"Penny" the MK1 Cab Daily Driver/Project

Hi All, thought i'd start a little build thread for my progress on my new toy - "Penny" the mk1 cab.

An off the cuff comment to a friend resulted in us swapping cars, my G60 Corrado for his Mk1 Cabriolet.







Then came the tough situation of having to sell one of my cars….  The Cab or my 2004 1.9tdi 150bhp Bora




The Golf would be the obvious choice, but I'm bored of comfortable, reliable, economical cars, so I sold the Bora anyways… been driving "Penny" around for a while now and apart from a few problems (little bit leaky, stereo died, heater motor died, stupid pierburg auto choke stays on for 20 mins etc etc) it's been great fun Couple of pics:






went down to see my local mechanic and Oli was down there, so couldnt resist a pic next to his slammed golf




and then this week I've been playing in the snow - decided to go camping with some friends so did 40 miles down country lanes in a classic little cabriolet, overtaking 4x4's stuck in the snow and allsorts 



Basically she's very original (apart from the wheels which I didnt put on) and very solid. So the plan is to do a few subtle improvements, mainly wheels, coilovers and a couple of cosmetic things that are easily reversable. I've already given her a service, and next on the list is cambelt, then new brakes all round 

Blimey the slammed Golf looks tiny compared to yours!

Welcome to the forum, yr cabby looks tidy. Happy with the swap from the 'rado?

Keeping her standard or any other plans?

Cheers
Andy

Hairyarse said

Blimey the slammed Golf looks tiny compared to yours!

Welcome to the forum, yr cabby looks tidy. Happy with the swap from the 'rado?

Keeping her standard or any other plans?

Cheers
Andy

Hi Andy, thanks yeah the cabby is suprisingly tidy no doubt there's something lurking somewhere, but as yet ok (touch wood)

Gonna keep it pretty standard, got a new weber ready to go on when the weather clears up, and a single headlight grille, but other than that will just be coilovers and smaller tyres and then just gradually do little things to keep her tidy

Sounds like a perfect plan to me!

Spoke too soon…….   got to work today fine, went to go home, engine wont start.

Everything seems fine, apart from no fuel is getting to the fuel filter…  thinking fuel pump, would that be right?

Mechanic is going to have a look tomorrow

Sounds likely. Check fuse and relay too though

Well today I rolled the Golf over to the garage opposite work (love how little it weighs!)

And he spent a bit of time looking over it, ruled out fuel pump/fuse/relay, ended up twiddling with the carb and discovered that at some point its been hill-billy rigged with a cable tie holding god only knows what - but the upshot is the carb is massively over fueling, vacuum isnt working correctly and basically it needs rebuilding/binning   He did get it going again, but spluttering and farting so dont know if I would have got home

Luckily I already have a brand new Weber 32/34 and fitting kit ready to go on so im heading down there tomorrow morning to fit it.

And the best part is he didnt charge me to diagnose the problem, and is letting me use his workshop and tools tomorrow and will only charge me if he ends up doing it for me.  me being me i'll pay him either way, but its still nice to know there are decent people around

Great news mate. I know mechanics have got a bad rep over the years but there are still some great ones out there.

Result! The sun is shining on you this week chap!  

Thats cool, I had a similar thing with a local garage, this old boy loved my mk1 so much he did loads of small bit for free.

He was just excited about working on it. But because of him I take all my cars there and recommend them to everyone.

thats exactly it Dragon - I work opposite and always pop in for advice, and he's always happy to help even if it means not spending money with him.

I run a local VAG club and i'm always recommending him to the members/friend's/family etc so i'd imagine its actually quite beneficial to him - Sound like an old codger (i'm only 24  )  but sometimes the old methods - good quality service- really are the best and as they say a smile goes a long way

So fingers crossed tomorrow this will be going in:



and got a new spare one of these just in case, may swap it out anyway:



Only bit i'm struggling with in my head so far is fitting the choke cable cos i'll need to get to the back of the dash to take the blank out/fit the new cable. Wondering whether I can do it without taking the knee panel out or not….

Like the look of the cabby, any plans for it?

Richard

Alright Z, welcome to the joys of cabby ownership.
Still have random electrical faults with mine,everytime I think is sorted,the dash dies AGAIN

RICH234GHA said

Like the look of the cabby, any plans for it?

Richard

At the moment just going through the important bits, fitted the weber today, getting it set up properly on a CO machine on Monday. Already done a full service, need to check brakes and prob get a cambelt done over the summer. Pretty sure it had one recently but i'd rather be sure.

longer term thinking smaller tyres and coilovers

Javabob said

Alright Z, welcome to the joys of cabby ownership.
Still have random electrical faults with mine,everytime I think is sorted,the dash dies AGAIN

ah welcome mr Edwards yeah my dash is slightly tempremental, the rev gauge does what it pleases haha!

well that didnt go quite to plan  

got the Weber in on saturday but didnt have time to set it up right, so headed down today on my day off as the chap very kindly offered to let me use his diagnostic machine for rpm/CO etc.

got the car started and it then promptly died. had a poke around and noticed no petrol getting to the filter again  

whipped out a container and pulled off a few hoses to see where the fuel was getting to, filter, pump, reservoir etc. All getting fuel, but only a little. Checked the system for blockages by blowing an airline down to the tank (remember to take the filler cap off first!) and then by sucking back the other way and all seemed clear, if a little funny tasting  

Slapped a new fuel pump on and hallelujah, it started and ran, if revving a little high.

Drove it over to the machine, set the idle, mixture and CO. Got her running sweet as a nut. Turned her off, went to start her again and nothing. Just turning over and over and over again. Fiddled with the idle and mixture a bit and after another 10 mins or so managed to get it to start, but die a couple of mins later/or whenever you revved.

And then I noticed that the brand new "oem quality" manifold gasket/plinth rubber thinghy had split right in half.

Consequently the engine's sucking way too much air in and stifling itself. Got the carb off again but ran out of time to fit the old gasket thing (nothing wrong with it, just replacing as a precaution) so it'll have to wait till after work tomorrow.

Fingers crossed thats everything haha!  

and this is where Penny has been staying this weekend lol

Christ what a story mate. Sounds like you must have been going mad when it wouldn't start and you found the pipe split in half.      

smudger1980 said

Christ what a story mate. Sounds like you must have been going mad when it wouldn't start and you found the pipe split in half.      

pretty much lol  

and then I went down today and it gets worse….

swapped the rubber mount thing over, went to start it, and nothing. Played with the mixture and idle, slapped the battery pack on, put some more fuel in, checked the fuel is pumping properly, took a plug out to check its getting through to them which it is.

Tested for a spark, and found sweet nothing. No spark on the plugs, and doesnt spark off the ht lead from the coil either.

Ran out of time today so going to have a look tomorrow, starting with the small stuff, fuses, connections, earth's then on to coil, ignition wiring and finally dizzy if nothing else works. Really not looking forward to paying out £250 or whatever it is if its the dizzy thats knackered…     hoping for a bad connection or something  

Hi,

you're not having much luck by the sound of it, but it'll be worth it when it's sorted. It looks a great car.

I read comments about changing the fuel pump, relay and fuse. Does that mean you've got an electric pump? I thought carburettor cars had a mechanical pump, but I'm probably wrong.

The electrical problems are typical. On reversing into my garage this morning I noticed the reversing lights weren't working on my '76 diesel. That's to add to the clock, heater motor and horn, and my '80 cabby has no dash lights once a week and the high idle trick too.

Enjoy it!
Robin