feel like giving up :-(

hey ppl, jus spent a loooooooong day with my mechanic working on the golf. its a 1.1 5 dr but am trying to get i t to original state.
fitted in gti interior today which was bargain at 45, good con too
then the big job came :-s i replaced the rear drum brake axle for a disc brake one :-s took a hell of a long time and cost me 125 parts and labour (discs etc etc) i felt sorry for my mechanic as he didnt realise how long it would take as we encountered so many probs and his quote was before all of this.
then i fitted my new ronal turbo alloys, the car is lowered by 40mm but still sits quite high..unfortunatly :-(

and its still looks like a tin cup :-( :-( i jus dunno what to do, i guess itd be all good if i was in m 20's or 30's but im most of the way through an ENTIRE rebuild of a car and im 19!!! my entire student loan has gone, which i onli got last week :-( :-(
i feel like selling it but il neva make anywhere near the amount of money spent on it…. i dunno what to do.
unless sum1 offers me a free respray for the passnger door and drivers wing and an alarm.. for FREE of course then maybe itl motivate me to carry on.

im jus sooooo tired.

wtf do i do?

Sorry to hear your story.

Sounds like you should write off your losses and sell it unless you are doing all the labour yourself or are close to getting it on the road. Old cars eat money and I wouldn't spend any more on it until you saved up a decent amount. Does the car really need painting now?

If you have somewhere to store it then i wouldnt worry, just get some part time work or something and do a bit at a time

Whats wrong with the door and paintwork? If you're willing and able to attempt a lot of hard work yourself you can do it on a budget, but paying mechanics and bodyshops can make grown well salaried men feel the pinch. If you do sell it, there's member called Kapur who is looking for a 5 door 1.1.

Cheers

Owning a MK1 and keeping it in a road worthy state will cost a lot of money especially if you have to pay out for labour, everything seems to go wrong week after week and reminds me of crop rotation. Only the dedicated nutcases give the public a chance to see a MK1 Golf on the roads.

storm81 said

If you have somewhere to store it then i wouldnt worry, just get some part time work or something and do a bit at a time

fancy swearing at a student by mentioning the WORK word

car is finished practically. one door is red and one wing is bronze. thing is i dont have time to prepare it myself. also so much expensive sound equipment is going into it that i also need an alarm fitted :-s
panels had to be changed because of rust. i was going to do the prep work myself but never have time as im always back and forth to uni.
i cant sell it because il never make any money on it, ppl will make daft offers of 400-500 when i feel its wrth way more with the ronals the interior, the work done on it etc etc.
no where to store either, its on the road im afriad :-s

still i suppose the show must go on :-)

lhasa said

Only the dedicated nutcases give the public a chance to see a MK1 Golf on the roads.

 8O  8O  8O

You dont have to be mad to post here…….

That fits me to a tee      

But then I also ride a (motor) bike all year too    

dizzy_i said

car is finished practically. one door is red and one wing is bronze. thing is i dont have time to prepare it myself.

What are you studying at uni? i did IT and i had so much free time it was ridiculous. If you're 19 you in your 1st year right? dont worry about it, have fun for the 1st 2 years, work like hell in the 3rd  

If money is tight why not have a go at doing the paint yourself, take the door and the wing off, prep it at home and take your time with some aerosol paint & masking tape from halfords and old newspaper, it wont be as good as a proper paint shop, but it'll only cost you about a tenner. Then you can do it properly in the future, but for now your car wont be multicoloured. This is what i'd do .

dizzy_i said

also so much expensive sound equipment is going into it that i also need an alarm fitted :-s

Then don't fit the ice now, wait until next years loan can get you an alarm perhaps? Also alarms are deterrents more than a provention mechanism against car crime. So you don't have to go mental and buy a top of the range clifford. I know there's kudos in alarm brands etc, but any crim will reconsider if they see a simple sticker in the window and a flashing red led. If not, then they'd have a go at any car with any alarm.

dizzy_i said

still i suppose the show must go on :-)

Thats the spirit!

My comments are just what i would do btw. Please jump in if i'm being daft.

dizzy_i said

 also so much expensive sound equipment is going into it that i also need an alarm fitted :-s

Trying not to sound harsh, as I was your age not that long ago and I know that having a stupidly loud sound system has to be done but if you like the car as much as you suggest you do, maybe sell some of the sound equipment (which isn't essential) and spend the money doing other jobs the the actual car? You can always buy sound equipment later on.

Just a suggestion.

Mike.

Reading your past posts your cars black, should be easy enough to spray it yourself, Cheap and you can always get it done proper when you get a high paid graduate job.

Get a steering wheel lock ?20 and hide your ICE.

The more you know, less you show.

Course not sure if that's gonna appeal to someone who's trying to fit a clipper kit to a five door. Heh Heh.

