yes yes yes metal flake

Can't go wrong with metalflake on this build, in fact it might be criminal of me not to.

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This is another one of those "I'm bored and not tired enough to go to bed yet, what can I do on the car quick?" updates.

For those of you following along at home, if you've got a Polo tailgate panel you'd like to retrim you will need:

>Scissors

>Wilkinson's "Glu & Fix" all purpose extra strong adhesive

>Fabric of choice

>Polyester wadding sheet (PWS)

>Sharp precision craft knife

To start, I laid the tailgate trim panel on the PWS with the fixing studs removed. If you're unsure then do clean the trim panel so the glue works, but I found this wasn't necessary as my panel was already clean enough. Cut the PWS oversize by about an inch and likewise with your cover fabric.

I didn't photograph the next stage, but apply a spiralling line of the glue around the edge of the front face of the panel before pressing the PWS to it, once dry lay the cover fabric face-down followed by the PWS covered panel. This is why you need to cut the PWS and fabric oversized.

First, apply a bead of glue to the edge of the trim panel and fold the PWS over, there's no need to pull it taught as you'll just tear it, the PWS only needs a gentle press to make it stick down.

Once that's dry, fold the cover fabric over. You may need to trim the PWS back to allow the cover fabric to glue to the back of the trim panel, but you should have allowed yourself plenty for this.

Personally, I always glue the top edge followed by the bottom edge as this allows me to keep the pattern nice and straight. I then glue the centre of the sides before tackling the corners. Corners are difficult to explain and it's a bit of trial and error, but you want to fold the fabric around a bit at a time making it as flat as possible and avoiding points on the edges. Additionally, you don't want too much thickness of fabric where the trim studs push through as they won't then be able to work.

Eventually, when you've fettled the corners, you should end up with something like this. I didn't pull the fabric super-tight as I wanted to hide that bump in the top of the panel and allow the trim studs enough fabric to pull in nice and snug to give a buttoned finish.

Next job is to get the craft knife and carefully find where the trim stud holes are. Push the knife through the fabric from the front straight through to the back and then again to make an X in the hole. No need to make this a massive hole as the smaller the hole you can get the trim stud through, the better it will hold the fabric and the less likely that it will fray or tear.

After you've poked each hole, push a trim stud in straight away. I find this helps prevent the fabric from wandering and keeps everything lined up. Additionally, try and work symmetrically. I did the top centre two studs, then the bottom centre two and then each corner, this is important to keep the pattern straight and the tension nice and even.

This was a very quick panel to trim as it's not at all fussy. The final job was to trial fit it on the tailgate itself which is when my camera packed up again so the images aren't the best. I'm missing 2 trim studs, but I like the look of this so much I'm going to use the same method to fit the new door cards so I'll be buying some more anyway.

This has given me a definite direction for the door cards and I'm considering getting some similar thickness plastic to the tailgate panel as it would be waterproof, lightweight and flexible while still be fairly tough. The rear door cards will need a bit of thinking about if I'm going to still use the originals, so they might end up getting made from scratch too now that I've seen how well this has turned out.

Rear door cards are easy to make as they are a flat shape. The fronts are a bastard due to the door shape, and the way they bow out. I made a couple of rear door cards in about half an hour. Then realised couldn't make a decent job of the fronts so had to bun them off.

Panel looks good, if not my forst choice of fabric . Have you ever trimmed a contoured piece, such as the original door cards? I'm going to trim mine, but I'm looking for some tips on how to get a nice flat finish on the recess of the card.

Two ways to trim contoured pieces, and it's down the fabric you use. If you can get hold of a stretchy fabric, ideally a bi-directional stretch, then you can generally persuade it to follow whatever contours the piece has with a bit of patience. If you're using a non-stretchy fabric, then you need to make up some patterns, take the recess on the rear door cards as an example; I'd make a template that was on the most part a flat sheet but with a fillet for the arm rest so that when sewed together, it matched up with the shape. Getting it to then fit flat and snug is a little harder.

