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gldgti
14-02-2010, 09:58 PM
Funny how things go.....

So, now i begin yet another build thread. Sadly, I havnt finished my white LS build..... and that car is soon to be sold i think. However, a new car enters the fold and this one I have decided is a keeper.

Picked up said coppery red coloured 4 door 1976 Golf LS yesterday, 13/2/2010.
Car looks pretty good in the ebay photo's as always, however its pretty obvious that there is some lurking rust problems when i see it in the flesh - i should've known :-( :

we pulled the carpets just in case but its all pretty solid under there - always nice :-) the worst bits:
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010167-2.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010168-1.jpg

at some point there has been some serious sill damage above the passenger front door - not sure how it could have occurred, but suffice to say that it resulted in some nastiness...
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010162-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010163-1.jpg

...and the usual windscreen horrors....
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010164-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010165-1.jpg

but i though hey, every panel on this car is straght - the doors open and shut nicely and its not a colour you see in a mk1 very often, so i'd better get stuck in.....

first up is to "de-bog-erise" all suspect areas:
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010170-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010171-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010172-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010173-2.jpg

gldgti
14-02-2010, 10:02 PM
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010175-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010176-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010176-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010177-2.jpg
some areas had been "repaired" a bit before. others had just been bogged over...
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010178-2.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010179-1.jpg

A pillar repair:

cut out the rustyness....
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010180-2.jpg

use some nice rust converter to get into the places you cant get to....I dribbled the rust converter into the damaged sill at the top, and sure enough it ended up coming out down at the bottom of the a pillar - so i reckon it'll be OK in there from now on :-)

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010181-2.jpg

when doing major work like this - dont skimp on the steel. take your time in fabbing up a replacement part to weld in, and make it bulky - this helps to give you something to weld onto, and take some of the heat - because the thin sheetmetal doesnt take much heat to blow away.
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010182-2.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010183-1.jpg

gldgti
14-02-2010, 10:04 PM
The most cruicial part of any repair is the grinding, i find. I spend much of my time grinding very carefully, re-shaping your fresh metal to the original body shape. DONT RUSH. take your time here - it can save a lot of filling later.

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010184-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010185-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010186-2.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010187-2.jpg

mikinoz
14-02-2010, 10:08 PM
Get into it. Looks like you may knock this one over faster than the other. Will that paint be hard to match?

gldgti
14-02-2010, 10:11 PM
Here we can see exactly why these old golfs rust in the gutters so well - look at all the folds there for the water to get into and sit in, and rust away....although it mgiht not be obvious from my dodgy photo...
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010188-2.jpghttp://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010189-1.jpg

cut it ALL out....
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010190-2.jpg

and like before, tack in a new piece of steel. Use plently of tacks to keep it from moving around too much when you wled it properly
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010191-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010192-1.jpg

when welding to the sheetmetal body, you need to use short bursts on the mog to keep the heat out of it and prevent warpage, and stop it blowing away. it will always end up looking messy, even professional panelbeaters will end up with this kind of thing:
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010193-2.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010194-1.jpg

once again, grind away carefully. I begin griding off most with either a 6mm disk or 3mm for finer work, then finish with a 120 grit flap disk.
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010195-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010196-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010197-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010198-2.jpg

gldgti
14-02-2010, 10:13 PM
for the windscreen sill, the same principles apply:

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010199-1.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010200-1.jpg

I had to finish up for dinner time etc for today, but I reckon i've done a good day on here. Watch this space :-)
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010205-2.jpg
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/02/14022010202-2.jpg

static1800
14-02-2010, 10:18 PM
Nice work Ayden, should come together nicely.

As always great to see another one getting saved :)

Preen59
14-02-2010, 10:33 PM
Great work Aydan. Looks like you're doing everything properly. :cool:


Is she a Swallowtail?

Jarred
14-02-2010, 11:03 PM
woah! get stuck in alright! no other way to do it alright!

Keep the updates coming, I love a good build thread! :D

gldgti
15-02-2010, 05:09 PM
Great work Aydan. Looks like you're doing everything properly. :cool:


Is she a Swallowtail?

Not swallowtail - it does have the un-creased bonnet (one without the line along the front) but has normal rear panel.

The shell really is pretty good - not much in the way of dents - only a couple of hail-like dents in the bonnet. And apart from the rust, all the other panels are as near as perfect as makes no difference to me :-)

All the rust is gone with what I've shown here, so it will be time for paint pretty soon :-)

gldgti
23-02-2010, 06:35 PM
did some more body work on sunday - no pics sorry but some filler has gone on to neaten up the repairs... and the best bit?

I have found that Megan, my lovely lady, has a talent for filing and sanding car bodywork! Best news ever, since I really dont have the patience to do it nicely, but she does a wonderful job!

