Post by cptcustom on Jul 19, 2010 11:52:30 GMT 1
Hi Folks. Just signed up for the forums and thought I should introduce myself and see if anyone can offer me some general advice on restoring my old Scirocco.
'Poppy' as she’s affectionately known is a much-loved 1987 D Reg 1.6 Volkswagen Scirocco GT Coupe who sadly has seen better days. We bought her in 1992 when she had less than 50,000 miles on the clock. We have now owned her for nearly 18 years and only put her into storage in 2004 when we could no longer afford to run two cars.
At that time she was taxed and had a valid MOT, but now she has a SORN in place. Our intention was always to have her restored, but I'm afraid that having had her assessed recently by our local independent VW specialist (ADP in Starbeck) and with a limited budget available to us we had begun to think that for us at least restoring her wasn’t viable.
I say that because despite having been a car fanatic for many years, I’ve never gained any mechanical skills. I am a total novice and so to restore her properly I would need to get much of the work done professionally.
However, despite putting her onto eBay to try and find her a new home, we have not been able to bring ourselves to part with her. Instead, we’ve decided to keep her and I’m going to sell my 2009 Mazda 3 Sport, which is the only car I’ve had from new, to finance Poppy’s restoration. After we’ve cleared off the outstanding finance the intention is that what’s left will be for the restoration.
My relatives all think I’m totally mad, which is always possible, but I’m hoping to find some kindred spirits within this site that might even be able to help me deal with what lies ahead.
Externally the body is generally in reasonable condition though the paintwork is scratched and the bonnet needs replacing. The GT body kit is undamaged, but needs some restorative work doing to bring it back up. Internally, she is also still in reasonable condition for a 23 year-old car with almost 200,000 miles on the clock.
Her main problems lie underneath where much work will be required. Initial inspection by ADP suggests that she’ll need: 2 front springs; welding to the back suspension; fuel lines; lower suspension arms; welding to the offside rear inner wheelarch; and the clutch appears to be on its way out. In addition, she would need servicing and possibly a new cambelt fitting.
So, she is a poorly old girl, but like I've said we are serious about getting her restored. My question is does anyone have any advice they’d give us at this stage in terms of what to do and what not to do.
We want to do her properly and the intention is that she’ll become my daily driver as she was throughout the late Eighties and Nineties. I guess then that we need to start from the bottom and work our way up. Certainly the work ADP has identified is going to need to be done, but I’m wondering if there are other things we should do, especially to the chassis, to ensure that the amount of money we’ll eventually spend won’t be wasted.
Any advice, suggestions or even offers of help will be greatly received.
By the way, if you want to see what Poppy looked like in her prime and more importantly what she’s like now, please check out the following sets on Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/51578021@N08/sets/72157624355119591/
www.flickr.com/photos/51578021@N08/sets/72157624410048435/
'Poppy' as she’s affectionately known is a much-loved 1987 D Reg 1.6 Volkswagen Scirocco GT Coupe who sadly has seen better days. We bought her in 1992 when she had less than 50,000 miles on the clock. We have now owned her for nearly 18 years and only put her into storage in 2004 when we could no longer afford to run two cars.
At that time she was taxed and had a valid MOT, but now she has a SORN in place. Our intention was always to have her restored, but I'm afraid that having had her assessed recently by our local independent VW specialist (ADP in Starbeck) and with a limited budget available to us we had begun to think that for us at least restoring her wasn’t viable.
I say that because despite having been a car fanatic for many years, I’ve never gained any mechanical skills. I am a total novice and so to restore her properly I would need to get much of the work done professionally.
However, despite putting her onto eBay to try and find her a new home, we have not been able to bring ourselves to part with her. Instead, we’ve decided to keep her and I’m going to sell my 2009 Mazda 3 Sport, which is the only car I’ve had from new, to finance Poppy’s restoration. After we’ve cleared off the outstanding finance the intention is that what’s left will be for the restoration.
My relatives all think I’m totally mad, which is always possible, but I’m hoping to find some kindred spirits within this site that might even be able to help me deal with what lies ahead.
Externally the body is generally in reasonable condition though the paintwork is scratched and the bonnet needs replacing. The GT body kit is undamaged, but needs some restorative work doing to bring it back up. Internally, she is also still in reasonable condition for a 23 year-old car with almost 200,000 miles on the clock.
Her main problems lie underneath where much work will be required. Initial inspection by ADP suggests that she’ll need: 2 front springs; welding to the back suspension; fuel lines; lower suspension arms; welding to the offside rear inner wheelarch; and the clutch appears to be on its way out. In addition, she would need servicing and possibly a new cambelt fitting.
So, she is a poorly old girl, but like I've said we are serious about getting her restored. My question is does anyone have any advice they’d give us at this stage in terms of what to do and what not to do.
We want to do her properly and the intention is that she’ll become my daily driver as she was throughout the late Eighties and Nineties. I guess then that we need to start from the bottom and work our way up. Certainly the work ADP has identified is going to need to be done, but I’m wondering if there are other things we should do, especially to the chassis, to ensure that the amount of money we’ll eventually spend won’t be wasted.
Any advice, suggestions or even offers of help will be greatly received.
By the way, if you want to see what Poppy looked like in her prime and more importantly what she’s like now, please check out the following sets on Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/51578021@N08/sets/72157624355119591/
www.flickr.com/photos/51578021@N08/sets/72157624410048435/