1985 VW Golf CL

[Foss]

This car has been a stroke of luck for me. I had been thinking about getting something cheap to drive so that I could do more work on my MR2 this year and this 1985 Golf CL fits the bill pretty well. It was in my girlfriend's family after they got it off an old guy back in 2007 but none of them really had the inclination to drive it for various reasons and it sat in a field on their farm ever since then doing nothing. I offered to buy it but as they wanted to use the space it was taking up they were happy for me to fix it up and take it away.

Amazingly, with a new battery it started up. It needed the brake pipes cleaning and a new wishbone in order to pass the MOT then with 6 months tax and classic insurance from HIC (modification friendly of course) I was on my way. But not after I had given it the clean it had missed out on for the last few years. It was in grass up to it's windows, covered in moss, mud, manure, spiders nests etc, which made it quite satisfying to find out what sort of condition it was in underneath all the filth. Cleaned it all day 'till it got dark (which is why I haven't got any good 'after' pics) with the help of a friend and could have gone on a lot longer . It came up very well for its age, with only a few spots of rust here and there.

Driving home to Bristol I was surprised how nice it is to drive. Slow of course but comfortable. The only faults I can tell are with the heaters, that blow cold when you get up to motorway speeds and then get warm again when you slow down The car doesn't idle at all when starting from cold either and still struggles (lumpy and dying occasionally) when warmed up. If anyone has any clues on how to fix these issues I would be over the moon!

Chris


This is how it was when I first saw it:














Getting on to the mammoth cleaning task on a rainy Sunday:

[village]

the odd heater behaviour may be something to do with the thermostat, if it's a bit past it's best (and lets face it, sitting in a field up to its windows for a couple of years isn't going to help), it may be operating in such a way that it bypasses the heater matrix when it gets proper hot - i.e. when you're bezzing along the motorway.

it could also be an air lock.

it could also be none of the above.

HTH.......

Pete

[g40jon]

scrubs up well! as for the dodgy idle. check for any vacuum leaks and also have a looky at the autochoke (its normally a bi-metallic coil, which is heated by the coolant to turn the choke off) its not un-common for the coil to snap

[theboymike]

Top stuff - looks like a minter now you've cleaned it up. It's really refreshing to see someone on here properly looking after a Golf rather than wrecking it by taking all the paint off and covering it in wibblepoo

My money would be on a dodgy 'stat causing the cooling issue..

[Lawsy]

good work, I do liek a mk2.. all that needs is a drop and it would be instant win

I had a low mileage mk2 5dr and loved it till someone decided they didnt and drove into it, insurance write off, but i bougth it back and it lives on in about 15 different dubs..

best thing with these is either to get a conversion for the carb or rebuild it, should sort the idle out, heater could be a few things, check the flow pipes to the matrix, there was a recall on mk2 and a bypass fitted fi it gets too hot, could be that playing up

[Foss]

Cheers for the help - got a few things to look at then. Thinking of buying a new gasket for the carb, will check the vacuum pipes and see how I get on. Never owned a carb'ed car before so I need to learn quick! Is there a reason why it wouldn't be as simple as altering the idle setting or adjusting the co2? I think you can do that from what I've read online.

[cobblers]

The heater issue sounds like the stat has failed open to me. My mk2 gti does the same. The temp guage will probably drop as well?

[Foss]

Hmm. The thermostat is worth replacing then.

I also want to try removing those bypass valves that Lawsy has mentioned. I think mine has them - going from the engine bay picture that I posted earlier - but I've not been out to look under the bonnet since I put this thread up.

Am I thinking right that it could potentially be the valves opening when the cooling system gets hot/pressurised and taking the heat away from the matrix, which would in turn make the blowers go cold until the valves closed up?

[TomD]

sack the pierburg carb off and get a weber. best 60quid iv ever spent. manual choke so no electronic choke to die after a while haha, plus better fuel economy and a bit more power.

[Lawsy]

Jan 18, 2011 19:48:42 GMT Foss said:

Hmm. The thermostat is worth replacing then.

I also want to try removing those bypass valves that Lawsy has mentioned. I think mine has them - going from the engine bay picture that I posted earlier - but I've not been out to look under the bonnet since I put this thread up.

Am I thinking right that it could potentially be the valves opening when the cooling system gets hot/pressurised and taking the heat away from the matrix, which would in turn make the blowers go cold until the valves closed up?

only snag with removing them is that you run the risk of the matrix going pop and then boiling scalding water over your feet...

still on one of mine that i removed them from the heater worked much much better, but the risk of it going pop always played on my mind - but still left them off. lol

carbs, not sure if you can still get webers for the 1.3's - give rich @ crazyquiffs a call - he's more a mk1 goof man, but he has adaptor plates etc for the carbs and also refurb kits etc - certainly knows his onions - www.golfmk1.co.uk/

[Foss]

I've cleaned out the carburettor on the Golf today and it has idled very smoothly since. There was quite a lot of black stuff squirting out as I sprayed it with carb cleaner, which could not have been doing it any good at all! Not had chance to do a cold start as of yet though so we'll see how it gets on when I leave for work tomorrow.

