76 MK1 4 door

[worm]

76 mdl
1.8 litre gti motor
Webber carbie
15" mags
2.5" exhaust


Pity its raining today... well off and on....

There is no fuel in ANY of the fuel lines in the engine bay... ill climb under when it stops raining and see if i can find a leak or somfin. Bettery is also just sitting in the engine bay... Ill need to make up a bracket to hold it in place. Came with a box full of handy things like car cover, greese, battery, battery UDO gauge, cable ties, oil, water, RP70... and a soccer ball :roll: :D

When I get it going (probably with dads help :P ) and take it for a spin ill find out if its any good 8)


http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/3874/dsc015204tr.th.jpg (http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015204tr.jpg) http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8120/dsc015210su.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015210su.jpg) http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/1754/dsc015232xi.th.jpg (http://img62.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015232xi.jpg) http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6370/dsc015241oi.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015241oi.jpg)

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/4971/dsc015250cg.th.jpg (http://img62.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015250cg.jpg) http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/741/dsc015266wk.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015266wk.jpg) http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/7135/dsc015279nj.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015279nj.jpg) http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3091/dsc015283oi.th.jpg (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015283oi.jpg)

[syncro]

It's not a '76. Probably a '77 or '78.

[ausgolfer]

It is either a 76, or has a different motor in it. As it doesn't have the polution gear hanging off the cylinder head. GLS badge on the rear is a bit confusing though. Has all the LS bits like skinny stalks, early style heater controls (which I personally don't like and changed for GLS heater controls), silver numberplate lights and chrome bumpers ofcourse.

Great pick up there. Looks like it'll clean up really well. Get stuck into it with rags and elbow grease.

[GoLfMan]

yeh fantastic buy there worm well done!!! does it have any fuel in the fuel tank? :P shouldnt take much to get it started... good luck and keep us posted! :D

[worm]

I think the pollution gear ur talking off is in a bag with the old carbie.. ill get a pic... who better to ask than you lot!

[syncro]

It is either a 76, or has a different motor in it. As it doesn't have the polution gear hanging off the cylinder head.

Looks like a '76 head with a '77 alternator bracket.


GLS badge on the rear is a bit confusing though. Has all the LS bits like skinny stalks,

Skinny stalks were on '77 GLS.
Seats are from a '77 on GLS



early style heater controls (which I personally don't like and changed for GLS heater controls), silver numberplate lights and chrome bumpers ofcourse.

Chrome bumpers were on '77 and '78 also.

[worm]

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/9738/s2of.th.jpg (http://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s2of.jpg)

[worm]

It's not a '76. Probably a '77 or '78.

The compliance plate has got 176 on it... built in december 76

12/76 176 #### #### or something like that.

Its got NO fuel in the tank, looks like drip marks from under the rear near tank, ill fill it up and see what happens.... hope it aint rusted. Its also got Koni coilovers :twisted:

[syncro]

If it was built 12/76 it would be a '77.
If the VIN is 176 ********* it would be a '76.

If you get the exact VIN from the chassis,(not compliance plate) I will date it for you.

[imported_brackie]

Red. Do I need to say any more? Oh yeah....be careful about putting petrol into the tank of a car that's been sitting for a while. Petrol "goes off". Better to drain any cr*p out of it first.

[worm]

Just got it started!

Sucked fuel into the lines until i chocked on the sh*t.... crancked it over... and bang..... idles perfect.... it has a leaky fuel line just before the fuel filter, so ill try and find a spare, if not ill replace it tomoz as shops are almost closed.. then take it for a spin..... runs nice but... goto love the old mk1 golfs engineering.

i was reading the instructions on how to adjust the suspension, seems easy enough... of course ill put it on hardest hehe

more updates to come :P

[Golf Loon]

Nice Work.

[GoLfMan]

:D didnt think there was much of a prob

[worm]

Found about half a meter of fuel hose, so replaced it. Will replace the rest tomoz just to be safe.
Went for a drive up the street..... was a hoot. Suspension is fantastic.. cant wait to get sway bars and the like... already ordered my short shifter and weighted throw... although ill prob end up gettin a 5 speed anyways :roll:

Was getting VERY hot... looked in the radiator and the water was brown from rust.... will fush it out tomoz, check thermostat and give her an oil change... may need a new radiator....

