Bought this as our runaround but also as a bit of a project, or at least it turned into one the more I found wrong with it! Was 143k when I got it, numerous previous owners and full of bodges. My partner (who is a kiwi) called it the 'Breadbin' instead of breadvan and it kind of stuck!

Here it was when I picked it up - had no idea what I was getting myself into... The first drive was interesting getting used to such a spartan car (last car was a Volvo 240, although I had a Trabant 601 before that so don't know what I was complaining about!)

 

Huge list of un-photographed fixes including heates rear windscreen, foglights, chair adjuster knobs, re-sealing the door membranes to stop a constant leak. First big change to make was the sunroof - sealed shut by a previous owner.

 

 

 

Got the thing out with copious amounts of elbow grease, WD40 and a plastic bicyle tyre lever as a scraper.

 

 

 

Sanded and painted, few coats of 2K clearcoat. All rattlecans as I don't have the space (nor the compressor) to do things with a gun. Came out nice though.

 

 

 

Next was the boot lid as it was starting to rust through and the inside lip for the window seal was corroding. Luckily a clubmember had a nice spare one to buy

 

 

 

Had a few scuffs on the new lid so painted those up. Love this blue!

 

 

Bit of a hassle getting the old one off - thank god for neighbors.

 

 

 

Much cleaner!

 

 

 

 

Whole heap of un-documented stuff including a HG change, water pump, timing belt, dizzy cap, plugs, leads, cleaned out the rad, basically as much of a service as I could muster.

 

 

What it looks like to people who don't have a lockup or garage:

 

 

Had some spare paint from a lawnmower I re-conditioned so put it to use on the airbox and cam cover. Looks pretty mart I think. The weird little box underneath the expansion tank is a 'cold start' heater - has a 3-pin plug that you're supposed to plug in to the mains and it keeps your coolant at 60 degrees until you need it. Weird mod! Maybe good for the arctic but not a whole lot of use in Brum.

 

 

 

 

Next I sorted out the dreaded gearbox selector shaft leak. Wasn't a particularly tricky job but getting the old seal out was a right pain. Polished the input shaft with polishing paper and used VW's OEM sealing grease to keep things as 'factory' as possible.

 

 

Next up were the track coltrol arm bushed which were pretty ropey. One of them (that bolts to the ARB) wasn't even the correct bush. Caused some pretty horrendous torque-steer on the motorway. Got some Febi arms and new 10.9 steel bolts and locknuts to keep everything legit. Fantastic difference to the drive feel (not to mention a lot safer...)

 

 

 

 

whats this sealing grease you speak of on the selector shaft?   did you just do the seal or tube as well ?  drop the oil or no ?  i need to do mine

4 minutes ago, steveo3002 said:

whats this sealing grease you speak of on the selector shaft?   did you just do the seal or tube as well ?  drop the oil or no ?  i need to do mine

Dropped the oil as I didn't facy a face full of it! Kept the (brass?) bushing in and just prized the old seal out, slid the new one in and tapped it flat with a big socket.

 

The grease has part number G052128A1 - 'Radial shaft sealing grease'. Its blue, don't know what its made of! Happy to lend you the tube if you like, you'll only need a smidge.

4 hours ago, zob said:

Bought this as our runaround but also as a bit of a project, or at least it turned into one the more I found wrong with it! Was 143k when I got it, numerous previous owners and full of bodges. My partner (who is a kiwi) called it the 'Breadbin' instead of breadvan and it kind of stuck!

Here it was when I picked it up - had no idea what I was getting myself into... The first drive was interesting getting used to such a spartan car (last car was a Volvo 240, although I had a Trabant 601 before that so don't know what I was complaining about!)

 

Huge list of un-photographed fixes including heates rear windscreen, foglights, chair adjuster knobs, re-sealing the door membranes to stop a constant leak. First big change to make was the sunroof - sealed shut by a previous owner.

 

 

 

Got the thing out with copious amounts of elbow grease, WD40 and a plastic bicyle tyre lever as a scraper.

 

 

 

Sanded and painted, few coats of 2K clearcoat. All rattlecans as I don't have the space (nor the compressor) to do things with a gun. Came out nice though.

 

 

 

Next was the boot lid as it was starting to rust through and the inside lip for the window seal was corroding. Luckily a clubmember had a nice spare one to buy

 

 

 

Had a few scuffs on the new lid so painted those up. Love this blue!

 

 

Bit of a hassle getting the old one off - thank god for neighbors.

 

 

 

Much cleaner!

 

 

 

 

Hi glad that boot lid came in handy. 

1 hour ago, 1vw2many said:

Hi glad that boot lid came in handy. 

Really smartened it up I think, thanks!

Apart from a new catalytic converter and Lambda sensor I popped one of these in today on @steveo3002's recommendation on another thread: A '99' windscreen wiper relay from a Mk3 Golf

 

Put in to sort two things: 1) To stop the windscreen wipers activating randomly as my old relay was getting duff and 2) To remedy the problem of not having a programmable intermittent wipe period - a problem I never knew I had until now.

 

Tiny change but its honestly brilliant - proper little quality of life upgrade and a tenner most definitely well spent

 

 

good mod that !  have you noted my other posts about headlamp relays ?  can boost the output a decent amount for cheap

I certainly did! Looks interesting, maybe something to do for the winter eh!

yes totally bit more comfort for those dark nights ...fully reversible so doesnt ruin the car

 

try and place the relays somewhere semi dry , tucked away , mine are in a sealed project box or some filk use a rubber glove or something , if it ever went wrong you can convert back to standard on the road side , no down sides to doing this at all 

It's already nearly dark at 7pm. I bought cheap set and fit some (possibly) better relays.

It made a huge difference, no longer is shadow cast by newer bigger cars behind me.

 

Other cars are so bright nowadays with better than Halogen tech, Xenon and HID and DRL LED lighting etc that it makes sense to catch up.

 

Been getting a heap of condensation in the car this winter so finally had a proper poke around and found a damp passenger-side carpet. It was hard to notice until now (like the eternal 'is my washing wet or is it just cold' conundrum) but after lifting it up the old wool underlay was sodden. Tried all the usual tests with a bowl of water to see if there were any leaks coming in when i spotted an odd bulge in the corner

 

The floor pan has been pushed up at the sill join and has been letting water soak into the underlay when driving in the wet. Damn.

 

Embarrassingly i'm almost certain this is the 'footprint' of the OEM scissor jack - I must have used it away from the jacking point in a hurry at some point in the past and it forced its way up through the floor. Going to have to have some welding done now which is going to be a bit of a faff. I've not got a welder myself nor know anyone friendly with one, going to have to be a local garage job. Sigh.

 

The lesson - never use a jack anywhere on the sill apart from the jacking points!

 

Edited 29 November, 20196 yr by zob
formatting

could seam sealer that until better weather 

 

have you had a close look at the door membranes , its very common for these to let a drip from behind the card 

4 minutes ago, zob said:

The lesson - never use a jack anywhere on the sill apart from the jacking points!

 

 Never use the OEM jack full stop 🤣

1 minute ago, steveo3002 said:

could seam sealer that until better weather 

 

have you had a close look at the door membranes , its very common for these to let a drip from behind the card 

 

I'll see if I can grab some - dried it out slapped some deox on it for the time being, at least its dry this weekend.

Yeah sorted the door membranes out last year and they've worked as they should since

Haven't used seam sealer yet - so it'd be a case of bending the steel back down and squidging sealer all round the gap?

yeah -just that , get under and seal it from both sides