1984 VW Golf Cabrio - 01/12 - On the Road

[Skizzer]

Blimey, I turn my back for five minutes and you're well down the track of restoring a strawberry punnet that you found in someone's field.  Top work.

 

Richard at Crazy Quiff's does decent repro rear screen frames - I used one when I re-hooded mine.  He's a top fella: I went to pick it up from his Emporium, which is a wondrous Aladdin's shed. The old frame on mine was completely rooted:

 

IMG_0497 by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

...but then the hood looked like this, which is a whole lot worse than yours:

IMG_0476 by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

New hood came from BAS International, who I'd definitely use again.  It is possible to fit it yourself, as I did using the Owners' Club guide, but it involves a LOT of swearing.  Budget for snapping off one of the latch handles as well, cos the new hood will be eleventy times tighter than the old one.  

 

I've also got a spare set of hood cables you can have - pm me your address and I'll stick them in the post to you.

 

There's a lot of useful stuff on the Mk1 OC website, but I got tired of all the OMG SLAMMED bollocks and never go on there now except to raid the 'how to' section.  Dare to be different and return it to standard, I say.

 

 

Pics are alright for me Dan?

[vulgalour]

@Danblez:  Ran out of bandwidth, but I've since thrown some money (quite hard, in the hope of causing injury to whoever thought new-look Photobucket was a good idea) to get it unrestricted for a month, I hate not having my pictures on show.

 

@Skizzer:  I'll drop you a PM.  I've noticed that since the hood has been cleaned and used a few times it has become a bit tighter and the latches can be a bit of a bugger on a hot day so I dread to think what they'll be like when I put a new hood on.  Mk1OC seems to have less of the OMGSLAMMEDBBQWTF crowd than I'm used to with a VW scene, but they are mostly into their GTi replicas and reals.  My screen surround is almost salvagable, but I think a new surround will be sensible when I replace the hood outer and cables.

 

 

So I've been away having a lovely time daarrn saaarrff this weekend with friends and today decided to poke at the Golf a bit more.  In order to get to the bottom of the problems with the dash binnacle, we decided to get the dashboard out.  This would also allow me to see what colour the dash was originally.  With the exception of one screw that needed removing with the aid of an impact drive, dash removal was a doddle, especially with the roof down.

 

Next up was to work out what was going on with the wiring.  I had connected a radio to the plugs hanging out of the dash to see if it would work... it did, but you couldn't turn the radio off or get any radio signal or sound out of the speakers.  A little more investigation revealed 2 aerial wires, a plethora of wiring, a loose permanently live wire and various dangerous practices with wires going in and out of chock-blocks willy nilly.  There was one bullet connector with wire wrapped around it and then covered in electrical tape... it was a bit of a nightmare and Dad and I were worried that the original loom was going to be hacked to bits.  Yet another reason to get the dash out then.  All of this was just to power the radio badly.

 

 

It's just electricity, it's not like it's dangerous!  I wish I knew who the numpty responsible for this was, they deserve a slap.

 

We found that of the two aerial wires, the original one had been cut off in the engine bay, pulled back through into the car and stuffed into the bulkhead.  The second aerial wire was connected, but was fed into the car via a water drainhole allowing (and explaining) water to get into the passenger footwell very easily.  We rerouted it correctly and removed the defunct aerial so taking the dash out was a good way to be able to do this.

 

With the majority of the rats nest stripped out we found the original loom was mostly unmolested.  The original speaker connectors for front and rear speakers were intact with only minor bodgery to the radio connector.  We made any stray wires temporarily safe from shorting out on anything with chock-blocks until we have the proper connectors to wire in the radio and speakers correctly.  That tufty red wire to the left of the image is a permanently live wire taken straight from the battery and was happily shorting out on bits of metal inside the dashboard when we identified what it was and has been removed along with the matching negative wire.  As a bonus this tidies up some of the mess in the engine bay.  The brown-red wires and connectors are the original speaker wires and the big black round plug is for the fan controller.

 

With the dash out and the needless stuff removed it's actually quite good back here.

 

 

Normally, this is where I'd show you my progress on the interior plastics since I've been slowly stripping black paint off brown vinyl and plastic.  I have not done this because I want to make more progress before I do.  Brown interiors are something I like and it's something that this car has, surprisingly.  Steering wheel, dash, dash inserts and door cappings are all dark brown plastic and vinyl under the black paint and do clean up slowly.

