just added myself onto your faceboo page, fair play for doing this guys...

its not going to be easy...

are you going to raise the height of the car?

and three of you in there with luggage and the size of those tyre walls, you might be scrubbing..

We have some spring assistors to help cope with the extra weight but otherwise no...should be okay...honest...fingers crossed...deep breath...

We'll be updating the fb page with our progress along the way if we can find internets!

good luck and god speed

Good luck with it. Looks like you will need some..

What's the point in the bonnet vent? Kill the engine with dust quicker??!

Gonna be close on scrubbing :(

we're having the tyres fitted on thursday so if they dont fit I'm sure we can find some others. The current ones are okay but only just passed MOT- not sure we want to drive on them tbh!

As for the bonnet vent, it's purpose was to help cool the engine in the desert but lets face it it is mostly for show! It has a large grill, then a smaller grill, and then an extremely fine mosquito mesh covering that triangular hole, so think its fairly dust proof. Also dust etc is going to be flying through the vw front grill and from the underside of the engine and from the gap between the bonnet panels etc so not REALLY going to make a difference on the whole dust front now is it

Picking up International driving license tomorrow and then fitting roofrack, spring assistors and doing the cambelt/oil/filter/fluids service etc

I'm stoked.

i really hope you guys know what you're letting yourself in for... it'll be an experience, that's for sure. However, something tells me it's kind of a last minute thing and hasn't been thought out at all!

you can't just rely on the fact that the car's low mileage, it's old... old cars break! parts get worn out over time, not just miles.

infact, i'd rather have a well maintained high mileage car than an unloved low miler.

do any of you have any mechanical experience or experience with polo's at all?

buy sum coilies.. and higher them

coilies are stupidly expensive on mk3 polos and you leave the cars there, fuck that when coilies are worth 5 times more than the car!

panda - I'm sure the car will break but there will be plenty of foreign pikey mechanics willin to lend a hand, or a trucker happy to ratchet strap you to the back =D

yeah if its any help bare in mind that mk1 golf coilovers will fit the back, am sure if you look about/ ask/beg someone will have an old set that you would be able to have to raise the back slightly then you have the front....

do any of you have any mechanical experience or experience with polo's at all?

Ermm not a great deal with Polos. We're doing a full service/oil/filters/ timing belt and headgasket this evening so should learn a thing or two. I'm fairly competent at working on my motorbike and one of the lads coming does mechanical engineering at uni so we're no strangers to gettin our hands grubby...although we're definnitely not experts!!

The lads at RAF Wyton workshops are kindly supplying us with sheet metal to make a fuel guard, sump guard bash plate, brake line and fuel line guard and then we're gna weld a thick lump of steel over where the gear selector rod is...car should be pretty sturdy after all that...

Spring asssistors have raised the rear height of the car by about 3/4" for a little extra ride height and stiffness

Spending this morning fixing a bench to our roofrack so we can sit on top and get a tan when driving through the desert!- although this could end in tears...

Basically we're not completely incompetent but arent taking it TOO seriously either. We want to have a laugh after all! We've been planning routes/getting visas etc for the last few months and have a pretty complete itinarary.

Thanks for all the positive advice guys and words of encouragement! Pics of car to follow this eve after more mods!

jesus, i actually thought this was a joke when i read the first post.

Thats actually really cool tho, all the best,ill have a look on facebook and follow your progress, although, i think youve picked the wrong car :p

how about one of these bad lads?

Oh yeaaa!

Haha I WANT THAT BULL BAR!!! where can I get one??! Keep the yaks/horse/camel out of the way :grin:

Made some progress today:

Cambelt, fanbelt, oil, filters, plugs etc

running saweeet

Its a right pig to get at through this hole!

Got a load of THICK stainless steel sheet for our various guards

So thick in fact that we couldnt bend it to make the sump/engine bash plate or fuel tank guard so its going back to the workshop and ho[pefully they can do it!

Got brake line guard on. Fcuking sturdy! Rivited on every few inches. No rock getting through there!

before:

After

Also welded a bit on the exhaust to try and stop it from catching on stones...could be in vain though!!

