Mars red 83 GTI AHN 502Y

Hi fella

Yes I did & yes I do remember you!

Did you ever get that cossie engine rebuilt?

I would love to recommend my paint guy but my shell has been there 13 months now & he is starting it next week….

He is however very very good and has no need to advertise.

My shell was media blasted by a chap based inbetween Grendon & Wollaston - cost £400

I saw your mk1 on ebay & thought you had ditched the project?

Hello again!

A few things got in the way of the project!

Had another child!

Got the Cossie fixed, turned out it was a head gasket AND a cracked block, had to buy a new engine etc, so that cost nearly £4,000!

I kind of fell out of love with the Mk1, hence the Ebay ad. But it's back so am not going to wait for my paint guy anymore as he is the reason it took so long. Been researching someone decent for a couple of weeks now, then I came across you thread…must be fate!!!

If you've seen my ad then you'll see why I want to paint her, by someone VERY good.

PM me his details or stick the details up on here.

Great thread too, will keep an eye on your progress.

Blimey you have been busy!

Congrats on the new born!


I will pm you his details.  This guy is A1 but you have to play the waiting game a bit however I've seen a lot come out of his shop that is jaw dropping

Rebuilt engine looks lovely mate, shame about the original lump, thought it was fine when i had it! just goes to show you never know what you've got until you rip it to bits lol when will the shell be done? Have you collected lots of bits? 

Hi Joe

How's it going? Been a while mate

I have been promised my shell back painted end of April. I will be running brake & fuel lines onto the car whilst it's still on a spit (yes I bought one in the end!) and fitting the tank (new and then powdercoated), rear beam and front suspension and steering. I will also have all the glass put in at the bodyshop.
I've basically bought new everything - all new door/glass rubbers, plastic arches, bumpers, all new suspension, fully polybushed, kw coilovers, chrome latches, stainless bolts for everything other than what needs to be mild steel, new fuel pipes. I've just rebuilt the tsr cylinderhead now so I am ready to fully build the engine and get the belts on etc now.
Hopefully once I get the car back it should come together fairly quickly.
Made a few schoolboy errors along the way but also learnt a lot with this car. I'm sure there is more to come. The last part of the jigsaw is a new carpet as the one I had was burn't from some over zealous sill welding from it's past.

I'll get some progress pics up as it has been a while. Got my gearbox painted now at long last

Drapoon said

Hi Joe

How's it going? Been a while mate

I have been promised my shell back painted end of April. I will be running brake & fuel lines onto the car whilst it's still on a spit (yes I bought one in the end!) and fitting the tank (new and then powdercoated), rear beam and front suspension and steering. I will also have all the glass put in at the bodyshop.
I've basically bought new everything - all new door/glass rubbers, plastic arches, bumpers, all new suspension, fully polybushed, kw coilovers, chrome latches, stainless bolts for everything other than what needs to be mild steel, new fuel pipes. I've just rebuilt the tsr cylinderhead now so I am ready to fully build the engine and get the belts on etc now.
Hopefully once I get the car back it should come together fairly quickly.
Made a few schoolboy errors along the way but also learnt a lot with this car. I'm sure there is more to come. The last part of the jigsaw is a new carpet as the one I had was burn't from some over zealous sill welding from it's past.

I'll get some progress pics up as it has been a while. Got my gearbox painted now at long last

It's going alright mate, have been finishing my car off, I live in Cardiff now working for Audi.

Wow, you've got basically all the parts though, sounds like the rebuild will be quick! Thats the best bit IMO. What sort of power do you expect from the rebuilt engine? Are you going to buy a brand new carpet from Newton or are you on the hunt for a second hand one? I need to order a carpet from Newton too, was thinking of doing it today actually. The carpet I have is original and although there is nothing wrong with it, I want brand new carpet.   How much has the paint job cost you if you don't mind me asking? (You can PM if you would rather.)

Did you get all the glass Genuine too? I imagine the seals and glass weren't cheap! I need to get all new window seals at the front as the ones I have are not the best fit although they are clean!

Cool cool - sounds like an ideal job for you!

Yes I had to buy a new windscreen but the glass rubbers are all gen items. I bought all the door rubbers from mk1Autohaus on ebay - they are repro but very good quality. They cost a packet though

Hopefully the rebuild won't take long as I literally have everything bar carpet! I'm interested if your carpet is a nice example? Still struggling for storage/workshop space which may hamper me.

Engine wise not sure really - It's a 2.0 AGG out of a mk3 gti bolted to a tsr big valve, ported & polished cylinder head with piper cam. I'll also be running polished audi throttle body mated to polished inlet & 16 Wur. Would be nice to see some good power gains over standard but it seems power claims vary quite a bit….!

