Howdy ClubPolo peeps.

Long time no post.

Been away for a number of years generally messing with Corrado VR6's, modding my own and breaking a fair few along the way. But decided of late it was time to rest the Corrado up (after wacking a good 50k on it) and buy myself a sensible daily. My friend was thinking about parting with his 2003 Polo 9N SDI in order to finance a Seat Ibiza FR and offered me it at a price I couldn't resist. Enter "The Daily!":

Only two previous murders, 90k on the clock, 1.9 SDI and serviced by my brother since 26k so almost know the car inside out. Was a no brainer.

Plan is / was not to touch it and focus on the Rado but yeah that lasted all of five minutes.

Anyway thats enough for now, further updates to follow. Got ideas literally coming out of nowhere so should be an interesting journey.

And finally for people who like pics:

The Corrado:

And what some CP Oldskooler's may remember me by, my old Polo GT:

Edited 1 August, 201115 yr by StueyB

Update no.1:

With funds being tight till the end of the months it was a case of doing things which cost £0.

Time to bust out the claybar and polish.

Attacked the front end first:

Then decided to attack the rear end and de-badge (aka hid the fact its a SDI - :-0), also claybar and polish as i went.

And while I was at it couldn't resist trying on a set of lightweight O.Z's I had kicking around.

Wheels sat way better than I thought they would and so cemented the fact they would be going on the car, consequently meaning I'd need tyres for the them. More on those later however.

The laughable fact about it all is this is supposed to be a cheap economical daily meaning I can save the pennies for the Corrado. Less than a week of ownership saw that thrown right out the window.

Update No.2: Plates & Spigots

After going over the front and rear bodywork in the detail I decided some new plates were needed. The GB jobbies, clearly fitted at the dealers before my friend originally bought the car were looking very tired indeed. A few cracks, chips and general rustyness creeping in under the plastic meant it was time for the bin. Quick search on eBay and after firing some messages out, I received a prompt response from Paul @ TNWPlates on. They do some lovely Pressed Metal plates which are 100% road legal, subtly featuring the legal markings. Couple of days later they landed at my door, was very happy with the quality so on they went.

On trial fitting the O.Z's I noticed that for some reason that the spigot rings they came with didn't fit the Polo. Out they came and quick check with some digital verniers proved they were actually 56.1mm centre bore. This came as quite a shock as they previous car they were fitted to was a Corrado VR6 so I have no idea how the previous owner achieved this bearing in mind most VW's are 57.1...? Anyways, this meant I went on the hunt for some replacements. Helfrauds was my first port of call but due to not stocking O.Z's anymore this was fruitless. eBay wanted £40 a set which i promptly turned my nose up at due to this being a budget project.

Following a bit of internet research I discovered: Custom Spigot Rings. Fill in your relevant details and ID/OD sizings, give them £19.99 and a few days later a set of four custom spigot rings arrive at your door. Highly recommended as they fit like a glove. Another problem solved using the power of the interwebs. :-D

Looking good Stu

Thanks dude. Repping the polo crew again.

Big things happening Saturday morning fingers crossed.

Good stuff.

Update 3: Steels aren't good enough wheels

Having another car which is the same wheel fitment has it's advantages. I had bought a set of four lightweight O.Z.'s sometime back, mainly because I'm addicted to buying wheels, cheap ones at that but hey. They were however super-cheap for a reason, the fourth wheel was squarer than a rubix cube.

Having had a rather unfortunate run in with a brick in the road in the past, I found a rather good engineering company called Precison Welding in Northampton who specialise in making bent/cracked/buckled wheels round and usable again.

As per usual they had two of the four wheels straighter than straight inside 48 hrs. Can't recommend them enough and feel free to check them out here: Click Here

I had considered then throwing the wheels at a pro refurber but then considering the cost of tyres on top and this being my daily I resorted to attempting a my very first home refurb.

After borrowing a rather sweet air-line wizzy tool off a friend, buying some primer and some VHT Wrinkle Plus, the following in sued:

Attacked with the wizzy-tool to remove flakey paint and key the surface:

First one after primer:

All four after some treatment:

And the final product:

Close up of the finish:

To say I was chuffed with the outcome was an understatement. I've had little practice with painting in the past but these turned out way beyond my expectation. The wrinkle finish has also helped to hide some of the imperfections in the wheels that we just couldn't get out with a home refurb.

Decided to give the badges a bit of wrinkle black also to make them a little more subtle and also tie them in with the wheels.

and had also purchased a new reflex silver boot handle of eBay to replace the chipped and scratched old one. Worked out far cheaper than getting a new one painted. Score.

And that about wraps up update no.3. Tyres and coilovers have been purchased but i'll leave that for next update.

Hope you enjoyed the pics.

Edited 10 July, 201115 yr by StueyB

POW:

17'' Lightweight O.Z.'s wrapped in 185/35/17 Nankang NS-2's - ET35

FK AK Coilover Suspension - Fronts all the way down, rears set halfway.

Chrome Bolt caps (not pictured).

Fantastic result aesthetically - you nailed it in one. Absolutely spot on. Only way you could improve IMO is to put a petrol engine in it.

What is the performance of the SDI like, I assume they are designed more for economy than performance but just wondered.