A Storm is coming (1979 Mk1 Storm)

[Rich_Rocco]

Well after a couple of years of looking for a cheap yet easy Mk1 Scirocco project (pretty much asking the impossible) I managed to find this little beaut so I sold my mk2 golf and pretty much snapped the previous owners hand off.
the car was originally from suffolk but the gentleman i got it from had it stored in stanley so it was pretty local :)




Its a 1979 Mk1 Scirocco Storm in Silbergrun (Silver green) metallic
90 odd thousand miles on the clock
and completely solid

good points are:
its had all the necessary welding done by professionals so the shell is solid
had all new brakes fitted
new belts, pipes and service items done on the engine not long ago
new petrol tank, fuel pump, fuel lines and filler neck
full black leather interior in really good condition
far less to insure than the golf and the classic policy ive found allows me to build NCB

bad points are:
needs a respray (but i was going to paint the mk2 anyway)
and a few bits to get it through an MOT. (horn doesn't work, needs a new downpipe and brakes need bleeding)
theres a couple of surface rust spots popping up but nothing serious

So all in all I reckon I've done pretty well :D

wont be putting it on the road til spring so it will be tucked up in my garage for the winter.

plans are:
strip the interior and give it all a good clean
sand back and treat any surface rust then prime and paint any bare metal
fix the things needed for MOT
replace the storm chin spoiler with a duckbill style one
"refurb" the engine (new gaskets and a lick of paint etc) theres nothing wrong with the engine as it is but i think its worth doing.
new wheels (probably some dishy 15s with stretched rubber)
coilovers
respray in the same colour

so basically just restoring it and keeping it pretty much original aside from lows (not rediculous lows), wheels and chin spoiler.

;D

[theboysmiffy]

Hi mate

Great car. I also bought a Mk1 Storm the same colour and year as yours from just round the corner in Birtley, strangely my plans are similar to yours also!

Adam

[mazellann]

Looks like you got yourself a good MK1 there, my favourite colour Storm aswell, i bought a mk1 GLS last year and absolutely love it.
If you ever need a hand with anything i'm only in Stockton so not to far away, just give me a shout.

Cheers
Tony

[The Autoad]

Looking forward to this one

[jxp]

Nice find, look forward to seeing the progress

[Rich_Rocco]

Thought i'd chuck some more pics up of the car that the previous owner sent me. mainly to show the welding that was done.

[Rich_Rocco]

Not really had a lot of time (or money) to work on this but im jumping back on it and hoping to have this on the road by june.

so heres a really boring update...

the new speedo cable is in and working
ive sourced a new downpipe which will be installed very soon
having a nightmare with the horn still though (may be a job for the autoelectrician)
gonna bleed the breaks too then that should be it ready for its MOT :)
ive also sourced a GTI splitter for it so the storm splitter has been removed and will probably be sold to fund the project
looks a bit weird without it but will look better with lows and the GTI splitter i reckon ;)



(just noticed the oil patch from where the mk2 used to sit. n'awwwh)

reckon i'll be removing the interior next week and giving at all a good clean and give the leather some treatment :)

thats all for now.

[monzajake]

Are they really fuel lines running through the wheel arch !

[Rich_Rocco]

possibly? lol i'd never noticed to be honest

[jimmy h]

Are they really fuel lines running through the wheel arch !

Interesting! Mods - this could end up a thread jack - please move if so.
Good spot Jake.
Speaking as a person who tried (unsucessfully) to replace the solid fuel lines on my GTX mk 2 - I could not do it.
I was using I think 8mm bore cunifer - simply kinked when I tried to form it through the hole in the floor behind the wishbone. So if someone else came up against this problem - it does make sense to route the pipes through a more 'straight-forward' route?
In the end I 'crimped on' some flexi rubber pieces with 'O' clips to negotiate the bend. I was a bit amazed they held the pressure I soon sold the car.
When I get get my car back, I'm about to fit Crazy Quiff lines, yet I'm getting more troubled what Ethanol content fuel can do to rubber plastic components

[the edmundator]

In the end I 'crimped on' some flexi rubber pieces with 'O' clips to negotiate the bend. I was a bit amazed they held the pressure I soon sold the car.

