MK1 1.8 20VT Restoration and Conversion

Hello new member to here

Brief history on the project, had a few old vws in my drive and one day a neighbour approached me saying would you be interested in an old vw. Thought about it but didn?t want to loose my drivespace to another project so quickly then he approached me again about a week later saying he want to get rid of it now he would take crate of beer for it. He had no idea what the car was so one night went round to find a golf thought no this cant be the right house went down the road and it was immediately Wow it?s a  MK1 GTI my travel was worth it. So knocked on the door he showed me around asked what my plans would be if I took it I said in the state its in I would restore it so he said you can have it in that case I am just looking for a good home. It had sat on his drive for 5 years and was not in the best state one night went round took out the plugs cleaned them turned it over a fair few times by hand put on a new battery cranked it over and it started just like that. Then jacked it up unseized the brakes and organised a tow back to mine.

Then I began and decided on the 1.8T conversion here she is

The roof was in a very poor state so i started with that sanded it back to metal and zinc primer coat then normal primer.

excuse my helper in the pictures

theres alot of rust that needs working on with the car heres some pictures of the main areas

mostly wings

got to work on the front end yesteday found a fair bit of rust but i will keep on going, heres the pics



















too dark so started again in the morning with a bit of sanding down

my polo struggled to go with this in the back lowered 80mm alot of scrubbing on the way home.

looking good mate, keep goin  

One to keep an eye on  :wink: Interesting build

Cheers …………..

Good work, Is that a GT??

Looks like you got plenty of work to be getting on with!

Cheers boys yer thats my GT was my last project engine rebuild cam and all that. i will keep you all updated but weather is so poor its hard to get what i want done  

This may well seem random, are you the person where your college gave you 1k to do stuff to that GT engine?

doesnt seem random at all as that was me, well done for remembering. yer this is my new project now, once you start you cant stop wasnt long ago i finished my GT may be 2 months.

Will be getting the engine out this week end hopefully and ordering the 1.8t conversion engine mount soon so hopefully have that in once the mount comes

where did you get the european coveresion? I have been looking for one but I cannot find it. Please help

skoot said

 european coveresion?

What's one of them?

paul_c said

skoot said

 european coveresion?

What's one of them?

I seen that he changed his bumper so he could fit the round headlights. I live in new yrk, when the rabbits came out over here in America the headlights in the car were square not round. I have tried to order the round grill and head lights but I have had no success. I need the euro front bumpers and fenders. I cannot seem to get my hands on them though. Maybe I amk not looking in the right place thgough. pics below of my headlights  to shoiw you what I mean……

skoot said

paul_c said

skoot said

 european coveresion?

What's one of them?

I seen that he changed his bumper so he could fit the round headlights. I live in new yrk, when the rabbits came out over here in America the headlights in the car were square not round. I have tried to order the round grill and head lights but I have had no success. I need the euro front bumpers and fenders. I cannot seem to get my hands on them though. Maybe I amk not looking in the right place thgough. pics below of my headlights  to shoiw you what I mean……

That explains it then. I don't think he's done a 'conversion' of any kind (to the front panel/bumpers) because all UK cars (this is a UK website, most of the posters on here are from UK) came like this as standard.

I can understand your troubles obtaining the equivalent parts in the USA though - you'd need the bumper(s), front panel metalwork, and the grille and lamps, at the very least, I believe. Probably need to do similar to the rear end too. I can't help with US supply of parts, except probably best to avoid retro rabbit……LOL

paul_c said

skoot said

paul_c said

skoot said

 european coveresion?

What's one of them?

I seen that he changed his bumper so he could fit the round headlights. I live in new yrk, when the rabbits came out over here in America the headlights in the car were square not round. I have tried to order the round grill and head lights but I have had no success. I need the euro front bumpers and fenders. I cannot seem to get my hands on them though. Maybe I amk not looking in the right place thgough. pics below of my headlights  to shoiw you what I mean……

That explains it then. I don't think he's done a 'conversion' of any kind (to the front panel/bumpers) because all UK cars (this is a UK website, most of the posters on here are from UK) came like this as standard.

I can understand your troubles obtaining the equivalent parts in the USA though - you'd need the bumper(s), front panel metalwork, and the grille and lamps, at the very least, I believe. Probably need to do similar to the rear end too. I can't help with US supply of parts, except probably best to avoid retro rabbit……LOL

YES, You are 100% right. There was no conversion. I dont know why I thought there was. I know, You dont have to sday it . I am a dumbass. Yeah Fuck the retro rabbit, I think I AM just goin to gho for the stock US Look. Fuck it.Yeah so what if this is a euro forum. Your rabbts are cooler anyway, Im chilin with  you guys.

after a few hours hard work the engine is now out, started degreasing it and it looks fairly good paint wise will need to spray alot of it but i was shocked behind all the wax and oil there was decent paint. next job is the engine bay then, got the engine mounts on the way and have all 3 gearbox mounts all poly bushed ready or the 02A gearbox

YEs i caught the front mount on the front pannel very pissed off will try and knock it out if not a new panel will be needed