Well been a bit of a lurker for the past couple of months and thought it about time I opened up my own project thread.
I am 18 and absolutely obsessed with VW's, after passing my test the search was on for a suitable vehicle. One painfully long year later I had enough money (investment from Bank Of Dad) to get a nice little car. One day whilst searching Autotrader I spotted this interesting vehicle...
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/Golf.jpg)
So me and a friend made the trip upto Castleford and found a stonker of a mk1 with only one 'supermarket hit & run' dent in the wing. One swift phonecall to Dad and I had bought a 1983 MK1 VW Golf 1.1 C, with loads of spares and a spare polo 1053cc engine and gearbox!
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00451.jpg)
Once home, the first job was to get that ding sorted at local bodyshop Lovells Autobody Repair Centre Peterborough. The next job I carried out was to refurbish the Oz wheels (never found out what the name of them was...any ides 14x6.5" 4x100 OZ Wheels?). After much painstaking sanding, filling etc and a few licks of Ford Nimbus Grey and laquer I thought it looked swish. The next stage was four new tyres (they were squealing like a b*%$# around dry roundabouts).
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00515.jpg)
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00517.jpg)
After giving the Golf a little service, I decided a K&n Bolt on was the way forward (unfortunately no pics!). However after around 5 days of ridiculous carb icing and running issues I took it back off and sold it! Although I loved the sound, the MPG was rubbish as I was booting it everywhere.
A few months of harmless driving passed by, before DISASTER!
A nasty grinding on the way back from work had worried me, but I parked up outside my GF's house and went in for Tea (as you do) came back out and had forgotten all about the grinding. Attempted to do a 3 point turn..chucked her in and BANG...S%&$..no drive no movement and I am stuck diagonally across my GF's street. Closer inspection shows the golf very much detached from the NSF wheel.
Funnily enough I was a little too preoccupied to get pictures that evening. It turned out that the original owner had put on much wider alloy wheels, with the original steel wheel bolts (partly my fault for not spotting them when refurbishing alloy wheels/mostly previous owner's fault...Thanks!) I went on to find three wheel bolts on the road on the way to work. The last one had completely sheered off inside the hub. All had stripped the thread from the hub meaning I was unable to bolt a wheel on to move it. Specialist recovery it is then! That left my car looking like this...
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00531.jpg)
Volkswagen/Robin Reliant Replica FTW!
My alloy wheel wasn't too healthy either:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00544.jpg)
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00545.jpg)
I was thankful that this hadn't happened at a higher speed as the results would have been very very different.
So after one new Hub, two new Brake Discs and four new Brake Pads the golf looked like this:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00546.jpg)
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00547.jpg)
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00548.jpg)
I bought 16 new wheel bolts, and this time I wasn't messing about. I did not want them to work there way off again:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00549.jpg)
This comparison shows you just how short the wheel bolts were.
However, the new bolts caught on the brake drums on the back, so I downsized slightly to get the right fit.
After all that was fixed, I had problems with the Gear Linkage Shift Finger meaning I could not select any gears what so ever....TWICE it broke before I bodged a more chunky Polo Coupe item on. Then once that was fixed a fuel pipe split dumping Petrol EVERYWHERE...it was getting me down and I was on the verge of parting ways with the Golf. But after a good old drive and a bit of trouble free motoring, I fell back in love with it. Its tight handling, peppy engine and the way in which it had developed my driving style so that I could carry more speed through corners due to its lack of power.
January I got a job at a car sales website in Peterborough - matchthedeal.com Meaning the golf was pressed into hard graft doing 40+ a day. I've decided to start cleaning it up on a tight budget (Apprentice=pay them nothing make them do everything) - starting with the engine bay.
It was looking a little messy:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00677.jpg)
So I stripped back the rocker cover, manifold outlet & fan cowling. Covered it in Halfords Heat Proof Paint, then Rattle Can Black and finally some clear coat. Much better wouldn't you agree:
So here's where we are at now:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00725.jpg)
I have many plans for the golf, I am just waiting for my budget to increase before I can go ahead. I have bought a 1.3 MK1 Driver Engine, I am hoping to rebuild with Bike carbs. Some other plans include:
. Banded Original Steel Wheels with chrome hubcaps
. White-wall Tyres
. Chrome Grill Surround
. Coil-overs (Obv)
. De-badged Tailgate
. Paintwork Touch up
. Brake Upgrade
. 5 Speed Gearbox
So there it is, My MK1 Golf.
Any ideas or feedback would be muchly appreciated.
