Hi all,

 

Thought I'd shove up my build so far from the mk1 forum (it's a little dead over there these days!) I'll post a lot to start with to get the thread up to date (the dates in bold are when I posted them originally), then keep it all updated as I progress.

 

Charlie

Edited 13 September, 20169 yr by CharlieW

August 5 2014

 

Quick introduction as I have finally picked up a 50 after lots and lots (and lots) of searching!!!

 

It's an early 1975 GL in some sort of metallic blue/silver (I have the original colour code sticker in the ash tray! 

 

 

 

And as it's so early it has squared off corners on the roof  :)

 

 

And only 85,000 km!!!!

 

 

All the normal trouble areas are solid (wings, front panel, boot corners etc etc) - The owner even put it on the lift so i could see how solid the floor was. There is no sign of even surface rust! Chrome trims are also all present and in good nick so I was happy!

 

My plans in the long term (a year or so) are to clean it up paint wise, first the current colour but then eventually Lofoten Green as I have a big soft spot for green ca

 

Wheels - already in the garage in the form of 13" PLS splits, which are remarkably similar to the design of the standard steels so will suit well.

 

Suspension - Probably coilovers from Ebay

 

Interior - As the car has new carpets and headliners and the leatherette on the sides of the seats is in such good nick I think i'll just re-do the centres. Currently I really like tweed, but we'll see when i get there. I'll be stitching along the original indents to keep it looking classic (ish!)

 

Engine - the current engine is very strong, taking me the 300 miles back to england yesterday without any hint of trouble. I just need a new fuel guage/sender (unsure which is faulty atm) and a new temp sensor and tidy the bay up. Longer term I may well pop a 1.4 16v in from the 6n Polo just so I can enjoy the car and trust the engine 100%!!!

 

Bits I need imminently are just the front windscreen seal (any pointers?!!!) and some chrom trim which I'll pick up from Heritage or something when I find a new seal. When I have these bits I'll drop it off to my painter to give it a good tidy up as there are a few chips and a bit of micro blistering on the rear where the previous owner had a bit of a blow over and the painter obviously didnt prep it properly!  <_<  Then freshen up the bumpers (just a little tarnished) and enjoy it!!!

 

 

Any advice on 50s / general comments always welcomed!

August 6 2014

 

So I nipped back to my folks tonight to have a poke around the 50 a little more and really get into the areas that I couldn't look at when I bought it and just had to take a chance!

I'll let the pictures do the talking;

 

First - Interior. New carpets and immaculate headliner, dash is perfect as are clocks and wheel etc. Just need to re-trim the seat centres.

 

 

Also another early feature is the black handles. Apparently so many people complained that they couldn't find them that Audi swapped them out for the orange ones on all cars from 76. Safe to safe I couldn't find them when i test drove it and ended up sticking my hand out the window!!

 

 

Lifted the carpets to check the footwells, and they literally couldn't be cleaner!!

 

 

 

 

Bit of surface rust on the lower edge of the boot (note my make shift strut! )

 

 

Then onto the bay;

 

 

Lots of dirt in the battery tray, but all protected with sealant;

 

 

Other side of scuttle;

 

August 6 2014

 

And the point where bay meets front panel (I've been told this point is a sod for rotting out)

 

 

 

I also whipped off the chrome trim on the front and rear screens to check under the seals. No rust.

 

So I tucked it up in the car port again and said goodbye!

 

 

Safe to say I could not be happier right now!!!

August 7 2014

 

The reason it needs a re-spray is......

 

Micro blistering from when the previous owner had the rear blown over  :(

 

 

 

and classic rot on the rear offside sill;

 

 

And some (luckily just surface) rust on the near side wing;

 

More to come tomorrow!

Love it dude been after one myself but no joy , a great example ..

38 minutes ago, 1vw2many said:

Love it dude been after one myself but no joy , a great example ..

 

Cheers mate, I'll get more pics up tomorrow - nearly there with fresh paint, wheels and retrim too

Jan 15 2015

 

Slow progress with the little 50 over the past few months, but looks like all will start ramping up now!

 

I've been constantly buying the little boring bits needed, like a right hand wing mirror, early mk1 lights (as mine point to the wrong side of the road!  :lol:), boot struts, seals etc etc

Also bought these on impulse;

 

 

And no sooner did I get them from Germany I sold them to a lad over here! I love tramonts but my PLS need to go on the car. As such I got on the phone to Image who have quoted me on making up barrels and lips to suit the faces. Still undecided on final size but leaning towad 14" at the moment.

