Hi, I couldn’t find a section for newbie’s (its probably there somewhere just me being blind) so I will introduce myself here. My names Alex and I have been loitering around in the back ground of this fine forum for many years now feeding myself on the never ending amount of knowledge and skill that floats about here daily. I will start by letting you know a little about my past I am not a first time polo owner oooh no out of the 40 plus VW’s I have owned 9 of them have been polo’s of all shapes and sizes. I am without a doubted a serial Volkswagen nut job with a taste for anything pre 95 and rusty! If I am told its to far gone or not worth it or just is the type of car that people wont want after I am done with it, it makes me want to restore it even more! I cant help it I just want to save them all ! Which brings me to my business, for the last 10 years I have run a business call “Dirtydubs” we are a Vag specialists that prefer to stay out of the lime light and just does the best job possible the old fashioned way are motto at the shop is “Restoration before Modification” or at the same time at least. Anyway enough of that rubbish I am not here to advertise. At the moment I have taken a temporary step back form the business to start a new path to becoming a little more acquainted in ATEX engineering it was a position offered to me that I simply couldn’t pass up plus I now have a full fab shop at my disposal which is a big plus. I will still keep Dirtydubs going as this new path will not last forever plus I cant step away from a 10 year itch that easily, if anyone is interested in are last build then they are more than welcome to check it out it’s the black Mk2 Jetta on the opening page of www.jettaownersclub.co.uk the guys on that forum are great some of the nicest out there I really cant rate the club highly enough or alternatively you can check out are blog page at www.dirtydubs.co.uk. Right enough of my boring and quite unnecessary babbling I will start this thread with a few pics of my personal cars past and present then I will get to the current project I hope you will enjoy.

Bought off eBay back in the good old days for £32 . Before.







After









This one was rescued from the crusher for 70 notes.









My favourite coupe in the best colour, I think. I was going to concours this one but sold it to a friend of mine who stuffed it up an oak tree just two weeks after gutted .









That leads me nicely to my current not so standard breadie more on that later I’m sure .







My old mk2 Golf 1300 bought for £50 out of my local Friday ad.







After a SIX DAY resto which nearly killed me.







My current daily driver again rescued from the crusher for £70.







After two weeks it looked like this.











Which brings me to reason for this build thread (hooray at last I hear you cry) my old daily is not really putting up with the mileage that’s being racked up each day, after 3 years of ownership the final drive side of the auto box is slowly but surely wearing out it’s a problem that was quite prolific with Vag auto boxes of the time and is caused by the internal oil seal failing this in turn lets the ATF fluid mix with gear oil in time this over heats the manual side of the gear box and eventually cooks the gears. So after trying to find myself a good cheap pre 99 SDI or TDI for very cheap money and failing on a epic scale I decided that the only thing for it was to make use of what I already had so this is it……….. A E reg 1 litre Polo booted! I have owned it for the last 6 years but I have to confess I have not treated it well , in those years as it has been used as a shed for spare parts, left outside are workshop on some waste grass land with grass and thistles growing through the doors and bumpers! Here are some pics of it when we got it in 2006, at this point it had been off the road since 2003, we rescued it from the scrap yard for the handsome sum of £25. The plan was to use it as spares for other restoration projects. These Pics were taken 6 years ago when it looked a lot lot better









Even then it was a bit green behind the ears.







I think this statement sums me up nicely “I need I car that’s going to get me to work cheaply, reliably, and be very solid ----- what about the old derby? That will do” Its at this point my business partner and other half of Dirtydubs, Matt looks at me as if I‘ve gone all Cheech & Chong on him!!!! And says “naturally my first choice!!” with a hint of sarcasm I may add. Oh he of little faith. Although we both agreed that as long as the engine hadn’t seized then it would probably start and as I would have to get it out on my own I would need it to move under its own steam! After I cut all the plant life back and got the landlord to put some weed killer down I could get to the engine bay. Here’s a little video sorry about the stupid commentary I just think this epitomises how great old dubs are! Oh and although I sound sooooo Oxford/Cambridge darling, I’m NOT in real life trust me.



Then after noticing that the fuel filter had filled up .



Its hard to believe that after 8 years this car started so easily and on the original fuel that’s been in the tank all this time!!! I never did use the fresh petrol as I know it will need a new tank so didn’t want to waste it plus I’m a tight bastard! The plan is simple this car has to get me to work without being a problem child, its has to be solid and get through all future MOT’s without hassle and most all it has to be cheap to run oh and I have six weeks to build it! Even I think I’m mad this time round.

I hope I’ve not bored you to death before I’ve even started just thought that I would let you know a bit about me as well. Thanks for looking and taking the time to read all of my crap. Regards Alex @ Dirtydubs.

Great read, will keep an eye on this old wee polo!