Will buy calipers and discs also, breaks are typical of old cars... crap!.. going to try and do the commodore calipers mod.. but ill get the calipers from a wrecker.. im a tight ass :P

[Golfwise]

That looks like a 83 on motor ,could well be a 1.8.
Top hose flange to head gives it away. :)

[Golf Loon]

Could even be a Digifant motor. Plastic breather gives it away. 8)

Find the engine code, top right on front of block and we can tell you capacity and specs. :wink:

[worm]

Engine code is: 0261 03 373 AA

not sure on the spaces but... hard enough to remember those numbers without the spaces :P

I just changed the oil and oil filter... and I got a Z63 oil filter.. fits perfect.. so must be a 1600cc

[Golf Loon]

Thats not the engine number. Should be something like * DX 123 456 *

If you stand in front of the car and look at the top of the block, below the head, to the right of your fuel pump, you will be able to read the number

Just looked at your pic again and I reckon you can see the mechanical pump of the front of the block. Fuel hose goes from it to the carbys.

[worm]

It was full of gunk

I make out it saying RV 117 821

but the rego papers say PV 117 821

:?

[worm]

I had a look on the net and found that the RV engine code is a 1.8 digifant motor. Im assuming digifant is some sort of fuel injected motor.
So the motor is from a mid 80's golf gti?

Anyone have any ideas?

[Tim]

Seat cordobas ran a 1.8 digifant as well. Its a crappy singe point injection system isnt it?

[worm]

Ahh crap. Tested the fan, doesnt come on, so hard wired it on. The actual fan works. With the fan on the temp was about 3/4. I then shut it off, and looked under the oil filler cap.... I think I have got a blown head gasket :cry: Got what looks like scum forming on the lid, and I just changed the oil yesterday.

Options would be, to fix the head and cooling system. But because I really havent driven it, im not sure that this motor is really what im after. The other option would be to seize this opprtunity and put in a decent motor, bigger radiator etc..... hmmmmmmmm

[GoLfMan]

and sell me the parts to the webber so i can get my one on :D

[syncro]

Seat cordobas ran a 1.8 digifant as well. Its a crappy singe point injection system isnt it?

Digifant is multi-point.
Cordoba may be mono-motronic?

[Golf Loon]

Digifant is the injection system. Yours has bypassed that and is running webbers. Its a good motor though, well, better than a 1.6.

Have a look where the oil filter goes on. Is there a square box thing above the filter with two water hoses going to it. These are notorious for breaking and can get water in your oil. Check the compression of the motor before ripping the head off.

[evorobin]

Yeah that RV engine is post 91 from an aussie 5 door mk2 GTI. 90hp although they should have stuck with the Digi injection imo

[Golfwise]

The rv is held back by the ecu so without it seeing you are running a weber it should fly.
Thats a good start in my book. :D

[worm]

Loon: Doesnt have a box with water hoses above the oil filter.

I just did a compression test. Never done one before so hope I did it right.
Warmed up the engine, fully charged battery, took out ALL spark plugs, disconnected distributor cap.
Connected the compression tester to each cylinder and while fully opening the throttle cranked the engine over about 5 times.

3 readings where almost spot on 180 psi, while the 4th was about 190 to 195 psi.

[Golf Loon]

You are only suppossed to crank the engine over 3 times. 3 Pulses at the gauge.

I wouldn`t say that those readings said head gasket to me. Typical Headgasket blown readings would be 180, 80, 70, 180 or something like that.

Did you change the filter with the oil? Maybe drive the car for a while and then change the oil again. Could be water in the engine from sitting around. Did it have coolant in? or just water? heads corrode if they only have water running through em.

[syncro]

I had a '76 once with oil contaminating the water. Compression read good but the head gasket (and I think the head too) was stuffed. It didn't leak from the cylinder, but from the oil gallery to the water jacket.

Looked like the Exxon Valdez disaster in the radiator!

