Hey people. Really want to do this to mine as i love the look of it. Been thinking about it for a while and as it happens i will be removing my engine soon anyway. Anyone got and tips or a small guide on doing it? I'm aware it will involve a load of spotwelds ect but what else?

Edited 28 October, 201213 yr by erixtar1992

Please don't do it!

why not?? it looks so good! even with the heater! I 100% want to do it, its just a matter of when lol

Why not??

Please don't do it!

Oh come on, it's hardly writing the car off, is it..

The heater inlet must pick up fresh air, not air from the engine bay. A simple adaptor to the bonnet grille or ducting onto the wing would sort this.

I agree on looks actually, even with everything still on the shelf, the partition is ugly compared to a freshly painted shelf with clean items on it.

I agree mikey! Imo it just makes the engine stand out alot more and it will also provide more room for working on it.

Not to mention the fact that my new inlet manifold is 15cm long! Haha.

It also annoys me how dirty the firewall gets from the carbs when giving it the beans.

As for the heater i was going to run some ducting to the passenger wing as you say :)

Please don't do it!

Come on why or is this just your personal opinion,,

I know the chassis number is stamped here so there is the first hurdle,

Opinion aside. I don't think you really know how much work it entails,

The best way to do it is drill out the spot welds and fill them back in, welding is a nightmare as everything is covered in paint, greace, sealent, filler and mud. You'll need a respirator if your welding it as its some pretty harmful shit your gonna be breathing in,

If i was to do it on a car i wasn't full seam welding and spraying etc, id drill out the spot welds, and try not to do any angle grinding, or anything thats gonna be creating a lot of heat. To fill in the spot weld drill holes, i'd maybe look into some sort of chemical metal filler.

The biggest pain in the arse is around the battery tray and gussets on the outside of the turrets.

Edited 29 October, 201213 yr by MaxGT

Please don't do it!

Come on why or is this just your personal opinion,,

I know the chassis number is stamped here so there is the first hurdle,

Have you ever done it before?

Please don't do it!

Come on why or is this just your personal opinion,,

I know the chassis number is stamped here so there is the first hurdle,

Have you ever done it before?

No I have not however I also have never modified a Polo before until this on.

I have fitted numerous weld in and bolt in cages fully seam welded and restored Mk1 Astra's Nova's ect,

I also think (personally ) that albeit sincere your post did slightly over dramatize the procedure,Its no different to cutting out a rusted inner wing or floor panel....

Have you performed this or similar procedures??

My question was directed at Runforestrun just out of interest.................... :-) :-D

Done properly it would look good.

Done over a weekend it will probably look like someone's cut the bulkhead out with tinsnips and tried to paint it so it doesn't look obvious

Surely you could grind down the panel where the spotwelds are rather than drilling them?

Worst comes to worst ill get the chemical metal out lol

Its not being done in a weekend nick, will have a good week or so. Plenty of time!

PM me your email Eric, may have something that could help with this

Done properly it would look good.

Done over a weekend it will probably look like someone's cut the bulkhead out with tinsnips and tried to paint it so it doesn't look obvious

Exactly.

If its not done properly and everything smoothed off completely, it will look like an abortion. Like mine does currently. You cant just cut it out like a floor panel or inner wing because you'd have a massive hole in the fire wall, and then be left will lost of bits of metal spot welded/glued in place.

It needs to have the spot welds drilled out, and the glue/sealent heated up, allowing you to pull off the remaining material. Then there's the problem of the gussets behind the turrets that join onto the inner wing, these are a nightmare as you cant get any sort of tool in. I think i'll be using a die grinder to finish it off. The bit infront of the battery tray was difficult too.

By all means go for it eric if you want to, but don't go listening to people who "think" its easy and simple to do. It aint.

Worst comes to worst ill get the chemical metal out lol

Exactly!

Just be careful mate, you have a lovely shell in a rare colour, and it would be a shame to rush it and spoil it

Thats all I mean

Done properly it would look good.

