Golf GTI Special '83

Early-1800 said

Unless you are going for a concours d'elegance finish does it need sandblasting?
Apart from roof it all looks like normal old car rotten floor and sills. A bit of a weldathon but repair panels are available and it can be made good.

You are probably right. After getting everything off now I've actually decided not to sandblast now. I need to replace both floors, inner/outer sills on both sides, the boot floor (maybe) and what's called "rear chassis repair" on Heritage on both sides. So what's left to sandblast is basically the front of the car, and I'm going to try do that myself instead.

So as recommended I did not deliver the car for sandblasting. So while waiting for my welder to arrive I've started cleaning things up. I try to spenda couple of hours every day to keep the momentum, and I have a lot of metal to cover The front of the car is actually not that bad compared to the rear. I need to replace the suspension turrent on the left side - and the front panel, but I think that is it.

espenlg said

So as recommended I did not deliver the car for sandblasting. So while waiting for my welder to arrive I've started cleaning things up. I try to spenda couple of hours every day to keep the momentum, and I have a lot of metal to cover The front of the car is actually not that bad compared to the rear. I need to replace the suspension turrent on the left side - and the front panel, but I think that is it.

Great work! You certainly aren't hanging around.

Campaigning for Dave said

Great work! You certainly aren't hanging around.

Summer 2022 is too close to be lazy :-)

A while back I contacted a guy on FB after seeing his ad for selling a MK1 in fair condition. I asked him about the roof and was seriously considering buying it just for the roof, but then he told me his father-in-law actually had a MK1 roof laying on a barn. He had removed it many years ago and it's been in storage ever since. I managed to get a hold if him and I bought it for around £260. It was however 7-8 hour drive from my place so I had to add another £125 for shipping.

And today it arrived It looks in good condition like promised and everything is working fine. I did however find a tiny rust hole in the sunroof, but I think I can manage to fix it. My garage is to small (like it is for everyone I guess) so I had to store it in the ceiling for now

Great project - Will be great to follow

Thumbs up for your energy to save this nice Mk1.

Are you Norwegian-based?

Wow! That roof was cheap for that. Saw one on facebook very recently, also in red for £700 … bargain and great work so far well done


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Hef355 said

Wow! That roof was cheap for that. Saw one on facebook very recently, also in red for £700 … bargain and great work so far well done

I know! I mean, £385 is a decent amount of money, but the chance of finding a roof in good condition is pretty slim I guess. I'm pretty sure I would have paid £700 if that was my only option.

Hurtig said

Great project - Will be great to follow
Thumbs up for your energy to save this nice Mk1.
Are you Norwegian-based?

Yes sir - born and raised You too?

This week was a good week Tuesday the parts from Heritage arrived and this is what I ordered:

- Rear Chassis Repair - Both sides
- Complete Front Panel
- Lower Front Side Member Repair - Both sides
- Floor Pan - Both sides
- Inner and outer sills - Both sides
- Large Outer Rear Wheel Arch - Both sides

Then on wednesday my new welder arrived. I ended up with a rather unknown (I guess) Spartus EasyMig 215. I've tried it out today and I have to say it works very well, considering I have never welded anything before. So I'm practising a lot and using my current front panel as a test area. It will be replaced anyway. I also bought a load of metal so my plan is to create a "cage" of some sort to secure the shape of the car while working on the floor and roof. When this is done my next step is to create a rollover jig. Hopefully I have everything I need.

In addition I'm trying to spend an hour every day grinding away the dirt and old paint. I'm close to being finished with the engine bay, only the tricky parts left.

I also managed to find a new suspension turret for the left side. Heritage didn't have any plans for getting it in stock. However, when looking at the situation I'm not actually sure if I need to change it. I'll share some pictures in the next post and ask for your opinion.

I couple of picture showing how my garage was packed while temporary storing the Heritage-packages, and the current state of the engine bay.

Great work and good effort so far! I admire your drive, energy and guts! Well done!


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Yesterday I welded in support to keep the structure intact when working on the sills and floors. My plan for now is to replace the inner sills first, then the outer sills. And finally the floors. I will probably need to cut the bottom of the outer sill to expose what needs to be exposed while replacing the inner. Exciting times

I made a rollover jig last weekend and it works very well I've shared the drawings in the "rollover jig thread" here at the forum, so you can download if you like.

Here is an animation of the result:



With this in place there is no excuse to not start replacing panels. I'm going to take small steps and I've started to work on a piece where the left suspension turret is located. I'll share the result when it's done. Wish me luck :-D

that is great mk1 and not bad in rut found compared to ones I've had over the years. bonus on 16v engine and that roof find is a steal