Louie's 83 GTI Build

Hi all, thought it was about time I started my build thread as we're finally starting to make real progress with it!

I bought this GTI as a rolling shell off the forums on here last summer after my 82 GTI went into blasting and turned out to be 'a bit' more work than first thought. It'll make its way back onto the road, just not soon!

The new shell I went to pick up was meant to have new Sills, Scuttle, Rear Arches and Front Panel so looked ideal for just dropping my old engine and running gear into. Initially thought I'd have it on the road by the end of the year (2015) but new target is this summer (2016).

As you'll see this didn't happen as there was a massive amount of work to be done to the shell. Still, this gave me the opportunity to put time towards making what my personal vision for a Mk1 GTI should be.

Here's how it started.




























More progress pictures to follow soon..

Didn't take many pictures when stripping the Golf as there wasn't really much to do.

Started removing all the under seal so it was ready for blasting.





Dent in the passenger side above the sill.





Phone died and i lost all my blasting pictures, still have a few from priming it. Only in the back garden but was enough just for now to get it through the metalwork.





Didn't bother removing any from the floor pans as i ran out of time. Doesn't matter anyhow as they're both ruined and being replaced.





Plenty more metal work has been completed, will be update the thread soon.



 

Making great progress for having to be outdoors

A patch on a patch on a patch......!

RichardHall - Cheers mate, hoping to have the garage clear enough for it when it's back from bodywork, real nightmare in the rain!

Yomp Yeah is scary to think someone thought it was acceptable!

Next up was the metalwork, lucky enough to know someone with their own workshop.

Started with the roof as someone previously bodged in an aerial at the rear. Inside and outside areas both repaired.

After this it was time for the other roof repair, this was originally hidden with filler. Small holes spread down this section, cutting out the section meant he could remove all any rust in behind. He repaired this and then used lead to give the repair a great result.






As we didn't have the roof and rear quarters blasted with the rest of the shell the roof was paint stripped back to bare metal.




Final area with the roof that needed some attention was between the support bars, the bonding had come away in areas and mild rust behind so they were removed, cleaned and will be put back into place.

The next step in the metal work was replacing both floor pans. It seemed water had sat in the car for a long time as the seat frame cross section was completely rusted through in many areas and also had to be replaced.













Chassis rails were removed, blasted again inside and out before being straightened, primed and reattached.

Rear arches were repaired on both sides, they only required minor work.

First image shows a previous sill repair which is another addition to the to-do list.





Rear quarters were the last part with original paint on after the roof was paint stripped. They were rubbed back to bare metal and thin layer of primer applied.

Both sills needed replacing with some inner sill repairs. Previous repairs weren't exactly great and removing them showed they were attached over the original sills.

Swage line needs some work to bring out to the original depth and door gaps still need some work.

Rear valance and spare wheel well were replaced next. The valance was removed, boot floor area cleaned up and valance mocked into place.

Before the valance was welded in to place the spare wheel well was replaced. I sourced a genuine cut out which I removed all underseal from before having it blasted to ensure it was solid.

Spare wheel well went in great before he finished valance and made up the small joining piece between the two. Happy with the results.

Drivers side steering rack mount had been repaired previously, again poorly. So this was removed and replaced with a better condition mount. The new mount was blasted by a mate, after mocking it into place you could see the surrounding area had been pushed back in so this was cut out and replaced.

Fuel filler section required repair.






After that it was onto the previous A Pillar repairs, the scuttle also had a previous single wiper conversion on the scuttle which wasn't great so it was best to replace the whole section. Sourced an original cut out, this was rubbed this down to bare metal, primed and painted to match the cars new colour- it will soon be welded into place. Colour is Atlas Grey - LP7V.















The scuttle hasn't been welded into place just yet, instead we moved onto the front panel. For this it had to be taken off the jig and put back onto some wheels. The car had the front panel replaced previously but again this was poor so bought in a new panel.







The front end was trial fitted, looked OK but requires work to get the panel gaps perfected.

Great thread and cant wait to see how the car turns out……I keep thinking about car adverts stating "all welding done, new front panel" etc!

Dan

Great job you're doing there thumbs up!

shepp Cheers mate! Excited to get it into paint soon.

MKD_Mk1 Thanks bud, credit to my mate for his time on the metal work though. Can't wait to get it finished.

Top work and very similar to where I am at the moment.

Where did you get your front wings from? Are they a good fit line up ok?

chrisL cheers mate. Excited for paint soon, Bet you are too! 

As for the wings I got them off Heritage as the genuine wings. We haven't finished lining them up yet as I've changed bonnets but first impressions are good. They need a little work but quality wise they're very good. 
Hope this helps. 

Battery tray replaced.

Just waiting to dig out the air box to line up the mount.

Front panel removed. New one mocked in place. After straightening a chassis leg a few mil the top gap from bonnet to wing is around 6.5mm, looks ideal but heard some people have 9mm?