1980 Yellow Golf LS Turbo

I'm planning on painting it at some point so the side strips will make reappearance however the lack of doesn't bother me. It was a winner as it meant i got it for a song and no one gazumped me to it haha.

Goes very well to be fair, scary as it is and it's only running 7-8 psi. I'm aiming for 14!

Wicked weekend at all types, what a night!

On the autojumble (I actually washed it! Albeit quickly and thanks to Matt and Kim for cleaning the wheels!)



On the return trip from Wales



Had to finish off with a pub meal



Bai bai gearbox




Spare atv being whipped out



Atv tAken out of the golf



Looks like the splines on the paddle clutch are fubarred!



 I only put this on 3 thou ago, replacing the helix organic clutch and uprated pressure plate that was on because the biting point was on the floor and it wouldn't engage the clutch. Didn't check in retrospect the clutch fitted the gearbox when I fitted it. I've got another paddle and a std clutch in the unit, checked them and they are nice and snug on the spline of the box this one is not surprisingly loose as fook!

During the 3k it's always been notchy in 2nd and 4th unless a blip of the throttle on gear change. And was sounding rattly with the clutch peddle out. When I was on the clutch (foot down) it would go. I meant to change the crb when I last did it but forgot and saw the brand new VW one staring at me as I was driving out of the unit!

Going to fit the new clutch release bearing and clutch, but would you change the box too? I could always have the current box inspected now which would mean it can get a clean bill of health!

Did some investigation this evening, Both paddle clutches have 24 teeth or did in the case of the deceased above, and both input shafts on the actual and spare known good gearbox had all splines intact.

Span the cvs and the guide for the input shaft was wiggling about, after removing the bearing you can just make out the snapped lug on the guide.



Stuck a new paddle clutch on, reused the pressure plate, and popped on the perils atv, gearchanges and selection feel really good now. I do want a new 4 speed shift finger  tho as there is play in the current one, so back in daily action woop

I'll probably get the other box checked out by Tameside or geartorque to know its sweet

MOT's coming up for the golfie, so its that time to rectify all the lil faults that I've never got round to doing.


Yesterday was spent making up stainless steel brackets for the radiator, realinging the bonnet catch, tucking the exhaust up some more, and welding a rear hanger on the backbox.

Also spent some time investigating the front suspension to assess what needed to be replaced.

Waiting for the following bits before I can rebuild the front of the car :-

Seam Welded Wishbones
New Steering Rack
New Steering Arms
New Track Rod Ends
New Balljoints
New Wishbone Polybushes
New Steering Rack Polybushes

(Big props to EuroCarParts for the 25 percent discount on all the service items)

I would really like to replace the universal joint but at £250+ from VW Heritage, I think i'll pass!

Also got a front lower wishbone brace thats been made up by RandomBadger69, so will be putting the 15's back on when the front is all rebuilt, which should give me the ground clearance I need to be able to not smash the brace off the world!

Further jobs for the MOT include

Welding to passenger floor and inner
Exhaust hanger for both shell and exhaust, for the midbox.
Fit new rear handbrake cable (as the old one is impossible to get fitted, as its too rusty for the springs to move freely enough to connect the cable to the shoes)
Need a new passenger door handle with key

my week off work arrived, so deconstruction could commence

car needed welding on the sill and around the clutch cable, so best option was to remove the dash, and part of the cage



with the dash out gives me the perfect opportunity to upgrade to the later style wiring loom, as the previous one was bodged with random switches all over the place!

had always wondered why a load of air came from the top of the dash, thought the venting system was afray, but it turns out theres just a section of the window screen surround thats rusted away in the middle, you can see it better in the below picture



there was loads of glass there, so i think when the screen was last changed, the old one broke.

the clutch repair wasnt just a simple section around the clutch cable area, it's previously rotted through and been repaired so took out the entire steering column so i could get good access with the grinder and welder



also whipped off the old wishbones, and steering rack, ready for this little lot to go on

Were the wishbones ok fella?

yeah took a few knocks but nothing a hammer couldnt sort

Hmm suspect repair panel



Boom - nice repair job LAD!



