Erik & Rupert: The Tale Of Two MK1s

[HuH]

Okay, here we go. I am now the proud-ish owner of two quite mediocre MK1 Volkswagen Golfs. Between the two of them there is enough there to make one good car, and one average one. I am so far from a VW expert, but I've wanted to join the VW family for a while so I've jumped in at the deep end. Allow me to introduce my new friends to you.



1. Erik



The ugly one. Erik is a 1978 model and a bit of a frankenstein. The badges on the back say GTi, and that's because of the motor.



A MK2 GTi 16V motor. This one has had some work done around 10,000kms ago. Now bored out to 2.2L with new pistons and rods. The head is also basically new and lightly ported. The mechanical injection has been upgraded. I've got a folder full of paperwork with the specifics but I still need to look through and get the details.



Inside he's a real piece of work. The whole car is not in particularly good shape. It's all there and solid enough, just not very respectable. The only thing in here worth salvaging is the mint MK2 dashboard. I don't feel a lot of pride when I'm behind the wheel.



Some good news though, there are coilovers and upgraded front brakes. Also an adjustable swaybar up front. That's about it for Erik.


2. Rupert



Rupert is in much better shape. He's a 1976 LS model and has been looked after. Under the hood is an 8V that won't be staying for long.



The body was stripped back and resprayed about seven years ago. Some rust has been cut out but there is still one little patch left to go in the passenger footwell.



I don't love the colour yet, but it's growing on me. With the right details it should look good when finished. The windows and door seals all have new rubber.



Sadly there are some imperfections in the paint and a ding in the driver's door, so I'll need to have some sections sprayed again once he's back together.



One other good thing about this car is the rear disk brake conversion.



Inside nothing is assembled. The interior is the nicer black/charcoal combo in fantastic condition. New carpet is in there as well.



The rest of the car is currently full of spares and bits for the body.

That's pretty much where we're at. There is a lot of work ahead. My plan is to have the last rust cut out of Rupert this week so I can get cracking on cleaning and assembling the interior. I'm driving Erik around in the meantime, but once that is done, the engine swap will happen. After that I can do the suspension and the dashboard swap and we'll be ready for the paint shop. Once the paintwork is fixed up I'll add the last touches to the exterior and we'll be away!

The green car will get the 8V motor, which is actually quite healthy, and the suspension from the yellow car. The green car is registered (and actually engineered for the motor swap, but oh well) until October so once it's running again I'll sell it off for whatever I can get. Rupert will stay and get rego so the fun can begin!

Here's to a seemingly straight forward project that will probably take far longer than anticipated to complete.

---------- Post added at 11:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:35 PM ----------

While Erik is very ugly, he is a blast to drive. Plenty of torque in the little Golf chassis. The handling is good too with the suspension in there, and he even makes a pretty good noise.

The sad bit is that he looks like arse. I spent an hour or so today tidying up a few things to make him slightly more acceptable to be seen in. First to go was the matte black bonnet.



I really do not like matte black bonnets. They're horrible.



Luckily Erik came with a spare one that's sort of almost maybe a match. Better than black anyway. After that I switched bumpers.



These fibreglass bumpers were badly installed and really ugly in my opinion.



You can kinda see the poor condition of the front one here; broken indicator lens and all.



I took the plastic bumpers off the yellow car and put them on the green one for now. Would like to find some better ones for the yellow car.



Front end looks weird with this bumper and the quad lights, but what can you do? Better than before. Last thing was switching the spacers.



For some reason the last owner put 10mm spacers on the front, but left the back as is. I switched the spacers to the back.



Offset looks more even now front to back, and it's much easier to turn with no power steering. Result.

[SpeciP3]

nice couple of 2 doors there mate, should be able to make some tidy cars. That brown interior is amazing haha!

[Jarred]

nice one.

You might need the spacers upfront to stop the coilovers rubbing on the tyres. Pretty common issue with mk 3 steelies, standard rubber and coils.

Apart from that, it looks liek quite a good little project! I'd love to see that 16V on the dyno! should haul ass with that engine! pity the body really isn't much to look at!

I think if you what some chrome bumpers onto the yellow one, and some nice 15's (and loose the GTI trims) you'll be laughing! Retro pride here we come!

[HuH]

nice couple of 2 doors there mate, should be able to make some tidy cars. That brown interior is amazing haha!

Thanks mate! I'm really not big on the brown. Haha. Has some retro charm though.

nice one.

You might need the spacers upfront to stop the coilovers rubbing on the tyres. Pretty common issue with mk 3 steelies, standard rubber and coils.

Apart from that, it looks liek quite a good little project! I'd love to see that 16V on the dyno! should haul ass with that engine! pity the body really isn't much to look at!

I think if you what some chrome bumpers onto the yellow one, and some nice 15's (and loose the GTI trims) you'll be laughing! Retro pride here we come!

Ah interesting re spacers. Thanks for the info. It all went back together no worries, but I'll check it out when I drive it next. Haven't given it a good go since I took them out of the front.

I'm aiming to bring one of the cars to the dyno day in April, just depends which car the motor is in at that stage.

Would love some chrome bumpers. Are they hard to find/expensive?

[Water Boy]

Wow very cool.

How long have you owned these two Mk1's? Do you have much history on the cars?

[mikinoz]

You really need some carbon bumpers!

Tell me more about this 2.2 litre 16v - love to hear about it.

This should be a good thread.

[HuH]

Wow very cool.

How long have you owned these two Mk1's? Do you have much history on the cars?

Thanks! I only picked them up on the weekend. Don't know too much about them to be honest. I have a folder full of receipts but they don't reveal too much.

You really need some carbon bumpers!

Tell me more about this 2.2 litre 16v - love to hear about it.

This should be a good thread.

Wish I could tell you more! The build receipt for the engine is still in limbo somewhere with the previous owner, but he's tracking it down. It was built by a bloke named Brian who apparently operates out in Dural, NSW. I was told a whole lot more about the work that they did recently, but the specifics have slipped my mind.

I bought it from some guys who will be around while I finish off the project, so it's a pretty casual arrangement. I'll update once I get the nitty gritty.

[mikinoz]

Thanks! I only picked them up on the weekend. Don't know too much about them to be honest. I have a folder full of receipts but they don't reveal too much.



Wish I could tell you more! The build receipt for the engine is still in limbo somewhere with the previous owner, but he's tracking it down. It was built by a bloke named Brian who apparently operates out in Dural, NSW. I was told a whole lot more about the work that they did recently, but the specifics have slipped my mind.

I bought it from some guys who will be around while I finish off the project, so it's a pretty casual arrangement. I'll update once I get the nitty gritty.

I know Brian, it should be a reasonable engine to be honest. Best of luck with it and I am sure you will have heaps of advice given if you need it.

[HuH]

I got the impression he was reasonably well known. Do you know the name of the workshop he operates out of? Or is it a more low-key setup? I have his mobile number but that's all.

The KE-Jetronic was tuned by Peter Bower which I'm told is a good thing.

---------- Post added at 11:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:15 PM ----------

You might need the spacers upfront to stop the coilovers rubbing on the tyres. Pretty common issue with mk 3 steelies, standard rubber and coils.

I checked this out tonight and you're right. They're almost touching. I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't said anything. Not sure that they're actually rubbing, but I'll change them back around or get some more anyway.

[WABIT]

GTI Imports brian?

Dom