Project My Mk1 GTI

I'm building this car for me. It will change direction as often as I change my underwear. I can go from picky to NFG in the sip of a good bourbon, I'm an engineer and some times hitting with a hammer is just the best option. My MIG skills are right up there with my bubblegum chewing (or is that vise versa?)

I was initially told about this "super clean" GTI back in 2002 by my friend Brian. It took me till 2003 to actually go and see the car and knock on the door. To my surprise, he was looking to give the car away, to whomever wanted to pay him 1/3 of the cost of the NIB parts he had spare for it... about 800 dollars later and I had a super clean MK1 GTI and three GTI loads of spare parts. The poor girl had been sitting for 10 years and needed a lot of cleaning and resuscitation. Which being in college I was able to do pretty smartly.
6 months later and the constant fixing while trying to commute 75 miles a day to Boston was wearing on me and my boss and I made the tough decision to sell it to a good vw friend. He fixed the large issue of the time (exhaust manifold had pulled all of the studs out of the head) and then was diagnosed with cancer, had some crazy surgeries, went into remission and life took on a whole new meaning, as it should have! But my GTI sat for another 13 years… I was able to buy her back and drug her home about a year ago…

This is where I will document the rebuild/retromod of this fun little car... I can't wait to get really stuck into her and made her the MK1 I've always wanted!

oh and my other car for anyone curious

build build build!

mk1 VW fan. will be watching.

You're one of those fun guys who does fun things with fun cars. Feel free to derail the thread with many many pictures and stories of the rally car.
Glad to have you here.

Looking forward to seeing this move forward. There's something unmistakably cool about the style of a Mk1.

LOVE the mk3, the mk1 is cool to ;)

Thanks so much! I'll post as much as I can, I have a few pics from when my friends detailed it for me and the current engine plan. What do people use these days apart from FB to host their pictures? Does it have an app I can use to upload from my phone?

Rock on!

So this is her in 2003... in Portsmouth RI in the original owners driveway.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Thanks! I dabble quite a bit in the automotive fun, which is where I want to keep it! I got a little over stressed earlier this year with the rally car, so I backed off a bit and its been amazing.

Heres the others in my stable The Great Money Pit: Jean a 2003 Sprinter 3500

The wifes: buy a new car so I don't have to work on it 2017 GTI

The great "i don't see it so I don't have to do anything to it right now" 1951 MGTD that my Grandpa bought from MG in 1953 after they used it as a promotional vehicle.

The 100 dollar Miata:

The my wife is going to kill me when she finds out I drug it home just for the wiring harness

Then I have a 2015 GTI daily as well... enough to keep even the best multitaskers busy!

Oh and a dirt bike to try to kill myself on

If you want more information on anything let me know. More mk1 content coming later!

Love the GTI. And I'd be mighty tempted to put that Miata's engine and transmission into the MGTD. That's a swap that I've been thinking about a lot lately.

Also a VW fan here- I'm on board. I have previously owned a mk2 and a mk1 and my wife currently dailys a MK4.

Love the cars, always have, but can't ever seem to own one for myself for an extended period of time.

Also super cool how long your relationship with this particular MK1 has been, even if it's been spotty. I'm excited to hear the rest of the story!

The next few sets of photos are before and after I dropped the car off at my buddy Gregs house. Greg is an amazing guy I met at a car wash in 2001 or so... of course because of his mk1 gti I knew Greg and his son Dylan were masters of removing the funk after I helped gave Dylan (at the ripe old age of 15) an 198? cabriolet... which started out looking like this

yes thats spray paint on the inside of the windows and all over the interior

and he turned it into this in about 6 months of teenage angst sweat and tears... damn impressive!

to

engine bay

Yes thats Rusty Jones!!

to

some more time will be spent here before anything goes back in

before shot is at the top of the page...

after... drool didn't think she'd ever shine again!!

I'm going to try not to do anything that isn't undo-able.. i want a restomod/surviver car but I also don't want to completely destroy what I'm told is one of the most complete mk1 gti's in the area.

so a little bit of this that and the other

In reply to dextervw:

Miata engine could be fun... I keep dreaming of a rover 2500 v8... it would have been approved by my grandpa

I spy a 1.8t?

Gunchsta wrote: I spy a 1.8t?

10-4 good buddy

In reply to dextervw:

Aww yeaaaah, love it. That is a project that is high on my 'someday' list. It's gonna scoot!

sorry about the photos, working on it.

does this work

It does for me. Previous photos still not viewable though.

Awesome! I will work on swapping them all over as the day goes on

neat. i had an 83 GTI for many years.

More are showing now btw ...

All pictures are back up and running