Guidance needed...

[sciroccy]

Hi All,

I'm about to tell you a long winded story so bear with me...

I purchased my 1980 Scirocco MK1 (looks just like a Storm but it says GLi on the log book. Some say it might be a real Storm but I'm not so sure) from eBay in 2010 after one too many drinks. When I picked it up I didn't know what to do with it so sent it off to a friend's garage in Birmingham (I live in the South East). He worked on it every now and then for a couple of years. I got it back in the autumn of 2012 (MOT'd) and used it as my every day car for 3 months until the weather turned. At this point I realised it was no where near water proof and un-useable. The boot and the foot wells would fill up with water, the rear demister didn't work and to top it all...a load of water went into the heater motor one morning and it caught fire (I pulled over when this happened and let the smoke die down and then carried on to work in it ). I was having to scrape the inside of the windows every morning and had to adopt a "3 cloth, 2 sponge" system to see where I was going.

This could not carry on so I took it back to my friend in Birmingham and left it there. He called me in September 2015 and said "Are you coming to get this car or can I start keeping chickens in it?"...so I got it trailered to my house where it sat in the garage for a couple of months.

In December I needed to clean the garage (which was an absolute mess!) and I needed the car out of there for a couple of days...so I did the logical thing and booked it in for an MOT . On the morning it was booked in for the MOT I put in a new battery and had to hit the starter motor with a hammer to free it and then had to give the fuel pump a couple of firm taps to get it going and it fired up...and then all of the perished exhaust rubbers fell off and it rattled like you wouldn't believe! I wasn't put off by this so headed off to the MOT place where I told them I couldn't collect it for a couple of days (which they were ok with). I also had to tell them to ignore all of the interior panels that were not attached and the thick layers of dust on the inside and the outside.

I took 2 days to clean the garage and waited for the dreaded call from the garage...and when that call arrived he said "Your exhaust is about to fall off and one of the lights doesn't work...I'll have those fixed today and you can pick it up tomorrow".... I was completely stunned! So I told him to change the starter motor as well. It had 2 advisories and that was it. So I picked it up and took it to the petrol station to fill it up with fresh super unleaded (as a treat). I drove home happy and plonked it on the drive where my neighbour came out and said "That car sounds amazing"...and I thought "yes, it does doesn't it". I went in to open the garage door, came back to find the fuel pump had given up. I spent ages under there tapping it without success so left it there for 3 days while it filled up with rain water. As soon as the weather cleared I gave it another wack and it slowly wurred into life at which point I fired it up and put it back in the garage where it has sat since (with lots of boxes on top of it).

So...it needs painting underneath (I want to do it with Epoxy Mastic 121), it needs the water leaks sorted ( a real pain, I don't even know where to start) and it needs the boot inside sorting. It also has Pirelli P Slots (with new tyres) on it a the moment but I have purchased (again, from eBay) a set of 5 correct wheels for it (man hole cover ones). It also has lots of bits of trim removed which needs to be re-attached (around the rear quarter glass and doors). It will never be a concours car, it's more of an every day number (the front wings are fibre glass)

Now, while it is in my garage...my MGB Roadster is living in my friend's nan's garage...who lives on a flood plain nearby...and this is really stressing me out. Also...my wife absolutely hates the Scirocco but appreciates that if I sold it I wouldn't find another one (certainly not one I could afford).

So my dilemma is (and this is where I need the guidance)...do I hang on to it knowing I will hardly ever be able to dedicate any time to it and it really needs the water leaks fixing straight away...or do I just eBay it? Over the years, I have spent a fair old bit of money on it but it is unlikely I will get back more than about £1500 tops I reckon (so I would lose money on it). I could try and keep it in storage (which means swapping it with the MGB as that is all set to go for the summer and I have owned it a really long time)

I've tried adding a pic but it keeps freezing, am I doing something wrong?

[sciroccy]

This is what it looked like just before it was picked up from Birmingham in the autumn of 2015 (looks much better in the pics!)...

scirocco (640x480).jpg

[the edmundator]

Only you know whether you want to keep the car or not. Do you want to keep a car that you never (or rarely) drive, and might not for the foreseeable future because it has faults that stop you enjoying it?

They are slowly (very slowly) going up in value, but who knows what will happen to the classic car market once interest rates and the global economy improve and there is somewhere better for investors to put their money.

[mr.brown]

If you can afford it, send it up to the Rust Republic and let them sort it out. Spend a couple of grand and it could be worth 4 or 5.
FWIW, it's a real a Storm as any other if that's the original colour.

[Village Idiots]

Ant and Andy at Rust Republic are the men! I would whole-heartedly and unreservedly recommend them. But beware, once you start investigating Mk1s it could be expensive! Ant is The Autoad on here.

[sciroccy]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Unfortunately I don't have a couple of thousand to spend on it but would like it water tight and useable through out the year. If I could solve the water leaks issue and get the underneath rust proofed and, perhaps, get new rubber seals for the front and back screens so I can get the metal trim back in (assuming I can find all of the pieces) then I would be happy.

