Skip navigation

swallowtail 1975-THE REBUILD - Updated 18/06/2014

Post

Back to the top

swallowtail 1975-THE REBUILD - Little updated 14/12/12

Gazvenn said

that first one does look nice, is the wing smoothed into the rest of the body?

no, its just the quality of the camera phone lol

Post

Back to the top

MY CAR ON MIDLANDS TODAY NEWS!!!!

Link to my swallowtail on Midlands today :)

Surface Processing Midlands Today Top Gear Quiz - YouTube

Post

Back to the top
16 Mk1's ???? Thats just greedy! :lol:

I saw a crinkly peanut tomorrow

Post

Back to the top

MissMk1 said

16 Mk1's ???? Thats just greedy! :lol:

i know……no more plans of any more though….(unless something interesting or cheap comes up) :wink:

Post

Back to the top

Swallowtail_uk said

MissMk1 said

16 Mk1's ???? Thats just greedy! :lol:

i know……no more plans of any more though….(unless something interesting or cheap comes up) :wink:


ermmm…….a few more to the collection…. 8)  :wink:




another pic of my sliver one..



another of my brothers collection in the background

Post

Back to the top
Awesome stuff!

Post

Back to the top
woooooooow :D love it !

Remember, VW made the last car in 1992. After that they started making vehicles.

Post

Back to the top
So i thought its about time I put some new pictures of my procession, however I need to go back to the body restoration leading to the acid dipping that I've shown you already. The car itself has made it to the body shop, I've had to move units and I've calculated over 3000+ Photos ……….Jeez its taken a few days to pick and upload photos to photobucket.

Just before I go crossed eyed from looking at the screen and frustrated trying to work out some sort of order for the photos, I would like to make you aware that I have tried my best to keep all repairs VAG. By this I mean, all rotten metal was replaced by either VW repair panels or VW metal (old VW MK4 door). Places like the fuel cap recess etc, I've had to used after market panels, not happy about this ..but had no choice….had to get things moving….


Right so the body…..as there are loads of photos, I going to break it down to, Main body, Underneath, Doors, Tailgate, Wings etc

So, Main body……..

Right side, lower a post was rotten..



Used an old mk4 door for metal and beat the panel into shape.



Both lower corners of the windscreen, A -post, where rotten too….





My mate Nick, was cutting up a mk1 shell, so i thought see if i could salvage repair panels:





Although i had the sections to repair the lower windscreen, have griding back the purple paint, the metal was not very good, so i decided to make the sections myself:







once all welds were grinned back and shaped, wings lined up prefect:





Original wings were a bit too far to repair, so i decide to buy some VAG replacements off another swallowtail:




Replacement Wings:





Front panel; this was ok, front corners had rotten but i had repair panels cut off that purple mark one:






for some reason I cant seem to find the welded and finished photos, but I'm sure you can image it. lol

Bottoms of A post at the Windscreen frame was also rotten on both sides…








Post

Back to the top
Just gone through all the pic's

Awesome find and quality build mate.

92 caddy, Now stripped for full rebuild
83 golf gti R1 carbed 16v(soon to have 1.8T)
07 Leon FR TDI daily

Cambridgeshire regional host

Post

Back to the top

caddyrage said

Just gone through all the pic's

Awesome find and quality build mate.

thank you

Post

Back to the top
You're a brave man. credit to you for saving and restoring the swallowtail. More pics….

Post

Back to the top
so other than the front lower panel where it meets the lower wing, A posts,lower A post, and windscreen frame, that was the front side repairs complete.

moving on the patrol cap area…..this I gave a lot of thought too as I have previously had attempted one but it went a bit wrong and the panel distorted.  On hardcore inspection (grinder and aggressive poking with a screwdriver),the area was not too bad. In fact it seam that it was rotting "in to out". I have ready cut a repair section off the purple mk1 my mate cut up….but after the lower window screen section was bad under the paint, I wasn't surprised that the recess for the petrol cap was rotting as well.

