Inherited a B1 VW Dasher

[arsonist]

Hello well endowed motorheads!



So I've sort of just inherited a B1 estate from my great aunt. She is still alive but her garage is being cleared and it was going to the scrappy otherwise, so I said I would have it. It's a 1979 VW Passat Estate, 1.6 petrol. It's a car I'd seen a few years ago and loved it. It's not been out the garage since 1996, and it looks to be in excellent condition (minus the dust and general interior junk). My great uncle took VERY good care of it.



I know almost nothing about cars so thought here might be a good place to get started. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!



The bodywork, as far as I can tell, is in mint condition - not a scratch or hint of rust anywhere - you can even still see the original factory paint in the wheel arches where my great uncle power washed it after every journey, so mud and dirt never sat there. Now here lies the problem. The engine doesn't start (friend reckon it was the ignition points, supposedly an easy fix?) The brakes also don't work, and the clutch and gears felt very odd like they might need work. He seemed confident nothing was insurmountable though.



Now I live 300 miles from said car in a rented house, albeit with a large rear drive where it could sit. I estimate I can get it here for about 200 quid.



My issue is; I don't know if I'd be able to fix it properly. As I said, I really don't know much about cars, and don't have any tools. I'd obviously be happy to get some tools though, and I've bought the Haynes and owners manual which I'm waiting for delivery from the states. It's this one - please tell me I bought the right one! www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0856969621?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00



I've always wanted to be a bit more know-how with cars (many of my friends are into them). Is this something I can realistically get going? Also, would it be bad if I kept it at the rear of the house under a car cover? Don't really want rust settling in before it even runs!



Has anyone been in a similar situation?



Thanks for reading



Arsonist



(Sorry for the terrible photos; will get some better ones when I next get down to London).

[bazzateer]

Great cars, I had two B2s and a B4. If your mates are into cars hopefully they can help you. Otherwise let us know where you are (300 miles from London could be anywhere!) and someone local may be able to offer some help.

[arsonist]

Oct 26, 2015 19:53:56 GMT bazzateer said:

Great cars, I had two B2s and a B4. If your mates are into cars hopefully they can help you. Otherwise let us know where you are (300 miles from London could be anywhere!) and someone local may be able to offer some help.

Apologies! 300 miles was an overstatement. I'm in Chester these days; unfortunately said friends are down south; I wouldn't expect them to drive for 5 hours to fix a car

Also I know not the most desirable of cars, but I hope it's something I can sink my teeth into and perhaps develop some mechanical skills at the same time. Plus, it's yellow.

[cianha]

My Dad had one of those! Great old beasts. Sadly I can offer now practical advice other than don't be afraid to get stuck in!

[bazzateer]

Oct 26, 2015 20:07:58 GMT arsonist said:

Apologies! 300 miles was an overstatement. I'm in Chester these days; unfortunately said friends are down south; I wouldn't expect them to drive for 5 hours to fix a car

Also I know not the most desirable of cars, but I hope it's something I can sink my teeth into and perhaps develop some mechanical skills at the same time. Plus, it's yellow.

Bound to be someone near you. Just don't "hit it wiv da stick" please! Looks too good to be messed about with!

[scoobypete]

That is lovely! I am most jealous,the Audi museum in ingoldstadt has an immaculate one in bronze but their own version which was called the fox, I had to be dragged away from it kicking and screaming.
I do hope you get it home safely and returned to the road, as said before please keep it standard!!

[andrewbaran]

Hey buddy
Car looks great! Looks and sound like it shouldn't be to hard to get running! Good to hear it's not a diesel, that makes it a lot easier!

[arsonist]

Oct 26, 2015 21:23:19 GMT andrewbaran said:

Hey buddy
Car looks great! Looks and sound like it shouldn't be to hard to get running! Good to hear it's not a diesel, that makes it a lot easier!

Ha. Weirdly enough, I spent the last 2 years (from when I first saw it and thought I might want to get it going) thinking that it was a diesel! Was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether it would ever breath life again. Then my mate was like, 'pretty sure this is a petrol!' Shows how much I know about cars!!

[carledo]

I had a 78 Sreg one of these in silver, back when they were £20 bangers! Simple, reliable, easy to work on and not particularly prone to the dreaded tinworm. They now have a considerable following and this one is clearly deserving of preservation.
DON'T LET IT DIE! If you can't get it sorted, I will!

Steve (south Shropshire)

[roccoguy]

Should be easy enough to fire it back into life. Just use a little fine grade wet and dry paper on the points to clean them up. Drain the fuel and put some fresh stuff in. No doubt it will benefit from a good service too. Changing the oil and filter, new spark plugs and leads and dizzy cap and rotor arm are all simple jobs to get you into the swing of things

[lovejoy]

Wow that is amazing! I'm not too far away from you, if you need a hand with anything just ask

[GT4ME]

Looks like a great project.

[arsonist]

Oct 28, 2015 14:56:16 GMT lovejoy said:

Wow that is amazing! I'm not too far away from you, if you need a hand with anything just ask

Nice one cheers buddy! Think I'm gonna have to get in several cases of beer to thank anybody that helps out!

[mikeymk]

Nice.

