1984 VW Jetta GL

[nico86]

Hi everyone, it's been since a few years I am browsing Retro Rides every week as a guest, but since I picked-up a new project car a few months ago I thought why not joining in the fun and create this thread here !

A few words about me : I'm Nicolas, I'm 34, I live in the Southern French Alps, I've been a car nut since I'm a kid for as young as I can remember. I'm mostly into old VWs air or water cooled, though I'd say that's only my drug of choice and I am into everything that runs with a petrol engine.

Hence why Retro Rides is one of my favorite car forum, as I like the variety of cars and topics exposed here. I grew up checking car forums, build threads and bulletin boards... and I think I'll never get used to facebook/instagram and stuff like that  I've tried it and disliked it, to me there's something about a good car forum layout that these other apps will never beat ! I suppose it's been discussed many times already, and as all of the other forums and websites I loved slowly died, seems to me Retro Rides is one of the last to be still so active !

Oh and I apologize in advance for how terrible my english can be sometimes !

Back on topic now and here's the project car I've bought in May 2019 : a 1984 Jetta GL, 1800 GU engine, "4+E" 4T 5-speed gearbox, Atlas Grey R4 with grey/black twill interior. Totally stock and with nothing fancy or optional. Rather unmolested, but with a few things to address still.

Here are the first photos I saw of it, as these are the very same pics the seller posted on the classified when I bought it :

My previous daily driver was a 77 Diesel Golf but unfortunately rust took its toll on it and the body was too damaged to pass another MOT successfully (and it started to be rather unsafe anyways). I was looking for a replacement to the Golf, something cheap and imperfect that I would not have to worry about when I park it in the street, drive it in on snow or drive it around in the mountains to watch rallies or go on camping trips !

It had to be a water-cooled VW, as these are cars I know where to find (relatively) cheap parts for, and most importantly cars I know enough about to trust on daily drives or long trips (I've own my Golf for 12 years and had another Mk1 in-between). I guess after a while and with experience you can almost feel which part is going to fail you and which other part you have to keep a couple of spares in advance in your garage or trunk  (glowing relay I am looking at you ). SPOILER : as I'll go on about how things turned out with the Jetta, you'll see this is not a 100% perfect science !

I wasn't looking for a Jetta at all (I wasn't even looking for a Golf Mk2 to tell the truth), since a few months I was browsing the local classifieds looking for another Golf Mk1. But the problem was all of the Mk1s I was finding were either as rusty as the one I needed to replace, or way too nice and too restored for me to just use them on a daily basis without remorse I had a few months left in front of me before my Golf's MOT expired, so I took it with no hurry at all. I knew I had to replace it but I wasn't that excited with the idea at all. Given the choice I would rather have kept the Golf ! But it was either finding another daily driver, or going into the whole process of restoring the Golf (which will maybe happen one day who knows, as I'm keeping it in my backyard for now). But then, I'd find myself with a first world problem : owning a nice restored car that I'll worry about keeping outside or parked down the street !

I've found this Jetta randomly, waited a few weeks before deciding to call the seller and honestly, I still have no idea about what clicked in my mind but I've found that car attractive enough to drive 2 hours to check it in person. I've never really minded about Jetta Mk2s, for me it was a car I found was nice but that was all. The kind of cars you don't dislike but don't fall in love with either. Though, after inspecting it and driving it around the seller's town, I was sold !

I think what attracted me the most was its original condition. Original paint, original interior, completely stock, never modified. Also the fact it was the first year of the back then new Mk2 model, and a GL model with all it's chrome trim and the old style chrome hubcaps. I had never seen one in person before, I've certainly seen and drooled over rarer and much more prestigious classic cars, but that very specific early Jetta GL model, never. It was radiating something "genuine", if that makes sense, and all of this convinced me to do something with that square box that was in front of me ! I know I am talking too much

Anyways, after a few moments talking with the seller we agreed on a price and a few repairs he would do to the car for me to buy it. The car didn't have a fresh MOT when I first saw it, and in France you have to have a MOT less than 6 months-old to be able to buy and register a car to your name. I've always bought cars with a valid MOT to avoid any papers or registeration issues. The Jetta needed a set of new tires, new front/rear brake pads, a new muffler, and a complete wheel alignment done to pass a fresh MOT. Which it did successfully. All of this was included in the price I was paying for the car and was done by the seller, except for the rear brake pads that he bought but didn't have time to install. He still generously gave them to me, along with a box of few spare parts, even though he had other cars he could have used them on.