[worm]

No idea if it had coolant or just water. The water in the rad looked like the murry ie: Brown.

And yes I changed the oil and filter. Im taking it in to get the cooling system checked. Most likely need a new rad a water pump

[worm]

Woot!
Dad is back from QLD so is now helping me with the car. Fixed the overheating issue and played with some wires and now the fan works.
No need for any new parts, although its running without a thermostat, so will need a new one some time soonish.

It goes pretty good.... although its not THAT fast... will def get a new engine for it at some stage.

[ausgolfer]

not many will be as quick as a bike :lol: :lol:

[GoLfMan]

Woot!
Dad is back from QLD so is now helping me with the car. Fixed the overheating issue and played with some wires and now the fan works.
No need for any new parts, although its running without a thermostat, so will need a new one some time soonish.

It goes pretty good.... although its not THAT fast... will def get a new engine for it at some stage.

has it got a lumpy cam??? or extractors?? well done mate!

[worm]

nah no extractors, but im after some!

[GoLfMan]

:) but a lumpy cam u got one of them?

[worm]

what the heck is a lumpy cam? I aint taking the rocker cover off to have a look either! :lol:

[GoLfMan]

a higher lift camshaft is so that more fuel goes in more exhaust goes out. sounds great too :twisted:

[worm]

More fuel in....... Sucks enough as it is :P

Where and how much can i buy mentioned "lumpy cam"?

[GoLfMan]

WADE CAMSHAFTS in south melbourne mate :wink: i got put onto them by bitza!

[worm]

Thanks Golfman

I wrote the name down, will call them up when the time comes :twisted:

[GoLfMan]

keep us informed :wink:

[worm]

Was pinging today, so adjusted the timing and put in new points. Seems to run ok.... although the carbie could do with a rebuild. And its got a gap between carbie amd manifold.. dodgey install.

The main problem is the steering. Seems to be a busted steering rack. Wigle the wheel and it has alot of free play, looks like its comming from the rack. Makes the car dance all over the rd :cry: ... its going in for a RWC on monday, so it will have to be fixed.... hopefully that wont take to long or cost to much money.... then I can start makin it run better, and go faster... slowly gettin there.

Oh yeah, there seems to be 3 Koni suspension struts and one other one. So one cant be adjusted... stupid crap.... hopefully I can buy 1 or 2 and not need to fork out for 4 new ones :roll:

[GoLfMan]

the carbie that you have on your car doesnt run that well with the normal firing sequence as dells have a funny firing sequence... bitza on this forum fixes this problem and puts the destributor onto full mechanical firing sequence. or something like that. PM bitza and he'll help you out. this should stop the pinging. bitza put me onto a place for koni's aswell. Toperformance in Ringwood. hope this helps :wink:

[Golf Loon]

And its got a gap between carbie amd manifold.. dodgey install.

The main problem is the steering. Seems to be a busted steering rack. Wigle the wheel and it has alot of free play, looks like its coming from the rack. Makes the car dance all over the rd :cry:

There shoud be a gap between the sidedraft webber and the manifold. Its a flexplate.

Steering is a worry.
Try and work out what it is, it could be rackends, or balljoints, or even the brackets where the rack attaches to the car. I have seen racks that are not attached anymore and move with tyhe wheels. Scary.

Dont drive far or hard till you know what is wrong with it.

[worm]

Well, mechanic was to busy... didnt even have enough room to park my car, so i had to drive it dwon the freeway... scarriest drive I have ever had :shock:

Anyway, was running like crap, got dad to look at it, and noticed that the "Vaccum advance" hose that plugs onto the distributer from the manifold was plugged onto the wrong spot. Someone has put in a vaccum VDO guage in the car (which is so very ghey) and plugged it up wrong.

Will PM bitza, thanks wise.. oh, and see if i can get one strut.

Loon: Flexplate.... cool cool. The gap seems rather large, but it aint sucking in any air by the sounds of it. So i like your diagnostic :P .
Its not the balljoint, we checked... pretty sure its the steering rack. Although, because we only have a crap dirt driveway working on something like that isnt really a good idea. Im sure I could do it.... if I new how, and I cant expect dad to do it, hes gettin a bit old for that stuff.... so into the mechanic.