To make flat panels for the front doors, the door card material has to be very lightweight to compensate for that central bar and to pull in far enough for the door release handle. This is why I'm thinking of using cardboard or sheet plastic as it should follow the lines as I want. You could get around some of the curve by putting a spacing strip around the edge of the panel to bring it more level with the protruding bar, but I'm not sure that it would look as smart.

I'll report on progress of however I manage to do it, I'm pretty sure I understand why my previous efforts haven't worked as well as I'd like and that I now know how to get a new card to fit, I just need to get the right materials together.

They're the only two ways eh? As i thought. We've tried the fillet method to no avail. Just couldn't get it the right shape, and then fit snug. The new material I have has a bit of stretch to it.

I considered spacer around the front door card, but as you say, it wont look as smart. How do you intend getting around the recessed door handle? Will you just have the pull-rod coming in at an angle, or will you make a recess?

If I can get a strong and light enough material for the new front door card, there's no reason I can't make it fit behind the trim for the door pull release and over the bar. In theory, if the panel is padded and the fabric not pulled too tight, there should be enough leeway in it to go in and out where I need it to. Apply some trim studs like those on the tailgate panel around the edge and the whole thing should fit snugly and simply. I think the key will be to add a little extra thickness of door card material around the holes for the window winder, door pull and door release so they don't deform with use. We'll have to see by trial and error, I document the mistakes here so other people can avoid them!

There may be other ways to retrim, but the two I mentioned are the only ones I know of for this job that I could do myself.

Looks like the Polo is in for the long haul. I've been working out the plans for what to do while the car is in bits and primarily I'm going to continue focusing on sorting out interior parts and the black paint. In addition to that, as soon as I land a new job I'm going to be saving up to definitely get the roof, side scoops, tailgate panel and engine bay treated to lashing of heavy red metalflake. The engine and probably gearbox will be treated to black gloss with small gold edge details while the interior will see a new black carpet, custom dash treatment and more of that hideous gold brocade about the place.

This means I'm likely to evict the Princess from the garage later this year so I can get the Polo in there to have the engine removed for more prep work in readiness to farm out the metalflake work to a professional rather than DIYing it. I can do all the prep myself, but I'm not confident I can get the look I want from the metalflake by myself and really, I'd rather someone else did it for me if I can afford it.

Oh, and I might be farming the seats out too so they can be retrimmed in better vinyl and the existing corduroy-and-jacquard facings but without the piping. I don't want to do the seats myself again, I'd rather a pro deal with those for me.

Little update here. I finished off polishing the grille bars and intended to have this all bolted up and ready to fit to the car, but I seem to have misplaced the nuts and washers I need to finish the job off properly. I found that Autosol gave me an adequate finish after sanding the paint off with 400 grit. Ideally, I should get the bars all properly polished but right now, I'd rather the whole thing be in situ on the car so I don't keep having to find safe places to put it.

Pleased enough with the result so far. The little spikes under the red bars are what will hold the bottom edge of the grille in place, the top edge is held in with the original VW grille screws, handily.

Once fitted, I'm hoping this will have a 'floating bar' look to it.

Once I find the relevant fixings, which I've obviously put Somewhere Safe, I can get the grille in place. The headlight brackets aren't far off being fitted either, they're mostly just waiting on fixings and a bit of trimming for one side.

Little bit of an update here.

Mikeknight gave me a pair of chromed bonnet struts that he'd got for his MG but found were unsuitable for the purpose he got them. I was hoping to use them on the Princess to replace the tired struts, but they're too short for that so I tried them out on the Polo and am pleased to report they fit very nicely indeed.

No more will I accidentally headbutt the bonnet prop when doing stuff on the engine! Hoorah. I was quite pleased at how easy these were to fit too, just a case of removing a couple of bolts to put the strut-bolts in. The two wing bolts I removed can go on the A-pillar because I'd lost a couple of bolts for that part of the wing some time ago.

This is the fiddliest bit as there's not much access for fingers to get that nut in place.

I've also got to realign the bonnet, but since it's likely going to come off for the paint to be finished I wasn't too fussed at the moment.

Huzzah! good to see the grill near completion. also the gas strut makes life nice and easy, I enjoy just releasing the bonnet and it gently lifting to position.

I need to be motivated enough to turn the struts around at some point, they'll look tidier and be less prone to getting tools and whatnot bashed on the piston as someone pointed out to me. Can't fit the grille yet, I'm waiting on being able to re-borrow Dad's tools or to get lucky with a job application so I can buy my own. The front end is really close to being put back together now but I'll likely pull it apart shortly afterwards so I can lift the engine out and give everything a proper clean and repaint.

No point doing half a job, I've got the Princess for daily duties so the Polo can have some love and money spent on him for once.

Wish I had a welding machine right now, I've just discovered that fitting the Corsair lights is actually going to be less hassle than previously imagined. For some odd reason, I'd mocked up the Corsair lights on Photoshop and never in the real world.

So, the original plan of this is not going to happen, awesome as it looks.

Instead, they're going vertically as Ford intended in the holes that VW made the wrong shape.

There is work to do to make this happen. For the purposes of the photograph, the clusters are wedged in with the top bolt and bottom bulb holder and will sit slightly differently when completed. I need to redrill the bolt locations, but it looks like they should fit on the VW frame once I have and not foul anything important or look out of place. I could hunt for different lights, but I think the Corsair lights will work very well once the modifications to the rear wings are sorted out

Once that's been done, the plinth that usually goes beneath the old light cluster has to have some of the metal cut away so the new cluster fits flush and doesn't stand too proud. I'm not making these lights into fins as I don't think it will look as good as having them flat fit with the surrounding bodywork tweaked.

I'll be keeping the aluminium trim, which means the very edge of the tailgate will need reprofiling to accomodate. Not much needs coming off, just a bit of a shave and reweld to match the new cluster shape.

By trimming the edge of the tailgate, I get to keep the original seal and lock locations which is a very good thing. The light clusters do then just fit within the confines of the body shape and providing the end of the wing is profiled correctly it shouldn't look bodgey.

Some of the above photographs make it look like the clusters are a shade too big, but that's mainly down to the angle of them for the photograph, there's millimetres of difference in the actual widths so it should all go together neatly. I'll make up some cardboard templates before cutting anything so that I know exactly what I need to make up new for this to work.

I'll be happy to get out of work limbo, I can start throwing money at this then which I really need to do.

Holy carp, I attacked the car with an angle grinder! It's okay, I have a plan. I've been thinking about how best to fit these Corsair lights, and what would require the least amount of materials and fabrication without compromising the end result. If I had a welding machine, I would have made a start on some of the fabrication too, but I'm lacking in quite a few tools at the moment, namely the drill which I forgot Dad had borrowed back from me so once again, the light cluster doesn't sit as flush as it will when this is done.

I decided it best to attack the dented side rather than repairing it to stock. After fiddling about with cardboard and eyeballing stuff I decided the best course of action was just to set to with the old rhubarb and custard machine and make the car the right shape for what I wanted to do. Note: I hadn't lined the cluster up perfectly in this shot, as you'll see later.

If I'd had the power drill, I would have drilled the new top bolt hole so this sat flush, but for now this is what I've done and this is my thoughts on it. As you can see, the little plinth that usually sits under the Polo lights has had the face cut away to let the Corsair lights sit inside it, matching up with the original mount.

I've not decided yet if I'm just going to get the bodywork to fit flush with the back of the cluster, or if I'm going to build the bodywork forward to french them in a little. I can't make a final decision on that until the tailgate is back on and the cluster bolted into place properly.

