"TAG" - 1983 Campaign restoration blog

Now the servo was fitted I could finish fitting the new brake pipes to the new 22mm master cylinder.






I found I could fit the two required "tee" pieces for the brake light switches either side of the servo mounting bracket.  On the n/s there was already a hole - I drilled a matching hole on the o/s and used stainless nut/bolts.




A strange view - from underneath looking up.


I hope these photos and words will help others when tackling these jobs.  I know how invaluable I have found other members photos.

Before fitting the servo/brake linkage I needed to get the engine wiring looms roughly in place as one section runs under/behind the linkage.

Before that - renewing some of the mangled K-Jet plug rubbers.   




This should be interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I know it all came out of here somehow…….


Beginning to make some sense of the tangle!!

Looking great as always. What brake fluid reservoir do you plan to run?

Great work Guy, lots of attention to detail as always


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This build is amazing I'll definitely use it as pointers for mine 

Afternoon

I'm certainly inspired by your restoration. Mine was not as bad as yours body work wise but have had to still replace N/S complete chassis leg and full front panel as well as rebuilding the area around the fuel pump/mounting a rear for the beam axle.

I've turned the U bend on my Campaign resto and use your feed as a great reference for putting things back together. I'm just refurbing the rear brake load valve and my is a similar state to what yours was. I'm just stripping it and cleaning it as was badly seized up.

Incidentally your registration ending T "AG" originated in Hull when new (either as  Green Arrow Garage's / John Seaton Garages or Dovercourt)  I used to be at college in Hull with the son of the owner of the 2 VAG franchise dealerships at the time. He used to come to college in a variety of Golfs and Audi's and I always remember the Campaign golfs with the Pirelli Ps and steel sunroof. Who knows I might have seen yours when it was nearly new with servicing as he used to bring a loan car to college and go and collect a service vehicle to take back to the dealership. That got me going and I always vowed to own a Campaign one day.

adolf said

Afternoon

I'm certainly inspired by your restoration. Mine was not as bad as yours body work wise but have had to still replace N/S complete chassis leg and full front panel as well as rebuilding the area around the fuel pump/mounting a rear for the beam axle.

I've turned the U bend on my Campaign resto and use your feed as a great reference for putting things back together. I'm just refurbing the rear brake load valve and my is a similar state to what yours was. I'm just stripping it and cleaning it as was badly seized up.

Incidentally your registration ending T "AG" originated in Hull when new (either as  Green Arrow Garage's / John Seaton Garages or Dovercourt)  I used to be at college in Hull with the son of the owner of the 2 VAG franchise dealerships at the time. He used to come to college in a variety of Golfs and Audi's and I always remember the Campaign golfs with the Pirelli Ps and steel sunroof. Who knows I might have seen yours when it was nearly new with servicing as he used to bring a loan car to college and go and collect a service vehicle to take back to the dealership. That got me going and I always vowed to own a Campaign one day.

From “"TAG" - 1983 Campaign restoration blog”

Hi Adolf

Many thanks for your interesting message.

Firstly thanks for the praise!  I am glad my blog is proving useful.  I have a couple of people who I follow closely and refer to for references/ideas etc.

Really interesting about the number plate information.  Funny twist here!  My car was actually sold new in Northern Ireland where it spent the majority of its life, on a N Ireland number of course.  It was then sold to Southern Ireland - and was registered with an Eire registration.  When I bought it from Dublin it was still on that Eire plate.  When I registered the car in UK I wrote a letter to DVLA requesting a number that if possible contained either my initials/VAG/VW/GOLF or 1983 as this was its registration year.  They kindly gave the number with 83 in it.  I had no idea till now that my number was from Hull - so thanks for that.  I am interested in the history of the car, so even thought the car itself has never been to Hull your fact adds another little nugget to the story.

Good luck with the resto - I am trying to keep mine pretty much standard - suspension etc - with just a few subtle mods like the brake servo and later wiper motor.  

Rich. said

Looking great as always. What brake fluid reservoir do you plan to run?

I think it's from a Lupo - when I bought the brake servo the breaker threw it in for free.  

Evening 

Ah right - well at least you've pieced the history together when the car was new. Obviously "TAG" - would have been better if it was "VAG" but at least you got the '83 in there.😄

Good luck with the remainder of the restoration.

I've tried to get the reg : KRO203Y off the DVLA but as it was my old car reg (long since scrapped😩) they won't re-release it - I could have KRO203X if I wanted to buy it, but it's not the same.

Afternoon 

Dawned on me - I note your car originally had the 3 piece Zender roof spoiler?

Do you still have it and if so are you looking to sell or keep it? My Alpine White Campaign must have had one as the screw holes are there - so I need to get one, or bodge fill the holes prior to painting. 

