Should of really started this last august when i bought the car, but seeing as its been almost a year since i got it, i guess its an interesting time period to monitor a transformation. To start with this isn't a big budget project and i'm not a massively talented mechanic!(It'll never be my day-job) This is actually the first car i've ever modified thinking about it.

So to start, i got my 6n2 for £1600, and i had myself 1.4 S 8v rocket ship, with 55,000 on the clock.

I don't have a photo to upload of it before i made any changes as i had no urge to modify it and didn't care to take a picture of what was previously an old lady's car. So naturally it was sky high on steels with some scuffed hub caps. (these stayed for longer than necessary).

It wasn't until the end of my first term back at uni until i built up the courage to dive in and order my first parts. Id previously spent a year at uni witnessing one of my friends begin to modify his Lupo (whats more important to do in your first year?) So with a little encouragement i was browsing ebay for coilovers but hadn't yet committed to any. Until i was at home on the Christmas break and luckily found a set new for a reasonable price, Luckier still they were close so managed to shave off another 20 quid for postage as i could collect them myself. Soon after i was at the garage where i'd previously done work experience for a summer, and was fitting suspension with the guide of another good friend. I hadn't had a lowered car before, but now i forget what its like to not have one! :-D

Here it is with the coilovers on and as low as id dare at the time. (low enough to have to cringe as the exhaust scrapes over speed bumps anyhow)

After flicking through magazines, forums and the rest of the internet it occurred to me that one modification that made a quite a difference on the 6n2 was to do a little OEM+ shopping and upgrade the original grill to the GTi version. So i had my next purchase lined up! and was thrilled that it was a simple job, three clips and i was away. Now i'm not all that into replica's so there wasn't going to be any GTi badge to accompany it, as i'm pretty sure any one with a saxo and a fibre glass body kit holding it together could smoke my 1.4 8v!

So my first modifications were complete, and i was happy with the outcome. They left me wanting to do more, and the next logical step at this point was wheels. This turns out to be a never ending story as we all have ideas about hat we want and then when the wheels are on, something else comes along which makes you change your mind. And this goes on until you eventually settle upon something.(That's how its been for me anyway.)

I was first tempted by a set of G60 steels as id seen a few polos with them on the forum and thought they looked good, providing the car was sitting right down on them... So i went ahead and put a green light on G60's. In my head I was imagining putting Mercedes trims over the top of them, however when i got them decided i would roll with them as they were for a while first.

(These are now for sale in the wheels and tyres section, with more accommodating tyres. This picture was taken today 6/06/12 when i advertised them not when i first bought them if there is any confusion)

So i had my wheels and after i fitted them, once again started swaying towards using wheel trims, when scrolling through the club lupo oneday my friend spotted some trims that he thought would look good with my car, i agreed and started trying to source them through ebay. After looking for a while again it turns out they were closer to home than id imagined. so i procured myself some 15" Audi Aero trims these were nice as they covered a little of the tyre as well making them look a little bigger than they really are. Covering the tire became the least of my issues as it turned out. The tyres i originally bought for the G60's were 195/50/15's and that was just too much sidewall for me to fit under the arches when the car was at a level i was happy with....

So as you can see it was back up in the air, and i'd slipped backwards in terms of being lowered. At this point i was happy with the look the trims gave the polo, only it was sitting way to high. my dilemma was i had the wheels i wanted, with the trims but the tyres i had just forked out close to £200 quid on were letting it all down.

That's about all i can cope with writing for one night!

MORE TO COME!!! (and it gets a little closer to the ground)

Mate, so spinny... you have the same initials as me haha!!

J.R Owen.

figure out a way of decking it ( getting the arches pulled and flared) with those trims on and it would look insane

Mate, so spinny... you have the same initials as me haha!!

J.R Owen.

Hahah a strange thing to point out but fair play!

figure out a way of decking it ( getting the arches pulled and flared) with those trims on and it would look insane

Have done just that, :-D fairly recently but with a change of caps, (pictures will be up soon) rolled the arches to begin with, one of my friends had bought a roller between him and someone else so with a heat gun and some 'balls' he rolled them for me. Had to shred away some arch liner and bend some brackets aswell.... it all got a bit lary!

So as it was left last time, way high... i wasn't all that impressed with it, i stuck with it for a while until i could afford to get some new tyres, with a lower profile, but as it goes i didn't have to end up buying four new tyres as my buddy with the lupo fancied a change of wheels to and went for a set of ronal turbos.

Which meant for quite a while after that he had a set of bathurst's lying around his kitchen...until he got fed up of that, and offered them to me to roll on, which meant i had the opportunity to try a fresh set of wheels for as long as i liked really. The bonus of putting these on was that they also had tyres too, and were a shade lower profile than my 195/50's. I only ended up paying for two tyres as a couple were a bit low on tread.

The offset also helped a little too as they didn't stick out as far as the G60's. Although this did equal a lot of tuck...which has been somewhat of a theme running with this car. (up until recently)

Sitting a little closer to the floor again.

And a little closer again after being brave and coming down another 10mm all round.

