Hi, I couldn’t find a section for newbie’s (its probably there somewhere just me being blind) so I will introduce myself here. My names Alex and I have been loitering around in the back ground of this fine forum for many years now feeding myself on the never ending amount of knowledge and skill that floats about here daily. I will start by letting you know a little about my past I am not a first time polo owner oooh no out of the 40 plus VW’s I have owned 9 of them have been polo’s of all shapes and sizes. I am without a doubted a serial Volkswagen nut job with a taste for anything pre 95 and rusty! If I am told its to far gone or not worth it or just is the type of car that people wont want after I am done with it, it makes me want to restore it even more! I cant help it I just want to save them all ! Which brings me to my business, for the last 10 years I have run a business call “Dirtydubs” we are a Vag specialists that prefer to stay out of the lime light and just does the best job possible the old fashioned way are motto at the shop is “Restoration before Modification” or at the same time at least. Anyway enough of that rubbish I am not here to advertise. At the moment I have taken a temporary step back form the business to start a new path to becoming a little more acquainted in ATEX engineering it was a position offered to me that I simply couldn’t pass up plus I now have a full fab shop at my disposal which is a big plus. I will still keep Dirtydubs going as this new path will not last forever plus I cant step away from a 10 year itch that easily, if anyone is interested in are last build then they are more than welcome to check it out it’s the black Mk2 Jetta on the opening page of www.jettaownersclub.co.uk the guys on that forum are great some of the nicest out there I really cant rate the club highly enough or alternatively you can check out are blog page at www.dirtydubs.co.uk. Right enough of my boring and quite unnecessary babbling I will start this thread with a few pics of my personal cars past and present then I will get to the current project I hope you will enjoy.

Bought off eBay back in the good old days for £32 :-D . Before.

After

This one was rescued from the crusher for 70 notes.

My favourite coupe in the best colour, I think. I was going to concours this one but sold it to a friend of mine who stuffed it up an oak tree just two weeks after gutted .

That leads me nicely to my current not so standard breadie more on that later I’m sure .

My old mk2 Golf 1300 bought for £50 out of my local Friday ad.

After a SIX DAY resto which nearly killed me.

My current daily driver again rescued from the crusher for £70.

After two weeks it looked like this.

Which brings me to reason for this build thread (hooray at last I hear you cry) my old daily is not really putting up with the mileage that’s being racked up each day, after 3 years of ownership the final drive side of the auto box is slowly but surely wearing out it’s a problem that was quite prolific with Vag auto boxes of the time and is caused by the internal oil seal failing this in turn lets the ATF fluid mix with gear oil in time this over heats the manual side of the gear box and eventually cooks the gears. So after trying to find myself a good cheap pre 99 SDI or TDI for very cheap money and failing on a epic scale I decided that the only thing for it was to make use of what I already had so this is it……….. A E reg 1 litre Polo booted! I have owned it for the last 6 years but I have to confess I have not treated it well , in those years as it has been used as a shed for spare parts, left outside are workshop on some waste grass land with grass and thistles growing through the doors and bumpers! Here are some pics of it when we got it in 2006, at this point it had been off the road since 2003, we rescued it from the scrap yard for the handsome sum of £25. The plan was to use it as spares for other restoration projects. These Pics were taken 6 years ago when it looked a lot lot better

Even then it was a bit green behind the ears.

I think this statement sums me up nicely “I need I car that’s going to get me to work cheaply, reliably, and be very solid ----- what about the old derby? That will do” Its at this point my business partner and other half of Dirtydubs, Matt looks at me as if I‘ve gone all Cheech & Chong on him!!!! And says “naturally my first choice!!” with a hint of sarcasm I may add. Oh he of little faith. Although we both agreed that as long as the engine hadn’t seized then it would probably start and as I would have to get it out on my own I would need it to move under its own steam! After I cut all the plant life back and got the landlord to put some weed killer down I could get to the engine bay. Here’s a little video sorry about the stupid commentary I just think this epitomises how great old dubs are! Oh and although I sound sooooo Oxford/Cambridge darling, I’m NOT in real life trust me.

Then after noticing that the fuel filter had filled up .

Its hard to believe that after 8 years this car started so easily and on the original fuel that’s been in the tank all this time!!! I never did use the fresh petrol as I know it will need a new tank so didn’t want to waste it plus I’m a tight bastard! The plan is simple this car has to get me to work without being a problem child, its has to be solid and get through all future MOT’s without hassle and most all it has to be cheap to run oh and I have six weeks to build it! Even I think I’m mad this time round.

I hope I’ve not bored you to death before I’ve even started just thought that I would let you know a bit about me as well. Thanks for looking and taking the time to read all of my crap. Regards Alex @ Dirtydubs.

Great read, will keep an eye on this old wee polo!

Great read, will keep an eye on this old wee polo!

Cheers chap there is loads to come as I've already had a week of evenings on it.

youve clearly got an eye for a bargain/project good work

look foward to seeing progress with this one,keep it picture heavy please :-D

How southern are you

Cool read will be keeping a close eye on this.

How southern are you

Cool read will be keeping a close eye on this.

I'm on the south coast in Bognor Regis bud.

youve clearly got an eye for a bargain/project good work

look foward to seeing progress with this one,keep it picture heavy please :-D

It was alot easier a few years back before that bloody scrapage shit came out . But it also helped that two very close friends ran there own vehicle collection business. They would put aside all the VAG's and we would pop over almost every week and pic which ones we could save, ahhh those were the days :-D .

