apart from the rust here and there that looks like a tidy purchase for £220

nice one mate

Looks like your getting busy here mate ..

You going for the whole new wing or going to weld a spot in ..

I think you would be best just going for the whole wing

Although colour matching it would be more difficult that just a small area.

I remember my old mk3 it started as a fox with the exact same interior / lack of interior as yours ..

Its suprising how cheap you can pick up a set of black doorcards and seats though

I managed to get a full interior inc parcel shelf for £50

Sprayed the headlining on my car black ..

Jobs a gooden ..

What are your plans for her then ?

I've welded it up for now. I looked at my bank balance this morning and it was a choice of being able to afford a new rear bumper or a new wing... so I decided on the bumper as I can weld metal, but not plastic!

As for plans - not much really. Just gonna tidy it up, practice in it and take my test in it. Then it'll have to be sold to pay for my dual controls in Herbie!

apart from the rust here and there that looks like a tidy purchase for £220

nice one mate

Ta! I'm very pleased with it actually. I wasn't bothered about the rust - a) cos of the price, and b) cos I can weld, so it wasn't really a problem. The main things I needed to be good on it, were the steering and the clutch - both of which are excellent!

After taking the ankle grider to the wing again to cut out the rust, I ended up with a significantly larger hole... oops! Ah well - all nasty rust is gone now!

I decided to weld a patch in from behind, as I thought it would be a neater job... so I did! Then more welds on the other side. Perhaps a bit over kill, but it meant less filler, which can't be a bad thing!

Welded in and half ground down:

A bit of filler was added:

Then panel wiped:

I don't think this bit of profile is right still... but I doubt it'll be too noticable:

I masked off the bits I didn't want to get any primer on, then sprayed it:

I'll put a few more coats of primer on it, then wet sand it and paint it in the morning.

Edited 10 June, 200818 yr by Shamrockez

I put the wing back on this morning. Still needs a bit of fettling to get it sitting right. The wings are glued on as well as bolted on, so bending the inner part where it bolts on is pretty much unavoidable. But it's gone from having no hope in hell of fitting, to being almost there, so I'm sure a few more pushes in the right diretion once it's settled will get it back into the right place. I still need to wet and dry the wing and polish it, so it's a little duller than the rest of the car at the mo. I also had to loose the side stripes cos they would have given me a thick line showing the difference between where I'd put new paint on and the old paint, so unfortunatly they had to go! Being worried about having a stripe-less car (once I've taken the other stickers off), I had to add more stripes! I shall get a pic of him with Robbie later on.

loooking good mate, but whats with the stripes on the bonnet and roof did you primer first or streight on with paint?

loooking good mate, but whats with the stripes on the bonnet and roof did you primer first or streight on with paint?

Cos I wanted a matching pair

Plus the Beetle is LHD, which i'm used to so I kept going to get in the wrong side of the Polo so now I just have to look at the stripes to know which side to get in!

Primer on the panel or on the stripes? Stripes are stickers. I primered the panel first, then paint.

Edited 12 June, 200818 yr by Shamrockez

I decided to attack some more of the rust today. Out came the ankle grinder.... as suspected, just bubbling and no holes:

So a skim of filler added:

And primered:

Rear arched primered and rubbed down ready for paint, but I can't find the can!

looking gooooood, ye i ment the paint not the stripes but they actually do look good when its next to the beetle

Really good progress thread this, good finish with the rattle cans aswell!

Got some paint on this evening:

I've done another couple coats after this one:

For my first go at colour matching I'm rather chuffed with myself! It's far from perfect, but I think it would be pretty hard to match 14yr old paint with a rattle can perfectly!

looking gooooood, ye i ment the paint not the stripes but they actually do look good when its next to the beetle

Yeah it looks less random when next to the Beetle lol. It felt weird driving something totally standard and with no stripes, so I had to do something!

Really good progress thread this, good finish with the rattle cans aswell!

Thanks I'm really pleased with the finish. It's not perfect but it certainly looks much better than with the bubbling and the paint flaking anyway!

I'm really, really chuffed at how well it's come out! I've never done little repairs before, or tried to match paint and suprised how easy it is to do a reasonable repair! It's given me so much more confidence!

I like working with Tornado Red... I touched in a couple of bits on my Golf and the paint match was dreadful, I was ready for blaming my prep skills or maybe the paint itself, but a good buff with cutting compound and an all over polish later, absolutely spot on.

You are turning what you bought as an average condition Mk3 Fox into something that should last a good few more years without bodywork issues. I like that... Be a shame to see it go to waste when you sell it!

Red pipping on the bumpers, will look sweet Lol, the finish you got was so much better than the finish I got with rattle cans! yess i'm booking mine into the body shop Haha

Yeah I'd like to put some red on the bumpers - I think it would tie it in well. Paint with rattle cans is pretty easy - you just have to practice. Take long sweeps, never stay in one place at a standstill and you'll be fine. Don't try and colour it in like you're using a giant crayon - I think that's where most people go wrong with spraying.

Yeah it should be a tidy little car for a few years to come yet. It's been an excellent learning curve for me. I would never have attempted this on my New Beetle just in case I messed it up - but I couldn't really make this one look 'worse' so I had nothing to loose.

Hopefully the next owner will keep it in good condition. I've got to sell it in the next month.... I'll be sad to see it go! :(

Yeah my prep work wasn't upto standards so it ruined what I was spraying. Noooo keep the wee polo, you love it really!!!!

I'm still impressed with how well the wheels came up! (The paintwork is pretty good too )

Is that Bilt-Hamber you've applied in post #20?

I have no idea what bilt-hamber is, but I used kurust in post 20, if that's what you mean?

I would love to keep it. I've really taken to it! But I've got to sell something to pay for the insurance and dual controls on my teaching car, and this is the one that's gotta go :( I'm having to take my red New Beetle off the road too - he's going to stay with my parents 200 miles away for a year or so until I can afford to insure him as well as my teaching car :(

Total respect, You've done some very similar repairs that I did to my mk2 breadvan.

I got bilt-hamber stuff called Deox gel which is like a paste that draws the rust out (it's amazing)where as the kurust converts the rust, can't comment on how good it is but looks like great work.

looks a fair job! just give it a little rub down with some p1200 wet, then polishing compound and wax and i bet no-one would even know!

Edited 25 June, 200818 yr by g40jon

not as in good nick as my fox but still nice by a long shot. :] what else you need for it? keep us updated

Total respect, You've done some very similar repairs that I did to my mk2 breadvan.

I got bilt-hamber stuff called Deox gel which is like a paste that draws the rust out (it's amazing)where as the kurust converts the rust, can't comment on how good it is but looks like great work.

Oh I see! Similar to what I used then, except better! Never heard of it before tho.

looks a fair job! just give it a little rub down with some p1200 wet, then polishing compound and wax and i bet no-one would even know!

yeah I was planning on rubbing it down with p2000 then G3, but it looks pretty well blended as it is, and I'm scared of messing it up now!

not as in good nick as my fox but still nice by a long shot. :] what else you need for it? keep us updated

All I need it to do is to survive for 2 weeks until I pick up my new New Beetle... then I gotta decide if I want to part ex it, or sell it myself... and if I sell it myself, should I put 12months MOT on it....