1983 VW Santana 1.8LX?
Discussion
oldmanbm said:
No just SAY in the plate. I put a new battery in today and added £20 of super unleaded. Clutch and brakes are fine but the accelerator pedal does not seem to be connected and lies on the floor. Strange. I have a Haynes manual for the Santana (actually have 2!) so some bed-time reading tonight. Will keep you posted!
OK two things.First – this is an educated guess – the accelerator *might be* attached to the throttle cable via a pair of little spongy rubber bushes, which rot and fall apart, causing the pedal to fall. I'm guessing that the VW LHD to RHD conversion uses a torque bar to move the action from right to left – this is how it is in old Audis which are IIRC the same platform. If you look up under the dash in the passenger footwell and waggle the accelerator, or get someone to do it for you, you *might* see the offending bits moving around, if I'm correct. The upside is that new bushes only cost about £5. The downside is that you need to be a bit of a contortionist to press the new ones into place, although taking glovebox off might help. But once done good for another 35 years or so. (If you're tight you can join the bits back together with a cable tie, or in may case, out on the road, an Apple charging cable)
Second – I'd be wary of turning it over without changing the cambelt if it's been sitting around for many years. They do deteriorate over time and cause engine to go clatter-bang.
Following this with rather too much interest given we are talking about a Santana! But, they were much better cars than they had any right to be.
I had an LX as my second company car and thought I would hate it, as it followed a Scirocco GTI and looked as boring as could be in flat Gambia Red (maroon). Working for Volkswagen, we could usually choose the cars we drove, but this was a forced allocation which happened from time to time. However, it won me round and was a willing companion over 12000 miles.
LNV 956Y was probably turned into a cube of metal long ago, but I still have fond memories of it. The only picture I have of it is outside my first house in 1983. It really does look dull!!
I had an LX as my second company car and thought I would hate it, as it followed a Scirocco GTI and looked as boring as could be in flat Gambia Red (maroon). Working for Volkswagen, we could usually choose the cars we drove, but this was a forced allocation which happened from time to time. However, it won me round and was a willing companion over 12000 miles.
LNV 956Y was probably turned into a cube of metal long ago, but I still have fond memories of it. The only picture I have of it is outside my first house in 1983. It really does look dull!!
One of the strangest experiences I ever had was going to China for the first time in 1995.
So far everywhere else I had been in the world had had it's distinct cars.
France in the 1980's, almost exclusively French cars, and mostly 1970's stuff. Some really odd cars to my English eyes.
USA in the 1980's, again, almost all 1970's & 1980's American. Very exotic.
Italy, as for France, some stuff I had never seen before in daily use.
Middle East and SE Asia wall to wall Toyota, Daihatsu & Nissan...
China?
VW Santanas everywhere.
Most bizarre.
So far everywhere else I had been in the world had had it's distinct cars.
France in the 1980's, almost exclusively French cars, and mostly 1970's stuff. Some really odd cars to my English eyes.
USA in the 1980's, again, almost all 1970's & 1980's American. Very exotic.
Italy, as for France, some stuff I had never seen before in daily use.
Middle East and SE Asia wall to wall Toyota, Daihatsu & Nissan...
China?
VW Santanas everywhere.
Most bizarre.
Dapster said:
Turbobanana said:
Wasn't it something to do with the way they converted to RHD? 'Twas thus on Golf MkI GTIs, anyway, I seem to recall: the pedal was on the right and the servo on the left, connected by a torsion war with a bit too much flex in it.
That said, I once sold a Polo Breadvan to a friend's mum and scared myself silly when I went to put fuel in it - no servo.
Exactly, the RHD conversion was the culprit. I had a mk 2 GTI and that was much better (disks all round) but the 80's disk/drum cooking ones like the Polo were a menace...That said, I once sold a Polo Breadvan to a friend's mum and scared myself silly when I went to put fuel in it - no servo.
I have two memories, one of going down a hill in Bristol and seeing a junction at the last minute, stepped on the brakes and sailed straight over it. And on a motorway when the traffic came to a sudden stop, me jumping on the brakes and having to swerve into another, moving lane as the car didn't stop in time.
Mine might have been a bad example, but it had the worst brakes of any car I've had in almost 40 years.
theadman said:
Following this with rather too much interest given we are talking about a Santana! But, they were much better cars than they had any right to be.
I had an LX as my second company car and thought I would hate it, as it followed a Scirocco GTI and looked as boring as could be in flat Gambia Red (maroon). Working for Volkswagen, we could usually choose the cars we drove, but this was a forced allocation which happened from time to time. However, it won me round and was a willing companion over 12000 miles.
LNV 956Y was probably turned into a cube of metal long ago, but I still have fond memories of it. The only picture I have of it is outside my first house in 1983. It really does look dull!!
I think they look crisp with understated elegance. Would quite like one actually I had an LX as my second company car and thought I would hate it, as it followed a Scirocco GTI and looked as boring as could be in flat Gambia Red (maroon). Working for Volkswagen, we could usually choose the cars we drove, but this was a forced allocation which happened from time to time. However, it won me round and was a willing companion over 12000 miles.
LNV 956Y was probably turned into a cube of metal long ago, but I still have fond memories of it. The only picture I have of it is outside my first house in 1983. It really does look dull!!
.
It would seem that the connection from the lateral rod has detached so need to remove the glovebox to get at it (as was posted). Just how you remove the glovebox is another matter as I haven't a clue!
As far as the old Beetle is concerned I will get round to starting it too. It's a 1969 1500 that I bought years ago. I will do a separate thread on that when i see some progress on the Santana.
As far as the old Beetle is concerned I will get round to starting it too. It's a 1969 1500 that I bought years ago. I will do a separate thread on that when i see some progress on the Santana.
Stick Legs said:
One of the strangest experiences I ever had was going to China for the first time in 1995.
So far everywhere else I had been in the world had had it's distinct cars.
France in the 1980's, almost exclusively French cars, and mostly 1970's stuff. Some really odd cars to my English eyes.
USA in the 1980's, again, almost all 1970's & 1980's American. Very exotic.
Italy, as for France, some stuff I had never seen before in daily use.
Middle East and SE Asia wall to wall Toyota, Daihatsu & Nissan...
China?
VW Santanas everywhere.
Most bizarre.
I was in a showroom, in Guangzhou late 2000’s and they had 3 different series of the Passat on sale, all new.So far everywhere else I had been in the world had had it's distinct cars.
France in the 1980's, almost exclusively French cars, and mostly 1970's stuff. Some really odd cars to my English eyes.
USA in the 1980's, again, almost all 1970's & 1980's American. Very exotic.
Italy, as for France, some stuff I had never seen before in daily use.
Middle East and SE Asia wall to wall Toyota, Daihatsu & Nissan...
China?
VW Santanas everywhere.
Most bizarre.
Meaning aliexpress, may be a good source for parts.
Not uncommon, to see discontinued models being sold in parts of Asia, especially VAG and Ford.
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