Bye Bye Rot






Heres where progress was halted as I ran out of gas on a saturday at 6 no less arggggggggh




So I gave up on welding missions and thought I'd crack on with getting the front suspension and steering rebuilt so I could get the car rolling again and do other bits and bobs.

Tried the UJ from the old steering rack on the new rack and the spline on the rack was too small, after investigating the new rack has Volvo! stamped on it FFS!

So stripped down my old rack, cleaned it all up and refitted it. The UJ gaitor came up like new with a clean inside and out, really chuffed as replacements are expensive. The racks now held on with Powerflex rack bushes and theres fresh tie rod arms and ends, with vgc VW boots for good measure.

terrible picture below



mainly due to the fact that i happened to mention the word food, tez mentioned nandos and next thing we know I've got a double breast chicken pitta in front of me. BAM

doesnt look like ill be finished tomorrow now with the lack of gas, unless i decided to get ass raped at hellfrauds for disposable gas canisters! so ill get all the mechanical stuff done, and chop out all the rusty bits and make all the repair panels so i can just zip round them all in the week when I have more gas.

random rambings of stuff I've got left to do before i can drive it again, looks loads more than whats left but a few are fairly time consuming tasks

fit wishbones to car
remove heater matrix
remove instrument panel from dash and affix in place (running no dash for a while to sort out welding jobs - windscreen surround and heater surround)
finish making bulkhead repair panels
welddddddd
weld wiper mech bracket back on
epoxy mastic that sucker
repair front left sill and floor section
refit steering column
fit sheer bolts
refit clutch cable
refit brake linkage clevix pins
Fit new handbrake cable
refit cage
refit seats
refit harnesses
check tracking, adjust and tighten - inner steering arms, outer steering arms, steering arm balljoint
wire dash instruments and switches back in situ
trace and replace dodgy wiring in series 1 loom
fit new fuel pump
driiiiiiive

one things for certain,ya dont mess about mate  8)

too many cars lad haha, just gotta crack on!

Well with no gas and being on foot I just thought I'd get to the unit and crack on putting the front end back together.

Managed to persuade the polybushed wishbones in place and the rich popped down and nipped my over to halfords to get some gas so cracked on with the welding!




My phone battery died ages ago so no pictures from the day and I had no concept of time. By the time I'd refitted the steering rack and wiring, cabletied dash n wiring in place it was about 3 in the morning. Fitted the seat and harness and got the fook home



Seam sealer is lethal stuff haha nearly set fire to the car. Good thing I always keep a fire extinguisher close now! Water is useless people!

Get a proper camera ffs Your photos are always so dark and grimey

you cant beat yellow - love the road trips as well. makes me want to just pack my things and bugger off for a few weeks!

Too right azbar haha this phone has taken a beating to be fair!

A camera would be ideal I'm just too snide to be spending money on something actually useful!

And cheers jay, get on it we only took 7 days holiday for 11 days to Croatia n back in a mk1 golf cabby ( Charlie says ) from here

It is an interesting read what you are doing with your car. I wonder if you turn the boost up a little if you will opt for the Quaife ATB LSD for the gearbox. Unless you have already done this? What do you intend to do with this car? With that engine and torque and certain gear ratio's i suppose weight of the shell is the next thing to look at?
Have you heard of Maurice & Trevor Reeves and his two Golfs? His first Mk2 Golf was a 16V which we built. Now his other Golf LTF ***X Mk1 is something not to mess with on the track - it is quick, so quick.
It is interesting that you put this engine into a Golf and run a mild 7-8 psi.
'Goes very well to be fair, scary as it is and it's only running 7-8 psi. I'm aiming for 14!'
I ran a 2L 16V Garrett T25 with a 020 and Quaife back in 1995 in my Mk1 and that only ran a mild 0.8b second boost, it ran 210Bhp at the wheels and 188Bhp on first stage boost. These figures don't impress these days i know but it won me GTi International on Saturday 1995.

