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Hello all
Over the past year I've been working on this mk1 with the aim to have a reliable comfortable daily driver. Since the car recently passed rego and is now on the road I thought I would share a few photos here from along the way.
The golf had been sitting dorment for a few years before I picked it up, and there was a lot of work to be done before it could go back on the road. The old 1.6 in the car had a blown headgasket and warped head, mated up to a gearbox with very little clutch left, and a gear linkage that was going nowhere. The braking system was also in a state, both handbrake cables were snapped and all wheel cylinders and master cylinder were fused. Apart from that the exhaust was rusted through and the fuel lines had all perished. But the interior was nice and the shell was dry, with all electrics working, and what more can you ask for in a mk1!
After replacing all the slave cylinders and pads and finding a replacement master cylinder the car was back to mk1 braking standards again. next job was to replace the engine and clutch which luckily I had spares of in the garage! I had really wanted to replace the engine with a 1.8 at the time but just couldn't find one in W.A. After taking the engine out and putting it back in a number of times I was almost ready to put a match to it, but it seemed the golf had marked it's spot in the garage.
Only a month or so after the replacement 1.6 was in and running I was put in touch with a local guy Ben who was selling a mk2 gti engine and 5speed box with around 85,000km. Ben was doing a conversion in his mk2 to a 1.8T and had no use for the old gear so it was time to take out the old 1.6 again.
Ben was really helpful and supplied all the mk2 injection and linkage gear just incase I needed anything for the mk1.
after removing everything I didn't need and plugging the injector holes in the head it was time for a good cleanup and on with a 40mm dellorto and lynx manifold and time to hire the engine crane again.
out with the old
in with the new
Getting the 1.8 in and running ended up being a longer process than I thought, I stuck with the mk2's larger alternator which meant I had to find different mounts and pulleys and change the connectors on the loom. The mk1 driveshafts also had to be machined to accept the new 100mm cv's for the 5speed box. This gave me some time to replace all the window rubbers and chrome piping on the car, and change over to fixed quater vents.
I now had a five speed g/box mount and drivers side engine mount to suit the 1.8 Thanks to Grant, so new heavy duty mounts were pressed into those. a new fuel pump was used to supply the dellorto, and I picked up some second hand extractors which cleaned up nicely and got a coating of heat wrap.
once the engine and headers were in the golf took a trip down to the exhaust shop where she was given a new 2inch exhaust from extractors back. Then came the time to tackle the rust that was under the drivers wing. I spent a few weekends cutting sections out and matching up repair panels, before a friend helped out welding it all in for me.
once that was taken care of it was time to get the suspension in with some new strut top mounts. I'd had the ST coils sitting in the garage for a while so it was good to finally get them in the car. At the same time I replaced the front brakes and disks with the gti setup, The ST's really are a nice bit of kit, highly recommend them if anyone is looking at suspension.
The car passed rego inspection on it's second attempt, and has now covered over 600km since the 1.8 was installed. it really is a fun little car to drive, the 1.8 has plenty of power and still sounds great when the dellorto starts gulping in air. Plans down the track are to get the electronic ignition setup working on the engine and probably to change back to a set of the original steel wheels and hubcaps, there's something really nice about a stock looking mk1. I'll probably look into a master cylinder and booster upgrade soon also.
cheers
Dan
Over the past year I've been working on this mk1 with the aim to have a reliable comfortable daily driver. Since the car recently passed rego and is now on the road I thought I would share a few photos here from along the way.
The golf had been sitting dorment for a few years before I picked it up, and there was a lot of work to be done before it could go back on the road. The old 1.6 in the car had a blown headgasket and warped head, mated up to a gearbox with very little clutch left, and a gear linkage that was going nowhere. The braking system was also in a state, both handbrake cables were snapped and all wheel cylinders and master cylinder were fused. Apart from that the exhaust was rusted through and the fuel lines had all perished. But the interior was nice and the shell was dry, with all electrics working, and what more can you ask for in a mk1!
After replacing all the slave cylinders and pads and finding a replacement master cylinder the car was back to mk1 braking standards again. next job was to replace the engine and clutch which luckily I had spares of in the garage! I had really wanted to replace the engine with a 1.8 at the time but just couldn't find one in W.A. After taking the engine out and putting it back in a number of times I was almost ready to put a match to it, but it seemed the golf had marked it's spot in the garage.
Only a month or so after the replacement 1.6 was in and running I was put in touch with a local guy Ben who was selling a mk2 gti engine and 5speed box with around 85,000km. Ben was doing a conversion in his mk2 to a 1.8T and had no use for the old gear so it was time to take out the old 1.6 again.
Ben was really helpful and supplied all the mk2 injection and linkage gear just incase I needed anything for the mk1.
after removing everything I didn't need and plugging the injector holes in the head it was time for a good cleanup and on with a 40mm dellorto and lynx manifold and time to hire the engine crane again.
out with the old
in with the new
Getting the 1.8 in and running ended up being a longer process than I thought, I stuck with the mk2's larger alternator which meant I had to find different mounts and pulleys and change the connectors on the loom. The mk1 driveshafts also had to be machined to accept the new 100mm cv's for the 5speed box. This gave me some time to replace all the window rubbers and chrome piping on the car, and change over to fixed quater vents.
I now had a five speed g/box mount and drivers side engine mount to suit the 1.8 Thanks to Grant, so new heavy duty mounts were pressed into those. a new fuel pump was used to supply the dellorto, and I picked up some second hand extractors which cleaned up nicely and got a coating of heat wrap.
once the engine and headers were in the golf took a trip down to the exhaust shop where she was given a new 2inch exhaust from extractors back. Then came the time to tackle the rust that was under the drivers wing. I spent a few weekends cutting sections out and matching up repair panels, before a friend helped out welding it all in for me.
once that was taken care of it was time to get the suspension in with some new strut top mounts. I'd had the ST coils sitting in the garage for a while so it was good to finally get them in the car. At the same time I replaced the front brakes and disks with the gti setup, The ST's really are a nice bit of kit, highly recommend them if anyone is looking at suspension.
The car passed rego inspection on it's second attempt, and has now covered over 600km since the 1.8 was installed. it really is a fun little car to drive, the 1.8 has plenty of power and still sounds great when the dellorto starts gulping in air. Plans down the track are to get the electronic ignition setup working on the engine and probably to change back to a set of the original steel wheels and hubcaps, there's something really nice about a stock looking mk1. I'll probably look into a master cylinder and booster upgrade soon also.
cheers
Dan
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