Woot for help on this resto!

Preen59
23-02-2010, 07:09 PM
Good work dude!

Funny you should mention that, but (I don't mean to sound sexist) studies have been done that show women are better than men at things like polishing and sanding. Something to do with their attention span and willingness for attention to detail..

In Korea/China etc Toolmakers don't polish injection moulds etc. It's done predominantly by "unskilled" women! Wish it was that way here.. I spent a full week polishing a new mould i'd just completed straight after SEDF.. What a way to ease back into work! haha.

gldgti
23-02-2010, 09:18 PM
yeah, its figures i reckon. she's a good eye for the lines aswell!

GeorgeMK1
23-02-2010, 09:31 PM
I just read through, and when i first saw how big and bulky that metal was that you welded on, i thought no way this would come out good. but i must say it looks ridiculously good!

Great work mate, good to see someone putting time to revive these beauties hehehe! As for the missus helping out, that is great news, i need to find myself a gal to help out too haha.

gldgti
24-02-2010, 08:16 AM
thanks mate,

yeah this ones definately worth saving.... and a 76 too!

Golf Loon
24-02-2010, 03:13 PM
Cant believe the enthusiasm you have for 5 door Mk1s. You Lunatic.

Nice work as ever though.

gldgti
24-02-2010, 04:29 PM
Cant believe the enthusiasm you have for 5 door Mk1s. You Lunatic.

Nice work as ever though.

i know - barking mad. My workmate took charge of the red caged swallowtail on the weekend (which is a 2 door) so now i'm back to 4 cars again. I'll still be helping with that build but at least i dont have to pay for it now. So yeah, got rid of a totally rust free and pretty straight 2-door for a 4 door, i must be bonkers :-).

anyway, i might as well let on some plans for her i have -

will likely be repainting the whole roof (for even-ness) and down both a pillars and the winscreen base. At some stage the bonnet has been resprayed, but this colour seems to be good at hiding mismatch between the metallic fleck - good news for amature spray painters like me.

old dash is going, along with orginal loom. will be trying to replace the whole wiring loom/fusebox with a later model mk1/early mk2/ cabby one. I will probably try to run a cabby/mk2 dash and cluster aswell.

interior will be mostly customised - including lightweight door trims (my own), modified vr6 cloth seats (in black) to fit mk1 (but i will be keeping the height adjustment) and not much else - except a whole load of guages!

i still havnt decided what engine i will start with yet - its very tempting to drop in the engine/box from the white LS (1.8 RV) but i really want this car to be a bit different, and be a good driver for both weekdays and weekends, so it just might be diesel... but fairly highly modified. I am going to take advantage of our climate and probably lower the compression with some valve clearance pockets cut into the piston tops, so i might even get to experiment with cams - YAY!

anyway, i am really aspiring for 2 things with this car - i'm intent on getting it up and on the road pretty sharply, i'm thinking 6 months really. Also, I want to raise the bar with the build quality a bit - i've always done my best to make things mechanically sweet, but often have fallen below the mark in finish - so i'd like to make this car presentable in a way that is practical, but good...

anyway, weekends permitting, this build should move pretty well and we all might be pleasantly surprised - I hope! (As long as I dont keep having to fix my other bloomin' cars! My mk3 TD ate a turbo bearing on the weekend too!)

Jarred
24-02-2010, 06:00 PM
Plans sound good. Practice makes perfect, and I think it's a great idea to start increasing the finish of the build. makes the car and build more enjoyable in my eyes.

captainvw
24-02-2010, 06:48 PM
Nice work Mate good to see another one local :cool:Picking up some stuff from paint supplies at the bottom of Kariong hill on Sat might give you Buzz if your home check it out in person

littlegldgti
26-02-2010, 09:10 AM
Hey bro nice work on the new car. Can't wait to see it, though bit dissapointed we won't be able to have 2 white golf driving in a line on the free way to the nationals, ohwell. Good Job

gldgti
26-02-2010, 05:00 PM
Hey bro nice work on the new car. Can't wait to see it, though bit dissapointed we won't be able to have 2 white golf driving in a line on the free way to the nationals, ohwell. Good Job

well, if you repaint you golf yellow, and someone drives my mk3, we can make a german flag with them :-)

littlegldgti
07-03-2010, 08:59 AM
I spose. Which one of your engines are you putting in it again? The one that was intended for the white car?

Also, come the time of painting, if you need any help just give me a buzz. You know me, I've got a pretty good eye and hand for that stuff. We may even end up having two very similar golfs happening here with customized interiors and after the re-bore, my desiel will probably turn out to be a 1.6. It'll be nice to see them together.