 

Originally I was going for a black and grey interior to match what I've got and to match the grey bumpers and planned grey hood.  Now, however, I'm planning to go back to brown on the interior for two reasons: first; I really like brown interiors and second; it seems that brown interiors are quite a rare thing in cabrios.  So I'll carefully continue stripping all the interior trim back that's original and then I'll have to fork out for matching seats, door cards and carpets.  It's likely that the hood will go grey to match the bumpers and go with the blue paint I'm fond of, even though the original colour was a brownish-grey metallic with a black hood and as a finishing touch I'd like a subtle brown or amber tint to all the side glass.  For now, I'm just going to get the car working and clean.

[greengartside]

I'm really warming to this little Golf. you're doing a sterling job as always. Nice to see most of her returning to standard, like she should be. I've got the horn for one of these Golfs in that bronzey/gold colour that was only available for a couple of years. Keep on with the good work!

[HillmanImp]

These were defo a yummy mummy car back in the day. From memory, the birds who drove these seemed less slutty than the ones in the Escort cabs.

 

My neighbour had a OMG SLAMMED! STANCED Golf a couple of months ago which was pretty grim but standard they look good.

[vulgalour]

@greengartside: Sadly, mine was originally graphite or a slightly muddy version of it which would really put me off it if it were the same colour now.  The colour you describe is much nicer.

 

@HillmanImp:  I'd never thought about that until now and you're right, it always was yummy mummys in Golfs, slappers in Escorts.

 

__

 

Today, I've found a low effort, relatively low cost solution to stripping the black crap off the vinyl and plastics that appears to cause no damage to the original finish.  With results like this, I'm pretty sure I've found my solution.

 

The black paint is pretty thick, it can take a couple of passes to get it all off.

 

This is what I'm using.  I was surprised at how effective and safe to the materials I'm cleaning it is.  I'm also surprised at how little I need to use.

 

Decant some of the brake fluid into a small container, I'm using about 5ml at a time, and use this to apply the fluid to the area you wish to remove the black from with a stiff toothbrush in a circular motion.  Using water to clean off will leave a white residue, but using tissue paper or kitchen towel lifts the paint and excess fluid off leaving clean, shiny, supple vinyl or as-new plastic depending on what you're working on.  It looks, when done, like you've used a small amount of vinyl cleaner.  Better than just repainting because it reveals the subtle print in the original VW vinyl too which is otherwise lost.

 

The top of the binnacle is done here but the shade of the vinyl makes it look almost exactly like the black on the sides of the dash.  I can assure you it's not, but it's difficult to photograph.  There's still quite a bit to do on the top half of the dash but I've done the largest area now.

 

In places, the black paint is so thick that the texture of the vinyl is completely lost.  These areas take forever to cut back through to the vinyl.

 

After about an hour I'd got about a quarter of the dash completely cleaned up.  Compared to the small patch I managed with various cleaners over several hours this is a vast improvement.  Dropped the dash top back on and you can see just how much brighter the brown is going to make the interior.

 

Also cleaned up the centre panel of the steering wheel, which is a sort of rubbery plastic.  I had dismissed the wheel as being a bit crap but a big part of that is the bad black paint making it look and feel far worse than it really is.  I'll have to sort out the stalks too since they're also brown and my first clue to the interior being other than black.

 

To finish off, a roof down shot of the little toy.  We finally freed off the dodgy hinge bracket using heat and then dousing in cold which shocked the rusted up washer into dust.  I've got a replacement washer to fit in and then the bracket can be reinstated.  I'm going to repair/replace the rear screen surround when the hood is replaced as I can't very well repair the metal with vinyl glued onto it without setting the car on fire.

[Pillock]

you can see just how much brighter the brown is going to make the interior.

 

 

That's an Autoshite point over view if ever I read one.

 

Brown interiors on early-1980s VWs are quite the thing to behold and not at all common, they really went to town on the colour coding. Here's a piccie of my Scirocco dash, only the centre console and under-dash trays were black. It is quite a light brown, went nicely with the tan leather, light brown carpets and brown rubber mats.

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Stripping that paint off looks like the mother of all 'wish I hadn't started this' jobs. Full marks for persistence. 

[vulgalour]

@Pillock:  Yup, looks like I'm quite lucky too as I've got a lot of the hard-to-find brown trim pieces still intact.

 

@Conrad:  It's not so bad once you get into it.  I think you have to really want to do this sort of thing though, being a penny pinching Northerner helps.