Good luck with your car and other cars.
ME926

well despite the work rebuilding the steering rack, there was still alot of movement and steering feel through the clutch pedal when i was steering with the clutch in (parking) turns out two welds had cracked on the steering column, and when i took it out, a third was on its way!

so welded them all up, using a g clamp to hold it snugly into where the welds once sat.




took this opportunity to clean up all the seam sealer and repaint properly in epoxy mastic as i was in no rush to get it all back together as the weekend had just started.





ended up without realising finishing up at half 8 in the morning when me and ads went to mcdonalds. i went home and got some much needed shut eye. my housemate adam who did an all nighter with me was still working on his car when i arrived back at the unit at half 3! see a shattered pidgeon below and his triumph after his epic missions!



been a long time since me n the boy done some proper all nighter steez on the cars, so comical. you know its late/early when theyve stopped playing the dance music and started on chart music. and why do we always run out of phone b82rez! i need a digi camera!

qcar said

It is an interesting read what you are doing with your car. I wonder if you turn the boost up a little if you will opt for the Quaife ATB LSD for the gearbox. Unless you have already done this? What do you intend to do with this car? With that engine and torque and certain gear ratio's i suppose weight of the shell is the next thing to look at?
Have you heard of Maurice & Trevor Reeves and his two Golfs? His first Mk2 Golf was a 16V which we built. Now his other Golf LTF ***X Mk1 is something not to mess with on the track - it is quick, so quick.
It is interesting that you put this engine into a Golf and run a mild 7-8 psi.
'Goes very well to be fair, scary as it is and it's only running 7-8 psi. I'm aiming for 14!'
I ran a 2L 16V Garrett T25 with a 020 and Quaife back in 1995 in my Mk1 and that only ran a mild 0.8b second boost, it ran 210Bhp at the wheels and 188Bhp on first stage boost. These figures don't impress these days i know but it won me GTi International on Saturday 1995.

Good luck with your car and other cars.
ME926

210 atw is plenty mate. I'd love to see some pictures or videos if you have any.

My friend Arun showed me videos of the reeves mk1 it's an animal mate, no wonder he won't tell anyone his suspension setup. It's like it's on rails. Love to see that do a lap of the ring.

As for plans for the car I'm not really too sure, going to do a track day in it in August st Blyton park I think. It needs a restoration nd I've started collecting panels for when the mk2 and mk1 polo are on the road, so for the time being its just to keep it running and enjoy it as an interesting daily commuter, but I've not been right in the head for many a year and refuse to drive new cars much to the bemusement of all at work

Hi Saf whats happening with your car fella gone all quiet? you on holiday AGAIN!!!???

Hahaha noooo couldnt afford it this year, been ploughing money into a kitchen and bathroom refit as well as the cars so had to call off our holiday plans.

Been a busy ol' bee the last few weeks on the car, MOT was due, so had to do some welding on the floorpan, inner and outer sill which is done now, which involved the dashboard coming out, so the first comment I get off people now is 'is it road-legal?' as I've still not refitted it (after finding the scuttle panel where the windscreen meets is also rotten and needs welding!

Then the old girl developed a mis-fire, so i've gradually been working my way through items to try and resolve it

new bosch in line pump
new fuel filter
new in-tank pump
new dizzy cap, rotor arm, leads, spark plugs, coil
every vacuum line replaced
static timing marked up and set
ignition timing set
co pot levels set
fresh oil filter and oil
new lambda sensor
adjusted the actuator

still cant get over 0.5 bar boost and the car is currently stinking of fuel despite no smoke and no fuel leaks. the lambda sensor reads rich on any amount of throttle which makes me think my pressure switch for full throttle isnt set right and just dumping loads of fuel in.

its doing my nut in! ran out of petrol yesterday on the M6 playing with a BMW and not noticing where my guage was, 3 miles before the service station - DOH.

