Flash got a Dub...

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
hello all. been lurking a bit, learning a bit. looking forward to learning more because I'm a "do-it-yourself" type. picked up my 3rd vw. I have my 1970 beetle (first car) ive had for 17 years or so, been sitting, needs resto. I had an 06 GLI that I liked, but was FULL of problems so that's gone. and now I own a silver 2001 Golf GLS. sunroof, heated mirrors (that need the mirror inserts replaced), 5 speed, spare set of wheels with good tires. Original rims have good tires on them as well. TONS of receipts. clutch and turbo done in 2014. timing belt & water pump done june of 2016. he said the struts were all done last year too. I found receipts for calipers, wheels bearings, egr valve... I bought it from the original owner. 354.5k miles. compression was 450-ish across. I used a Harbor freight tester so I was mainly looking for consistent numbers. the interior is a bit worn. glovebox is broke (ill fix it). I might reupholster the drivers seat and add the heated option. I thought the car had the heated seats but it doesn't. I saw a write-up on here and might follow that. the car needs to have some rust taken care of on the hood and hatch. and he bumped someone that stopped after they started to go at a green light, hence the duct tape. other than some door handle and mirror scratches, the sides of the car are in pretty good shape. I get a clunk when I hit the brakes a bit hard, I'm guessing ball joints or control arm bushings need replacing. valve cover gasket leaks a bit so ill fix that. he installed a newer kenwood headunit that has a mic/bluetooth and usb port (thank God) for my tunes which saves me the trouble of doing it.
ill get better pics tomorrow when its light.




 

bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
i see pics, so whatever you did is right.

sounds like a well maintained car, albeit a little rough looking. hope you get that all sorted out. i find golf bumpers in my area are hard to come by, everyone was buying jettas I guess. Americans don't like hatchbacks :)

i use flickr for photos. about the only place i found that gives you a hotlink you can post up.
 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
I have some day-time pics but photobucket wont let me copy the link. ive already emailed a couple people about replacement body parts. new hood, hath, and bumper and this car will look pretty good. also fix some rock chips.

found the clunk. rear control arm bushing on the passenger side. Ive had BAD luck with control arm replacements turning into a major job a couple times. and turns out this car is no exception. broke the horizontal bolt... ug. so I started to saw the bolt to get the old arm out. I saw a youtube video where someone drilled out the bottom of the subframe to get a broken weld-nut off. I might have to go that route to get the end of the bolt off. also found a broken cv axle boot once I got under there. not a big deal. that valve cover gasket leaks a bit more than I thought too. there was grime and oil on the bottom of the engine. ill get a new gasket on order.
 

bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
doing work already, nice!

yes, i've found over the years bolts that travel through bushings like to become one with the metal sleeve of the bushing after some time. huge impact, heat, and a couple days of PB Blaster sometimes help. I mainly use my oxy-acetylene adn 3/4" impact for exactly these situations. And still there are times when I find myself cutting and drilling. I've also started to drill small holes in the side of the bushing sleeve in order to spray PB Blaster directly into the middle of the sleeve. On my Civic I still had to cut and drill one of the rears.

If you have to, just find some yards with the parts you need someplace outside the rust belt. I'd easily drive 10 hrs south just to find rust free parts, if that's what I needed. Check on car-part.com or in the classifieds here - many people parting out MK4s on here and on vwvortex.
 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
glad I read around on here before ordering a valve cover gasket.... saved me 15-20 bucks and lot of frustration. ordered control arms, mirror inserts. going to check the cv knuckle tonight before I order a boot. no sense in buying a boot for a worn knuckle... going to do an oil change and change trans fluid too (unless I can find when it was last done). might order a driver's side headlight lens too.
some daytime pics.






cant really see it, but the top corners of the hatch are rust bubbled...




 
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FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
did some work on the car last night. got all the layers of baked on duct tape off the bumper cover. i might try and glue the bumper parts back (one big chunk and one little one) on and the crack on it (between the PS headlight and VW logo) as a temp fix. also did a 'headlight lens restore' that got it back to about 80% clear. i also got the control arm off. had to cut it up pretty good. the nut came off with the broken section of the bolt. i got that out with a telescoping magnet from the back end of the subframe that's open. i plan to use a serrated nut in place of the welded on one. to get a new nut on i plan to use the same telescoping magnet to hold it in place. or i might be able to get it in a socket and use a swivel to hold it in place. to line it up ill use my endoscope fed in through the back of the subframe so i can see what's going on. that way i dont have to drill/cut/ hack up the subframe. enough rambling, more pics...




i already removed most of the gunk, but you can see the pieces better.





 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
Got the knuckle all taken apart, cleaned out the ball grooves, got all the old grease cleaned off, boot has been ordered. good thing I kept my 12 point bits from when I had my GLI. not sure why VW had to go and make it's own special type of bolt head but oh well. also got the front bumper off. broke a bolt under the driver's side headlight so I gotta take off the foam part & brackets to get the bolt out from the back side.


 

bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
i have to do the same with my axle, but I'm waiting to get a new knuckle too before I do it.

the 12 point bits are superior in torque transfer, but you're right - there wasn't a real need to use a female drive type bolt. but if it makes you feel better, they've been doing it since the beetle days - by '70 bug uses the same bolts on the axles.
 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
Got the valve cover off. couple bolts stripped out so i had to pound a Torx bit into the allen head to get them out. dang the lobes on this cam are pointed... im used to seeing a nice rounded cam lobe on gas engines. i cleaned up the head surface and valve cover surface. they were pretty grimey. going to put a thin layer of RTV on the gasket and bolt it back on tonight. also going to take off the vaccuum pump and clean that surface and put a thin bead of RTV on there. looks like it's leaking pretty good from the bottom side. also got the bumper cover all taped up and glued up from the backside. im letting it set for a couple days. if it doesnt work, ill get some fiberglass and resin on the backside to hold it. wont be perfect, but wont be all duct taped up and will be good enough until i can get a new bumper cover.



