My Formel E Project..A45 MKJ

On top of the daily hacks going pete tong, the old Mk1 decided it wanted to start filling itself with water.. great!
So with a dry day for a change, a trip to B&Q for some polythene and double-sided tape, i got busy making some new membranes. You could see on the bottom of the old ones where the seal had been breached and the water had snuck through.



I havent tested it yet.. but think it's going to be ok- added extra on the inside to make a run off to the bottom of the door.

Spent an hour indoors this afternoon with my new craft knife (you can only buy pink ones FFS!!! ) and some gasket material i picked up on Ebay making a new gasket to go beneath the heatsheild and onto the inlet manifold.

I managed to get the old one off in one bit, so armed with a marker pen, i drew round it and got to work with my camp cutter.

Et voila.. looks pretty good, cut the centre hole with the knife and used a drill on the 4 outer holes.
Will try and get it fitted up tomorrow.

nice to see another 1.1 still around, loads people seem to be going bigger.

at first i thought it was mine, same colour, 5 door, although your bay looks much fuller than mine

your daily runner, or you have another more modern car for that?

I have a 6n 1 litre Polo as my daily.. and my girlfriend has a 1.4 6n - both completely stock, so i normally use one of those. My commute to work is a 50 mile round trip, so might use the Golf more in the summer.. but its nice to have a bit of comfort while the weather is horrid!!
I'm quite a fan of small engine cars.. although with a recent itch to go track daying i think i could succumbe to a Mk1/Mk2 Gti quite easily if it wasn't for the rape they call Tax, and petrol costs!

So after treating myself to some westfalia plaid at the end of last year, before the VAT went up..its been sat in the spare room awaiting commision.

Yesterday saw the first steps in getting the seats recovered.
Having got the seats out the car, and turned my dining room table into a workbench, i started stripping the seats down to get the old covers off them.

Withe the seats apart, you can the get to the bits holding the covers on a lot easier - sorry, i do this on auto pilot now, so havent taken snaps.
This leave you with 2 rather worn seat covers, and our first continuity error! lol!

With both covers off i needed to start "check marking" so when i take the covers apart and copy the pattern onto the plaid material, i can then put them all back together in the right place!


Because i'm only going to change the patterned material over and keep the vinyl - mainly as the door cards are in good nick, and they match the vinyl - also, it will save me a few quid which is good!
Rolling the new material out on the "bench" i lay both the patterns for the bases out - fortunatley being able to see the pattern through the backing, so i could get them lined up - fingers crossed both seats will look the same, with the chequers in the same place, and the pattern following up the back rest.

You need something heavy to hold the pattern in place, to keep it flat, enter some cans out the cupboard!
With the pattern drawn, i got this..note the check marks which have been transfered to the new material. This material will be foam backed before it is sewn into the seat cover, and as the pattern is the continueous across the cover i didnt need to make seperate panels which has made it a tad easier.


Just the back rests and the back seat to do now!! Then will take them up to see my dad at the end of the month for a whiz on his sewing machine, and hey presto!

Thanks for reading.
Andy

Cant wait to see them seats done its definately gonna stand out a mile 8O but in a good way!!

Did you say your keeping the headrests off?  I always think it looks better with out.

I'm going to keep the holders for them, but cut the tops off them, so the headrests could be re-fitted in the future (just not locked in at different heights, as the split pin clips won't be there) either by me, or a future owner - but will cover the holes right over, so they will at least start out as low backs, for that retro feel.
Looking forward to it.. should look pretty cool, and be different for sure!

Finished making the patterns for the rear seat this evening, ready to take to be sewn up at the weekend. Really excited, can't wait to see them as proper covers and on the seats.


I raided the cupboards for weights again - and some old sauce jars filled with water.
I knew i had just enough material..just!

Managed to roll it all out, its 3 yards long.. heres what i have! (this is only the faces of the seats, so you would need more for a complete retrim)



Will get pictures up of the finished seats as soon as possible!

Thanks for reading. Andy

I went up to my dads on saturday, and took all the stuff with me.. we only had time to make the front covers up but i was happy with that. He'll work on the rear for me and i'll pick it up when he's done.. he's good like that!
So this is how it looks - the cover still needs taking back off for the foam to be padded out slightly, but i'm pretty chuffed with it, and think it'll look even better in the car. Let me know your thoughts!

Andy

Love it mate. It looks so sick.

So here is some more info on the the seats..

