B1 Passat Estate

[ajbull88]

Well we started the repairs to our Estate today. Plan is to replace motor with one from our donor car, repair a few minor dents & repaint. Lots of small thing need to be fixed too, dash clock doesn't work but we have spare, replace hand brake cable and maybe reupholster interior. Hope to get the car back on the road again a.s.a.p

[Peter Jones]

Very cool!

There's not nearly enough Passats on the road.

Looking forward to watching the progress.

Good Luck.

Pete

[ontarv]

nice body looks in good nick
keep the updates

[16v_kid]

Looks like its never been restored...(which is good!) very original car.

Great project mate.

Keep us updated.

Cheers.

[ajbull88]

B1 Passat Estate

The car is original paint, last owner had it for 18 years and was sad to let it go. He updated to a new Volvo Estate. I have never owned VW before, but thought this too good to let go. I'm restoring it for my daughter and she is helping with the resto. Were going through everything, CV boots, seat track rails and even the dash clock. It's going to be her ever day driver so I want it to be in perfect order. Luckily I found a donor car with lots of spares too (1974 4 door hatch) on ebay which had been in a shed for the last 20 years with only 98K on the clock.
I'm amazed at how good these car drives!!!!! Haven't seen any others on the road, but i think the parts will be hard to get now, especially the tailgate.
Will keep updating as we progress.

[tassie_euro_mk1]

Excellent!!!

I really like the B1 passat estates. I have an original 76 passat sedan, two owners in its life one being for 31 years!!! The drive great. Suspension is a bit soggy though. Its a very simple car.

Parts are a little bit difficult to find. I always cruise the international ebay sites, there can be some cool, retro rare stuff on there for the passat. But in America its called a Dasher, in Germany its called passat 32, UK dont have alot but its passat B1 or mk1, and the Brazilians have a few good passat parts also. Worth a look.


Anyways its great to see another B1 passat having a resto. There arnt many left on our roads and they are a very underated car IMO.

Keen to see more pics and updates
Cheers
Eric

[Jarred]

good luck with it all, keep us updated!

[auditwmba]

ajbull88,

Thanks for reminding me of our B1 Passat days - we had a '76 LS sedan and a '77 GLS wagon for about 13 years. We travelled many thousands of kilometres in them and our kids learnt to drive in them.

The sedan had a Weber 32/36DGV carb with TS manifold as well as GLS (four light) grill - with spot lights, it would light up the road with 580 watts of power! An 80 amp Audi alternator was mandatory. I still have the GLS grill (for sale).

Good luck with the restoration. By the way, the headlight reflectors look a bit sad. Also check the plenum chamber for rust - the sound-proofing retains water rusting the metal underneath. The worst case is rust holes leading to water dripping onto the fuse box (it happened to me); big effort to fix.

Good luck

Rob

[vinderliker]

Old skool rules! OK!

[ajbull88]

B1 Passat Estate

Thanks for all the positive comments everyone, as I'm new to VW's it is a learning experience every time I undo something. Pulling the motor out was straight forward. Luckily with the donor car we have replacement head lights, spare parts for repairing our seat track rails as there worn. As for rust, under the plenum is really good condition. There is some small rust holes on the passenger side-sub frame where it bolts to the engine cross member. With the motor now out this will be easy to weld up. The car is almost rust free, a little surface rust under the drivers door and a little above one of the side chrome moldings. As we are painting the car, I'll remove all the moldings, bumpers and door handles to get a good look under everything and a nicer paint job too. We are going to repaint it sky blue in Acrylic, as I don't have a booth at my workshop.
more pic's soon

[RedVR6]

I had the same prob with rust in the plenum on my audi fox (sedan version). Lucky for me, my mate's dad was a ***** hot welder and could braze a new section in for me.
I friggin loved that car. I've still got a stack of bits under Mum & Dad's house. Let me know if you need anything and I'll have a look.
If the clock is not working, see if you can find the factory tacho from the TS to replace it. You may be lucky enough to find a centre console with three cutouts for gauges where the clock would slot in nicely.
If you get really excited, the 5 spd manual trans from an Audi 80cc does fit in there which really makes it a much nicer car to drive.
I had a 1.8l 8v in mine with the 32/36 Weber. Certainly not a rocket ship, but it sounded fast with a cold air intake and sports exhaust!
Great cars. Under-rated and getting rare these days.
Kudos to you for restoring one. Enjoy it!

[ajbull88]

B1 Passat Estate

Well some update pics, the work has started and don't you just always seem to find more to do.....


A previous repair to tailgate, paint had crazed so repair it again


Rust in the sub-frame to be removed, plated and welded


A good looking plenum chamber


Not that noticeable when white, but you'll see these dents in blue




If under boots an tire wells all looked this good...

[auditwmba]

I agree the plenum area looks good but I strongly suggest that this area be checked from underneath, particularly above the fuse box.

I have also had to replace the rear trailing arm bushes (as well as rewelding the torsion tube inside the 'U' beam). Body roll from soft standard springs will lead to torsion tube failure. I fitted a set of rear Variant coils to help things.

I had a set of 6"x13" steel wheels which (with the right rubber) probably caused more grief with the Passat suspension design. The best option is to fit better components from Koni, Bilstein etc as well as ensuring all rubber mounts are in the best condition.

Good luck

Rob

[gldgti]

You may be lucky enough to find a centre console with three cutouts for gauges where the clock would slot in nicely.

i've got one of those floating around

[AlexV11]

Good to see another B1 project...
I'm in it for the long haul with my Audi Fox, when money permits!

If you need some specific info, try the Dasher Owners Group http://dog.mp3equipped.com/dog/ just for B1 owners