Had this car in the family for many years, coming up to 6 now, started as a learner for the then girlfriend.

Started out as a 1.05l in tornado pink

Anyway I got hold of it into my proper ownership about 2 years ago and after sitting about for a while I decided to convert it to a coupe S from my written off low mileage one.

So as it stood

So a little bit pink....

So out came a bit of tape and a couple of pots of polish

You can see the donor coupe S in the background here

After

Mostly finished now

Then came the engine swap, which there is no point in showing really, a 1.05l and a 1.3 look nearly identical from the outside. However being my first engine swap I had a few issues with the wiring.... don't know why but just little things with it the lighting loom.

So I gave up on it for a while (wife, kid and second kid on way taking up too much time) so I would do little bits to the wiring as and when I could, and was convinced I had something major wrong with the fuse box connector for the black plug, but eventually recently had a play with it and realised that I coincidently just had a number of small issues with items connected to it for no reason (like both side repeater bulbs blowing at the same time!!!)

So got it fix, and chucked it through an MOT recently and it passed first time :-) now running it as my daily as my GT shell is shot and will not pass another MOT.

But having problems with the pooburg carb, so it will be getting the GT engine stuck in soon. Needs doing quickly as a daily now, and I don't have the time, after the luck with the last engine swap, so will be getting Phil J to sort it out, with a few other choice mods.

So future plans include:

GT engine swap

4 branch manifold and custom exhaust (off my derby)

Ported G40 inlet manifold

Dewedged throttle body

Chip of some kind

Poly engine mounts

H n R cup kit

Weitec brace bar

Ged brace bar

Some 256mm disks and pads

GT rear axle

then got a choice on the wheel front, from 14" Golf steels, 14" Snowflakes, 14" le cassteles (sp), 14" Revo 5 spokes, 15" Dished BBS type one piece wheels or if I kept the standard brakes of the G40 ones off the derby, then standard Coupe S alloys or some 13 Ronal’s.... I think I have too many wheels!!!

Also got to do some body work on her, got 2 sets of derby lights for it (not sure why) and have to fix a few small bumps from the wife, when she first started driving, a bit of rust round the rear and a bent door from when she was broken into many years ago (so if anyone has a spare door, in the right red, I have some spare cash) plus she needs to be polished again as has been sitting for a long while again.... bloody red cars!!!

Hopefully changes should happen in next few weeks as I won't be doing the engine work, and she should be looking much better

Edited 13 April, 201115 yr by dekerf1996

Mark wanted this done quickly, so we had to put off removing a supercharger kit from a 5.0L V8 Merc and refitting it to a widebodied gullwing sec coupe (Will get pics of that next week :-) )

Anyway, day 1 consisited of turning this...

Into this....

Gave the GT engine a full service, head set, cambelt, waterpump and clutch while it was out.

Off to grab the coupe s tomorrow morning, see what we can do by the end of tomorrow. Hope your having fun in the loan golf gti!

how much is the red mk3 lowered by ????

60/40 on an H&R cup kit.

Fast work there chaps :-)

gt was 60/40 on h & r cup set up, in the first pic, looks on the floor in that second pic!!! Handled well for a polo and quite comfortable :-) phil got the kit for me, for a very good price :-)

golf is nice, like the water feature with the goldfish, a touch of class there

This runs and all the front and rear suspension and brake work is done, quite funny you can essentially rebuild/replace a whole polo in 2 days!

Will be a good little daily and should handle very well, will give you a shout after the test drive.

anything left from that GT?

Fast work there chaps :-)

gt was 60/40 on h & r cup set up, in the first pic, looks on the floor in that second pic!!! Handled well for a polo and quite comfortable :-) phil got the kit for me, for a very good price :-)

golf is nice, like the water feature with the goldfish, a touch of class there

out of interest, do you know what tyre sizes it was running? i want to drop mine 70/60 but i dont know if my 155/70/13s will take it :p

Well it was on 165/65 which are standard for the car, I think working my side wall depth out at 104mm (165*65%) and yours at 105mm (155*70) the rolling radus is gonna be roughly the same.

Trouble is my exhaust caught on a lot of things and you looking to be lower.... Either get rid of the centre box or get your exhaust tucked right up (mine was) and get the front box skid plated. Mine got pulled off so many times it fucker the rear hangers and I had to have them replaced

Well it was on 165/65 which are standard for the car, I think working my side wall depth out at 104mm (165*65%) and yours at 105mm (155*70) the rolling radus is gonna be roughly the same.

Trouble is my exhaust caught on a lot of things and you looking to be lower.... Either get rid of the centre box or get your exhaust tucked right up (mine was) and get the front box skid plated. Mine got pulled off so many times it fucker the rear hangers and I had to have them replaced

damn :( sounds like some work, i only want my car to be a runaround until i can afford a proper project, so i don't want to put too much time/effort/money into it.

lowering and possibly wheels is pretty much my limit :/ looks like 60/40 tbh and just risk it. thanks for the help though :)

Tbh skid plating the exhaust would only be a 5 min job for a custom exhaust place, just means if you hit anything with your front box, it slides over the object instead of catching.

