83 Gti set to get full resto

Hi all,

 I bought my Gti back in August. When I bought her I knew she was a bit of a rotter and needed some attention, anyway I took her for an inspection to see what was needed to bring her back to life and it turns out she's about ten times worse than I thought  
Here's a list of what is needed lol

Both rear inner arches and suspension turrets
both rear seat belt anchor points, obviously.
both outer/inner sills
new drivers door
new passenger door skin
new rear panel
new front panel
new bonnet
new tailgate(possibly)
bulkhead needs work
some of the floor needs work
full respray

As you can see the list is extensive but nevertheless, I'm going ahead with it. The work is far too much for me to take on, it would take me forever, so I'm booking in to these guy's  http://www.rodandcustombodyshop.co.uk/  here's their facebook page too  Facebook   Here you can see more of the work they do.


The work they do is second to none and they are only a mile away from where I live too. The price of the work will probably outweigh the value of the car but, it will be back to showroom condition from when it's done. The only problem is that there is a waiting list and I may have to wait till March before they can start.

The plan is to strip the car back to bare shell then soda blast the whole thing, do all the repairs and start again.

I also plan to install

Spax Rsx coilovers
Eibach anti roll bar kit
powerflex poly bush the whole car
refurbish the rear beam and maybe powdercoat
new wishbones(already have)
rear disc conversion
new front discs and pads
refurbish wheels and fit new tyres
Possibly thinking of retrimming the seats in half black leather with tartan cloth.

Here she is bless her!!

She looks straight enough in the pics glad your saving her will be worth it in the end!

Definitely worth it mate. When I seen the car for the first time I thought, I'm definitely going to save her from the scrappy!!

yeah good on ya, the more mk1's on the road the better!

Its a great looking car mate, had one very similar myself but the resto work it needed blew my enthusiasm and it was only a fraction of what you have to do..

Have the resto guys given you an idea on cost?

Reason I ask is that a mate of mine started a Beetle project 2 years ago and a resto company (very reputable one but no names) told him between 8 and 10k for a full bare metal show car standard rebuild.

2 years and 40k later he has got his car back..!

Stunning though it is, 40k..? Car is prob worth 12 to 15k.

Problem is with the resto guys, once they have your car and have got so far with the rebuild it is really difficult to bale out, I went with him on several occasions and on one in particular he challenged him about the spiralling cost.. it just seemed to be a very well rehursed reaction.. :?

Good luck with the resto  :wink:

The initial quote just for the bodywork was £4000 - £4500 and that's just taking it to factory finish. To take it show finish he said about another £1000. I then received a call last week saying they can do it for about £3500 if they just do localised blasting in the infected areas. I thought this was very fair to be honest as they didn't have to tell me that. I'm not sure which way to go now though, do I go for full bare shell or the latter? I think I'd rather pay more tbh.

Cheers, Andy.

Melteddrummer said

The initial quote just for the bodywork was £4000 - £4500 and that's just taking it to factory finish. To take it show finish he said about another £1000. I then received a call last week saying they can do it for about £3500 if they just do localised blasting in the infected areas. I thought this was very fair to be honest as they didn't have to tell me that. I'm not sure which way to go now though, do I go for full bare shell or the latter? I think I'd rather pay more tbh.

Cheers, Andy.

if you not touching any  tools  add another 10k .

Similar looking mars red gti to mine (before I started the destruction!)

I stripped the car myself as this is/was the easy bit and you can save some man hours here - you have to be methodical, take lots of photos and bag/label EVERYTHING. I then put the bare shell on dollies and sent it to a media blaster for an all over blast (they wont do the roof as this can warp). The shell was also coated in primer after blasting. This cost me £400 in total.

My shell is now at the paintshop awaiting welding and paint. The car will be done to show standard. I've supplied all the panels (new front, rear panel, arches, sills, wings, clutch bulkhead repair/ fuel filler etc )and ive been quoted circa 4k for the work.