 

__

 

 

One of the Golf's foibles has been almost fixed today, that of a troublesome idle.  We knew there was likely a vacuum/air leak somewhere and we found this little pipe on the vacuum system had died.

 

Replaced it temporarily with a bit of hose we had kicking around just while we're fettling on the driveway.  Once the car has an air filter fitted again it's likely the idling issue will disappear, it's almost completely fine now and doesn't stall anymore.

 

I had made a shopping list for all the brown bits of interior trim I could find online as I wasn't sure how much of the original brown interior was left in the Golf.  Today, I've been happily taking items off the list, like the sunvisors and clips and the vinyl around the screen frame all of which is the original brown under a layer of black paint that's now halfway removed.

 

Also got the knee bar and the dash top cleaned up.  There's one or two very small areas of black still to remove but I can do those with the dash in situ.  I've got all the insert pieces to clean up too as this dash has brown directional air vents and the small vents that are usually black are also brown.  All four door cappings, B pillar trims and rear seat side trims are also brown as is the centre console that the gear stick comes through.  Looks like I'll hardly have anything to purchase.

 

Apologies for the poor quality pictures, it was getting on a bit by the time I took these as my brother had fitted two replacement bleed nipples and new rear wheel cylinders.  We now have improved brakes, but we still seem to have a sticky servo so we're going to look at fixing that before replacing it.  Something we did today made the rear lights stop working too, we're not sure what's happening with that but since we've not got as far as sorting out the electrical stuff yet we're not worrying about it too much.

[greengartside]

Vulgalour - should you need any parts for her then I'm pretty sure that there is a C-reg example in my local scrapyard. Not much left but may still hold vital parts you may need?

 

[vulgalour]

Has it got the black plastic boot trim that goes behind the numberplate?  That's about the only thing I can think that one will yield for me looking at the picture.

[greengartside]

I think the bootlid has gone completely off it, sadly.....

[vulgalour]

More of the same today, I'm afraid, but I'm getting there steadily.  To start off with I wanted to do a bit of electrical fault finding and was really foxed as to why my perfectly working brake lights didn't work today.  Turns out we forgot to reconnect the plug onto the master cylinder and once that was done all systems were normal again.  The reversing lights haven't worked since getting the car but again it turned out to be a plug that had been unplugged in the distant past judging by the state of the connectors.  Plugged the reversing light switch back together and hey presto, one working reverse light because one bulb has blown.

 

Next, try and figure out what's going on with the headlights.  The wiring loom had been chopped into to put the spotlight grille on.  Since I'm planning to ditch the spotlight grille in favour of a plain chrome trim with badge type seemed sensible to try and get the lights working again.  One sidelight worked fine, but the other wouldn't no matter what we tried and then we found out why when the wires fell out of the plug.  Le sigh.

 

So I've got a badgeless spotlight grille with Hella stickered spots in reasonable condition should anyone fancy it.  Would be happy to swap for a plain non-spot grille, ideally with trims and centre badge.

 

Then it was on to more cleaning of vinyl.  Got the passenger side door cap done, it's in a sorry state really and ought to be replaced but I doubt that's going to be cheap/easy given that I'm after a dark brown trim.  The only other bit of original brown trim on this side is the release pull handle so I'll be after dark brown arm rests, window adjuster toggles, doorbins and speaker grilles and, of course, some later door cards that haven't been chopped about.  Removed the speaker this side too so I can use the window winder and found that the original speaker hole had been butchered to fit the bigger speakers and there was yet more wire bodgery going on to the end of the speaker wires.  I'll be putting a much more modest four speaker set up in keeping with the original VW set up.

 

Made a start on the rear 'door' cappings too, which are coming up nicely.  The B pillar and rear seat trims are also brown so I'll need to clean those up too.

 

I've been cleaning the centre console too.  I was surprised that the VDO cover is matching as is the gear gaiter, I was expecting black replacements.  Something has melted in the big pockety bin bit of the console, I have no idea what, but it's sticky and unpleasant to remove.  I'm probably not fitting VDO gauges in here, I'll likely leave it stock.

 

 

Ashtray cleaned up a treat.  I was surprised to find that under the black paint there's a courtesy light lens in the top of the ashtray, lit by the bulb that illuminates the cigar lighter.  I was also pleased that the plastic hasn't faded at a different rate to the dash vinyls as I've seen on some other brown interiors.

