Hey! Long time semi-lurker, been without a Polo for a while but that's all changed... time to get my membership sorted again!

A couple of days ago I bought this beasty off of adambeevers for £600. Just over 100k miles on the clock. Not a huge project, because of budget problems and lack of working space, but the general idea is to tidy it up and get it all working properly. It's in pretty good shape as it is, but I won't be happy till it's perfect.

Model: 1990 Mk2 Polo CL

Engine: 1.3 Petrol, 2E Pierburg carb (a little dodgy). Oil leak from somewhere, oil breather seems blocked or the pipe is split.

Suspension: Lowered rears, not sure how much or if it has new dampers. Standard fronts. I have a full set of 40/40 lowered springs and dampers ready to go on as soon as I get a chance

Brakes: Standard Mk2 calipers (one of which is painted red), discs and drums

Wheels and Tyres: Alloys all around (not sure what they're called)

Exterior Styling: Clear indicators, red striped grill, custom exhaust made by friend of previous owner. Has had something scrape up the side of it on the drivers side, taking a bit of paint off and putting a nice dent in the door. It came with a spare door which I might spray up, or I could get the original one sorted.

Interior Styling: GT front seats, black carpets, black parcel shelf. Standard white/cream pattern rear bench (looking for a GT one to match the front seats). Door cards do not have pockets, or screw holes.

ICE and Security: Slightly crap JVC receiver I bought from Halfords, aftermarket rear speakers in original mounting points. Dashboard speaker missing, presumed dead.

When I got the home and started driving it around a bit, I thought the gearbox was starting to go. First and second were difficult to select, and driving it around Bristol was a right pain in the arse. Turns out the clutch cable needed a bit of adjustment, so crisis averted. The gearbox is a little worn, but it's perfectly functional.

The pics:

The damage :(

I don't know what this mirror is from, I want a matching one for the passenger side!

Interior, showing the mismatched rear bench

Side on, showing my red caliper :p

The carb, with a crapload of sealant. I still think it leaks a bit though, there's a small flat spot when it starts for the first time from cold.

The plan:

• Fix the damage on the drivers side. I'm not sure if I can do this myself (I don't have a garage), I'm going to have a look round and see if I can get it done by a pro
• Try and find a replacement carb, a Weber DMTR or DMTL. Can't afford this right now but it does run pretty well as it is. Reconnect the vacuum advance and see if it's working or not and get the oil breather sorted.
• Install my springs and dampers
• Get a matching GT rear bench
• Get some door pockets on the door cards
• Get a new fan resistor pack, at the moment it only works on position 3
• Door speakers, parcel shelf speakers, sub... I want to do something with the audio, not sure what yet.

Edited 21 October, 201114 yr by anessen

Nice to see this car still here!

The springs I included where 40mm fella :) also the oil breather top pipes already been replaced as it was all collapsed but try the lower half I suppose! I read somewhere this was a recall, they ended up putting a box inbetween the oil breather pipes or something and possibly the box is gunked up? Glad to see the plans on tidying the body work up a bit, I never had the time nor money.. Wheels are off a mk1 clio I think? So a friend said. :)

Edited 22 October, 201114 yr by adambeevers

In another thread, I found out that the base of the carb is likely split or something...

http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=263352

The springs I included where 40mm fella :) also the oil breather top pipes already been replaced as it was all collapsed but try the lower half I suppose! I read somewhere this was a recall, they ended up putting a box inbetween the oil breather pipes or something and possibly the box is gunked up? Glad to see the plans on tidying the body work up a bit, I never had the time nor money.. Wheels are off a mk1 clio I think? So a friend said. :)

Yeah, the later ones have a second breather unit (or what ever you call it). On my old Polo the rubber hose split where it met the engine and it was leaking oil from there, so I'll have to get dirty over that. I should do it whilst I've got the carb off actually.

The damaged carb base might explain the strange behaviour you mentioned in one of your threads, about how sometimes it would idle really high. I'm noticing the same thing, and it seems to happen at random. It's probably the base letting some air through into the intake. I think they're on GSF for £20 but they need posting from Heathrow.

