Howdy all,

Long time VW owner first time Polo owner, I would like to say I love the car but since not being able to drive it yet I am unsure at the moment its clearly a love hate thing going on.

As I bought the car...

Looking quite tidy you might think, until you see her from her bad side..

I really really wanted a Lupo GTi and having missed out on a damaged one just two weeks prior to finding the Polo this was bought over the phone first big mistake

First impressions the damaged looked superficial and although once stripped it wasnt that bad it was worse than feared.

The impact had bent the wishbone, no surprises here the big shock was the gearbox unfortunately instead of the gearbox mount breaking it simply snapped a nice big hole in the weaker ali of the gearbox.

So out came the box,

The gearbox has now been welded by a guy in work, I am in the process of overhauling it with new seals (if VW can finally supply the right ones! ) and bearings, also whilst its out shes been treated to new Sachs clutch and clutch cable.

Sadly for the moment thats where the photos dry up, I had left my camera in work the last week so missed most of the work done which included straightening the inner wing slightly, replacing the wishbone (with incorrect balljoint ), bumper and n/x wing are now on all lined up and looking perfect

I have a brand new headlight to go in although plans might change to a set of tinted Angel Eyes, have just acquired a set of 16x9 and 16x7.5 inch rims from Germany and tonight I found when I removed the suspension strut that the car has been lowered on Spax Spring but unfortunately the previous owner decided these weren't low enough so chopped the springs There will be a set of coilovers on the way at some point new week

I dont want to break any rules regarding the "W4nted" section but I desperatley need a bonnet now so if anyone can help and if this does offend the mods feel free to delete this bit.

Oh and I did say I would introduce myself, heres a few of my past/present and future rides

VW Lupo, another car bought damaged (just 6 months old) and repaired I kept this about 12 months and gave it to my dad then my girlfriend had it for about 2 years and final I gave the car to my sister who still runs it daily (just 30K on the clock)

My Baby, its hard to believe that February just gone this year I have now owned this car 10 years! how time flys by.

One of the first cars (mk2 model) in the UK with a Mk3 dash fitted certainly the first LHD one fitted.

Sat with another Mk1 of mine.

Sadly the rallye blew its charger back in 2004 I did have a spare supercharger for it which was rebuilt by jabbasport, the car was taken to a CGTI meet at Manchester with new charger and on freshly refurbed wheels with Toyo Proxies upon returning home the car was stripped down for a rebuild and 1.8T swap (have engine for it) not long after that I bought my first house and the car has sat in my dads garage ever since.

Inbetween all of this I restored a caddy, all bodywork done new floors, sills, entire front end... the list goes on and on it was used while I was doing up my house and building my garage then got parked up and left, its another of them one day maybe projects.....

Just a handful photos wont bore you all too much.

And lastly (Thank god I hear you all cry :-D ), my current restoration a 1972 Devon Moonraker Camper, this has now been ongoing about 12months.

As bought after a good slamming

Lots of body work needed

Brand new engine built (mocked up here, no tinware)

Then I built this to do the floors/sills

Makes working here alot nicer

I've missed hundreds of photos and man hours of work out there but now is not the time or the place,

Well if you have made it this far thanks for looking, I promise only Polo photos from now on :-D and there'll be plenty more of them!

Edited 30 April, 200917 yr by 89rallye

Fair play, you've been busy! Some cool projects there, will look forward to seeing how the Polo comes along.

thats mint

great engineering going on

just your taste in wheels is abit....wet

still tho, nice motors.

hope the polo comes on well!

just your taste in wheels is abit....wet

I hope you mean the cars themselves (Or do I?) but one thing I can do is wheels! I just didnt want to post too many non polo photos on a polo forum

Caddy wears these with stretched arches...

And these are brand new in the box waiting for my Rallye (they'll be there a while )

And a 20valve Haldex'ed Rallye WET?? (fair enough its not built yet but all the bits are there waiting)

Oh and there wheels in the post for the Polo not as nice as them about imo but sweer all the same, so watch this space.