The next weekend I took my tool box, a map, the technical handbook (that I already had since several years)  and I got back to the seller's place to finally pick-up my "new" 35 years-old car ! Here are a few photos (that I took myself this time), while stopping on my way back home just after picking-up the car :

So here I am on a 2 hours drive back home, it's a nice and warm late spring afternoon and after a rainy morning the sun is now shining. I'm in a car that's in quite good condition for its age. There are a few dings and scratches here and there, a few broken or missing bits/small accessories, but nothing really important or that would need to be addressed immediately (or so that's what I thought !). The most important thing I was thinking about then is curing a few bits of rust on the wheel arches, as the car came new with mud-guards and the salt we sometimes have on our mountain roads in winter likes to start eating-up cars in that area.

The seller warned me that sometimes the 5th speed was difficult to engage. Nothing I was really worrying about as I got the case several times on my Golf and I've rebuilt the gearbox linkage a couple of times already. I've actually already placed an order online for the bits and bolts needed to do that on the Jetta a few days before picking up the car.

It started to be a bit more difficult to engage 5th gear half-way back home. And about 10 kilometers from home, it was just impossible to engage it all ! It actually got impossible to engage 3 other speeds as well, and I found myself with only 2 speeds and no reverse. Thankfully I was close enough from home, and back then the previous MOT on the Golf wasn't expired yet so that I was still able to drive it daily while fixing the Jetta. I finally parked the Jetta at home, not bothered at all about this issue as I was pretty sure to know I only needed to rebuild the linkage to fix that.

I'll stop here for now as this is already a waayyy too long post (sorry about that), and I'll tell you more about the following Jetta adventures in the coming days ! Thanks for reading if you did and hope you all have a good night ! (and again sorry for my sometimes terrible english !!)

[mattTR6]

I had a couple of Mk2 Golf GTIs in my youth and loved them both – would have another in a heartbeat!

Looking forward to reading some more about this car!

Matt

[shielsy68]

lovely underrated car always liked them

[duggers]

Welcome and your English is far better than our French!
Nice car, I had one in that specification and colour in 1984 when I worked at a VW dealer.
Looking forward to your updates.

[ballbagbagins]

I had a big bumper mk2 jetta gl. It started out standard but I modified it a lot. I'll be looking forward to more updates.

[nico86]

Thanks guys! I'm glad you enjoy it and I'm glad my english turns out to be understandable and not too bad

After fixing the gearbox linkage with the complete rebuild kit, I got all the 5 speeds back. While the exhaust line was out to have free access to the gearing linkage I also repainted it completely and modified the muffler. To pass the new MOT the seller only had a Golf muffler at hand, which means the exhaust tip wasn't fitting the Jetta correctly and it looked dumb under the car. I took a look into the pile of junk I keep in my backyard "just in case" and found I had a stainless-steel tube that fitted closely to the diameter of the stock exhaust, so I cut the tip of the Golf muffler and after a few measurement and alignment with the rear valance of the car, I welded it in place. I wasn't very sure about welding stainless-steel to steel, and my welding skills aren't the best, hence why my welds here could have been prettier ! But it turned out ok, I've also drilled a small hole under the main part of the muffler to evacuate water and condensation and have it to last a bit longer. New rubbers and silentblocs also cured a little "bump" noise I had with the muffler banging against the car while driving on potholes and speed-bumps.

After this I gave the car a good wash. It looked nice on the pictures but the car was quite dirty, espcially the interior and engine bay. There's a few stains on the door panels on the elbow rests that I didn't completely succeeded in removing, but I was worried about damaging the materiel that seemed fragile into this area with a too aggressive clean. The result was satisfying though with material cleaner and a soft brush. While I was on the interior I glued back the door seals.

Next thing on the list was doing a temporary fix on the only rusted out areas of the car, the 4 wheel arches. This will need to be fixed properly and the fenders to be repainted, but I've just put a bit of Rustol to slow down the rust issues a bit waiting for it.

After all of this done I drove the car for a few weeks only before noticing an oil leak on the right axle of the differential, on the gearbox side. Probably the gasket that's behind the CV on the gearbox side I told myself, as it's something I already had to replace on the Golf. While I was at it I replaced the left side too, and both CV boots. I started with the left side and everything went fine. Then to the right side and after removing the clips and retainers that hold the CV mount and the stiff spring in place, not only the spring went but the entire differential axle went out with it !

