my white 83 gti

well it was inevitable really. was messing around under the car today at the rear beam poked my finger into a small hole as you do and it crumbled away so after a little more investigation this was the result after 5 minutes of digging and scratching..    im not quite sure what to do now.     i was absolutely pushed to the limit funds wise with the cost of the respray  coming up this of course is now going to be put back.   do i tackle this myself or fork out for the bodyshop to do it. bare in mind i was quoted £600 for a rear panel replacement. thats straight forward removal and refit. this newly found rust looks like it could be an inner arch, outer arch. sill and chassis leg\box section repair it has rotted through underneath next to where the rear beam mount goes onto the chassis.   i can see a body shop putting a £1,500+ bill to do this lot.   my mind is now considering buying another shell (solid) to build back up with all my parts or even calling it quits. i bought this car as a solid driver not a restoration project so its already cost me a lot.  feeling absolutely gutted is an understatement!  it was all so well hidden with underseal and filler.

even the ones that shine outside hide so many things. its all to be expected on most mk1's

As Volkswarren said, it's to be expected on most MK1's! I think you'll be hard pushed to find a Mk1 shell that isn't showing rot in the same places unless you find a restored shell.

I know how you feel, I was going through a similar thing in the spring with mine. I wasn't planning a respray but I thought I had a solid shell which needed a bit of cosmetic work which could be done as and when but a few pokes and prods and I had holes like yours!

Keep your chin up mate and don't let it beat you! You don't have to replace the whole tub, I did some temporary repairs on mine with a view that in a few years time when the funds permit I can get it done properly! It needs the rear arch, inner arch, sill and axle mount doing properly but I patched it up sufficiently for a few years!

Some worse than others sadly to say I had my fair share rot boxes  and scrapped some with A posts totally gone
But can say my cabrio is best shell I ever seen
It's never had welder or grinder on it any were
I only know this because I stripped to bare shell to paint it back to red 10yrs ago  even to this date when goes for mot they don't check the car as its like brand new from front to back  

can anyone tell me if that Right hand side of the vertical line / join is part of a repair panel thats available.
i cant quite work out whats what here. when looking at inner and outer arch repair panels neither of them cover that part? it looks to high up to be part of the sill piece.
i know the bit at the bottom and the bit at the back around the hole for the hoses is part of the arch tub.  but theres a join line running down when you look towards the front of the car..

That's a shame Dan. That join line is original. You can get outer-inner arch panels - so the front half of that join line (if that makes sense.) You can also get full arch tubs - when they're available!

I changed the arch tub on mine after trying to patch it and giving up. To be honest, the arch tub repair wasn't too difficult at all. If you can stump up the money for the panel, then it's probably going to be quicker and easy than patching it.

You can get an inner arch repair panel which is just the lip, or you can get a full inner arch that is basically the outer half of the tub that would include that piece. That is a fairly big job to replace though, so depending on how much more of that panel needs repairing, you could cut and replace just that section.

I had exactly the same on mine. I think it was the very first bit of welding I tackled. Should be some pics of how I did it on my build thread.

Oh the full arch tubs are in stock!

https://www.vwheritage.com/shop/golf-mk1/BBW803422F/rear-wheel-arch-tub-right-mk1-golf/?crumbStartPage=1&crumbStartRow=1

They're also about half the price I thought they were!

Whichever method you choose you'll be stripping fuel system out, so I'd say go for this option all day long. Higher material cost than patching-up but will be much quicker and easier I reckon

thanks for the response guys i have dropped the rear axle and fuel tank last night it appears it needs the rear beam mount area replacing. which doesn't look too difficult seeing as its a small piece that sits over the top of the 2 studs for the beam mounts.

i plan to start with these, removing them looks to be the trickiest part. once they are off i can tackle the rear of the sill..  the front of the sills look good but once your fully underneath the car and looking outwards the back flat area of the sill nearest the rear arch ( where the brake line bracket is on the chassis) has rotted through and its hidden behind the box section piece.  hopefully its not to tricky to cut out and replace but once thats on the new box section/beam mount piece can go on over the studs. and then the inner and outer arch pieces..  totally the wrong time of year to be doing this outside but i am doing my best to keep any damp out. nothing is being left bare metal for any time at all.    

