MK1 Golf built in 83 bought in '03 and and still not completed!!!

Hi thanks for all the comments and interest,thought you might like a bit of history on the build
Having owned a Mk2 16v for nearly 5 years, it was time to let it go when our daughter Isabella(Izzy) was born back in 1998, I got by for the next six years with a collection of Rent-a-wrecks and Motorcycles. After our son Sebastien(Rowena has still has not picked up on the fact I named him after the WRC Champion!!)was born in Jan 2005, she who must be obeyed put her foot down and stated that There would be no more motorcycles in this house!!!.
A compromise was agreed on where the oldest child in the house(me!) would find and build himself a Mk1 project car as long as the cost would not exceed a 1000(yeah right )
So using the latest technology known to man (or Ebay!!) I set about finding a project. Then I got a call from a good friend of mine Dan at VW Spares, Wrotham in Kent, he just happened to have a bare Mk1 arched small rear light bodyshell(originally built by "Razzer" from Club GTI) with welded in roll cage that was cluttering up his workshops, would I be interested? I think he was somewhat shocked to find me at his door within 20mins of his call, I had a quick look and we settled on a price of 290 and use of his flatbed to take it oop north to my Dad's workshop in Derby. Then as if fate was smiling on me I happened across a copy of Auto trader and in the spares section was the following Mk1 Cabrio fitted with 16v engine spares or repairs 300,yet again I was off .The cabby to be fair was very worse for wear, rotten sills ,A pillars and badly repaired on O/s rear quarter panel, but had rear disc conversion,Eibach A/R/B,s front and rear and a 1.8 16v which surprisingly was very sweet, fitted with tubular manifold, 50mm intake manifold and Piper Cams ,a little bit of haggling ensued and the sum of 250 changed hands with free delivery chucked in .
As you are all aware that there are a awful lot of differences between the Convertible/Hatchback Models, so to be on the safe side I purchased a rather tired and yet again rotten Mk1 Gti in Lhasa green from Northgate Fiat in Canterbury(Trade in originally from the Hythe area)anyone know it?,successfully bodged it through a MoT and ran around in her for 6 mths constantly selling parts of it on Ebay.
Now for the fun part of the project, it took my Father(retired panel beater) and myself 8 months to sort the body shell ready for painting ,along the way we had some pleasant shocks like the o/s engine mount was actually nowhere near where the engine would be, so we had to transplant the entire chassis leg out of the convertible into the shell!. My Dad then used his considerable skillbase to fettle the four steel wheel arches to sit over my wheel of choice. Finally the big day came to apply my chosen colours(fans of the Steve McQueen film Le Mans will recognise these!!) we used Ford Olympic Blue and Hillman Sunset Orange.
Then it was time for the loose assembly of all the new/used bargains acquired on Ebay like the new lowered and adjustable K&W coilover suspension kit from Germany 320 including postage, or the two Magnum carbon race seats with harnesses from Southern Ireland for 100 the pair. But perhaps the biggest headache was the wiring looms I think the previous owner had shares in scotchlock,I filled a coffee mug with ones removed from the engine bay alone, I spent two complete days repairing the loom with soldered joints.
As you can see its a constantly evolving project, this year I have already converted to twin 48 Webers, fitted rear brake bias valves and re-located the battery to the rear boot area. I have had it tuned at B D Engineering on their rolling road and after starting with a rather piffling 112BHP @the wheels with a adjustment to the ignition settings and the main jets changed we came away with 134.2@the wheels which coupled with the fact that the car only weighs 820Kg gives great performance. Insurance was a amazing 197.50 including European breakdown cover from Heritage
Finally I would like to thank my wife Rowena for putting up with the almost daily trip to the Post Office to dispatch more items sold on Ebay.
Mick, Angelo and Dave at E & S Commercials,Northfleet,Kent for providing transport to move vehicle around the country and infinite patience for putting up with me!!
My Dad for all his efforts and fantastic spraying (not bad for a Oap in his seventies!!)
Specification List
Engine
1.8 KR 16v
TSR Pack A cylinder head
Piper ultimate road Inlet and Exhaust cams
Piper Vernier Pulley
4-1 TSR Tubular Manifold
Custom made Stainless steel Exhaust(Great item 320)
Lightened/Balanced flywheel(Ex NickBishBashBosch)
02J gearbox
Custom gearbox mounts
Custom made front A/R/B (ex Trevor/Maurice Reeves)
Autocavan Super Brake Bar/willwood bias box (Ex Nick BishbashBosch)
Autocavan front and rear engine mounts
New internal copper fuel line
Schrick Aluminium Sump and Baffle plate
Lower ball joint extenders (Club GTI GB)
K&W Coilover Suspension Kit
Solid alloy top mounts with negative camber
Poly-bushes through-out
Eibach Rear A/R/B
C&R Rear Torsion Bar
Dubsport rear strut brace
Stainless Steel front top brace
TSR 285mm Frt discs/Green stuff pads
239mmX-drilled rear discs/Omp pads
Solid Alloy steering rack mounts
New track rod ends
New steering rack gaiters
New frt and rear stainless brake hoses
Compomotive TH2 16" rims and Yokohama 195/45 x 16" tyres
Magnum Carbon fibre race seats x2
TRS 4-point and 3-point race harness
OMP Alloy pedals
Custom Rollcage
Corrado Dash
Alloy Foot plates
Carbon Door Trims
Alloy Passenger Foot Rest
Audi Quattro Gauges X3
Momo Steering Wheel
Sparco Gearknob
Alloy Handbrake cover
Alloy Battery Carrier
Rolling road set up came in at 144.2BHP at the wheels which was pleasing as whole car only weighs 823kg