One of my Scalas came with this "mod," which I only found out about after being stranded on the hard shoulder of the M5 in a pool of petrol.

[SCIROCCOSILBERFEDER]

Are they really fuel lines running through the wheel arch !

Hello!

Not a mod or a re-route of the fuel lines.

The very early mk 1 golfs and 'roccos had the fuel lines running this way.

For 'roccos it shows how old they are, 2 of my storms have the fuel lines running this way, the others "the standard way".

I think the countries that received injection 'roccos before the UK did had the fuel lines running this way.

The fuel lines on carb roccos i have also found to be different, runnning along under the drivers cill and the more standard way as for the later injection.

It resolved the difficult kink the fuel lines suffered from. With this route there was also an option of larger bore fuel lines i read about in an old VW mag.

Currently running 15's on one of my mk 1 storms and never had any issues.

KR

SSF

[Rich_Rocco]

Thaks for that Alexander. i was kinda worried for a while there :p
i think i may come up with a way of covering them up/protecting them.

[Rich_Rocco]

GTI front splitter arrived today. Massive thanks to Alexander (SCIROCCOSILBERFEDER) for selling it to me

also borrowed a trolley jack and some axle stands so i'll be cracking on with the downpipe replacement asap. theres also an earth wire i need to check which is behind the downpipe so i'll be doing that too. hopefully that will be the cause/cure of my horn problem.

[Rich_Rocco]

well ive since fixed the horn problem. it was a combination of dirty earth connections and crappy relays. there is still the problem of the fuel pump whirring whenever i press the horn or use the wipers :/

anyway now for some slightly more interesting things...

i grabbed some new wheels for her
14x7 whey kings :)
they were in a bit of a state when i got them but the refurb is well underway and they should be on the car by next weekend. they still need going over with uber fine wet and dry paper and then a polishing wheel but theyre not far off. im not sure wether to keep the spokes silver or go with gold? im guessing they'd have to be handpainted as masking off the black parts between the spokes would be an utter pain in the dick.




anyway...

a miniature and not very exciting update but its progress...

i got a "new" number 53 relay so all the functions in the car work aside from the fuel pump/earthing problem but there is some news in that department:

the early fuseboxes had a problem with one of the pins on the fuel pump relay socket burning out. so vw "solved" the problem by providing a sort of extension to the fusebox in the form of a relay socket (which clips onto the fusebox), some wiring and a socket.

when you cobble it all together and plug it in it stops the pin from burning out.. happy days!
until I discovered that they discontinued the part :(
but all is not lost! i found a guy in america that had 2 for sale and one is now on its way to me! :D at the meagre cost of 27 quid all in. so once that arrives i'll tackle all of the electrical gubbins in one go then hopefully everything will be sweet.



ive also started prep/restoration on the paint.
so far ive done the drivers door
sanded any rust spots back to bare metal, slopped some rust cure on, filled any dimples then primered (all temporary). gonna be doing it panel by panel on my days off/when it isnt pissing down then i'm gonna borrow or purchase a gun and compressor, cross my fingers and try a homebrew paintjob as its gona be ages til i can realistically afford a full shoot. keeping it the original colour as its really grown on me.
im hoping to get at least a half decent finish as im gonna be putting the time and effort into proper prep and i'll be practicing with the gun and compressor before i dive in. the doors, wings, bonnet and bootlid will be removed and painted in my garage and the rest of the car will be done in a makeshift gazebo special jobbie to keep as much crap off the paint as possible. the way i see it is that any finish i achieve is going to look better than the 3 different paint colours in varying shades, flakes, cracks, lacquer peel and rust that the car was originally sporting.



(i took the door handle and wingmirror off to finish the rest)

i also got a new gearknob. its a nice black leather wolfsburg one. got it since the original wooden one just looked odd and only has 4 gears on it (i'll be putting a 5 speed box on the car asap)
it matches the rest of the interior (and steering wheel) so im happy.



I STILL havent sorted the downpipe yet either. i did have a go and the nuts/bolts just arent moving so a regular at the pub i work at is going to sort it at his garage.

thats all for now