New Mk1 Owner

[Peter Jones]

The tanks were all the same capacity I think. 42 litres including the 5 litre "reserve" (The orange bit on the fuel gauge.)

I put 36 litres into mine last week and it had just hit the orange mark.

That breather loops back and forth right across the car. I know it well because mine had been melted by the exhaust and was blocked. This lead to negative pressure in the tank and fuel pump issues. The filler would hiss when you took the cap off.

Pete

[Mika]

Odd...I'll need to look into it more. Fuel guage doesn't work properly (intermittent), but when the car car coughs and splutters with what seems to be low fuel, on fill up it'll take 30L. Previous owner also said the car took about 30L a tank also.

[Jarred]

should look super tough with those wheels!

[Mika]

should look super tough with those wheels!

Will need to get some low on methinks...and probably some locking lug bolts!

[Mika]

Hullo again,

Just wondering how to wire up the reverse lights in a Mk1 that has been converted to 5 speed. From what I can find, the original reverse switch wiring consists of 2 female spade terminals. The only plug i can find on the 5 speed is a 4 pin plug on the top of the box. See below for pics

If that 4 pin socket is the reverse switch, how do I wire it up to the existing wiring.

Socket:


Wiring loom:

[gldgti]

i've not seen that gearbox plug before (a lot of 5 speeds have a simple 2 pin plug).

however, wiring up will still be easy. use your multimeter on resistance mode (ohms) to test for continuity between various pins on the plug in the gearbox. one set of pins will be connected when reverse gear is selected, and will go open circuit when in neutral or any other gear. simply connect your 2 wires to those pins and you'll be right

also - the knocking on deceleration is more likely to be the exhaust hitting the floor rather than the rear engine mount... rear mounts seldom break on the mk1, but exhaust rubbers alsways do - and more to the point, mk1 exhausts are almost always no-longer standard and sometimes dont fit well.

on your shifter problem, the shifter box is underneath the shift stick under the car, right next to the exhaust. it is characterised by a big rubber dust boot covering it. if you undo the shifter from inside the car, you may be able to withdraw the shifter box down out of the car a little way and move the boot aside. then you will find the underside of the gearstick and the connection to the main shift rod going forwards. there is a steel housing that the shift ball is mounted within and at the bottom side, the housing is shaped such that it "guides" the extremes of movement of the stick from one side to the other. you will find that in order to engage 5th gear, you need to more the stick further to the right - however the housing limits the travel of the stick. therefore, removing some material from the housing will allow you some more movement in the shifter

[Peter Jones]

Lots and lots of 020 gearbox wisdom at www.brokevw.com

Switch wiring at http://www.brokevw.com/reverseswitch.html

Pete

[Mika]

Legends! Both of you! Thanks so much
Looking forward to getting it all sorted now!

[Mika]

Been sick the last few days, but 165 and 175/50/15 tyres, shifter bushing kit and prothane bushing kit arrived in the last few days. No time to fit any of it til next week though Will need to get some 10-15mm spacers for the rear wheels soon i think!

Looks like I'll need to get another unreg vehicle permit as this one expires in just over a week and I've got a heap to do still

[Mika]

Well, that was an interesting evening...


She was being a little hard to start and I thought, that's a little odd! Then I noticed an orange glow reflecting off the wall I was parked up against. First I thought I'd had the parkers on, then thought HOLY CRAP! Jumped out of the car, popped the bonnet and FLAMES ahoy! Managed to run and grab a fire extinguisher and put it out, but not before the ramflo filter had disintegrated and a large section of bonnet insulation had torched up.

Will have to look at it over the weekend to see what damage has been done other than paint burnt off the firewall and the filter foam. She still runs, but not without the choke engaged, so hopefully the carb isn't damaged in any major way.

Time for a shower to get all the extinguisher foam and fire stench off me!


I shall get some pics to add to the Epic Fail thread...hahaha