Rolling with Pebbles

[hiho]

This is a thread to document the resurection of our beige beastie, Pebbels. Pebbles was found on a farm covered in moss and dog fur.


go reno fwego wheels

Filthy motor, but no oil in the intake!! Looks good

Trying to save another golf, but she was too far gone

The motor cleaned up nicely!


The evil combo struck, failed brake booster and diesel run on. WOOHOOO! That will teach you for tailgating. Big cloud, big power, no off switch and nnnnoo brakes!!!
This is me trying to revive the dead booster, no matter how hard i sucked, she just blew.

In with a spare booster to tame the beast.
We also replaced the oil and filter, bled the brakes, swapped the clocks for a working odo, replaced the thermo fan switch.
Along the way we have installed king springs and new dampers, windscreen and rear muffler.

[16v_kid]

Looks like a very good base.

Engine bay looks mint.

Nice find.

Good luck with it.

cheers

[roccodingo]

Hope you changed them strut mounts when you did the springs, those existing babies are well shot..

Have a look at the vacuum pump for the brake booster, they usually can do with a service or replacement to get the stoppers working better on an oiler.

Keep up the good work, nice to see it getting a new lease of life.

[hiho]

I have no idea what good strut mounts look like, thanks for pointing out that mine are shot! Any suggestions on where they might be sourced??

[hiho]

We installed a factory runon fix, but the cause of the problem, a faulty brake booster, has also been addressed.


The new instrument cluster has this little temperature warning light. The old instruments didnt have it. Does it need its own temperature sensor/switch? Also, the temperature reads much higher on this gauge than the old one and the fuel gauge doesnt work at all. Is this a compatibility issue or am I frying my motor???


The wheels came with the car, new in box. I had the tyres swapped over. I think they look very tidy.

[Water Boy]

Looking good mate

[Preen59]

Looks the goods dude. Looks to me like Mk1 diesels are the new three door!

[hiho]

Thanks guys! Its a bit banged up, but original paint (mostly). We also gave the interior a good clean today but no matter how hard we scrubbed, we couldnt get rid of all of the brown.

[Peter Jones]

The new instrument cluster has this little temperature warning light. The old instruments didnt have it. Does it need its own temperature sensor/switch? Also, the temperature reads much higher on this gauge than the old one and the fuel gauge doesnt work at all. Is this a compatibility issue or am I frying my motor???

The diesels dashes should al just plug and play. Sounds like the voltage reg in your new one might be shot. Swap it with the one from your old cluster.

It's a little black thing with three wires, held in by a single screw. It's on the back of the cluster.

Looks like a fun project. A wreck I have here has that anti run on pipe connected to the vacuum pump, not sure how that works.

Pete

[hiho]

Pete, you were right, one of the copper traces to the transistor was broken.

[hiho]

After replacing the brake booster/master cylinder, the brake warning light stays on. Any suggestions on how to fix this gremlin?

[Jarred]

if it's the light that's near [above i tihnk?] the handbrake light, take the cables off the battery, [both] for 20-30 seconds, this discharges a capacitor that's behind there.

Thank Andrew Robinson for that gem.

I had the same issue a while back, i don't know what actually causes it to go off though. not a re-occouring issue for me, so i didn't worry about it.

[hiho]

Thanks Jarred I'll give it a go.

Tomorrow me and Leah are heading down to Wilsons Prom for a couple of days. I think the car is ready........ Going to take a tool kit just in case.

[hiho]

Nice one Jarred, your tip fixed it! Thanks. I also read Petes thread on boosters, im going to do that mod.

[hiho]

We just returned from a three day tour of Wilsons Prom. The car drove very nicely and only had a couple of minor issues. The car seems to want to run hot. I have a manual switch for the thermo fan, and basically have it on all the time. Temp goes up if theres a hill. Should the cooling system be this sensitive? I have considered the following possible issues:

Thermostat
Uneven valve clearances
blocked radiator

Any words of advice?

Also, the battery/alternator light is glowing dimly, like theres some demonic breakdown looming. I have checked the brushes and they seem fine. Also, i have charged the battery and the light goes out for a while (its a new battery). Could running the thermo fan all the time be flogging the battery/alternator?

Fuel consumption was good, 33L in somewhere between 600 and 700kms. I dont know exactly as the odo stopped at 450kms but thats pretty good anyway. I have mastered the fuel efficient driving style, like a nanna in a straight line, like a maniac in the bends! So much fun!!

Anyway, like any 30yo car, its got some problems, but we are fixing them slowly.