It would be worth doing for a bit of peace of mind, shouldn't cost much as most places would just use scrap metal to make it and then a few mins welding, save hassle and money in the long run :-)

I will see if phil can get any pics of my new exhaust as I have asked him to do it on the custom system he is making me tomorrow

Now running GT power.

Thanks must go to Phil and Tucker here, after doing a quick and good job.

Pics to come :-) as she needs a good clean!!!

No worries Mark, should be a sorted little runabout good for many miles!

nice and tidy install

race you :)

that looks pretty nice actually :)

not usually a big fan of mk2 coupes but i like this one, looks like it should be rapid too.

ah i might look into the exhaust thing then, if you could get a pic that would be ace.

Great stuff and quick turn around, GT engine with custom exhaust is a win.

Interested in how good the ride is compared to Philj's entry level lowering kit?

Nice!

Up to date pics please!

Great stuff and quick turn around, GT engine with custom exhaust is a win.

Interested in how good the ride is compared to Philj's entry level lowering kit?

Well i could have done it myself, but didn't have the time, so gave Phil a few biscuits and he delivered :-)

Not too sure on the exhaust tail pipe at the moment, myself....

With the suspension, it's like anything, you pay for what you get. Although i must say its completely different ride to how it was on the GT, and the only difference is the polybushed front end!!! It is very comfortable now though, and the kids don't mind at all. I would say, that the chassis can handle a lot more power though, which is my long term goal.

EmDee Will get some more pictures up soon, it needs a really good clean to be honest and my steels are looking scabby, so am changing them, but i don't know what to yet (as I said previously have got more than a few sets lying around!!!)

I would say, that the chassis can handle a lot more power though

They certainly can! :)

Thats looking really good..

We are getting some really nice Mk2's on here!

I would say, that the chassis can handle a lot more power though

They certainly can! :)

Thats looking really good..

We are getting some really nice Mk2's on here!

Hopefully will be getting close to 2 1/2 times more power soon well once the 78 Derby is finished. Your Coupe inspired my to start with, thanks.

Well its a shed really, but a keeper. Really needs a respray, which some initial cleaning has really started to show

Think the quality in cars in general has been going up. With mk1's and mk2's people have them more now because they want them, and so want to spend the money on them now and can afford it, rather than just as a cheap run around. So now they are getting better and better :-)

Time for some updated photo's i think!!!

So got the car back from Phil and it needed a little clean, so gave it a quick one, and took a couple of photo's....

So it had a good three stage clean, as well as the bump strips being removed, clear side repeaters and the the arial, which was replaced with a bung. Will be doing each panel properly when I have time over the next few weeks, as well as putting the rear badges back on.

Now the wheels were letting the car down, but although they looked ok from a distance, they had been painted a while ago and had some stone chipping and some rust had started..... so i looked at the Derby sitting there and a plan was hatched....

Well these wheels are only temporary until i get one of my other 14's onto the car. Unfortunately being only down 60/40 i think there is too much arch gap..... However in the mean time i will be getting some spacers for the rear!!!

So not much to do now....

Proper clean inside and out

Change wheels

Derby front, with a twist

board and carpet the boot

fit a decent stereo and door pods from phil

maybe a chip and filter

That will be it, until i can get the G40 out of my Derby and drop that in this coupe definately needs more power!!!

ANd a pic of the Deby i keep mentioning.....

Was gonna keep the G40 engine in there and turbo it, but means too much chopping of a mint and original shell (was previously Rotrex charged to avoid this), so its going down the 16v bike carb route in the summer....

great job! please tell me something about the used polish... i have got the same mission tornadopink should become red again

Well part of what would be a deep clean

what I did

wash

clay

wash

megs stage 1 deep clean

polish, with megs 83 with a g220, or depending how bad some of the panels, some megs 80 or poor boys ssr 2.5

if you haven't got access to a machine polisher, I would use megs stage 2 and really work it in, then some of that colour polish... Usually wouldn't mention it, but think it actually works on pink cars!!

Then I sealed it with some wolfgang (think it's called that) protection

then as many layers of wax you want to do

for the trim, tried some black wow and some megs trim detailer

I need to do it all again, I just didn't have the time to do it to the standard i want, couple of swirls, bit of polish splatter in creases and shuts and wheel arches not as good as they could be.

Then there is the inside and engine bay to do!!

looks awesome, wish my mk2 coupe was as clean as this, also any vids of the exhaust?

It's not that clean close up few dents in it and around it from when it was the girlfriends (now wife) from when she was learning to drive and gaining experiance. Plus the nearside wing has been sprayed in the past and its not great, masked round everything although the colour match is good, and also the drivers door is bent, from being broken into years ago

Vid of the exhaust..... no point really what you see in the pics is what you get (well not the skid plating yet, as people have asked for them) its custom and i asked Phil to keep it quiet and the noise is a little over stock, i have two kids and am not a chav!!! He did a very good job on it and i am really pleased with it, though the tailpipe will be shortened slightly soon...