I'd ruin it only with a crazy engine installation. The Audi layout means you could have a FWD V8 if you wanted..



Somewhat more tasteful inspiration for you..

[trevorbrady]

that looks like a really nice example of a B1 Passat. Quite rare in estate form, even rarer in RHD estate form!

The engines are basically the same as the equivalent year Golf and Audi 80 so spares should be easy to come by for most things. Some things like hoses, radiators etc I found hard to locate for my old B1. If the absolute worst came to the worst, you could get another engine for it, that same block was used in literally MILLIONS of VWs for decades. I swapped a B3/B4 Passat engine into mine to get it up to 1.8 spec.

As for your starting problems, start by confirming it's getting fuel and a spark. Then check for compression if the first two haven't sorted you out.

FUEL:

I'd first get it some fresh petrol, even from a can on the ground with a hose straight into the intake side of the fuel pump. If it still won't start, the fuel pump could be dried out and perished, a new one is cheap. Wile you wait for the new one, you can bypass it just to check if the thing will start: the float bowl in the carb will certainly be dry so filling that up manually (funnel and hose) will let it run for a few seconds regardless of the pump being shagged. Take off the big round air filter and you'll see the hose into the top of the carb. Tap into that.

SPARK:

If you can get a fresh battery on it, you can check if you're getting spark by removing one of the HT leads from the spark plug, hold it with an insulated pliers with the rubber boot pulled back from the end and with someone else turning the key, hold the end of the HT lead near the engine block. You should see it sparking. If not, replace the points (about £1 or so, same part as from the beetle distributor), replace the condensor, again a beetle one will do. There's a chance the coil could be worn out and not working if it's still not sparking. GSF should have one. Replace the spark plugs too while you're at it, a couple of £ each.

COMPRESSION:

after all that, if it still doesn't fire, it could be seriously down on compression from sitting for so long. Removing each spark plug, squirting in a small amount of engine oil into each cylinder and then turning the engine over a few times with the plugs out will allow the oil to work its way around the rings to seal the cylinders a bit better. Put the plugs back in and see if that has helped at all.

you mentioned the gear change being sloppy. Don't worry about it until you can get the thing running, then you'll be able to check it's getting all gears on the road. They're a rod-change setup with a small joint in the linkage that could be worn. It won't be much. The brakes are basically mk1 Golf-spec calipers with 239mm Golf style disks. The disks have their own part number, Golf ones are slightly different depth but the correct disks are easy to get. Same for hoses, cylinders, shoes etc.

I'll keep an eye on this thread, I'd love to see you save this survivor! All the best

[arsonist]

Cheers guys!

Having a bit of an issue with potential delivery at the moment. My driveway/parking at the back is an absolute to get in and out of. I'm at the very end of a residential street where it connects to a main road into town via some traffic lights (so quite busy). I have to use the lights to pull in and out of my drive otherwise I risk being t-boned by a vehicle coming round a blind corner. Obviously with a car that works this is no issue; wait for the lights, I know the road is going to be clear, and I have enough time to accelerate across the road and onto my drive. The drive is also between the house and a tall brick wall, so maybe only a foot of space each side at best pulling in.

However, with a car that doesn't run, this is potentially an issue! I don't think there's any way a car towing a trailer would be able to get down there (although I might stand to be corrected, I'm not a towing expert). This means I'd likely have to unload the car from the trailer just before the lights (it's also double yellows here), and try and push the car in between the lights. Chances are, the lights will turn faster than we will be able to move the car.

I've attached a map, pretty rubbish quality I know.

(Map Deleted)

Red indicated boundaries of drive/parking.
Blue is a tall brick wall.
Yellow is traffic lights.
Green is where I wait and the route into the driveway.
Purple is traffic flow.

Would I face any legal trouble by unloading a SORN'd car on double yellows, then pushing it several meters on the road, potentially blocking traffic at the lights? I think I know the answer

Anyone got any smart ideas?
EDIT - I'm also using someone from Shiply so the move will need to be sociable hours!

[trevorbrady]

do it in the small hours of the morning? or a Sunday morning before breakfast?

[joeyman96]

personally i'd say you will be fine to be honest with pushing the car mate! people abandon cars for months locally to me and face no legal action etc even if its got no t+t or or insurance but I'm no legal advice guru

[datsundrew]

I had one in orange, 1.6 poverty spec, went to the scrap yard to get an alternator for my golf, opened the Huge bonnet of the Passat and saw the tiny engine sat in the middle with a new alternator......so I bought the car for 100 notes. It had been hit in the back rear 1/4 and I soon decided to fix it up- cut a panel out of another car and it looked great. Between me, friends and family it went on to do many trouble free miles over 10 years, it never broke down, and survived being frozen in Sheffield at -10, it took a week to thaw, 1 core plug and a hose and it was ok. Not quick, very comfortable car ind it felt very well put together. Rust got it in the end......I gave it to my sister who trashed it as people do. Look after it, keep it nice and standard.

[roccoguy]

If it was me I'd drive the truck/trailer where you've got the big ink arrow pulling partly on to the path just past the bollards in the road. This should leave space for cars to get by while you unload, and then push the car into the parking place.

That's assuming the entrance is too tight to back a recovery truck into?