Edited 29 April, 200917 yr by 89rallye

i retract my comment

vw god

i retract my comment

vw god

lol, far from it

Edited 2 May, 200917 yr by 89rallye

Awesome collection of cars there mate, look forward to seeing the polo finished :-D

Right then, a few more photos of the Polo as she now stands.

New (to me ) Front wing and bumper now on and checked for fit, wanted to try it with the headlight but thats down in me dads and they are on holiday at the moment.

I did have the car back on its wheels but wasnt happy with the alignment of the n/s front wheel it appeared to be sitting approx 1/2" back in the arch, so I stripped the suspension leg to make sure nothing there was bent then discovered that I have been supplied the wrong balljiont as the GTI one is offset to accomodate the bottom of the hub assembly.

Also I have never been happy with the way the car was sat, damage aside the polo was leaning at the n/s/rear (you can see this in the very top/1st photo) removing the front suspension I know now its nothing to do with the damage but someone has botched the springs and cut them down so now the upper bearings/bushes dont actually fit into the spring.

Few of the gearbox in bits,

and the excellent welded repair which has saved me alot of hassle.

New Sach clutch fitted, I have to go back to VW to sort out the correct seals for the gearbox so thats really as far as I can go until I sort out parts and also a bonnet & bonnet catch. Really trying to keep everything genuine VAG parts hence using second hand bits but trying to find a bonnet local to me is proving difficult. Might end up stmping out the £180 VW wants for a genuine one.

Photos will get a bit more interesting next week when I plastic weld the front bumper (small hole in one side) and maybe smooth them, still undecided on this although I do like this look cause I think they look like a big Lupo GTI when there smoothed,

Might badge it as a Pupo, then again maybe not

Edited 30 April, 200917 yr by 89rallye

do a harlequin polo gti! phat.

do a harlequin polo gti! phat.

LoL, the green, black and silver actually go together really well but not a chance!

My G/Friend nearly bought on years back I hate them.

Edited 30 April, 200917 yr by 89rallye

Just a little update,

Progress on the Polo has been slow cause due to sourcing parts and waiting for delivery, parts include new brakes disks/pads all round, coilovers, FK angel eyes, Full Leather interior, new wheels, gearbox bits etc etc.

I think I have now got all parts needed apart from a bonnet catch and a water/washer bottle, doesnt anybody know if a Mk4 6n bonnet catch is the same as the 6n2 GTI? I know theres two types with and without microswitch for the alarm.

Anyway, gearbox is now all back together and in the car it drives in all gears smoothly apart from reverse which at the moment I cant select (an issue with the cables I need to adjust) which is probably due to the fact that reverse is actually 1st

New bonnet on, doesnt quite line up yet but thats an issue with the hinges being bent. I have a new set to go on once its all painted.

All new brakes fitted, had to make up a wind back tool for the rear callipers and yes I know the callipers want repainting but thats something that can wait till its at least road legal.

20 minutes to knock this up, quicker than going out and buying one. Its not pretty but did the job perfectly.

Coilovers fitted, still need adjusting cant really do this till I sort out the wheels and tyres. There only a cheap brand imported from Germany but they will do for what I want with the car.

Even though I have now sorted a new n/s Xenon light I had already bought the FK's, so for the time being I think they will be fitted.

Quite happy with the look of the lights although the angel eyes themselves are quite dim.

Started repairing/prep the front bumper (small crack/split in it) and preparing to flush the trim, hopefully by the time the weekend out it should be somewhere ready for paint. I also picked up a cheap rear bumper on Ebay so I can get that all flushed and painted with the rest, I was thinking about fitting rear quarter trim (as on the rear bumper) to the front just to be different but then decided it would be pants!

And lastly new wheels, (well new to me) 9x16s for the rear and 7.5's for the front.

Few random photos,

Its nice to finally have it running and driving, can finally see the end in sight shouldnt belong before its getting mot'ed!