Or maybe it was a bit more than 10mm i cant remember now, much like today if i was asked how much lower it is, i would have literally no idea as its been up and down so much in the past months predominantly down though so that's good!

I was very happy with the wheels and the way they suited the car down to the ground, i guess this is as they would of been designed around the same time as the 6n2 seeing as they belonged to the lupo GTi of around the same year. They have the same 'rounded off squared' look (a term i coined when trying to describe them) of the 6N2.

Other things that just seemed to have happened:

Little things that i forget to mention, which are no more than fiddling really... I'm not sure when exactly i did them but they definitly occured.

One of these things is tinting the side repeaters with a hint of black, didn't go too mad with it as one of the key words i have in mind when deciding on modifications is subtle. However recently i think I've discarded that a little. But it helps to keep tacky mod's off the list.

Another more recent mod (wont be seen in my pics for a while as it hadn't happened yet) was to de-wiper at the back just to tidy up a little and get a smoother look going. Plus its another one of those mod's where you feel like you have accomplished something and its taken you literally 3 or 4 bolts and a quid or so.. for a noticeable difference.

And there's always a sticker lying about somewhere that needs to make an appearance at some point. subtlety was a consideration here too. with a little play on words sticking to the proper font though....no messing!

So as it stands the car is sitting at a respectable level and i was really happy to be on a proper set of alloys, which received a few compliments while they were on... and thy were on for a fair amount of time. But i still felt that i had unfinished business with the G60's and wheel trims combination...

So more on that soon!

Absolutely love the pic with the lupo gti wheels on, looks minted. Keep up the gd work mate

I will keep an eye on this one

Looking really nice :)

good write up and pics

i've always liked the Lupo wheels, really smart

IMO, i thought the stance/lows on the stellies was better

but hey, its your car mod it how you want

Looking really nice :)

good write up and pics

i've always liked the Lupo wheels, really smart

IMO, i thought the stance/lows on the stellies was better

but hey, its your car mod it how you want

Absolutely love the pic with the lupo gti wheels on, looks minted.

Thanks a lot guys, yeah i was really happy with the bathursts, and have been told to put them back on by a few people. But yeah i had a bit of a thing for the G60's and knew they weren't quite done with yet! photos up soon!

Thanks for opinions, all welcome!

^^ what wheel is that just creeping in the pictures .. pretty sure thats not the lupo wheels orrr the steels ??

^^ what wheel is that just creeping in the pictures .. pretty sure thats not the lupo wheels orrr the steels ??

Ahhh i was hoping nobody noticed!! i had to take these pics yesterday and only realized there was a bit of a spoiler in there once i posted! Seems like some of you have eagle eyes! Not to offend, but i'm keeping that close to my chest at the minute, as they are going to feature later on in the thread!

The pics will be up in about a week as i'm waiting on some other bits too, in order to make a noteworthy update!

Good spot Chris!

Onto the next leg of the build so far...

You could say i'm going backwards again! After a reasonable time on the bathursts, 2 or 3 other green 6n2's appeared around my area,coming accross a little more 'scene' than mine on bbs reps.The bathursts didn't feel special anymore and I wanted to stay fresh, so i made the decision to give the G60's another chance, and give them something new to wear at the same time.

So without thinking i was breaking boundaries (as i know its been done time and time again) I sourced myself some Mercedes trims, and they were in lovely condition. bolted the G60's back on and slapped the caps on and i had a completely different look again from the bathursts. The full faced merc trims really set the polo off.

This time i was keen for the G60's to stay (with trims) but the only way it was going to look good was if i got it sitting down on them enough, and with the hassle i had the last time with trying to fit the G60's with the larger tyres on, i was on a mission to get it right.

This time with 195/45's, an arch roller, some screw drivers, pliers, stanley knife and a friend with the same intent as me we attacked the arches, arch liner and fixings and eventually came out on top. After trimming some liner back and bending a few tabs out of the way a little bit of filing to clean the place up a bit i was able to drop the car down to a reasonable level.

Or at least i was happy with it....for now. At this time Run To The Sun was around the corner and i was encouraged to go by friends, i was a little reluctant seeing as my previous experiences of it (id never been to the show and shine) were just chav's driving around in more often than not, french cars with loud exhausts and no class. However i had been mislead by the town tomfoolery and seeing as it was close to home there was no harm in going to see what it was all about. I was pleased to see when turning up at the show, lots of well done campers and bugs, sitting side by side with tastefully modified water-cooled dubs as well! A long with a few well prepared American cars too.

The polo before i left... (gettin' some fake lows in the drainage)

I'm glad i went to the show as it was a good laugh with friends despite the weather turning on us now and again, and it also re-instills my passion for the Volkswagen scene. I look forward to attending more shows later on in the year, with Edition 38 being one in mind!

Full of pride, being part of the VW scene and being victorious over my clashing of tyre and arch issues. I was on a high.

More soon.

^^ what wheel is that just creeping in the pictures .. pretty sure thats not the lupo wheels orrr the steels ??

