Hellooo

I'm Tom and I'm driving to MOnoglia AND BACK AGAIN this summer in a 1993 Polo 1.0L which has a genuine 20thou on the clock!

Firstly is anyone else doing the mongol rally this summer?

Secondly what servicing do people recommend I do on the car before I go.

Thinking oil/pads/air filter/all fluids etc, but do you reckon I need to do the cambelt as it has such low milage...bearing in mind its hopefully gna do up to a 20000 mile round trip!

Mods proposed for the car are

Roofrack

Sump/fuel tank bash plate

larger wheels

bonnet scoop for cooling in the desert of kazaksthan!

12v-240v inverter

'rally' mudguards (just for show lol will prob fall off)

maybe a winch?

I want to put a bullbar on but not really sure how to go about this one!

any suggestions?

Also any niggles with the car I should know about? I'm hoping as its a VW its gna be reliable!

Cheers Tom

pics uploaded of the beast soon! :)

Here are some pics :)

Edited 2 July, 201016 yr by arkell

Sounds fun.

As for the cambelt surely a £5 belt seems a good idea to replace?

Also i thought it was against the law to fit bullbars to a car not designed with them?

I dunno is it aagainst the law? thought it'd come in useful for avoiding yaks/camels/horse etc!

Might need to check the rules, but when my housemate did it, they had to use a vehicle that was under a certain age?

yeah I'm not doing it as part of the 'official rally', neither am I importing the car to mongolia. I intend on turning around and driving back! (or if all else fails burn the plates, scratch out the VIN etc and fly home!)

Golf springs for a bit more ride height?

Not sure about a fitted winch, catch with them is if you end up nose in somewhere and need to come out backwards, if your winch is on the front, you're a bit screwed (especcially if you landed on it). If you go on towsure, they do boat puller (manual winch) for about £20.

they're pretty high standard arent they...suppose it'll be carrying a fair bit of weight so might look into that.

yeah sacked off the winch idea i think. too much hassle!

I did the round trip in 2008, and one way in 2007 in a polo.

I'd advise you get a really good sump guard, and an even better fuel tank guard.

All the polos in 2007 either had the fuel tank, or the gearbox ripped open in Mongolia.

A little more height would be good to prevent this too.

My sump guard got so battered it fell apart.

The fuel tank got a hole, and the gear selector rod got bent.

Which left me with the option of 3ed, 4th and reverse. Or 1st and 2ed, depending on how we fixed the rod.

We had to mount the fuel tanks on the roof.

The master cylinder also broke,

the suspension also broke (all four corners),

the ignition system also broke,

the mounting that holds the carb to the manifold also broke (no idle),

the head lights fell out,

the horn also broke,

the hand brake also broke,

the car drowned in a river and everything got soaked (I was sat upto my knees in cold water),

rear drivers side calliper failed in Mongolia,

Basically it's easier to say the things that were still working.

The window wipers were great.

But the washers didn't work because we robbed the tubing to ghetto rig the fuel tanks to the roof.

Forget the bonnet scoop. All it'll do is cover everything in the engine bay with dust.

corossion of the fuel filler neck is a problem with these. might want to look into that as mine recently went just because of all these f**king pot holes on the roads!

roof mounted fuel tank?

get some golf springs, and some 14" wheels on it.

get as many guards for the underside of the polo.

Would you maybe benefit from a GT gearbox? (shorter ratios, so less strain on the engine?)

@Varnish haha sounds like you had a good time though

Some useful info about your trip there thanks, will be looking into all of this. Sump and fuel tank guard seem a big priority then. Will also be looking at raising the ride height. which golf springs would fit best dyou think?

I would love a subaru justy lol but got this mk3 polo for free and its got such low mileage I'm hoping it'll be reliable!

@Varnish were you ragging the little thing or were your breakages just par for the course?!

A low mileage car sounds like an easy solution,but a seventeen year old head gasket will be rotten,and oil that old wont be protecting the gearbox too well either.