After investingating a bit with all the parts that went out and into the the technical handbook, turns out the "C" clip and brass bushing on that side of the differential were broken. the "C" clip got a side missing, that was still somewhere into the gearbox, and I managed to take out all the littles pieces of the bushing. On the following picture the broken clip and brass bushing are number 18 and 19, and the differential axle number 12 was free to completely come out.

Was it broken before or did I break it when removing it ? For how long was the car being driven like that ? I had no idea. Still, knowing the other half of the clip was somewhere in the middle of the gearing didn't left me with much choice... So I started getting things ready to take the gearbox out !

[nico86]

Following of the gearbox issues... once the gearbox was out of the car and disassembled (taking care to remove or touch as less things as possible !) I was able to find the rest of the few metal pieces that were sitting on the bottom of the case. New C clip and brass bushing were ordered and installed, as well as new CV boots. I was trying to find solace into the fact it was now much easier to do than with the gearbox on the car While I was at it a new clutch disc was installed and I replaced the timing belt, tension pulley, and the water pump that was showing a little crack in the casting.

Evertything goes back into the car and I am finally able to drive it again, I really wanted to enjoy summer drives with it. Which I did... For about 2 weeks before the missing 5th gear issues started again !

I checked the linkage again, everything was good. About half of the time it was impossible to go from 4th to 5th, and when it was there was a "cracking" feel similar to what it feels when going into reverse. And more rarely (but still enough to be annoying) once in 5th gear I was unable to go into 4th without either releasing clutch on neutral or jumping on 3rd directly. I knew it was the 5th synchro that was failing me, and that it was probably already weak when I first replaced the linkage. But did I want to disassemble the whole gearbox again to try and fix this ? No, enough with this one and I started looking for a replacement.

After a couple of days only I managed to find the same 4T model gearbox, about 15 minutes from my place only. The guy that sold it to me is living on the other side of town, owns several Golf Mk2s and regularly picks up crashed or rotten Mk2s he takes apart to store and save parts. I didn't know about his rather impressive stash of parts, all I noticed before was a pretty nice Mk2 parked down his alley when I was driving this street. I wasn't expecting to find the right gearbox plus a few other parts I needed on the first try ! I've just randomly took my chance and I've rang at his gate to ask about a potential gearbox available for sell. I was not deceived and now I keep his phone number preciously !

Back home with the replacement gearbox I gave it a good clean, replaced the differential joints and CV boots again (I was an expert on this by then !) checked that all the gears are here and in order, put new oil into it (that I replaced again quickly after driving the car to make sure to have a clean gear oil) and after another afternoon of wrenching it was installed into the car.

It was the middle of August by then, and I was happy to have a few weeks of summer left to enjoy with the car. Gearbox is working perfectly, the car drives nicely. What could go wrong now ?

[R3TR0_R0B]

Lovely Jetta! Had a 1.8 Carat a while ago, great cruiser on the highway, very comfortable. Had they not stolen it I might have driven it still.

[mbusby993]

Looks like a nice original example! I had a Mk2 Golf 1.6 Driver a few years ago and it was a gloriously simple car to work on. I miss it's character! As soon as I read the first post about linkage issues I thought "I bet the synchros are worn" and lo and behold, as I read on... 😂 Good job sourcing a gearbox so easily though, I look forward to seeing more.

[nico86]

Thank you guys, glad you like the car ! I kept the old gearbox and I will try to take a look at the synchros and try to fix that when I'll have more time for it.

The end of my previous post was about me wondering what could go wrong now after these few issues. Why not electrical/dashboard ones ?

Once the gearbox was replaced I've set myself the goal to drive 1000km in a relatively short time to be sure the car was now working fine. After a few days I started noticing the numbers on the odometer were growing quite slowly, both on the total and daily meters. Checking it more often while driving I noticed it was stopping after a while everytime I started driving around. Taking the instrument panel out was something I really didn't want to do, but after looking for potential issues online I didn't have much choice as I read about how it is common for the small plastic gears and axles to fail.

Once the gauges were out and disassembled I took a look at the speedo/odometer unit, and I didn't notice anything wrong with the gears or axles. Only that everytime after spinning a for a while the small plastic brackets that are supposed to make the numbers roll all together were going misaligned, causing the odometer to stop spinning.