Painting the cam belt cover today, and will paint the rocker cover when I get my gaskets (from ebay UK... that site is awsome, thanks whoever it was here that told me to go there)... wont say what color, but I am taking progress pics... its either going to look VERY bad or OK :D .... ill let you decide :P

[worm]

Car is running alot better now. Changed the ball joint (yes, it was stuffed) and filled her up with 98 RON... what a difference... bloody flies now 8)

This is the Road worthy list :shock:

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/7899/dsc015802sc.th.jpg (http://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015802sc.jpg)

Already done alot of it though

And below is the cam belt cover I painted. It came out pretty good, but when I was fitting it back on, i scratched it :x , even with a rag covering most of it!

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/9667/dsc015886et.th.jpg (http://img105.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc015886et.jpg)

My rocker cover gaskets arrived today (ordered 2) so im going to see how much a "lumpy cam" (thanks golfman) will cost and get one if reasonable. Then take the cover off and paint that yellow 2 :P ... once thats done I can clean the engine bay up and get some extractors :twisted: ..... more pics to come..... who knows what order stuff will get done though..... and im still wondering if my head gaskets ok *crosses fingers*.. oh, and i goto get the radiator system flushed and pressure tested, runs way to hot in this cold weather.

[RAD '83]

It must be that time of year. Sounds like its all fun and games with your golf too worm, I just went through all the rigmoral of changing the bits in my cooling system (83 GX 1500). I changed the water pump after I found that it was leaking like a sieve (took me ages to find the leak when it was all along so big :? ) then I accidently threw away the thermostat when I ditched the old clapped out pump :( anyways, replaced that, water level still goes down, so I pulled the radiator and found that because the water level had been so low for a while coz of the leaky pump, the water got that hot it warped the end tanks on the rad and was consequently now pissing from it :x got a mate in the radiator business and sourced a replacement out of a 1800 golf/jetta (100mm longer) sweet. Chuck it in, splits a hose randomly (4 inch split) and dont you think I'm having heaps of fun.... Fix that, then to top it off when my car is back on the road, sounds/feels like its missing. And still, the water level continues to drop. I cant work it out, I thought all those things were rectified. My other mate is all so knowledgable about this sort of stuff, and we now, just this afternoon have come to the conclusion that the head gasket is shot :x Loosen the spark plugs just a little and see that the water is now seeping out of the head. Been sent off to an engineer (nother mate)to get fixed 2moz, hopefully head isn't warped and in just in need of a gasket (been done b4 in 98 b4 I owned it), but I fear the worst.... So yeah, thats my spill on this fantastic evening I'm having! :evil:

[Golf Loon]

Sounds like you are having fun Rad 83. I`d never put a head back on without a skim, I`ve been caught out before. Most machine shops will charge you 50 bucks max.

[DOHCDAVE]

Would be wise to shave the head though not to much as it will put more press on the bottom end.
:idea: As for the cover gaskets Loon has a box in his stock pile.
So if in need of one pm loon. :)

cheers Dave





Very fun and loud 16v mk1
audi 100 85mod
96 passat 2lt under the house for repairs
76 4dr swollowtail with motor out.

[Golf Loon]

Thanks Dave.
Your signature looks like mine mate, acquiring some cars are you?
Yeah guys I have heaps of those 8v cork gaskets, let me know if you want any. Might put an ad in the for sales actually.

[RAD '83]

Going to Thailand for two weeks and my cars being repaired while i'm away, I leave it to the experts to do that sort of stuff, but your talking rocker cover gaskets huh?? If I get it back and it hasn't been fixed i might hit you up for one, PM you or something loon... So glad I stumbled on this site, you guys are just like me, golf freaks but like 10 times as bad.... Got the bug, no golf :roll: I'll chat soon when back from holiday.
Ciao all :wink:

[Golfwise]

Cork gaskets will always leak so I suggest you use a late model rubber one,the kits even come with new studs and will never leak again.