Swallowtail rookie joins!

Hello to everyone!

I'm a real rookie when it comes to cars.  However, as a sailboat owner and DIY fanatic I am used to fix things on my own. I have been looking for a project car to be converted to electric vehicle and for some reason I like German cars. Obviously I have been looking for Golfs. Last week it just happened a mk1 1975 swallowtail was found in a barn and I bought it! Now my job is to restore this nice piece of German automotive history and I promise I will be asking you a lot of stupid questions… Still in the barn:


Does anyone have an idea whats the color of the car? Rallye yellow?

Out at the field. She will need some love before back at the street:


The VIN is 1763075203. I guess this means the car is from between Oct.-Nov. 1975 based on Dan Reids Swallowtail.info website. Does anyone know is Dan still around? Tried to contact him with no success.

The engine is 1.1L. Anyone interested to purchase it?

Best regards,
Antti

 

Welcome to the Club Antti.  

Wow very, very nice barn find that.     

The colour is Marino gelb l20a as its the same as my car that came from Sweden

Wow nice find!!

Keep it standard!!  

What's the interior looking like?

Thanks for the nice comments!

Here's a couple of pics of the interior:

No idea if the Pioneers are original. Probably not.



Service manual was also found Note: keys still in the lock!



She has defrost in the rear window. Is that original?



Dashboard was in pretty good condition although very dirty. Note the button with small sticker "TAKA L…" it has typo Should be "TAKALASI" . Meaning rear window.



I will post more pics once I have her cleaned up

Cheers,
Antti

Wow great find, please don't make a swallowtail electric mate

I think the window defrost is standard as it is the same in mine. Maybe it was an option for cold climate countries ?
  My car has an element that goes into the engine block to defrost it and that plugs into the main house electrics. It also has a plug socket fitted to the interior  which I would imagine was used to power an electric heater to defrost the car as well.


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scottyr1 said

Wow great find, please don't make a swallowtail electric mate

Hi! I respect this comment. Let's see if the engine is still running. If it runs I will for sure rethink. I have to get it properly checked first before I try to start it…

However, the electric drive and all of its components would fit under the hood very well. The interior and outside would be kept original. Only thing changed would be the engine. Looking outside one wouldn't know the drive is electric. The conversion would be done with full respect to the originality.

Cheers, Antti

Hi, this is my personal opinion only:
Its an extremely rare beast you have found, and I agree with scottry1I beg you not to do the electrical conversion to this particular car as whatever you do it will never be the same again. Preferably get a later mk1 or mk2 and do you bit on them instead. Sell this car to someone who will restore it to its original condition if you can !
I would love to buy it- but that isnt the reason for the above- ! Its just that its in such good original condition considering its age and rarity it would a terrible shame if having existed like this for all these years it was to become converted..
Please think about this.
Marcus.

Hello!

After careful thinking I have made the decision to keep this car original. I can not argue with the fact pointed out by Daytona. I will keep this yellow-beast original and get another project for the conversion  

Now I just need to learn how this 1.1L works. Any suggestions how to most carefully try to starting her up?


Cheers, Antti

Ok I'll go first but I'm sure other members will come with important stuff as well.

Check, clean plugs and points, adjust as required.
Inspect air filter, clean or replace.
What's the condition of the oil looking like.
Check charge battery and replace if necessary.
Most likely the petrol is old so drain and replace with a few litres being careful not to suck up the gunge at the bottom of the tank.
Water level of course.

Then just see if she fires up and runs on tickover for a minute or two and then stop and start checking the oil and water.

Just what I'd do to start with but as I said I'm sure others will think of different stuff! 👍

Turn over by hand first 👍🏼

Fantastic to get an original car like that… as golfcabrio said about the renewing parts… personally i wouldn't try to start it without cleaning the fuel system, tank needs draining as the fuel after 12-18 months of being stood still can become corroded so rust particles (check tha out ) will form in your tank & possibly the fuel lines/pipes. Renew Spark plugs, Leads, Dist. cap & rotor arm, Filters - Air/Oil & Fuel & renew oil. May be have a look at the water system to, give it a flush & renew with some G13 & water of course. Also your timing belt may have become weak so that's another thing which shouldn't be over-looked. Perhaps have a look at the running gear too, brakes, hoses etc & the usual suspects. Good luck & hope you progress 

As said the best way is to turn the engine over by hand first to see if it's free.
  With mine I added some fresh oil and set up a gravity fed fuel line at the fuel pump.
 I knew my fuel filler knock was corroded and the tank probably had rust in it as well so set it up like this to miss out the fuel lines.
  My carb needs setting up properly that's why it idles high in the video

https://vimeo.com/185452682


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I wonder how he progressed with the project.

Gti bumpers, or did base model 1100's come with non chrome ?
 

The project is getting ahead slooowly

Good news are the engine spins (tested by hand). Electricity works (pressing brake shows brake lights etc).

I have done extensive cleaning of the car inside and outside and changed some smaller damaged parts (like rear hatch struts and engine parts etc.)

Now when we finally have decent temperatures in Finland I can really start some work over the project (I have a cold garage at the moment for the car so the winter was quite silent regarding the project)

Best, Antti

Welcome aboard,
looks a nice find and I'm glad you are keeping her standard.

I agree,
fresh petrol, do a full service on the engine before starting, all belts, oil, filters etc.

When starting a  engine that has sat for a long time I like to remove the  coil lead and turn it over with the starter till the oil light goes out, That way you build oil pressure without the  stress of combustion on the bearings.

I am recommissioning a swallowtail too.  I also used marvel mystery oil  in each cylinder to help the dry rings have something to move on and use some in the oil to help get the old dirt out.

Once it running check the electric fan and radiator fan switch are working, you dont want it to overheat and blow a head gasket straight away!

Your 1100 is 48 HP @ 6000 and 79nm Tq @ 3000.,which is as much as the vw beetle had from a 1600, so with the low weight it will get along fine.

Hello!

Long time since the last post but good news! I have activated restoring her with the help of my son.

The Swallowtail is running ! Special thanks to Daytona who has been helping us a LOT! Short review what has been done so far:

-New plugs and leads
-New filters air, oil and petrol + petrol hoses, oil change
-All fuses, light bulps etc small stuff
-Flushed the petrol tank with water, acid, sod. carb. , water, ethanol, petrol (previous owner has apparently changed to notorious filler hose) so there was only little rust in the tank.
-Carburator main jet blown clean and correct adjustments made (to keep it running in idle)
-Small radiator leak repaired using "radiator seal". Maybe change to new radiator in future.

During the test run I noticed the brakes are very weak. I have been reading brake upgrade posts and that is probably the next thing to do together with installing new seat covers and passing the legal inspection for her. I'm asking her the so called "museum plates" we have in Finland.

Does anyone have good condition mk2 16v gti brake servo and master cylinder for sell? Looks like she has neither of those. I would also be interested in aircooled brake discs.

Best, Antti and Lenni