Also cant wait to get the heated leather in, might have to paint the wheels a silly colour as its all starting to get a little dark and moody with all the black.

Edited 23 May, 200917 yr by 89rallye

White dishes with green centres would brighten it up

Seriously though, nice work!

That's great work buddy, would love to do something similar and manage to have a tidy car for cheap! Only bit I'm not a fan of is the smooth bumpers but that's just personal preference, I'm sure the work will be top notch!

Excellent progree and skills! Keep up the good work! Loving the car....

excellent thread cant wait for updates

great skills, if that lupo is anything to go by the polo will look great

keep up the good work

Cheers for the positive response guys! :-D Its much needed and appreciated at the moment cause the Polos starting to get me down.

Have everything up and running but still have a problem with the gearbox as I cant find reverse, I think/hope its a problem with the adjustment of the shifter but I cant actually get the gearbox intself into reverse manually.

Still looking for advice on setting up the cable shifter, was planning on sticking the box it into reverse sticking the shifter into reverse and tightening the cables??

As for the Lupo, strangely enough it started off in much the same state as the Polo

Still need bits too if anyone can help, now after a radiator fan, water/washer bottles, n/s front bumper guide.. theres more but cant remember right now.

great work mate, this is gonna look so nice. i like the camper van aswell, you done any more to this at all?

great work mate, this is gonna look so nice. i like the camper van aswell, you done any more to this at all?

Cheers mate, sadly not as far the camper goes. I work all sorts of crazy hours all over the country so time in the garage is few and far between these days and I made the decision not to touch the van at all until the Polo was more or less completed, mainly due to the fact I cant move in the garage with polo bits in the way :-)

If your interested though theres a build thread over on VOLKSZONE which shows it pretty much from start to present...

Tiny update, I've been working solid in London for the past 4 weeks and haven't really spent anytime at home let alone in the garage

Last weekend my dad managed to get the wings painted, but sadly they reacted so we had to sand them all down again and prime them up and start over.

Its not been too bad really other than a few dents in the bonnet to sort and one front corner of the bonnet where my dad dropped it

Today I also finaly got to the bottom of the problem with reverse, thankfully its not the box itself as I can manually select revers the shifter simply wouldnt move the selctor across enough to select reverse, after a little digging and thankfully having someone in the car to work the lever as I watched I found this.

The damaged bracket holds the bracket (highlighted below) for the selector cables steady and with this broken it wasnt allowing tension on the cables.

If anyone has one of these brackets I would be very grateful can pay via paypal :-)

Its not much further on although I have started to sound proof the boot and started on the install in the back nothing too lary, its all just a bit of fun this is no show car.

Hopefully better photos next time, wings are getting painted in the morning yay!

Looks like your into saving VWs from the big scrap heap in the sky

Decent collection of cars you've got there. I've got a Lupo myself, great little cars. There just fun, lol.

Are these the holy grail 9.5" Classics? Just they look much deeper than 8s. Unless its just the photo that makes them look deeper.

i think your beady eye's are correct young kam one

Looks like your into saving VWs from the big scrap heap in the sky

Decent collection of cars you've got there. I've got a Lupo myself, great little cars. There just fun, lol.

Are these the holy grail 9.5" Classics? Just they look much deeper than 8s. Unless its just the photo that makes them look deeper.

i think your beady eye's are correct young kam one

Indeed yor are correct with the Ats, I bought them brand new from Germany but stupidly I sold them last year on Ebay for a silly cheap price. Lupo's Gone now too although its still in the familly as I gave it to my sister, my nephew/godson has the lowest ride to school

Edited 27 June, 200917 yr by 89rallye

Also I have to say I am loving the look of the space saver, out of interest has anyone ever done banded space savers?? I have seen it done with Porsche space savers on aircooled vans but never on a water pumper.

I also found some more Ats porn

Edited 27 June, 200917 yr by 89rallye

they are lush to be fair