Another visit to my new "official" used part supplier had to be done and we found the correct replacement instrument panel into his stash. Well not exatly the correct one, as mine comes with a tachometer it doesn't have the orange marks on the speedometer to guide gear shifting. But the only panel the guy had that was fitting mine was a speedo + clock one. Not too bad as I now have an orange mark at 80 km/h, which the speed limit on most roads I am driving on around here.

While looking for the part I needed we found out there's a lot of different instrument panels for Mk2s. Whether it's a VDO or Motometer one like mine, whether it's an early or late model, clock or tachometer, daily odometer or only total one, 2 plug wires or single plug...

Before putting everything back together I took the opportunity to have access into the dashboard to address the radio/audio issue... Not really an issue as the car came without any of it I installed small Alpine speakers into the dash, Blaupunkt ones on the back, and did all the wiring needed while I was able to work freely into the dash. I went with a Blaupunkt unit to stay in the German theme and for the discreet look, I really liked the look of the VDO/Continental unit that comes without CD player, but owning a lot of CDs I needed to have it (plus the VDO/Continental unit with CD player doesn't look as good in my opinion).

I am trying to keep all the original parts of the car intact, so I bought another used rear tray panel online to cut the rear speaker holes into. And I will stay with the 4 speakers setup, the Jetta being an early one it doesn't have the speaker grills on the door cards and I don't want to change it or cut some more into it.

Then I took the speedometer/odometer unit out of the replacement panel, put it into my original panel with the tachometer, and all of this was back into the car after I cleaned a bit of the mess the aging foam/insulant that's inside the dash and around the air vents made (that thing is horrible !). I was now, for the first time, owning a car with a proper audio setup ! Nothing crazy I know, but the single dash speaker I had into my Golf before that was quite useless with the Diesel engine, so for me this sounds like luxury 

With all of this done and waiting for parts to arrive, another couple of weeks passed. I was hoping to finally be able to drive the car without worries !

[nico86]

So first start of the engine after a couple of weeks to check if all the electrics on the dash were working. Everything seemed ok, and as I wanted to go for a little spin I put my foot on the brake pedal to take the handbrake off... that's when my foot went directly all the way to the floor ! I tried to pump on the brake pedal, checked the brake fluid level, still the same. There was even a slight breathing/air sound when pumping on the brake, so without any conviction I still tried to bleed the whole brake system just to be sure, but I already knew it was certainly the brake servo that was dead.

That's something else the Golf did to me already a few years ago, at least I was finding a kind of consolation into the fact driving around that crappy Golf during 12 years taught me how to make a quick diagnostic of faillures and of which parts to replace

Another order, this time no used parts as it was for the brakes, and I've replaced the brake servo, master cylinder while I was at it, and did the rear brakes with the kit the seller of the car gave to me (little surprise as it was supposed to be only the drum pads, but there also was both rear slave cylinders into the box).

While waiting for the brake parts to arrive I've also installed a few more things I got on my previous visit to get the instrument panel parts. Correct chrome front VW badge, front towing hook cover that's clipped on the lower front grills, and a bonnet vent cover (living just near a forest I was already tired of removing leaves and suchs into the upper compartment).

Another little issue was that the newly installed audio system was it seems sucking electricity out of the battery even when the car was stopped. I found myself with a dead battery a few times, and after checking it regularly with a multi-meter indeed the battery was losing power quite quickly. To solve that I went with the easiest way, I've installed a second rear window defrost switch (since I needed to have an on/off switch) and plugged it so that when the car is running I can turn the radio on and it cuts the power input to the main unit it when I turn the car off. If I want to turn the radio on while parked I'll only have to flip the switch on to let the power pass to the main unit. I got both lights working on it so that it lights up with the headlights and when the power is on.

I was looking for "blank" Mk2 switches with the OEM look but it doesn't seem to exist ? Anyways I can live with 2 defrost switches on my dash. I put a new stronger battery as well since with the multi-meter regular checkings I've also noticed the old one was pretty weak.

By then I was starting to have a nice collection of empty part boxes !   

I was also starting to ask myself whether that car was cursed or just badly maintained during the last few years. Most of these breakdowns and part faillures were things that worked perfectly when I've tried and bought the car, the car even passed a new MOT just before I got it and nothing was pointed out on it. So that was probably just me not being lucky and having parts to fail successively all at the same time... but I was starting to think about whether to keep the car or not.

[nico86]

We were by then well into September, the car spent more summer days stucked in the backyard waiting for replacement parts and being wrenched on than it's been driven.

