Hi guys.

You may well recognise this car, it was owned by a guy on here called Eric.

I've owned it since yesterday and already, it's been interesting.

Here's what happened:

• Started to drive it home - happy days, drives lovely, looks lovely.

• Went to fill up with petrol, stalled it.. oh, it won't start..

(at this point we are 5 minutes from the guys house I bought it from, I'm starting to think that I bought a dud.)

• Jump start, happy days, it's started.

• Stalls again. Jump start.

• Repeat x8

• I'm starting to look like a dick by this point because it looks like I can't drive.

• My mate Steve tries to get her started without stalling.

• Same thing happens.

• It's not my poor driving after-all!

• Swapped batteries with Steve.

• This fixes the problem... Untill.

• On the M11 my car loses all power - flat battery.

• On the hard shoulder of the M11 we swapped batteries back.

• I went for a few more miles.

• Back in the hard shoulder.

• Steve see's a sign for services, they're 4 miles away.

• He decides that towing is a good solution to my problem.

• It's pitch black and raining, no lights or wipers.

• It feels like I'm inches from my very good friends bumper (of his Volvo 360 GLE Saloon FYI)

• We completely skip the Harlow turn off for the services.

• Steve didn't want to frighten me into thinking I was being towed all the way to our hometown (because it's pretty far).

• Lots of swerving and potentially life threatening conditions (consider that this is the first time I've driven a car in nearly a year!)

• Then decide to leave the Polo at a friends house as it's less distance to drive back

• Just around the corner from my friends house and the tow rope snaps. (I find out later that the rope was held together by a knot in the middle..

• The rest of the journey is pushed to safety.

• We get a lift to McDonalds and get ourselves to bed, it's 4am by this point.

Just to point this out, Eric didn't sell me a dud, he actually sold me a very good car - it needs some work, don't get me wrong... but that's what I wanted! :) it was just VERY bad timing of the alternator going...

Today the alternator has been replaced, arches have been ghetto pulled to make the wheels a bit more legal and lots of stickers have been removed.

I found out that the spring is missing from the accelerator, trying to source one as we speak. Can anyone think of a good solution to this?

I'm getting a quote for a vinyl wrap - I'm not sure you can vinyl wrap a primered car, anyone??

Initial ideas/thoughts:

Carb filter (don't have one right now.)

Sunroof Delete

Vinyl Wrap/Paint

Half strip interior

Buckets and Harnesses

Rev Limiter

Gloss mirrors and rear spoiler

Rewire dash as some connections seem to be pretty bad.

New brakes - disks all round, can anyone recommend one?

Front Coilovers and roll arches more.

Random thought I had today, I was wondering what was lighter, wrap or paint...??

Charlie

Edited 15 May, 201214 yr by charliejennings

Excellent! Intresting few hours you've had with it :p If your not outa' love with it by now (already) then your gna have a longggg relationship :p

Indeed mate! I'm very in love. The previous owner did a good job and for what I've got planned, she will just get better.

Good to see it has an enthusiastic new owner!

Best of luck!

Nice one man, my mate told me about this yesterday You're from essex right?

I'm pleased your happy mate, bad luck with the alt man!!

By the way the carbs are cbr600 not gsx :)

Have fun!

Nice one man, my mate told me about this yesterday You're from essex right?

Been spotted hooning about then? :lol:

Nah my mate at Uni from essex told me his friend had bought a red oxide Mk2 on starmags and it was a nail

Good to see it has an enthusiastic new owner!

Best of luck!

Thanks mate

Nice one man, my mate told me about this yesterday You're from essex right?

I am from Essex!

Nice one man, my mate told me about this yesterday You're from essex right?

Been spotted hooning about then? :lol:

I'm taking it easy at the minute mate, brakes are needed first!

I'm pleased your happy mate, bad luck with the alt man!!

By the way the carbs are cbr600 not gsx :)

Have fun!

Yeah, for some reason I thought they were gsx. :S

Nice one man, my mate told me about this yesterday You're from essex right?

Been spotted hooning about then? :lol:

Nah my mate at Uni from essex told me his friend had bought a red oxide Mk2 on starmags and it was a nail

Who's your mate?

The brakes are alot better when you get used to them haha

The brakes are alot better when you get used to them haha

They're not as bad as I first thought.. but they're not the best to be honest, I'm going to try to get them like anchors :p

haha, i could lock them up fairly easy! then again i am quite a big guy

you should try the brakes i have now.

they literally DO NOT work!!

so have you thought up any plans for it yet? as i said to you, a manually adjustable clutch cable would probably be good, as its kinda close to the floor, and if you grab an oil pressure sensor off of a 1.3 engine you could get the blue oil pressure wire wired up to stop it flashing.

the yellow one is just earthed but never made it flash, not sure why the blue one dont do the same!

Were bouts from Essex you from ??

Were bouts from Essex you from ??

Braintree mate.

haha, i could lock them up fairly easy! then again i am quite a big guy

you should try the brakes i have now.

they literally DO NOT work!!

so have you thought up any plans for it yet? as i said to you, a manually adjustable clutch cable would probably be good, as its kinda close to the floor, and if you grab an oil pressure sensor off of a 1.3 engine you could get the blue oil pressure wire wired up to stop it flashing.

the yellow one is just earthed but never made it flash, not sure why the blue one dont do the same!

