Mk1 Golf Project

[BigW]

Some may have seen this on SVAG but thought i'd post here too incase anyone was interested.

Well, It's a long story. I bought my 1.6 X plate GTi 13 years ago, had issues with it from the start, after changing engine after engine I eventually found it was just the metering head :scared:

The car had a few wee bits I didnt like so about 7 years ago I stuck it in the garage and began to strip her down and did a 16v conversion. Shortly after that I met the missus, got a new job/career, bought a house and had a daughter. In all that time I never even opened my garage once :bang: the joys of growing up.

Having lived in my present house for 4 years, I have only just managed to get my garage empty of shuch and so went through to my parents house and opened the garage for the first time in a long time. She was a sorry state to say the least, however i cleared the garage up and a nice man who loves cash-in-hand came and picked her up on a flatbed and brought her to my house.

So, heres a pic of her in her glory....

And her sorry state of arrival today

So the plan is that everything will be removed from the car, the shell sent for media blasting and begin in nut-and-bolt stylee.

Engine wise I am not sure what to do, I have everything needed for a 16v, will I regret not 20v'ing it? Will I be gutted I dont have the roar of a VR6/R32? or would a set of 45's on the KR tickle me just right? I'm sure thats something I will work out by the time I get to the stage I am considering dropping a lump in, of course your opinions are encouraged.

Other than a few small areas of surface rot and the front panel/leading edge of the inner wings she is pretty sound, but the precautionary blast is, in my opinion, the way to go.

Dont expect this to be a speedy build thread I have little free time and my missus makes sure I have little spare cash :nahnah: but slowly slowly catchee monkey.

[BigW]

Got some time today so made use of the shed at the bottom of the garden by filling it with lots of bits :p

Under the bonnet fully stripped apart from steering rack, interior empty, doors/tailgate off, rear lights off.

Next is underbody, fueltank, axle, brakelines/fuelpipes, shifter mechanism, front arms and all suspension.

I'm pretty pleased, she's in overall good condition (So far, got to get under her still though) looks like the spare wheel well needs a bit of attention and possibly the OSR tub needs a small bit of attention at the rear seatbelt mounts.

Thanks for reading.

Edited 9 June, 2009 by Bigw2069

[Superted]

Looks a good project to start, a bit of work but should pan out ok. Just one thing, take loads of photos and part number removed items, I started my Project PUG a few months ago, thought and thought that I could remember what goes where, but i'm still trying to work a few things out, what goes where etc!

Good luck.....

Edited 10 June, 2009 by Bigw2069
removed mahasssov quote :P

[BigW]

Looks a good project to start, a bit of work but should pan out ok. Just one thing, take loads of photos and part number removed items, I started my Project PUG a few months ago, thought and thought that I could remember what goes where, but i'm still trying to work a few things out, what goes where etc!

Good luck.....

Cheers mate, Ive done that with fiddly wee bits like the brake linkages and some of the fuelpipe setup but thankfully I know this thing inside out, I think the worst bit will be trying to put the dashboard back on :eek: the fusebox and loom is mk2 16v which is all on the wrong side for the mk1 and then trying to fit a 1.8T engine loom into that could get very confusing

I was considering using the full loom out the fabia but silly wee things kept niggling me about it and its probably just trying to be too smart, the old KISS comes to mind, keep it simple stupid .

Going out just now to drop the fuel lines, brakepipes and tank.

[Babs]

Nice work!

Good luck with the rest of it

[Monkey Boy]

Easy way to put a 1.8t loom into the 16v loom would be to use a loom from Qpeng Quantum Performance Engineering - Home thats what i used.

I removed the 16v ecu loom along with the ISV control box wiring then pluged in the Qpeng loom and it started first time on my 20v. If you need any info on the wiring then send me a pm.