I have no other choice but to replace the inner and outer repair panels with after market pressings. However I made sure I only used little as possible of the repair metal.








First thing i thought I'd do is, as it rotten from "inside out", I would repair it the same way. Out came the grinder and this is what i was left with and used the old section to make the new repair section:



welded it in: very painful, the welding sparks burnt my head a few times, went down my top and sleeves. :cry:



Next, What I decided to do was trim away the inside of the recess, leaving the curve lip as this will give a bit of strength to my repair panel and stop the distorting. Out came the Dremel with a very fine cutting disc…….key here was patience.




Please be assured the fuel neck was just for measurements and there was no tank on the other side…..spark, spark… boom! :wink:




welded in and carefully grounded back and smoothed- complete - very happy, everything lines up and no distortions…pheww

Post

Back to the top
Good job man. Had to do that section on my mates, what a bummer

92 caddy, Now stripped for full rebuild
83 golf gti R1 carbed 16v(soon to have 1.8T)
07 Leon FR TDI daily

Cambridgeshire regional host

Post

Back to the top
Awesome attention to detail ,love build threads like this .

Keep up the great work.

76 ?
78 gls
83 gti 5v

Post

Back to the top

mark83 said

Awesome attention to detail ,love build threads like this .

Keep up the great work.
thank you

Post

Back to the top
alot of attention and love going into this Swallowtail. keep up the amazing work.

Madone with the two Cabs 82 (UK RHD) and 85 (US LHD) (92 sold)

 

Post

Back to the top
Thought I'd better add this link to the process…..my shell was featured on the Midlands today news - link below:


http://www.vwgolfmk1.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=105010&highlight=

Post

Back to the top
Rear Arches:

These weren't to bad for a 1975 car. Just bottom corners needed attention again, no genuine repair panels for this either…
My mate Paul lent a hand with his welding skills….







I made sure all metal underneath was good to one one repair here….it was only a small rust hole, but I decide to chop it all out and weld in a nice piece.






And was that, 100% off the body welding was done…I knew once it went to the dippers, there might be one or two things that need work, but that was fine with me.
The car sat around after this point as I had to raise the funds for the dipping process plus I was on a long waitting list… :(

Few weeks later I had received "the call" (sounds a bit Mafia)…..So I had to bolt the spare suspension on, loosely bolt the panels on and get it rolling.
 

 my mate nick trying to drive the car on the recovery trunk …..(look under the bonnet nick)

Me, trying to jump start the car   :lol:

All loaded and ready to go……..wasn't happy with the rain :(


Once we arrived, I then had the pleasure of re-stripping it down again…











The car was meant to be at the dippers for approx 4 weeks but guess what? …..two weeks later i got "the call" again…. 8O , I had to tell the guy I didn't have the full amount of money for it as I was waiting to get paid at the end of the month as scheduled, he wasn't bothered and stated it was OK and I could collect at the end of the month, but I could go and see the car whenever I wanted….*****cough *****cough….(that same moment I developed a cough and rang in work stating i had a bad cold and was going to the doc's & be in later)  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

I went to see the car and was given the following photos of the process:Acid stripped -








The car was then sent off to another company for galvanising and e-coated (as new panels)

















I was extremely happy with the result and the process was worth every penny…..think about all the "cup brushes & plasters" I've saved. :D

Next step was to reassemble the car again so that it was rolling and bring her home :D  :D  :D  :D  :D  :D  :D  :D  :D  :D  8)

One at home it was broke down again and put back on the jig so that the car can be sealed and prepared for the bodyshop. Few more pics of the car inside and out.





Post

Back to the top
Nice pics

Diesel Possessed

A97JCE

Feeby

Post

Back to the top
Nice job, looks brilliant

Andy

LINCOLNSHIRE REGION - https://www.facebook.com/groups/467122313360002/

1983 MK1 Golf GTI Campaign Model - Under (looooong) resto!
1962 Rover P4 80
2002 BMW 745i
2008 BMW Z4 2.5Si
0 guests and 0 members have just viewed this: None.