Cheers chap there is loads to come as I've already had a week of evenings on it.

youve clearly got an eye for a bargain/project good work

look foward to seeing progress with this one,keep it picture heavy please

How southern are you


Cool read will be keeping a close eye on this.

I'm on the south coast in Bognor Regis bud.

It was alot easier a few years back before that bloody scrapage shit came out . But it also helped that two very close friends ran there own vehicle collection business. They would put aside all the VAG's and we would pop over almost every week and pic which ones we could save, ahhh those were the days .

I just ment your accent, bet you dont even okow what a barm is lol

good luck with the build .

all your cars go from bang untidy to bang tidy in weeks

good work man

Thanks dude, Your right though what the hell is a "barm"?????

with what youve done already i can see this becoming a beauty

nice to see another loon back from the dead there is just something about old vws there like an old dog always been there for you and will continue to be there for you until they eventually pass on

love to see this completed looks like an alrite base not to bad aside from the paint thats shocking but should be a good little dub that will keep you going for a long time yet just watch for the carb being a pain in the arse

Lovely read mate, and welcome aboard!

Fantastic stuff fella, love the bready on the minilights

Thanks bud i totally agree with you unfortunatly it turns out that the years have not been so kind to her plus she is a spainish built one so I've had to spend some time underneath with the welder already . Know worry's on the carb front one of the things we specialisted in at Dirtydubs was carb rebuilds i LOVE Pierburg carbs (yes I'm a freak !) and have been rebuilding them since i was 17!.

nice thread dude, I'm not too far away from you. stalker time.

Ha Ha i work in shoreham so i will look out for you following me. keep your eyes peeled for my black auto hoowahaha.

unfortunately all the saloons where built in spain aside from the mk1 derby i think so rot can be a pain in some cars as your finding out but they do make up in certain areas what they lack in others for example they are cooler then alot of cars on the road because they look so retro (i will have one again) and the boot is huge but they are lacking in some areas the rear screens can rot at the bottom under the seals the rear lights can hold water and fog up the rear metal seems unprotected and rots quicker but aside from this they are fantastic cars

Thanks guys for all the kind comments and the warm welcome i will try to get up to speed with it asap I'm already a week in so plenty to post about.

Higgo, I wish i had gone for minilights to be honest the wheels i went for where smoors they were very rare at the time but they are naff quality to say the least! I really want to get that car back on the road and finished.

Well i did not know that they were all made in spain . Thanks for that, see I'm learning already cheers chap.

Good read. I love how it cranked faster than mine does after not being used for a day ¬_¬

Ricardo? can't think of anything else in shoreham you would go there for

You're from Manchester not Yorkshire! You're supposed to call it "A FUCKIN BUTTY MEYYT"



Dirrtydubs, what magical scrapyard are you finding all these £70 minters?! You won't find cars on here for less than a grand in the same condition!


You seem like you have the restoration game down to a tee, nice work

I'd be assuming vw-audi spares in angmering, but they always charge me scene tax when I go there. they had two virtually fucked ronal teddies there and they want £50 each.

loenh, I work for a company called Pyroban, Atex engineering. We have alot of guys that came from Ricardos but it think there in a bit of trouble with that Mclaren contract going south??
I dont deal with the robbers at angmering not even on a through my business not after he tryed to charge me 50 notes for a Mk3 rad fan with a broken fin!!! when i told him that i could buy one new for £47 including vat he told me to "like it or leave it mate" bit of a piece if you ask me.

Phataz1, I was very lucky to be able to get these cars before they got weighed in, I dont have any before pics of the white coupe or the red mk3 but they both looked very sorry for themselves at the start, the white coupe was a stolen and recovered car which was left outside with no side window and a screwdriver hanging out of the ignition barrel!!, The red one was a lovely shade of pink and came with a blown head gasket and clutch!! But I'm glad we chose to save them though

Again everyone thanks for all the great comments.

Mclaren still have the contract with ricardo, been to the engine manufacturing facility at the airport and have seen test mules rocking up and down the airport as late as july.


and yes they are thieves at angmering, I now just go to Bridges in crawley (if they ever have a 6n2)

Do you work at ricardos then? The Ford focus in the background belongs to one of are fabrication guys but he left about 6 months ago. The last I heard was that mclaren had threatened to half the production and they were going to start laying people off? I don't know how true it was as I've only heard this from guys that used to work there.

Yes but when you got to the butty van and say, give me a fucking bin lid butty you tosser, normally results in some sort of excrement ending in it lol.

And i demand an up date tbh

no luke its can i have a bin lid with bacon sausage an egg please bud ta

no excrement as the guys understood you perfect and you used manners

now if you walk in and say excuse me old chap do you mind awfully if i order a rather large muffin with some tasty cumberland sausages and your finest back bacon oh and a free range egg to top it off you would get a kick in the teeth for being a toffee nosed twa* so thats the dos and donts of ordering large buttys around manchester

back on topic i to would like updating on your progress fella

I really worry about you northern lot, cant we all just get along with are weekend drunken munchie serving brotherhood .

