Got my first car the other week, a nice little polo coupe with 52k on the clock, its got a few bubbly patches and a couple of holes but i've got plenty f time to sort it out seeing as i don't even have a license yet.

once i've done the odd bit of body work and tidied up the paint i'm gonna do a few more bits to it, got some GT arch trims and a few other bits to put on, but just looking for a few suggestions and opinions, what do you think?

(yes it is on a trailer, but it runs sweet as a nut, but had to go to redditch to get it)

Edited 28 January, 201214 yr by adamburton93

from that picture it looks very nice is that rust i see on the sill though lol you look to have got yourself a sweet mk3 there bud give us a few more details aswell how much was it any mot or tax on it what engine size is it

welcome to cp dude not a bad car there, where bouts in bmouth you from?

Looks good,and a great choice for a first car

got it for £430 with tax til the end of september and a years MOT off ebay, was a bit of an impulse buy but it's not too bad

its only a 1.0L but i can't get any bigger due to insurance companies having a vendetta again new drivers :/

I'm from mudeford in christchurch, where about are you?

got my ATS cups the other day, here's me just trying them for size, not actually gonna put them on untill all body work is done.

i really like how these look, lets just hope they don't scrub :/

i really can't wait to get this all started, may consider a build thread if anyone's interested, if not, i won't bother :L

may consider a build thread if anyone's interested, if not, i won't bother :L

Do it. Do a blog, they're a bit better for build threads.

alright mate, don't see too many mk3's down here, and when you do they tend to be breadvans that are rusting away from the bottom up. Yours looks very clean indeed. Not sure about the cups on a mk3 myself but i'll have to reserve judgement til its finished.

you doing your test here or at dorch?

Yeahh I know what you mean, there's a fair few rusty breddy's near me, I'm still not too sure about the cups either yet but they were freeeee so I can't complain

I was gonna just do my test here but a few people have said go to Dorchester, is there much difference then?

ah well then thats awesome about the free wheels!

i did mine in bournemouth and it was fine, passed second time and tbh it all depends on the examiner. a lot of people seem to think dorch is easier but i don't really think it makes a difference. plus if you learn to drive where you live it makes life much easier once you've passed because you know how to get to places!

nice looking coupe, id be wearing about driving with the cups on, as thet arent even bolted on!! :p

thats a nice looking oldy. great find :):) please dont crash it into a cow or something lol would be a huge waste :):) long live sensible drivers :):)

tidy :)

got my ATS cups the other day, here's me just trying them for size, not actually gonna put them on untill all body work is done.

i really like how these look, lets just hope they don't scrub :/

i really can't wait to get this all started, may consider a build thread if anyone's interested, if not, i won't bother :L

tell you what a nice lil 1.0l in that condition for 430 and a free pair of ats cups youve had a result young man look after her and keep us all upto date when your doing her up think you might have some trouble with the cups tho especially if you go to lower her but nice car good find

Just a quick update so no one thinks I've "crashed it into a cow" or any other obscene incident has occured.

A build thread is on it's way but I haven't done anything yet as I'm waiting untill it's off my dads drive to start anything as he's a bit of an arse about modified cars, don't get me wrong he's a huge vdub enthusiast, but a complete arse nonetheless.

Edited 10 April, 201115 yr by adamburton93

Works finally started, i was fed up of my polo having a hole in it, so it was time to fix the battery tray.

This is how it looked this morning, the pikey that had it before me bodged a repair with some almost bitchamen like paint which was a real bitch to get off

so i started to paint on some Interstrip AF which worked a treat, but it just took too long and my patience was wearing thin, so decided a hammer would do the job quicker

i then grabbed the air saw and within minutes, the battery tray was cut out and ready for welding tomorrow, i just need to wait for materials first.

now that that was all done, there was still daylight and i still have a fair bit left to do before i can put in on the road so i decided not to waste anymore time and start stripping it ready for a lick of paint in the coming weeks.

i'm hoping to get the battery tray welded up and get the car completely stripped tomorrow. but now i've actually started i finally feel like i'm getting somewhere and one day... it will actually look like a decent car as opposed to a shed

finally got my battery tray hole repaired today

started of making a card template, marked out the shape on to a bit of 2.2mm zinc coated steel ( this will never rust again, fingers crossed) cut it out and bent it roughly to shape.

then i welded it in but admittedly my welding skills are pretty poor so i only spot welded it and covered it in sealent in both the engine bay and the inside of the car. I also welded a bolt into the bottom to hold the battery in place, didn't really fancy doing all that work for it to fail MOT on a nonsecured battery.

gave it a coat of acid etch primer and a coat of stone chip and it's ready for paint.

it's finally starting to come together now, just looking forward to getting it sprayed and on the road.

Hi Adam,

that's pretty impressive. It's almost identical to my new polo I just bought but in far better condition.

I need to learn how to deal with rust and get mine looking like new again - it's got a quite a few little rust spots I need to do something about.

What yuou have done with the battery tray is very impressive - are you super-confident, kamikaze or already have welding experience?

Also if you don't mind me asking why did you strip the front of the car? It looked in perfect condition in the first picture you sent...

anyways, nice work dude...

Alan

Thanks buddy, good to know my work doesn't look like a complete bodge then, I was worried about the streams of abuse I'd get for my poor worksmanship but that hasn't happened as yet so I'm happy with that.

I've done a level 2 apprenticeship in engineering so got a rough idea of what I'm doing but it was a bit of "close my eyes and hope for the best"

I've pm'd you about the front end, it's pretty simple.

Well as long as you've welded it up enough to not end up with a battery dropping onto your toes your alright

It's definitly strong enough to hold the battery, infact I think I could probably stand in it if the bonnet was off, and now water's ever gonna come through with the ammount of black gunge I used lol

Another quick update

my wings were rather rusty and there was a real lack of solid metal in places so i had a look around to buy a set of new ones but the cheapest i could find a set was a secondhand pair for £40 plus p&p which i would rather went elsewhere on the car.

so whilst i was at college last week my dad got to work on fabricating a few new parts to weld onto the wing and cleaning down any surface rust, heres how it turned out.

any comments or feedback would be greatly appreciated, hoping to have it sprayed and on the road by the start of next month!!! :-D

My provisional license finally came through today so I decided it's time to get my arse I gear and get the car finished, so I went and finished off my wings by welding over the ariel whole and tidying up the welded areas with a bit of filler primer. I then started to "key" the paint up so there was a better surface for the primer and paint to stick to when it gets a spray over

Will upload pics when I'm next at a computer

finally on a computer and have some free time so thought i'd chuck up a quick update to keep the thread alive.

like i said I've smoothed the near side wing so theres no ariel hole now and keyed up the paint work completely. Only problem is, at the moment I'm lacking both the time and facilities to get the paint done and finished so it's still sat on my drive in a rather sorry state :(, some one give me some re assurance that it will ever get done as it's really not looking that way right now :(

fair play on the fabricating

she'll get there eventually! Stick with it