New owner of 1985 GT

[Gcaswell]

After 15 years of asking, I’m now the new owner of an original 1 owner MK2 ‘85 GT in Mars Red (owned by my father in law). This model seems quite rare? This was his pride and joy and he kept it well polished. I have every receipt from new including his original sales invoice! The car hasn’t been driven for 4 years and only driven 3 miles a year to the MOT centre and back for 10+ years up to 2013. It has been started every 6 months or so since and it did start for me to get it on/off the transporter. It runs really badly with a lot of smoke (hopefully due to 15 year old petrol). I want to get it on the road again very soon. I’m thinking of replacing all fluids, replacing/refurb brakes (they’re stuck on), new cambelt and tyres - can anyone recommend anything else I should be looking at? I’ve not had a Scirocco before and I’m really excited to drive it! There’s no rust on it anywhere, being kept in a heated garage and covered all its life. It’s done 2700 miles since 1998! Interior is immaculate too. I’m planning to get the chap I use for my Land Rover to Dinitrol it - is this a sensible thing to do on a car like this?

Any help/advise welcomed.

Thanks

Giles





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[GTXTRA]

Brilliant looking GT.

New fluids, filters, new flexi brake lines, watch out for dirt fuel, sediment in bottom of tank from old fuel, check the filler neck- with rear wheel off check filler neck is solid.

Good luck!

[the edmundator]

Hi Giles,

Lovely looking car and wonderful history. Your recommissioning plans sound quite sensible to me. The pierburg carb might be a bit troublesome but I'd stick with it if you can; it's complex, which is why people tend to replace it with a more straightforward manual choke Weber.

There is a variety of common problems, the main things to check that will cause big problems (particles in the tank/fuel lines) are the fuel filler neck and fuel tank. Both will rust, even in a well-cared for car.

You're correct that the GT without a body kit is rare, they only had a short run before the body kit was added to all mk2 Sciroccos in 1985.

[GTXTRA]

And get some security on it too.

[whiteshark]

As above listen to Sean and Eds advice, all solid.
1. No 1 on the list, add an immobilizer. They are easy to steal without one.
2. Take off the fuel neck at the back of the car. Thoroughly check it for any rust or holes. You can not do this properly if it is still on the car. Older fuel lines can sometimes loose their internal integrity and close and stop fuel running under pressure.
3. Replace your fuel pump, fuel accumulator and add a filter.
4. With oil flushed and changed, new air filter and fresh fuel, take it from there.
5. Replace your brake lines with steel braided hoses.

Good luck. Beaut looking wagon!!

[the edmundator]

I suppose the other thing is that all of the bushes (suspension etc) are likely to be rock solid after this time, so replacing them (I'd recommend OEM rubber rather than polyurethane) will dramatically improve the ride. From my experience, if the shock absorbers are old, they're likely to give up fairly quickly if you start using the car with any degree of enthusiasm (and it would be a shame not to).

[mr.brown]

First off, great find and welcome to the 'Register - check out the Membership pages to join up. It sounds like you have a great car with a great back story - maybe one for the club magazine

Also, stick a general location in your profile - there's nothing better than an offer of help from a local Scirocco owner when you're stuck.

A "kitless" GT is indeed a rare thing - I'm pretty sure it was only around for a year or so between being called the CL and then getting the black body kit.

The 1985 brochure actually has a GT in the same colour - http://www.driversfound.com/scirocco/history/uk/1985/

To expand upon/emphasise the good advice already given above you really really need to start off your checks with the fuel system. Once you've checked the filler neck you need to look inside the tank.

If you lift the rear seat cushion (pull up from the back) you will see a black metal circle held in with 3 screws. Removed that and you will have access to the fuel sender unit.

You'll see two rubber hoses (fuel supply and return) and an electrical connector. These will need to be removed so make sure you have new hose clips handy before you start.

The body of the unit twists out buy may need a hammer/screwdriver to start it off.

Once out you will see another rubber hose attached to the unit. As this has sat in fuel for 33 years it may have deteriorated. It's fairly standard rubber fuel hose so easy to source.

Here's one I prepared earlier (it's from a mk1 but yours will be identical).



Shine a torch in the tank to look for debris. Hopefully you'll be greeted with sight similar to this



If you see some debris try and clean it up with something magnetic.

If all is good so far leave it alone, buy a siphon/pump off ebay/Amazon and get all the old fuel out. Then stick a few litres of fresh petrol in.
Also order a new fuel filter - you'll see it in the engine bay floating around near the cambelt cover.

Then that'll be the first of your problems sorted

[mark1gls]

Welcome Gcaswell, that's a tidy looking car and you don't see many about and it's still red which is a real bonus as VW red turns pink really quickly.

What's the plans with the car?

[Gcaswell]

Thanks to all for the tips and advice. I’m looking forward to the weekend to make a start on it. Think fuel and brakes are definitely my first jobs.

With regards to what I intend to do with the car, I intend to make it as good as I possibly can (keeping it entirely original) drive it at weekends mostly and generally cherish it. I’ve been trying to persuade my father in law to sell it to me for years and now he has I intend to keep it for a long time!




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[mark1gls]

Good to hear you are keeping it original, far to many base/early cars been modded.

We are here if you need help/advice, just post it up in the right section on the website and we will see what we can do.

[the edmundator]

The web tells me that xNP would have been a Worcester registration when new. Are you/the car still in the midlands? Convenient for the annual early August meeting at RAF Cosford if you are.

[Gcaswell]

That’s correct, supplied by Evans Halshaw in Redditch originally. I’m in North Yorks but hopefully will be able to drive it that far.


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[the edmundator]

Good ones (like yours is) are reliable cars and I'm confident driving mine any distance. Lack of use and bodgery are the main sources of problems.

[Aardent]

Cant stress enough to get your fuel.lines checked. Give them a wiggle and poke even if they look intact. Was driving mine regularly before full resto and horrified when it went in the ramp and the fuel lines crumbled in my hands. Could have ended i disaster as witnessed last year when we saw a Rocco burning on the side of the motorway. A sad day.

[the edmundator]

Especially important to fit new fuel lines for modern fuels, which can destroy old fuel lines. Plenty of horror stories about engine bay fires as a result of this.