1982 VW Mk1 Golf Project

Getting deep down and dirty.

So the car is now running, useful as I need to be able to move it around a bit until I can put it in my garrage. At the moment there is a Capri 1.6 Laser hogging all the room which belongs to a friend but hopefully that should be gone soon. Until I can put the golf away, safe from the elements there is a limit to how much body work I can do, so I've decided to strip out the insides and remove the exterior trim to get a good look at what I'm up against.

This car has been in a barn for a while... the tax disk expired in the year 2000... the guys I bought it from mentioned chickens... this car is pretty dirty. Realistically though its not as bad as it could have been. It has obviously been given a good wash because when you look in the places a sponge cannot reach there are feathers, bits of straw and some brown mud kinda stuff that I dont really want to think too much about. The stint in the barn has probably been a good thing though as it has been dry at least.

Nails??
So, I've pretty much removed everything from the inside of the car. I started from the back with the abused parcel shelf that had two holes roughly cut in it, filled with some heavy but rubbish speakers which had caused it to sag significantly. All the seats came out (the driver's one has been replaced for obvious reasons). All of this was pretty simple, there is suprisingly little inside a car. The hardest part was the carpet, which was held in with nails! Little tacks all around the edge. I've since found out that that is how they were all done.

The exterior trim was fairly simple to remove, revealing more evidence of farmyard living. The only awkward bit was a few truly seized nuts, two of which had to be drill out and another that had to be sawn in two. For some unknown reason some previous owner has had a facination with the colour blue and various parts of the car have been repainted including the beading strip. It looked truly horrific and the car looks a damn site better without it.

With all but the upper dash out of the car it was time to take a closer look at what 23 years of life had done to this little car, or more to the point, what some over zealous mechanic with a big jack has done. On both sides at the front jacking points the car has been jacked at some point from the floor, rather than the sill. Bending the floor, damaging the metal and in the long run making a rusty hole. That is daylight coming through in the picture to the right. It's not really that bad as the sills require a bit of attention in these locations anyway and it should be a relatively simple job to cut out the rotten metal and weld in some more.

The outer sills as mentioned above are rusty towards the front of the car and starting to rot. I'll have to either replace the rotten section or the whole sill, depending on what is easiest.

The front driver side wing appears to be very rusty under the paintwork. I suspect that it has been replaced at somepoint with a wing that hasnt been wax sealed (the rest of the car was from new). Its all surface rust, but I think it will be easier to replace it than repair it. Trouble with that is getting a wing that fits, as VW as stopped making them and the after market ones can be a bit hit and miss. I might try and source one from a breaker instead.

The rear passenger door has had a knock at somepoint, although you cant tell from the outside as its been filled really well.

The rear of the car has a dent that I already knew about, having removed the rear bumper though the damage is more extensive than I thought and as it has gone unseen to, so is the rust. I'm going to have to take the paint off to see what the real story is, but I am hoping not to have to replace this section of the car as that would be a major pain.

On the whole though things arent that bad. I've been told that if it were a Ford it would be like a Flintstone car by now. It seems like the wax oil seal has done its job and the only real rust is where there is obvious sign of damage. I still need to get the front wings off and have a look inside there to see whats going on, but I don't want to do that until I can get it in the garage, and at the moment there is a Capri in the way. Does anyone want to buy a Capri?...

posted by intraclast @ 8:52 PM