Another small job was to change the alternator belt to get rid of the squealing. I then progressed on to the interior to try and get rid of the saggy doorcards. Spending money on this car isn't an option so new ones are out of the question. I bought a can of Evo-Stik Impact spray adhesive from Homebase and removed the old cards, peeled the fabric off and reattached it. I'm quite pleased with the results - hopefully it will last:

[Foss]

Unfortunately this rather embarrassing escapade occurred on Sunday:



Pulling up to the junction I noticed smoke. Quickly jumped out and opened the bonnet to find flames coming from around the fuel pump, which had broken and caused a fire as I presume fuel had got around the spark plugs and manifold.

I quickly ran up the road to the nearest house and got them to fill a bucket of water to throw over the engine. While I was doing this a chap that had stopped was shouting at me telling me not to throw water over it because it would go up in my face. I ignored him (panic was well and truly setting in as the fire was getting bigger) and luckily I was able to extinguish the flames and seem to have got away without there being any damage to the bodywork or interior of the car... or my face.

Still, it needs a new fuel pump and carburettor along with other consumable bits.

If anyone knows of any good breakers or 2nd hand parts places for these old Golfs I would be very grateful! I'm at a bit of a loss to be honest and want it back on the road ASAP.

Luckily this isn't the car I was intending to bring to the gathering on Sunday.

[xbo11ox]

Good work, including the fire extinguishing job!!! I don't think it would have gone up in your face, that fella just got confused between engine bay fires and chip pan ones. He probably expected you to lob a damp tea towel over the engine.

I think an early Mk2 golf which has not been buggered about with by scene dweebs is a thing of beauty, I say go easy on the pineapples and cheap coilies!

[maxkia]

oh dear had the same thing happen to me in a friends 5cyl passat scary stuff had to throw coca cola on it to stop the fire, what a waste. But trust me its not a problem limited to old cars, 3months ago mate went to dub dealership to test drive new polo vivo, 4kms from the dealership smoke started pouring from the dash, himself and the salesman ran from the car. 30min later the salesman and my mate watched the fire dept put out the remains of a burning shell with 185kms on it. Needless to say after that scare he never bought a dub lol. I'm not saying dubs are bad i am saying sometimes curse word happens. Nice ride mate and don't give up on the car i think that it will run faultless now.

[Foss]

xbo11ox Haha. Cheers mate. Can't say I'm familiar with pineapples as a modification! I need to see that one.

maxkia. Funnily enough my parents Focus, think it was '06 plate caught fire when it was fairly new. It's bloody scary! I'm looking in to getting a Weber carb now if possible as the auto choke on this thing always did my head in so hopefully it will run better.

[guz]

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PIEBURG-CARBURETTOR-MK1-MK2-GOLF-1-3-/270802676825?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f0d18ec59

[maxkia]

A lot of the opels also have crappy chokes on that work for the period of warranty and then voila they start to stick and play up it is possible to change to change to a manual choke 3bolts to take the old one off and bypass the water supply to the old choke, use the same bolts to slap on the manual choke and find a route for the cable and a nice location for the control in the cab simple. It is a common conversion and these kits are available over the counter.
If you are keen to go the Weber route go for 28/36DCD carb the adaptor plate is commmercially available, there are a lot out there on old alfas/fiats. Becareful when you do buy
one genuine webers stopped in 1990, the quickest way to tell a genuine one is it will have Bologna written on it.
Personally i prefer the weber route slightly heavier on petrol but you can definetly feel the difference, car takes on a new lease on life, and perhaps one of the most important parts is that you can get the parts for it anywhere!! pierburgs gave me a huge headache when it came
to parts had to overhaul a mates pierburg and ended up waiting 5 weeks for an overhaul kit.
Weber kits are already on the shelf no ordering, but like i said this is a personal preference.

[Foss]

Got myself one of these after a fair old wait from a seller on Club GTI. A Weber DMTR (at least I hope that's what it is!) It's already set up for a 1.3 but I have no idea how difficult it is to swap over from the standard Pierburg. Are there many changes other than the choke cable, which I already have?



Chris

[guz]

brackets may be different for throttle cable but
it looks like it's all there, just chuck it on.

[ade36]

Ditching the pierburg is definitely to way forward... Made the world of difference to my old mk2 driver, instantly gave my 101bhp on a 170k engine which I was happy with (although it was a 1.8)...