1975 Audi 50 GL

[charleston]

Evening all,

Quick intro pics of my current project;

1975 Audi 50 GL





It's a full restoration project - so far had a full respray, new interior, suspension, wheels are getting re done and new lips ordered, engine is on the stand being tidied up, then that'll go back in. Just waiting on a new headliner to arrive from Germany and the interior can start going in too. Should be done by March for the start of the UK season. I'll get the full build so far up soon.

[Steven_318ti]

I love these wee 50s, I prefer them to a mk1 Golf if im being truly honest, good luck with the build, look forward to the progress

[charleston]

Cheers pal, It's through most of the hard work now - Just the last bits to get together. I'll get some pics of in a second

[charleston]

5 August 2014

Quick introduction as I have finally picked up a 50 after lots and lots (and lots) of searching!!!

It's an early 1975 GL in some sort of metallic blue/silver (I have the original colour code sticker in the ash tray!





And as it's so early it has squared off corners on the roof



And only 85,000 km!!!!



All the normal trouble areas are solid (wings, front panel, boot corners etc etc) - The owner even put it on the lift so i could see how solid the floor was. There is no sign of even surface rust! Chrome trims are also all present and in good nick so I was happy!

My plans in the long term (a year or so) are to clean it up paint wise, first the current colour but then eventually Lofoten Green as I have a big soft spot for green cars!

Wheels - already in the garage in the form of 13" PLS splits, which are remarkably similar to the design of the standard steels so will suit well.

Suspension - Probably coilovers from Ebay

Interior - As the car has new carpets and headliners and the leatherette on the sides of the seats is in such good nick I think i'll just re-do the centres. Currently I really like tweed, but we'll see when i get there. I'll be stitching along the original indents to keep it looking classic (ish!)

Engine - the current engine is very strong, taking me the 300 miles back to england yesterday without any hint of trouble. I just need a new fuel guage/sender (unsure which is faulty atm) and a new temp sensor and tidy the bay up. Longer term I may well pop a 1.4 16v in from the 6n Polo just so I can enjoy the car and trust the engine 100%!!!

Bits I need imminently are just the front windscreen seal and some chrome trim which I'll pick up from Heritage or something when I find a new seal. When I have these bits I'll drop it off to my painter to give it a good tidy up as there are a few chips and a bit of micro blistering on the rear where the previous owner had a bit of a blow over and the painter obviously didnt prep it properly! Then freshen up the bumpers (just a little tarnished) and enjoy it!!!

[charleston]

6 August 2014

First proper look round the car

New carpets and immaculate headliner, dash is perfect as are clocks and wheel etc. Just need to re-trim the seat centres.





Early feature is the black handles. Apparently so many people complained that they couldn't find them that Audi swapped them out for the orange ones on all cars from 76. Safe to safe I couldn't find them when i test drove it and ended up sticking my hand out the window!!



Lifted the carpets to check the footwells, nice and solid







Bit of surface rust on the lower edge of the boot



Then onto the bay;



Lots of dirt in the battery tray, but all protected with sealant;



Other side of scuttle;

[charleston]

7 August 2014

Some of the shit around the car;

Micro blistering from when the previous owner had the rear blown over





and rot on the rear offside sill;



And some (luckily just surface) rust on the near side wing;

[charleston]

Random shot of one of my old cars;

[charleston]

Bought some old PLS wheels which I was going to convert to 3 piece;



Then got bored and sold them. Then bought some others;




These ones lasted 48 hours before I put them up for sale. Made a bit of money on them though so all good.

[charleston]

After a few months I decided I needed to get it under cover so...

A good mate came round with a trailer and we loaded it up;



Then 40 minutes later it was at its new home. I spent the day removing the interior checking for rust and found almost none. The floor is 100% rust free but there's a 4" square of surface rust in the wheel well. Luckily it's not gone any further so will clean it up this weekend.

[charleston]

More progress pics



Windscreen, rear window, back side windows, 1 wing, bonnet, grille, lights, all trim came off really easily, but the other wing has been caked in sealant so undoing the bolts was near on impossible. Got to get a wire wheel on them next weekend and remove the wing. Little nervous as I don't know what I'll find!

Anyway, all of the bits are in fair shape;



Apart from the right end grille piece;



Then started fucking around in our wheel room (there must be about 20 sets of wheels at the unit!) and thought I'd see what 3 piece teardrops looked like!!!



If only they were 2" smaller!

[charleston]

Tried the Kamei spoiler on the car;



Also I picked up some more wheels which will actually stay.





14" BBS e30; 4" barrels all round with 3" and 4" lips. The centres are all in good shape and the rears fit perfectly with the 3" lips;



The 4" lips are a no go anywhere so they'll be sold and, once I have the brakes on and know how much I can machine off the mating face of the front wheels I can work out the lip size needed. I really want 3" all round though.

[charleston]

Bodywork started;

[charleston]

Took the seats to the trimmers and we drew all over them



Getting a bit of a modern twist done - black vinyl bolsters (new foam everywhere) and backs with black and white herringbone Harris Tweed on the centres. Material turned up last week (below) so a couple of samples are being done and sent to me so I can get a good idea of what tuck & roll / stitched will look like



Bought some coilovers



The plan was always to make some out of mk1 golf APs, but after speaking to a few people the TAs are apparently not awful so I thought sod it, they'll do for the time being!! :lol:

Threw a wheel together;



Then my daily A6 shat itself and demanded a new oil pump. Laters £2k! That was a little set back but just one of those things.

Got some colour on;





And with the wings on (gaps sorted) the colour really starts to come to life;



Another job which I had been putting off was the gearbox. I started to strip it of 41 years of crap a few months back, then got bored and put it back in the garage! So got that done;



Just needs another quick once over then etch primer and paint (satin black). When the box was drying off after a blast with gunk and wash I started on the engine. Again, years of crud attached but after a blast of gunk and some elbow grease it started to come up ok!



Box is now painted and engine is waiting for me to spray it

[charleston]

Shell then got painted;

[charleston]

Front seats got done;

***** the headrest idea i had (right) so sacked that off and went with standard black.



And a quick comparison to what they did look like;



Happy with that