Well I've been on this forum for ages now and always avoided this section because i dont think i could keep up with updating it regularly. That and the fact I've only recently mastered the art of uploading photos.

Anyway, this was my first car, a white mk3 breadvan. My pride and joy until i crashed it into the back of a massive bus.

bonnet graffiti

So, after fixing that up and turning it into a sort of rolling art project (Some may remember), i left the polo scene in search of more power, so i bought a 306 Dturbo, which was fast after a quick tune, but all in all was far too crap, just didnt do it for me.

So last year i started looking for another mk3, but there were none on here that were standard or indeed nice looking, and i couldnt find one for sale locally so i broadened my horizons to a mk2. Found one in manchester being sold by mattpolo off here, previously owned by Kerrly. Picked it up for a fair price and drove it home without a hitch.

A few days later though the ignition started playing up and the car was misfiring, so i changed the plugs, coil, leads, dizzy and rotor which solved that problem.

Had it now since september i think. Had to change a few bits here and there, rear bearings, inlet flange etc. To be honest its a good engine, but that carb is far too crap and i'm getting about 25-30mpg at the most, which will not improve whatever i do.

so plans are:

keep standard height

fix up a few rusty bits

change the engine to something a bit better

find some decent retro wheels

I'm fairly intent on keeping it as standard as possible, so dont expect anything drastic from this thread apart for what goes under the bonnet.

anyhow, i'll update as regularly as i can.

Edited 31 July, 201115 yr by arron0909

AA Badge, useless since i have no breakdown cover but IMO cool nonetheless.

I'm taking advantage of the sunny weather to do some rust repair at the moment:

might need a bit of work here!

Love a white mk2 coupe Looks good mate, I probably would've used white primer though!

aye but the grey stuff is a high quality rust proofer, white primer has gone on top of it :)

picked this beauty up a while ago off a lad off here called tezmc, cheers bud.

so plans are a strip down and rebuild of the head, then plonk it in.

got the bugger on the engine stand.

head's coming off for a rebuild and a porting ready for carbs to be put on as long as all goes well with getting my manifold made up.

head off

cams out

all labelled up ready to be stripped down

still considering how much to port it.

i think the ports are the shape they are because of injectors?

so as far as i can see that means i can just make them a straight forward triangle-ish shape.

the AFH head is a bitch!!

couldnt find a valve spring compressor or any other tool that could get the valves out so had to improvise.

bit of tube, some rough measuring and a welder made this bit to replace the original anvil.

for anyones reference if you have the same compressor, it's very simple to make. you just need to source some tube of a similar diameter to the original anvil, and make yours about 65mm longer. works a treat.

anyway, valves are out, new oil seals are in, all ready for a power wash, some porting and some lapping.

Edited 3 May, 201115 yr by arron0909

went down to sheffield yesterday and bought these beauts off maxmax.

appreciated the brew too cheers max :-D

i'll update on these once they've had a spruce up.

Edited 4 May, 201115 yr by arron0909

Nice to meet you dude,

Hopefully see you at a show this year then

Loving the bonnet. that's cool

cheers, makes me sad to think that car has probably been melted down by now.

progress:

valves out now

lapping

plan for tonight is to die-grind out the intake ports.

Nice work

Isn't valve lapping fun

oh god i hate it so much lol.

the first couple are sort of interesting but then it gets tedious, especially with 16 of the feckers.

ah well, had a day off the engine, started sanding down those wheels, photo's to follow.

talked to my mate who says he might be able to sort some cheap chroming out for me...

i like shiny things.

Looking good mate Glad to see part of my old car living on!

Can't wait to see this finished, you'll have to give me a ride in it :p

Nice man,

You keeping the same tyres then?

yes tez, engines coming along a treat, should be ready for a transplant in the near-ish future as long as i can get my motorbike running again, cos after all, this polo is my daily. and you will definitely get a ride in it if the opportunity arises :-D

yeah max I've looked them over and they all seem ok. there is one with slight tracking wear like you said but as far as i know it's still legal. if i like them when they're on i'll probably invest in some lower profile tyres.

yeah they are pretty beefy. yeah the tracking wear is perfectly legal as far as I'm aware. the car was MOT'd not long ago and the tyre hasnt changed since.

Should look good on some lower profile rubber and a paint job.

update:

camera on the blink so pictures are shoddy.

head has been ported out by my mate graham and his die grinder:

this came today :-D

been refurbishing another set of alloys today for a peugeot, really hellish bad condition to start with.

aye i started polishing them up last night and they arent coming up too badly. they've been sanded down before with some pretty rough sand paper so it's taking some effort. if the metal doesnt shine enough for me i'll either paint them or get them powdercoated. depends on funds really. i think they have some pretty good potential though.

Definetly.

block got a lick of paint yesterday, as did the wheels i'm refurbing:

also got two tins of alpine white for £2.95 each... beats paying £6.29 at halfrauds.

so as for the engine at the moment, i just need to double check on someones head that i've got all my camshaft bearing caps arranged in the right order, would be great if someone knew! :-D

my car is a disgrace at the moment, i havnt cleaned the interior since i picked up my engine off tez about 3 months ago, if this feckin rain stops i may be tempted to crack the vac out.

Used to see your old one about, wondered what had happened to it!

Will keep my eye open for this one - looks nice!

Nice car and good job on dem wheels

cheers guys :-D

Been recently sanding down years of corrosion and polishing down the wheels i bought the other day. they're coming up pretty well.

this is after a slight bit opf work with 240grit:

i then worked them down to 1200 grit over about 3 hours per wheel and a lot of sweating :-D

and finally run over them a few times with some autosol... maybe i'll use brasso later:

edit:

i need your opinions on what to do with the bit with all the holes, the inner rim i guess, because it's difficult to polish and doesnt come up well.

Edited 11 May, 201115 yr by arron0909