Thanks guys! Kwijibo was that a private plate? if not I hope you called it John haha!

Wizardman, professional isnt a term I'd use, just made the best of the tools I had available, it was a fairly simple design to be honest

and I think Madnemo means the rocker cover haha, nothing else under the bonnet is shiny right now!

Nope original plate to the car, although for ages a lot of the other 'car guys' in Peterhead that didn't know me from school thought my name was John because of that car.

Ahhhhh i mean the rocker cover not manifold lol

Well the rocker cover bolts are currently posing a problem, so bloody tight I can't loosen them!

well apart from the rocker cover I've had quite a productive weekend!

refit the -40mm springs and took the coilies off, they were buggered every helper spring had snapped!

had to use a few pikeytech techniques to do the job, but there is never a lack of ingenuity round these parts!

how she was

halfway there

all springs in

a load of folks will think I'm absolutely mad for re-initiating monster truck status but I have my reasons, 1st being that being that low it was totally unpractical, I live in an area laden with rough roads and speed bumps.

secondly and more importantly I am aiming for for a totally standard look with subtle touches with this car, this suspension setup achieves that perfectly for me. yes it is a hell of a lot more wallowy and floaty, but it is what I want...

for reference hers some pictures of the coilies I took off the car

as you can see, the helper springs are pretty much destroyed, god knows how long they've been on. Now the car is lifted, a lot of knocking and banging has gone, infact its non-existant, but this doesn't change my plans to overhaul the lower parts of the suspension.

credit does go to richard who had used copper grease when he last touched these, which made the work a breeze although I did come across two issues.

The first being that I've never reinstalled springs before, so had totally forgotten I need to push down on the lower arm to line the bolt holes up. this was achieved not by a pry/crow bar, as I don't have one of those, enter the "Wonder Plank" and bow to it.

that's two spacers from a lawnmower crank on there

wedged in and an after shot when we got the bolts in

Luckily I had a friend to help me here or else I would have been in big doo doo. Pry bar is next on my shopping list!

also, no pics of these, but got her all bolted up and took her for a nip round the block, as expected tracking was out by miles, back up she goes and a bit of handy work with a rope and a measuring tape has the tracking somewhat nearer to spec. It's not perfect but it is driveable until I get it into a garage with proper equipment. Sunday is never the best day for such jobs when you dont have the proper tooling, but it is also the best day to test the mind!

back up on stilts, she looks so innocent and "Polo" like

let the suspension settle and yes she does need a clean, but I can see it all happening infront of my eyes what I have in my head, and that's what counts! couldn't be happier

I like them standard or slightly lower than standard, looks more purposeful and sporting [emoji4]

I want your rocker cover . Cant wait to see it fitted with the polished rocker bolts too. that Rocker cover and a stainless steel manifold would look proper blingy . Thats how i would want mine to look after the conversion is finished

I haven't had the time to crack on with the rocker unfortunately, but hopefully will by the end of this week, I do have a stainless manifold to go on, but it's missing the decat pipe, so need to make some magic happen before that goes on!

You'll find the gearbox might last longer without all the stress of being lowered. To me it look far better and is very practical indeed, but then again I've never been a fan of slammed cars even if it is for 'scene points'.

Also my Granddad once did his tracking with a broom handle, when he had his mot he asked them to check the alignment. It was spot on.

few pics to keep thread alive, waiting for a couple of things to arrive, including the rear bootlid and bumper Richard said he'd give me, still on the hunt for a handbrake surround and some valver rear lights, not had the cash on me when I've had the chance for some!

suspension is pretty much settled now, need to get the rocker fit with some gasket sealant as the current one is seeping oil at high revs, but at least I know the oil pressures there!

do seem to have a throttle issue, sticks a tiny bit when cold and hunts a bit at idle so probably just needs a clean.

as an aside to that sometime I can smell fuel, seemingly at random, its not a strong smell and is coming from the engine bay as it's only ever there when the fan is on, is this normal for a valver of this vintage? any of you experienced similiar?

shes good on fuel and it's not constant so don't perceive it to be a huge issue, but does bother me a little bit.

For the fuel smell check the lines going into the fuel rail. VW used those spring clips there which over time (or if they get removed) get weaker and can let fuel past.

Worth replacing them for the proper screw type fuel line clamps you get.

thanks kwijibo, will take a look

finally a smidgin of progress on this car, it has been ridiculous lately, can't seem to get anything done!

Finally got the bootlid and bumper from richard, and a foglight loom. Bumper is in primer and looks to have previously been my old cars colour, I thought it was already painted but my bad for expecting that I guess, I actually still have my own old bumper in the garden, so one of the two is going to be rubbed right back and primered.

The bootlid is silver and in good condition from what I've seen, but it has the third brake light, which I don't need and that can easily be removed but I will still have that black pattern they put around the glass, that does bother me a bit. again I need to get it thoroughly rubbed down, primered and painted before I can transfer the bits over.

