Chris' Purple GTI

Nice car. Colour is good. Looks like someone has loved it a lot in the past.

The pipe that broke looks very rusty, I guess someone has run the car on old coolant or just kept topping it up on water. May be a good time to change the coolant?
Euro car parts do some ready mixed stuff which is plenty to do a coolant change.

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/winter-essentials/antifreeze-coolant/blue-antifreeze-coolant/?523770501&0&cc5_865
 

Gotta love the roads up in the Dublin/Wicklow mountains - the scenery is fantastic on a dry day. Nice view of Kippure in the background of one. I was in Glendalough around mid feb and its such a peaceful and tranquil spot.

There is a plastic joiner available to connect those pipe make sure to fit it too. The joys of mk1 motoring  - smile on your face one day and frown on it the next.  

Ah well something to keep you amused in the longer evenings.    Keep up the good work.  

That dealer sticker is from the old garage near me, nice find

heartagram said

Nice car. Colour is good. Looks like someone has loved it a lot in the past.

The colour has grown on me alright, I think its a mk3 golf anni colour, not sure on the exact code. It was loved by the guy that imported and restored it, but there has been two or three other owners since that didn't love it as much as they should have!

mark1gls said

The pipe that broke looks very rusty, I guess someone has run the car on old coolant or just kept topping it up on water. May be a good time to change the coolant?
Euro car parts do some ready mixed stuff which is plenty to do a coolant change.

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/winter-essentials/antifreeze-coolant/blue-antifreeze-coolant/?523770501&0&cc5_865
 

Yep your right, when I bought it she had only water in the system and had been sitting for a couple of years.  Will do a full coolant flush and refill with something decent when im changing over the pipes at the weekend which should sort it out.

You may need to remove the thermostat to do a full flush so you will need a new rubber seal, check the thermostat is working while it's out by putting it in some hot water.

A new thermostat will come with a new seal.
http://www.eurocarparts.com/car-thermostat

Seal on it's own.
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Golf_1.6_1981/p/car-parts/car-cooling-parts-and-car-heating/cooling/thermostat-housings-gasket/?369440050&1&4d6daaee3806cb28a922beee18a62e87a5b3d865&000574



 

Shughy said

Gotta love the roads up in the Dublin/Wicklow mountains - the scenery is fantastic on a dry day. Nice view of Kippure in the background of one. I was in Glendalough around mid feb and its such a peaceful and tranquil spot.

There is a plastic joiner available to connect those pipe make sure to fit it too. The joys of mk1 motoring  - smile on your face one day and frown on it the next.  

Ah well something to keep you amused in the longer evenings.    Keep up the good work.  

Its peaceful and tranquil until a MK1 comes tearing down the road    
I always bring the car up there when iv done a bit of work on it. Its my testing road. Great sweeping bends and nice long straights, cant be beaten on a nice day!!

Plastic joiner has been ordered from Mark at Classic-vw  too  

The work is slow, but im happy with the progress considering time & financial restraints. Hopefully ill be able to spend a bit more time on her over the next few months.

Thanks Hugh  

mark1gls said

You may need to remove the thermostat to do a full flush so you will need a new rubber seal, check the thermostat is working while it's out by putting it in some hot water.

A new thermostat will come with a new seal.
http://www.eurocarparts.com/car-thermostat

Seal on it's own.
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Golf_1.6_1981/p/car-parts/car-cooling-parts-and-car-heating/cooling/thermostat-housings-gasket/?369440050&1&4d6daaee3806cb28a922beee18a62e87a5b3d865&000574



 

I actually have a new thermostat & seal at home that I have been meaning to put in. So will stick them in when im at it. Is it awkward to get to??

GTI_Jim said

That dealer sticker is from the old garage near me, nice find

Ah very good, the random things you find behind a dash!  

Chris81GTI said

I actually have a new thermostat & seal at home that I have been meaning to put in. So will stick them in when im at it. Is it awkward to get to??

Remove bottom radiator hose and 2 bolts (10mm?) holding the housing on, if you are lucky your's is metal not plastic like the one in the picture that is distorted. The picture is taken from behind the water pump as I've removed the pump from the engine but you get the idea.
Remove the housing and seal and the thermostat is usually stuck in so it may need a lever out with a big screw driver but coolant will come flushing out when it's removed so have a bowl under there and a towel for your hand and arm!


 

mark1gls said

Chris81GTI said

I actually have a new thermostat & seal at home that I have been meaning to put in. So will stick them in when im at it. Is it awkward to get to??