If you got the car for free and intend to go for a 20,000 mile drive then you'll be prepared to invest in a bumper to bumper service,including all those things that fail periodically long term,and whilst items such as belts/gasket/waterpump are obvious,you'll have to give the car your strictest pre-Mot check,making sure items such as CV joints,suspension bushes and joints,wheel bearings,alternator bushes etc,etc are in excellent order.

Simple answer springing to my mind for the tank is to bolt one inside the car. Some models had a wide radiator so it may pay to fit one of these. And you should fit a new thermostat housing whilst you inspect the pipework,as these fail when tested or old,too.

That's all good advice.

But you don't have to rally prep the car to WRC standards!

They have cars in every country in the world. And they all need to maintain them.

I've had car's fixed in Czech Republic, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia etc

Don't sweat it too much.

Putting the tank in the car is a good idea.

I'm not sure how practical that would be, Polo's are not the biggest of cars.

I'd rather keep the boot space for things that have to be locked away inside the car, and make a crazy mad yo tank guard.

Edited 23 March, 201016 yr by varnish

That's all good advice.

But you don't have to rally prep the car to WRC standards!

They have cars in every country in the world. And they all need to maintain them.

I've had car's fixed in Czech Republic, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia etc

Don't sweat it too much.

my mates doin this this year. it sounds amazing and the videos on youtube look like it would be a proper good laugh. gonna have to make some plans for doin it some time me thinks

For anyone intersted search facebook for "Arkell and Wade are attempting to drive to Mongolia...fools" to see progress etc!

new pics added. What you think? Need to find a new door and reckon a body shop will have to do the sills and frame a bit..

**update**

My uncle has kindly welded a new sill in and the door is on

Car failed its MOT yesterday on about 20 different things lol!

took in for retest today and it passed!

Got a LOT of work to do on the car over the next few days as planning on leaving 5th July!

Got:

New Fuel tank- going to weld a fat guard to it then fit it

Spring assistors- as its gna be under a lot of weight

Cam Belt/ oil/filter/ head gasket/ fan belt/ fluids etc

Roof bars and a bloody great old BMW roofrack going on

Got 5 brand spanking off road tyres to go on her

weld a toolbox in the boot

weld mesh over rear windows and tint them

ermmm

bonnet scoop!

spot lights

fire extinguisher

prob more stuff but cant remember

oh yeah lots of cool graphics/sponsors etc to go on her

Also SUMP GUARD ARGHHHH WHEN AM I GNA HAVE TIME TO MAKE ONE!!!!

I AM EXCITED

pics tomorrow :)

sweet plans and good luck

Best get these spotlights sorted if your leaving that soon

I'll take a pic now and get it sent over.

YOU HAVE TO BE REPPIN' A CLUBPOLO STICKER... Can one of these admins sort him a free one? and some goodies? :p

Car is looking good- I'm so confident in it I took it for a spin down the A14 and nearly hit 65mph! WOW! (lol)

Been doing some measuring for a sump guard;

Going to take some sheet steel, 750mm wide, and mount it to the anti-roll bar mounts I think... but then not really sure where to mount the back end of it...where would you suggest?!

Car has racing stripes and a bonnet scoop on it now! Angle grinded a hole in the bonnet and araldited some mosquito netting to keep any grit out. Looks ruuuuuuude boii! pics in a min!

Put some mud guards on all 4 wheel arches too for that 'rally' look....made from this hard foamy stuff that was lying around...going to fall off immediately...

Edited 27 June, 201016 yr by arkell

Some pics....GOT SO MUCH MORE TO DO BUT SO LITTLE TIME!!

Author...

Damage repair...you'd never guess it was hit by a bus at 30mph!!! well...maybe a bit....seeing as the door barely closes unless slammed fuckin ahrd!!

Got some spring assistors to stiffen the back suspension too to cope with all the extra weight of three 6ft slightly overweight blokes and their kit!

i wanna see it on off road tyres

Best of luck chaps.

We're picking up some tyres from SouthWestVW's who have kindly donated some

Cant remember the exact size might be something like 180/80/13 but either way they should be more chunky than standard! They MIGHT be offroad tyres I cant remember- would be saweeet!