My MK3 Fixer-upperer

[Umai Naa!!]

Hey everyone!

Picked up this little bargain on the weekend.







In light of my partner back-trading from an '08 Corolla into an '04 MK4 Generation, I felt I had to have a Golf for myself.

It's a little rough around the edges, the rear shocks are stuffed, and the shift linkage bushes are absolutely shagged to the point where reverse is no longer available, but I'm confident it will turn out to be a fun little car to zip around in.

Hopefully, I'll be able to keep the thread updated as I sort the car out.

[madglf3]

Great looking Mk3 mate, seeing a Mk3 with manual windows makes my heart smile. Avoiding quite a common problem with those.

[-Dell-]

Great looking Mk3 mate, seeing a Mk3 with manual windows makes my heart smile. Avoiding quite a common problem with those.

I hear that, no need to hold the window up by jamming paper into the gap if the regulator breaks halfway down...

Tidy little Mk3, any plans apart from sorting out the small hassles?

[GoLfMan]

looks good mate!!

get some coilovers, nice phat wheels and stick it on the deck!!! Awsome lil' cruiser

[tom23]

Nice golf. They're great cars for what they cost.

Sounds like a dumb question but I've got a blue golf like this also... Does anyone know the official name of this colour e.g. mystic blue, windsor blue... or is this just like Dark Blue? It's been bugging me to find out lately.

[Umai Naa!!]

Great looking Mk3 mate, seeing a Mk3 with manual windows makes my heart smile. Avoiding quite a common problem with those.

Thanks, mate. This one had aftermarket power windows fitted to the front at some point, as there's switches for them in the centre console. They must've crapped themselves, and were swapped back to standard manual windows.

I hear that, no need to hold the window up by jamming paper into the gap if the regulator breaks halfway down...

Tidy little Mk3, any plans apart from sorting out the small hassles?

Cheers! Nah, not really. Found out we have a baby on the way the day after I won the car on Ebay, so I'm keeping the plans to just fixing everything that is stuffed, and giving it a good clean-up. My sister has expressed interest in it as her first car, so hopefully it will all be spot-on by the time she can afford to buy it off me.

looks good mate!!

get some coilovers, nice phat wheels and stick it on the deck!!! Awsome lil' cruiser

Thanks, mate! I wish I had the funds to do all that. As mentioned, I no longer have the budget for it right now, but that's not to say I wont chase down another one, (A VR6 would be nice!) and go nuts with it.

Nice golf. They're great cars for what they cost.

Sounds like a dumb question but I've got a blue golf like this also... Does anyone know the official name of this colour e.g. mystic blue, windsor blue... or is this just like Dark Blue? It's been bugging me to find out lately.

Thanks! Yeah, it was quite a bargain. I was bidding fairly conservatively on it, too. No idea what the colour is, to be honest. It looked dark green in the images I saw, but I'm glad it's blue. All the books and a fair amount of paperwork came with the car, so I'm sure the colour name is written in there somewhere. Also, try Googling the paint code. Companies like Standox often list the colour name.

[Umai Naa!!]

Took the car into work today, and put it up on the hoist. I noticed the other day, it had a fuel surge issue, apparently due to a non-standard fuel pump being fitted. Out came the cradle, etc. and sure enough, the wrong pump was fitted. I had a known good New Beetle pump kicking around, and I was hoping that would solve my problems, but no. So, I set about making the existing pump work. I had to modify the bottom of the cradle a little bit, and come up with a way of retaining the pump at the lowest possible hieght in the cradle, to minimise the surge. So far so good.

In regards to not being able to select reverse, it appears the gearbox will have to come out, be stripped, and repaired. Shouldn't be too much of an issue, depending on parts availability.

I had a good look through all the reciepts and invoices that came with the car as well. Sadly, I can't find any evidence of the timing belt been replaced, so I best be doing that soon.

Also, I'm chasing a left headlight, a good steering wheel, and the rear section of the centre console. If anyone has any of that lying around, that'd be awesome!

[Umai Naa!!]

Not much has happened lately, due to a lack of funds.

The fuel surge issue is fixed, which I'm happy about. Also threw some new genuine VW wiper inserts on. Also noticed a distinct wheel balance issue at around 100klm/hr. Thought I could simply fix it by rebalancing the front wheels, but one of them was buckled, and this is still quite evident. I'll repair the wheel, and balance it again, and see what happens.

Also going to order a pair of KYB Excel-G rear struts for it this week.

[Golf Loon]

Pretty sure I have all the bits you need for that car, hit us up if you feel the need.

Also just got a heap of gearboxes from the UK, or can repair yours or supply a reverse gear.

Keep up the momentum, good to see someone doing stuff themselves to their car.

[Umai Naa!!]

I've got no choice but to work on it myself, I'm a VW technician Hardest part is time and money.

Cheers mate, I'll come up and see you soon to grab a few bits and pieces. You're not that far away.

[Umai Naa!!]

Apologies for the lack of updates. I priced up a whole heap of stuff through work, but nothing ever came of it, due to a complete lack of time, and money. On top of that, the car ran out of rego, and needs a blue slip. Ugh...

As mentioned earlier in the thread, my sister is keen to buy the car off me for her first car. I just need to sort a couple of other cars out first before I can get stuck into this one, and get it all back into good running order for her.

[Umai Naa!!]

Quick update.

Replaced reverse gear in the transmission.

Replaced rear shocks with new KYB units. (Installing tomorrow)

Replaced dipstick tube.

Replaced drive belts. (Installing tomorrow)

Replaced battery. (Installing tomorrow)

Hopefully in the next week or so, I'll be getting it blue-slipped, and back on the road.

Once that's over with, I'll give it a good service.