Link to my mk2 20v build thread which may give you a couple of pointers. Skint Autoverein -> My mk2 build thread

[BigW]

The engine fairy arrived today,

I got a pretty good deal that I couldnt say no to :P

No going back now I suppose :eek:

[BigW]

Got a pair of these today:

My original ones are needing just too much work, Pattern panels will never be a good fit, and OEM ones are not available so these are fibreglass moulds of original VAG wings, reports on club GTi are that these are a spot on fit once the rough inner edges are trimmed. another bonus is that a pair of them weigh less than one steel wing.

[Monkey Boy]

Engine looks like an AUM unit? Will be more than quick enough in a mk1.

[BigW]

Yep, good eye

[Babs]

Good going on the wings!

[BigW]

Got this assembled tonight, will make things easier underneath.

[TaylorHawkins]

Ill keep a close eye on this project!

Good luck with it for now!

[Babs]

Lol - that's awesome!

[GarryC]

Top project Will. I shall be watching

...Goes off and sulks in a jealous manner...

Garry

[BigW]

This is coming along slowly but surley at the moment, as is the norm with this type of project and bits being hard to come by I am picking up them as they come along, I managed to get a genuine Rear panel, spare wheel well and picked up hadrians rear axle mounts, as far as it can be seen at the moment other than those parts I need two small plate welds and jobs a good-un.

I did get a nice PM from a chap on the Mk1 forums though which said he knew my car, from brand new, he had the choice of his car or mine from the showroom in Nottingham, he picked up RRC620X (mine being 621X) and to this day still has it, its currently undergoing a resto too so fingers crossed we can bring the cars back together at a Mk1 Annual Gathering some time in the future

Edited 29 August, 2009 by Bigw2069

[oilburninnut]

awesome project,make sure you detail everything you do for the swap then take lots of pics of it so i can copy:D

[countryboyhaha]

Good project, has got me thinking need to do something with mine. Have a MK1 GTI sitting in parent garage since the mid 90's.

[BigW]

Cheers mate, I havent updated in a while on purpose,

I now have the underside back to bare metal, a couple of small patch jobs needed but nothing major, I have a new genuine rear/front panel, and have assembled most everything I need for her, I have all the powdercoating sorted and a colour sceme sorted for underneath so all hubs, wishbones, ARB's, Axle, Brackets etc sent off and protected. Compononts from the engine have also been stripped off and prepped for powder, its all time and money which pleases SWMBO no end :P

I'm putting it on hold for a bit at the moment as I am doing my dissertation and have exams in january, I get riddled with guilt every time I go in the garage and start when I know I should be studying.

[Babs]

No! You should have guilt while studying!

[BigW]

Well, exams over and a bit of time off I have managed to get back in the garage,

Picked up some Bilt Hamber goodies so treated a few areas to a Deox, picked one area that was visibly fairly crispy and gave it a go.

I then roughed it up a bit, degreased with AS Tardis and applied the gel, covering with clingfilm to retain the moisture.

and it left this.

Considering my garage is like a freezer at the moment its worked fairly well(After I directed the halogens at it), I have now wire wheeled one side of the floorpan and the entire offside sill has been stripped back to bare metal, now coated any bits where rot was evident with deox gel and covered in clingfilm, I'll give it 24/36 hours and then give it a coat of etchweld to keep it protected in the meantime.

[Baker21]

Great little project this and cracking little setup there, look forward to seeing the finished article but more so the progression............

Bet it's chilly to be working on the car in the current climate hey?

[BigW]

Aye its a bit chilly but I have the halogens on at my back so thats helping no end

Got one side a protective coating today.

Started wire wheeling the other and uncovered a couple of poor previous repairs

and a couple of areas that are in need of some repair,

I'll finish this off tomorrow morning and apply more deox then give it a protective layer.

[Baker21]

Aye its a bit chilly but I have the halogens on at my back so thats helping no end

Your not wrong there mate, mobile heaters those things...............

Moving along nicely on the progress front.............

[Babs]

Looking good!