"TAG" - 1983 Campaign restoration blog

Tailgate off…

First thing was to remove the black Gti "mask".

I used a hot air gun to lift the surface layer, which left a VERY sticky layer of adhesive that I removed with thinners.  The hot air gun/thinners did lift some areas of the underlying paint but I am not concerned as I have to take it back to bare metal anyway.

There had obliviously been trouble in the past with rot around some of the nameplate holder holes on the tailgate.  Some were already welded up so rather than try and drill them out/recreate them - I welded them all up.

Last job on the tailgate was to weld up the holes from where the Zender spoiler had been fitted.  Quite large holes drilled in the outer top edge - whoever fitted it even let the drill pass right through to the inside of the tailgate in the car…..  Now all welded up.

Time to change ends…………….

Will it ever be road ready……………

Biggest job on the drivers side was what started out as a few small bubbles under the side window.  Soon developed into quite a nasty hole.  Thankfully the B pillar was untouched.

Rot cut out.

Fiddly new repair sections formed ready to fit.

Interesting side issue:

View topic: Front seat "rocking" in runners - The Mk1 Golf Owners Club

Time to give any of you interested an update.

Firstly I have fitted the repair sections I made for the window reveal repair.

I then cleaned up the drivers door that was thankfully in very good condition.  A couple of very small weld repairs were needed to fill holes in the inner bottom corners.

Worst spot was around the hole for the quarter-light window support bar in the door bottom.  It had corroded badly around the fixing hole.  This needed a plate on the inside of the bottom of the door - a very tricky place to reach/repair!

The chap who will be doing the paintwork/final body finishing/blocking etc came to have a look over the car and was thankfully very impressed with my work so far.  

He did recommend that due a previous respray I take the whole car back to bare metal.  As he explained the lines of the car loose their crispness after multiple layers of paint.

So I could either pay him for the man hours involved…. or I could accept the challenge and save a few pounds in the process.

I therefore researched and bought a good quality DA sander and specialist mesh car sanding discs; a pile of 80 and 180 grit automotive sandpaper and strip disc attachments for grinder and drill for places the DA sander cant get to.  

The inside edges and inside faces of the doors, tailgate, bonnet have now been hand sanded back to nearly bare metal.  As they have not had a respray it was not as important to take them right back.

A trick the bodywork man explained was to fit an old vacuum cleaner hose to the DA sander outlet and put the far end under a sheet.  The sander creates enough suction to remove most of the dust and deposit it under the cloth.  Unless you have a professional vacuum designed to handle the incredibly fine dust it will knacker a vacuum in a very short time.  Indeed he told me he written off a Dyson in less than 1 day!

The rear of the car revealed some more hidden nasties as the paint was stripped away.

A previous alarm fitment had left holes from door contacts.  These needed welding up.  Also the left hand side of the boot slam panel edge was made of filler!  This needed removing and new metal welding in.  Again a rather tricky area to weld.  Finally over the years a few different holes had been drilled to mount number plates - now welded up.

Then time to sand down the doors to bare metal.

I had previously repaired the sunroof drain tube holes on the inside of the sunroof aperture so was not too surprised to find some rotten holes in the roof around the corners of the opening once the pant was removed.  Again now welded up.

And finally for now……………… many, many hours of paint removal to get back to bare metal - treat any rust found and then a waft of etch primer……  a job I wont be sorry to see the back of.

Wow, somebody has been busy. Excellent progress.
Workmanship looks good, particularly around the sunroof, you were brave taking that on.
Have you got a date for paint yet?

Nice work mucker.

With your welding skills you should have left it bare metal and just cleared over the top of it.  

Keep up the good work. Nice tip on the sheet and hose. Bet I'll forget it when I come to do any sanding though  

Ian

Thanks for the comments - yes it represents a lot of
man hours and dust!!

borednow - maybe I should go for the "Delorean brushed stainless look"…………….

saulty - no date for painting yet as I need to take out the engine and then clean up the engine bay.