my `76 GOLF 3dr

[Jarred]

You tell me about this now??? gah. haha seriously thou, thanks for that. I'll have to save a bit of money, but I reckon I'll get me one of them soon...(the whole front that is)

[Water Boy]

You tell me about this now??? gah. haha seriously thou, thanks for that. I'll have to save a bit of money, but I reckon I'll get me one of them soon...(the whole front that is)

Cut one of a wreck we got the one of Justin's ol Mk1

[intensem1]

Looks great mate! Did you end up putting any clear on the car? Or is that simply acrylic colour buffed?

Is it easy to swap fronts see alot of people do it?

[static1800]

Didn't know you were going to replace the entire front

Just noticed they have floor sections myself definately grabbing those!!

[Jarred]

Didn't know you were going to replace the entire front

Just noticed they have floor sections myself definately grabbing those!!

They don't send overseas but (check the shipping part at the bottom of the page) and I was getting so excited! I had a list of over 500 USD worth of stuff. Might get my aunt to bring over a few smalll things for me

James, I've heard it's a bit difficult to pull off a front end in one piece. and If I did get one off another Car, I'd want it to be pretty damn perfect, cause if I have to go repairing it, I'd be a waste to put something less than perfect back on. If you catch my drift. That being said, small imperfects are no probs tho..

Alex, Yes it's just the acrylic colour. I thought about doing a clear, But I ran out of time, and don't really know how to spray a clear coat, and you kinda need to bake a clear coat for it to drive properly. (i believe)

Another Tid bit on the painting part of it though. Two coats of colour is not enough! unless you're an excellent sprayer, and don't need to buff the paint back at all! So consequently I have a few spots, admittedly mainly corners, that have either rubbed back to primer, or are real close to it. the admittidley part, is cause I didn't paint it properly. You're meant to do a quick spray on the corners, before you paint the rest of the panel. I didn't do that. oops. but I've learnt from it, perhaps the hard way, but I don't car. I still painted my own car, and not with a paint brush either! I'm pretty happy with myself.

[static1800]

They don't send overseas but (check the shipping part at the bottom of the page) and I was getting so excited!

damnit!! their goes that plan!!

[TassieGTi]

Jarred, VW Australia still sell brand new front panels for the Mk1 You can get the entire front panel or just the outer skin About $220 for the outer skin delivered!

[Jarred]

how do I contact them? or which division do I contract? thanks for the tip too

[intensem1]

Yeh Jarred I understand what youve done, youll have to be careful about polishing the edges in the future i wouldnt use a cutting compound. Do you find colour comes off on the rag?

In my experience ive only ever put down 1-2 coats of colour then dusted it off once dry and thrown about 6 coats of clear on. Never baked it but let it set for 2 weeks, Aus heat is enough. The rubbed it back with 1500-2000 wet rub, then cut and polished comes up great. The rubbing back is a killer! In the middle of doing some at the moment comes up great but takes so long and arm drills after a while!

Looks great tho, like the colour!

All colours look great on Mk1s makes it so hard to choose, i keep changing my mind and buying more paint!

Alex, Yes it's just the acrylic colour. I thought about doing a clear, But I ran out of time, and don't really know how to spray a clear coat, and you kinda need to bake a clear coat for it to drive properly. (i believe)

Another Tid bit on the painting part of it though. Two coats of colour is not enough! unless you're an excellent sprayer, and don't need to buff the paint back at all! So consequently I have a few spots, admittedly mainly corners, that have either rubbed back to primer, or are real close to it. the admittidley part, is cause I didn't paint it properly. You're meant to do a quick spray on the corners, before you paint the rest of the panel. I didn't do that. oops. but I've learnt from it, perhaps the hard way, but I don't car. I still painted my own car, and not with a paint brush either! I'm pretty happy with myself.

[Jarred]

I've got a compund that I'm using, Give's it a realy nice smooth finish and (colour doesn't rub off much at all) helps cover some of the sanding marks, cause I used 1200, but I needed to cause althought that paint looked good, it was no where near smooth. bnut yea. oh well. Next time I paint a car, I think I'll hire a booth, just to do teh colour for a better finish.

It's taken me so long to do the wetsanding on mine (actually I still have one panel to go...) but I'm not fussed. although It sure is bloody painful doing that for 6 hours in a day! Primering and blocking though is worse; cause you have to do it so many more times!!

You have to get up pretty close (under 2 feet kinda thing) to see all the imperfections and a few lines and stuff, but I don't care. Photgraphs pretty good, and I'm still happy with it. well not really happy. but I don't care about the imperfections any more.

It's going to get scratched and dints and stuff, after all, it's just my daily and I park at a (public) uni carpark... and (while I own it aleast) it ain't ever going to be a show car! haha

do you ever worry about getting bugs and dust in the clear coat while its drying??