my mk1 arrived 2day :)

soo……

my new (ish) mk1 gti arrived 2day and me and me dadd are going 2 restore it

the 1 we got is a shell and it has no rust so were chuffed.

it has the original engine and many of the parts underneath

what i am asking is is were 2 start

weve restored a few cars in the past but this is my first vw and plans are is that its going to be my first car (imagine the inshurance lol)

so any help would be most appreciated

thanks

youngdub.

Start by taking a very critical look at all the bodywork sections, especially the inaccessible areas underneath. There's no point doing other things, or paintwork, if there's welding to do. When you say its a shell with original engine and parts, is the car more/less complete or in bits?

piccies we need piccies!!

paul_c said

Start by taking a very critical look at all the bodywork sections, especially the inaccessible areas underneath. There's no point doing other things, or paintwork, if there's welding to do. When you say its a shell with original engine and parts, is the car more/less complete or in bits?

erm most bits are there

the only parts missing are the rear drums and all of ther interior except the dashboard and the car is not in bits

cabriaulait said

piccies we need piccies!!

my camera broke and hp are making a mess of repairing it.  they say after xmas at best but ill see what i can do with my camera phone

youngdub said

paul_c said

Start by taking a very critical look at all the bodywork sections, especially the inaccessible areas underneath. There's no point doing other things, or paintwork, if there's welding to do. When you say its a shell with original engine and parts, is the car more/less complete or in bits?

erm most bits are there

the only parts missing are the rear drums and all of ther interior except the dashboard and the car is not in bits

In that case, I'd sort the brakes first, then get the engine running (does it run already?). I have no idea how good or bad the paintwork is, or what your plans are (a tidy up, or a full-on resto) so I don't know if you're planning a respray or not. If not, then you can keep it pretty much together mechanically and attend to each section as needs be.

paul_c said

youngdub said

paul_c said

Start by taking a very critical look at all the bodywork sections, especially the inaccessible areas underneath. There's no point doing other things, or paintwork, if there's welding to do. When you say its a shell with original engine and parts, is the car more/less complete or in bits?

erm most bits are there

the only parts missing are the rear drums and all of ther interior except the dashboard and the car is not in bits

In that case, I'd sort the brakes first, then get the engine running (does it run already?). I have no idea how good or bad the paintwork is, or what your plans are (a tidy up, or a full-on resto) so I don't know if you're planning a respray or not. If not, then you can keep it pretty much together mechanically and attend to each section as needs be.

the yard we got it from (for 50 quid!!!) was on the edge of a runway and the man who sold it to us let us test it on the runway.  and i can say it runs   for a car with 120k on the clock oh boy it runs…………it absolutley flies. we even drove it round his big farm on some of the back roads (meee driving and im 13 lol)  and the handling was great but the brakes must be made out of chewing gum cos theyre crap..

err a respray would be good but my salary is pocket money and the bodywork is actually in pretty good nick just a few scratches to the black paint.

but that was a very fun day

if i were you mate, id go back into making it COMPLETELY standard, for sake of insurance, then you have many more companies willing to insure you, if its modified, noone will touch you until your at least 19, or they will, but will take an arm and a leg with them

i think the gti's look nice standard anyway, and that look has so many parts readily available in comparison to what i've gone for, old 70s style, and chrome stuff !!

good luck
need pictures though

also you could turn ?50 into a grand or more which is pretty nice at 13!
standard cars are much more wanted than the modded ones,

really looking forward to the pics and your resto, im sure everyone here will help

good luck

cabriaulait said

also you could turn ?50 into a grand or more which is pretty nice at 13!
standard cars are much more wanted than the modded ones,

really looking forward to the pics and your resto, im sure everyone here will help

good luck

thnx for the help so far

projectgolf said

if i were you mate, id go back into making it COMPLETELY standard, for sake of insurance, then you have many more companies willing to insure you, if its modified, noone will touch you until your at least 19, or they will, but will take an arm and a leg with them

i think the gti's look nice standard anyway, and that look has so many parts readily available in comparison to what i've gone for, old 70s style, and chrome stuff !!

good luck
need pictures though

will i still be able to be insured if i improve the breaks?

youngdub said

projectgolf said

if i were you mate, id go back into making it COMPLETELY standard, for sake of insurance, then you have many more companies willing to insure you, if its modified, noone will touch you until your at least 19, or they will, but will take an arm and a leg with them

i think the gti's look nice standard anyway, and that look has so many parts readily available in comparison to what i've gone for, old 70s style, and chrome stuff !!

good luck
need pictures though

will i still be able to be insured if i improve the breaks?

