Barn find Mk1 1.1 5dr (DR.PEPPER) - Now with MOT!!!!!!

Cant wait to see this finished mate, love the theme...

Day 10; No parts. Grrrrr.

Ignition parts haven't arrived. I'm angry!

Day 11; Rain, rain, rain.

Tried doing more with the wheels but it's been rain rain rain all day. I give up

Day 12; Underbonnet joyousness.

The weather has been sort of kind and I got 4 whole hours of playtime with the car at last.

The service parts have arrived and despite a few trips back and forth for tools and fittings I have been quite busy under the bonnet of the Golf.

Jobs done today:
Timing belt fitted (engine timing done)
Alternator belt fitted (and tensioned)
Ignition leads fitted
Points fitted (and adjusted)
Rotor arm fitted
Vacuum pipes replaced
Fuel lines replaced and hose clamped
Fuel filter fitted
Choke adjusted
Air filter fitted
Cables rerouted
Water drained
Starter motor bolts and cables removed (needs tapping out now)

Hoping to receive the starter and downpipe Monday/Tuesday and fit them, a charged battery and replenish the water/change the oil so the car is fully serviced under the bonnet at that stage.

Day 13; Parts hunting (again)

I have some under dash trim coming and I have ordered some clear indicators.

Might have some lowering shocks/springs sorted to collect on Tuesday/delivered Wednesday. -40mm only but its a drop nonetheless.

Tomorrow I am off to find a windscreen and some more retro goodies at a Mk1 specialist in Bolsover. Pray for retro wonderfullness!

Day 14; Parts (again)

On my trip to Bolsover I picked up a front bumper in better nick than  mine (no scuffs) and a grille trim that has a small crack on it.

Got a door handle chrome (its that word Olstar- calm down!) insert locally too.

Still waiting on the starter, exhaust and indicators….yawn!

Day 17; Start, start you barsteward!

Took me 3 hours to get the old starter off. its got more brackets on it than an Ikea wall. New one fitted, battery fitted and some fresh fuel and the car starts ok, if a bit lumpy.

Day 18; Ticking over nicely

Yesterday was spent fitting the exhaust manifold and getting the car to run properly. Some stiff linkages and mixed up vacuum pipes were hampering the tickover and the manifold had a 50p sized hole where the heat collector met it.

Some swearing and a hammer sorted that out.

Day 19; I can see clearly now.

Screen out, screen in. Got a screen supplied thx to a very helpful Maxxd member and I fitted it, with help from the missus in less than 45 minutes. Just need to refit the chrome trim to complete the car for the MOT now.

Day 21; It shines again.

Well 20 days have come and gone, but to be honest - I haven't actually had 20 full days at the car. I spent day 20 doing household related crap like DIY and cleaning to keep Kate sweet. She loves the car but other things have to be done too.

It took a week to actually get it home so I am going to take liberties and 'adjust' my deadline for the weekend - which is when I wanted it done by anyway.

I've sprayed up a better front bumper as the one on it was badly scuffed. Also received a new column trim and underdash pocket (missing) from Crazy Quiffs Mk1 shop.

The only other buys today were lots of tins of satin black, Gambia Red (off the shelf too), bumper paint and furry dice from Hell-frauds and a proper 80's retro fade sunstrip from a shop in Kirkby.

Today I drove it - yes, its a nice feeling - round to the front of the house and began to polish it. My buffer has died so I hooked a car battery charger up to one of those cheap hand polishers and gave it a go. Despite the shite nature of the polisher it was actually working with some G6 and water enough to convince me there was hope for the body on the Golf anyway.

I borrowed a mates buffer and bloody hell - the shine has come back. I have done 2/3rds of the car already and I am pretty happy. 19 years in storage had faded the sides pretty badly but it's coming up a treat.

Roof and sides to sill level have been done with the tailgate part completed. Tomorrow I will remove the bumpers and do the front and rear and the sills.

Hoping Aidan (can you hear me Aidan?) will have his BBS wheels off for me soon as I am hating the steelies now.

P.S. - No pics as my phone has died yet again (crap Sony touchscreen) but I will borrow one tomorrow and post up pics of the shinyness.

another weeks passed, hows she doing????

Bumpers and lights /grille etc have been removed and both ends polished up/touched up. Bumpers have been refitted and look massively improved.

Spent a day solving an overheating problem which turned out to be the thermostat as expected. Its a common failure on all older VW/Audi/Porsche waterccoled cars and was straightforward to fix.

Had a a crap few days as some tossers decided to try and steal my truck ('85 Transporter Syncro Crewcab) so a lot of time has been wasted without transport and chasing the insurers. Still managed to borrow a car and went to the Summerfest event at the wekeknd which chilled me out a bit.

Thankfully thats all sorted now and I will get it back soon.