And also welded a thick piece of stainless steel over the gear selector rod. The sump/bash plate will go over this but it's jjust additional protection

Going to be fitting the main bash plate and fuel tank guard on friday :)

woop

your all completely mad but this is turning into a wee little beastie

Dude your going to have a great time.

My advice would be take it slow.

A lot of polos have been driven to Mongolia. But none that I saw would ever make it back again.

Your prep work now will pay dividends later on.

Good stuff bro.

I'm very jealous, I'd love to be going again.

**UPDATE**

2 days until we go!! Got a lot to sort out!

Did a 600mile round trip in the Polo to Bristol/exeter/devon to pick up car graphics and some items from sponsors. Polo was perfect and didnt skip a beat. Averaged 38mpg, doing a healthy 70-75 on the motorway most of the way. Found out the tank does about 360miles from full which is reasonable.

Ian at SouthwestVW's kindly gave us 4 chunky tyres, a battery and lots of good advice!

Papadeli in Bristol have given us a buff hamper of food for the trip!

Polysigns made all the graphics for us foc which is awesome

FFC in Finedon, Northants have let us use their workshop and my Uncle is helpin us do some of the work

We have the graphics on and the car is lookin pimp! Spent this evening getting the major bash plate on. Welded on some box to give it more strenght and welded a beam behind the cat to attach it to (and used standard sump guard holes at front) Bash guard is made from 2.5mm stainless steel and is strong as fuck! We were mashing it with a sledgehammer and it didnt even flinch.

Anyway I'll let the pics do the talking. Still have to put on fuel guard as the new fuel tank only arrived late this evening. Thats a job for tomorrow...running out of time though!!

Well the car is virtually done now. Just got to pop on new fuel tank and plate tomorrow morning.

Check out how it looked when first sat on my driveway. what a heap of sh*t!

And to compare...

How it stands now:

Pimpin'. I am super-excited.

Spares we are taking: If anyone has any other recommendations please pipe up!

Fuel tank (maybe)

Fuel Pump

fuel filter

Distributor/ rotor arm etc

fan belt(s)

HT leads

Plugs

4 wheels + tyres

B8rz.... B Eight Are EZ (batterez- me was tryin to save time)

random bits and bobs like nuts washers clips wheel nuts hosesetc

prob some other things cant think of them though!

I wouldn't take a full fuel tank, if you're in doubt about it, either change it before you go, or plaster the neck-tank joint with shit loads of firbreglass. The jerry can's a good move though.

Full set of bulbs and a good handful of fuses for sure.

Springs seem to take a lot of hammer on the ones that have done the journey.

Chuck a bottle of k-seal and radweld in as well, cause you never know. Likewise a bag of bits of wire and terminals and a test meter.

If your distributor's of uncertain age, definately take a spare in case of the dreaded hall sender failure.

clutch cable and handbrake cable wouldn't hurt to take

good work on the guards

nutters! but in all honesty i hope you make it and fly the flag for old polos everywhere

Take a spare coil. They can fail with very little warning too.

good luck mate

the "B8rz.... B Eight Are EZ (batterez- me was tryin to save time)" bit made me piss too

wee update as am currently staying with a friend of a friend in Baku, Azerbaijan and he has a frickin saweeeet apartment!

Car done 4500 miles so far, and the only hiccup has been when I drove through a pond and the car bogged down and stalled for a bit....quick blast down the motorway in Georgia and Das Hog was right as rain :)

This is an EPICtrip!

Ferry to Kazaksthan tomorrow hopefully! For more updates see facebook page!

wee update as am currently staying with a friend of a friend in Baku, Azerbaijan and he has a frickin saweeeet apartment!

Car done 4500 miles so far, and the only hiccup has been when I drove through a pond and the car bogged down and stalled for a bit....quick blast down the motorway in Georgia and Das Hog was right as rain :)

This is an EPICtrip!

Ferry to Kazaksthan tomorrow hopefully! For more updates see facebook page!

say hi to borat for me and goodluck