A cream-filled mk1 build

[Browneye]

The gearbox usually has a ground that connects to the mount, which will link the engine and chassis back to the negative battery terminal. If this is left off, nothing will work at all.

Checking the battery is a good place to start as well. If both the ground wire and battery seem to be in good working order, try using something that does not need ignition power, for example the hazard lights. My ignition switch died a few times when I first got my mk1, to the point where I could only start it by jumping the starter motor terminals with a screwdriver.

BTW, you don't need a multimeter to check the battery. Just join the two battery terminals using a light or the horn. You'll be able to see or hear if it's ok.

Mk1 electrics are rubbish. Good luck finding the problem

EDIT: If I'm not mistaken, Elton has a battery in the boot and every wire in the car is lengthened so that it will tuck behind the fender yeah? Disregard everything I said.

It does sound like a grounding issue or flat battery, although, when every wire has been severed and lengthened and just messed with in general, it could be anything really. Multimeter will help greatly with all inevitable electrical issues you will face

[browndizzle]

Oh okayyyy I'm pretty sure I connected everything back up but I'll definitely have a final look over it!

Thanks so much for the help buddy! I'll either be checking it out tomorrow or saturday sometime hopefully, getting smashed by work at the moment so wanna get this sorted ASAP!

What do you mean by jumping the two starter motor terminals with a screw driver? (sorry, told you I was new with this...) like at the fuse or the actual starter motor itself?

[browndizzle]

EDIT: If I'm not mistaken, Elton has a battery in the boot and every wire in the car is lengthened so that it will tuck behind the fender yeah? Disregard everything I said.

It does sound like a grounding issue or flat battery, although, when every wire has been severed and lengthened and just messed with in general, it could be anything really. Multimeter will help greatly with all inevitable electrical issues you will face

haha yeahhh battery in the boot and wiring through the fender is correct! makes the bay look mighty clean! however, makes wiring a bit more of a headache now to find the culprit of the problem :/ but yeah I'll grab a multimeter n see what the deal is

[sports racer]

What do you mean by jumping the two starter motor terminals with a screw driver?

You can short the power lead on the starter motor to the terminal that gets its input from the ignition. That way you bypass the ignition switch. Handy if you want to start the car without the keys.

[browndizzle]

It does sound like a grounding issue or flat battery, although, when every wire has been severed and lengthened and just messed with in general, it could be anything really. Multimeter will help greatly with all inevitable electrical issues you will face

So just a quick lil update, with a spare few minutes with a multimeter i figured out the battery could be a contributing factor, only putting out 0.2v haha on the other hand, also found there was a significant loss of power to or from the starter motor in the connection...i mustve earthed it incorrectly when putting everything back together?

Will have a solid look at it on my next day off but atleast we've somewhat narrowed it down might do a wire clean up etc sometime in the near future and tuck everything in neatly under the dash possibly even make up a nice underside to hide the wires...neat and tidy! OCD is kicking in

[sports racer]

0.2v?

[browndizzle]

0.2v?

my thoughts exactly! i was at work at the time n my mate had a look at it whilst i wasnt there n called n told me what reading he got lol

dont know electrics, but that still sounded retarded

[KKK VR6]

Ohhhhhhh this is neat
If the motor ends up being kaput, get a 16v from Camden gti, or get some of that vr6powerm8 ;P
There's loads of these Cupras selling for near nothing.

[browndizzle]

So not really an update, and to cut a rather sh*tty story short...my mk1 keys were stolen the other night, so now Im not entirely sure what plan of action to take depending on possibilities of a few things. So here lie my questions;

I have a spare key lying around, can the door barrels be re-done to match that key?

Do I need to source a new ignition barrel with matching keys or is there another possible way out n to get it working etc?

Any help would be much appreciated! been on vwheritage to find replacement ignition barrel and matching keys but theyre currently out of stock

cheers guys!

[Browneye]

Find someone wrecking a car and buy a complete set of locks, including ignition barrel, door handles, boot lock and key.

[sports racer]

You can pull apart the barrel and take out the sliders that push against the key when it's inserted. Put in the new key and put back the sliders to suit the new key so they don't protrude past the barrel. You probably won't be able to get all of them to sit flush but do your best and file down any that stick out.

This can be done for all the locks and means your old key won't work because the sliders now don't match the key. Handy if whoever stole your key wants to steal your car.

Cheers

Paul

[dubstar]

I have a full lock set with keys from a 76. PM me, I'm back home on the weekend and can send them next week

[browndizzle]

Thanks heaps guys!

Paul, does that method also apply to the ignition barrel or is it a different setup with those?

Cheers!

[roccodingo]

buy a new ignition barrel and modify the door and boot locks as has already been mentioned, plenty of guides online how to do it just search.

[browndizzle]

Hey guys been a very long time since ive done any updates or anything...amazing how caught up you get starting your own business! 😫😫

ANYWAY! Rest assured the car has been doing well and creating loads of love n smiles around sydneys north shore ran into a dilemma recently though...

My fuse box started creating an immense amount of noise and sounded like buzzing, i located it to be on the far right relay? I think it is?



As you can see it has 4 spaces for terminals, however the relay that was causing the ruckus had only 3?



With this blue one, the buzzing stopped when indicators were being used but instantly back on as indicators are disengaged...

I put a relay in that had the 4 terminals in the space, this stopped the buzzing, but the indicators ceased functioning. Oh and with either relay, i get no cluster instrument use (no fuel, revs or fuelgauge) :/

Its also started running a lil rougher than usual, i searched a bit and found a few people talking about fuel relay? Not sure if this is it though. Any ideas guys??