"It" 1983 1.3 driver to KR 16v

How you getting on with it bud? been quiet for a while now.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I nearly bought this shell in April this year.  I was looking for a shell and this came up but the only thing that put me of was the fact that the drivers side engine mount was completley missing and it had been sprayed a Vauxhall (?) colour.

Otherwise tidy shell and bargin at what it was going for!

Okay just a bit of a small update:

I needed to swap the steering rack that was on my car as it didn't have the bracket for the gear linkage. Below is an image of the two of them side by side. The one covered in primer is the one i need and the other one is now junk.




I was going to swap the rod ends, tie rods and boots from the old rack to the new rack but ran into a few problems:

Firstly the n/s boot was split:


And I could not get the o/s joint out of the hub. It just wouldn't budge!! The other side took me about 5 minutes!!

So it ended up like this still on the hub:


I''ve ordered some poly rack bushes from venommotorsport.com and also some track rod ends and new boots from GSF. Not too badly priced. So as soon as they arrive I can put the new rack together.

I was gonna get the rack sandblasted and then I'll prime it and hammerite it. Any precautions I should take with the sandblasting? Or should I just sand it myself and stop being so lazy?

So the bay now looks like this:


There seems to be a little play in the UJ at the rack. Is this normal?
If not then where can i get a new one?


I'm gonna be swapping the hubs for 100mm cabby versions. so I took the old ones off and measured across to see what diameter they were and it's only 80mm?!?! Weird or not?


Thats pretty much it for now.

Also on with refurbing the gear linkage whilst it is off the car and I'm gonna get shut off the chrome wishbones if any one wants them make me an offer!!

Outer CV Joints on certain models are 81mm across the mounting face. Not sure what the '100mm' CV joints measure across the face, unsure whether they are 100mm as per the inner joints.

I'll take the small block steering rack casing off your hands, got a brand new big block rack and don't need the brackets - don't want to savage it with a grinder so would prefer to refurb a small block casing with all the new parts.

And we have movement!! Nice one buddy, good to see your on your way. See that little ride out has rekindled the fire.
Gimme a shout if you need a hand bud, Looking forward to this evolving now.

mk1 john - cheers for the info. would you need the rack posting? I will strip it down later on tonight then. I'll let you know when it's ready

cubed - yep actually done something to it!!! Although I've sort of taken a few steps back! DESPERATELY need my new hubs and shafts. I'm still going down the 100mm route but people keep asking RIDICULOUS money for them!!!!!!!!! Piss take. Anyway, yeah that drive has completely got my mind going now!!

tiny little addition tonight. Cleaned and primered my tie rods ready for a bit of paint.

I took apart the bonnet catch. Took ages, it was so rusted up!!

So here are the bits:



Gonna clean them up and then have a go at gold/chrome plating   !!

Also started to have a look at the wiring - gonna leave that for later me thinks!






More updates soon

I've been putting my rack back together tonight and setting things as per the haynes manual.

The picture below shows the locknut in the correct position i.e. 69mm from a measuring point on the rack.



To me this doesn't look like there isn't enough thread and I feel I should wind it on more?
What do ya reckon?

This is the manual pic below.






any thoughts guys?

Cant put the rack on yet as I haven't recieved my poly bushes. Apparently the powerflex factory burnt down over christmas!

There's plenty of thread on there buddy. should be fine  

glad to see yr still hard at it . got ya inspiration back  8)

caddyrage: cheers for the reassurance. IS there anything else I should of done apart from regreasing the rack, I put loads of grease in there!!

bigdub: yep got it back -finally!!

Can anyone tell me if the ends of the MK1 golf handbrake cables look like this?
These are from a MK3

ta

Well I've been away a while but the project has now got going again!

It's gonna get built in two stages now. First stage is called get the fucker built!! It is gonna have a respray as I'm having a new roof fitted so I'm gonna take the opportunity to spray a proper VW colour, hopefully old skool miami blue.

Second stage is called refine and make it look nice!



Got a few bits off a friend of mine today:

KR Block:




Needs degreasing ready for paint , new sump, new oil pump, new water pump, new temp and pressure sensors and the bores just need re-honing.
Not gonna bother doing any upgrades at this stage.

Conversion manifold:



I think it is an old ashley system. This will be sandblasted and then sprayed in a high temp paint and heat wrapped. Not sure what paint yet so gonna have to do some research. I was hoping to get it powder coated but not too sure how that would react to the severe heat?


KR head:


this will just be degreased, cleaned up, skimmed and then rebuilt. Needs a new chain aswell. Gonna have the rocker cover polished too.

2y Box:


Apparently this is spot on so wont be rebuilt. Just gonna spray it and chrome a few bits and bobs oh and whack a new clutch on. Gonna have a go at lightning and balancing the flywheel "man in a shed" stylee!

Also I have finished my steering rack and caliper carriers, i used Bigg Redd for the replacment parts. I would highly recommend them!:







Well thats it for now, i will post my updates once I've degreased and painted everything. no doubt there will be many questions being asked on the forum by myself over the next few weeks!!!!

jonwelsh said

 a florida blue mk1 which is like a baby blue

any pics m8?

mine is an unknown blue

This will be a nice car, I know its hard but keep the faith you will get there in the end  :wink:

I'm trying to finish my KR project and it just depresses me that I can't get at it as I would like to, but we'll get there in the end!

Best of luck with it.

cheers Desperado

It is difficult keeping my chin up I must admit. If someone would just give me £3k then all would be fine!!! It literally just needs putting back together!

Was speaking to the previous owner of this car a bit since (the one who had it painted). He's glad to hear it's finally getting finished off.

I have a full set of 3dr glass in Halifax that you're welcome to have for nowt. Not sure about etchings etc, but it's a start i suppose.

Also got dash under trays and loads of other trim I won't need, also yours if you need it.

Cheers

that would be great!! Has he got to the bottom of who stole the rear shocks yet?!

when could i get the glass from you and where from?

cheers

I think we both know who had the shocks, the same people that had my full set of shocks from in my unit as well as my wheels and all my tools!

Moved on since then though and have a different unit and replaced everything with better stuff!

Feel free to come over of an evening or on a weekend, I've a load of mk1 parts I won't need, including various trims etc., so you're welcome to grab what you want.

I'm in the Halifax area.

thats awesome mate. prob one night this week then? do ya want to pm your mobile number? cheers