Peter.

ice might be hidden, problem is the subs a vibe space 12"…… that equals 2400-2800 watts of output, so even its not seen itl be heard.

as for the steering lock… thieves can brake it in a matter of seconds and they cost bout 60-70 for a decent one :-s

shop down the road has qoted me 200 for a cobra alarm. it has all the sensors etc. it has a higher spec than clifford were offering for 250!!!! price includes fitting and 3yr warranty.

anyone know if cobra alarms are any good?

as for the clipper kit on a five door…… LOL im tryna do the best i can!!!!!!! :-D i wanted a 3dr non gti (insurance) and in black…. which is non existant!!!

hope everyone is taking good care of thier cars

Cobra's are a premium brand alarm. In my experience though its the fitter who makes the difference. Ie. Its better to have a great fitter fitting a basic cheapish alarm then an average fitter fitting a cliff/cobra alarm.

You'll be ok with your system as long as you only really crank it up when you're well away from where you live and probably away from town too. When scumbags hear a loud car and see it regularly, then they'll find it and rob it.

Yeah dedicated thieves like Nicholas Cage who want to steal a mk1 golf to order and nothing else can break a steering lock.

Mindless kids who want to hotwire something and drive it into things and smash stuff will just pick the car next to yours which doesn't have a steering lock cos the owner thought they were pointless.

Like a kid knows what a mk 1 golf is anyway? "Erm, I dont fink it's a Corsa innit"

Peter.

Wouldnt normaly suggest it but there are people doing alarms on 0% finance for 6 months, just a thought as it would spread the cost out for you, there are always simple ways of imobolising your car anyway which are free!

dunno where u live peter but here ppl will smash windows if theres a fiva inside the car. im not worried about the car gettin nicked, im worried bout the ice setup and the alloys, its been known that ppl will take cars just for the alloys regardless of the car.
i know bout it, when my seat ibiza was written off and parked outside ppl tried taking what ever they could… even the bloody badges!!!

perhaps a council garage then, they can be rented cheaply, guessing that would meen some work though  :wink:

If cash is tight then I would seriously reconsider putting in the expensive ICE until you can afford the security - even then to be honest an alarm (no matter how good) is only a deterrent, and the fitter is the key. Top alarms fitted by monkeys are a recipe for disaster imho.

Cobra and Clifford are excellent brands, but other budget brands are just as good quality, but with fewer bells and whistles. You won't go far wrong with a decent TOAD or Sigma system if its professionally installed, and it will be a LOT cheaper for the system.

Best advice is stealth, stealth, stealth. If the car looks stock inside then the casual thief may just pass it by. leave a decent looking head unit or massive speaker builts in there in plain view and it will attrect attention…..

If someone knows you have a grands worth of ICE in the car they WILL break in and have it whether the alarm is going off or not.

My advice is maybe downgrade some of the ICE components (or reduce your budget if you haven't bought yet). Spend some of the money saved making sure the ICE is covered on your insurance with a reasonably low excess. That way if some scrote nicks it at least you will only be out of pocket by the excess.

I know its sounds boring maybe paying a bit more for the insurance, but believe me its a lot better than losing the lot and discovering you are not covered!

Don't know if any college's uni's in your area run car resto courses or basic bodywork courses, but these are a great way to work on your car with pro gear for next to nothing. As a full time student you might even be entitled to get on these for free ot next to nothing. You get access to lecturers who are often pros and usually you are encouraged to bring your own project cars in. They have all the pro bodywork equipment including low bake ovens and spray gear, and you will also learn skills that will stand you in good stead if you intend to stick with older more interesting cars.

I have just started an evening welding course at Walthamstow College in their auto repair department and the facilities there are amazing (4 poster ramps, proper spray booth with low bake over and extraction, all manner of airtools). Best of all though is that the guys running the courses often have years of experience in the trade which they are only too happy to pass on!

Not sure what your uni is like on the engineering front, but when I studied engineering many moons ago the uni I was at had a pretty active car club with access to good workshop facilities and tools. Plus there was usually someone around that knew how to do stuff you didn't! That way you could maybe trade some spannering on someone elses car for a bit of welding on yours….. or of course there is the universally accepted currency of beer vouchers  :wink: .

Unless your course is a real work-fest, you should have time at uni (especially) in the first year to get involved in a lot of other stuff too. Just my opinion as an "old git" in his late 30's, but make the best of it - its a great time and you probably have fewer responsibilities than at any other time in life (although no cash of course).

Its amazing how a lack of funds can stimulate your creative side - think laterally and be prepared to barter / put in the work yourself to get what you want!

I can vouch for sigma alarms, had one in my old gti and even 6 years on it was still doing what it should, something that others i have come accross havent!, they are pretty sensitive, left the sunroof open one day and a small leaf dropped in and set it off  8O

sell the gear mate!
no point worrying everytime u park ur car when u go out incase some chav tries to nick it!
all u need is a stealth shelf and replacement front speakers for a top sound anyway..ok amp would be nice but two of those subs will just drown the sound out and sound like an earthquake on wheels!
spend that extra cash on getting ur panels resprayed!

u can get an ok respray for around 500!
bet ur gear cost double if not more than that…

i know wot i would rather have….alarms mean nothing….take the fuel pump relay out, no thief will know how to start it without that….