X's Restoration: Update 16th July!

Thanks Dad  :mrgreen: didn't think of posting that kind of stuff up, and thanks for clarifying that i cant be arsed to buy my own bits

  you nearly ruined the illusion of my surprise, now loads of people will have guessed my name  (no its not Martha or Margeret before anyone says :wink
Another piece of advise needed, is there a really simple way to tidy up the mass of cable mess that ive got? (better than cable ties) cos i want to get the engine bay as clean as possible

X said

 now loads of people will have guessed my name  (no its not Martha or Margeret)

just at weekends!  :wink:

Thanks Dad

that's alright, son :roll:

There, Ive confirmed to the masses that you're not:-

Martha
Margaret
Margo (although you've no idea how close this is to the truth)
Marie
Maria
Mari
Marissa

Mind you - what you get up to in your own time is a mystery to me

So, we're down to:

Mark
Marc
Marcus
Marco
Matthew
Matt
or for those conceived during Tom Cruise's finest hour, Maveric.

Seeing as I'm a mod on another car forum, I seem to have committed the cardinal sin and taken this thread waaaaaay off topic, so I'll get it back

Can the fronts of the rear arches be repaired easily, or is it best to replace the whole arch. The end of the sill has gone, along with a few inches of the arch. I guess if we take the plastic arch cover off, it won't be pretty, but we've yet to try

bound to be tin worm central under the plastic arches! ive never done any cutting or welding but from what i can work out if youre going to do a bit of the arch you may as well do the whole thing. if for no other reason than peace of mind.

well, i dont really want to pull the plastic arches off, cos i know for a fact that if i do, then the metal bit will come off aswell

but yeah i m definitely planning on having it done, cos my dear father is using it through the lovely british weather its gonna eat the arches up 8O

X

I'm 16 too and i'm working on a 1.6l Mars Red too!

I'll hopefully see you around

that's good, its hard being so young :cry: lol i feel your pain

For everyone else watching this thread, ill get some pics of the car and the rust on it by tonight or tomorrow, so you can see what im working with

X

Good work there X, I purchased my first car at 16, best thing
I ever did, 34 now 8O , but still remember it fondly, sadly not
a MK1, too new then!

As for the name,? dont think you are a Marc (I am) you are
too young!………, unless your old mans a Bolan fan…..?.
as mine was………..

Get some pics up…..

Cheers :wink:

Dibbler

Havent been able to do any work besides a good polish this week cos my dad's been using it for work but heres some pics to show you what im working with

This is what my car looks like now, shiny and all one colour (for once :roll

however, its not all shinyness (not a word) this is what lurks under the arches:

This rust is under the passenger's front arch, (lovely cheap plastic tyres)

and this rust is on the other side…

luckily, my dad and I are debating whether to shell out for a respray (technically its dad whos paying, but its my car so thats what matters   :mrgreen: )

comments welcome

X

i finally got some time together and attacked a bit more of the bonnet:
 
3 bits down, 1 to go, note the ingenius bonnet prop. its coming up quite easily, but im getting through a few cloths to do it lol (sorry about the blurry pic)

i managed to uncover a load of rust which will eat my bonnet if i dont sort it:[img]https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/uploads/pbextract/760933/DSCF1320.jpg
I don't think its spreading, but ive gotta do something about it, cos its ruining my cleaning

i might try and finish off the bonnet tonight, but my dad's having the car again until about wednesday so i cant do anything with it until then  :x

tell me what you think

X

I was looking at the car after finishing the 3rd section of bonnet, and i was thinking, that for a 24 year old car (8 years older than me 8O) its in damn good shape… i took some pics to prove it lol

this is just a pic that shows off my polishy work (although its been a dust magnet over night  :roll

Then i started to look inside, and i realised that my back seats must have been sat in about a dozen times  8) cos they are absolutely mint

I'm surprised at the condition (my dad's umbrella and steering lock messing up my interior )


I'm, sure ill find something else wrong with the car at some point, but until then, enjoy the pics whilst you can, *prepares to start taking apart the engine to clean* 8O

Comments welcome as usual

X

nice and shiney now mate. Keep up the hard work

Thanks   it is looking pretty nice, nowhere near right though

*HINT* i reckon after a respray it'd look good, what do you reckon Dad? *HINT* 8)

doesn't look like it needs a respray to me really mate! looks spot on apart from the arches

The pics dont show you the actual condition of the paintwork John. The roof has a weird blotchy effect in the paint which wont come out and the top of the driver's door, and the passenger wing are very orange.

