Watson's engine rebuild - small update . . . .

RichardHall said

however, I spy something possibly even nicer in your garage?

mk1 mex??!!

nice!!

Blimey Dave I didn't think it was possible to improve your engine bay, but it's even better now!

I love caramel wafers!!    

The Escort belongs to our Daughter’s partner Steve, and only sharing HGT’s garage temporary.  It was put back on the road last year after a complete nut and bolt restoration with a newly rebuilt and tuned Ford Duratec 2ltr engine, plus many other upgrades and mods.  One amazingly quick car.  I have enjoyed watching this car progress from a bare shell on the roll over jig to completion.
Having this Escort in the garage brings back fond memories of the Daytona Yellow mk1 Escort Sport that I owned back in the 70’s.  The story goes that my Uncle Jim who bought HGT new, liked the Escort’s colour so ordered his new Golf in the nearest yellow.  Wish I’d thought of it at the time and got a photo of the 2 cars together. One sad point is that he had to sell his Standard Flying Nine –DLX 643 which he bought new in 1937 to buy the Golf . I would love to trace this old Standard.  As he planned on keeping the Golf long term, the salesman suggested he had it Zibart rust treated. Looking at the original bill of sale this cost £120 (see below) also £4 for fuel.  This has obviously helped preserve the bodywork – thanks Jim !   Also in the old paperwork, I came across the Grundy bill for the Stainless exhaust which was fitted in ’83. I remember Jim being disappointed that the original exhaust only lasted such a short time.  The Stainless system is still on the car today and well past its 5 year guarantee - something else to thank Jim for. Sadly Jim and my Aunt are no longer with us and never got to see how their Golf looks today.
While looking through HGT’s folder, I came across some photos taken when HGT was featured in an article by Practical Classics magazine in 2010 on cold hatches as opposed to hot hatches.  Putting HGT up against a Renault 5L and Peugeot 205 1.1GL.  Thanks to Neil Campbell, Rory Game and Practical Classics for permission to post their pcs up on here.









 









 

Cracking pics Dave and love the old paperwork 😍

Gotta love the wee yellow baby, it's as good as new, just shows what a lot of tlc does through the years.

I remember that Practical Classics article, can't believe it was from 5 years ago!

Scarily, my 1st car was a £50 R5, the 1st new car I bought was a burgundy 205 and I had a MK1 Driver as a daily for many years, along with of course the GTI and Cabrio.

Now old enough to be a classics…..

Massbad69 said

Cracking pics Dave and love the old paperwork 😍

Ditto!  

Was well chuffed to win Runner up in Best Engine at the AGM, it came as a surprise.  Congrats to Shughy for his 1^st place with his stunning GTI – well deserved.  This was our 10^th AGM, and as always, was good to chat to friends old and new.  We had a great day covering around 330 miles. The only downside on the day was driving through heavy rain both ways on the M1.
Polished up for the AGM







A few random pics.

Lovely canvas print  my Daughter gave me for Father Day.



Mid 90’s and my son with HGT at the old Wembley Stadium.



Slowest meets fastest forms of transport



Free bag from VW Dealer visit – early 80’s.



Reflection.



Mk1’s at a local meet.




 

Lovely pics Dave and well done on another prize for your wee cracker 👍

hi dave cracking shot and good to see you at another annual show

sorry i didnt have longer to spend with you

Massbad69 said

Lovely pics Dave and well done on another prize for your wee cracker 👍

Ditto!  

It's been a while since the last update.  Over the past few months quite a few jobs on HGT have been ticked off the 'jobs to do' list. One thing leads to another, and as always, you end up doing more than planned. The aim was to get everything done in time for this year's AGM, and was only just finished in time.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day at the AGM, meeting up with old friends and meeting new. I was particularly pleased to meet Golf Cabrio Mike from Austria. It was also good to meet up again with Martijn in his mk1 1.1 and his friends in their mk2, who drove their Golfs all the way to and from Belgium to the AGM. It was a great day, and I was well chuffed that HGT won an award in the top 3 standard class.

Ready for the AGM.



AGM.



Martijn's 1.1 and HGT.



1755 Gary and HGT.





Some of the jobs done prior to the AGM:

First on the list were the steel wheels. I know these won't appeal to a lot of people in the Club - steels with skinny 145's on, but wanted to keep the car original, as it left the factory. I painted the wheels a few years ago, but after seeing 'Gary the Golf' - Malcolm's freshly restored mk1 at a local meet, and seeing just how good his newly refurbed steel wheels looked, decided to get HGT's done too.  So I took them into a local wheel specialist to get them blasted and done properly this time.

Referbed wheels



A couple of years ago at the AGM it was suggested that a repaint of the underside of HGT would be a good idea to improve the car.  So while the wheels were away, and the car up in the air, I repainted the underside.  Not the nicest of jobs, and I chose probably the coldest week in the year, but now so glad that it's done.

Over the years the chrome trims in both bumpers had lost their sparkle and discoloured. At some stage before HGT became mine, the top trim on the nearside front corner had been damaged. Seeing as though good chrome trims are now near impossible to find, and with the AGM coming up, I decided to repair the damaged trim and repaint all four using chrome spray. The masking up took ages compared to the actual spray time but quite pleased with the result.





Next, the headlining.  This had discoloured over the years. Also back in the 90's when HGT was our everyday car, while at Homebase loading some 6 foot corrugated plastic sheeting into the back with my son, the corner of one of the sheets went through the headlining just over the driver's seat. This tear has annoyed me for years. Also, at the rear, the headlining was quite marked where things have been squeezed through the tailgate over the years.  A great Birthday present from our Daughter and Son-in-law was a new headlining from VW Heritage.  The screen had to come out for this and as it's the original screen with the running in instructions sticker still attached I was quite concerned about it breaking while being taken out and refitted. Luckily all went well.



Lastly, it's been around 7 years since the engine rebuild so I decided it was about time for a clean-up of the engine bay with a few bits and pieces repainted and re-plated.





I took HGT to quite a few shows and meets last year. Quite an unusual one was Hagerty's Festival of the unexceptional. A car show and concours just for run-of-the-mill low spec cars from around 1966 to 1989 - cars you'd find in every driveway during this time.

Festival of the Unexceptional.





Lastly, I took HGT back to John Ashley Motors in Teddington where my Uncle ordered and bought the car when new.  The building's the same, just no longer a VW Dealership.







A few random pics.









One from March 2005. HGT at 100,000 miles.

Dave, Cracking photos and great to see you again at Alton.

Great tip with the chrome trim.

Great update Dave, it was nice meeting you again!
Awesome that you finally updated your thread! Cool picture of your golf with the yellow storage boxes

Fab Dave, keep up the good work!

Nice update Dave  

I like the new trophy!  

I just finished reading through your re-build and it is absolutely stunning.  I LOVE the color and that you restored it to stock completely.  

It's the German (read correct) version of my US built Sunbrite yellow four-door.  

Amazing attention to detail.  I wish I had the time.