The guy from my local body shop came around today to look at the Polo, and surprisingly didn't just laugh at me and say no.

I am away for work Sunday, that's 4 weeks of my life I'm never getting back, and when I get home 2 others are popping around to view the car.

So hopefully in just over a month i will have someone lined up...and it's up to me to get the car ready to send it to them!

I have decided to turn the car in to a soft top...

Only kidding, I have scrapped the car today. Here it is, cut into pieces and on the back of a truck.

Every time I took a piece off the car it only revealed more rust.

• Both sill completely shot
• Both leading edges of the rear arches.
• Both trailing edges of the front arches.
• Both roof seems (front and back edges)
• Around the windscreen
• Floor around every grommet hole, because the grommets have just rotted away
• Around the fire wall
• Front subframes and arms
• And then all the bits of trim I would need to locate/replace/refurbish!

The body shops I spoke to quoted £3000 or more for all the repairs and a complete respray, and that was just to standard spec. So I decided the best thing to do would be to strip the car for parts, and for it to act as a donor car.

So I have purchased this

Which probably means this thread should move to the 6N2 forum.

Registered February 2002, 1.4 mpi, 99k miles and more importantly no rust...well very little.

Moved to the mk5 forum :)

Shame about the mk4 but at least you know when enough is enough and it is better to buy a more solid shell.

Cheers, I wanted to save the blue, not purple (clearly purple!), car. But spending that amount of money getting a shell sorted was ridiculous....And I restored a classic Mini, so understand the true meaning of ridiculous costs.

Not sure what the end goal with this one is going to be, I have all the body panels from the 6N, so might retrofit them. I do prefer the look and I still have my AFH engine.....

I've done a few things on the car since I got it.

• Drivers side door check strap was broken - swapped with the spare from the scrapped car
• Runner on passenger side window was broken - swapped
• Battery fuse board cracked - swapped

Someone has bodged door handle mounting on the passenger side door, no idea what it could possibly achieve. So I am going to go to the local scrapyard see if I can find myself a whole new door.

Also the wing mirrors have been painted very badly (i'll get a pictures later), so they will need replacing.

Now the biggest problem is the central locking. From the driver side nothing happens when you lock the door. The interior buttons work fine. The passenger side is plain weird.....when locked, the doors lock but it completely opens the windows... not the best!!

The second major thing I am going to tackle is sorting the advisories front the last MOT.

Offside Front Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)

Nearside Front Anti-roll bar rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)

Nearside brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (3.5.1i)

Nearside front brake fluctuating, but not excessively (3.7.B.3)

front brake pads approx 65 percent worn

I am planning on dropping the whole front suspension out, getting it powder coated, complete set of poly bushes, new discs & pads, bearings, and new shocks.

Sorted through my parts collection and have put some of the bits and pieces that aren't compatible with the 6N2 in the for sale section.

Fixed my central locking problem today, all it took was a fresh battery and a good clean up off the locks and mechanism......a nice cheap fix.

Also fitted my new surround for the electric window switches on the drivers door, and still need to sort the passenger side out.

And as mentioned previously, the really badly painted wing mirrors.....if anyone had a pair of silver (LA3W) wing mirrors for sale please let me know!!

It's been a couple of weeks since I did anything on the Polo, mostly because I was on holiday in Egypt and then had to go on a quick 5 day job for work, because "I was the only person available"....or the only person stupid enough to answer the phone!

But today has been a busy day, I went to fetch a set of BBS split rims from a GTi. They are in reasonable condition, the centres could do with a refurb and the rims need a polish.

And I started stripping the front suspension off the car, hopefully I will get all the suspension off tomorrow or Thursday. I can then get it powder coated over Christmas. My wife wants to start using the car come April, and if I don't break too many things and 3rd parties don't hold me up I might be in with a chance.

There isn't going to be much progress over the next month or so though, I am working 4 weeks over Christmas, going away next Wednesday. First one I have ever worked in 9 years, which in the offshore industry is pretty unheard of, so I can't complain too much.

Tried to remove the subframe bolts today, the captive nuts just span....so it looks like I am going to have to lift the engine out to get at the holes in the chassis rails to undo the bolts. It's atlot more work than I anticipated!

The offending bolt

Due to a lack of enthusiasm today I haven't begun the task of removing the engine....maybe tomorrow (or the end of January when I get home?) plus I am watching for my spline keys and offset spanners to arrive to I can split up the drive shafts and hubs, that I know that's just an excuse.

But this has arrived today....

Brand new and still in the packaging!

I am thinking of getting the GTi fog lights and a leather steering wheel

Thanks to nige8021, I now know that the subframe mount actually needs to be cut off the vehicle in order to gain access to the captive nut.....not exactly the news I was hoping for, but its an answer and gives me some direction for after Christmas.