Ahhh i was hoping nobody noticed!! i had to take these pics yesterday and only realized there was a bit of a spoiler in there once i posted! Seems like some of you have eagle eyes! Not to offend, but i'm keeping that close to my chest at the minute, as they are going to feature later on in the thread!

The pics will be up in about a week as i'm waiting on some other bits too, in order to make a noteworthy update!

Good spot Chris!

think i may know .. but wont say. wouldent want to ruin your build thread

^^ what wheel is that just creeping in the pictures .. pretty sure thats not the lupo wheels orrr the steels ??

Ahhh i was hoping nobody noticed!! i had to take these pics yesterday and only realized there was a bit of a spoiler in there once i posted! Seems like some of you have eagle eyes! Not to offend, but i'm keeping that close to my chest at the minute, as they are going to feature later on in the thread!

The pics will be up in about a week as i'm waiting on some other bits too, in order to make a noteworthy update!

Good spot Chris!

think i may know .. but wont say. wouldent want to ruin your build thread

Thanks man, it will all be up in a couple of days anyway! cheers chris.

Looking at the front end again, the gti grill was doing a good job of looking good, but some how it still seemed a little featureless! so fog lights were now on the list, first of all i needed to get hold of some fog light grills, so my natural instinct was to jump straight on ebay and find a set, although slightly rarer than i expected i did get hold of them!

(Lazy ebay pic steal)

while i was searching for fogs, i was torn between just buying some new ones or holding out for the real deal and get the genuine ones... Went with the genuine ones after all as i thought if i had the choice i would rather them, so held on. In the meantime ordered up a bit of lamin x as i was intent on having them tinted yellow to give it that little bit of euro style i appreciate.

Wasn't sure how well i was going to cope actually wrapping them myself as i tend to be positively retarded when it comes to fiddly things. It turned out OK and now i was just waiting on the right set of fogs. When a set did come up i won the bid for 25 quid i think it was and whoever it was selling them hadn't taken them off the vehicle yet.... so got a nice email after the sale, saying that two lugs had broken off the passenger side lamp. Great. Any way they turned up and i made do, it wasn't perfect but it would fit anyway. The tint came out quite well and i was properly happy with the outcome.

Just to fit them to the car next, with my dodgy passenger side lugs. found my self a couple of bolts and stuck them on, stepped back to have a look and was pleasantly surprised how good it looked, a nice touch and a jazzy little feature. One of my favorite modifications so far and it transforms the presence of the car. Take a look for yourself!

So there it was, yellow fogs. Now i was really happy with the car, pleased with all the additions. It was nice having the car down low again too after doing the arch work, but it was tucking, and over the past month or so i've come to respect stanced cars a lot more (my take on stance is something that is lowered over stretched tyres with a bit of poke and some slight camber) so i was deep in thought about what to do....

More soon. comments/abuse...welcome!

I'm enjoying this thread I must admit!

I like a good write up

I'm enjoying this thread I must admit!

I like a good write up

Thanks a lot! i must admit i read yours the other day, and was very jealous of the complete engine strip down (i think that was yours) would love the mechanical knowledge to do it myself. :-)

Thanks a lot! i must admit i read yours the other day, and was very jealous of the complete engine strip down (i think that was yours) would love the mechanical knowledge to do it myself. :-)

np

yup, thats my thread aha.

To be honest, i have a good idea how a car works mechanically, but i wouldn't know how to rebuilt the engine myself from start to finish, so i had the help of a few books and mainly my dad who was shadowing over me

i just had some guidance and a few pointers along the way to keep me on track, and i'm sure if someone told you how step by step, you could too

Never thought that those Lupo gti's would suit the 6n2 so much. what spacers and tyres were u running on the lupo gti's?

love the yellow fogs, goes well with the green on thee car.

are they all wired up or have you yet to do that?

Never thought that those Lupo gti's would suit the 6n2 so much. what spacers and tyres were u running on the lupo gti's?

Yeah it was something i was very happy with, they were running without spacers the offset was et 37 or 35 i believe, but not certain which. the tyres were 195/45/15's there wasn't any stretch going on, perhaps with some stretch and spacers they'd look even better! :-)

I've read your thread too and must commend you on your refurbishing of wheels. good job.

love the yellow fogs, goes well with the green on thee car.

are they all wired up or have you yet to do that?

Thanks a lot, always thought the yellow would compliment the green, turned out well. I haven't yet won a genuine switch yet, bidded on a few but lost out. So they aren't wired in for now but as soon as i have all the correct bits they will be functioning!

Thanks for comments :-D

Thanks for comments :-D

You're very welcome

That looks really nice on the merc trims, I'd say just space em out and that could be near enough perfect. Not usually a fan of the yellow tint effect but yours looks good, maybe its the green that makes it look better?

That looks really nice on the merc trims, I'd say just space em out and that could be near enough perfect. Not usually a fan of the yellow tint effect but yours looks good, maybe its the green that makes it look better?

Thanks, spacers were the next thing on the list but wasn't sure if i wanted to space out the G60's or get a set of wheels and do a proper job. Yeah i think the yellow definitely works with the dark green.