Mk1 Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit Front Panel Removal

Start to finish removing the front panel from my MK1 Golf / Rabbit restoration project

[@PedrosGarage]

Will be attempting this on my mk1 1983 very soon.

[@No-Pro]

Pedro’s Garage Brilliant, what model do you have?

[@PedrosGarage]

NoPro It’s a white Rabbit convertible, Karmann badge on the side. 5 speed, 30mm water pump with AC, manual steering, I fancy this little car and I got it for a steal. I’ll be featuring it on my channel very soon.

[@No-Pro]

Pedro’s Garage That’s great, best of luck with it. I’ll sub your channel and keep my eye out for it.

[@PedrosGarage]

@@No-Pro a year later and I haven’t welded it lol but revisiting this video has restored some of my confidence.

[@No-Pro]

Thanks for letting me know. Glad it’s still helping some folk. I’ve been far too busy to continue work on the gti, soon though. Can’t wait to get finished and do a finished video.

[@albaantoniamenjivar4718]

donde puedo allar el panel frontal

[@erichall9438]

Do you think it's possible to remove the front panel without removing the engine and trans? I have been trying do projects on my caddy one at a time so it doesn't end up as scrap in my garage (like last time :(

[@No-Pro]

Hi, yeah you can do it with the engine in its just a lot more awkward. I was taking the engine out to rebuild it and clean it up anyhow plus was putting the car on a jig so it was all getting stripped back to the bare bones. Just remove the grill, lights, radiator and anything attached to your front panel. If you leave your bonnet on, once you've removed your front panel and offer up the new panel and clamp in place you can close the bonnet over to make sure everything lines up correctly. When the front panel is all in the correct place use some little self tappers to hold it in place and pull it in tight to the inner wings etc. Hope this helps!

[@No-Pro]

Oh and good luck

[@ngondoandreas414]

Can arch welding be used on this job?

[@No-Pro]

Hi, I suppose if you were a good enough arc welder you could manage it. I’ve never arc welded though so I’m not really the one to ask.

[@siphelelesicwe1206]

how do i fit the grinder on the legs to cut out the welding

[@No-Pro]

You have to cut it from the front, leave some parts attached and once you have them free and the front panel removed use an attachment on a drill or dremel to get inside the legs and grind off and clean up whatever’s still attached.

[@siphelelesicwe1206]

@@No-Pro 😊 thanks

[@PedrosGarage]

Btw what size spot weld drill bit was that?

[@PedrosGarage]

Also, are there spot welds on the bumper rails? how is that attached to the holes in the front support?

[@No-Pro]

Pedro’s Garage Think the spot weld remover is about 10mm or maybe slightly smaller. In the hole that opens up to the inside of the chassis legs the front panel has some little metal lugs bent in and spit welded, they’re hard to get to so best to use the dremmel with a cutter on the end and just cut them off and once the panel is removed you can get in and tidy it up.

[@parisariztegui5272]

U know the name of that golden color?

[@No-Pro]

Hi, sorry I don’t know what you mean. What golden colour?

[@jamesfox6522]

Hey , was it really that easy ? Could anyone try it ?

[@No-Pro]

As long as you have the right tools, yeah. Just be careful not to chop the chassis legs off!

[@thomasblair7686]

Hey, I’m in the middle of this job. Measurement seem a bit mad. Can you tell me what yours were just to see if I’m a mile off or not? Had 125cm between the inner wing panels just behind the highest spot welds and 95 in between the chassis legs just behind the furthest bolt hole from the front. Cheers

[@No-Pro]

Thomas Blair can’t quite remember off the top of my head but I’ll check tomorrow when I’m back in my garage. Hope it’s going well!

[@thomasblair7686]

awesome cheers - its a bugger of a job with the spot welds etc down in the inner wings but ive done the floor pans too so it could be worse :-)

[@No-Pro]

Sorry I haven't got those sizes over yet, haven't been able to get back onto the project yet but will send them as soon as I'm back to the garage. Hope your doing good

[@Antonio-wo2wi]

Im watching this because this guy that bought 1981 vw rabbit pickup from decided to but the front end of cabroalet on it and did dog shit welds and dident know what he was doing ñ. And fucked up the whole look. And im just trying to revert it back to its original style.As i much prefer the square headlight look

[@No-Pro]

Hi Antonio, hope you got on well with the '81 pickup front panel. Let me know how things went

[@rod6163]

Ahhhhhh what about the rotten frame rails.its a bitch of a job,I can tell you .

[@No-Pro]

🙈