I got it trailered to Lincolnshire (www.rust.co.uk) at a cist of £150 last year so they could rust proof it but the guy looked at it and said it was too far gone and didn't want to do it. I even said I wouldn't hold him to any guarantee if he just did it for me (so I can start using it). He didn't think it would ever pass the MOT and would need extensive welding...so I paid another £150 and got it trailered back. I took it for an MOT and it passed. I was disappointed as that was most of my rust proofing budget.

I will get the tracking done and get it taxed and plan a road trip up to Rust Republic and hopefully they can do those few things for me (at a reasonable cost of course) so I can start using it every day other wise it will have to be sold :(

[sciroccy]

*re the above...I wasn't disappointed that it passed the MOT but that it wasn't rust proofed and that I'd used up my budget....but you know what I mean

[sciroccy]

I might take a look to see where the water might be coming in...it is probably a gromit missing from under the rain cover and the boot seal. Might be the front windscreen seal as well as that is a bit of a mess.

[Village Idiots]

Front windscreen seal is a favourite for water getting in. This can get onto/into the fuse box which will then cause electrical faults.
I resealed the screen with sycaflex, but there is a dedicated windscreen sealant, see the post "wet carpets" in bodywork section.
As a 'belt and braces' I also cut some waterproofing sheet and fixed this over the fuse box!
Best thing to stop your rust underneath getting worse is to liberally coat it with old engine oil periodically and try removing the rear bumper and injecting or pouring some into the chassis ends. This will, hopefully, stop further corrosion internally of the rear axle mounts. Really a temporary stop gap, these cars do need a full 'sort out' of this area in the long term.

[mark1gls]

If you have the windscreen and rubber in without the chrome/plastic trim slotted in the rubber seal that may be causing you the problems as the rubber seal will be lose and let water pass it.
Lots of advice on here about finding a water leak but if you had water going into your heater are the 2 drain holes clear either side and the plastic scuttle cover over the heater?

Keep the rarer Scirocco as there is 100's and 100's of MGB's on the road (of course we are bias on this web site!)

There is a couple of people on here looking for a Mk1 Scirocco so if your heart is really not in it you would have no problems selling it for the right price.

Picture of scuttle cover over heater, you can see it at the top of the picture.

[sciroccy]

Whoa! That is a stunning engine bay! Thank you for the advice and the pic. I've had to change the heater motor in the past (and it has a new fuse box) so it could well be that. I'm going to take a look one of these evenings by taking the cover off and giving it a good clean and making sure all the gromits are where they should be. The screen seal is definitely dodgy because it looks like half of it is missing and there's no metal trim in there. I need to find the trim (which I should have) for the front and the back and get it all fitted with new rubber (the back has the "Call" look rubber fitted). This is where Rust Republic may come in. It's not going to be a big piece of work for them but there's no one else who knows what they're doing with these cars.

The rear demister is useless too but not because of current getting to it but because the screen needs replacing (not that you can get them of course!)

[sciroccy]

*I meant the "Cal" look.

Also, I meant no one else that I know locally who knows what they're doing. I called Westfield Garage (I think that's what it's called, up in the Midlands, the one from Car SOS) and asked if they could help with fitting replacement screens and seals but the guy who answered the phone said they weren't interested in that kind of thing :(

[mark1gls]

Fitting and removing screens is a breeze compared with newer cars with bonded screens and a rubber seal with the insert in is even easier to remove as the insert pushes the seal out so when it's removed the seal is lose and the screen nearly falls out, when I took my glass out the glass pushed out with ease but as with any piece of glass it could break.
The garage may not want to do this sort of job as it's an hours work and if you do crack the screen it's a couple of weeks to get a replacement or if the rubber splits they may have problems getting one.

The insert in your windscreen seals would of been plastic as it's the earlier cars which had metal trim fitted (pre 79 ish), the metal trim is hard to get hold of but the plastic stuff is readily available as Mk1 Golfs used it.

Front screens are available new, not sure about the rear but I'm sure some one on here has a rear screen but it may still be in a boot lid as these are not really a rust problem.
Rubbers are a different matter, you can get them new but they are in America and are pricey, not really looked for them lately so there may be some being sold in this country?

http://www.vintagerubber.com/MK1SciroccoCatagory.aspx

[sciroccy]

Mine has the metal trim...I'd prefer to put in the plastic one as that's easier to fit (I think). I've previously purchased rubber seals from Vintage Rubber sand they've always been helpful (but yes, quite pricey)

I see there's a couple for sale on eBay but I'm a bit broke at the moment.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-genuine-v ... Sw9mFWISeF

This seller has quite a few items which I might be interested in but all quite pricey and it adds up very quickly

[sciroccy]

...and I suppose there's no guarantee that it will fit after all that time...but if it's genuine VW then maybe.

If only I wasn't so broke...might have to get the old credit card out