Thank You For Looking!
I am 18 and absolutely obsessed with VW's, after passing my test the search was on for a suitable vehicle. One painfully long year later I had enough money (investment from Bank Of Dad) to get a nice little car. One day whilst searching Autotrader I spotted this interesting vehicle...
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/Golf.jpg)
So me and a friend made the trip upto Castleford and found a stonker of a mk1 with only one 'supermarket hit & run' dent in the wing. One swift phonecall to Dad and I had bought a 1983 MK1 VW Golf 1.1 C, with loads of spares and a spare polo 1053cc engine and gearbox!
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00451.jpg)
Once home, the first job was to get that ding sorted at local bodyshop Lovells Autobody Repair Centre Peterborough. The next job I carried out was to refurbish the Oz wheels (never found out what the name of them was...any ides 14x6.5" 4x100 OZ Wheels?). After much painstaking sanding, filling etc and a few licks of Ford Nimbus Grey and laquer I thought it looked swish. The next stage was four new tyres (they were squealing like a b*%$# around dry roundabouts).
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00515.jpg)
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00517.jpg)
After giving the Golf a little service, I decided a K&n Bolt on was the way forward (unfortunately no pics!). However after around 5 days of ridiculous carb icing and running issues I took it back off and sold it! Although I loved the sound, the MPG was rubbish as I was booting it everywhere.
A few months of harmless driving passed by, before DISASTER!
A nasty grinding on the way back from work had worried me, but I parked up outside my GF's house and went in for Tea (as you do) came back out and had forgotten all about the grinding. Attempted to do a 3 point turn..chucked her in and BANG...S%&$..no drive no movement and I am stuck diagonally across my GF's street. Closer inspection shows the golf very much detached from the NSF wheel.
Funnily enough I was a little too preoccupied to get pictures that evening. It turned out that the original owner had put on much wider alloy wheels, with the original steel wheel bolts (partly my fault for not spotting them when refurbishing alloy wheels/mostly previous owner's fault...Thanks!) I went on to find three wheel bolts on the road on the way to work. The last one had completely sheered off inside the hub. All had stripped the thread from the hub meaning I was unable to bolt a wheel on to move it. Specialist recovery it is then! That left my car looking like this...
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00531.jpg)
Volkswagen/Robin Reliant Replica FTW!
My alloy wheel wasn't too healthy either:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00544.jpg)
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00545.jpg)
I was thankful that this hadn't happened at a higher speed as the results would have been very very different.
So after one new Hub, two new Brake Discs and four new Brake Pads the golf looked like this:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00546.jpg)
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00547.jpg)
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00548.jpg)
I bought 16 new wheel bolts, and this time I wasn't messing about. I did not want them to work there way off again:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00549.jpg)
This comparison shows you just how short the wheel bolts were.
However, the new bolts caught on the brake drums on the back, so I downsized slightly to get the right fit.
After all that was fixed, I had problems with the Gear Linkage Shift Finger meaning I could not select any gears what so ever....TWICE it broke before I bodged a more chunky Polo Coupe item on. Then once that was fixed a fuel pipe split dumping Petrol EVERYWHERE...it was getting me down and I was on the verge of parting ways with the Golf. But after a good old drive and a bit of trouble free motoring, I fell back in love with it. Its tight handling, peppy engine and the way in which it had developed my driving style so that I could carry more speed through corners due to its lack of power.
January I got a job at a car sales website in Peterborough - matchthedeal.com Meaning the golf was pressed into hard graft doing 40+ a day. I've decided to start cleaning it up on a tight budget (Apprentice=pay them nothing make them do everything) - starting with the engine bay.
It was looking a little messy:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00677.jpg)
So I stripped back the rocker cover, manifold outlet & fan cowling. Covered it in Halfords Heat Proof Paint, then Rattle Can Black and finally some clear coat. Much better wouldn't you agree:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00724.jpg)
So here's where we are at now:
![](http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/MileymanB/DSC00725.jpg)
I have many plans for the golf, I am just waiting for my budget to increase before I can go ahead. I have bought a 1.3 MK1 Driver Engine, I am hoping to rebuild with Bike carbs. Some other plans include:
. Banded Original Steel Wheels with chrome hubcaps
. White-wall Tyres
. Chrome Grill Surround
. Coil-overs (Obv)
. De-badged Tailgate
. Paintwork Touch up
. Brake Upgrade
. 5 Speed Gearbox
So there it is, My MK1 Golf.
Any ideas or feedback would be muchly appreciated.
Thank You For Looking!