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.

So yeah, start with something cheap (kind of my specialty)... quick flick through the usual sites...

VW Polo saloon - R-reg (1997) VW Polo saloon for sale. 1.6l, sunroof, central locking in fair condition. Water pump problem will cost approx £150 to fix, but is driveable now on short trips.MOT and tax til end of Jan 2012.A great, reliable little car with a big boot. Selling as no longer needed.

Mint. Phone call. Sold. Collected (Thanks for the lift Chris), drove home from Bristol, no issues.

So yeah. Pics tomorrow then I'll unveil the plan!

Costs -

Polo - £150

Total - £150

Edited 24 January, 201214 yr by Norledge

Bosh.

Today i got in in and on the ramps, the noise is as much the PAS pump as it is water pump, so I'm not bothering to change either.

Debadged the back end, Discovery Wiper blades, clean number plates, fixed the seat.

Also gave it a wash in wheel acid ready for it's paint job on Monday!

Got Bored...

Falling for it now, it's got such a personality!! Need to take another coil off the front to even up the height, but yeah...

I bought one of those for £28 once...i hated that car

Orange marker lamps, fixed bumper

Fitted four new tyres last night, dropped it off the ramp, drove up the road, booooooing - spring launches out... oops!

Must make sure springs are located properly next time!

Costs -

Polo - £150

Tyres - £160

Paint - £Free

Choped Springs - £Free

Total - £310

Edited 24 January, 201214 yr by Norledge

Matt Black paint + Mates with Chalk =

Painted Badges too

Little more pink... And a free Ibiza GTi Splitter...

The observant amongst you will note the fitting method.

Shopping list...

Also got fed up of the lack of tunage, so got the Stereo in properly, fitted the sub/amp and scavanged some standard 2 way speakers from a Megane Coupe which we're a perfect fit - including the wiring plugs!?

Oh and the water pump started pissing water out in the week, so swapped that, while doing it i had to take the cambelt cover off, to find the cambelt tensioner totally collapsed, and the belt near enough hanging off, so fixed that too :)

Chopped the fronts a bit more to match the rear a bit better, oh and seeing as the backbox was scraping, i chopped it off and made a side exit :p

Also welded the springs into the cups to stop them dislocating everytime i come off my drive!

Ok just to keep you in the loop... and prove i'm not just painting things and cutting springs :p

I've been deciding what engine combo to run, and I've settled (i think) on my final decision...

My head is one of the best flowing 8v heads, and it fits a 2.0 Block.

One of the guys at work has a neighbour with a rotton MK3 Golf GTi, currently in the process of purchasing said car.

So thats the block and head sorted, should see about 120bhp if i run the 2.0 Injection system, with a nice compression ration of 11.5:1 at just over 2000cc.

Or i could do what i've always wanted too, and see just shy of 130bhp... bike carbs

What's your total spend to date bro?

Loving the chalk work, needs shark teeth!

Costs -

Polo - £150

Tyres - £160

Paint - £Free

Choped Springs - £Free

Range Rover Exhaust Section - £Free

Total - £310

I like the idea of the shark mouth actually :p

is the splitter held on with seam sealer or something of the likes?

sounds an interesting project tbh haha.

is the splitter held on with seam sealer or something of the likes?

sounds an interesting project tbh haha.

Lol no it's held by the standard clips, just cut badly and cable tied on the sides :p

Hahaa awesome idea! Love the progress!

oh right, just looks like its got excess sealer/glue oozing over the top lol.

Hmm... :p

AWESOME! Do it!

"1/4 mile & slalom"

- strip out -£free

"1/4 mile & slalom"

- strip out -£free

Yeah i will for the event, but frankly it's currently acting as a pretty good executive saloon :p

"1/4 mile & slalom"

- strip out -£free

Yeah i will for the event, but frankly it's currently acting as a pretty good executive saloon :p

What engine was in there to begin with? Wonder if the head on my AKL is as good. Might dig my twin 40s out to go on mine.

AFT in there atm, i assume the AKL is the big block cross flow too?

Bosh got me's Carbotooters!!

Off of a 2001 Kawasaki ZX6R.

Costs -

Polo - £150

Tyres - £160

Paint - £Free

Choped Springs - £Free

Range Rover Exhaust Section - £Free

Carbs - £45

Total - £355

Edited 26 January, 201214 yr by Norledge

AFT in there atm, i assume the AKL is the big block cross flow too?

Yep, big block cross-flow with the Variable Length Intake fanimold (yes, I have been on VWVortex!!!).

Now i wonder if you could "convert" those carbs into throttle bodies and keep the fuel injection?

Now i wonder if you could "convert" those carbs into throttle bodies and keep the fuel injection?

In theory but the flow on a carb is nowhere near as good as a throttle body.

You'd be better off with a set of ZXR1200 Throttle Bodies, like these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kawasaki-ZX12R-T...21#ht_727wt_905

In theory, a set of those would run on standard management with standard injectors, with a map/maf conversion.

And the manifold on the cross flow is perfect for chopping down too, use just the bottom section and some silicon piping.

To mate your head to an AGG/2E block you'll need to run a G60 head gasket as it has the additional drain holes the head has.