But I had a to do a 3 day trip to shoot a classic car rallly for a local car club. This included several high mountain passes and a detour by Italy... Of course I told myself "screw it" and packed my stuff, a tool box and my photo gear in the Jetta to hit the road

Everything went relatively well. I added about 600 km to the odometer during these 3 days and I had the opportunity to drive the car on different kind of roads. It was the begining of Autumn so the heat was not as bad as it can be in summer, but the water temp didn't even slightly raise while climbing the few mountain passes roads the trip was following.

I am very pleased with the 1800 engine and the 4T 5-speed gearbox. At first I've found the gearing a bit short but 90% of the time I am driving on little back roads or mountain roads, so it turns out to suit my driving habits very well ant it makes me forget about the extra weight of the Jetta compared to the Golf Mk1. Being able to put 5th gear while climbing an Alpine pass is something I was also doing with the Golf and it keeps my motor temp and gas money happy !

A few shots from these few days :

[nico86]

A quick post out of the car's build timeline...

Today I was looking at a few fusebox/steering column covers as I thought the one on my Jetta was missing a few pieces, but it turns out the early Mk2 seems to have another difference from later dashboards here.

On my Jetta this part is not coming with the cover trim that goes all the way under the fusebox and in-between the pedals. It's shorter and stops right after the storage box and the VAG service document storage. The "VAG Service System" also comes with a different script.

OEM number for the early shorter cover : 191857921
And for the later longer one : 191857921 B or C

[nico86]

I've had a busy month of July and I've been late to catch up with this thread here. Here's the continuation of the timeline of the works done on the car...

After happily driving the car during all Autumn last year, around December while randomly checking the engine around I've noticed a bit of oil leaking from in-between the head and head gasket. After a few wiping/checking it was clear the head gasket was cracked just on the edge in the back of the head, just over the exhaust manifold.

To say I was curse word was an understatement, to the point I left the car sit on my backyard all December long, not knowing if it was worth more time and energy or if I should just get rid of it.

Once Christmas and the Holidays were over, I've also let January pass, as I was busy shooting photos of the first rally races of the year here in the Alps. It was not until February I took the time to look at the car again.
The head gasket was definitely shot, I've ordered a new one, plus all the bits and bolts needed, and I started fixing it.





I didn't really take the time to take a lot of pictures (mostly because I wasn't feeling in such a great mood about doing this work ), not shown here is completely cleaning/smoothing/prepping the head. Intake and exhaust ports, valve seats and valves, etc... Everything was cleaned and smoothed and everything was in very good condition, confirming the low mileage of the car. It motivated me to continue with it and to finish fixing it.





While the head was out I've also completely cleaned and detailed the engine bay (well, not too clean, as I am always trying to keep the used character of this 35 years-old car). The spark plugs + wiring were replaced with new ones, as well as the complete fuel line and filters on the engine bay. I've also managed to find that little green breather cap that goes on the gearbox (until then to stop dirt from going in there I've put a rubber that's supposed to go on a chair onto which I drilled a small hole... )

After struggling a bit to restart the engine because the automatic starter on the carb was being annoying (more about it later), everything was working fine again.
That's probably just "placebo effect" playing with my brain, but after smoothing and cleaning the inside of the head completely the engine feels slightly stronger and gives slightly better accelaration (let me believe it guys ).

[nico86]

So after replacing the head gasket and getting the car to run perfectly again, I've decided to treat myself (and the car ) with a new steering wheel. The stock early-Mk2 wheel is far from being my favorite, and since I got the car is was keeping an eye on a few different options. I went with a 4-spoke Momo/Hella wheel I picked up locally. I already had the boss into my stash of parts.

I initially wanted to use the early-Mk1 GTI wheel I had on my Golf, but while checking for other wheels online I was shocked to see the ridiculously high prices they are selling for over here now  I wasn't really sure about putting my greasy paws on a daily basis on a wheel that costs about half what I paid for the whole car  Had I known about this, I would have started stocking every single one of those GTI wheels I passed on because I thought they were expensive 15 years ago!

My other option was a GTI-style 4-bumps wheel, that would maybe look more stock and OEM than the Hella... I'll maybe try to get one when I find a decent one to try and see. So far the Hella gives a great 80's vibe to the interior and those 2 grey stripes fits the color of the car perfectly.