Also had fun trying to fit a new gearbox mount, which turned out to the wrong diameter, so i managed to get hold of another 4 speed mount which i welded to a polo 5 speed mount, also replaced an inner cv boot that was split but now my gearbox is rattling, which i think is the clutch release bearing, but thats highly frustrating as it was replaced with a brand new one about 3-4k ago.

As much as I love the car, its doing my swede in at the moment and I think I need to hurry up and finish the resto on my Mk2 Polo so I can get that back into daily action again, and give the golf the love it needs.

Been having thoughts about whipping the turbo off and going back to a supercharger, but shouldnt faff around too much with my only working car!

Well last weekend was eventful, on Friday night in the work car park the car decided to have a hissy fit and misfiring. Cleaned out the dizzy cap n rotor arm and after a minute it cleared up and it was sweet again all way on the journey home, so I could have some scran and put my feet up!

Come the next morning and it's missing straight away, 2 minutes down the road and I've broken down, out of fuel. Doh! Was on the way to fill up! Tommy to the rescue in the mk1 cabby!

With the help of a few friends at polo show we stuck on diff coil, leads, cleaned up the plugs. Starts up sweet now as was good on the way back from Northampton bar sometimes just refusing to move under anything more than partial throttle, different gear. Changed the fuel pump for a new non vag one ( cheapo bm equivalent ) and it's still the same!

Ahhh well, Mot ran out today and I still hadn't managed to find time to do the welding so as it is my daily it's time to crack on!




Right I'm going to add these welding pictures with a disclaimer my welding isnt great but it's as good as I can manage at the minute and it's all experience. I'll eventually give this golfie a full resto at some point but I just want it to be mot friendly and it's got to be better than the rusty mess holding it together!

Here's the result of a couple of evenings work.




Bit annoyed at the pattern sill as the seller didn't package it appropriately so the bit I really wanted was damaged. But I can either repair it or use it as a template to make a new one

If anyone has a mk1 golf thatchams or bentley manual gimme a shout or pictures of how the inner sill should look!

The playground - unfortunately all the cars I own aare in that picture. Waaaaah!

It'll all be Done with epoxy mastic! Fook seam sealer! Pidge was more delirious after a full on weekender with no sleep on it!

Last repair panel tacked in all other welds ground down, then flap wheeled 40 grit


So tomorrow sees the repair panel being welded up, bits being painted and Fudging the pattern sill to fit

woop - outer sill tonight

Well it's been a while since I updated this thread, so now is a good a time as ever.
Finished the welding on the sill and got the car back on the road a few months ago.
So now that she back on the road, I could concentrate on trying to sort out some niggly running issues, first was a dodgy internal connection on my new bosch fuel pump, which made me want to cry and meant that I had to refit the new pattern pump I had sitting on the shelf, which buzzes like an orchestra of rampant rabbits at a lesbian convention.
Changed all the vacuum lines, finally fitted an oil catch tank, and eventually got round to fitting a manual bleed valve to the actuator vac line and it still wouldn't go over 0.5 bar, so fitted an actuator off a friends turbo and on the first drive hit 2 bar! So tweaked it down to 1 bar. Rapid in comparison is not the word and I can finally break past my previous speed-based brick wall.
Also bought a VEMS wideband with datalogging, so welded on a lambda boss into my downpipe and have now realised that I now have an inability to drive as I'm forever watching the guage!
Found the source of the fuel vapours in the car the other day, and replaced the fuel hose, on the same day I noticed that you sort one leak and sprout another two! The two in question being a water leak in the rad end cap from where the brackets had come off the rad and it was sitting on the turbo - bit of plastic leak fix stuff and jobs a good un. Changed the copper washers on the leaky oil line to no avail, the hydraulic hose had actually failed, so a new one is on order with thanks to HEL performance at a bargain price of 25 quid including all fittings, banjo bolts and washers.
Also finally procured a 2.5" stainless system, for the bargain price of 77 quid so a very happy chappy that I will actually be able to have an exhaust system complete with hangers haha - so next jobs are refit the oil feed line when it arrives and make up a new downpipe complete with flexi and fit the new exhaust.

Interesting read

Welds are looking good on that cill repair :wink: