that curve is just right , has a 50s look to it , nice chrome trim along the top will finish it

Breaking the mould yet again! top marks for originality, its a fresh look in a sea of deep-dish and slam-it's.

@leonh: I like to be different.

@steveo3002: That's precisely where the inspiration is from, like much of the things I've done. Keeping my options open for the chrome trim.

Right well, since last update I've had a few interesting things happen. I've managed to acquire a bonnet mascot from a Ford 100E and some quad lights from a VW Type 4. This now means I have pretty much everything I need to complete the modifications when I've got the cash to go ahead with that lot. For all the car is broken at the minute, it feels like a blessing in disguise because the money I would have been spending on petrol is instead going on getting bits and pieces sorted out and making him more complete.

I'm very definitely going through a productive spell with the car at the moment, so there's likely to be lots of little updates over the next few days just like this one.

My replacement mirror arrived and while it's a bit smaller than anticipated it will do the trick. Some strong adhesive and preparation work and I now have a bodge-fixed passenger wing mirror ready to be fitted.

Parents gave me a lift down to Halfords to pick up some polishing gear. Went with the G3 and some Autoglym polish (because I'm an Autoglym whore) so I could crack on with having a go at polishing. Best of all, there was a 3 for 2 offer so I saved myself a tenner.

Decided to experiment to see how things work. I've not done this sort of thing for a while and G3 is new to me, as is having a machine polisher. I put some G3 on the rear quarter and gave it a go over and then applied polish. It came up great. The paint is nice and shiny with a good depth, but it's not flat, obviously.

This meant I could try out the recommended method of flatting back the paint down to 2000 grit before using polishing compound. I picked on the roof as it's the biggest, flattest panel. I was a bit heavy handed and took too much off in places with the 600 I started with but once I got the hang of how much to take off and how much to leave it went much better. Then it was a decent application of G3 which lead to a lovely satin finish before giving it a dose of finishing polish.

My extension cable wasn't long enough, so I could only do half the roof, lol.

However, I am happy with how it's come up. I need to invest in some small rollers to get a final smoother coat of paint on the roof after cutting it back again and doing this all over again, but I'm feeling more confident about how to work with the stuff. Having a machine polisher certainly makes life easier.

Some bits I went too far with, you can just about make out the slightly darker spot where the old paint shows through. I'm not going for patina here, but if I were I'd leave it as is.

And the doomy sky that made me stop work.

I've got a fortnight to get the car all shiny and shipshape, I reckon that I can do it if the weather is kind.

Update time again. I'm getting fed up of the weather, I really am. was supposed to be a lovely day all day, but I keep getting the odd spot of rain, a lot of cold wind and doomy clouds, so I've downed tools until tomorrow.

All was not lost though. I did get the whole roof flatted back ready for yet another coat of paint. With the way the roof is going I suspect it'll need another 2 or 3 coats before I can polish it up properly and there's bits on the rest of the car I'm noticing where I've clearly not done a good enough prep job, probably because at some points I was a bit rushed.

Then I stripped down the Type 4 headlamp units I've got. The original sealed beam lights will be binned and replaced with new modern units instead.

Although I couldn't fit these permanently yet, it gave me something to do. Had a good check to see how easy or difficult it'll be to slot everything in and it looks like I just need to modify/replace the old headlamp mounting brackets with something a bit further forwards. Should be fairly easy to do but time consuming.

Here you can see how the original bracket fouls the adjusters. It's the same issue both sides.

Thankfully, the new units aren't wide enough to foul the radiator or restrict any air flow.

They're also nice and shallow front to back.

I'm not sure what I'm doing with the original trims, they'll clearly need a lot of trimming down to fit especially since I couldn't even mock them up into place in stock form. I also suspect I might need to alter the shape of the bonnet edge a bit and maybe even the bit of metal below the lights. For the chasm between the new lights I've got some aluminium grille bars from a Triumph that I'll polish up and fit once they've been trimmed accordingly.

The last job I attempted was to fit the passenger wing mirror. But I think I've cross threaded the bolt and when the mirror jumped as I was unfastening the bolt and gouged a chunk of paint off I decided to just leave everything alone for the day before I made it any worse.

I will be very interested to see the new front end, It is great to see you doing the things others wouldn't dream of.

also if you don't like the new front end I have a mint(ish) four light grille with red stripe sat at home.........

How could you not like it?! looks amazing dude x

Loving the car more and more, the headlights have a real 70's Dolly Sprint look to them.

