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I picked up this '87 Golf a few weeks ago and brought it home Saturday afternoon. It needed a few things fixed on it before it was roadworthy so I got to it.
I first lifted up the trunk carpet to see this. The cable in the bottom left is live right from the battery. It was sitting about 3 inches away from that ground.
The battery connection for that amp cable was terrible. It was just laid over the positive side of the battery and taped down.
There were a few of these 'connections' all the way back to the trunk. The two ends pushed together and tapes. No butt connectors or soldering here!
I then stripped the interior to clean underneath the carpet. The sound dampening mats were soaked so I dried those out.
All cleaned up.
Next were the brake/tail lights, none of them worked. I checked the fuses and bulbs and they were fine. Found a bad ground wire at the back for the running lights and that solved that but the brake lights still weren't working. I took a look under the dash to see this. No wires ran to the light switch.
I ran some wires to test out the switch and turned around to see this. Something was not right back there.
I found a positive wire running directly into a ground wire.
Rewired a few things and all the lights were now working! Also fixed the passenger side door popper that wasn't working all the time.
Started putting everything back together. Dash fits much better now.
I didn't like the bluish-grey side panels, so I took them out and dyed them with duplicolor vinyl & fabric.
Before:
After:
Front seats back in, Interior is done (still have to get some more dye to finish both door panels).
Lifted it up to inspect the suspension. Everything seems to be good. The oil pan is a bit smashed in causing the oil pump to tick, but the PO mentioned that and included a new pan.
I didn't like the scabby white on the grill so I took it off and sprayed it black. I also fixed the saggy passenger headlight.
The hood was falling in all directions as I was lifting it up due to only having 2 of 4 bolts holding it to the brackets.
The car doesn't have a headliner so it had screws sticking down from the sunroof. They were dangerously close to the passenger's head so I shaved them down and put a plate over top.
The pile of junk I pulled out of the interior.
Back on the road.
Still have a few things to fix, but it's a pretty cool little car.
I first lifted up the trunk carpet to see this. The cable in the bottom left is live right from the battery. It was sitting about 3 inches away from that ground.
The battery connection for that amp cable was terrible. It was just laid over the positive side of the battery and taped down.
There were a few of these 'connections' all the way back to the trunk. The two ends pushed together and tapes. No butt connectors or soldering here!
I then stripped the interior to clean underneath the carpet. The sound dampening mats were soaked so I dried those out.
All cleaned up.
Next were the brake/tail lights, none of them worked. I checked the fuses and bulbs and they were fine. Found a bad ground wire at the back for the running lights and that solved that but the brake lights still weren't working. I took a look under the dash to see this. No wires ran to the light switch.
I ran some wires to test out the switch and turned around to see this. Something was not right back there.
I found a positive wire running directly into a ground wire.
Rewired a few things and all the lights were now working! Also fixed the passenger side door popper that wasn't working all the time.
Started putting everything back together. Dash fits much better now.
I didn't like the bluish-grey side panels, so I took them out and dyed them with duplicolor vinyl & fabric.
Before:
After:
Front seats back in, Interior is done (still have to get some more dye to finish both door panels).
Lifted it up to inspect the suspension. Everything seems to be good. The oil pan is a bit smashed in causing the oil pump to tick, but the PO mentioned that and included a new pan.
I didn't like the scabby white on the grill so I took it off and sprayed it black. I also fixed the saggy passenger headlight.
The hood was falling in all directions as I was lifting it up due to only having 2 of 4 bolts holding it to the brackets.
The car doesn't have a headliner so it had screws sticking down from the sunroof. They were dangerously close to the passenger's head so I shaved them down and put a plate over top.
The pile of junk I pulled out of the interior.
Back on the road.
Still have a few things to fix, but it's a pretty cool little car.
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