 

Reinstated all the dash console with just a radio left to wire in.  I've got a smart little black unit to go in, nothing terribly fancy but a good plain match to the dash with just a little bit of chrome on it.  I'm having issues with the instruments still, but it's probably an earth or transistor issue as the fuses have been checked - three dodgy ones replaced.  Thanks to Chortle over on the Mk1OC for the tip on what it could be.

 

It's looking really smart.  The dark brown goes exceptionally well with the bright blue paint

 

Steering wheel and stalks will be removed soon too so I can clean those up properly, they look quite tatty now the dash is almost finished.

 

Things to do for MoT:

> Buy and fit air filter

> Locate dash instrument fault

> Replace blown reversing light bulb

> Replace gear linkage bushes, gear selection is interesting at the moment.

> Repair sidelight plug and recheck headlight operation

> Clean and refit bumpers and headlight washers

> Find out why headlight washers not presently working - motor not even whirring, probably a bad connection.

> Dismantle, refurbish and rebuild wiper mechanism, arms move sluggishly.

 

Eventually I've got to source some seats, carpets, and parcel shelf in brown to match the original interior.  I'm expecting the hardest bits to get are going to be the mirror adjuster toggles.  For now I'll put up with the mismatched interior as it's serviceable enough.

[purplebargeken]

Gear linkage woes no doubt. I seem to recall Ed China replacing said item on an early episode of WD. A Mk1 GTI IIRC.

 

Looking really good now, the brown is satisfyingly different. 

[dollywobbler]

Great stuff. Brown is the colour of winnahs.

[HillmanImp]

I admire your effort. I would have got fucked off after approx 10 mins and headed to the Abbey*

 

 

*local pub

[greengartside]

This any good re:front grille?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/mk1-caddy-golf-grille-project-pickup-/161064942247?pt=UK_Cars_Parts_Vehicles_Other_Vehicle_Parts_Accessories_ET&hash=item258037faa7

[Spiny Norman]

Coming on a treat, though how anyone can do any actual WORK in this heat boggles the mind..
Re. the gear selection issues. I had a Mk1 Jetta which could offer EITHER four forward speeds OR 2nd, 3rd & 4th plus reverse, depending on how I bent the linkage underneath.

[vulgalour]

@ken & DW:  It's similar to the colour of coffee beans, I find that the most satisfying thing about it.

 

@Hillman:  OCD, it's a useful thing occasionally.  Though I have to own up to making myself sick today by spending too long in the sun with brake fluid... had to go inside and have a Pimms & Tonic until I felt better.

 

@greengartside:  Sadly not, I need just the middle section as I've got the three part grille which takes the chrome trims.  I don't think the Caddy grille drops straight on though I could be wrong.  A proper replacement grille is normally about £30-50 providing it's not broken.

 

@stude:  reverse is an art all it's own.  Forward gears are fine once first is located.  First car I've got in that has made the Princess' 'box feel decisive, I'll say that much for it.

[vulgalour]

I was sensible and worked indoors today.  Probably just as well given the heat outside was not far off being that of the surface of Mercury.  Obviously, it's been more brake fluid on plastics action but I fancied a break from the brown stuff because that's close to being done now.  Instead, I hauled the front bumper out of the shed to give it a proper clean up.  I'm delighted with how well it's come up and while the chrome inserts aren't perfect, they're far better condition than I was expecting.

 

So after a few hours of scrubbing and wiping and a few minutes of fighting with the bumper it's cleaned back to the original grey with the black rubber over-rider washer jets back to clean black rubber.  I'm really happy with how easy this was to do, and how much tidier it looks now.

 

This corner has the worst damage in the form of a scuff.  I can rectify this with sandpaper and a fine nib on a soldering iron to put the texture back but I'll likely leave it as it looks okay.  The indicator bracket seems to be a bit bent too so the lens doesn't fit perfectly flat in the bumper but again I'm not too fussed about that at the moment.

 

Fettled with the pipework and the indicators, got the sides of the bumper to sit on the holding brackets on the front wings and got it all bolted down nicely.  As much as I like the Golf without its bumpers, it looks much more finished to me with them on and these are an unusual set as most Mk1s I've seen all have black, bodycoloured or skinny chrome bumpers rather than the original grey items.

 

 

Next job was to get this back on so it doesn't get damaged and to complete the front end.

