mk1 cabriolet help needed

[ericcs]

hi all,
my son has just purchased this red cab. unregistered from melbourne, and driven it back to brisbane(with a a permit). his trip was uneventful other than very poor handling and a leaking roof.
i am trying to work out it's history and year model, as it appears it's an import as there is no aus. comp. plate and speedo/odo is in mph, not to mention rust in most panels.
i want to confirm the cabs run gti running gear, so it should be a 1.8l?, this one has a 5 speed(replacement) and a webber carb fitted, and has a (digital microprocessor mapping control) box hiding in the firewall. it also has what appears to be adjustable front struts, and large cross drilled ventilated front discs. are these standard?
any advice is greatly appreciated!
cheers
eric
VIN WVWZZZ15ZHK028328
ENG DX087277

[Petska84]

Standard breaks are not cross drilled, and it should have a kjet fuel injection instead of the 32/36 progressive. Btw did he pick this up from keilor in Melbourne?

This should assist you a little

[ericcs]

Standard breaks are not cross drilled, and it should have a kjet fuel injection instead of the 32/36 progressive. Btw did he pick this up from keilor in Melbourne?

This should assist you a little

thanks for the reply petska,
quite possible it came from that area, as i heard airport west mentioned as it's rough pickup location. the owner works at either of the airports.
do you know of this car?
i also thought the gti's came with injection, however the manifold looks all stock and it has a manual choke knob on the dash.
the discs have several rows of holes in sweeping arc's

[sports racer]

This looks like it's a personal import GL, not a GLi (injection). 99% of Cabbys were imported by Volkswagen into Australia in the 90's and yours is an 87 model. No VW imported Cabbys sold in Oz came with a carby and aftermarket engine management (and why would you bother to run engine management on a carby engine?).

Brake disks are definitely aftermarket, as well as the adjustable shocks. Brake calipers look standard.

The engine bay looks like it doesn't have any of the brackets for holding all the fuel injection plumbing so this isn't a conversion from fuel injection to carby.

Just guessing but it looks like someone in the late 80's wanted a Cabby, before Volkswagen started importing them, so did a personal import.

Cheers

Paul

[ericcs]

This looks like it's a personal import GL, not a GLi (injection). 99% of Cabbys were imported by Volkswagen into Australia in the 90's and yours is an 87 model. No VW imported Cabbys sold in Oz came with a carby and aftermarket engine management (and why would you bother to run engine management on a carby engine?).

Brake disks are definitely aftermarket, as well as the adjustable shocks. Brake calipers look standard.

The engine bay looks like it doesn't have any of the brackets for holding all the fuel injection plumbing so this isn't a conversion from fuel injection to carby.

Just guessing but it looks like someone in the late 80's wanted a Cabby, before Volkswagen started importing them, so did a personal import.

Cheers

Paul

thanks for your info paul,
i also can't find any sign of injection being fitted, other than the ignition box, and that it's a 1.8l.
there is barely 1cm between the front brake calipers and the 15" rims, so they definitely must be after market.
the engine block is painted bright blue underneath the grime, so i'm guessing it's been reco'd at some stage. i am impressed
by it's performance, certainly get going!
iv'e now discovered heaps of cracks in the radiator support panel, so not sure where my son wan't to go with it now.
with the amount of rust everywhere, i'm betting it came from england's salted winter roads!
braidwood, bet you must have the only mk2 in town!

[sports racer]

Not only in town but there's only 1 other that I know in Canberra. All the interstaters seem to buy them.

There's some pretty rusty Golfs that have been restored on this forum, depends on how bad it is and how much work your son wants to do. As a dad myself I know how easy it is to get involved in my kids projects and then one day you turn around and you're the only one doing the work.

But, old Golfs can be very rewarding to restore and if you've got the time and experience it could be a great father/son build. Just don't let him loose enthusiasm.

[ericcs]

Not only in town but there's only 1 other that I know in Canberra. All the interstaters seem to buy them.

There's some pretty rusty Golfs that have been restored on this forum, depends on how bad it is and how much work your son wants to do. As a dad myself I know how easy it is to get involved in my kids projects and then one day you turn around and you're the only one doing the work.

But, old Golfs can be very rewarding to restore and if you've got the time and experience it could be a great father/son build. Just don't let him loose enthusiasm.

the cabby has rust blistering paint in all but the left front guard and door. it's around the windscreen, a bit in the sills and really bad patches around where the vinyl roof screws down above the boot. rain leaks in in a few places, so it smells like a cat pee'd in it, so told my son to keep his eyes open for a reasonable mk1 hatch and swap the running gear over in the event he can't get it roadworthy'd.
must say, i get plenty of enjoyment from working on his cars, which have all been veedubs(t4 transporter, t5 td transporter, mk5 gti and now this mk1 cabby). he is selling the mk5 gti to fund a trip o/s, so the mk1 is a hack to drive around untill he leaves, but he still want's to lower it and put bigger wheels on. so much for saving money! 1 other son has a mk4 bora, so there's plenty of vw enthusiasm amongst us!

[cab93]

I'm 90% sure this is the cabriolet I looked at prior to purchasing mine around 2007. 10% unsure due to the fact the car I inspected while gleaming with highly polished paint and blacker than black plastic in South Yarra, it hid a staggering amount of rust that I would have thought it would have been scrapped by now. However the wheels are the same and it was fitted with front electric windows. The front door capping's cracks had been filled with a black filler.

The owner advised that he and his son had the engine rebuilt and engine size increased to 2 litres. There was so much rust I didn't bother with a test drive . As I left the owner slammed the boot - I guess every one else spotted the rampant rust!

Engine code "DX" is the highest output with 82kw @ 5800 RPM. and I think it came with CIS-Kjetronic in 1987.

Michael

[gldgti]

Interior looks tidy - thats pretty rare in and of itself.

If the rust is really that bad, it might make a good donor car. for another mk1 - the engine swap being on carb already would make it easy as.

Also, if the disks are big it must have a caliper spacer kit which might be nice.

[ericcs]

Interior looks tidy - thats pretty rare in and of itself.

If the rust is really that bad, it might make a good donor car. for another mk1 - the engine swap being on carb already would make it easy as.

Also, if the disks are big it must have a caliper spacer kit which might be nice.

i did suggest to my son it would be a good donor car, as mechanically, it's pretty good despite every part that's steel is rusty. even the rocker cover has blistering rust. and yes, the brakes, whatever they are off, have spacer brackets, i doubt the 14" spare, which has a tiny tire on would fit over the calipers.
aside from the webber carb, it has extractors, and to my untrained ear, possibly a mild cam. it certainly scoots along.
is the interior out of a mk2, as it is in great condition, with only the left door card having cracks. it would be awesome for a mk1 swap