Red Rocco resto mod

[hubbadubba]

Hi
Been meaning to post up a build thread for some time now so here goes, first a bit about me, been into the vw scene ever since owning my fist mk1 golf 29 years ago, since then it's been the usual string of VAG machinery, 3 mk1 golfs, 2 mk2 golfs, mk3 16v, mk3 VR6 a Passat estate used for house bashing (DIY not breaking and entering !) Audi A3 S line, mk3 Rocco (still own), mk1 Caddy (still own), both our daughters have grown up loyal to the brand with Polo's (standard and GTI's), R32's, Golf 25th and 30th Anniversary editions, the list is endless really, anyway I've always wanted a mk1 Rocco and happened across this one at Beaulieu simply VW show about 4 years ago, I had my mk1 Golf on show there (2 year resto) and got chatting to a guy who lived quite close, nice guy and a member on here, a month later it was mine.

[hubbadubba]

previous owner had stated how good the shell was and he wasn't wrong,aside from some rot in the drivers door bottom and around the windscreen (only light), arches, sills, floors etc were solid, Gold GLS with 50k original miles on it, he'd converted to corrado 9A 16v lump with a few other tweaks but still had overheating issues, car had MOT though, got the car back, sorted the issues and drove it around for the summer, happy days, pretty rapid and great fun, looked cool lowered on Porsche cookie cutters.
A house move and lack of funds forced the sale of the Golf, which I still miss and slowed progress for a few months till I got the new garage in order, one good thing it was a big double garage with plenty of room to work on the Rocco

[hubbadubba]

Next job was tear it down and get to work, knew I was going the whole hog so made a rotisserie and a dolly at work on nights, stripped it to the shell and cut away some un needed metalwork, battery tray, brkae linkage supports and welded up a few holes on the bulkhead and gear change tunnel, welded up the old gear change hole as I knew I would be going with a cable change set up.
I wanted the early look pre- wrap around indicators so after a hunt I found some wings a cpl hundred miles away, drove down and collected these, great condition brand new, some light surface rust but decent quality although not genuine vw they were heavy gauge steel not the thin rubbish, sweet !

[hubbadubba]

Next was set about upgrading the brakes by relocating the servo over to the other side before it went off to bodyshop for some paint, got this mod covered under another thread, well worth doing at this stage.

[hubbadubba]

In the bodyshop it had the arches shaved on the back end and both skins re-welded, basically done properly to retain strength, fronts were rolled and chassis notch performed along with some new fuel line hangers and the door skins sorted and any tiny bits of rot cut away and replaced, had a nightmare with the colour choice but ended up going old school classic car Red, Tornado Red of course to keep to a VW colour, I was in and out the bodyshop a lot annoying the owner lol, I did warn him this would be the case though, just wanna make sure everything was exactly how I wanted it, finished job was stunning, paint was left to harden then flat polished, it was super shiny !

[hubbadubba]

In Primer, most of the bodywork sorted

[hubbadubba]

Getting painted

[hubbadubba]

Finished item, well pleased, back at home with his cous

[hubbadubba]

Got all the usual bits off to the powdercoaters to be done in matt black (still has a sheen) and re-platers and sourced the rear side window surround trims from a guy in America to keep the early spec look correct, new rubbers were also an internet find, genuine VW in storage for years and had the wax coating still on to preserve them.

[hubbadubba]

Got the interior correct in my head after some deliberation and chose Porsche houndstooth material with black leather bolters, the same for the door cards front and rear, the seats are mk3 Golf Recaros and needed the subframes modifying to fit, also cut off and re-used the seat belt clasps, they're the ones without the buckle on the belt, a lever flicks up and retains the belt, the trimmer also made me a new black headlining, this is the second headlining I've done from scratch and they don't get any easier to install, hundreds of bulldog clips and take your time !, new deep pile black carpet for the boot, parcel shelf and side trims was supplied from the trimmer also.

[hubbadubba]

Gearbox chosen was O2A/J and sourced from a mate, it was mechanically sound but I took the opportunity to install a new set of seals and gave it a re-paint, lightened flywheel and VR6 clutch bought to match and take the power increase I was hoping to achieve wih some engine mods, Shell back at home and the build can begin, can't help fitting things like the grill and lights first, should come later but just wanna see what it's gonna look like,

[hubbadubba]

Brakes going in with the servo looking factory fit, steering rack wishbones etc, went for polybushes all round and got the Wilwoods on and new brake lines fitted

[hubbadubba]

Wilwood 256mm up front / Polo hubs and discs on back end, black diamond grooved discs

[hubbadubba]

Wheel choice is a hard one on the mk1, I think they can look wrong sometimes depending on choice, I ended up looking for a 5 spoke billet design and found these on ebay, brought for a jap project, they're Work Meister CR01, never fitted and the right pcd although the centre bore was too big, offset meant they were gonna poke a bit but I could address that later, being splittys the options to change the offset is good, that and clearing the Wilwoods though still took a fair bit of fettling with 15mm hubcentric spacers, I ended up having to reverse mount the wheel lips to get things lined up, the BC coilovers come with adjustable camber mounts so this helped too without going too mad.

[hubbadubba]

Wheel poking way too much, the stub axles have been raised meaning I can run the cables inside the subframe, happy days, nice and tidy, excuse the grubby FK coilovers, BC's hadn't arrived at that point