Deja Vu All Over Again - '83 GL

[MikeH]

Some of you may have seen the 60k '83 GL I bought in late 2014, with the intention of putting it back on the road. I had a good offer for it and sold it before it was finished and back on the road. Well, I've gone and bought another.

This one has done more miles and had a few more owners, but if anything the body is even better than the last one. It's been someone's project car (had a 16v lump and other goodies) but I plan to just put it back to standard and get it on the road. The good news is that I have most of the bits to get it roadworthy.

The car has a later type carb engine with it (not sure if it's a 1.6 or 1.8 - need to check the engine number), but I have a spare engine of the correct type (1.6 carb 85bhp as found in Mk1 golfs and roccos). My intention is to get it back on the road as quickly as possible, then do a bit of cosmetic tidying after it's roadworthy.

Cosmetically it's fairly good, but the bonnet and wing tops are micro-blistering (been painted before) and the dashboard is really badly cracked. If anyone has a good Mk2 dashboard in BROWN then please let me know. I'm a buyer! Otherwise I'll fill it and get busy with the vinyl paint to at least make it look better than now. That's a fair bit of work though, so finding another dash would be a better option.

Anyway, here are the pics, for those of you who didn't see it on Facebook, and here's a link to the ebay ad, although I bought it offline before the auction ended (hence the low finishing price).







http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vw-scirocco-Mk2 ... true&rt=nc

Proper retro colour scheme. I'm told by folks on here that the colour is Papyrus Green. I'm not sure I've seen one before.

[unknownmale]

Looks really straight! I was fuming seeing that end price until I read you bought it offline!

Look forward to seeing it finished

[MikeH]

Thanks - sorry if you thought you'd won it. The seller tried to stop the auction but it was too close to the end I think.

I painted the block on Weds night. Should get it fitted in the hole tonight (but not running), although I want to clean up the gearbox first. Car Plan Engine Lacquer goes on and covers really well. I hope it lasts as well as it goes on. Not normally a fan of Car Plan stuff but the engine paint seems really good so far.

[MikeH]

It's not running yet - not by a distance, but the engine is bolted in the bay to get it off the floor, and free up some space in my mate's barn.

[MikeH]

I screen scraped the pics from the advert before it disappears. Has some interior shots that I haven't posted yet - here they are.

Paint the town beige!



Steering wheel was just to move the car around - already swapped for a correct one


Boot floor is very clean - I have a spare carpet somewhere as well.
]]



The only bad bit on the interior is that the dash is badly cracked. No pics of that yet, I'm afraid.

[stormchaser]

Wow, great find. This bought back some memories. I bought an identical car back in 1992. Papyrus green GL with the beige velour interior (well comfy seats), 150k miles for £550. Put on another trouble free 50k miles in 3 years then part ex'd it for £1,200 against a mk2 Golf GTI. Great to see another 20 years later. Good luck with the build.

[MikeH]

Bit of an update tonight. I had a couple of hours to spare, so I swapped the front struts and wishbones for some better ones. The ones that came with the car were pretty tired. No pics I'm afraid!

The more I lie under this car the better I like it. It really is very clean.

[MikeH]

A bit more progress....

Been painting more bits as I go along... Radiator cowl, wishbones, ARB, etc.... must remember to take more pics next time I'm down the barn


Thought I might make a hole in this bit, and I was right! It's now welded up and being filled. It was the only rust hole I've found on the whole car, and it's never been welded before, as far as I can tell.


Rear axle is looking scruffy, so I've dropped that off and painted it too... pics to follow. Rear axle mounts are all good, thankfully!


More pics to follow. Time to stop mucking about painting bits and put the car back together now

[MikeH]

A few more pics from this week's progress.

Rear beam and ARB parts painted




Mole grips on the ARB clamps helps to put them back together. Tap the clips on with a little hammer, then knock the end over to stop them slipping off. A little bit of copper grease should stop them from rusting on for next time.


It's all put back together now, ready to go on the car. I'm painting up round the rear beam mounts first, to keep them in good condition.

[MikeH]

A little bit more progress. A skim of filler over the weld - rub down with 80 and then 120 grit to shape it. This part of the car is meant to be stone-chipped, so it doesn't need to be perfect. It's since been degreased, had 'Zinc182' primer brushed on, a quick rub down, degreased again, and then 3 coats of high build primer from a rattle can. It's surprising what you can get done in a couple of hours if you speed up the drying with a waft from the old heat gun. A dry warm night helps too!

Tomorrow the primer gets a final rub down, degrease, mask then it's stone chip, followed by a quick re-mask and colour coat on top.

Here's how I left it tonight. Left a flap on the masking tape and pulled it back for the last coat to 'soft edge' the primer, rather than leaving a hard step.



I'm going to paint this properly later, as the bonnet and front wings have micro blistering from damp under the paint, but for now the rattle cans will do for a quick tidy up.

[MikeH]

And it's painted... OK for now and I'll do it properly later. Rattle cans to the rescue

Before:


During


After the zinc primer and high build primer, a rub back, then layer of stone chip on the bottom for the OEM look, paint the stone chip while it's still slightly tacky (helps it stick) and make sure you get stone chip that can be painted over, then lacquer over the colour coat while it's still tacky. A handful of light coats and paint on top while still tacky.





That'll do for now.

While I was in there I did a bit of stone chip round the rear axle mounts just for protection where I'd repainted them (but not on the mounts themselves, or the axle might not sit flat) and next job is to fit the new brake hoses and put the axle back on.

[jim91]

Don't let Jackie Chan near that when it's finished LOL

Love the early non kitted mk2s, think they look harder when lowered on sice rims for some reason

[MikeH]

Jackie Chan? Wha?

[MikeH]

So I finished off the repair with a bit of zinc primer and stone chip on the inside of the rear wing behind the light - try to stop it from coming through again.
Crap pic but you get the idea...


It looks a lot better underneath now as well, with all the refurb and paint that's been done. Not perfect, but a lot better than it was.
Before


After