so been on the forum for the last couple of weeks having a look about and been really impressed with the amount of effort people have put into not only helping other people but into keeping a retro classic alive, so i thought id start a thread on mine.I've got 2 main reasons for this other than so i can remember what I've done! first of all so i can document the cars history under my ownership for future purposes and 2 so i can get feedback on possible mods/problems and overall look of the car. so ill start.....

had been scouring through ebay in the car section as always as i wanted a old vw i could use on the road as a daily,knew i didnt want a beetle , caddy or a mk1 golf conv as my mates have these and came across the polo. watched it till the auction ended but never bit the bullet and put a bid on. the day after it had ended i found myself thinking about how cool these cars actually are and decided the only thing i could do now was send the guy an email and if the winning bidder didnt make contact i would go have a look. a week later i got a call saying come have a look the bidder was a waste of time so went to view the next day, first look over was that the car was solid, paintwork aint a show stopper but half decent, my main concern was i couldnt hear the engine running due to no battery. ummed and rrrd made a low offer due to this and left him with it. got a call the following day from him saying come pick it up.

went and picked it up the next night.getting it on the trailer was not that fun,trying to push it up with the brakes half seized while him and the misses made sure the wheels lined up with the ramps quickly became even less fun when,while stood between both ramps with my back pushing against the boot it came to a sudden stop. i now have a car I'm trying to stop from rolling back down over me,the misses running around telling me its stuck on the back sill/subframe cos the trailer ramps are too steep,and him saying we may have to bring it back down while looking at the sides of the polo.so after what seemed like an hour (prob about 5 min) i couldnt see anything cos my back was too it i lost it abit and lifted the back end up off the ramps and shoved it on. that moment was a massive relief, finally on ,no damage to me or the car other than half a pack of fags and ripping the fuel lines in half!

got the car off the other end ok learnt a lesson and dropped the ramps onto the kerb outside so the angle was less, worked a treat.

so over the first weekend ended up stripping the interior out as the seats needed the leather re-pulling and all the little bits like the tilt mech sorting and plastic trims putting back on from a donor set of mk2 seats,also ended up taking the front bumper and grill off as wasnt keen on the shape.

front end before

front end after while fitting wheels

decided i wanted the old style grill that sits in so had a look about on the german sites and ended up buying a front splitter and front window seal instead,i just couldnt bring myself to spend a £160 + the price of the smaller lights and holders. so decided to get my mates mk1 golf grill and line it up with the intention to modify one to fit.

well got bored that night while the misses was doing some sewing stuff and pulled the original front grill out and set to it with a hacksaw..an 8 out of 10 cats does countdown later their was plastic bits all over the floor but the grill was looking about right a few tests later and it this was the result.

a few days later the splitter finally arrived test fitted it then bolted it on and took a few pics

then lined the grill and pushed the lights in place loosly till i can make all the holders and brackets

decided it was time to get him running,so once again while the misses was upstairs i turned the front room into a degreasing and carb rebuilding area,the next morning bought a battery ,alt belt,fuel filter and new fuel lines,cleaned all the plugs and fitted the cleaned carb

before

clean carb

pic of the engine bay (needs a good clean and indicators sorting yet

after some fettling about and some juice he was turning over but not firing,cleaned all the plugs and checked sparks ...all good...still not firing......after 10 fags a few coffees and alot of cursing realised id simple attached the fuel lines the wrong way round on the tank,couple of squirts of wd40 down the carb and hes alive! just needs a proper set up.

stripped the front brakes right down as they were half siezed and cleaned them up so they actually move use of varied hitting instruments was required,fitted a new master cylinder and wore the misses out making her pump the brakes while i bleed them!

found out the wheel nuts were slightly too long on the rear and fouled something inside the drums so ended up cutting them down a couple of threads, all good now.

made a start a finally finished pulling the leather and sorting the extra bits on the front seats

swapped the foam inside the rear seats for a later model and re-pulled the leather

decided yesterday that after cleaning all of the carpet and seats/roofliner it was time to re-fit the interior,door cards are going to be totally re-done as and when

been out most of the day today but thought id tidy up the parcel shelf,misses had some leather pvc sheet left over from doing my r1 seats so thought id give covering it a bash as the shelf wasnt in a great way,its come out pretty well although getting the rubber things back through was a bitch!

ill keep updating as i go along, still need to put the new front and rear window seals in when the chrome gets here along with the new door and boot seals,and a fair few more little bits.

Great start to the build thread man!

Was this on ebay a few weeks back?look sweet anyway mate

Yeah it was , needed a fair bit more work than the advert said but overAll pretty good,

Lovely looking motor buddy

Love your work on the grille!

went for the cheap option!! just got an afh engine, currently stripping it down and cleaning it up. hopefully all will go well when i get around to fitting it,trying to source the rest of the parts at the minute but will update as i go along

Not updated this for a while as i've been busy with work and bits with doing our house up. So here's what i've been up to.... got the little polo running (all be it not very well) and convinced myself pretty quickly i would need a bit more grunt, so as the car will not be an every day driver (i have a works van) decided to purchase an AFH engine.

So thought to myself before i put the engine in i'll strip it down and replace the bearings so began this while the misses was out in what will eventually be our dining room , to my surprise she wasnt really that bothered as long as i got on with building the garage at the same time.then did some looking through the forum and ended up convincing myself again that putting the 1.6 internals in was a better option.So the misses arrived home a few days later to discover engine number 2 in bits all over the dining room floor!

Then got busy trying to source the parts required..piston rings, all the bearings, water pump, cambelt ect.. while waiting for the parts to arrive i cleaned the block up and painted it

The parts i needed finally came through so i began re assembly, new piston rings in

Then came fitting it the crank, that went pretty smoothly

,

But problems arose when i found the new big end bearings where a different size and the free play seemed too much for my liking.After some trawling managed to get the right ones

So got it all back together finally,

Purchased a ported and polished head off here and polished rocker cover and got the bike carb inlet fitted, this is how it stands at the min

Picked up an AFH 5 sp again off here and mount, gave it a clean up and paint,

Since then i have picked up a 4-1 stainless and sorted the timing belt kit including the tensioners. Still need to clean up the bike carbs and get the the inlet matched to the ports on the head but that shouldn't be too bad. Need to source a AFH starter and flywheel wheel bolts along with slim sump then modify the oil pick up and it should be about ready.

Got a nice new shiny engine crane delivered last night so can hopefully pull the old engine out this week end and tart the engine bay up before the AFH goes in.

Also managed to collect a few parts over the last few months from people off here, chrome front bumber, front upper, lower and rear strut brace but only time will tell if they will still fit with the new engine in place!Fingers crossed that it works once its all in!!!!!