The Gulf Golf

**collo16v** · 09-02-2011, 06:45 AM

Having owned a Mk2 16v for nearly 5 years, it was time to let it go when our daughter Isabella(Izzy) was born back in 1998, I got by for the next six years with a collection of Rent-a-wrecks and Motorcycles. After our son Sebastien(Rowena has still has not picked up on the fact I named him after the WRC Champion!!)was born in Jan 2005, she who must be obeyed put her foot down and stated that “There would be no more motorcycles in this house!!!”.
A compromise was agreed on where the oldest child in the house(me!) would find and build himself a Mk1 project car as long as the cost would not exceed a £1000(yeah right )
So using the latest technology known to man (or Ebay!!) I set about finding a project. Then I got a call from a good friend of mine Dan at VW Spares, Wrotham in Kent, he just happened to have a bare Mk1 arched small rear light bodyshell with welded in roll cage that was cluttering up his workshops, would I be interested? I think he was somewhat shocked to find me at his door within 20mins of his call, I had a quick look and we settled on a price of £290 and use of his flatbed to take it oop north to my Dad's workshop in Derby. Then as if fate was smiling on me I happened across a copy of Auto trader and in the spares section was the following Mk1 Cabrio fitted with 16v engine spares or repairs £300,yet again I was off .The cabby to be fair was very worse for wear, rotten sills ,A pillars and badly repaired on O/s rear quarter panel, but had rear disc conversion,Eibach A/R/B,s front and rear and a 1.8 16v which surprisingly was very sweet, fitted with tubular manifold, 50mm intake manifold and Piper Cams ,a little bit of haggling ensued and the sum of £250 changed hands with free delivery chucked in .
As you are all aware that there are a awful lot of differences between the Convertible/Hatchback Models, so to be on the safe side I purchased a rather tired and yet again rotten Mk1 Gti in Lhasa green from Northgate Fiat in Canterbury(Trade in originally from the Hythe area)anyone know it?,successfully bodged it through a MoT and ran around in her for 6 mths constantly selling parts of it on Ebay.
Now for the fun part of the project, it took my Father(retired panel beater) and myself 8 months to sort the body shell ready for painting ,along the way we had some pleasant shocks like the o/s engine mount was actually nowhere near where the engine would be, so we had to transplant the entire chassis leg out of the convertible into the shell!. My Dad then used his considerable skill to perfect the four steel wheel arches to sit over my wheel of choice. Finally the big day came to apply my chosen colours(fans of the film Le Mans will recognise these!!) we used Ford Olympic Blue and Hillman Sunset Orange.
Then it was time for the loose assembly of all the new/used bargains acquired on Ebay like the new lowered and adjustable K&W coilover suspension kit from Germany £320 including postage, or the two Magnum carbon race seats with harnesses from Southern Ireland for £100 the pair. But perhaps the biggest headache was the wiring looms I think the previous owner had shares in scotchlock,I filled a coffee mug with ones removed from the engine bay alone, I spent two complete days repairing the loom with soldered joints.
As you can see it’s a constantly evolving project, this year I have already converted to twin 48 Weber’s, fitted rear brake bias valves and re-located the battery to the rear boot area. I have had it tuned at B D Engineering on their rolling road and after starting with a rather piffling 112BHP @the wheels with a adjustment to the ignition settings and the main jets changed we came away with 134.2@the wheels which coupled with the fact that the car only weighs 820Kg gives great performance. Insurance was a amazing £197.50 including European breakdown cover from Heritage
Finally I would like to thank my wife Rowena for putting up with the almost daily trip to the Post Office to dispatch more items sold on Ebay.
Mick, Angelo and Dave at E & S Commercials,Northfleet,Kent for providing transport to move vehicle around the country and infinite patience for putting up with me!!
My Dad for all his efforts and fantastic spraying (not bad for a Oap in his seventies!!)
Specification List
Engine
1.8 16v
TSR Pack A cylinder head
Piper ultimate road Inlet and Exhaust cams
Piper Vernier Pulley
Black Diamond Clutch assy
4-1 TSR Tubular Manifold
Custom made Stainless steel Exhaust(Great item £320)
8v Gti Gearbox
TSR gear linkages and quickshift
Autocavan Super Brake Bar
New fuel lines
Schrick Aluminium Sump and Baffle plate
Lower ball joint extenders
K&W Coilover Suspension Kit
Solid alloy top mounts
Poly bushed through-out
Eibach frt and rear A/R/B,s
Omp Upper and Lower engine braces
Omp rear strut brace
Stainless Steel top brace
285mm Frt discs/Green stuff pads
239mmX-drilled rear discs/Omp pads
22mm Master Cylinder
Twin Rear Brake Bias Valves
Solid Alloy steering rack mounts
New track rod ends
New steering rack gaiters
New frt and rear stainless brake hoses
Hub Adaptors to run Porsche rims
One white set with ACB10 Avon tyres for the track
One polished set of Fuchs with Michelin 195/45 tyres for the road
Magum Carbon fibre race seats x2
TRS 4-point and 3-point race harness
OMP Alloy pedals
Custom Rollcage
Alloy Foot plates
Carbon Door Trims
Alloy Passenger Foot Rest
Audi Quattro Gauges X3
Momo Steering Wheel
Sparco Gearknob
Alloy Handbrake cover
Alloy window winders and mirror adjustors
Alloy Battery Carrier
Rolling road set up came in at 144.2BHP at the wheels which was pleasing as whole car only weighs 823kg

Future plans include new sequential 5-speed box ,relocating fuel tank into boot(Weight distribution) trimming rear panel,so it stops acting like an air brake!!

**collo16v** · 09-02-2011, 06:56 AM

Just a few piccies over the last 7 years

**dom123** · 09-02-2011, 07:10 AM

wow dude! epic car youve built im certain this has already made an appearance in our mk1 pic thread, which isnt surprising considering the awesome it beholds!

**Jace** · 09-02-2011, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by dom123

wow dude! epic car youve built im certain this has already made an appearance in our mk1 pic thread, which isnt surprising considering the awesome it beholds!

Nah that's the Gulf Rabbit. I like this one better though!