New diesel owner

[DieselMk1]

Hey everyone

Yesterday I bought my diesel Mk1 for the lowly sum of $850 with rego.

I'm not quite sure how to upload photos on my phone but it's white with little rust spots everywhere (all treated) and has a (surprisingly tidy) brown vinyl interior. Unfortunately for me it also came with a flat battery but one is on the way for me.

After I got it home I looked in the glovebox and discovered it was full of receipts from the lady who owned it in Hawthorne VIC (I live in SA) during the '90's, as well as the original service records (the same lady) and original instruction manual.

The fuse box is also incredibly tidy and not tampered with, which is a huge sigh of relief as I've skulked these forums before and read in the nightmares people have with them.

Anyway it drives great, save for the boaty stuffed shocks and the little puddle of diesel I awoke to under the back of it this morning :/

Anyway.

As far as I can see it was delivered to Sanderson Motor Co Hawthorne on 1/5/79 for the price of $9,298.00 with $235.00 stamp duty to a Mrs Lavina McArdle of Church St Richmond and at some point in the 90's the car found a new home in SA as that's when the receipts stop.

I'll upload pictures when I work out how to but it's not much to look at lol

Thanks for reading

[DieselMk1]

[polski_ogurek]

Good to see another mk1 picked up by a forum member good luck with it, any plans yet??

[DieselMk1]

Thank mate

Short term was thinking the standard - roof racks, low, meshies, stickers

Long term maybe a late model TDi engine? Unsure as of yet

[DieselMk1]

Oh an the best part about it - the "join the diesel club" sticker

[DieselMk1]

I can also pick this up as a parts car for $200, it's a 4 door petrol Swallowtail that turns off when it gets to operating temp

[DieselMk1]

So this is the puddle of diesel that currently sits under the car

And now for a whole heap of random pictures


Mint back seat

Plans are red stockies and these bad boys

No rear vision mirror :/

My glovebox full of receipts


My nice tidy fuse box

Now for rust pics (all treated apparently)



And my favourite sticker

[DieselMk1]

Only good thing about the rain today seems to be that I can't see any leaks anywhere!! Fingers crossed eh!

[DieselMk1]

Oh and I bought some fuel tank putty for when the weather is better

[gldgti]

I would be pulling the front guards and windscreen asap to look into repairing the rust. The diesels have lots of problems with rust down the a-pillars and under the windscreen seal. If you're going to save the car, you want to get onto it quick

All the surface stuff is not so urgent, but once you get major rust into the front firewall area, you really want to cut/weld it all up before it goes further than you can be bothered to fix.

Good luck!

[DieselMk1]

I was planning on swapping the front guards with the swallowtail ones, but I'm not sure what to do about the rust around the windscreen as I've never pulled a windscreen out, plus as of possibly tomorrow it'll be my daily :S

[DieselMk1]

updatesupdatesupdates

So I put my battery in, pulled out the cold start handle, let the glow plug light go out, and turned it over. Repeat a few times and I knew something was up. Checked the under dash fuses, everything is good. Followed the glow plug wires to the fuse on the firewall, and found it was blown. Nek minnit:

I'll be replacing it with a 50A blade fuse tomorrow.
Also getting replaced tomorrow:

Local tyre place has a pair of second hand tyres for $35 fitted each
So anyway, I get it fired up and notice my brake lights are staying on. Traced the problem to the first brake light switch.

Thought it was just the corrosion but the lights are still saying on after a clean up, so I just unplugged it and the secondary switch works just fine.
I also fixed my mirror

And my engine bay is looking rather tidy and not decrepit like my cars usually look like

[DieselMk1]

Also, razor blade + old crusty stickers = a nice clear window

[DieselMk1]

Found out my car's history today....

Had a chat to the bloke I bought it off of, he told me that the little old lady had sold the car to the guy he bought it off of in VIC, and he drove it everywhere eventually ending up in SA where it was parked under a tree for two years before it was bought by the bloke I got it off of, effectively making me the fourth owner

[DieselMk1]

This weekend I visited a friend and we painted my wheels an he shined up my centre caps for me we then went on a bit of a cruise and took a few pics along the way

Photodump incoming