Baz's '83 Golf Driver - Complete Restoration Thread

Hello
I'm fairly new to the forums and thought I'd post a few pics of my little project.  I'm keeping a diary and will add it as I go along but first I thought I'd post a few pics.  I'm going for a complete restoration of every nut, bolt and panel to try and recover this car's little lost soul.
Here's a few pictures which were taken halfway through it's stripdown.
Any advice and help would be much appreciated.
More pics to come as well.
Baz












WORK DIARY
Car was bought on 25th of May 2006 for a total of ?380.  Transportation costs were about ?30 for ?20 trailer from Mc Carrolls and about ?10 of diesel.

Day 1:  Friday 26th May
Car is cleared out and engine and extras all taken out of the back and car is push into the garage.  Garage gets tidied and set up ready for work to start.  Car gets it?s first general inspection.
Removed:
Rear Lights
Rear Seats
Rub Strips

Day 2:  Saturday 27th May
Removed:
   Door Cards
   Front Seats
   Headliner
   Rear Trim
   Seat Belts
   Pillar Trim

Day 3:  Tuesday 30th May
Removed:
   Dash
   Steering Wheel
   Front Carpet
   Soundproofing
   Air Ducting
   Fan
   Instrument Cluster

Day 4:  Wednesday 31st May
Wiring was removed and fully labelled.  Dents and rust were also marked on bodywork with permanent marker.

Day 5:  Thursday 1st June
Removed:
   Gear Linkage
   Door Locks
   Side Windows and seals
   Headlights
   Rear Wiper Motor
   Front Bumper
   Wing Mirrors
   Bonnet Prop

Day 6:  Sunday 4th June
Removed:
   Tailgate
   Doors

Day 7:  Monday 5th June
To Do list made:
   Remove:
Petrol Tank and Filler Neck
   Fuel Lines
   Rear Axel
   Rear Wheels
   Suspension
   Brakes
   Handbrake
   Pedals
   Steering
   Front Window
   Front Engine Mount

Clean Engine Bay

Cut Out:
   Sills
   Rear Panel
   Passengers Quarter panel
   Hole in driver?s floor
   Hole in spare wheel well
   Patch behind pedals

Day 8:  Saturday 10th June
Removed:
   Rear axel (3 bolts out of 4 snapped off)
   Petrol tank disconnected
   Filler neck removed (drilled out due to corrosion)
   Breather pipes all cut due to corrosion

Day 9: Tuesday 13th June
Removed:
   Petrol Tank
   Rear Brake Lines
   Soundproofing on passengers floor

Dents hammered out of passenger?s floor.  Dents on rear strut towers hammered out.  Rear hatch, upper seal groove sanded down.

Day 10:  Thursday 15th June
Removed:
   Fuel and brake lines
   Bolts from front wings
   Front Window

Day 11:  Friday 23rd June
Removed:
   Go faster stripes (stickers)

Sanded and primed rear hatch upper seal groove.

Day 12:  Saturday 24th June
Removed:
   Front Wings
Engine bay cleaning started with degreaser.

Day 13:  Wednesday 28th June
Removed:
   Fuel gauge sender unit from fuel tank
Continued cleaning engine bay and began removing sealer from inside front wings.

Day 14:  Monday 3rd July
Sanded rusted parts of front wings.  Removed more glue from inside front wings.  Began stripping sealer from inner front wings.

Day 15:  Thursday 6th July
Removed:
   Drivers side suspension, wishbone, brakes, hub, wheel.

Stripped back more of drivers side inner wing.

Day 16:  Saturday 8th July
Removed:
   Passenger?s side suspension, brakes, wheel, hub, wishbone

Began stripping back passenger?s side inner wing.  Sanded down driver?s front wing rub-strip recess.  Filled recess.

Day 17:  Monday 10th July
Stripped and primed drivers front inner wing.  Smoothed recess in drivers wing.  Cut out hole in spare wheel well.  Cut out hole in driver?s foot well, cut out rust in drivers side rear strut tower.  Filled small hole with p40.  Filled dents in rear passengers strut tower.

Day 18:  Tuesday 11th July
Removed:
   Bonnet latch
   Soundproofing from behind dash on firewall
   All grommets from plenum chamber and firewall
   Throttle cable
   Accelerator pedal
   Clutch cable and pedal
   Ignition barrel
   Steering lock and stalks
   Steering rack
   Handbrake cables
   Rear suspension
   Rear axel and hubs
   
Sanded down front part of driver?s wing.  Filled and smoothed driver?s wing.  Primed rub-strip recess after smoothing.  Cut out driver?s outer sill.  Cut out back of driver?s sill at inner rear arch.

Day 19:  Wednesday 12th July
Removed:
   Brake mechanism and cylinder
   Rear hubs taken off rear axel

Cleaned more of engine bay.  Filled more dents in rear strut towers.  Primed part of drivers wing.  Filled dents in rear upper hatch seal recess.  Sanded and primed drivers side of rear hatch seal recess.

Day 20:  Thursday 13th July
Removed:
   Rear panel
   Front Engine mount
   Driver?s side wiper arm
   Wiper motor and mechanism

Various dents and scratches filled and primed.  Car set up on blocks.  Undercoating around spare wheel well removed.

New To Do list Made:
Clean and prime passengers inner wing.
Cut all rust and prepare hole at driver?s floor for repairing
Clean rest of engine bay

Day 21:  Saturday 29th July
Cleaned more of passenger?s front inner wing.  Sanded and primed patch at corner of passenger front window.  Rust at back right side all cut out.  Tow hook cut out.  Finished and primed drivers rear strut tower.  Cleaned more of engine bay.


