It's not a job I like doing, but I seem to be getting better, although the bends in the pipe coming from the master cylinder aren't pretty.

The drivers seat is sitting in the corner of the garage in bits. The cover that was on it ripped into a million pieces when I tried to take it off so I've been putting off trying to get the new one on. Might try it tomorrow, hopefully it goes well and the whole thing doesn't end up in the skip

LOL I knew you would find the seat a bit difficult. When I was talking to you saying I was having trouble removing the cover I was saying to the misses "he's gonna think I'm backwards!"

I'll never do it again, you might be better off buying a couple seats lol I bet they will be cheap anyway being cl ones

I have a set of seats for this model I u can collect £20

More updates...a few days late

Got the tank back in, well I say back in it is a spare tank I had, which was less rusty and now has 2 coats of POR15 on it. Also got out the green paint which I like so much and did the tank strap in green :)

Once that was in the next job was to start on the exhaust, started off with the original manifold off the car.

The old downpipe and cat were looking very old, so they have been replaced with a spare GT item I had. Also made a new cat brace from a scrap bit of metal I had.

So at that point the engine bay looked like this...

10 minutes later it looked like this

Went to turn it over with the hall sender unplugged to get the oil circulating but after a couple cranks there was silence!! First thoughts were "S**t the engine has seized!". But after a quick test it turns out the starter had packed in. Luckily, now I have all my Polo spares in one place, I was able to find a replacement one I had laying about, almost looks brand new!!

Old on the left and new on the right

After that was changed she fired into life!! :) runs a little rough but I'm hoping a change of plugs and a run on decent petrol will fix that.

But for the first time since I bought it, it has been able to move under it's own power :) A little loud as there is no back box though.

Also thanks to Ross for coming over and helping me bleed the brakes. They were being a bit of a pain but got there in the end

Just a couple things left now, needs a new set of number plates, a back box and a number plate light. Then hopefully it will be MOT time :)

Saving all the Polos in Scotland!

Looking good mate.

Slow progress again. Just not getting the time to get much done. Starting to stress that it is like 11 weeks till the Polo Social and I haven't even touched the GT yet.

Anyway, the plan now is to make this little weapon my daily driver for a while (the 6n2 just isn't for me) so made space in the garage and dragged her back in.

Putting the finishing touches into the engine bay. Airbox, scuttle tray etc etc. Also a sneak peak at it's new shoes

Even treated it to a fresh set of spark plugs.

Done, all tidied up. New front plate on too :)

I'd bought the GT a shiny new set of wind deflectors, so the old ones got handed down to this one :)

Rear end then got tidied up, had to deal with a load of rounded rusty screws to change a number plate light. No pictures but the drill got a good workout. Anyway all done, new plate on and all lights were tested and worked :)

Then the last piece of the puzzle was a nice new G40 back box all the way from Germany. The tail pipe doesn't come out as far as I'd like but apart from that the fitment is perfect :)

Just need to get her insured and take her for an MOT now.

Oh I see now thanks for the new exhaust photo

Not good news for this today, finally got insurance sorted so I could take it for a drive to the MOT. Half way to the test station, oil buzzer went off. Pulled over to the side of the road, engine sounded OK but on inspection of the oil and coolant, it appears they have mixed :(

So this week the engine will be apart again to do the head gasket.

Updates to follow once the head is off.

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that mate. Hopefully you will have it sorted soon and with a fresh ticket

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Not good news for this today, finally got insurance sorted so I could take it for a drive to the MOT. Half way to the test station, oil buzzer went off. Pulled over to the side of the road, engine sounded OK but on inspection of the oil and coolant, it appears they have mixed :(

So this week the engine will be apart again to do the head gasket.

Updates to follow once the head is off.

Damn, sorry dude :(

At least I know all the nuts, bolts and screws I need to get to have all been off and cleaned up before (apart from the headbolts obviously) so shouldn't be a bad job.

I'm trying to get a plan in my head tonight and I'm going to time myself when I get to work and see how long it actually takes me to pull the head.

So set to it today, engine bay started off like this...

Then less than a hour later this was on my bench...

Looking at the head and the block there is no immediate signs as to what was going on, valves look how I'd expect and the top of the pistons don't look too bad so doesn't look like water has gotten into the bores.

But then on closer inspection of the gasket itself I suspect the head has warped and allowed oil and water to mix.

Luckily I have a spare head which I bought a while ago from John, so providing the valve guides in that are the same size I'll just swap the valves over from the old head and use that. So tomorrows task is to pull a valve and try it in the other head.