Dave's '79 GLD Rebuild/Refurb Thread

[Peter Jones]

Those two holes in the underside of the raintray what gave away air-con Peter?

That and the fuse box turned sideways.

[DaveGLD]

Cheers folks, very well spotted Peter, the car did have aftermarket A/C fitted at one stage but there was none of it left when I bought the car. It's probably obvious to anyone except a noob like myself, but how the bejesus could you tell from my crappy low res photos that I need to replace the front strut bushes?!!! What a sharp eye!

I'll have a look at the body in due course, the rust doesn't seem to be as bad as it looks - the spare wheel well is virtually rust free and other problem areas people have told me to look at don't seem to be bad. I have a spare set of door handle escutcheons to replace the crappy sun damaged ones so the door cards will certainly clean up well - just a shame about the holes being cut for the crappy speakers!

Anyway, a little more progress:

4 - WHEELS & HUBCAPS
Wheels were very dirty and rusty, missing hubcaps when I bought the car:




Took the wheels off, gave them a rub down with 600 grit wet&dry and then a nice coat of paint - I used motospray 'heat proof' in 'Aluminium' from motormate - I've found that this is good for wheels and engine bay areas as it has a satin finish and seems to stick better and repel less than regular acrylic. I was missing about four hub cap trim clips but managed to score some off ebay. Fortunately six hubcaps came with the car, but were very dirty. I used meguiars next generation all metal polish and they polished up unbelievably well! Took all the crap off and left them super smooth! I thoroughly recommend this stuff for polishing any plated or exposed metal - it's fantastic!

Welcome to Meguiar's Australia, the Leader in Car Car products

So now all four hubcaps are fitted, all four wheels painted and tyres blacked - one of the easiest jobs I've done that has dramatically improved the appearance of the car!





5 - INTERIOR LIGHT

This was a quick and easy one, interior light was found in several pieces under the passenger seat. I used a small amount of Jif and a gentle scrub brush to remove the dirt from the headlining.


New one installed, although I've noticed that it only works with the manual 'on', so I may have to look at the door switches.



Coming along nicely sofar! I love doing these sort of jobs - makes you feel so positive as you can see some real progress!

[killingwithasmile]

the wheels came up a treat!! great work..

[MeeM]

Excellent job so far mate. This looks similar to what I'll be doing to my Mk1 ... when I eventually find one. I'm learning a lot already Glad to see another Mk1 being saved.

[DaveGLD]

Okay, time for an update. Has been quiet for the last month but last week I finally took the car in for its first service - all good except the problem I was having with front end wheel wobble was diagnosed as worn wheel bearings and a worn front R/H balljoint. Will have this fixed in the next week or two.

6 - REVERSING LIGHTS
One thing that the service picked up was that the reversing lights were not working - so I checked the fuse (which was ok) and then checked the switch - the reverse light switch on the manual cars is located on top of the gearbox (very accessible).



You can easily test if the switch is faulty by removing the two spade terminals, pushing the rubber insulation back and joining them together with the ignition on - if the reverse lights now work but don't work when the terminals are reconnected to the switch when reverse is selected, then the switch is faulty. Switch just unscrews - but be careful not to drop crap into the gearbox.

Early cars had a funny arrangement with a sensor/microswitch and a bracket, the later (77ish onwards) had a plunger type switch which screws into the gearbox. Managed to find a spare one at the wreckers and now my lights are all good!

One annoying thing that happened today on my drive into work was the front drivers side headlight. Pulling up to stop at a traffic light (gentle stop, no hard braking), I heard a loud 'smash' - the glass lens of the headlight had fallen off! Grr! Fortunately I have a spare, but still annoying as that headlight was the nicer of the two!



The work continues! After replacing the headlight my next job is to remove the crappy non-original air horn and fit an original horn so that I have room in the engine bay for a windscreen washer bottle (currently missing).

[littlegldgti]

Hey man nice little project there... is that just mainly surface rust? Or does it go a fair bit deeper?

[DaveGLD]

Fortunately mainly surface rust. The car spent the last few years with the previous owner parked on the street near the beach. The worst rust is a small hole in the front passenger guard but I have a rust free guard to go on. I have tried a few areas with T-cut and it has removed the visible rust - so my next job will probably be to give the car a once over with some 2000 grit wet and dry and a good buff with T-cut. If this gives a good enough result, I'll just keep up with the regular polish until I have a chance to take the car back to bare metal and respray.

Fixed my headlight, car is going in next week for new wheel bearings and balljoints.

[MeeM]

Any progress on this car?

[DaveGLD]

MeeM

Any progress on this car?

Sorta, more like one step forward and two steps back...

Last month I took the car in for new front wheel bearings and balljoints - very very happy with the result - the front end wobble has been eliminated, the car is quiet and nice and sharp on the road - it's driving beautifully.....

....but on the drive home, I was noticing a lack of power and the temperature gauge rising sharply. Got home to find steam pissing out everywhere and a distinct lack of coolant (it had all blown out the top of the overflow bottle). Waited for it to cool down, refilled with water then took it for a short drive around the block - after 5 minutes it was boiling again. I've yet to have a closer look but I suspect it may be either the water pump, or more likely than not the head gasket as the coolant seems to be being blown out through the overflow bottle so I suspect the cooling system is being pressurised by one of the cylinders.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do now, was even more annoying seeing as I just spent $400 on new wheel bearings and balljoints - for a brief and shining moment (about 30 minutes) the car was mechanically spot on and driving very nicely!

With the body the way it is, I know I would get bugger all if I sold it, and I'd be throwing away all the time and money I've spent on it sofar - It's very tempting to have a go at the head gasket myself (I've done them before on my Mini) - so I think I'll just sit on it for now and wait until I have the time and space (currently painting my house and waiting for a double garage to be built ). For the last few weeks, it's been sitting in my front yard with one of those solar battery boosters connected to keep the battery topped up.

Are there any tricks to head gasket replacement? I know a good cylinder head place that can re-face the head - I've been told I need an in-hex socket set (already have a torque wrench) - one thing I've noticed is that there aren't many workshop manuals around that cover the diesel golfs - or am I just looking in the wrong place? If I'm going to tackle this myself I'll need some sort of a guide as to torque settings and bolt loosening/tightening sequences - any reccomendations or does anyone have a manual?

[Jarred]

there's a manual out there specifically for the GLD, got rebuilding the whole engine in it. pretty detailed thing, even though it's quite thin.

Doing a diesel HG is meant tot be a bit trickier, cause there are 3 different thicknesses of HG, IIRc there some measuring of stuff involved. I thikn if you've got the basic skills, some time and some patience it'd be worth giving it a go. Either that or replace the engine with a good runner.