# Anyone restoring an '83 GTI?



## Stehli2008 (Aug 14, 2008)

I bought the '83 Gti new, and it is in great condition. Appears there will not be a whole lot to do with this Gti, but would like to know if anyone is working on the same car, and any suggestions you have. This Gti has no rust, garage kept, and I do most of the repair & maintenance on it. 85700 mile on it. When it comes to restoration on interiors and paint I am a complete novice. 
At the moment, I am having a problem on start up. It acts as if it is not getting fuel, much like an ignition misfire. Fuel pressure is good at 73 lbs - as the manual says it should be. Ignition is good. Once it gets going it clears up quickly. Compression is good.
Body paint is good. Can auto body painters do an excellent job with minor dings with out painting the whole car? I kept spot painting the dings so no rust would get going. Black bumpers appear to be stainless steel or aluminum, and the paint has come off with road dings in a number of areas, but no rust. Can anyone suggest a great body shop in the Rockville, MD area?
Front Carpet has some minor problems due to dirty shoes. Any suggestions on a good carpet restorer? Once again no rust under carpet. I did try auto motive carpet cleaner which helped, but did not get rid of the spot. Seats are great - in fact, I would say they are like new.
TMS


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## wolfsburg-motorsport (Dec 10, 2007)

*Re: Anyone restoring an '83 GTI? (Stehli2008)*

Have a go at painting it yourself, it's very time consuming but u will save a fortune. I'm currently restoring my 82 for a project, never painted a car before but its coming on nicely. 
I haven't really got a clue about painting but I used both an elec sander and sanding block and 40/50/80, 800 and 1200 grit's. Where the paint was good I just flatted back, cleaned, primed, cleaned and sprayed and where it was a bit rusty I took it all back, filled/repaired until smooth and resprayed it (little more to it than that tho). First EVER bit of painting but there's plenty of info on the net to help u out, just type DIY respray or similar and read thru http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif 
Not many recent pics but how it was:








And how it is now:









** Forgot to say: If u decide to do it yourself, make sure every little bit of what your going to spray is smooth and clean, take all bits of glue, rust, dodgy paint etc. off, this is why it's expensive as it's prepping it properly that is very, very time consuming, the painting's quite easy. Doing this alone will save u lot's then u could just pass it to a sprayer to paint saving u $$$$$
_Modified by wolfsburg-motorsport at 2:33 PM 8-17-2008_


_Modified by wolfsburg-motorsport at 2:40 PM 8-17-2008_


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## alpinweiss (Aug 10, 2007)

*Re: Anyone restoring an '83 GTI? (Stehli2008)*

I terms of your fuel injection problem, you have the old mechanical fuel injection system, Bosch K Jetronic. It was a fairly simple and reliable system, but nowhere near as good as today's systems.
For cold start problems, I would look at your cold-enrichment system. There is a special injector (sometimes call 5th injector) on your intake manifold that only works when the engine is cold. This is controlled by a thermo time switch, which is located on the front of your engine, near the top radiator hose. It is connected to an electrical plug. There is also an auxiliary air bypass to raise the idle speed when cold. This is located near your intake manifold at the back of the engine.
I recommend checking in this order:
1. Verify fuel spray at cold injector.
2. Check thermo time switch.
3. Check fuel distributor and sensor plate (sticking?).
4. Check auxiliary air bypass and rubber hoses.
You will have to be the judge of how far you want to go on the diagnosis. I recommend a good service manual (e.g. Bentley) for more details on the procedures.


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## Fein1 (Mar 8, 2002)

*Re: Anyone restoring an '83 GTI? (alpinweiss)*

IM sent http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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