Future plans include front brake upgrade using 305 x 28 SEAT discs and a 4 pot Brembo's

 

awesome!! thats superb mate. love it.

keep that bonnet away from it!

 

Agreed.....whats the spce going to be?

 

Lock Up Racer

Hi,at the moment it has 1.8 16v engine with Twin 45 Weber's had it on the rolling road yeterday to set up carbs and came away with 134.2BHP@the wheels in a car that only weighs 820Kg that is pretty lively!!,lots more planned for this winter

 

Very nice, saw a pic of it on here in a report the other day I think...

Whats the spec on the KR and do you drive it to the ring? Whats it like to drive on long distances??

 

Unknown spec on the KR ,I pulled it out of a rather battered and rusty MK1 Cabriolet and just basically fitted it and thought I would just run it until it develops problems 2 years later still waiting!!, I will drive it to Germany, drove to Le Mans 24 hour and then onto Albi in 2006 in it .After the first hour you do not notice the noise,heat,lack of stereo etc!!two of my mates have even fallen asleep in it whilst travelling!! drove to Castle Combe the other week from Kent,failed the noise test max allowed is 100db,golf came in at 111.8db!!!but carbs were not set properly and there was a awful lot of poppin and banging going on

 

Saw this at combe being noise tested and getting the from the man with the microphone.

Very dissapointed as i was looking forward to seeing it blat round!

 

Hi,Just added a few build photos that I had on my pc,
Full Spec is currently 1.8 16v from a MK1 Cabriolet,TSR 4-1 exhaust manifold,custom stainless exhaust,rear disc conversion,TSR 285mm frt disc with Green stuff pads,rear disc conversion,full poly bushed throughout,Frt upper and lower strut braces,rear strut brace,fully caged,and loads more which I always forget !!

 

Mk1 16v Track Golf

edit

 

didnt you post this the other week?
still mighty!!

 

Hi ,Got the old girl out of the garage today(first time in two months!!)treated her to a Oil and filter change and managed to do 45miles without getting rained on!!!.

Still got a few little jobs to go ,in cluding my alloy pedals which I bought Two years ago at Beaulieu Autojumble.Have also purchased 2 litre 16v engine and box will work on these this summer ready to drop in over the winter watch this space

 

Summer? we don't get that anymore do we?

Lovin the gulf paintwork, very different, in my opinion the small rear light golf mk1 is the best lookin golf ever

 

Bought some new wheels just waiting to get them back from the refurbishers!!

 

Fuchs back from Lepsons and fully refurb'd[

 

Been busy in the shed with updates so far,

Fitted new Schrick baffled sump


New German style plates(No Police hassles so far!!) Crystal headlights and Duckbill Spoiler


Still to fit TSR cylinder head,fitted with Piper Ultimate road/race cams and Vernier pulley





Also fitted the new Carbon door cards,phew busy winter!!

 

Lovely car

620Kg are you sure?

& what arches have you used mate?

 

Thanks ,sorry I'm bad i meant 820kg , the arches were already on my shell when I bought it Dad and myself perfected them ,took a while till my Dad was happy with the end product but panel beater with over 56 years experience so bit of a perfectionist

 

was going to say lol, even a chap (jelly?) struggled to get that figure & it was like swiss cheese.

There's plenty more weight you can still remove from her then, unless your using it as a show car too.

will be keeping an eye on this as the general body shape is what i am aiming for.

 

she is beautiful!!!!!

I want a go in it please....

 

Thanks if you go to Castle Combe in April you are more than welcome to a ride in the passenger seat