I only had the time to do a bit of driving from the end of February until mid-March, then the lockdown/quarantine started over here. Which left me with several weeks free to tackle a few minor issues that were bothering me.

The wipers motor was having troubles, and the automatic starter/choker on the Pierburg carb was giving me issues when starting with a hot engine. Nothing really dramatic but I didn't like to have to "force" the engine to start when hot, when cold starting was working perfectly. Lukily I had at home bits and bolts from the manual starter/choker of a Mk1.

More about this on a next post as I'll have to take more pics of what I did on the car.

[grizz]

I like the car, colour and a long time ago, it was a dream car for me too.

Enjoy your photo angles and the way you share and display it.

[mat88]

I do like this, great to see it being kept so "original".. I had a MK2 Jetta a few years ago running a modified 2.9vr6, big brakes, 5 stud Hubs, etc etc. Miles apart from this.

And don't worry, your English is a lot better than my French! Haha

Bookmarked

[thatnascarmk2]

Absolutley beautiful Jetta buddy your doing it proud

[nico86]

Thanks guys I'm glad you enjoy the cars and the pics !

I'm now starting to be very happy with the way the car is going, with finally most of the mechanical issues fixed.

Now a few mild "cosmetic" fixings and refurbishings need to be done to make it looking more presentable. But nothing too much as my goal is always to keep that "aged" feeling the car has !

[nico86]

Before looking at the carb issues, the first work done during lockdown was restoring the windshield and rear window chrome trims. They were all faded and burnt by the sun, as usual with that kind of plastic-coated trim.

I would probably have saved time buying new trim, though the rear-window chrome trim on the Jetta seems to be very specific and I'm not 100% sure the regular Mk1/2 trim that's sold everywhere would fit. It definitely has a different shape and seems to be made only for the rear window seal. I also wasn't sure about it needing the windows and seals to be removed to be replaced. Usually you have to remove the seals when the trim is made from actual metal/aluminum, and the plastic one only requires a tool to be put into the seal. But again the way the rear window trim is made and mounted is not common to what I've worked with on other cars.

So I went with the cheap (but very, very, time consuming) way. Got the tip from guys here restoring 80's french cars with similar plastic-coated window trim that is impossible to find as replacement parts.

I've managed to get rid of all the faded plastic that is coating the aluminum trim with a small hobby-knife, just scrapping it off. It was falling apart by itself on several areas anyways, so in the end it being burnt by the sun helped. The trick here is to go slowly, to take your time and to be gentle to avoid damaging the aluminum that's rahter thin. And to tape the seals as you work you way all around the windows, to avoid cutting it with the blade. Be careful with the area where the seal joins with the side of the trim, once it's done giving it a gentle clean with soap and toothbrush all around the windows will remove all the dirt that may be stuck into that small gap. Be careful with your fingers as well as these darn hobby-knives tend to get loose easily and to go where they want instead of where you want them to be





Once it's all removed, cover all the rubber seals with 2 layers of tape, and rub the trim with acetone to remove the last little bits and marks of plastic. It's all a matter of rubbing strongly enough to remove all of the plastic, but not too hard as you don't want to bend the aluminum trim that is thin, or to damage the seals with the acetone !



Then, once again, cover all the seals with new tape before using a light polishing paste. I did it by hand with a microfiber cloth. It's once again about going hard enough to have a nice shiny result, but not too hard to keep the trim and seals safe. I would totally not recommend doing it with anything else but a clothe, and by hand. Once the plastic coating is removed from the trim, the seals is very close to it. A polishing machine would burn it.





For the rear window, I used a small plastic tool to keep the trim in place while pressing on it with the clothe all around. There's a gap on the outer edge of the trim where the seal is designed to go into, and you could easily bend the trim not being careful there. I've also been extra careful with the little rubber edges where the tip of trim goes into the seal, just over the bonnet.



Another advice I'd give is not to remove the plastic trim under the clips that cover the gap between each pieces of trim. I didn't try it but I believe the plastic then missing would create a gap and the clips might get loose on the seal or even come out of it.

After a good cleaning to remove all of the used polishing paste, tape, dust... the result is quite satisfying. I would honestly not be satisfied with it if I had the car fully restored and repainted, as when looking closely small marks and scratches are visible... but with my goal of keeping the car "35 years aged" it's quite alright. It's definitely better than faded and burnt trim ! Looking at the whole car it's nice and shiny and not so bad compared to the doors trim that's actual metal/alu.