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Helios GTi Clipper to SUPER SMOOTH Kansas Beige Cali style

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1989 GTi Clipper

Welcome along to my first ever "Dub" progress thread.  This is the first VW I've owned but having come from a 20vT Octavia vRS I don't feel too far freom home!

I've always been into my small french hot hatches and accidentally came across this after a 205 CTi sale fell through, and what a blessing that was!!!

And this is it:








1989 VW Golf 1.8GTi Karmann Clipper

The mods as you can see extend to Borbet As, Coilovers (unsure what yet), full red leather retrim, single headlight conversion, stereo system, Jetex exhaust system

So, what are the plans? Well firstly there is a slight amount of rust on the passenger door that needs sorting, then it's a case of cleaning up the appearance by de-badging the boot, relocating the front number plate to below the bumper and getting it VERY clean!

Ultimately I'll be adding a 1.8 20v turbo lump and aiming at a reliable 200-210 bhp

Feel free to slate/congratulate

Last edit: by Talizman

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Got it home and gave it a really quick clean between showers then as the sun came out I took it for a quick spin with the hood down

It doesn't half get some admiring looks!


Anyway, the car…. few more bits need doing than origionally thought so, plan of action for this week is:


  • Speak to a bodyshop about the rust on the driver's door and sill.
  • Get them to line it up properly as it takes a real slam to shut and it drops slightly
  • Source some new seals for both doors as these are not perfect
  • Source a black carpet and some new black mats to replace the horrible grey ones
  • Replace rear lights with hlaf red, half clear jobbies
  • Replace side repeaters and front indicators with crystal clear jobbies
  • Fit new JVC KDR821BT Headunit and balance the subs/amps in the boot to get the sounds just right!
  • Get dent masters out to sort 3 little dents in the bonnet
  • Source new boot badges and wing Karmann badges as these are slightly faded
    Tighten the seats up as both driver's and passenger's are wobbly!
    Raise rear by about 5mm
    [/list:u]

    The rims will be getting a refurb, possible in high power silver

    And hopefully it'll be in a half decent condition ready for VW Fest next weekend in Leeds :y:

    This is the car looking all sorry for itself as we got home in the rain




    Then after a quick clean:




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Sweet ride! Absolutely love the red leather.

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Very nice! Look forward to seeing what you do.

Mk1 Gti Cabby project on the go! Detailed engine, roof off, leather interior, 16's, painted, now getting put back together!

http://www.vwgolfmk1.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=103263&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc

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i am loving the red leather :O i might go n buy my self some now for my cabby ;)

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Well, returned from my first VW event today at VWFest Leeds and the car seemed to get a reasonable response considering it's a WIP.

Managed to do a few little mods before the show. New lights:

Side Repeaters Before:




After:




Rear lights 50/50:




Finished:




Also a few pics from VWFest this weekend:











I love the fact the camera makes the car look a lot tidier than it is! It's not really that tidy!
Cheers to mark for sorting me out a spot on the stand

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I saw it at leeds and thought it looked pretty sweet mate

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thats a lovely looking cab you have there 8)  8)

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Cheers guys. Got loads more planned for it before next years VW Fest so (funds permitting) should be a minter by then!

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Hi guys, it's been a while since I've updated this, so I'm going to hit you all at once!

Going back to April last year!

Time for a long overdue update!

Not much has happened recently, other than a few issues!

Firstly my original gearbox, which was on just under 170k decided it was time to start slacking, so I decided I'd attempt to fix it myself. What a mistake!!!

The original box diff bearings were totally shot and it was spewing it's oil so rather than pay to repair the diff bearings I bought a "good" 2nd hand box.

fitted and there just wasn't something right… With the clutch in it was fine but as soon as I released the clutch there was a horrible rattling noise. Sooooo….. I replaced the thrust bearing which are renowned for disintegrating.

Took the old one out and it looked alright, so fitted the new one anyway. Still rattling so I took the box back off, dismantled it and found this:



Peeved, to say the least I took my old box and the replacement box to a local gearbox centre to build a good one up out of the 2 and ended up buying a reconditioned 020 box ready for some big powaaaaahhhhhh:



In fitting the new box it became apparent that there was a further problem as I was getting no power to the starter. Turned out to be a bad earth from the gearbox, which was discovered after buying a new starter motor!