I fully expect the costs to go up once he actually starts

my painter seems to work on the policy of who shouts loudest gets their work done 1st so mines has sat dorment in his workshop since January as I'm not the agressive bolshy sort. I'm getting a little frustrated really as I am coming close to finishing the engine and only got the interior left to fettle with :?

I would hate to add up how much mine has cost me thus far but I would imagine it's not pretty - really not worth looking at as it will be upsetting reading

If you want costs for engine refurb work give me a pm as I have all the costs for that - I stripped it myself then got the machining done and built back up with help from fellow forum members and a lot of research

Umi7 , I'm expecting it to go up a bit but hopefully not that much lol. I will be stripping the car down to a rolling shell. I'm also removing the wings and front panel.

Drapoon , I, like you, have all the panels already but I'm just going to let RodAndCustom do the blasting, he quoted me £500ish for that.  I also plan to remove the engine and rebuild, never done it before but I'm not too worried about tackling it.  My plan originally was to buy a new engine from TSR  TSR-Performance Ltd but your looking at another £3000. 8O

Cheers lads, Andy. 8)

Im in the process of building a tsr style 2.0 litre agg with gas flowed ported and polished, bigger valves dx head engine for mine…probably owes me about £750. Not too bad really

Drapoon said

Im in the process of building a tsr style 2.0 litre agg with gas flowed ported and polished, bigger valves dx head engine for mine…probably owes me about £750. Not too bad really

Is this engine going in your 83 tin top or is it for another project?

Heading for my 83 gt tintopi. I started wanting to build an original car and keeping the 1.8 stock engine but seeing as the bearings were shot, needed a re-bore, cylinder head needed new valves and guides etc i thought the sensible option was to build a better engine but keep it looking stock and not spending a fortune…the mk3 agg 2.0 bottom end set me back £75 and luckily the internals are in good shape.

WOW! Sounds like a good project.

I'm tempted to sell the split & got for it too!  

Choc said

WOW! Sounds like a good project.

I'm tempted to sell the split & got for it too!  

lol You're going the opposite way to me! I'm building myself up to a split!

yeah!! another red one saved!! good work..      

looks like a tidy base car, hope you don't find many hidden surprises!  

richievr said

yeah!! another red one saved!! good work..      

looks like a tidy base car, hope you don't find many hidden surprises!  

Found most of them I think, although I haven't had the carpets up yet. I'll find out at the end of the month when my car goes off the road, I plan to start the strip down then.

The next problem I have is a place to do the work lol. I do have a garage but I converted it into this drumming room about 3 months ago, it took me fxxxing ages too!!   ……



It's either build a carport or knock the dividing wall down I built in the middle of the garage    

LOL.

i feel a carport coming on….    

gotta have a music room

Is that a TD9 by any chance? Haha im a music man myself final year at uni doing creative music technology, thats the problem ive started having is room to do anything on the car :L

Defo thinking of the carport idea, just need to have a word with the neighbours.

vwallen91, The kit is a TD12 mate.

Made a start on the strip down today, I've got until the end of Jan before she goes away for restoration but thought I'd start early.

I've left the front carpets in for now as I'm still driving her until Wednesday.


Spare wheel well repair needed


Passenger side turret at the bottom not looking too clever


drivers side rear seat belt anchor point is goosed!!


Sills are shot






Drivers side where the rear bench meets the floor


Pushed my finger through it here lol


Handbrake has had a repair at some point


Rear panel and rear wing bottom both sides




front panel and wings both sides




Skuttle panel is holding water on the fuse box side and letting water in to the cab, thinking of removing it altogether maybe?


my bodge job of temporary bulkhead/clutch repair :redfaced:


Engine bay isn't too bad tbh, both chassis legs are clean and inner wings don't look bad at all




That's all for now, I'll take some more pics next weekend when I start stripping the rest down as the car will be sorn'd by then anyway.

Cheers, Andy.