My Mk1 Golf project - slow build thread

[madglf3]

A week and a half ago I finally bought an older Volkswagen. My first car was a Mk3 that I drove from 2004-2008, then I got my current Mk4. I've wanted to buy something older for a while now, but I was never quite sure what to buy. I've been looking over build threads here and there and most recently, after drooling over Alex's swallowtail build thread and a few others I was inspired to go ahead and get a Mk1 that might have needed a little work, but that would hopefully allow me to learn a bit more about restoring and modifying beyond just installing coilovers and swaybars etc.

So here is my purchase: it's a 1976 February-built 3 door that at some stage in the past has been repainted from Harbour Blue to a burnt orange colour. I'm not sure where this colour is from, anyone have any ideas?

Pictures:













I'll update this with more stuff this evening, off to work for me now. I have a bit of a list I'll post up of stuff I need to tackle and I might be PMing some of you for advice and information. It's currently not running and that is my first goal.

I look forward to learning alot, meeting a few different people with this build, and improving my skills a bit.

Cheers,
Matt.

[GoLfMan]

welcome to the fold mate

[Preen59]

Nice work, dude.

Glad to see more and more getting fixed up and not scrapped.

[sports racer]

Matt, have you ever driven or been a passenger in a MK1? They're rough, noisy, smelly, break down often and a great way to meet lots of people in the automotive repair industry- and they are the good points!They are also highly adictive, massive fun and guaranteed to put a smile on your face at least twice a trip. Most people who own one will admit to occasionally taking the long way home just for the extra driving fun.Welcome to the "other side".Paul

[cdogg]

nice one... whats the plans?

[Jarred]

welcome to the mk 1 club!

can't wait to see how you go. Good to see ya got a garage there, always a good start!

[madglf3]

welcome to the fold mate

Thanks mate, glad to finally have one. You southerners guys seem to have a good scene and get together to build cars quite a bit. Hopefully that can happen a bit more up here.

Nice work, dude.

Glad to see more and more getting fixed up and not scrapped.

Cheers Preeny. It does need quite a bit of metal work but I'm willing to learn. Some bits though have quite a bearing on structural safety and I feel that it might be better to get someone professional to fix (the A-pillar and newly discovered front right fibreglassed inner guards).

Matt, have you ever driven or been a passenger in a MK1? They're rough, noisy, smelly, break down often and a great way to meet lots of people in the automotive repair industry- and they are the good points!They are also highly adictive, massive fun and guaranteed to put a smile on your face at least twice a trip. Most people who own one will admit to occasionally taking the long way home just for the extra driving fun.Welcome to the "other side".Paul

Hi Paul, I haven't ever been in a Mk1 but have always wanted to. I know what you mean by driving the long way round just for the fun of it though, Dad and I used to have a 1968 Austin 1800 and I'd always go for long and somewhat undefined-destination journeys for the hell of it. I actually do that in my Mk4 now though, take way to work with the twistier roads

Your Mk1 was another that I've recently been looking at and thinking that it'd be great to own a Mk1.

welcome to the mk 1 club!

can't wait to see how you go. Good to see ya got a garage there, always a good start!

Yeah I moved out of a townhouse recently and so it's great to have more space. That's another reason I could get the car. Three garage spaces do help, I've just got to make good use of them now.

[madglf3]

nice one... whats the plans?

Cheers mate, I see that you too have recently started fixing up a four door and are taking on some work with it too. It looks good so far!

My plans were to get it running first, get the brakes and suspension all working well and to then try and register it as-is, but I'd say that this really depends on the level of rust in the car, and the general view that RWC places take with rust and rego. I would like it to be safe foremost and so I am increasingly thinking that I'd like to tackle the rust soonish.

I've just pulled the front left guard off as it had a little paint bubbling and rust coming through. I found that when the car was repainted it probably had a bit of rust and instead of properly fixing it with metal, the person has instead packed the rust hole with fibreglass and then painted over this fibre glass. I'll get a better picture of what I'm talking about tomorrow when it's daylight and I've pulled the fibreglass off completely, but it's basically the part from the front left strut backwards toward the door hinge + fire wall, spanning from the rain tray area down a litte bit below. It's not the complete section, but rather a bit in the middle. Not stoked by any means, but even with this discovery I feel spurred on to get it fixed.

So on to getting this thing started with a question about the fuse box: Now I've replaced all the fuses and followed the listing written up in the FAQ & DIY thread in this section in terms of 8a and 16a fuse allocations, but I'm sure that I'm missing at least one relay (is that what those things above the fuses are?). Does anyone see anything wrong with the fuse box from a glance?

The fuse box is as below:


Also, don't worry, I have bought a manual - I got Poor Richard's guide... but it's still in the mail from the UK. Can anyone recommend resources that have proved vital in their Mk1 ownership. I'm finding Pete Jones' threads great reads.

[Golfer_76]

nice to see another mk1 being restored.
the fuse box looks pretty good to me. my fuse box has always been missing that middle relay. mines also missing the second one from the right as well and everything works fine.

[madglf3]

Thanks for that mate. The hunt continues for the reason it won't start then. I think that I've got a mate who might be able to help me out with electrical stuff sometime.

[GeorgeMK1]

Weee another mk1 thread. I get all excited everytime i see a new one hehe
The car looks like it has potential mate, hopefully with a few touches here and there she's running agian!!

As for the colour, it looks the same as mine, but a tad darker haha, i likey the orange

[madglf3]

So yesterday I got rid of the suspicious patch hiding on the front left section just behind the wheel well and it was not good.

The person who'd resprayed the car obviously saw the rust starting and then just patched over it with fibreglass rather than fixing the issue. Here's what it looked like to start with:


So I pulled the fibreglass out and tried to clean the edges around the area to see just how far the rust had spread:


It's pretty bad, and I haven't even looked further than that area. I'd pretty much can guarantee that there is a bunch more rust and dodgy repairs all over the car.

Has anyone here ever tackled rust like this (even if only to make me feel a little better about my car)? I'm thinking that I should perhaps strip the car down and find all the problem areas.

[SpeciP3]

That's pretty nasty looking mate, but it's not 'unfixable'. IMO you'd be better off going over the whole car first in case you need to source any repair panels, etc. and it might be cheaper for you to buy a few at once as opposed to individually.

Check out a few threads in the restoration section, there are some good guides to tackling this sort of cancer.

Don't be too worried by it though, once it's all done you know it's sorted... and properly too!

[Preen59]

Yikes! nasty stuff.

Remember, cutting more out doesn't necessarily make the job harder. Cut the panel out where it will be easiest to replace.

Pete Jones also might be worth PMing if he doesn't see this a chime in..

[madglf3]

Cheers guys. That's right Preen, if I did just scrap that section I could replace it from where the metal is good with a new piece. It's right where the rain tray is, then goes down further. Also in that pic but perhaps more difficult to see is the rust that starts at about where the floor joins to the firewall. I'd guess that the floors would be pretty average too, but time will tell. I've been looking at Mk1Autohaus and Rabbitparts.com as they sell replacement floor panels and lower A-pillar sections too. I'm stoked that there are places around that make it almost possible to build a completely new Mk1.

I am thinking that it'd be a good thing to just strip all the interior + then the engine out and go from there, but not sure as yet if I'll tackle the job of replacing that rust as a beginner. But I did get this car to learn. I'd imagine that it's a pretty structural part where the wheel wells are and so I'd want to do it properly. This area will see even more stress when I put stiffer suspension in and if I put a more powerful engine in too (I'd love a 16V in there some day, a while from now though).

I've had a look at Tafe courses in welding as a few people have said that that's a good way to learn.