It's all your fault how much £ I've ploughed into this little car - why did you sell it to me

Drapoon said

Cool cool - sounds like an ideal job for you!

Yes I had to buy a new windscreen but the glass rubbers are all gen items. I bought all the door rubbers from mk1Autohaus on ebay - they are repro but very good quality. They cost a packet though

Hopefully the rebuild won't take long as I literally have everything bar carpet! I'm interested if your carpet is a nice example? Still struggling for storage/workshop space which may hamper me.

Engine wise not sure really - It's a 2.0 AGG out of a mk3 gti bolted to a tsr big valve, ported & polished cylinder head with piper cam. I'll also be running polished audi throttle body mated to polished inlet & 16 Wur. Would be nice to see some good power gains over standard but it seems power claims vary quite a bit….!

It's all your fault how much £ I've ploughed into this little car - why did you sell it to me

I managed to find the door rubbers new and genuine at the time, but I was lucky! I got a new windscreen from VW too, had a choice aftermarket item with a lovely 6 inch green sunstrip!  

Sounds like it will be plenty quick, the engine looks mint too.

Haha, sorry mate, if it makes you feel any better, mine is the same, Mk1's are just a hole in which to throw money, worth it though I think.

As for my carpet, like I said there is nothing wrong with it, but my car is far from standard so I would rather have a new one. I will take some pics for you tomorrow so that you can have a look at it.

It's all worth it in the end as I'm sure you will come to realise, I am still in the process of realising it lol

Looking good 

It will all seem worth it when I see even just a smidge of Mars red on the shell!

Paints coming in at no more than 4k which includes all the welding required - rear chassis legs, sills, front & rear panel, various holes in the floor, new lower windscreen/scuttle

Sounds a plan re. carpet - be nice to finish to ebay scouring/collecting for a bit!

thanks for comment Geebee

cylinderhead rebuilt last night - here's a few pics:

looking good

Just had a read of your build thread - its coming along nicely. I am only starting what you have done. Top job!  

I have bought a spare dx engine and hopefully turn it into a show (or cleaner than normal) engine bay. Time will tell - keep your updates coming.  

So this weekend I had a spare day in the calendar and decided I would set about re-furbing my driver’s seat. I picked up a good condition passenger seat on Saturday for the sum of £15 which I intend to use as the donor for the bolsters. After reading various guides on here I set about stripping down the seat. It was fairly easy – the most difficult parts being the tension springs on the backs and the headrest collars (these are very fiddily to remove and the cause for my sore fingers as I type this up!)
I decided to cut all the metal couplings vw used to attach the material to the seat frame as unravelling them out would have caused stretch and potential damage to the material. I will use very small cable ties in their place for reconstruction which will be plenty strong enough in my opinion.
As you can see the bolsters were very filthy below the visible material and I even found a rusty Allen key embedded in one side! Removing the foam was a slow and meticulous job so I could retain it. I have now taken the seat bases (both passenger and drivers side so I can swap the passenger one onto my original passenger seat) to the powdercoaters and I have asked my wife if she is up for a bit of sowing! It’s only the bolster on the back that needs the donor panel sowing into the original drivers back so shouldn’t be too difficult? If I were to get a professional upholster to do it what sort of cost would I be looking at?
Whilst I had the back material off I noticed the seat fabric was very lumpy…after a bit of investigation it turns out that the foam backing underneath the rainbow material has turned to sand – see photo. I cut a slit in the backing fabric and discovered a horrible mess. I hoovered all the remnants out & I shall replace this with a foam I will try to source on ebay.

I do have a few questions…

My thought process is that I want to try to avoid the replacement bolsters wearing down quicky so was thinking of putting a few strips of gorilla tap ( with the cotton structure) on top of the sponge to help the sponge stay together – any thoughts on this?
I am also unsure what glue to use to adhere the sponge bolsters back on the frame – carpet glue?

Thanks for looking

Martin

well look at it this way, how old are those seats? new fabric and foam backing they should last a very long time before they wear thru again

plus as long as you are careful getting in and out that should also help stop them wearing down so much.

Can't wait to see this painted Not as much as u thou I bet 

You make a good point John  

Defo keen to see my shell painted now - thanks for reminding me dude I shall give painter a call at lunchtime. It should have been started last week

Well I am speechless - a lot of progress has been made in the last week compared to the last 18 months.
Will let the photos I have just been sent through do the talking

Nice one mate. Coming along now

Mate, loving your progress so far, you have been very busy

Wouldnt mind getting new sills on mine one day

By the way, your bits got collected today so should be with you soon