Life has been interesting. I still have the car, but now I live in a new house that has a garage in the garden.

I'm fed up of things needing maintenance and chasing problems caused by neglect so I've decided to rebuild the engine, a job that can be done for very little money even with brand new parts. I suspect my Pierburg-Solex carb is broken so I'm looking at replacing that. I also suspect that, due to water out the exhaust, the coolant system not pressurising and the wobble in the edge of the visible head gasket, that the head gasket has blown on cylinder one again.

However, this is not a setback, merely an opportunity. The engine will go back in like new, fully detailed. The engine bay will get cleaned and painted. The double headlamps and a custom grille will be going on.

This will take me at least 6 months, probably more. Frustrating being without my own car for the meantime but it will be worth it in the end, of that I'm positive.

He pretty much looks like this at the moment. I've never done an engine rebuild before so there's a buttload of labels and photographs on everything and I'm taking my time to get things done right since I'm learning as I go.

You can play catch up here: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?...305&page=31

Might want to get yourself a decent heater for the winter, working in the cold a few times might seriously put you off doing more.

Edited 7 November, 201114 yr by MattLoaf

I look forward to seeing the finished result always a good update from you.

also, matt obviously doesn't have the blue blood of a scotsman, I once replaced the windscreen on my mk2 in the snow. stupidest thing I ever did.

also, matt obviously doesn't have the blue blood of a scotsman, I once replaced the windscreen on my mk2 in the snow. stupidest thing I ever did.

I blame my dad, he's from Birmingham.

bloody midlanders, not quite as refined as southerners and not as hard as northerners, can do anything without striking about it.

My bro and I get a couple of hours a day in the garage before the cold gets too much (I'm still recovering post surgery, he's got knackered back and knees). The cold is tempered by the garage being quite sheltered and very near the kitchen, so we can top up on hot drinks regularly to keep the chill at bay. Really ought to get a kettle for the garage, I've got leccy in there after all. Heater would take the edge off the cold I suppose, but by the time the dismantling is done the weather will be getting warmer anyway. I'll be a tight Northerner and just put an extra vest on :p

I'll probably be getting a welder in the near future too. There's so many little bits and pieces to do and it's a skill I could do with picking up properly that I reckon it'll be a good investment.

New headlights start at £55 and go up in price, depending how picky I'm going to be.

Aesthetically, I'm fond of SU carbs and pancake filters, but I've not idea whether or not that would be a good thing to fit to this engine.

Alright dude,

Iv commented on your other thread regarding the engine build but thought id see the updates on here too.

You don't live that far away from me, so if you need a hand or some knowledge then give me a shout , ill pop around. What's your postcode?

I notice you're in Sheffield, but I'm not anymore. I moved to Bolsover back in August. We may have lived near one another, now I'm not so sure You're still welcome to pop around, of course, but it may be a bit of a trek to just see a Polo in bits.

I notice you're in Sheffield, but I'm not anymore. I moved to Bolsover back in August. We may have lived near one another, now I'm not so sure You're still welcome to pop around, of course, but it may be a bit of a trek to just see a Polo in bits.

Ah right, how far away is it from meadowhead for instance?

er... according to Googleburgler it's about 15 miles/half an hour. So I suppose you are still fairly close to where I am.

Insomnia. Good excuse as any to do some tinkering.

Earlier today I got the dashboard out and found where the leak is coming from. Thankfully, all that's visible is a tiny rust bubble and no massive rust stains so I'm hopeful that when I remove the windscreen I shan't have a nasty surprise. Holding off on that though, not really got anything to keep the furry animals and weather out of the car at the moment.

As I've been taking things off I've been cleaning them up gradually. First was the retard bottle (as I've come to call it) which was a bit grebby but actually cleaned up very easily.

I've since shaved off the mould lines and the lettering, being sure not to compromise the structural integrity of course. I'm not happy with the red paint I've used for the first coat so I'm going to sand it back again and get something better next week. I'm planning to paint this gloss red with a gold band. Because I'm undecided about what I'm doing carburettor wise I thought I'd just renovate this bit anyway, for fun.

The thing I've been doing tonight is playing with bottles. Namely, the header tank/bottle and the screenwash bottle. Both are pretty grim and I've already used some Ataka brand limescale and bath stain remover which, frankly, didn't do that much.

I then left them to soak overnight with some extra strong denture tablets. This loosened up a lot of the crusty stuff in the bottles, but didn't do much else.