i cut out the rusted areas from the back of the drivers side wheel tub last night and plan to just make those pieces up myself rather than replace the whole tub as the rest is solid.  so so much more work than i expected but i am sure nearly every classic car owner has been through it.  
nothing like diving in the deep end my previous mechanical experience is NILL i have bought all my tools and stuff over the last 6 months since owning the car..

absolutely gutting to think 6 weeks ago i was flying about in the mk1 happy as larry looking forward to a respray and a 20v conversion for winter now i have a chopped up shell sat on axle stands with more and more being cut out everyday.  

dan-j-w said

absolutely gutting to think 6 weeks ago i was flying about in the mk1 happy as larry looking forward to a respray and a 20v conversion for winter now i have a chopped up shell sat on axle stands with more and more being cut out everyday.  

Welcome to the wonderful world of MK1 Golf ownership!

They like to keep you on your toes!

Hi Dan, don't be too downhearted mate. I bought a "restored" mk1 gti in 2007 for £6500. Ever since I started to notice more and more things wrong with it. It's currently sat in a body shop where it's been for the last 3 years and to date I must have spent around  £10,000 on it and still counting. Keep going and remember it's all going to be worth it in the end when your behind the wheel again.

Don't give up mate. look forward to the end product.

its getting harder and harder to find a solid one outside never mind underneath too.

thanks again, i sorted my head over the last 2 evenings and have now cut out the rust from underneath its not so daunting once you remove certain pieces and get a better understanding of whats what. the area around the rear beam mount is layered from all angles.  

theres a thin box section sat over the top of the re enforced plate that holds the 2 threaded studs.
that re enforced plate is welded to a side wall piece that drops down from the floor. and behind that side wall it meets the inner sill and then obviously the outer sill sweeps underneath and meets at the same place.  

at first glance all i could see was a rotten mess of metal lips coming from all angles! its all cut out on the drivers side now  and repair panels have been ordered.

i am rushing home from work at 5pm uncovering the car and getting 1-2 hours to get a bit done each day. im confident in doing these repairs underneath, the rear panel and the 2 patches in the tub but not so sure i want to tackle the outer arches myself.  i understand its just a lot of small tack welds done slowly and back and forth but i wouldn't know how to go about getting them to fit correctly/ where to cut the old ones out and how to then cut the new ones in. as i need to do the inner arch lip as well.

Glad to hear that you've got your head round it! Just think what an awesome car you've going to have at the end of it all! Post plenty of pictures of each stage, including what it looked like before, pictures of the rot removed and pictures of the repairs as you go. That way I'll be able to see what I'm going to be up against 😉 But mainly because others on the forum who have already done these repairs can give hints and tips on what's best to do! Good luck 👍!

looking into the wheel tub


and then laying on my back under the car looking up the area next to the rear beam mount is what made me worry the most, but as i said i soon realised its just a fairly simple box section sat over the top of a thick metal u shaped plate that holds the studs for the mount.  

with the outer arch lip removed at the bottom it revealed this resin/filler it was rock hard


and then this is a phone picture with flash on  in the dark  of the area i wanted to get to its not clear but it has rusted through along the bottom edge where the inner and outer arch go against it.  pics are before i cut away the box section around the studs. i will update with clear pics at the weekend.

well i cut out the remaining rusted areas from the drivers side sill and rear beam mount area yesterday.

i am waiting on delivery of all my panels.
i have inner and outer rear arches, rear beam mount box sections and a rear panel for the moment.

today i am going to remove the rest of the engine bay and the dash so i can clean up the front footwells make sure there is no rust issues and it needs to be out for the 20v install after paint anyway.

the only thing i cant quite figure out how to do is the rear of the boot floor that meets the rear panel. the little gully/dip that runs along the rear has rusted through in about 4 places along the length of it. once my rear panel is off i will have easy access to this but not sure how to attack it. theres to many small areas to cut out individually but i dont like the look of it when its been chopped out as a whole and replaced with a single piece of flat metal. heres one i found on google i need to do this but try and keep the shape of the original floor as much as possible!