Dave's '79 GLD Rebuild/Refurb Thread

[littlegldgti]

Hey man nice little project there... is that just mainly surface rust? Or does it go a fair bit deeper?

[DaveGLD]

Fortunately mainly surface rust. The car spent the last few years with the previous owner parked on the street near the beach. The worst rust is a small hole in the front passenger guard but I have a rust free guard to go on. I have tried a few areas with T-cut and it has removed the visible rust - so my next job will probably be to give the car a once over with some 2000 grit wet and dry and a good buff with T-cut. If this gives a good enough result, I'll just keep up with the regular polish until I have a chance to take the car back to bare metal and respray.

Fixed my headlight, car is going in next week for new wheel bearings and balljoints.

[MeeM]

Any progress on this car?

[DaveGLD]

MeeM

Any progress on this car?

Sorta, more like one step forward and two steps back...

Last month I took the car in for new front wheel bearings and balljoints - very very happy with the result - the front end wobble has been eliminated, the car is quiet and nice and sharp on the road - it's driving beautifully.....

....but on the drive home, I was noticing a lack of power and the temperature gauge rising sharply. Got home to find steam pissing out everywhere and a distinct lack of coolant (it had all blown out the top of the overflow bottle). Waited for it to cool down, refilled with water then took it for a short drive around the block - after 5 minutes it was boiling again. I've yet to have a closer look but I suspect it may be either the water pump, or more likely than not the head gasket as the coolant seems to be being blown out through the overflow bottle so I suspect the cooling system is being pressurised by one of the cylinders.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do now, was even more annoying seeing as I just spent $400 on new wheel bearings and balljoints - for a brief and shining moment (about 30 minutes) the car was mechanically spot on and driving very nicely!

With the body the way it is, I know I would get bugger all if I sold it, and I'd be throwing away all the time and money I've spent on it sofar - It's very tempting to have a go at the head gasket myself (I've done them before on my Mini) - so I think I'll just sit on it for now and wait until I have the time and space (currently painting my house and waiting for a double garage to be built ). For the last few weeks, it's been sitting in my front yard with one of those solar battery boosters connected to keep the battery topped up.

Are there any tricks to head gasket replacement? I know a good cylinder head place that can re-face the head - I've been told I need an in-hex socket set (already have a torque wrench) - one thing I've noticed is that there aren't many workshop manuals around that cover the diesel golfs - or am I just looking in the wrong place? If I'm going to tackle this myself I'll need some sort of a guide as to torque settings and bolt loosening/tightening sequences - any reccomendations or does anyone have a manual?

[Jarred]

there's a manual out there specifically for the GLD, got rebuilding the whole engine in it. pretty detailed thing, even though it's quite thin.

Doing a diesel HG is meant tot be a bit trickier, cause there are 3 different thicknesses of HG, IIRc there some measuring of stuff involved. I thikn if you've got the basic skills, some time and some patience it'd be worth giving it a go. Either that or replace the engine with a good runner.

[killingwithasmile]

I got my haynes golf diesel workshop manual from The Pitstop Bookshop, it took a few weeks because it isn't an in stock item but very helpful book covers a complete tear down and rebuild

[DaveGLD]

Thanks heaps for the link! I tried searching on ebay but couldn't find a golf diesel manual - The Haynes manuals are great so I'll have to pick one up! Cheers!

[ozvino]

Try fishpond. Online Book Store | Buy Books Online in Australia - Fishpond.com.au

Not sure if you know them, they are a poor mans Aussie amazon (think low rent version....) Free postage, not lightning fastest but reasonable prices. I bout my mk2 manuals and some other car books from them. They have a lot of car books available

Bought some kids stuff before Xmas, one item never showed and without any argument they sent another replacement...

Dave

[DaveGLD]

Hello again everyone, unfortunately I have some sad news - I've now aquired another project car so it is time for the GLD to move on to a new home. I wish I had the time to fix it myself, but I would prefer to spend the time on the new project car and my other cars that are screaming for attention - in addition, I'm now moved in to my new place which is 2 minutes to the train station, so my original purpose for buying the GLD (as economical transport to and from work) is no longer valid.

I will post an ad in the for sale section once I have some pics - but in a nutshell:

- Car was running very well until it developed an overheating problem (suspect water pump, blockage in the water jacket or head gasket - without looking into it to far, I'd say the head will probably have to come off).
- I've spent over $600 in the last 6 months on servicing and replacing wheel bearings & balljoints so that the car drives properly, is safe and reliable and the servicing is up to date.
- Car needs a respray, has surface rust all over from living near the coast with the P.O. but is structurally sound. I will include a new passenger front guard with the sale as the one on there has a rust hole in the bottom. Or you could do like I've done and just keep up with the cut and polish and leave it as is!
- Interior is good, headlining, carpets and seats great (some rips in drivers seat tho) - worst part is the cracked dash.
- Rego has just run out, walk in rego in SA.
- Comes with haynes repair manual & lots of spares, car is 100% complete.

I'm looking for $500 (no offers) - the car owes me over three times as much - and it's bloody frustrating that the overheating problem developed just after I spent all the money on a full service, new wheel bearings and balljoints - for a brief and shining moment it was driving spot on! If you want a full run-down of what I've done see the previous posts in this thread and my other posts. I would love to keep this car but at the end of the day I have other cars that I am more passionate about restoring and not enough time to do it all.