Next thing to try was rice. This was much more successful. After spending about half an hour swirling each pot with rice, warm water and a bit of laundry detergent I got this.

This bit of greb is stubborn.

I was astonished at how much it cleaned up this bottle though.

All that crusty blue-black stuff in the bottom is gone.

Next was to try some course sand, I suspected the rice wasn't fine enough to get the reddish scale off. I was right too. Another half hour swirling per bottle.

I'm actually quite pleased with that. I reckon they'll need another swirl with some sand before I bleach the yellowness out

Good stuff! If your re-building the engine, make sure you remove the press-in breather pod in the back of the block and check for any blockages into the sump with a welding rod or similar.

I neglected to do this on an early engine and consequently oil pissed from every seal and gasket. Worth the dolla imho.

Thank you, that's just the sort of thing I'd be likely to miss! The last thing I want to do is spend my ill gotten gains on fixing the old lump only to have it break because I was a noob.

Yes, take your time with everything.

Last thing you want to do is waste all the time, money and effort your going to put into it!

Should of used petrol to clean those bottles. Takes about 5 minutes with a toothbrush and rag! Still, think that sand has made them extra clean, so good work there chief

Today's update is woefully small, There's not really much I can do now on the engine apart from removing it.

First thing I did was to stand and stare at the engine, familiarising myself with bits I know and bits I don't and quickly working out there's very little I can now remove without pulling the engine itself out. So, I made a start by unclipping the wiring loom. I will be rerouting the wiring loom slightly more tidily I think, I'm not happy with how VW did it for what I want it to look like under here. Nothing too drastic, just a bit of a tweak, and something I'll work out when things go back together.

For now, I've stuffed the loom into the top corner where it will be easy to put out of the way when I get to painting.

One advantage of all that horrible crusty oil is that it's protected the bodywork. The paint does seem very thin in the engine bay so I'm actually glad of the leak and even gladder (is that even a word?) of the opportunity to repaint in here. This bit had been given a quick clean before I ran out of degreaser completely today.

Removed the indicators from the front end. I've got some chrome plinths I might be using when I put them back on, though it'll require more fabrication work. The front valance is now ready to be paintstripped and redone properly, it was a rush job last time and it shows now all the clutter is removed, though not so much in this pic because it's backlit.

I think I found the leak too. Water is getting into the passenger footwell when it rains a lot, especially so when the rain is driving at the front of the car. There's small rust bubbles on the outside of the surround, making the seal lift and this one matches them on the inside. I think I've caught it early enough not to worry beyond a wire brush and rust converter. I hope it won't need welding.

Dashboard is out, came out yesterday. As is the steering wheel and stalks. I wasn't going to do this job, but now I have I'm glad I have as I can fix a fair few other things.

We didn't put a final coat of paint on this repair and it's starting to show a few blebs of surface rust. I'll strip and repaint it properly before the dash goes back in.

From the top, the battery tray repair has fared well apart from a bit of surface flash rust because, like inside, I didn't make time to put proper paint on it.

So here's my dashboard and the Lexus stereo my Dad gave me from his old Lexus. I'll be wiring in some Lexus speakers too.

I'm going to customise this dashboard. I want it to be padded and vinyl covered. I'm going to do away with the tray under the steering wheel and the current radio location. The radio is not in the best place, it's difficult to operate when driving. So I'm going to sink the Lexus unit into the top of the dash, blending the original radio pod into the top of the dash. When this is all covered (a tricky job, I have no doubt) it will look pretty good. The lower part of the dash will be smoothed with more padded vinyl covering it and a slimline subwoofer hidden inside it.

Shonky photoshop.

Whatever vinyl I use on the dash I'll also use on the new doorcards I have designed in my head. I'm really unhappy with the current efforts now since I know I can and will do better. Might need a lot of buttons and foam though.

I think red velvet/alcentera would be a better option for the dash, it'll match the car and won't reflect light.

Edited 13 November, 201114 yr by MattLoaf

I'm ditching red from the interior completely, it makes it too fussy. Instead it's going black and gold with one or two bits of green (like the cut glass door pulls) to match the dash lights. Given it much thought. I've been hunting for suitable headlining fabric ideas on eBay and I've found one or two that I like.

Dash and doorcards are likely going to be done in a nice plain black vinyl or possibly a fake suede. Want to keep them fairly simple as I think my previous doorcard effort was a bit too fussy