"TAG" - 1983 Campaign restoration blog

I fitted my engine and box separately and it was still a tight squeeze getting the engine in. Gearbox was even less fun as I had to do it on my own. Looking very clean and tidy though!

Out of interest, is the heat shield around the gear selector original or can you still get them? - mine is missing that bit. Also, is that new plastic bit on the selector finger?

Cheers,

J

Pah, you guys get it easy. Try shoe horning an R32 engine in with box and not damaging paint

Seriously looking superb by the way 👌

Good advice - thanks Malcolm!

So not the engine is in - time for all the others items to be refitted to enable the engine to be restarted.

First off the heater box.  I dismantled this & removed all the years of debris inside.









I could see immediately that the main seals between it and the body were perished and needed replacement.  Also the two heater air flaps foam coverings had also badly deteriorated and needed attention.





It was a simple job of separating the two halves and then using some old foam headlining making a new section.  









Then a matter of reassembly.





New heater matrix fitted and new foam seals.



Finally looking rather better than before and should hopefully work rather better!

Next up was fitting the brake fluid reservoir to the new 16V master cylinder.  I had previously fitted the larger MK2 servo and cylinder.  Trying to get the two "legs" of the reservoir into the tight new master cylinder seals was challenging!!  In the end I found the best thing was using a DIY hand cramp tool to gently apply pressure until if finally "popped" into place.

Now the new CIS pipes.  The old ones were in a shocking and corroded state and had been over tightened over the years causing them to actually twist the ends on the metering head unit.

I used new copper crush washers throughout and found that using a torque wrench they are not done very tight at all.

Nice looking result!  OK they cost a lot but great peace of mind to know they shouldn't give any future issues - and they add a bit of bling to the engine compartment.  

The battery cables were in a poor condition.  In fact when I bought the car I had two positive cables fitted!!!!   I ideally wanted the original VAG style crimped terminals not the usual retro fit bolted cables.  Eventually found a pair on eBay from a Passat B1(73-81) that were just right, although the positive is a little long.  The negative wire also benefited from having a fixed eye to provide the chassis earth.  This was in the wrong location so I managed to open the crimp and move it to the correct location.  

Then refitted the DIS unit.

Now for the various vacuum hoses - with new clips.

OK - so now I reckon I am ready to start.  Refitted the throttle cable, clutch cable, engine wiring, fuse box.  But no interior or electrics connected except the fuel pump and ignition.   New engine oil - tick.  New gearbox oil - tick.  New coolant - tick ………. then I went for a cuppa prior to starting…….  Came back and saw a couple of coolant drips on the floor.  No worries I thought - just a loose clip somewhere that needs nipping up.  BUT they were all dry….???????  SO jacked up the front and crawled under….  still couldn't see any issues.  Finally, and heart sinkingly found a weep from one of the main engine core plugs!!!  Horror!!!!   I had had the engine block rebuilt by a pro who recommended not replacing them.  I contacted the engine builder who had over 25 years experience in building MK1 engines, mainly for racing and he was astonished,.  This was only the third core plug failure in his 25 years experience had had come across.  He assured me I could replace in situ although it would be difficult.

I managed to bang a hole in the middle of the plug and hoped to "hook it out".  No way!!!!  Even managing to hook a large L shaped allen key into the enlarged hole it would not budge.  Finally managed to use a punch and bang on the edge of the plug to "spin" it round in the hole.  Getting thoroughly drenched in coolant in the process - even having drained as much off as possible.







Bought a new plug from VAG (!) - still fitted to current models (!) and tapped into place with some Bondlock  B577 as recommended by the engine builder.  Thankfully no further leaks.



On examining the old plug - although badly destroyed it had remarkably little corrosion on the reverse side and no evidence of why it was leaking.   

Now time to start…..

Looks the part - but will it start!!!



MK7 helped resuscitate the MK1





Took a while to get it running.  Didn't want to know initially.  I checked the fuel was getting to the injectors, good spark, all static timing correct on TDC… still nothing.  The found I had put the distributor back in slightly the wrong orientation.  Easy fix and then…

SUCCESS!!!!!!

Running for the first time in 4 years!!  Finally after all the hard graft it sounded really sweet!



Video here on the club Facebook site of the happy moment.  

Having broken down 4 years ago, prompting the start of total nut/bolt restoration - today my rebuilt GTi engine ran for the first time. It works!!!!!!!!... | By Guy

Prior to starting I cleaned the fuel tank with Bilt Hamber Degreaser and hot water - having sealed off the various tank outlets first.



The cleaned with Bilt Hamber DeoxC and hot water for a couple of hours - turning the tank regularly and "sloshing" it around inside.  



The reattached the heat shield which I have sprayed in high temp paint.



Pipes attached and sprayed in Bilt Hamber S50

Before fitting the tank finally I treated the area with Bilt Hamber S50 and those areas/cavities I wouldn't be able to get to again once the tank was in.  Shame to cover the lovely shiny silver paint but I am sure it i worth doing as added under body protection.

  

Fitted the new fuel filler neck/foam gasket and seam sealed the rear.



Gravity valve and pipework attached with new bracket I made previously.

Fuel pump and accumulator with new fittings/pipes ready to install.  





Fitting the new fuel tiller neck > tank hose was certainly challenging!!!

A couple of other photos of the leaking core plug.  It looked perfect in situ - but when I gently scraped away the paint there was a very small hole - almost like a small screwdriver had hit it in the edge of the recess.



The damage magnified.

Congratulations

Sounds really sweet and looks stunning. What a shame about the core plug but you got it sorted

Amazing work that - looks stunning!

So the works have been continuing…….  A few more pics of the fuel pump/accumulator and pipework fitted.

Before refitting the rear axle new brake pipes were fitted, new handbrake cables and new flexi brake pipes ….