Dave's '79 GLD Rebuild/Refurb Thread

[GLDoldcoot]

If there is no water in the sump/sump oil and no oil in the coolant and no steam/water/water vapour coming from the exhaust, especially when restarting a warm engine, then your gasket may be OK. When I install a new head gasket I carefully rub the face of the head and the face of the block with a carborundum oil stone, the type you use to sharpen chisels. I also clean the faces with solvent [e.g. petrol, turps,thinners], and follow the torque sequence in the BACK of the Haynes manual in the section on updates and modifications. I also over torque the bolts about 7 percent, VERY carefully.
Cheers
Rob

[DaveGLD]

I've replaced the radiator cap and tightened a loose hose clamp on one of the heater hoses and that seems to have solved my water consumption issue! Have been driving the GLD over the last few days in 35+ degree heat and temp gauge has never gone beyond 1/2, so fingers crossed we're all good!

I've managed to do a few other jobs in the meantime, new windscreen washer pump, new stereo (well one I had in the shed) and speakers to replace the crappy old mismatched paper cone ones which were falling apart:


Another job I finally got around to was to replace the door handle surrounds - all the existing ones were disintegrating. I found four decent ones from a wreck and re-sprayed them to match.


Big improvement! Along with the new speakers it's looking pretty tidy inside now.

[DaveGLD]

and it seems that my GLD's twin is up for sale! If you have a look back at the first posts of this thread it's uncanny at how similar my car looked to this one when I bought it!

1979 Volkswagen Golf Hatchback (Diesel) great first car | Cars, Vans & Utes | Gumtree Australia Barossa Area - Lyndoch

[DieselMk1]

I bought that yesterday hahaha $850 with rego

[DieselMk1]

I actually thought they were the same car when I first started reading this thread lmao

[DaveGLD]

Nice one! Well it's a good point of reference if I wanted to sell mine!

Wanna race?

[DieselMk1]

Haha I was suprised I got it so cheap!

We'll meet up one day to compare GLD's.....and maybe race to the speed limit of course hahah

[DaveGLD]

Well it seems my GLD experience has come to an end, with the car driving off last night with a new owner. My plans were always to sell the GLD once my current project car was on the road, but things happened a bit sooner! On Sunday I'd driven into the city and had my car parked on the street all day, the new owner spotted it and was busy taking pictures on his phone as I was coming back to it - I gave him my details, he called me Monday afternoon, came around to test drive it Monday night and ended up driving it home!

The new owner seems very enthusiastic about preserving the exterior of the car 'as is' - so keep your eyes peeled as I think it will live on around Adelaide as a rat look Mk1! Fingers crossed the new owner will join up on VWW and continue the story. I'm just glad it is going to a good home and to an owner who will give it the love and attention that had intended but hadn't got around to.

I still have a huge inventory of parts to sell off, including a spare head and complete gasket set, lots of other body/interior parts and other spares that either came with the car when I bought it or were purchased but never needed or fitted. The seller didn't want the towbar so I have that complete with all mounting bolts and the wiring loom as well. I'll post up a dedicated thread with all my for sale items in the next month or so (once I've had a chance to go through the shed and take stock of it all!) but if anyone needs any specific GLD or MK1 bits in the meantime please feel free to PM me.

And a big thankyou to all the other VWW members who have helped me with questions and advice over the last few years! It has certainly made my ownership experience so much better! You are all awesome and you should feel awesome!

[Goon]

Sad news mate. Looked like a decent mk1.. You'll be back

[DieselMk1]

Damn hopefully me or my mates will see it driving around