Mk1 Golf 'Pearl' Build thread

hey guys, ive been reading this forum for ages and have finally got a reason to join

meet Pearl



she's a 83 1.1c or was originally now a 2.0 ABF, she's been owned by 2 members on here

Dunc's Thread

this guy did the original build (Dunc)

and also (mike)

Mikes thread

since the restore being done and some owners in between unfortunately she's starting to look a little bit tiered again

there's rust coming through on the archers and round the front end and a bit on the rear, plus the paint is looking shocking (looks like it was painted in a dusty barn)

my plans for the car are to strip completely, and rebuild from the ground up, it may be a bit of a slow build as i'm in the military and cant spend all my time on her, that being said I think it will be better to do things slowly as this will be the first time i've undergone a full rebuild. i previously modded my mk5 and used it as a show car, well that was till some woman not paying attention decided to drive out of a junction into the side of me writing it off

Before


After


doesn't look that bad but there's about 8ks worth of damage


so now to the stripping of the car,

little before the massacre begins






oh and my trusty sign




ok seats, carpet and dash being taken out, this wasn't hard as the carpet wasn't fitted properly and loads of screws where missing from the dash

















floor pan is in good condition

I then started on removing everything from the front of the car and labelling up where things went



the car then went away for a bit as I had other commitments

I then started on the rear



now came the part i was looking forward to……. engine removal time, i've been wanting to remove an engine for some time now and this is the first one ive ever done,
the least I can say is it was emotional











Hole






so this is where i'm up to atm, things will go quite for a bit now as i'm going back to work, but the next stage when i'm back is to start stripping the paint from the bay and doing some work on the engine. wish me look

Looking good so far buddy. Shame about the damage to the MK5

Good luck with the project. Keep us updated.

Smudger

P.S Welcome to the forum btw.

Welcome along, I'm sure you thanked her for  doing that to your mk5 

Sounds like the abf is staying. Will it stay white too? 

Excellent!  

Looks a decent base, is the engine staying or going? 

In fact, are you local to me? Sheffield area? 

Im thinking ill stick with the ABF and just tidy it up and hide the wires, this being said i have thought about going down the pd route, i shall just have to wait and see

I could use a little bit of advice, in looking to strip the engine back to the metal, whats the best way of doing this? How long can i leave it like that aswell and whats the best thing to use to paint it, as in whats the best paint to use to prevent rust etc.

Yeah I'm Sheffield based, near graves park  

Hi, welcome aboard!

Bet you were gutted by the crash, looked stunning   

That said you now have the best type of golf!   

My car is having an abf. I just used wire wheels on a drill to clean everything up. Then sprayed the parts with etch primer to stop them rusting.

Good luck with your project.

Matt

Yeah man! My units in dronny so not far man 

Stick with abf, and take all ancillaries off, wire wheels/brushes and then even Halfords VHT is decent stuff. My block held up for a year with no paint damage. 

Wow gutted, your MK5 looked very nice!

MK1 very nice too and making good progress  

Cant wait till feb to come home and get some more done on it, should i strip the shell back to bare metal and start from scratch on painting it? Also dose anyone have advice on wireing loom, its currenly using a seat ibiza loom but its a real mess should i just re wrap it or start again?