Probably not - it counts as a modification and the premium will go up. Mine did!

yes but are u judging wether the brakes are any good by the way it was on the test drive cos a new, well set up set of gti brakes are easily good enuff to pass an mot. try the original set up i think youll be suprised!


do goodrich hoses class as a mod??

cabriaulait said

yes but are u judging wether the brakes are any good by the way it was on the test drive cos a new, well set up set of gti brakes are easily good enuff to pass an mot. try the original set up i think youll be suprised!


do goodrich hoses class as a mod??

on the test drive on the runway i took it up to 30 and there was nothing happening with the brakes when i really slammed them on so anything will be better i mean seriously

illl probably start restoring after xmas cos im too busy untill then and for xmas i just asked for money and im going to put some things on ebay to get more money.


if i was to going to respray it i would take the car completely apart so every bit of the car is nice and shiny with paint  

i just had a look behind the wheels of the car to chek the pads and there werent any.   :mrgreen:

so that explains a lot.

with the suspension the dampers are covered in dirt, what should i check to see if they are standard?

just try bleeding them first,
 your calipers might have siezed,
 was the hand brake on when you first sat in it?

all that could render them useless, when i first got mine that was the first thing i did,
gtis had vented discs, married with the right pads, you should stop ok!
the rear drums are efficient if set up right, if there old and siezed up its not suprising they didnt work.

try stripping the calipers and drums down, see what youve got .

chk the brake lines and tbh replace them, cos its pennies to do with a flaring kit and 3/16 pipe
then fit some braided hoses, that makes a big difference,
also chk the servo and master cylinder

have u got a haynes??

weres the best place to get stock parts for the mk1?

ive had a look on a few sites but they were no good

hey there youngdub, just spotted you are from Edinburgh! where abouts? I am from fairmilehead end of town. Have a look at the scottish regions page to see if you can spot some more mk1s!

How young is a young dubber recently, because it is worth a look at a few of the insurance threads on young drivers if you are struggling.  

For genuine mk1 parts, the best places are

www.gpcvwaudi.com and your dealer

For the best pattern parts

www.gsfcarparts.com
www.trimsport.co.uk are good for some things.

For good second hand bits, see

www.golfmk1.org.uk (crazyquiff on this site)

or try

www.1golfahead.co.uk (scouse on this site)

Cheers, Andrew

marsredgti said

hey there youngdub, just spotted you are from Edinburgh! where abouts? I am from fairmilehead end of town. Have a look at the scottish regions page to see if you can spot some more mk1s!

How young is a young dubber recently, because it is worth a look at a few of the insurance threads on young drivers if you are struggling.  

For genuine mk1 parts, the best places are

www.gpcvwaudi.com and your dealer

For the best pattern parts

www.gsfcarparts.com
www.trimsport.co.uk are good for some things.

For good second hand bits, see

www.golfmk1.org.uk (crazyquiff on this site)

or try

www.1golfahead.co.uk (scouse on this site)

Cheers, Andrew

err im in silverknows and im 13

thanks for the sites 8)

Yeah just to echo cabriaulait's advice on brakes - definitely job no.1 when you buy a Golf of unknown history, is to give it a full service including brake fluid, and cambelt! The 'service' includes inspecting and renewing other components, for example if your discs are thinner than the minimum allowable spec, or scored, or the pads are shot; similarly if the drums are scored or worn, and shoes, etc then these would have to be replaced too - which all adds up. You might find that the bleed nipples are seized or broken off, which will probably mean new calipers too. Also, leaky wheel cylinders, etc are a possibility.

I'd say braided hoses are not a modification in terms of the brakes. Lots of people say they've improved the brakes once fitted, but I'd say that's down to the bleeding and new fluid, rather than specifically the hoses. So you can say that they're an equivalent to the standard part and thus a like-for-like, not a 'modification' as such. Similarly, if you fitted a better brand of pads or shoes, I'd say its so marginal that its not going to cause issues.

But if ever you had an accident and an insurance assessor looked at the car and it had cross drilled & grooved discs, or larger discs, or something like that, then alarm bells will start ringing of the "boy racer modifications" variety! If he's on the ball, he would also pick up on an uprated servo and m/c, especially if different pipework was done for it (22.2mm master cylinders typically have 2, 3 or 4 outlets, rather than the 5 or 6 of the stock one, so you need to use T pieces in the lines).