As it's 1980s period mod - I'm content to fit one, although generally I'm a "standard as they left the factory" sort

Cheers 

SO last job to do in the engine bay  before fitting the engine is the steering column UV joint.

First - time to refurb the column


Looking rather better!


UV joint connected.


… and boot


Quite fiddly to get the column back in - aligning the UV joint, and the bolts going through the bulkhead to attach to the end of the brake servo push bar mechanism.  

Last chance for those photos without the engine in place…….

SO finally time to sling the engine and get it off the engine stand and down to floor level on block to fit the new clutch.  

After advice I chose to buy an inexpensive engine leveller - VERY glad I did as it made fitting the engine much easier!


I didn't have a lifting eye on the alternator end of the block so used a long bolt through the threaded alternator bracket hole




In the air………………….






Carefully set down on some blocks - making sure no to damage the sump/sump lip/waterpump/pulleys and leaving enough clearance to attach the plate between the engine/gearbox.

Clutch fitting time!

End of the block/crank seal


Cleaned and plated engine/transmission plate


Plate attached


New Sachs clutch kit


Never having done this before I bought a clutch alignment device.


I'm not sure that it helped a great deal.  It was a slightly slack fit in clutch plate so could not be relied on to ensure accurate centering of the friction plate.  I had to use a vernier caliper to ensure it was central in the end.  




Clutch plate bolted into position.  I used a 15mm spanner to "lock" the flywheel in place.  Use one of the gearbox fitting bolts in the block and one of the flywheel bolts in the flywheel.


Thrust plate and spring attached


Home schooling……………….


Fitting the clutch plate


Flywheel bolted on.  Did the bolts up gradually in a diagonal pattern.


Took the chance to paint the timing marks - hopefully make life a bit easier in the future for timing.

VW GTi powered wheelbarrow!


Used lots of padding/supporting blocks/straps as I had to move the engine from the workshop to the garage.






Ready to receive the gearbox.  With my able assistant (dad!) - we put the gearbox on a folded down workmate and the adjusted the engine height to match.  Screwdrivers through the top bolt holes into the block holes helped line things up

……….and after all the months of hard work a moment I wondered if I would ever get to - the heart of the car going back in!

My glamorous (?!?) assistant!


In she goes………………….


Used old cardboard to protect vulnerable areas of the bodywork - especially the scuttle area.


Result!!!!!


Lessons learned:
1. Don't fit the aux air valve on the rear of the intake - no room to get it in otherwise.

2. Don't fit the gearbox side mount to the engine - once the engine is in the right position then fit it.  It was just tooo tight for comfort with it in position.

3.  Don't fit the front engine steady support to the engine before hand.  With the starter fitted and the support bracket - as with the gearbox support it was just too close for comfort to the front cross member and without it fitted I could the move engine about more freely to align the side mounts.  

4.  Use an engine hoist leveller.  It made it so much more manoeuvrable.  I found I needed to tilt the engine to quite an angle to get the gearbox under the battery tray side mount position.  I bought the cheapest version and for the sake of £25 it saved the paint!!!!!

5.  Without the front mount/gearbox mount attached it was possible to get the engine in at an angle and then level it all without catching the scuttle/front crossmember.  Once level attached the o/s bolt, then reattached the gearbox mount & bolted that the support and finally reattached the starter/front support.

Everything then seemed aligned very nicely.  I checked the alignment on the side mounts and hey presto!

Now the fun of reconnecting all the gear linkage.  So many parts!!!

All new and plated parts


The old seal around the gear selector housing was perished so I made a new one out of draught excluder.


All fitted








Selector finger adjusted  to the correct position - I hope!


Boot added _ fun job!!!! and heat shield.

Some of you may have seen my topic in the Helllpppp section of the forum regarding an issue I had with the gear selector lever on the gearbox.  Basically having fitted the larger 9" brake servo and master cylinder - the gear selector lever was hitting the servo - and that was before fitting the rod to it.





I had a spare shift lever so after much trial and error found that by bending it into a tighter shape it could pass under the servo with plenty of clearance

Original v modified
.





Only when I can get the engine started and try engaging gears will I know if  this mod has been successful and hasn't altered the shift.  But moving the lever by hand all looks good.

Brilliant attention to detail. Like your recommendations of what not to fit to the engine before lowering it in. I found some of the same issues.

Interesting your comment on the gear selection for your linkage mod. I had a similar issue when fitting a five speed box in place of the original 4 speed. The sweep and length of each component can affect the actual movement / range at the gearstick / gate.

Whilst your gaiter / boot underneath the gearstick is affectively dry, I added self amalgamating tape around the boot and white cap to keep it in place. Local testing on mine found the white cap to drop out when doing extreme to extreme movements.

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I finally got mine connected up, and I definitely have more clearance. I've not had to modify the arm at all.
As has been said, engine mounts aren't really precision mounting points are they.