So, with the new box fitted, new starter fitted, new earth cables fitted and everything bolted back together it was time to get her MOT'd as the MOT had run out while it was off the road.

PASS with no advisories!!!!! I was chuffed to say the least!

So, to celebrate my newly running smooth as silk gearchanging GTi being back on the road, in true dubstyleeee I treated it to new valve caps:



New stickers:




Painted the dash surround in a GTi styleeeee:





Pinstriped the front grill:



And gave her a little wash and clean:





I also fitted brand new seat rail guides and seat rail covers to stop the seats rattling around. They are really smooth to adjust now!

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And to my most recent update:

The car came off the road just before Xmas for a full on strip down, repaint, rebuild etc and we are now at the stage of deciding on paint.

The plan with the rebuild was to do away with a few minor niggles in the bodywork and clean up the classic lines while keeping it looking reasonably OEM, so the breif given to my bodyshop and work commenced.

The list of alterations goes as follows:

Smoothed rear bumper with tow eye and rear fog removed
Smoothed tailgate with badges and lock shaved
Arches cut back and rolled for extra lows to come
Doors de-mirrored
Side repeaters removed
Remove retractable aerial
Slam panel smoothed
Front bumper smoothed (but keeping indicators)
Full paint inside and out


In addition I have the following that are either sourced and going on, or to be replaced in due course, before the show season starts;

Powder coated inner bumper beams
New clear glass all round to replace green tinted glass
New rubber seals all round
New black carpet, carpeted boot and custom mats
Existing red leather interior tidied up
New ICE
Sound proofed doors and boot
Refurbished Borbet As
New poly bushes all round
New door handles
New side rubbing strips from an early Mk1
New vinyl roof with black roof lining
New fuel cap

And probably a million other things that need/want to be replaced as we go along!

Anyway pics always seem to go down well so here we are:










Will update as we make paint progress…..

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Look forward to seeing how this turns out, reading through what you have planned its gonna be stunning!

Only thing i would consider is maybe a red carpet instead of black ?

Scott

South West Regional Host

Previous;
1991 Clipper, 1978 S1 GLS, 1983 Type25, 1989 Clipper GTI

Current;
Zero, zilch, nought, zero, nothing….

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Looks great, loving the plans :)

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arf333 said

Look forward to seeing how this turns out, reading through what you have planned its gonna be stunning!

Only thing i would consider is maybe a red carpet instead of black ?

Scott

I had considered a red carpet, but the problem is, it would have to match (not clash with) the existing red leather. The black carpet, I feel would flow better with the black plastic interior trim and dash and give a defined contrast to the seats and door cards.

The other option would be matching leather "carpet"

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I like how you did the dash surround, did you do it with a brush ?

1991 Black Sportline 1.8 GTI Cabby - gone

1983 Papyrus Green 1.5 Auto GL Cabby - gone

1984 Nevada Beige MK2 Golf 1.6CL LHD Auto - gone

1981 Schwartz Black MK1 Golf 1600 GTI - gone

Currently Mk1less!

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P0jy said

I like how you did the dash surround, did you do it with a brush ?

Yeah, just rubbed it down slightly so the paint had something to key to and very very carefully went round it with a fine artists brush and red hammerite!

Simple, but effective :)

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Making progress….

New pics from my body shop with the car in its first coat of guide primer






From here we need to rub down the bodywork to check for any imperfections before a second guide goes on and repeated then it'll be time for the engine to come out and base primered.

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love the build - car looked great before you stripped it down, looking forwarded to seeing it all put back together again!

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Loving the car mate! replacing all those rubbers can be soooo pricey been there done that lol.LOVE IT!

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Wow, She looked pretty excellent to me before you started the re-build!

Can't wait to see how she comes out.

;)  E

Cornish Host.
1980 VW Derby
Clive the Cabby
Ujum the Invisible
Mynx the  Tintop
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