Erik & Rupert: The Tale Of Two MK1s

[GeorgeMK1]

Broadway mirrors are god damn awesome !

[HuH]

Great work so far mate, your getting close for sure!

Whats the plan for the green one long term? are you going to keep it?

I really hope so! We'll see where we're at after tomorrow's effort. Would love to have it at the VW Nationals later next month.

The coilovers have been identified by others in a similar way. They seem to be those same rebranded ones sold by JOM etc.

Long term the green one will be sold. In fact not that long term, I'll be looking to sell it as soon as it's back together. I have had a bit of interest in it already including an offer to trade for something else that I really want, so that might work out.

Broadway mirrors are god damn awesome !

Yessir! I love 'em. This will be the third car I've had this one in. Haha.

I did this last night. Just a test fit. My friend has them up for sale at the moment.



It was only semi-successful. While I was able to get them on the car, the front wheels do not clear the brakes. If you line up the wheel so that the caliper sits between two of the bolts holding the wheel together, it mounts to the hub, but it needs an 8-10mm spacer to make it work, and there's no room under the guard to do that unless I run a stretched tyre, which I don't want to do this time around.



It's disappointing as the fitment is pretty much perfect for the look that I want. At least I know what I'm looking for now, I just need something with slightly better disc clearance.



The search will have to continue. I'm glad I at least tried them out; if they sold before I had a chance I'd have been kicking myself!

[HuH]

I've been doing bits and pieces of work on the cars over the last week, but progress has been a lot slower than I'd like.



In order to change the dash looms over I needed to swap the column switches, but because one column had a spline adapter and the other one didn't, I had to take them both out and swap them too.



After taking the column out I realised that the bottom bearing in the yellow car had fallen apart, but the assembly in the green car was okay.



NEK MINUT. I took them out and it was really annoying to get back in. Adjusting the brake linkages and the pedal height to be just right took way too long. I still need to do the one in the green car.



I took both dash looms out after that but they're still on the ground just like in the photo. At the moment I'm tidying up the wiring in the yellow car's engine bay, then I'll hook it all up at the same time.

The next hurdle is the fuel setup which will either mean swapping fuel tanks between cars or coming up with a new system in the yellow car. Not too sure yet.

[GRN_VAGN]

You can fit the wheels mate, just buy some GTi calipers, they are alot slimmer, and actually sit behind the hub surface to allow better rims to fit.

not only do you get better brakes, you get more wheel options,

Car is looking great, well both actually

[HuH]

The yellow car actually has GTI brakes! Or so I've been told. Here's the photo.



Clearance is way better than the normal callipers on the green car, but they don't sit behind the hub completely. It's not a big deal anyway since I should really hold onto the money for now until the car is working. Not sure what other expenses might crop up.

Thanks for the kind words.

[GRN_VAGN]

Yes those are GTi Brakes

I couldnt remember if they sat flush or just over the hub.

[HuH]

Update time. Things are back in gear and I'm feeling much more positive about the progress. These photos are all courtesy of my mate Danny who was helping out.



We started out last night with the car looking like this. Pretty barren in there. It's been looking this way for a while.



First job was tidying up the loom from the green car to go into the yellow car. It was a mess. We spent a while stripping out the unnecessary stuff and soldering up the dodgy connections. It's in much better shape now.



After that we got the heater/fan box thing out of the green car to switch over as well. I had this brand new heater core ready to go in while the unit was out.



Once that was back together we started putting them both in their new home. We need to drill holes to mount the heater unit properly, but that's no big deal.



While all this was going on the two of us were keeping one eye on these ATS Type 5 wheels. They were up for auction on Yahoo Japan. One thing lead to another and I bought them. So that's something else to look forward to.

Next step is sorting all the engine bay wiring and coolant plumbing, swapping the fuel setups and then starting the damn thing. So keen for that to happen and it's finally in sight.

[HuH]

Can someone tell me what this thing is? It lives up in the top of the engine bay but both hoses were cut and it was just sitting there.

[GeorgeMK1]

Every mk1 ive owned has had them cut off - So i just remove it. I believe its something got to do with emmisions control ?

[Gipson]

that's a carbon cannister for the exhaust gas recirculation gear, there is another under your driver side front guard throw them both in the bin rust loves to take over behind them! project is looking great

[Jarred]

Saw those ATS on YJ ages ago, they were tempting me for so long!

They will look dope polished up and restored on the mk 1!

[JoshFair]

This looks awesome!! its inspiring me to buy another mk1...

[HuH]

Every mk1 ive owned has had them cut off - So i just remove it. I believe its something got to do with emmisions control ?

that's a carbon cannister for the exhaust gas recirculation gear, there is another under your driver side front guard throw them both in the bin rust loves to take over behind them! project is looking great

Thanks, blokes. It's going in the bin for sure. I suspected emissions but the hoses on it seem way too thick for that. Whatever the case it's gone.

Saw those ATS on YJ ages ago, they were tempting me for so long!

They will look dope polished up and restored on the mk 1!

I hope so! Got them for a good price. They're not my favourite wheels but they suit the VW and should be easy enough to flip for the same money if I fall in love with something else.

This looks awesome!! its inspiring me to buy another mk1...

Do it! Can't wait to be driving these again.

The green car should be running again this week if I can spend enough time on it. Got some important stuff done over the last few days.



Got the fuel tanks out of both cars to swap them over. How bizarre is the normal fuel setup in these old MK1s?



This tank has eight outlets/inlets on it. Five of them are for that breather/expansion tank thing in the top of the rear wheel arch. It seems like total overkill to me.



I got lucky and found 20 litres of fuel in the yellow car which I wasn't expecting. That was a nice bonus.



The tank that's going from the green car to the yellow car for the 16V is a Golf Diesel tank. Much simpler



This is the external pump for my setup.



I have a question about this rear swaybar thing. Does it actually do anything? It's not braced to the body, just the two sides of the rear beam. Surely the thickness of the beam itself and the big gussets it has should be enough for strength? I ask because the yellow car doesn't have this swaybar, and I'm not sure whether I should move it across or not.

The green car has it's pedal box back in, steering column switches fitted and dash loom in. With the fuel tank sorted we'll be putting the engine in and will hopefully have it running ASAP!

[hiho]

do this simple test: undo one of the swaybars outer mounts, support the beam such that the long edge is on the trailing arms are vertical. Wobble the rear beam and see how much flex there is. Now use your hand to clamp the swaybar to the trailing arm (where you removed the mount) and wobble it again. You will be able to feel how much stiffer it is.

[HuH]

I don't really understand what you're saying. There's no way I would be able to flex the beam itself with the swaybar disconnected.