1.8 GTI project

[blackgti1.8]

Hi,

I've been snooping around the forum for a little while now since joining, but never got around to posting anything before now.

I'm sure some of you might have seen that black 84 GTI on Car Sales back in March. Well, I was looking for a nice straight 2 door Mk1, so I snaffled it...
It was advertised as a Campaign (it wasn't), but a reasonable car anyway.

A bit rough around the edges, but straight and pretty much rust free.
I've never had a 1.8, fuel injection, or 5 speed 'box before, so this was a bit of a treat - all my previous Golf experiences were 1.6's, carby's and 4 speeds... Anyway, I have gradually been fixing things on it - new radiator from Golf Loon (soon mate, I promise!), all new gear linkage bits, and a big brake kit from TSR (270mm). Front suspension is still stuffed, and I haven't quite managed to get the cooling system to stop heameraging yet, so there's still a little work to do. At least it stops now (for a Mk1), and I get first gear instead of reverse when I take off from the lights
I had intended to get stuck into modifying it, but seeing that GTI's are such a rarity in OZ, that would be a real shame, so I now going to keep it stock.

I must admit that I am very impressed with many of the cars I've seen on the forum - very nice work. I wish this forum had been around in the '80's when I had my previous Golf period...
It's great to see that there are other Golf enthusiasts out there!

[Satanstoenail]

Howdy and welcome! Nice to see another real mk1 GTI on here....

[brackie]

Nice to see you're getting on top of things. Some pics?

[blackgti1.8]

Sorry, should have mentioned that there are some pics in my vBPicGallery.

Here's some more pics. The pics in the vBPicGallery are slightly higher resolution.

The car needs a re-spray of some point.
It spent 2 year sitting under a tree, I'm told

[GoLfMan]

looks pretty sweet mate

[Satanstoenail]

Looks nice man, same wheels as my car. I look forward to seeing what you do with it. A black mk1 gti is my dream Golf....

[Golf Loon]

I hope you are going to come on a cruise with us one day blackgti. Or at least bring it to my house for a sticky beak!

[joshyd-mk2gti]

nice car mate. give it a good cut and polish and see how the paint comes up before you start thinking about respraying.

[RedMk2Gti]

Very nice, we were wondering who has bought that car.
Welcome. Are you in Western Sydney ? I spotted a black Mk1 the other day, didn't have a camera could it be you

[blackgti1.8]

Thanks very much for for the great support guys - it's really good to know that there there are quite a number of other Golk (MK1) nuts out there...

I'd love my GTI to look like the one in Satanstoenail's picture. I think that I am quite luckly to have a genuine GTI (and a 1., considering how rare they are in Oz.

I might try a cut & polish in the short term. It will need a respray ultimately - there is very little rust, but there is some. Only two pin holes I've discovered so far, but two or three ominous other bubbles.

Golf Loon, I haven't forgotten my promise mate - as soon as I think I can trust the cooling system to stay in one piece, I'll be down mate. That's a promise. The overflow hose sprang a leak last weekend just afterI got back from testing the gear linkage adjustment - everything is nice and tight now. I tell you - the 5 speed linkage is a bit trickier to set up than the 4 speeds I'm used to though The adjustable spherical linkage (TSR) is quite handy.

As soon as I'm happy with the reliability, I'd very much like to like to go on a cruise - that would be great. Some previous owner fitted a sports exhaust, which has a nice snarl to it - great excuse to ring the thing out through the grears on a regular basis!
Goes reasonably hard for a stock 1.8, that's for sure, though I'd struggle to stray with the twin-cammers out there probably.

RedMk2Gti, yes I live in Western Sydney (Roselands), so it it might have been me (Sunday?)

In terms of the wheels, I don't mind them. Golf Loon doesn't - he has same P-slotters he wants to sell me Maybe one day! I must admit the P-slots look nice on a GTI.

Suspension - the rear has some pretty resonably Sachs coils/shocks. The front suspension is (on the other hand) is completely buggered.
I do have a spare set of front Bilstein competition struts (not inserts - complete struts with external threaded spring seats) that I just happen to have laying around the garage. Trouble is that I don't have springs, or top spring seats to go with them. I was going to take the car down to Ultimate Suspension at Penrith to get them to sort it all out. Maybe someone else has some other suggestions?

Other than that, the car feel pretty strong.

One question that I was going ask - the reason I actually bought the car was to do some club motorsport (initially motorkhana's) with my son (yeah I know that shows my age ). Is is anyone else out there doing any motorsport and can maybe suggest a good club?