Monday 31st July
HAND OPERATION

Monday 7th August
Ordered outer sills and rear outer arches.  Ophir Motors Dundrod ? Hadrian panel distributor.  Collected on Thursday 10th.

Day 22:  Friday 29th September
Sanded and smoothed drivers wing ? also added a coat of primer.

Day 23:  Wednesday 4th October
Sanded front window surround and primed.  Tidied Shed. Filled and smoothed hole in bottom of passenger?s wing.

Mother in hospital

Wednesday 8th November ? Rear panel arrived from crazy quiff.

Day 24:  Wednesday 15th November
Sanded and primed front half of passenger?s inner wing.  Cut out badly welded patch on firewall behind clutch.  Cut out driver?s side of rain tray.

Day 25:  Thursday 16th November
Removed rest of rain tray.

Day 26:  Sunday 31st December (New Years Eve)
Cut out both rotten arches.  Cut out passenger?s sill.

oh looks like a long job, should be a good one when finished keep the pitures coming of the project and update.  :notworthy:

nice colour 8)  get stuck in and good luck

OK
here's my first barrage of easy questions for you.
I've been looking around www.eurocarparts.com and although they seem to have very little in stock, they do seem to have a couple of the parts i'm looking for.  But they don't have any pictures.  Are they any good?

1. On eurocarparts on the side body parts section is part number 815440111 and 815440121 the entire outer sills? because i think I'd probably replace those as well.
2. Is the arch repair panels what i'm looking for also (they're ?7.15 each at the bottom)?  From the state of my outer arches you'll know what i mean.  Someone else tried to fix mine but they just need to be cut out now.
3. Is Crazyquiff the best person to get an entire rear panel from? (as you can see, i really need one).

Thanks in advance for any help
Baz

my advice is go to your nearest motor factors/general parts shop and they will have the catologue for somewhere like Hadrian Panels - you can look at it in the shop - there are drawings of the panels - choose what you want and you'll have a better chance of getting what you need..

keep the pics coming too!

I agree with Carbs, source the panels you need from Hadrian (got mine through my local friendly MOT place), If they don't have it in stock, they'll probably make it up

Crazyquiff is the best person for the rear panel's, but think he sold his last one?  :dontknow: hopefully he'll order some more up  :wink:

Crazyquiff - he'll get you most stuff. great for small hard to find parts and great, fast service too. 8)

PhillTMK1GTI said

Crazyquiff is the best person for the rear panel's, but think he sold his last one?  :dontknow: hopefully he'll order some more up  :wink:

Hes a good man for anything VW :wink:

Had to say VW as i know what some of ya are like

Keep up the good/hard work, it will all pay off 8)

cheers
Tucker

Well, it's been a while.  It's been a slower process than i had thought but it's always moving along.  I've added my work diary to the first post.  I'll be adding more pics as well as soon as I get them sorted out.  Loads of stuff has got in the way of this project so it's just been a couple of hours here and there.  Getting in the way so far has been a motorcycle rebuild, family illness, and a hand operation so it's been a bit of a crap year all round but here's to 2007 and hopefully things are looking up.  I've just flogged an engine for a grand so I can get a few nice tools including a welder and possibly a few materials for a jig as well.
I'm at the stage where a lot of the major welding is ready to be done so it should be a slightly faster moving project now.  If i can keep the other work to my bora out of the way for a while and get a few loose ends tidied up it'll be full steam ahead.
Keep an eye out for the updates and i'll have these pics sorted out as soon as I can.  And a LOT has changed since the first pics.
Cheers
Baz

where in Northern Ireland are you Baz? keep it going!

I'm in north antrim about 9 miles outside balymena.
Baz

im in Co. Armagh - must meet up for a yarn

Carbs4ever said

im in Co. Armagh - must meet up for a yarn

No problem - i'll get some stuff cleared up and a few jobs finished off and we'll sort it out. Got any doors?
Baz

yes.

Carbs4ever said

yes.

OK well I need 2 doors for this tin top bucket.
What sort of condition are they in?
how much?
Baz

ones good and one needs a little work to the lower section…

?50 for the pair.

Could you get a pic or 2 posted up or emailed to me?
Bazmcc@hotmail.com

I'd like to see them.  I have a couple of doors here but the damage will take a lot of work on one and the other needs the top half straightened and I couldn't be bothered at the minute.  I'll probably repair them and reskin one after a while but at the minute I'd like to get a couple of decent clean and tidy doors to have when I'm ready for them.
Cheers
Baz

will get you a pic.

Got a couple of bargains today.
These aren't bad for ?15 delivered.  there is a crack in one but my plan was always to find a set of clear lights and tint the bottom half anyway for the black and white strip look.  These will be a pretty good canidate because when they are tinted and the laquer drys, the crack won't been seen.  I'll have a look when they arrive and i'll possibly pop out the coloured reflectors and use coloured bulbs instead.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/…em=150079111578&rd=1&rd=1

But aesthetic aspects aside I have a lot more important welding, grinding, sanding etc to be getting on with.
And today I got a 130 amp Turbo MIG welder for ?110 because it had adent in the side.  It's been a fairly good day so far.  I need to get some major work done now.
Baz

doors aren't great to be honest Baz - had a good look at em there… probably better off huntin for better ones - i'll keep an eye out too