The oil light is off now mate.

A few other updates:

My starter motor is now dead.

I've come to the conclusion that it's from trying to start it so much the night I bought it.. so Dubz-by-Dan are sorting me out a brand new one for Monday.

Since owning it I've put premium unleaded in it and that's seemed to have had a really good effect, it's running really nicely.

After taking the dashboard apart to check out what was going on in terms of wiring, it was a bit of a mess to say the least so I've stripped some dashboard lights and a few other electronics out (saves weight! :p) as they merely twisted round each other and held together with cellotape which I don't really trust. Whether I put them back in or not isn't decided yet. Though there's no more bodged cables.

After trying to fix the headunit, I can't seem to get it to power, It's really strange because I accidently connected one of the speaker outputs from the headunit to the battery and it decided to power.. I suppose this might be the headunit, but it's been fine in the past.

The wiring seems really weird in the MK2, I don't seem to have a switched 12v, can someone shed some light on how to wire a head unit in a mk2? I'm really getting to the end of my tether with such a simple job! It's really starting to annoy me!

a carbed valver in a mk2 is lots of fun, ime sure you will love it when you get used to it! :)

i absolutely love surprising people in my saloon

a carbed valver in a mk2 is lots of fun, ime sure you will love it when you get used to it! :)

i absolutely love surprising people in my saloon

I honestly love it mate.

Even though I'm getting a few more issues than I anticipated, I still look back and love her :)

She's just going to get better. Watch this space! :)

There's a yellow (yello and black) wire under the steering wheel that is a switched 12v

Admire youre enthusiasm mate, especially after getting off to a rocky start!

Its good your sorting through it all slowly, will make a decent car and put a smile on your face everytime!

I think I laughed about 80% of the time I was in this car for :)

There's a yellow (yello and black) wire under the steering wheel that is a switched 12v

Ta mate, I'll have a look! :)

Admire youre enthusiasm mate, especially after getting off to a rocky start!

Its good your sorting through it all slowly, will make a decent car and put a smile on your face everytime!

I think I laughed about 80% of the time I was in this car for :)

Thanks mate, I'm trying my best!

She's honestly awesome.. Turns heads, puts a grin on my face all the time, despite the primer paint job and the car not even having a stereo at the moment, I'm really happy with it.

The little things will be sorted soon (once I get some more money together.

She's down at Dubz-by-Dan tomorrow getting the starter motor sorted out..

I'm getting a bit worried about the fact that my carbs have no trumpets or filters, do you guys think it's anything to worry about? I've thought about putting tights over them as filters as I've seen it done before (don't tell the girlfriend!) What do you guys think about that?

Also, thinking about stripping her out at the weekend. :p

tights will prob just rip mate .. I want to run trumptes but along with some fine mesh ( almost like smoking pipe filter mesh stuff )

tights will prob just rip mate .. I want to run trumptes but along with some fine mesh ( almost like smoking pipe filter mesh stuff )

That's what I thought mate, I might think about doing something like that, though I could run some pretty cool looking filters.

Few Updates

- Snapped my accelerator spring[HOONIGAN]

- Bodged my accelerator spring

- Fixed my accelerator spring

- New Starter motor fitted by Dubz-by-dan - starts first time everytime now!

- Stripped more wires from dash to give her a proper tidy up (less wires is lighter, right? :p)

Ideas

- Save up to get her painted at Dubz-by-Dan

- Strip out rear interior (may do this weekend)

- Set carbs up properly - anyone know anyone around Essex?

- Buckets/harnesses

- New manifold due to mine being cracked

Alot more in the 'pipeline', just got to find the funds to do it!

tights will prob just rip mate .. I want to run trumptes but along with some fine mesh ( almost like smoking pipe filter mesh stuff )

That's what I thought mate, I might think about doing something like that, though I could run some pretty cool looking filters.

Drain plug gauze..... you can buy it from B+Q and its fine mesh you use in the shower e.t.c. Its what I'm using on the SU's for the metro :-)

Could be a plan.. I think I'll get filters eventually because it'll look better.. :)

Dude the manifold aint cracked there supposed to be like that look at othee afh's

Plans sound good!!

Alright mate.

Try TCS Performance in Bishops Stortford.

I took my AFH on bike carbs there and it runs a treat!

Dude the manifold aint cracked there supposed to be like that look at othee afh's

Plans sound good!!

I had a proper look today, it's way to clean to be a crack anyway! :)

(I had an excuse to change it to a better, damn you.)

Thanks mate, when stuff stops dying on me I might actually be able to start them!

Alright mate.

Try TCS Performance in Bishops Stortford.

I took my AFH on bike carbs there and it runs a treat!

Thanks bud, I'll give them a shout, do you remember the name of the person who dealt with yours?

Stripped interior

Sealed up a few holes in the boot as it was getting really damp.

New ground battery connector as the previous one was screwed.

I can't wait for payday now, I want to get some more things done!! like this lot..

Rocker Cover Gasket,

Cambelt cover

Carb trumpets/filters

Some sort of cold air feed

I liked this photo, so I'm sharing it with you guys.

Edited 20 May, 201214 yr by charliejennings