 
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FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
Got to drive the car today! Santa, I mean, the delivery man came and dropped off some goodies. got the bumper back on. can still see the cracks, but it's not covered in duct tape anymore. I think it looks much better. car rode smooth. not a rattle box like my cobalt ss. think I have a blown tweeter on the passenger side though. minor things. tomorrow I might sand down the hood and see what I can do to lessen that eye sore. might have a lead on a black cloth interior too.


 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
did some more work yesterday. oil change, started doing something to fix that eye sore of a hood. im not a bodywork expert but I figured a garbage hood is a good place to give it a shot. hood is rusted through in the center. :/

 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
when I fired the car up to show my boss at work, he noticed some smoke from the back of the engine for a couple seconds. looks like I have an exhaust leak to fix. that might explain the faint diesel smell I get when driving. got the hood, um, fixed. I rushed a bit due to daylight. eh, it's ok for silver rustoleum and better than rust bubbles I think. maybe ill cover the front bit with black instead of silver, and black out the headlight housings (not the lens). when I get tinted windows it might look better with the black bits. I digress. looks like I was still holding the sander in the first pic. lol.

 
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bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
sadly that mess will come back quickly, your best bet is to cut it out and weld in fresh metal. I just restored an 88 Civic that had a bit of rust here and there. body work isn't hard, just requires patience. my neighbor did your type of fix on his work van side doors, and it came back in a couple of months.

you can get a far better match from any auto store in the duplicolor selection of "OEM MATCH" paints. their enamels are far superior to rustoleum too, but it's $8 for a can.

and you don't want to paint to a tape line. you want to blend it out and clearcoat over, then buff to blend. i'm sure you can find some youtube vids on blending a repair area into a panel.
 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
yeah, I know the mess will come back. i couldn't get all the rust out of that hole. I plan on getting a different hood anyway. not worth it to cut new metal, weld it in... this is a temp fix to get by for now without having to look at a bunch of car acne. and I also didn't want to blend it onto the fenders because I plan on replacing the hood and front bumper cover and when I do, the blending will stick out.

Filled up yesterday... i can get used to the mileage! id get 280ish miles out of just over 12 gallons in my cobalt babying it the entire tank. i will say going from a 350hp cobalt to the golf makes passing in passing zones much harder though. :/

 
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FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
replaced my mirrors a while ago. the old ones didnt heat and were a little discolored.

also, contacted the shop that did the clutch replacement, sent a picture of the receipt, invoice number, car info... asking them if they had any records on which clutch was put in because different clutches have different torque ratings. i wanted to know what i can do as far as upgrades without having to replace a clutch that's a couple years old. their response was..."That would have been a set with flywheel, either a Luk or Sachs. NEW no reman, probably a single mass." :confused: As far as I know, Luk and Sachs dont make a SMF clutch for the ALH. so that was no help.


 

MattRabbit

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 12, 1999
Location
Orlando, FL, USA
TDI
2015 Golf SE TDI, 2014 Beetle TDI, 1981 Rabbit Diesel
I like seeing some of these semi-basketcase cars being given new life. They still can really look nice with some TLC and new bits. I bet when you replace the rusted panels, this car will look nearly new! Nice work so far!
 

3L3M3NT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Location
Sturgeon Bay, WI
TDI
04 Jetta GLS TDI, 04 RTDI
It's great to see you keeping this car going. I sold the hood off my silver R that would have been perfect replacement for your rusted hood. Just keep at it and you'll have a car that looks good while getting right around 50 mpg ;)
 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
hopefully this car keeps going for a long time. I have a lead on a full black leather interior swap w/heated seats too from a member on here. hoping to get it this weekend then put it in. small hole in driver's seat from seat belt but oh well. patch it and call it good. I might also tear the cover off and add seat massagers to the driver seat. but it's from a jetta so the rear pillars, b pillars, headliner... wont be the same. so ill either redo them in black or just use spray dye. I wont have to look at those pillars while driving, so im thinking of going the easy route and use the spray dye. lol. headliner is stained from water around the sunroof (probably from being left open a few times, which ive also done, or clogged drains which I saw a receipt for cleaning out) and sagging around the sun visors so ill re-glue that before I dye it. and ill also have to clean and dye the rear door panels and put the leather insert in them because they are different. I also have to track down an exhaust leak still. and make sure I fixed all the oil leaks. I found a guy parting out a silver golf on CL who has a body panels I need but they won't respond. once the hatch is on ill tint the windows. I like my cars to be vampire friendly and it's waaaay to bright in there with no tint. im thinking I might want to the injectors too. I didn't see a receipt for those being changed at all so im thinking they might be a little tired. im getting around 42-43mpg with the car. 50mpg would be great, but at 80mph about a 1/3 of the time im in the car, wind resistance kills that.

this post got long so recap... lol.
hood, bumper, hatch, tint, interior swap to black leather, fix exhaust, double check to see if oil leaks are fixed, injector upgrade or perhaps tune (maybe both if clutch will handle it) and drive.
 

FLASH1970

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Location
Lake Geneva Wisconsin
TDI
2001 GOLF GLS
did some more work on the car. the old interior is grimy and worn out. so today I pulled it out. I bet if I left it gutted it'd get an extra 2-3 mpg. lol.. I'm going to be re-gluing the headliner that's sagging by the sun visors and spraying it black. i started spray dyeing the parts of the golf that the Jetta interior wont have. and tomorrow I'm going to get a black leather swap!





 
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