I just ment your accent, bet you dont even okow what a barm is lol

good luck with the build :).

all your cars go from bang untidy to bang tidy in weeks

good work man :)

I just ment your accent, bet you dont even okow what a barm is lol

good luck with the build :).

Thanks dude, Your right though what the hell is a "barm"?????

with what youve done already i can see this becoming a beauty

nice to see another loon back from the dead there is just something about old vws there like an old dog always been there for you and will continue to be there for you until they eventually pass on

love to see this completed looks like an alrite base not to bad aside from the paint thats shocking but should be a good little dub that will keep you going for a long time yet just watch for the carb being a pain in the arse

Lovely read mate, and welcome aboard!

Fantastic stuff fella, love the bready on the minilights

nice to see another loon back from the dead there is just something about old vws there like an old dog always been there for you and will continue to be there for you until they eventually pass on

love to see this completed looks like an alrite base not to bad aside from the paint thats shocking but should be a good little dub that will keep you going for a long time yet just watch for the carb being a pain in the arse

Thanks bud i totally agree with you unfortunatly it turns out that the years have not been so kind to her plus she is a spainish built one so I've had to spend some time underneath with the welder already :-D . Know worry's on the carb front one of the things we specialisted in at Dirtydubs was carb rebuilds i LOVE Pierburg carbs (yes I'm a freak !) and have been rebuilding them since i was 17!.

Edited 16 August, 201114 yr by dirtydubs

nice thread dude, I'm not too far away from you. stalker time.

Ha Ha i work in shoreham so i will look out for you following me. keep your eyes peeled for my black auto hoowahaha.

unfortunately all the saloons where built in spain aside from the mk1 derby i think so rot can be a pain in some cars as your finding out but they do make up in certain areas what they lack in others for example they are cooler then alot of cars on the road because they look so retro (i will have one again) and the boot is huge but they are lacking in some areas the rear screens can rot at the bottom under the seals the rear lights can hold water and fog up the rear metal seems unprotected and rots quicker but aside from this they are fantastic cars

Thanks guys for all the kind comments and the warm welcome i will try to get up to speed with it asap I'm already a week in so plenty to post about.

Higgo, I wish i had gone for minilights to be honest the wheels i went for where smoors they were very rare at the time but they are naff quality to say the least! I really want to get that car back on the road and finished.

unfortunately all the saloons where built in spain aside from the mk1 derby i think so rot can be a pain in some cars as your finding out but they do make up in certain areas what they lack in others for example they are cooler then alot of cars on the road because they look so retro (i will have one again) and the boot is huge but they are lacking in some areas the rear screens can rot at the bottom under the seals the rear lights can hold water and fog up the rear metal seems unprotected and rots quicker but aside from this they are fantastic cars

Well i did not know that they were all made in spain . Thanks for that, see I'm learning already cheers chap.

Good read. I love how it cranked faster than mine does after not being used for a day ¬_¬

Ha Ha i work in shoreham so i will look out for you following me. keep your eyes peeled for my black auto hoowahaha.

Ricardo? can't think of anything else in shoreham you would go there for

I just ment your accent, bet you dont even okow what a barm is lol

good luck with the build :).

You're from Manchester not Yorkshire! You're supposed to call it "A FUCKIN BUTTY MEYYT"

Dirrtydubs, what magical scrapyard are you finding all these £70 minters?! You won't find cars on here for less than a grand in the same condition!

You seem like you have the restoration game down to a tee, nice work

I'd be assuming vw-audi spares in angmering, but they always charge me scene tax when I go there. they had two virtually fucked ronal teddies there and they want £50 each.

Ha Ha i work in shoreham so i will look out for you following me. keep your eyes peeled for my black auto hoowahaha.

Ricardo? can't think of anything else in shoreham you would go there for

I just ment your accent, bet you dont even okow what a barm is lol

good luck with the build :).

You're from Manchester not Yorkshire! You're supposed to call it "A FUCKIN BUTTY MEYYT"

Dirrtydubs, what magical scrapyard are you finding all these £70 minters?! You won't find cars on here for less than a grand in the same condition!

You seem like you have the restoration game down to a tee, nice work

I'd be assuming vw-audi spares in angmering, but they always charge me scene tax when I go there. they had two virtually fucked ronal teddies there and they want £50 each.

loenh, I work for a company called Pyroban, Atex engineering. We have alot of guys that came from Ricardos but it think there in a bit of trouble with that Mclaren contract going south??

I dont deal with the robbers at angmering not even on a through my business not after he tryed to charge me 50 notes for a Mk3 rad fan with a broken fin!!! when i told him that i could buy one new for £47 including vat he told me to "like it or leave it mate" bit of a piece if you ask me.

Phataz1, I was very lucky to be able to get these cars before they got weighed in, I dont have any before pics of the white coupe or the red mk3 but they both looked very sorry for themselves at the start, the white coupe was a stolen and recovered car which was left outside with no side window and a screwdriver hanging out of the ignition barrel!!, The red one was a lovely shade of pink and came with a blown head gasket and clutch!! But I'm glad we chose to save them though :-D

Again everyone thanks for all the great comments.