In the meantime the Golf has had the bonnet flatted back and its first coat of satin black applied. The front spoiler has been fitted along with german style plates in plate frames.

I've added some retro inspired stickers in the windows and thanks to Offscreen the custom Dr.Pepper graphics have been cut. There is just a little more polishing to do before I attempt to fit them.

Hoping to take the car for a pre-MOT in the next few days. Just a couple of hoseclips to replace before its fit to go.

Been let down on the BBS rims so the Gti steels might have to go on but nevertheless the suspension springs need fitting soon!

hi can I advertise my rear lights again or do you want them?

Sorry Dom. All my funds are tied up with Paypal at the moment so you had better readvertise them.

 :?

Took it for an MOT today not expecting great news.

Luckily the guy who tested it is always thorough and lets me know whats wrong and lets me have a good look underneath when its on the ramps.

As expected it failed - but not on anything drastic:
Front brakes - sticking on (due to 19 years in storage)
Rear brakes - doing nothing (due to 19 years in storage)
Indicators - inoperable (think there is a problem with the indicator switch sticking the relay on)
Fog light - inoperable on one side (we think it only has one as it was made before April '81, but the regs require it to have 2 as it was sold post that date. Easy fix, one wire from side to side )
Horn - think the horn ring needs cleaning

Thats all! The brakes were expected and the indicators have been an intermittent fault so I knew about them anyway.

On inspecting under the car it was declared a minter with no chassis rust at all. Just minor cosmetic panel rust to attend to. Happy Days. Icon_biggrin

It's in for the brakes to be freed off on Monday and the other minor issues sorted before I take it for the retest.

Had a couple of days addressing the MOT requirements.

Monday was spent on the brakes and scratching my head over the electrics issues. The front brakes needed nothing more than free-ing off and re-greasing. The rears needed new cylinders and the handbrake adjusting. While it was on the ramp we fitted some -40 springs and replaced the rear shocks (had to cut them off to swap the rear springs!). The car now goes faster and doesn't get so hot (well with the brakes stuck on it was going to wasn't it!)

The indicator/hazard fault was down to a duff switch and the foglight/horn issues were finally tracked down to a blown fuse which doesn't show in the Haynes manual and is hidden out of sight on top of the fusebox.

Ditched the golf ball gear knob because like a lot of aftermarket kit, it just keeps coming off. Fitted a new aerial and removed the stereo so I can redo the wiring and get some proper tuneage installed

And despite the new springs (nice) its not low enough so its going to have to be 'adjusted'.  

NOt to bad a fail list then…


Pictures, we need pictures…….  :mrgreen:

As you wish:

Fitted the steelies and it looks like I can handle another 1.5-2" drop. Going to spray the centres black after all as the wheels distract your eyes.

The other major progress is the pain in the arse job of fitting the Dr.Pepper stickers. 4.5hrs and lots of cursing/sweating (it was damn hot today) and they are on - and looking pretty cool if I say so myself.

Did the classic insulating tape on the headlights for some retro style racecar action.



Decided I want a woodrim steering wheel, chrome door furniture from a Beetle and a nodding dog.

The roof won't polish properly so I am toying with chequers (white/black or red/black), satin black like the bonnet, white/satin black race stripes or wait for it………a vinyl roof.:cheesygrin:

Whitewalls might make a showing yet too.

Looking good mate, i like it, agree the wheels need toning down a little tho

I ordered a vinyl chequred roof kit for my project RAT the HOF from ebay, paid for it weeeks ago and still not arrived.. But now i got a cool roof rack i might not chequer it

You running coilies then, if so, it'd look cool with it lower

if you want to get urself a nice shine, i'd recommend getting it detailed, but if your doing it yourself, i would invest in some decent cleaning equipment, for starters a decent washmitt- not a sponge- preferably lambswool as its the softest, a good car shampoo and 2 buckets. next i would think it being 25years old it would have lots of contaminients in the paint so a good clay from whichever company you choose, followed by a damn good polish, best results will be achieved with a mop, but if your doing it by hand it mite take a few attempts, then finally a good wax on top should seal it all up nicely. my top tip for the bumpers is to go over them with a heat gun first as it brings the pigment back out, but dont get to close else it'll melt, lol.

hth, keep us updated :y:

EDIT: should of read the rest of the thread really now as i see its all nice and clean, oh well

LOL….I used a mop, Farecla G6 and lots of water. It's still not great above the  waistline and the roof isn't good so its getting blown over on the sides and as stated above - some form of roof treatment.

Coilovers? I wish!!!!

It's got -40mm springs and new shocks at the moment but I am going to have to get my hands on some -80's or something as it's way to damn high  

really like the theme.

wood rim wolfsburg wheel for you:


http://www.vwgolfmk1.o…ms&file=viewtopic&t=45662