and resolving the issues with a threat of getting rid of the Golf if I hadn't made some progress.

It seems that the threat of no more Golf in my life is one that should be used more often. Made loads of progress. Electrical issues mostly sorted. Flashing lights ended up being cured after removing and cleaning positive connection from battery to starter motor (weird!!!). The electrical fire that was waiting to happen in the cabin (basically a bare live wire from headlight switch to ignition and other parts of the dash instruments) has been replaced, cause identified (someone had helpfully bypassed the interior lights dimmer by connecting three wires to a single connector which looks like it's caused a near fire in the past as it shed its insulation). I think that I'm on fully working electrics with the exception of the horn now and I suspect the connections at the horn itself for that one but need to do that next.

Dashboard is back together and it actually feels like a car to sit in again. It hasn't run since 2011 and that was for 5 mins, previous to that was 2006/7ish I think so I'll be draining the fuel tank and sticking some oil down the cylinders before giving it a go. That's the plan for this or next weekend.

It's amazing how much fun it is messing around once you're making progress.

Welcome back Matt. Good to hear you're sorting the issues finally and making progress.

Hope she's on the road soon mate

Nice you've sorted it and not sold it Keepup doing it

Good couple of hours spent on the Golf yesterday.

A few more bits of the interior successfully back in which is taking a while due to having put all of the fixings that I took out of the car in a single container with no labels.

Cleaned plugs, quick squirt of oil in each cylinder and turned it over without plugs in to try and minimise any damage through having sat and not run for a couple of years.

All back together and gave it a go but I'm sorry to say that it's not another of those 'it hadn't run for 15 years but started first time' threads. Took a while for me to rule out the fuel pump relay as being the problem and have now confirmed that fuel pump isn't running at all despite getting decent voltage. Accumulator was full of rust as well. My immediate thought was to replace pump, accumulator and fuel filter but having checked the prices I'm inclined to strip the pump and wash out the accumulator in order to try and avoid that expenditure. Assuming I get it running I'll leave the old filter in for a while once it's running again to try and catch as much rubbish in it as possible prior to replacing.

Not huge progress but the important thing is that I'm getting it out, making some progress and enjoying the process.

Looks like a real nice motor you have there. Making some good progress too.

Reminds me of my build in many ways. I've got a GTI that went on the back burner after changing jos twice, two house moves, a mariage and a baby lol… Also Reminds me of when I got mine back on the road. Wish I had left it there tho lol.  It was off the road since 2010, then Spent a year getting the thing ready for an MOT, then after it passed took it off the road and stripped the whole thing apart again…… I miss driving it lol.

I too have threatened to sell mine on many occaisions, the most recent being "if it's not in paint this year then it's gone" lol

Keep up the good work

Thanks for the comments people.

Had a great day yesterday.

As per last posts, fuel pump seemed to have seized, it hadn't turned over since 2011 and even then wouldn't get going properly so in reality it hadn't run since 2007ish (I can't quite remember).

Having removed fuel pump from the car I rigged up a little death trap test rig for testing the fuel pump and had the intention to run a load of clean fuel through it to clean it out. 

Putting 12v through the pump definitely got the motor working but it wasn't pumping any fuel at all. I didn't realise that the pump has a clever little filter on the inlet side, and when I got it out it was dreadfully blocked.
Before

After

Having cleaned the filter and blown compressed air through the whole thing I stuck it back on the test rig and ended up spraying the drive with petrol. Success!!

Accumulator was a bit of a state so took the rust and old paint off with a wire brush. Rather than get the paint gun set up on the compressor I found a can of Mars Red from when I sprayed the grill surround - it's given me an idea for under body detailing if I ever go that route



Used a 53 relay to prime the fuel circuit rather than having to do that on turnover, that worked really well and the golf spluttered into life once it was all back together. Only on 3 cylinders to start with and with fuel leaking from both accumulator hose and from the union on the end of the fuel pump but a good clean of HT lead connections, plugs and distributor connections got it back running on all four, Horray!!! Decided to leave sorting the leaks for Sunday.

Proof:



Driving car back into the garage under its own power was absolutely brilliant and meant I could get much better position so today's weather hasn't been a problem as I've been working in the garage.

Couple of new hose clips sorted the leak at the accumulator and did try some new compression washers on the fuel pump. Couldn't get hold of copper at the local motor factors and the result was a huge puddle of petrol in the garage (wife not happy with the smell!!!) Eventually I tried to re-anneal the washers to see whether that would make a difference. All back together and and it runs without leaks.

Only downside was putting my screwdriver through a patch of rust on the drivers sill. Will need to add a bit of bodywork patching to the list of pre-MOT work. Couple of steps forward and one backwards.

Had an ebay result with a couple of genuine Hella headlamps for the princely sum of £17. Arrived on Friday and one shake of the packaging told me, and the rest of the office, that ParcelForce had used it as a substitute ball for a game of 5 a side. 'Disappointed' is an understatement.

So for MOT it now only needs sill patch, horn fix and headlamp fix although given how long it's been standing I'll be renewing all of the fluids.

 

Awesome motor bud! Good inspiration as well to see you're moving forward, its always the case though, fix one thing and find another 2 or 3 problems on the way!!

Result mate. Saved you a few quid on a new fuel pump