Well they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I quite like the mk3. Much like my Corrado thread I thought it would be nice to document my ownership journey for others to be amused at my choices and troubles along the way. So, this is my, well my wifes mk3 16v. Why my wife? Well it was February 2021 when I saw this lovely low mile (78k) and low owner mk3 on eBay. My wife had previously said she'd love a Golf GTI and I had too many cars at the time, some have since departed, but really wanted a 16v in my life so I thought it would make the perfect valentines day gift to my wife. I even arranged to have it delivered on valentines day, it was red afterall, and I put the the v5 is her name. I know what you're all thinking - this guy should definitely get some sort of hopeless romantic award. In my opinion you would be right but when it arrived she saw straight through my plan and said it was really for me and said she had meant a newer one. It was dinner in the dog house for me that night but over the last year I've bonded nicely with the red mk3. This is what I got myself into - it was described as a non-runner but I could see it was once a well loved car. Here are some pics from the original advert:
First job was to figure out why it wasn't running. It turned over and sounded like it had good compression (later checked and it's very good across cylinders). A little bit of research and looking at the missing lock barrel and generic key I figured out it was the immobiliser at fault. Solved that and it fired up nicely
Next job was to start looking for rust. I knew mk3s were known for it and to be fair this car wasn't "that" bad at first glance:
But as you know I'm not happy until I strip it all back and go hunting so off with the bumpers and trims to sort out anything that needs attention..and she doesn't disappoint (if you like doing work that is..) but wasn't really that bad to be fair.
Whilst thumbing through the cars history file I found a picture of it in better days. I blurred out the owner just incase but if you zoom in you can see he had seat protectors on both seats.
Anyway back onto restoritive work I got to welding new metal around all 4 corners... originally trying to keep works behind the plastic trims to save some money..
Bearing in mind I learn as I go, I'm not experienced in painting and actually this is the first I've painted anything. I figured I could blend the red and if it didn't work out at least I could get it painited later and it would look better than primer on show. Turned out alright I thought - I did this rattle cans and then wet sanded back and polished up
I then got on with doing the sills which were easier, actually I did this before the work above as had rubbish paint and match originally - can see the original attempt above the rear of the sill
As much as I enjoyed painting (not) I decided to get a load of removable bits done professionally and just to move the project on a bit.
Before fitting those parts though I rust protected behind the wings, in the cavities and behind anywhere that had seen welding work. I am a fan of Dinitrol products and used their wax and their underseal 4941 on the floor
I've since stripped down the entire front end and am rebuilding with all new bushes Bilstein B12, new bearings etc. I've currently just finished working on the carriers. Some stubborn bolts I used my welder to get out. Looks easy in the pics but again first time doing it - made a few mistakes such as installing hub and forgetting to put circlip in then destroyed bearing removing but won't do that again!
Also refurb'd the ARB And that brings us up to date. Still lots to do - need to replace the fuel tank, rebuild the front end, cambelt, oil leaks on the engine and paint bonnet and roof due to lacquer peel. Might attempt it myself.
Great stuff @MJA , do like a mk3, especially red ones. What front wings are you using, or are you letting in the lower repair panels? Presumptuous of me, but suppose front wings are rotting at rear bottom? And I thought the previous owner had been chewing bubblegum and just burst a big one.
How very dare you dodgy- rot on a mk3 no way!! Haha. I got a couple of pattern wings online- pretty sure they came from gsf. I did also buy the bottoms to repair my stock wings but didn't have the skills to cut and weld them in at the time.
Friend has a mk3 and there is only a couple of quid in it between patch or full wing from ecp, and quality and fit of the others I've had has been great.
The only advantage of gen wings seems to be the thickness of the metal. The fit is good on pattern though. Im going to wax the hell out of the backs of the wings to be safe. I'm hoping for a decent day on the car tomorrow. It would be nice to get the front suspension set up back on and fuel tank out. I'm going to leave the rear beam this time around and get it on the road first. I plan to refresh it eventually but its just another job that will take me time and cost dosh in parts. I cant decide whether to make my life easier and go polybush also.
Looking good. I see more MK2 Golfs compared to MK3. But the WFH everyday means I rarely get out and about except at weekends!
I wfh as well but don't get far at weekends either aside from walking the dog! Id guess this 16v mk3 is the rarest car I have. I was happy with it but my mate was a flea in my ear about missing the boat on a mk2 16v so I bought one end of last year as it had pricey wheels I was able to sell the recoup some of the buying cost. Ill start a thread on that one soon as I am working on that one too but it already has had a fair refresh. I like to really inspect them underneath and get on top of any rot, bushes etc before I use them properly. I like my mk3 for being very original with all undertrays etc etc present.