These had to be trimmed down - they do unclip, but i wanted the option to reused head rests in the future, although they wont secure with the spring clip anymore.

The hair on the seats were a bit worn and not as supportive as once could of been.. some foam soon sorted that though.

The bolster on this one was alright, so just a bit of wadding to pack out the new covers.

The top got an extra skim of foam to smooth it out.


And you've seen the seat with a cover on - although both fronts are now done and in the car, i'll hold these pics back till the rear is done too.. needless to say i'm pretty pleased with how it looks!

Love this thread about the seats, it is a task of mine in the near future:

Fortunately my seat material is pretty good, however I have lost the backing foam / scrim. Which I intend to replace.

It had deteriorated and disappeared completely when putting them in the washing machine, very clean though and almost mint!

I have already aquired new front seat bases and backs from Germany some time ago. I also have a second set of seats with the same material for spares.

I will unpick, replace the foam and re-stitch, unless you can suggest a better method.

A few questions, what sort of sewing machine is required for this work. i.e. domestic or heavy duty?

What sort of thread is used for stitching.

Thanks in advance.

Malcolm, thanks for your interest in what i've been doing.. i wouldnt worry about unpicking the seat covers - i think you'll lose their shape in doing that - some thin 1/4" foam and spray adhesive might be a better alternative - and foam back as much as you can. Or if you are lucky enough to not have the woven type seat covers you might get away with just foam covering on the seat paddings - like ive done then you will keep the flexability of the covers for refitting.
Sewing machines - well the ideal is a "walking foot" industrial machine- i'm lucky as my dad as a few for work, so just get him to do it. You could potentially do it with a home machine, but its probably a bit trickier. Thread - pass, not sure to be honest, sorry!

DuncsMk1 - thanks for the kind words!

Andy

Nice to see others having a go at this too. You are lucky with your Dad being in the business!

Malcom - Have you seen my build thread? I did my covers myself, all with a regular sewing machine, pinched off my Mam!
Link in my Signature…

So theres been a bit of time passed - and the leak into the footwell was still present, after a spot of internet research and common sense, fingers were firmly pointing at the window frame being home to some rusty holes. So with window rubber and new glass from work, the Easter weekend saw me get to work.


The screen came out nice and easy, prizing the rubber up with a taped up screwdriver and poking some loose change under the rubber, 50 p later and it pushes out..bingo!

The frame was great, no rust holes in sight, and only a couple of small scabs.. phew!



After polishing the windsreen frame up, and feeling all "autoglass" i set to work fitting the new one.
Apart from the rubber looking a bit different, i thought it would go smoothly. Turns out you cant fit a new screen on your own. So i waited till the evening and my good lady helped.. i ended up on the scuttle pushing it-and it was almost in - but not. We called it a night, and it stayed almost in for 2 days, i even drove it locally like it.
Then my mate came and gave me a hand Monday, he's a whizz at stuff like this, and with a dab of waxoil round the aperture we were ready to go!
It was all going so well….



Arse! we got so close, but an over zealous push can only be responsible for this, whether it would of worked with the old rubber i'm unsure - in fact i'll never know! GGGRRRRR!
And with that we slipped the old screen back in like a glove!

The good news, you might be able to spy through the crack, is that my car now sports its full westy style interior..pics will follow!

Thanks for reading.
As for the sucess of fixing the water ingress, never have i found myself wishing for a downpour over a bank holiday weekend before!
Andy

Good work Andy!

The interior looks awesome btw! Shame about the windscreen but good job you work in the right place. Glad to see there is no bad rust on it and hope its solved your problem!!

Can't wait to see this again at the next meet!

Rich

great work, i live near tunbridge wells and remember seeing this car in Langton green a couple of times ages ago when i first got my mk1

Great thread and car, love the seats, pity about the windscreen but these things happen, annoying at the time but it will be forgotten when she's finished the way you want it.

Best of luck with it and keep the updates coming, it motivates us all to get out and do something to ours!

The car is now up for sale!
http://www.vwgolfmk1.o…viewtopic&p=680161#680161
Heres the last of the pictures





Then when this sells i can continue with this little peach.


Thanks for all your kind comments so far.. hopefully i will have another Mk1 soon, got a hankering for a GTi but got a Wedding to pay for

Andy

Car is now sold.. off to a new owner in hampshire, it's his first car. Hopefully he will join up and keep the car in the club.

Till the next time
Andy