GTI Project #2

Macca said

Thanks everyone. There are more pics to come, but trying to post them using my phone is a pain. 
Andy I'm away with work tomorrow morning until tuesday night so will get the pics done on Wednesday. 

Thanks for that but I'm in no hurry so whenever is convenient for you, don't break a sweat over it!

Andy
I have to apologise as I still haven't taken the picture of the roof lining that you wanted.  I will get it done for you.

Macca said

Andy
I have to apologise as I still haven't taken the picture of the roof lining that you wanted.  I will get it done for you.

No need to apologise chap, I'm interested to know but it will be a while yet before I need to buy my new one so whenever it suits you

Andy Ive taken the pics of the headling but I haven't saved them on photobucket yet. They will be posted shortly I promise.
Anyway after putting the headlinng and glass in I set about rebuilding this

by fitting new piston rings, bottom end shells and oil pump, to get this




Then my son and I put my trolley jack under the centre of the car, jacked up the front end then wheeled it over the engine and let it down on to it. We then hooked the engine up to my overhead winch and lifted it into position


.

however when I was under the car connecting up the gear linkage I noticed this

So it was back out with the brake pipe and a new bit was formed and fitted.

whilst I was doing all this we had a new arrival to the family



Jeni, my wife couldn't see green cheese. She has always wanted an old beetle and had been looking at old beetle convertibles. However she came round to the mk1 cabby when she realised how many spare parts I had lying around for mk1 golfs. So my time is going to be split between getting both mk1s up to scratch.

I knew I should have checked that post before I submitted it. That brake pipe shouldn't have been there. It should have been this pic

Nice purchase mate. Looks like you're going to be busy with both Mk1's now.

To keep it from getting damaged I thought id loosely fit the front grill.  But before I fitted it I carefully removed the red trim pieces, rubbed them down then gave them a couple of coats of primer. I then decided to give them a couple of coats of mars red however due to the cold temperature in the garage they dried cloudy. So it was a case of leaving the paint and the trim bits lying on a radiator in the house for a few hours.  Then nipping out to the garage, painting them then back into the house and hanging them in the bedroom to dry. Went down well with my wife NOT.
Anyway they turned out just fine

And then fitted to the car

Your Golf is looking great Macca, nice work on the grille trim   I've just refurbished mine too.

Thanks for that mate 
I hope yours turned out well also.

Cheers for the headlining pics Macca, seen those on my thread.

Loving your MK1 - it's going to look amazing when it's finished. I really like the blue block, nice to see something different.

Very tidy looking cabby too - does it need much doing or ready to roll?

Thanks Andy, I hope the headlining pics were of good enough quality for you. I just put the support rods through the channels for them and hung the lining in place. I think I then started to fit it at the windscreen and around the sunroof opening. There was plenty of material but it was a case of measuring and marking twice before cutting.
The engine block is painted chrysler blue. I got the paint from frost.
The cabby had been lying for a while when we bought it. Just mot'd it last week and it has only done 440 miles over the last 4 years. It came with a red roof but it had shrunk a bit and had 1 or 2 splits in it so we managed to buy the cream roof second hand for it. I have also removed the pierburg auto carb and replaced it with a weber twin choke 32/34 dmtl. Its been and had a respray and ive just replaced all the brake fluid and given the brakes the once over. Also just replaced the complete suspension with a cheap set of coilovers.
We took the car out for a drive today but it felt a bit sluggish. I dont know if the ignition is a bit retarded or whether the 1800 carb cabbys are normally like that.

Yeah pics were spot on mate, just wanted to see if the pattern was like OEM or not.

Perhaps the cabby just needs an 'Italian Tune-Up?'

How does that work? 

Hairyarse said

Perhaps the cabby just needs an 'Italian Tune-Up?'

Macca said

How does that work? 

It's a Pizza p**s  

Sorry I couln't resist, I have no clue

It means ragging that ass off it!!  

Basically a good thrashing but from memory the 'formal' way is to drive the car at just under the red line in second gear for about a minute, this gets the engine nice and hot and then allows it to burn off carbon deposits.

Worked well on my sons Corsa when it was running rough.

It's advisable only to do though if you're 100% comfortable that your engine is in fine fettle though!

I might give it a try.

Anyway enough about the cabby back to the real mk1  
once we had finished putting the engine in it was time to concentrate on the interior. So as I only had the black and grey striped gti seats I purchased these






then started to strip down my seats and recover






then once they were done I gave them a vax. leaving me with this


then this

It was then along to the garage for its mot, which it passed with a couple of advisories, (minor things, down to my mechanical skills, which have now been rectified).
Then I was pleasantly surprised when I contacted Lancaster Insurance for a quote. With no no claims to add to the car, due to it being all on my daily driver, and adding a joint evaluation and full recovery it was £147  
So it was time to purchase these

then add tyres and hey presto, after some tinkering with the engine, the car is about totally finished.
so to recap from this


when I bought the car, over 5 years ago, to this






and finally the old engine bay

Chuffed to bits