Done over a weekend it will probably look like someone's cut the bulkhead out with tinsnips and tried to paint it so it doesn't look obvious

Exactly.

If its not done properly and everything smoothed off completely, it will look like an abortion. Like mine does currently. You cant just cut it out like a floor panel or inner wing because you'd have a massive hole in the fire wall, and then be left will lost of bits of metal spot welded/glued in place.

It needs to have the spot welds drilled out, and the glue/sealent heated up, allowing you to pull off the remaining material. Then there's the problem of the gussets behind the turrets that join onto the inner wing, these are a nightmare as you cant get any sort of tool in. I think i'll be using a die grinder to finish it off. The bit infront of the battery tray was difficult too.

By all means go for it eric if you want to, but don't go listening to people who "think" its easy and simple to do. It aint.

So you are half way through ??

Great stuff any chance of any pictures??

Battery's not a problem for me as I have relocated it.

Worst comes to worst ill get the chemical metal out lol

Exactly!

Just be careful mate, you have a lovely shell in a rare colour, and it would be a shame to rush it and spoil it

Thats all I mean

It was a joke bud

If theres any spotweld holes id leave them untill my welder was fixed.

Max. If i drill spotwelds, heat up sealant and take the panel off whole, there wont be no big holes underneath right? Just where the spotwelds were drilled?

Shouldn't be no, but there was a small triangular section missing underneath mine for some reason.

Are you gonna be fillering and re-painting then dude?

If you do it take some pics. Been wanting to do this on mine ever since the CBR carbs went on...

Shouldn't be no, but there was a small triangular section missing underneath mine for some reason.

Are you gonna be fillering and re-painting then dude?

umm depends. i dont want it too look all smoothed when the rest doesnt. i just want it to look as though it werent there in the first place.

ill be giving it a lick of paint no doubt, but any holes from spotwelds i can live with for now untill my welder is fixed, then i will sort them out too and repaint :)

mr ska wars. pictures will be in my thread :) if it goes smoothly enough i may put a guide up.

Edited 29 October, 201213 yr by erixtar1992

As Max has already tried to say - i will double it - its not done in a weekend, if it is it will look shite! and getting into the areas to remove some of the panel is best done with the engine out, to do the welding properly then you need to look at areas inside the car which means dash out, as part of a rebuild and respray of the engine bay its something which can be looked at - but as a means of just cosmetically doing it in a short space of time will ultimately end up in "oh bollox - what have i started here"

And my own 2p in the mix - unless the heater box goes aswell - they look worst then standard!

I'm not doing it in a weekend as I've said! I've got over a week to do it all, if all goes to plan and i can get the parts together, the 1.3 will be out between thursday-saturday this week, and then ill do it while the bay is empty :)

they look awesome even with the ugly heater!

I agree with kiz on this. Everything has to be moved to make it look 'right' imo. Fuses, wiring, wiper needs to be detailed, heater, the lot! That one above doesn't look good imo.

Thats the reason I haven't considered mine, I want the heater (regardless of how shite it may be!), don't want to faff with moving the fuse box. Oh, and it looks like a ball ache! Personally if everything needs to stay where it is, then I'd go with a scuttle cover.

Fire on though. You are about the only person on here who says when they are going to do something, actually. No umming and ahhhhing, no bullshit. What the final result is likely to be is anyones guess however

i know what your saying simon, but for me, the smoothed look doesnt look right unless you do the whole lot imo!

i love the look of that red one, obviously i wont have the catch tank though so itd look a little less cluttered.

haha got me down to a tee mate. once i get an idea in my head I'm lethal

the main reason I'm doing it though is that my inlet manifold i am making for the AFH is 15cm long, and coupled up to the AFH's wider head, I'm gonna need the extra room for the carbs!

best pic i have of inlet mani length :

cutting a section out of the firewall for the carbs has been suggested, but that would look shit imo, may aswell do the whole lot

Fair play Eric, that manifold, when welded and ported, won't be half bad!

I never thought I'd say this to you, the Queen of Pikey, but that does actually look pretty good!