[killingwithasmile]

bummer man!! good luck with the sale and your new project

[DaveGLD]

Ok, well it seems that my GLD and I have some unfinished business... I did not have a very big response to my ad on ebay or gumtree, I thought $500 was a reasonable price and I'd have it sold by the weekend - I did have someone from Renmark who was very friendly and genuine come and have a good look, but because the car had been sitting so long I couldn't get the damn thing started! - So he politely declined (which is fair enough) - If it had started I'm sure he would have bought it as he had brought a car trailer. Maybe it's a sign that the GLD didn't want to leave me... According to murphys law, after he left I was able to get it going, as I had a temporary battery in there I hadn't done up the battery clamps enough and they were a little corroded, so there was just not enough grunt to start the car.

The only other interest I got was from tossers on ebay and gumtree sending me sms messages (despite me clearly stating that I won't reply to SMS) and asking stupid questions. I took plenty of time to write up a detailed listing and post pics - I went to a lot more effort than most other sellers (listing here: Volkswagen Golf Mk1 GLD 1979 DIESEL Hatch - Project (eBay item 170633465578 end time 04-May-11 22:06:40 AEST) : Cars, Bikes, Boats ) - so you can imagine my response when I received this message from a zero feedback ebayer:

Dear ddk848,

does it run ?
any rego left ?
i'm in Underdale. U ?
Ph. 8234 xxxx
am solo.
any info appreciated .
thankyou.

Far out - every question this guy asked I had covered in detail in my listing - either this guy can't read or is just plain lazy. Any info appreciated? I wrote 750 words FFS! Had lots of other people texting me asking to 'get back to me with your best price' - I think these are the sort of people who wouldn't be interested unless I was going to give them the car for free - It's so annoying I almost just want to keep the car out of principle...

So for now, I've changed my mind about selling - especially after reading this thread: http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f28/...can-14843.html

first. DO NOT SELL YOUR DIESEL GOLF. keep it. in a few years, you'll thank me, no matter what it costs you to fix it now. trust me, theres a reason us perfectly sane, reasonable people are driving old diesel vw's.

That sounds like good advice - it's not costing me anymore to keep it for now and after having a read through my Haynes manual, I've decided to have a go at removing the head myself as it seems a lot less complicated than I imagined. With the US dollar so low I'll be putting in a parts order and replacing the water pump, tstat, timing belt etc at the same time. Also, I reckon it will pay for itself in fuel savings as the car I'm currently commuting in is a 1976 Mercedes 450SE which literally uses 20-25l/100km (no joke - that's 5 times as much fuel!) - I was planning to sell this car eventually so I might just sell the 450 and keep the golf instead of the other way around - especially as I only recently bought a towbar for the golf just before it started overheating.

So the thread continues - watch this space!

Before I embark on the head removal, I was just wondering what tool you need to remove the head bolts? Are they in hex/allen key style heads?

Also, the workshop manual mentions using a suitable bolt to lock the IP sprocket, does anyone know what size this bolt would be?

Thanks in advance guys - and thanks for putting up with my indecision!!

[GeorgeMK1]

Its great that you're getting back into it mate. I never was a fan of dielels, but maybe thats because i dont understand them.

This little thing should be great on petrol, and its always fun bringing mk1's back to life. Ill be watching

[DaveGLD]

My 11mm hex head socket arrived today - this is where I bought it from:

Newsome 1/2 Drive 11mm Hex key Socket Allen (HXB11) | eBay

Such an odd size, I already had 10mm and 12mm size in-hex sockets, why do the head bolts have to be 11mm!!!

So fingers crossed I will be able to remove the head this weekend. Just need to scrounge some scrap steel and make up my IP and camshaft locking bits.

[Preen59]

Good stuff dude. Glad to see you're still tinkering with this bad boy!

[gldgti]

Dave,

Sounds like you got a manual? Thats good news. Its also great news that you are keeping the car. Old GLD's deserve to be looked after by honest people. I'm glad you've still got it.

I missed most of your thread until today, but now that I've seen all this I can throw up my hand to help:

> overheating
Very unlikely to be a blockage in the water jacket, in my opinion. more likely that the water pump has failed because of sitting for a long time, or like you have said, the head gasket has failed.

To do the head gasket job properly, you'll need to measure piston projection when the head is off. This is a bit tricky unless you have all the right gear (usually requires a bit of mock up jigs and stuff, and a dial indicator. I suppose you might make do with a feeler gauge and a rule, if you were 'shooting it from the hip'. Sometimes people just replace the gasket with one with the same number of notches or holes as the old one - I wouldn't unless you were sure the last person to do the head knew what they were doing.

Also, on the head machining..... this is tricky. Basically, the head is not really meant to be refaced. often, it doesnt require it anyway. If it does, then it can be refaced but the valve seats also need to be re-cut. Many machine shops won't know how to do it aswell - the real can of worms is the pre-chamber inserts. They are made of inconel, are quite hard, and so need to be cut slowly (more slowly than the aluminium head anyway)

the likelihood is that the head wont require refacing. once you pull the head and clean it up you should have a good idea about whether this will be an issue anyway.

re-timing the engine also requires a bit of patience and a careful hand, but its not difficult in itself. just take your time - one tooth out on the camshaft pulley is enough to cause contact between the valves and pistons.

I don't want to make it seem daunting, just want you to go into it knowing what to watch out for

Best of luck! I have manuals if you need any info. pm me.