jmsheahan
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 689
Club RR Member Number: 121
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1989 VW Golf GTI 16vjmsheahan
@jmsheahan
Club Retro Rides Member 121
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Jan 25, 2010 23:41:42 GMT
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Looking really good  Keep it up. Have seen too many mk2's with rot under the front wings and screen recently. Bit scary as I know mine has a bubble under the seal  |
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dafs
Part of things
Posts: 23
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Another quick update. Been doing some small job like refurbing the dizzy and degreaing the engine block. The hall sender on the dizzy was in pretty bad shape, even though it worked fine. Luckily, i got a repair kit really cheap off e-bay. Old/New sensor (i removed the plug on the old one when removing it.  The repair kit:  Also, while the distributer body was dissasembled, i replaced the internal oil seal. This had hardened, and was letting oil seep along the shaft and then out via the distributor cap. It's a bit of a pain to do, but here's a quick how to: www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190271&highlight=distributor+sealRefurbed dizzy:  Anyways, went down this weekend to try and start some welding, but spent my time cutting out more rust!! It's now gone from this:  To this:  And finaly to "clean" metal!:  In this area, several parts the body come together, so there were more rusty bits under the topmost rusted layers. I plan to patch these lowere ones first, the rebuild the topmost layers with larger steel sections. (done some cardboard mock-ups and it seems ok!) Got a few days off work coming up, so hopefully i can patch this side up before staring the other! And finally, i've toyed with the idea of an new eco-friendly plucky little engine with eggcellent acceleration:   |
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Out of the flames!
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nice work going on there mate,i know how it feels to discover rust! before-  after-  finishing touches-  don't seem to have any pics of it sprayed,but you get the idea.keep it up mate its worth it in the end. heres mine how it looks today-  |
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SPOTS MUSH!
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Nice project bud! Do you happen to live in the little town on the way to Bournemouth from Salisbury? As this car looks VERY familiar!
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Nice project bud! Do you happen to live in the little town on the way to Bournemouth from Salisbury? As this car looks VERY familiar! did you mean me or dafs?i do,i live in breamore,you would of seen mine if you have driven from salisbury to bournemouth.. I think you may have confused mine with dafs !lol |
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Last Edit: Feb 8, 2010 22:07:58 GMT by maiders
SPOTS MUSH!
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dafs
Part of things
Posts: 23
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Nice project bud! Do you happen to live in the little town on the way to Bournemouth from Salisbury? As this car looks VERY familiar! No, I'm way out in North Wales |
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Out of the flames!
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Wow really? I was certain this was the car. Same colour, same rear lights same wheels they even have a similar shed to you! Next time i make trip out il be sure to get a picture of it.
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it is the car you seen,but not dafs.dafs is who's thread it is and i put two pics of mine on of the engine bay and one of the car
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SPOTS MUSH!
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top work mate. you've inspired me to get my ass in gear
and finally learn how to weld too :-)
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dafs
Part of things
Posts: 23
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Feb 19, 2010 17:43:43 GMT
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OK, a bit of a catch-up. Welding was always going to be a major part of this project, but i've had zero experience. The little bit i've done before was always on a 'set-up' welder, where an experienced welder had already set everything up, and done most of the welding. So this week i was offered this welder for a really good price:  It's hardly been used, and is in really good condition. Now that i had the equipment, i started welding! Below are the first welds i did (WARNING - those of a sensitive disposition may want to look away!!  )     it looked like i'd managed to get all the classic mistakes in!! Wedling with and empty gas bottle = Check Welding wire stuck to the metal = Check Huge holes in the steel = Check Zero penetration = Check After ages of messing about with the setting etc, i began to get some "better" welds. I also started to practice doing some spot welds, just to try and get the timing right etc. Here's how thing looked when i quit for the day:   Not pretty, but the were solid and a definate improvement! I've still got loads to learn, but i feel a bit more confident now, and hopefully, i can get some more practice in this weekend. Any tips/advice/abuse welcome |
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Out of the flames!
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Mar 30, 2011 20:33:35 GMT
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Any news on this project? Hope it had a happy ending  Just found similar (Although not quite as severe) rot around the scuttle on my old heap.. looking at a replacement from BBT - how did you find yours for fit? |
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nice work pal, glad my mk2 jetta isnt as bad as yours round the screen. too many golfs are broken for spares nowadays glad youre saving one.
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1965 Datsun spl 310
1967 MGB roadster
1979 Dodge Spacevan
1983 Citroen LNA
1989 Volvo 760 GLE
1990 Volkswagen Jetta
1990 Nissan Bluebird
1990 Volkswagen LT35
1984 MZ TS125
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dafs
Part of things
Posts: 23
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Feb 28, 2021 20:16:04 GMT
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Catch-Up 2010-2021!
Well, since It’s been over 11 years since I updated this thread, I though a bit of a catch-up was required!
In the last update, the car was at the shed, stripped and waiting for some attention. The engine, gearbox and everything else had been taken off, labelled, boxed and stored in the shed. The plan was to cut out the rot, weld in new steel and get it back on the road.
Well, that plan failed spectacularly! To cut a long story short, I bought a house, got married and had a daughter. The house needed complete gutting and renovation. To save money, I did most of the work myself, and it took the best part of eight years to get the house into a state where we could finally move in! All my free time was consumed by the house renovation.
During this time, the Golf stood waiting in the yard, all sad and abandoned. I’d visit occasionally, but all I'd do was try and refit the tattered tarp that covered the rapidly decaying shell, always promising to return soon with some tools to restart the resto. I never did.