The headlight loom that came with the fog wiring is H4 and mine is H7 so started stripping it to get the fog wiring off

intially struggled getting these little buggers out

but then sucess!

finally seperated from the main loom

repackaged using the parts from the main loom I seperated it from, looking nice and neat!

I'm not going to wrap this in with the main loom, it's a lot of effort just to add a couple of wires, instead I'm just going to run it alongside it which will make installation - and removal - a lot easier.

I'm still waiting for a switch to turn up, might have to buy another one at this rate and source some actual foglights haha.

I'm steadily building a hoard of parts which so far have actually filled my outhouse, along with the kids toys and lawnmower engines, so have been thinking of getting a nice sized shed to be my workshop/car parts storage/quiet retreat :)

Edited 22 November, 201510 yr by R10tz0r

Nice work mate. Looks well. How much is it lowered? I must wire up my own spots. Not looking forward to it!

Thanks buddy, its lowered 40mm going by what the previous owner told me when he gave me the springs :) I would think on yours most of the wiring is there, just need to plug in the spots at the front and swap the lightswitch? theres a lot of useful information in this thread - http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=343808&hl=

Edited 25 November, 201510 yr by R10tz0r

update. payday came and money went out, I shall shortly be receiving some foglights and a new switch.

Installed the foglight wiring which was easy, especially given information I had previously gotten in the aforementioned thread, after running the wiring round the front of the car neatly, pushed out the rubber bungs in the connector and pushed in the fog connectors, all the wiring is in the car from the switch to the slam panel, so a really easy retrofit

will get some pics when the last pieces of the puzzle arrive, I am going to try and transfer the double pull mech and stuff from the "new" switch as its from an ibiza and lights up red, which isnt a big problem, but WILL annoy me haha.

also need to sort the heater control lighting as I don't particularly like fumbling around for knobs in the dark

Edited 30 November, 201510 yr by R10tz0r

well I finally got a light switch!

the one I got is from an ibiza so lights up red, but it was half the price of 6n ones on fleabay

so whats the difference between the ibiza switch and the 6n switch?

well from the outside they both look exactly the same, except of course the added decal for front fogs

so like any man does, as soon as they get a delicate electronic item, they crack it open!

The difference? a little rubber cover for the lightbulb, a red cover for ibiza's, green for 6n's!

the switching mechanism obviously differs from non front fog to front fog switches, which is where the red blocks on the ibiza switch come in, they contain tracks for some pins to follow which I assume aligns some contacts deep within and provide that notchy feedback for the user.

I can assume however that if you had a standard lightswitch and either removed the blocks or reprofiled them, you could activate front fogs too, as both switches have exactly the same pinout

rather than just swap the lightbulb over, I took the semi hard and daring route and put my standard 6n backing on the front fog light fascia and mechanism, this should prove the above theory if true, if not I'll swap them back and just swap the bulb!

and here it is installed!

physical lamp units shouldn't be long now!

Edited 3 December, 201510 yr by R10tz0r

Picked up a bootlid in the correct colour without the third brake light and with a wiper arm, all wiring and boot struts, complete with no rust for £30

and guy threw on the front 16v grille badge too

will fit it sometime soon!

Well the fogs finally arrived!

so I got to fitting them, not sure if they are 8v or 16v fogs, anyone know how to tell the difference? no part numbers on them :/

everything went smoothly, apart from one absolutely stupid thing, and involved me being an idiot....

when looking at the car, I saw the obvious mounting holes on the slam panel and didn't think twice, mounted them up and put it all back together, didn't even realise until I went to put the grilles in the bumper.

a bit of question time with tinterwebs tells me that foglights are actually mounted on the bumper - not the slam panel - on 16v models.

oh well, they work at least haha, going to rectify the stupidity as and when I can.

So, got to work early and removed the bumper and fogs, went to mount on the bumper but they are definately 8v fogs, they are missing the long legs where the screw mounts are on the bumper and the lower mount is at the wrong angle. I'll make it work :)

8v fogs are rarer than the 16v so I'd not modify them and keep looking for the correct ones, then sell the 8v for ££'s :)

Good plan Nige, I'm gonna drill two holes above each light in the bumper and zip-tie them for now :ninja:

so got the foglights ziptied on, they are definitely 8v fogs as the mounting is different, but workable, I have done this as a workaround for now

now on the hunt for some 16v fogs, will end up selling these!

so been for another trip up to retro-motorsport for some more bits (same place I got the bootlid)

got a front bumper with CORRECT fogs, rear mudflaps and handbrake surround :)

I didn't 100% need the bumper, but mine is in dire need of a respray and it was in pretty good nick with the fogs, so its going to go straight on, after a wipe down.

Lucked out with the mudflaps, haven't been able to find any anywhere so really happy with them, handbrake surround I had trouble with, 4 people I've asked didn't think to save it and prices on ebay were a bit silly!

all in all a good hoard

good find on the front bumper & fogs, Did you get a good price for those bits? its all about hoarding parts for spares

I think I paid the going rate really, £100 all in, tried to get the back bumper thrown in, but he wanted another £20 and I only had £100 to spend, to be fair I currently own 3 so didn't need it haha