To get the cluster sitting properly, I plan to weld a whole plate over the original bracket and drill new relevant holes for the bulb holders and the bolts so it all fits properly.

There will likely be nothing needed on this side of the bodyshell, it all lines up as good as it needs to.

This is the side that will need the bodywork altering, though which direction I go in exactly I've not yet decided. I'll make up my mind when the light clusters are bolted in place properly.

Here's what it looks like underneath. When the new plate is applied to the old cluster hole it will extend down into the old plinth and have a new curved piece added to bridge the depth and match the profile of the bottom of the Corsair cluster. The face of the plinth will need building up a bit too because I didn't get a good accurate cut here.

It should look good when done. The tailgate will need some shaving off the red section and probably a small peak cut out of the black top half just to get it to look right and not obscure the light cluster but that should also be a straightforward cut and weld job.

Now, if the agency pull their finger out and actually give me some paid work I can get this sorted out, it's the only thing holding me back on it really.

Not a lot has happened since the last update, aside from me regularly mopping the car out because my cover is full of tiny holes - I'm blaming the age of it, and cats. I'm lacking time, money and to a small degree motivation because of the aforementioned items. We'll get there though.

Recently, my brother bought himself a '99 Skoda Felicia LXi estate which we've been spending a lot of time cleaning out. The other night we were looking at the Tarantula alloys on the Polo which, since getting those lovely Lancia wheels, I must admit I've fallen out of love with a bit.

We found out that the Felicia and the Polo share all the same vital statistics so tried a little experiment.

Hmm, that fits slightly nicer than the Tarantulas and the design is in keeping with what I have planned. The shape of the wheel centre with the hub cap on isn't too dissimilar to the Lancia alloys either.

The steels are a bit thinner and the tyres a bit taller, but they fit with a bit more room to spare.

Not only that, I love how they look up front.

Currently, the plan is to just change the centre cap badges for VW or Wolfsburg or something else appropriate and leave the steels as they are for now. Best of all, my brother likes the Tarantulas better on the Skoda and I must admit I think they look more at home there than on the Polo, so everybody wins! Well, once he gets some better looking tyres on them.

bought this abandoned project and in the middle of putting it back

to standard-ish spec, hope to have it done for summer.

You've bought it off the Angyl?

Gees, Quite a bit of work getting it back to standard!

only a few holes to weld, that butcher job under the rear light

cluster and a plate on the floor near the front jacking point.

there was a lot more work on my coupe S.

i won't be documenting it to the Nth degree though, may post

pics up when there's summat to see.

That's a shame, this had potential to be something cool and unique.

yeah i really did like this build. shame to see it go back to standard

Wouldn't it make more sense to buy a standard Mk2 breadvan and put your efforts into restoring it, rather than taking on a half-finished project? It's not like they're expensive anyway.

I mean, to me, this looks like it needs a LOT of work to go back to standard-ish spec, and from the sound of it the body is a bit like a colander.

Edited 18 March, 201313 yr by Alex

Anythings achievable if you've got the time and money I guess :-). It also means that this ones on the road a while longer, rather than being an abandoned project that just festers until it's eventually carted off to the crusher!

unique ? yes. cool ? no.

thankfully i didn't get all the chrome.

if you saw the quality of the work done you'd think

it was a good job i took it away for £100. i don't have

a problem welding up all the holes that have been cut,

at least there aint much of a rust issue. it was offered

as a breaker and i was going to be collecting a complete

and running car, i didn't receive anything like that.

anyone who wants the 'unique and cool' seats can come and

collect them, i'll charge a 'unique and cool' price !

tbh i've got plenty of cars to play with but wanted something

to potter on at my g/f's house on a sunday, it beats wandering

around Ikea, or watching the telly, or kicking a pig's bladder around.

wanted something

to potter on at my g/f's house on a sunday

Sounds like you've got your priorities wrong for Sundays