Also, My dad and I are convinced that the car has had paint at some point, because when the golf driver badge got nicked after it had paint, there's a red silhouette of the badge with orange around it :roll: (ive… sorry my DAD has just bought a set of driver badges so that sorts that :mrgreen: )


More bad news on the rust department though, i dont know if this is common, but when i yanked off the scuttle seal, half of the panel dropped off… it was rusty as anything, but i got some Kurust on it and the patch of the front of my bonnet to stop that spreading :evil:


[Public thanks to my dad for sorting out the rad flush and oil & filter change   ]

X

Car feels a bit better to drive with new oil and coolant in it - still fluffy when ticking over though

Worst bit is that bloody clutch - the cable is fine, the pedal is fine, it must be the actuator arm bushes or the release bearing - when it gets warm it goes REALLY creaky and jerky when letting the pedal up. Not good when in stop-start traffic. Don't much fancy taking the gearbox off just to lube the arm pivots.

Several people staring this morning - one nice comment from the girl at the petrol station - she asked if it was "my new toy" - seeing as she normally sees me in a fairly decent-looking Fiat Coupe turbo, I took it as a bit of a compliment.

I have to agree with John - it doesn't NEED a respray - it looks very good as it is. The reason for having a full respray is that to fit two arch kits, plus two front wings and spray the lot will cost me about ?300. All the bits fitted AND a full respray will cost about ?500, so its silly not to, especially as it will also sort the niggly little things like stonechips on the bonnet and the hazy effect on the roof.

I know it sounds like a cheap respray - it is cheap, but it is good quality. I've had four cars sprayed or repaired by him - the last one was the removal of about 150 dents in my Coupe after it got caught in a monster hailstorm (hailstones bigger than golf balls  8O  )

While I'm here - a quick poll….

Should the car be

1. left exactly as VW intended it - ie a totally standard resto job, or
2. subtly modded (lowered, Weber'd, alloys [either ATS Cups or GTi 9-spokes] etc etc)

Its a damn good example - very solid, very standard, full history until quite recently, all MOTs, all tax discs, LOADS of supporting documentation.

As a bit of an Old Git, I feel it should be preserved, but I accept that its not me that'll be driving it, so what do you think?

One thing to consider before modding, the cost to insure it for a 17 year old will be ridiculous anyway, adding mods will push it up loads……

Glad you're enjoying driving it, sell the fiat and get one of your own

somehow i dont think thatll be happening any time soon, hes alright trying to destroy my golf by putting it through the rain  8O but thats all to do with the rust so i cant really blame him


But the amount of problems that youve had with the italian 'car' if you want to call it that is all to do with your right foot :mrgreen:

X

But the amount of problems that youve had with the italian 'car' if you want to call it that is all to do with your right foot

Oi - I'm being publicly dissed by my own son on a public forum - cheek of it

problem is - he's right

Still, the Fiat is nine years old, 170,000 miles and doing 35,000 a year. Its been running 400bhp for the last year, 300bhp for the two years prior to that and 250+ for several year before that. Shows how far Fiat have come (actually it was built by Pininfarina, not Fiat - perhaps that's why its still in one piece)

sell the fiat and get one of your own

I love the shape of the Mk1 Golf, but I'd want something truly berserk - it would have to be well over 300bhp AND 4WD - I know its been done using TT bits, but I have the Coupe where I want it now, so I really don't want to be embarking on another mod-fest on another car.

[Going off topic ] You cant call me cheeky, after you and a certain member were discussing what i would be called if i were a woman

Something that got me in the mood to do a bit of work was me seeing a PERFECT mk1 GTi today…

and i mean perfect, it was parked up outside my college, and it was near enough concours condition! I reckon about ?3-5k was put in it, unless it was like that from standard (doubt it :roll

I'll be able to get some work done on it later this week, as i shoud have it back from driving 80 miles a day in the lovely british roads

X