 

Material has been chosen for the seats;

 

 

Black and white herringbone Harris tweed. I've always loved tweed and, as half my family are Harris's I thought it'd be a nice little nod to themin the car! As i have grey carpet, light grey headliner and black vinyl doorcards and seat backs/sides it'll follow the greyscale theme well, and I'll be following the original pattern which has now almost completely faded from mine;

 

 

Also, it's off to a new home! A good mate finally has room in his unit so I'm trailering it up there next weekend. Much more room to work on it and the guy im getting to do the paint is based at the same unit! Plenty of tear down pics to come over the next few weeks, just hoping there are no nasty surprises!!!

Feb 4 2015

 

Big day on Saturday for the little 50 - MOVING DAY!! 

 

After a week on charge the car started up nicely, running pretty smooth (although it now won't be driven any real distance before the engine gets torn down and checked over)

A good friend came round with a trailer on Saturday morning and we loaded it up;

 

 

Note the 100% definitely legal number plate!!

 

Then 40 minutes later it was at its new home. I spent the day removing the interior checking for rust and found almost none. The floor is 100% rust free but there's a 4" square of surface rust in the wheel well. Luckily it's not gone any further so will clean it up this weekend.

 

 

The only other unfortunate find was this;

 

 

The drivers side trim panel below the seat belt has really deformed. As they're rare as rocking horse poo I'll speak to a few plastic moulding companies to see if a replacement can be made using the passenger side one.

 

After a big lunch I then messed around with the other cars at the unit, became a little sleepy and then got bored. As such I put off removing the wings (I didn't have a trolley jack so I justified my lazyness as the wheels were 'in the way' and I couldn't easily get to the bolts!!!)

 

I did remove the door seals (in great condition and revealed no rust). Then the oil cap caight my eye. As you can see below, it was dull and almost looked like plastic. I couldn't have this, so I polished it and started to clean the head. I love polishing so happily spent half an hour doing the cap while watching it snow outside! 

 

Before;

 

After;

 

By no means 100% but looks nice and highlights the audi logo nicely 

 

 

More updates to come on Friday - Windows to come out and wings / front end off!

March 22 2015

 

So then, a bit more progress since I was last on here;

 

Got up to the unit again and started to strip the car down;

 

 

Windscreen, rear window, back side windows, 1 wing, bonnet, grille, lights, all trim came off really easily, but the other wing has been caked in sealant so undoing the bolts was near on impossible. Got to get a wire wheel on them next weekend and remove the wing. Little nervous as I don't know what I'll find!

 

Anyway, all of the bits are in fair shape;

 

 

Apart from the right end grille piece;

 

 

I've sent it off to be drawn up by a CAD designer, but 3D printing is silly expensive so unsure I'll be able to get it re-produced. The dream is to get it printed in Ally, then re-chromed at the same time i get the other bits done so it exactly matches. Failing that I'll see if I can get this one repaired.

 

Oh, and then I started messing around in our wheel room (there must be about 20 sets of wheels at the unit!) and thought I'd see what 3 piece teardrops looked like!!! 

 

 

If only they were 2" smaller!

 

Anyway, back up there next weekend to remove the other wing, rear end, front windows and engine!

 

Paint is booked for end of next month so I'll have plenty of time 

 

Oh, and I just found a spoiler and in talks about a set of clocks with rev counter. Fingers crossed!!!!!

September 7 2015

 

Well its been a long time since my last post, progress has been made but not as much as I wanted.

 

Anyway, the car is now a shell waiting it's turn in the paint booth. i'm having a full respray in the original Marathon blue metallic. The two problem areas are on the offside sill (under the filler cap) and when removing the nearside wing a small section at the bottom of the wing snapped off. Not a massive issue though as my body work guy is very talented and told me not to bother getting repair panels as he'll just fabricate them. I'm more than happy as I want to keep as much original metal as possible. The rear end will be going back to metal due to shite previous work, then the whole of the car will be painted to a show finish. The boot will also be done as well as under the rear windows, engine bay (smoothing off the rough sealant in the process) and boot and doors inside and out.

 

Anyway, before i stripped the rear end I tried the spoiler on the car;

 

 

Very happy with that!

 

Also I picked up some more wheels as they were offered to me far too cheap!!!

 

 

 

14" BBS e30; 4" barrels all round with 3" and 4" lips. The centres are all in very good shape and the rears fit perfectly with the 3" lips;

 

 

The 4" lips are a no go anywhere so they'll be sold and, once I have the brakes on and know how much I can machine off the mating face of the front wheels I can work out the lip size needed. I really want 3" all round though.

 

In other news my suspension is going to be made in the next month, so any advice on spring rates would be appreciated!

