Mk1 Golf Gti 83 Restoration Update 2/2/2012

More progress:-

The chassis leg was rotten through so had to remove it prior to fitting a complete wheel tub on Thursday

Great Work mate.

Hopefully not too much more welding todo now

i think what you are doing is good work i no how hard it can be ive bean there to

some real nice reapirs an welding goin on there. really neat. what was the fit like on the chissis legs? were they from bbt? ive got to do mine in the next.
wer u not scared of the car twisting too much being on the spit with no chassis legs or tub in? i left mine on axle standes for doin them repairs to stop it twisting or sagging in the middle. maby i worry too much haha

Thanks for all the comments.

Re the chassis leg, yes its from bbt.The fit isn't too bad considering its a pattern part. Will need some careful adjustment to get the plug weld sections flat against the floor.

Re the twisting chassis I took lots of measurements so have reference points to ensure it aligns. When i removed the tub nothing moved so I m happy the chassis is rigid.

Managed to get some more done on Thursday, sadly didn't manage to get the tub in but got it test fitted and its not too bad at all.

Had to do some small patch panels to repair the section the tub will plug weld too.

wow that is some undertaking of resto work there.

Update time. Cleaned up the area I'm going to weld the tub to, also filled some holes in the wheel tub I don't need.

Test mounted the tub and the fit isn't too bad at all, requires a bit of manipulation. Going to weld it in Thursday when I make sure it's lined up perfectly.

Nice work so far Rich. The tub is the next job I've got to look at, it's sat waiting to go in, will be interested to see how easy it is (or hard!) to finally get fitted. Certainly wish I had space for a spit for my shell!

Nice job on plugging up the holes, I'm not been near my MK1 for a long time, I'm trying to remember, do you have to cut a new hole for where the fuel pipes come through in to the arch area or is the original rectangular hole not part of the arch tub and below it? (Hope that makes sense!!)

Cheers
Andy

Hairyarse said

Nice work so far Rich. The tub is the next job I've got to look at, it's sat waiting to go in, will be interested to see how easy it is (or hard!) to finally get fitted. Certainly wish I had space for a spit for my shell!

Nice job on plugging up the holes, I'm not been near my MK1 for a long time, I'm trying to remember, do you have to cut a new hole for where the fuel pipes come through in to the arch area or is the original rectangular hole not part of the arch tub and below it? (Hope that makes sense!!)

Cheers
Andy

Cheers Andy,

My wife keeps on telling me I bought a double garage with a house  

Certainly makes it easier on the spit and I need the storage space for all the panels I'm acquiring and tools  

Your right, the hole near the axle is an oval shape but the pattern panel had a circlular hole. The hole didn't even line up so thought I would patch it and cut a new hole when I knew the panel was aligned properly.

Absolutely bloody unbeleivable 8O  8O  8O


Amazing, amazing work! 8)  Its inspirational the way you are restoring this mk1 back to an entirely standard state. My mk1 wasn't even as rusty as yours, but I still got scared when I found rust and rather than repairing the rusty areas I cut the whole floor and inner arches out of it to build it back up with a tubular frame You make this restoration stuff look easy! 8)

Managed to get the tub securely welded in with help from dad today. Haven't finished all the welding but enough to make it uber rigid.

Dad played a blinder applying force to the inside of the tub whilst I was welding in the car with my head in the spare wheel well  

Nice job Rich, did it need much adjustment to fit properly?

Will it be easy to cut the hole for the fuel pipes do you think?

Cheers
Andy

Hairyarse said

Nice job Rich, did it need much adjustment to fit properly?

Will it be easy to cut the hole for the fuel pipes do you think?

Cheers
Andy

The tub didn't require much alignment once it was in, but getting it in was fiddley. I took various measurements using a laser distance measure to ensure the geometry hasn't been effected.

You really need two people to do it as the curvature of the pattern tub doesn't meet the floor perfectly. If you look at the before picture there is a 10mm gap. You need someone else to apply pressure on one side so you can get a flush plug weld and work your way along as you won't be able to get any clamps on there. Well with a chassis leg still there you will  

Re the fuel pipe hole i will drill a hole and jigsaw the shape out, then seam weld the section. It was too fiddley to do before because of the panel alignment.

Cheers Rich. I had noticed the gap in the pics before. I'll employ the help of my son, he's 110kg's so should be able to put enough force on it!!

Hi,

looks like some great work you've done, would love to have a rotisserie jig. I'm going to be taking out the arch tub aswell, have you got any tips for taking it out?

Andy

What happened with this? Did it get finished?
  Me and a mate are just about to tackle the axle mount repair. The klokkerhiem panels are a poor fit and noticed you used BBT panels, never heard of them so will have to look into them. I was looking at your axle mount repair which looks spot on but i cant seem to see and spot welds attaching the replacement panel to the U channel which carries the axle mounting bolts? They're the reason why we are having such difficulty getting the panel to fit when we tried first time round but they are critical to getting strength back into the axle mount as I'm sure your aware.

Hi Dan,

BBT are big boys toys who are now vw heritage. They were klokkerhiem panels ultimately.

A lot of work was involved in fitting them as the fit was terrible.

Poor UMO went to dub heaven. I bought my current car shortly afterwards.

You're right, we attached the panel and then realised the mistake. We were going to drill holes in between the axle bolts and plug weld.

I think mine were so far gone the original spot welds were gone lol

Please give me a shout if you need anymore info

Cheers

Rich

Ps. I wish I never got rid of this but parts of the gti live on in my current car and I have everything from her in storage lol

 

daniboy123 said

What happened with this? Did it get finished?
  Me and a mate are just about to tackle the axle mount repair. The klokkerhiem panels are a poor fit and noticed you used BBT panels, never heard of them so will have to look into them. I was looking at your axle mount repair which looks spot on but i cant seem to see and spot welds attaching the replacement panel to the U channel which carries the axle mounting bolts? They're the reason why we are having such difficulty getting the panel to fit when we tried first time round but they are critical to getting strength back into the axle mount as I'm sure your aware.

Hi rich the same thing happened to myself many years ago with a sliver campaign I found just round the corner from me for £300. It ended up in the hands of my uncle who unfortunately is an alcoholic but a very good mechanic and welder when sober.  The work he carried out whilst probably suffering from the effects of a severe hangover led to the end of that car as it all needed redoing and I wasn't able to at that point. Sad but these things happen.
  That panel is a nightmare no doubt about it. Mark at classic vw mentioned he did know of an alternative supplier whom he hadn't used for a long time and was going to email them for me to see if they still manufacture it, my thinking being it couldn't be any worse than the klockenheim panel surely? He also told me he had sold loads of those klock panels but i pointed out that many cpuld quite possibly have been fitted by professionals.
  I've seen quite a few people attempt it on here though and there is no reason why it should stop our progress but it does take a lot of work like you say. The next panel we get will be number 3! 3rd time lucky hopefully . Not sure if we will gamble on trying another manufacturer shoukd one be available as if it was any better I'd imagine people would have cottened onto it by now.
 Do you have a link to your current work? Cheers mate.