 

I dug out my old kidney choppers that I kept from my Polo.  Not to everyone's taste, but it's a bit of sentimentality for me.  The other reason for fitting them is that they do actually improve the performance of the VW lights, 80s VW headlights are rubbish.

 

 

It's another big cosmetic thing off the list at any rate.  I've also tested that the washer jets and pipes are clear in the bumper, which they are so there's nothing amiss at that end.  The washer pump is probably at fault, I'll disconnect it and clean up the contacts when it's not so hot I can't brain.

[Angrydicky]

Looks good! Here's the number plates you want: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PAIR-of-UK-OLD-FONT-Pre-2001-Vintage-Car-Registration-Number-Plates-16A-/161006768776?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item257cc05288

[vulgalour]

@AngryDicky:  Ta for the link  The current plates are hideous and I want to kill them with fire.

__

 

Did various things on the Golf today, including getting the rear hinge ready to put back in.  Neither I nor anyone else fancied removing the rear window again to install the hinge, but we did get a copper washer fitted in it to replace the old steel one that had turned to pure rust.

 

Found this nubbin hiding under the carpet when I removed it and I think it's for the hood catch releases but I'm not sure.  Anyone else know?

 

Finished cleaning up the glovebox lid so that could go back in.  Having the side vent removed made it much easier to get the hinge relocated correctly.

 

Hinges screwed in and adjusted slightly and it's all fully functional again.  Looks like a tiny part of the black insert has broken around one hinge, but since you can't see it with the glovebox lid on I'm not worrying about it.

 

 

Both sunvisors cleaned back to brown.  I've still got to do the screen surround which will be fairly quick as there's not much paint on the vinyl there.  The steering wheel and stalks were later removed and while I've cleaned up the stalks (no photograph) I'm still doing battle with the super-thick paint on the steering wheel.

 

I was hoping to get the rear bumper finished today, but it just wasn't warm enough and the brake fluid wasn't cutting through the really heavy paint on this side quickly enough for my patience limits.  I'll finish it off tomorrow but for now I've just slotted it back on the car out of the way.  The top chrome strip is shot, but I've got a way of restoring that if I can't find a replacement insert.  I seem to recall inserts could be got by the metre so I'll have a mooch around to see what I can find.

 

What I wasn't happy about is this scratch and accompanying dent on the driver's door.  This is a new thing, and I'm baffled as to how it's happened as the car is well out of the way of anything that might cause it.  Could do without it really, it's gone right through to metal.

 

I didn't realise until recently that my hood wasn't sitting properly when folded down and some investigation when I removed the rear seat side trims - sadly replacement black items rather than the original brown ones - it was clear that one of the latches had seized up.  Some persuasion with a hammer and a good dose of oil has it working properly again.  I'm missing a bit of trim here too I think, I can't imagine VW leaving these release latches without a small plastic button or similar.

 

Now the hood sits a lot flatter and while rear visibility isn't that much better, the hood itself looks far tidier.  A tonneau would be a nice finishing touch, but can wait a while yet.

 

 

I also noticed I'd put the front wing trim on upside down, so I put the correct trim on instead after the above photograph was taken.  I can't find an earth that relates to the dash binnacle either, so that could well be my problem on that front, I need to investigate further, especially since I found an unrelated loose earth and a plug that has nothing to plug into.  Oh how I love electrical fault finding.

[Spiny Norman]

Coming on in leaps and bounds, great work VA.

[Wilko220]

There is only one man who could make me interested in the resto of a Golf - and we have him on AS. Always enjoyable to see this sort of progress.

[stuboy]

i like the cabrio !!

[walk]

This really is coming together nicely, keep up the scrubbing and scraping! 

[greengartside]

Superb work as always! Sadly that Golf Cabriolet I mentioned a few posts back has vanished from the yard I will keep an eye out for you if I see any more around.

[Pillock]

I'm always astounded that your shape of Golf cab was sold right up till the Mk3 came out in 1991 but was a 70s design inside and out. VW dealers must really have been trying hard to shift them alongside Mk4 Escorts and even the Mk2 Astra was a more modern design.

 

You're doing well though, I saw the original photos and thought it was going to be a lost cause but that is looking one right smart mutha already. Is the exterior staying blue with the returned-to-brown interior or other plans?

 

Oh, and the headlight performance - there's quite an easy relay mod you can do. Instead of the feed from the stalk going to the headlamps, you use the stalk feed to switch a feed from the battery via a relay. Thus the headlamps are powered by full-bore 12V power instead of all the losses through yards of 30 year old wiring, stalks and rusty fuses. Greatly improves the whole lot.

