rust - structural or cosmetic?

[vipergreen]

lovely Mk1 folk

I have stumbled across the site, and the "you know you're driving a mk1" thread had me in stitches all morning.

A post now about my 78 4dr petrol (viper green) golf, who is a little sad atm - I am trying to figure out if it's worth the time and work to fix it up or if I should aim for a new(old) mk1.

The original paint is in great condition, engine rebuilt about 80,000km ago, generally running well and WAS a daily driver until the battery went flat, and then it wouldn't re-start due to a recurrent petrol pump problem. So, the pump has been sorted and it seems to be OK again.

So, I have fallen back in love with the old girl, but she has some rust. I think most of it is cosmetic (eg. at the base of the hatch window and under the windows) but the rust that worries me is at the base of the front windscreen frame - from what I understand this is a common rust spot for mk1s due to foam that was used in the windscreen frame?

Is this structural or cosmetic? ie. is the body terminally damaged? If so, I'll probably look for a new clean body and change the motor over .....

Any comments appreciated.

[gldgti]

hi mate, welcome.

the rust in the base of the a-pillars is indeed very common but not terminal - depending on the extent. it is important to do a thorough check of the extent of rust in this area - you will likely have to remove the windscreen and i advise removing the front wing panel aswell, and check out the whole pillar from the windscreen down, and adjoining panels.

its necessary to do quite a lot of welding in order to fix the rust in this spot, but at the end of the day, you're doing yourself a favour, and saving another mk1 from the scrap heap.

good luck

(PS - both my mk1's have rust in the a-pillars.)

[Jarred]

hi mate, welcome.

the rust in the base of the a-pillars is indeed very common but not terminal - depending on the extent. it is important to do a thorough check of the extent of rust in this area - you will likely have to remove the windscreen and i advise removing the front wing panel aswell, and check out the whole pillar from the windscreen down, and adjoining panels.

its necessary to do quite a lot of welding in order to fix the rust in this spot, but at the end of the day, you're doing yourself a favour, and saving another mk1 from the scrap heap.

good luck

(PS - both my mk1's have rust in the a-pillars.)

couldn't have said it better myself,.

My current mk 1 has alot of costmetic rust, and while it's alot of work to fix, I'm sticking with it. Luckily my A pillars a pretty clean, and the running gear [seems] solid.

Welcome to the forum aswell, how bout some pics??

[roccodingo]

Welcome Viper green, fantastic colour btw.

The A pillar is fabricated up from 3 metal stampings spot welded together, If the external corrossion you see has gone into the second inner metal section you will need to open it up to repair the damage to that sheet. Failing to do so does comprimise the rigidity and safety design of the A pillar gives.

I have some pics here of the way the metal is pressed and welded together on this damned PC somewhere...but can get images if so requested..

HTH.

[vipergreen]

That it may not be terminal is awesome news ... will have a closer look at it shortly...

I'll post some pics once it's had a cut and polish on the weekend! It's original throughout (ie. no resto work) but is still fairly straight. And, I may be biased, but viper green is an awesome colour. Rather eye-catching. Full of personality. There used to be a beautiful viper green golf somewhere around ashburton that I used to see. Haven't seen it for years now ...

In fact, I was just checking out the spotted section and can't believe no-ones spotted me yet!

Cheers

Jess

[Jarred]

I take it you're in Melbourne's east/southeast??

p.s. add this info to your profile, by clicking "user CP" at the top left of the page.

[thestu]

That it may not be terminal is awesome news ... will have a closer look at it shortly...

I'll post some pics once it's had a cut and polish on the weekend! It's original throughout (ie. no resto work) but is still fairly straight. And, I may be biased, but viper green is an awesome colour. Rather eye-catching. Full of personality. There used to be a beautiful viper green golf somewhere around ashburton that I used to see. Haven't seen it for years now ...

In fact, I was just checking out the spotted section and can't believe no-ones spotted me yet!

Cheers

Jess

welcome to the forum dude!

fix that rut my car also has rust there pain in the butt, but so worth fixing

we used to own that green one but daddy sold it wayyy too cheap lives in blackburn now...but gets love and attention with its silver bonnet now

[vipergreen]

Geez. If they were going to respray it, I'd consider buying one or two bits in viper green from them... blackburn you say? I should start working through the suburb street by street til I find it!

[16v_kid]

buy my sexy golf...everything is already done

[/IMG]

[vipergreen]

Nah, that one would seem to be stu's dad's old one ... mine is completely viper green, with the odd patch of rust here and there. Not to worry, she'll look sweet once I've attacked her with the polish over the weekend. Am considering just bogging the rust that I can see and writing off the body as structurally done-for.