May still have to remove the engine to gain access to the mount, but now that I know and my quick bush change isn't going to happen I can think about the longer term plans and maybe do some of the other things I was going to do over time.

I got home on Monday, after 5 weeks away. As you'll know the weather has been pretty bad recently and I been getting rocked around by the North Sea, I am soo glad to be on solid ground again

Start on the removal of the subframe, cut the side off the mount and was able to wedge the captive nut and undo the bolt. Its the first thing that has gone correctly so far on this car, I am quite happy about it.

As you cane see from the picture there is some kind of cage that should hold the nut in place, so I will bolt everything up and weld the nut in the correct place once its been refurbished.

The nut and window piece I cut out.

Also discovered that the power steering pipes on the passenger side are very corroded, and with everything undone and accessible it would be silly not to replace them.

I've made some progress over the last week, nothing spectacular, but I am a step closer to putting the car back together.

Subframe, drive shafts, anti-roll bar, brackets and wheels centers were dropped off at the powder coaters this morning. Mostly going to be black, but a couple of pieces are going to be a different colour.

I couldn't get the hub nuts undone from the drive shafts, so I took them to the local machine shop. Apparently even they struggled to get them off!

They are also de-rusting the front hubs and pressing in new bearings, and have already cleaned up the front calipers.

From this...

to this...

they just need a final wire brushing, and I will give them a coat of paint and rebuild them.

I will also be taking the fixing and bits that need plating to the platers later this week, hopefully by the end of the month I should have everything back ready for refitting.

My local garage (100 meters from my house) is going to weld up the subframe mounts, but have suggested I drive it to them to save any call out fees and to make it easier by being up on the ramps. I can drive there mostly off public roads, so should be okay.

Unless there is anyone who lives in Hull that can weld, obviously I'd pay....in cakes and cups of tea!

Been cleaning the CV joints and brakes today, given them a coat of Kurust to make sure any hidden rust in the nooks and crannies are dealt with.

All undercoated now, just waiting for my top coat to arrive.

They are not, not on the dining room table....

Took this little lot off to the platers this morning. I'm using Allen Chrome in Pocklington, been quoted £35 and a week for zinc plating the lot....seem like a reasonable price?

Under coated my lower arms today, still waiting on the top coat...should be here within the next day or 2.

But on the plus side, just had a phone call from Allen Chrome, my bits are ready for collection already. That is a turn around of about 32 hours, unfortunately I will be unable to collect until Monday as 'we' are going to IKEA tomorrow...and to test drive Mercedes E300 Estate, for reasons!

Looking foward to seeing this car finished pal and very local to me :) i got a 6n2 in silver aswell

Finished painting suspension arms, calipers and CV joints yesterday. They just need 24 hours to cure properly now.

It is definitely an improvement!

Today I will be mostly painting my front hubs/swivels.

Picking up the plating tomorrow and powder coating on Wednesday...full steam ahead for rebuilding!!

Fetched my plating this morning, it is all so shiny!

But I am unsure exactly where everything goes, I have half a dozen bolts and nuts I can't account for. But I am sure it will all come out in the wash...

Got someone coming to view my Impreza tonight, hopefully it will sell...just have to figure out how I am going to get my powder coating on Wednesday, as I don't pick up the new car until Monday/Tuesday next week!!

Having done a few bits of DIY for a neighbor over the last few week - insulate and board a loft - including fitting new loft hatch and ladder, replace garage roof and dispose of the old asbestos sheets (local council take them for free as long as they are double bagged), so she was happy to lend me her car for an hour to collect powder coating.

Subframe -

I will be cavity waxing it, and the insides of the lower arms for added protection.

Wheel Centers -

Brackets, anti-roll bar and driveshafts -

They did paint over the splines unfortunately, but I'll protect them and go over the area with a wire wheel to remove the excess. The company did it for a reasonable price, so I am not going to complain.

So now I have to start reconstructing everything....

Also front hub/swivel has fully dried now, it is almost a shame to put these parts back on the car where they are not going to be seen and get covered in mud!!

Spent the afternoon going over the car trying to make it ready for refitting all the nice clean bits.

Hopefully fixed the leak on the gearbox, looked like it was coming from the reverse sensor, filling hole and/or one of the 2 plugs on the front. I drained the box, and fitted new copper washers to the plugs and sensors, and a little PTFE tape on the thread of the filling hole plug...some one will probably tell me I shouldn't have done that, but too late now.

Refilled the gearbox with new oil, one thing I will say is that if you are going to do gearbox oil make sure you do it on a warm day. I used a hose pipe with funnel into the box, and the oil took quite a while to flow down, probably 15 - 20 minutes! Next time I do this it will either be summer or the oil will have been in my house overnight!!

I cleaned all the old drips off and I will recheck the level and for leaks in the morning.

Pressed the bushes into the arms today and made them up ready.

Also made a mess with the cavity wax, most of it went on the inside of the frames!!