Remove bottom radiator hose and 2 bolts (10mm?) holding the housing on, if you are lucky your's is metal not plastic like the one in the picture that is distorted. The picture is taken from behind the water pump as I've removed the pump from the engine but you get the idea.
Remove the housing and seal and the thermostat is usually stuck in so it may need a lever out with a big screw driver but coolant will come flushing out when it's removed so have a bowl under there and a towel for your hand and arm!


 

You are an absolute gent!! Even I cant go wrong now. Thanks mark, you know your MK1's      

Time for a little update,

I’ve had a coolant issue for a while now; car was overheating whenever stopped in traffic or left idling for too long. I put it down to the fan not kicking in.

This was really starting to annoy me as I sit in a lot of traffic on the way to work.

Decided to completely drain the coolant system and run a flush through it, a lot of murky rusty water of course but wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Replaced the thermostat, a few hoses, radiator temp switch, filled with a good quality anti corrosion coolant and bled the system properly. Luckily the thermostat housing was the original metal one and in very good nick. Now the fan is kicking it just as the temp rises above the halfway mark and she’s cooling properly. Successful couple of hours!

Popped out the back seats and went fishing for rust in the fuel tank, spent a good couple of hours and got virtually nothing. Tank looked very clean, and filler pipe is 100%. Another thing I don’t have to worry about this year!

Finally bit the bullet and ordered a single light grill and red surround from Mark @ Classic-VW. Need to source a set of crosshairs and I’ll be happy with the front end.

Picked up a NOS vintage Becker radio from my neighbour, haven’t decided whether I’ll put it in yet, will wait a couple of weeks and see how much I miss music when driving. Currently, the engine grunt is enough entertainment for me.

Had a good look around the underneath of the car for any signs of rust, and to my disappointment, I did find a hole in the floor-pan. Obviously somebody in the past jacked it up in the wrong place. Not a huge hole, about 2” diameter. Will need to sort it out, just not quite sure how to go about it. Any opinions are welcome! The rest of the underside looked pretty good.

Had to change the steering wheel, other was too big and every time I turned, the wipers and indicators went wild. So decided to change to a slightly smaller Mountney one with a little bit more dish, great for driving around the mountains, not so great for parking!!

Finally, and most importantly, I put my Mk1 Owners Club sticker on. Definitely getting at least 20BHP extra out of it!!!

I know there hasn’t been a massive amount of heavy work done- but this is my learning project! I’ll be starting work on a little car-port in the next few weeks, which should make it easier to get stuck into some bigger jobs.

Excuse the phone pics, but phone pics are better than no pics





At the midway point of a 6 hour drive

Nice one, it's looking sorted and sounds like you're getting to grips with it

Get a pic up of the hole if you can and we can advise, but I guess if it's underneath it's 'just' a patch up job?

Hairyarse said

Nice one, it's looking sorted and sounds like you're getting to grips with it

Get a pic up of the hole if you can and we can advise, but I guess if it's underneath it's 'just' a patch up job?

Thanks buddy! I'm no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, so every little job is an accomplishment for me. Learning every step of the way, and so far I have done everything myself ( with massive help from this club!!)

Will get a few pics of my hole  when I get home with a bit of daylight, hopefully a patch up job. Didn't plan on redoing the dreaded under seal until the winter!

Chris your car is looking spot on in those mountain shots! Glad you got the coolant sorted and all is running well again. The mk1 runs a little hot so wants the fan kicks in and out all should be ok. The sticker and grill are bound to  give you the extra bit of street cred on the front end.

All coming together well.    

We have a meet at the Limerick Classic Car show at the end of May if you able to make it?  

Shughy said

Chris your car is looking spot on in those mountain shots! Glad you got the coolant sorted and all is running well again. The mk1 runs a little hot so wants the fan kicks in and out all should be ok. The sticker and grill are bound to  give you the extra bit of street cred on the front end.

All coming together well.    

We have a meet at the Limerick Classic Car show at the end of May if you able to make it?  

Thanks Hugh, really appreciate it coming from you! Your car is the epitome of perfection!
I'm not sure if ill be able to make it, I have my brothers Stags that weekend in Galway- although I could always try and take the scenic route back to Dublin via Limerick on the Sunday    

Are you selling the spotlight grill Chris 

dentdoc said

Are you selling the spotlight grill Chris 

I'm undecided yet, will have to see how the single light grill looks before making my mind up.
Haven't got the new grill yet, but when I do get it, you get first refusal on the original.

I have a few single lamp grilles if your stuck