Your all mad i tell the . ok ok updates coming.

we all own polos course were mad

Good times on the Polo restoration front.

Ok onwards, I have only got two hours each week day evening to work on her plus some time at the weekends. There is plenty to do on this sorry excuse for a polo so i will start by showing you what I'm faced with, first in the bay.
Evening One =





This is the cleanest thing i could find to take a pic of



Dont worry i still have the original grill and spots the only part i ended up robbing form this car over the years was a nearside head lamp. It was time to have a look underneath and trust me it gets worst this is the chassis .









Although what I thought was a totally standard polo has had a brake upgrade with golf gti front calipers, vented disc's and Green stuff pads I think? I will have a closer look later .







It looks like I've parked it in the sea for the last 6 years! Oh well anyone one that knows me will tell you "I live for this shit"









Here is how the exhaust and rear beam looked.













Next was to get the bumpers, arch and sill covers off just to check behind and to make sure there wont be any nasty surprises later on .



All the arches are very clean no serious rust in sight













The sills were in great shape aswell this is all to good to be true!!!!







After spending some time under her with a big screwdriver and a very large hammer it became apparent that its fight with tin worms was not a winning one .............. But you will have to wait till next time to see that lot!

I don't work for Ricardo I'm studying my motorsport degree just across from there and I go racing with one of the heads of engine design with his Formula Ford. I work at Wickes

I was talking to a good friend of mine that owns a work ageny that they used to use and he said they are thinking of expanding over the next year or so, so it looks like there here to stay thank god. Good luck with the degree bud hope all goes well for you.

thanks man. If you need any help with the mk2 I'm local (nearly) usually very busy but always willing to help especially if it means working on a car similar to my first car.

Keep up the good work dude! Will try and come over and see it in the flesh at some point. Oh i've got a few headlights too if you need one?
To those unaware with Alex's "analism" this thread will get way out of hand, he will never finish the car and it will cost him a small mortgage to get it to a half way stage.

That was said just to provoke you mate - go prove me wrong!

Andy

Provoked

Andy can you let me know if you man get me a set of new front lights for the polo, h4 type later spec items if possible and not the cheap shot plastic backed ones that gsf do. Bosch or hella item if you can get. Pm me lad. Cheers bud xxx.

Loving the in depth discussion on ordering breckfast.

And as for the update, a bit of surface rust never hurt anyone, even if its gone all the way through Crack on fella .

Looks like many many hours of hard graft but i bet its satisfying after when you see the finished product.

Cheers everyone i will update very soon i promise, I've been working some mega long hours so haven't been able to get on here much so sorry for that. Thanks for all the kind comments, I've got hours of stuff to update with so keep your eyes peeled .

Right then, Well i have had some time to poke around under the old girl now and I'm very happy with what I've found , Rot was always going to be a issue so i was expecting the worst but what i got was in short a very solid and original car.There are NO DENTS to the sills or any of the wheel arches plus absolutely NO ACCIDENT DAMAGE anywhere on the vehicle so as far as i can see there is really only 5 or 6 areas to structurally sort out. We will start with every polo owners favorite ............ The offside rear inner wheel arch or filler neck area.



With the sill cover off i could see the damage to the outer sill.



And from under the car.



Now you see it!



Now you dont .



And the internal breather pipe.



The areas of concern here are the outer sill, inner sill, outer arch, inner arch and of course the filler neck area. I,ve done a great many of these over the years so i have ruff idea how to deal with it .

Other areas of repair are : The very back of both rear quarter panels/rear valance.





And both nearside and offside front jacking points.







This really is the worst of it! which I'm very happy about. Although this project is on a time frame I'm not going to rush the repairs i want to repair these areas as i would any other project i've done, put simply there will be no grinding away at the rust then filling over it, there will be no plates or patches welded over damaged areas and there will be no black underseal in sight . This is a resto and the only way to get rid of rust is to get rid of it Sorry its only a short update but this was only the first evening i had worked on the car, on the second eve the fun really started .

Again thanks for reading, Alex.

my old mk2 was worse........

Excellent update, please keep the progress coming!

Your brave man! Big respect to you for taking on something like that. I thought mine was bad

Look forward to the updates!

Did you ever do a thread on it bud? Would love to have a butchers. How's the commute to work been of late did you get stuck in the traffic around arundel the other day?.

Thanks guys, It looks a lot worse than it really is I should rip through it in no time fingers crossed . I will try to get You up to date with this over the weekend once again cheers for all the comments.

sadly didn't do a thread I'm not very good with this build thread stuff. I haven't been round arundel way for weeks so no idea about the traffic round there.

I do have pics of the mk2 though.

That rocks i love it! good colour as well jade green by the looks of it? Was it lowered?