Fast forward to January 2020. With the house (mostly) finished, I started thinking about the old Golf, and about getting back into restoring it. By now, the shell was in a bad way. Since the windscreen was off, water, leaves (and stray cats) had been slowly filling the car. The footwells were full of water, rusting them badly. Also, places like the arches, door bottoms and sills had bubbled up.
The driveway in the new house isn’t really big enough for me to bring the shell over, but I do have a small workshop in the back. The plan was to bring what I could from the shed over to the workshop for rebuild/renovation. I’d then start on the shell in the shed over summer.
Then of course, the coronavirus hit! Because of some old issues I had with my lungs, I was also shielding, so I basically couldn’t leave the house for months. I started doing some on-line research, to-do’s lists and searched for parts. I though that once the first lockdown was done, I could get started.
Everything changed when I received an early morning call telling me that there had been a fire, and the shed had burned down to the ground.
Luckily, no one was hurt, and the fire didn’t spread to any other properties, but we lost everything. All the equipment, tools and parts that we’d collected and stored over the years were gone.
All the Golf parts were gone. The gearbox was a pool of molten metal, and the engine had been crushed by the roof beams when it collapsed. Nothing inside the shed was salvageable.
All that was left was the shell, and some bits that I had stashed in my spares car.
And that’s where I am now!
My first though after the fire was to scrap the lot, but, In a weird way, losing everything has motivated me to get on with the resto. I feel guilty about not restoring it sooner and leaving it too late. It’s now a “kill or cure” situation – if I can’t restore the car, then I’ll just sell/scrap everything.
I’ve posted this as a way of trying to keep my motivation up. I don’t know how frequent I’ll be able to update things, but I’m hoping as the days grow longer, I’ll have more time to go to the shed and do some work.
The plan is still to fix up the shell, then find a suitable donor car for the engine/gearbox etc. The car has been parked where it is for 10 years, and i need to move it out so I can get underneath and have a good look to see if it's actually salvageable.
Till next time...
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Out of the flames!
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Man, I'm gutted for you.
MK2s have been slowly going up in value, and bits and pieces hard or expensive to find. If I was you I'd try to find a full rotten or crashed donor. Maybe go 20v or something.
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riggs
Part of things
Posts: 74 
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Started reading this then realized it was 2010 and only 2 pages, excited for the major update then saw that  Absolutely gutted for you, I think everyone is guilty of having a project sit there (98 puma, 4 years and counting for me) If it where me, I would be going down, giving it a clean and assessing the shell, work out what it needs and if you can deliver it in the future, if not move the shell on and buy something you can work with, theres no shame in buying a lesser project if it means you can actually do it (don't mean this to sound negative) |
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Drizz
Part of things
Posts: 337
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What caused the fire? Something I'm so very scared of happening to me!
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MGF VVC 160
MG Midget
Metro Turbo
200 BRM
Range Rover Classic TD5
Discovery Premium 300TDi
Defender 90
Rover 420 GSi Sport Turbo
Discovery Extreme 300TDi
Range Rover P38
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dafs
Part of things
Posts: 23
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Man, I'm gutted for you. MK2s have been slowly going up in value, and bits and pieces hard or expensive to find. If I was you I'd try to find a full rotten or crashed donor. Maybe go 20v or something. Started reading this then realized it was 2010 and only 2 pages, excited for the major update then saw that Absolutely gutted for you, I think everyone is guilty of having a project sit there (98 puma, 4 years and counting for me) If it where me, I would be going down, giving it a clean and assessing the shell, work out what it needs and if you can deliver it in the future, if not move the shell on and buy something you can work with, theres no shame in buying a lesser project if it means you can actually do it (don't mean this to sound negative)
I agree regarding the shell - I need to dig it out of it's resting place and really see what's left of it. I'm not a experienced welder, so I'll have to try and be honest with myself, and either commit to it, or let it go.
I have a mk2 driver that I picked up around the same time as a parts car/storage. That shell is even worse, but I'm hoping I can salvage some bits off where possible.
Engine wise, I'm not too fussed TBH. I'd love to get another 1.8 16v lump, but they are getting rare now, and I'd need all the ancillary stuff to get it running. I'm thinking of maybe finding a mk3 gti and doing transplant, but we'll see.
What caused the fire? Something I'm so very scared of happening to me!
Were not 100% sure - but it all points to an electrical fault (fire started in the corner where the consumer unit was). The shed was old, and wooden framed (combined with all the flammable stuff you have in a workshop), so once it started, there was no stopping it really.
However we rebuild, were going to try and keep combustibles like oil, fuel and welding gas etc in a separate outbuilding.
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Out of the flames!
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Good to see you're taking such a positive proactive demeanour about this. I'm guilty of project slip - my MK2 last saw the road in 2008, and In started an engine swap in 2013 and it hasn't moved an inch since. I've probably had about ten mini-projects since then just to keep my interest, and a house buy/build is on the horizon so I know that will put paid to my car fun for a while!
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2p2g1m
Part of things
Posts: 119
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Got some bits left over from my build that I would be happy to donate to the rebuild!
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dafs
Part of things
Posts: 23
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Got some bits left over from my build that I would be happy to donate to the rebuild! Thank you very much for the offer. I managed to stash some bits in my spares car over the years, so I need to check to see what I have and what I don't! |
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Out of the flames!
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Keep it up.
)