New carb mounting block installed, seems to have sorted the carb out just right. Carb might need a little bit of adjusting but it's a lot better than it was, and it does'nt leak any more. It also seems to have stopped running on when the ignition is cut.

It still leaks oil and stinks after it gets warm, so I'll have a look at the breather next. I had a quick feel of the hose when I was reinstalling the carb and it seems solid, so one of the breather things is blocked. There's no smoke coming out of the pipe when the engine is running. I really hope it's the top one that's gone, the one on the engine itself looks like a bastard to get to.

Also going to have a look at the damage on the side. I might be able to pull the bigger dent out and give it a quick spray. I'll pop by Halfords and see if they have anything to pull out body panels and adhesives for the door strips.

New carb mounting block installed, seems to have sorted the carb out just right. Carb might need a little bit of adjusting but it's a lot better than it was, and it does'nt leak any more. It also seems to have stopped running on when the ignition is cut.

It still leaks oil and stinks after it gets warm, so I'll have a look at the breather next. I had a quick feel of the hose when I was reinstalling the carb and it seems solid, so one of the breather things is blocked. There's no smoke coming out of the pipe when the engine is running. I really hope it's the top one that's gone, the one on the engine itself looks like a bastard to get to.

Also going to have a look at the damage on the side. I might be able to pull the bigger dent out and give it a quick spray. I'll pop by Halfords and see if they have anything to pull out body panels and adhesives for the door strips.

Glad to see Adams car went to another enthusiast! Seen the car a few times and it looked really solid!

Good luck with the build!

Also, where did you get the rubber carb flange thing?

I got the carb flange from GSF, luckily they had one at the Bristol branch when I called up. It certainly did the job.

Looks like the perfect starting point. If the damage is just the wing and the door, that's not difficult at all as they bolt on. Just find a second hand one in the right colour.

Few bits and pieces. Adjusted throttle cable, the accelerator was sitting way too low and it had no power. I installed my dash mounted tacho too.

I'll have another look at the door but I couldn't feel the actual dent from the inside when I checked before.

I need a new distributor advance unit because the old one is leaking air...

The car is still leaking oil, not sure where from but its ending up on top of the gearbox by the look of it. It smells too. I'm not sure if the breather is working properly or not, when the car is running I can feel air moving out of the pipe but there is no smoke. The rubber hose seems to be OK.

The stuff on top of the gearbox isn't oil (or wasn't when I had it) its coolant, just needs a pipe of and a clean up then put back on :) interesting about throttle cable, had it made it faster?

Hmm, I'll have to clean everything off, but it definitely stinks of hot oil when it's been running. My old white one used to do it when the breather was shagged. But like I said, it feels like there's air getting through it but no smoke.

And yeah, it does go noticeably quicker. Especially over 3k rpm, before it was really struggling to keep up with other traffic and now it's just fine. It seems to be lacking at the low end, but the vacuum advance is still dead so I'll have to get that fixed to be sure. Or maybe it's a pierburg thing, I dunno. I've never driven a Polo with a proper working Pierburg carb.

Neithers anyone else :p

any updates with the old gal?

Not a lot, really. Money is tight right now.

I think the fuel return hose is leaking slightly so I'm going to fix that, and I want to get the wheel balance looked at. Other than that, it's just the vacuum advance and bodywork damage for now when money allows.

It is nice having one of these again, though. It's a light car with a lot of feedback to the driver and it's easy to "get into". Had fun giving it some around the back roads a few nights ago. TBH I'm still looking for a Weber DMTR for it, the Pierburg still isn't running quite right.

Wheel balance should be ok unless weights fell off because I'm really OCD with making them perfect so made sure I got them spot on, glad your enjoying it.

whats happened to this???

Money trouble at the mo, got to get the oil leak sorted.

oil leak from the sump? cant remember any other oil leak :S

She is definitely leaking, thought it was the breather blocked up but it's working just fine. Nasty smell after the cars been running for 15 or so minutes, even had a bit of smoke when some dropped on the exhaust.

i miss this car :(

What did you get after you sold it?

Got some things to do to it in the next couple of weeks, will update then.

finally updates! I have a MK3 Golf now

nice base, i had the same drivers side mirror on mine!

I want to find a matching passenger side one, but they're quite hard to come by apparently