 

And finally, I bought metal GLS badges ages ago as they're much nicer than the plastic single piece badge I had. HOWEVER mine isn't a GLS! I hate badging a car up as something it isn't so there was only one thing to do!

 

 

 

Feb 16 2016

 

So then, the latest update....

 

Saw the car last week and the bodywork is all done, skim of filler where appropriate and guide coat was on! (obviously the bay wasn't primed here, just sealant stripped!)

 

 

 

 

I'm unsure whether it's painted now or not, but expecting to go and see it done on saturday. I expect it will be, and will then just need to be flatted and polished to get a good show finish.

In other news I sent my air box off as a test piece for powdercoating. The finish came out great but the guys I used clamped the lid too tightly and put a dent on it. Now it doesn't close. I was fuming, but mistakes happen and they've been really good about it so I'll pick that up this weekend too.

 

 

I've also had a change of heart on the fabric for the seats - now I'll be getting some leather woven for the centres. Something a little different but I think it'll work well. If anyone can recommend a trimmer i'd be very appreciative!

 

Finally, I have been designing replacement chrome trims for the side of the grille. I now have the prototypes done and they look great! Just getting quotes for printing on a larger scale now as well as chroming.

 

Edited 14 September, 20169 yr by CharlieW

July 7 2016

 

Took the seats to the trimmers and we drew all over them

 

 

Getting a bit of a modern twist done - black vinyl bolsters (new foam everywhere) and backs with black and white herringbone Harris Tweed on the centres. Material turned up last week (below) so a couple of samples are being done and sent to me so I can get a good idea of what tuck & roll / stitched will look like

 

 

Bought some coilovers

 

 

The plan was always to make some out of mk1 golf APs, but after speaking to a few people the TAs are apparently not awful so I thought sod it, they'll do for the time being!! 

Then, mocked up a wheel out of boredom

 

 

Although it'll be a LONG time until these are built properly as my A6 (daily) just shat itself and requires a new oil pump. (Bye bye £2k  :( )

Anyway, we have some colour!

 

 

 

And with the wings on (gaps sorted) the colour really starts to come to life;

 

 

Apparently the shell will be done this weekend. Fingers crossed!

 

Another job which I had been putting off was the box. I started to strip it of 41 years of crap a few months back, then got bored and put it back in the garage! So got that done;

 

Just needs another quick once over then etch primer and paint (satin black). When the box was drying off after a blast with gunk and wash I started on the engine. Again, years of crud attached but after a blast of gunk and some elbow grease it started to come up rather nicely!

 

 

As soon as the box is done I'll get it off the stand for paint and the engine will go on.

 

 

July 11 2016

 

Shell is now all painted 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 22 2016

 

Front seats are done!

 

Still unsure on the headrest idea I had (right) but going up to see them in person in a couple weeks so I can decide what to do then!

 

 

And a quick comparison to what they did look like;

 

 

Very happy with the new look!

 :)

Edited 14 September, 20169 yr by CharlieW

September 1 2016

 

Full interior -

 

 

Really impressed so far with the trimmer I used so been speaking to him about the headliner too - it's seen better days and when peeling it back to remove the boot it tore in a couple of places. Not ideal but clearly a sign it has had its day!!

Edited 14 September, 20169 yr by CharlieW

And that brings us up to date.

 

There are some pretty long gaps between posts on the other forum as I kept on forgetting about the thread and was saving for a house at the same time so couldnt spend as much as I wanted to on the car!

 

Few details missing include a set of (stupid rare) clocks with rev gauge, sound deadening bulk pack (unsure if i mentioned this), a bit more paint and some new grille trims I had made.

 

Updates soon no doubt!

 

 

Belting man. Those seats look immaculate now.

 

Looking forward to more :)

The car is now completely painted (pics later as my work servers hate photobucket!).

 

Also got the gearbox in primer and the engine is half stripped. Its a proper ball ache of a job but it's coming up well. Another few nights on it and it'll be ready for paint too

This is beautiful, love the interior and like the left headrest :)

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

So, pics!

 

Bonnet - 

 

 

 

Dodgy pic of the boot, fuel cap and vent caps - 

 

 

Doors - 

 

 

 

Also made a start on the engine. Stripped it last week and started degreasing, wiping off and cleaning with wire wheels. This is a right pain of a job - the sections done so far represent about 3 hours work, and they're not finished yet!!!

 

 

 

The painter is flatting and polishing this week and getting all the gaps lined up, so plenty of pics to come!

More pics after polishing yesterday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is a beautiful colour

haven't read it all, but noticed you have coilovers etc, and the original looking 8v engine, are you planning to give it a bit more zing? they don't take much to waken up!