[vulgalour]

It has been a mixed bag of results today on the Golf.  I didn't get any more plastic cleaning done, I seem to have lost patience for that today and with it being a bit damp here the brake fluid wouldn't have worked too well anyway.  Dad and I did decide after much procrastination and after I'd been for a random drive around in the Princess, that we really ought to at least look at the electrics on the Golf.

 

Annoyingly, on opening the glovebox to find a screwdriver, I found that the damaged hinge has actually broken.  Well, it's not the hinge itself it's the plastic insert the hinge screws into and since this part is bonded into the dashboard the only real options are to effect a repair or find a new dashboard.  Obviously, I'm going to repair this, it means I can deal with the minor lift at the windscreen edge at the same time, so it looks like the dashboard is coming out again.  This isn't down to the brake fluid, in case you were worried about that, because no brake fluid has been on this section of the dash, I think it was already damaged and would have broken anyway.  One of those things with 29 year old hard plastics.

 

Since it was a bit dark, I could check that the other dash lights work because I could see them.  Not too obvious here, but the ashtray does light up, as does the blower controls and the cigar lighter ring.  The blowers also now work, which I don't believe they did before, that could be down to one of the fuses we replaced.

 

Since cleaning up the stalks I hadn't checked anything electrical, I was going to wait until I'd finished cleaning the steering wheel.  Whoever painted the dash did so with the stalks in situ so the hub they have was covered in paint, including all the connectors.  However, I wasn't expecting to see the main beam telltale to light up when I turned the ignition on.  Cancelled main beam and turned off and on again and the oil and temperature gauge lights came on.

 

Turned off and on again and got nothing.  Repeated the proceedure while testing the washer motor to find nothing happening.  Started the car, put the multimeter on the washer motor and the car cut out.  Repeated that a couple of times because it made no sense until there was a wisp of smoke from the column and we realised there was a short somewhere.  No harm done thankfully.  Dad and I took the stalks inside for better light and cleaned up all the connectors, removed a good amount of paint from the hub and checked the connectors.. well, Dad checked the connectors since he has some understanding of electrickery.  Once we were both happy we'd done as much as we could we put the stalks back on the car.

 

This time, the washer jet motor worked.  The temperature gauge and oil warning lights flashed, the former going out after a second or two and the latter extinguishing once the engine was started.  All the dash switches lit up now, as did the dash bulbs... well one of them, I suspect the other/s are blown.  Pointless dash light dimmer wheel works too.  Fuel gauge operates and shows nearly quarter of a tank of fuel.

 

Checked the hazard warning lights which work, and the indicator telltale works now too.  Rev gauge appears to do nothing, I'm not sure if it only works when the car is in gear or if it's just stopped working.

 

Crumbs, looks like it's nearly all working.  The engine sounds a bit smoother too, though whether or not that's related to the stalk electrics being sorted I'm not sure, it might just be oil working its way around things properly.  It wasn't all plain sailing though, the brake lights no longer come on with the headlights or sidelights, only when you depress the brake pedal.  The brake light issue might be down to the sidelight plug that fell off its wires but it was too dark to fix that so I'll try that out another day.

 

So all I need to do now for MoT, I think, is to get this servo to stop sticking, put an air filter in the box and get the battery telltale to come on when it should.  There may need to be a small repair to the driver's inner arch to pass, but it might get away with it as it is.  I'm struggling to find anything else wrong with the car.

[vulgalour]

@Stude: isn't it though?  I can't believe how easy it's been so far.

 

@Wilko: Ta muchly

 

@Pillock:  I know about the relay mod, but I've done the stupid eyebrow thing now and cba to undo that.  Don't want people to think I do everything properly, I've got a reputation as a bodger to maintain.  The blue is probably staying, though I've been tempted by period VW Gold and by gloss black with a rainbow pearlescent... but it'll probably stay blue with the lovely dark brown interior.

 

@everyone else:  Cheers for the support.  I'm surprised how well received this little Golf has been so far.

[overrun]

 

.

 

 

Happy hood hinge is happy.

 

Superb work, Angyl. Your enthusiasm really puts mine to shame!

 

I shall have to try your brake fluid trick, as I have some plastic/rubber with bad overspray, that I cannot shift without resorting to Scotch-Brite pads etc and damaging the surface.