Guy, following on from my intro thread...

I've picked up the car I'm entering in the PPC £999 Challenge - a 1998 Polo Saloon, for £150.

For those of you who've not seen/heard of the £999 Challenge...

The idea is uncompromisingly simple and theoretically foolproof. Take one car – it must be currently road legal, and even have one of those nice green sheets of paper issued by the Ministry of Transport for good behaviour. Most importantly it must be bought, built or both for under £1000.

We don’t care how this is done as long as the total cost is under a grand, and you’ve obtained parts and services through means that any of your competitors might follow. You might work at McLaren and be able to borrow Lewis Hamilton’s spare engine but if you turn up with it nailed into a rusty Mk 2 Fiesta you’ll be disqualified.

We’re going to test straight-line speed in a quarter mile drag race, then check out handling over a timed slalom course. And where better than one of the UK’s top drag strips - Santa Pod.

The most important part in this event is to keep to the spirit of the event. No one has yet been signed up by Ferrari because they’ve done well in past PPC £999 events, so don’t try and win by bending the spending limits, knobbling other competitors or whinging to the organisers about the weather.

http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/15/14/89/87/2011-110.jpg

http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/15/14/89/87/2011-111.jpg

http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/15/14/89/87/2011-112.jpg

Plan is to dispose of the current 1.6 and running gear, but i'm not sure what to replace it with.

I'd like it to be an easy enough conversion - already got one huge project going on, don't want another. I always want to salvage the most i can from a complete car.

Original plan was to buy a complete Golf VR6, all the running gear swaps over and job jobbed. Now though after looking into power/weights, i'm thinking an ABF Doner Golf.

Ideas?!

2.0 16v from an Ibiza GTi or Cordoba SX - Same chassis so should drop straight it. Much quicker plug-and-play than the Golf I would have thought.

Having said that, I have the 1.6 100 in my Polo and it goes fairly well for what it is. Would think with a decent cam, map, exhaust etc it should go pretty well (escpecially if you lighten it!)

Edited 2 January, 201214 yr by Ross74h

20vt?

20vt?

Doubt you`d be able to buy and fit one for within the budget. Scene tax and all!

I once bought an Ibiza GTi 1.8 16v for 400 notes. 58k miles, about five years ago. Lighter than the 4door, already had the 16v lump in it, the ABF 2.0 version only came out the year later.

Polo saloon is just an Ibiza with a boot and more doors. Re-badged Cordoba. I don't understand why you'd take a car and put the same engine the manufacturer did factory. And go through the hassle of building it instead of simply buying one for the same money.

I don't think you've started with the right car - unless you've got an R32 lump and truck turbo to go in it.

If you were going to get a complete vr6 and do engine conversion the car was obviously under a grand so why not just drive that there and not bother converting anything?

EDIT: sorry whats ppc haha??? is it polos only?

Edited 2 January, 201214 yr by polovr6man

lol, depends, you can get engines etc for a few hundred quid.

PPC = Practical Performance Car

Last years one 2011 Challenge

Edited 2 January, 201214 yr by Ross74h

I might be entering this with a couple of good friends.

We are planing an ambitious budget of cost per horsepower.

Should be a bit of a laugh if we do enter.

a chap on here bought a mk1 and entered last year IIRC it had a carbed AFH and semi slick tyres.

I don't think you've started with the right car - unless you've got an R32 lump and truck turbo to go in it.

I wanted a Polo Saloon :p

If you were going to get a complete vr6 and do engine conversion the car was obviously under a grand so why not just drive that there and not bother converting anything?

^ See above ^

I think most conversions will put you over budget unless you can get a donor very cheaply. Saloon would be good fun I'd think. Slightly longer and wider wheelbase than a hatch plus a bit less of an obvious choice!

I think most conversions will put you over budget unless you can get a donor very cheaply. Saloon would be good fun I'd think. Slightly longer and wider wheelbase than a hatch plus a bit less of an obvious choice!

I love odd cars. Frankly the Loon isn't something you see everyday, especially one doing you off the lights :p

There are plenty of complete VR6's going for sub £500 on ebay, i was dead set on doing it that way, till i read up on the ABF...But then the VR6 gets the wide track and bigger brakes!? As far as i can tell any Golf MK3 engine/running gear will fit...

Another vote for the 20vt here. Plenty of shitty Mk4 Golfs with them in for cheapish - would probably make most of the cash back by breaking the car for spares if you get lucky.

If you haven't got money left over for serious engine mods then a VR6 is pretty much a no brainer, a healthy one in a stripped out Polo saloon would probably run a mid 14 second quarter especially if you play with diff ratios. Fair enough it's heavy and sits funny so can handle odd, but you can get rid of a lot of that issue by playing with spring rates and heights.

Can get 200 bhp out a VR6 for very little outlay. If you can get a 1.8t lump with a remapped ECU then that could be a good plan, but a standard 150 bhp lump just wouldn't be worth the effort.

Also, VR6 and Mk3 GTIs all share the same widetrack running gear and brakes. Early cars have 280mm brakes, late cars have 288s, that's all. I've got a 1995 Mk3 GTI with 288s up front, so that might be the changeover year.

Is this the 1.6 75bhp model?

If so, was it painfully slow too? As mine is..

It's an AFT code, 100bhp. Still painfully slow though :p

Hahaha damn, there is this a huge hill near me, that cars sometimes struggle to get up there....and my 1L 6n used to do better my 6k does now?! soo slow hahaha

It's an AFT code, 100bhp. Still painfully slow though :p

Hum, my estate is an AKL 105bhp (well the VIN sticker actually says 776KW but i dont think its 1050bhp!) and I think its pretty rapid. Mind you, i doubt it would see which way my first car went - that was a fully tweaked and turbo`d 205 GT.

If you haven't got money left over for serious engine mods then a VR6 is pretty much a no brainer, a healthy one in a stripped out Polo saloon would probably run a mid 14 second quarter especially if you play with diff ratios. Fair enough it's heavy and sits funny so can handle odd, but you can get rid of a lot of that issue by playing with spring rates and heights.

Can get 200 bhp out a VR6 for very little outlay. If you can get a 1.8t lump with a remapped ECU then that could be a good plan, but a standard 150 bhp lump just wouldn't be worth the effort.

I'd be suprised if a mk4 saloon is signifcantly ligter than the mk3 golf the engine came out of.