So as those of you that I'm friends on Facebook with, or follow on Instagram etc, this week I rejoined the Polo game once again. Sure some of you will also remember the 1.4 8v more door that was my first car. Since then I've moved on to my mk2 Golf (currently tucked away in bits), an e36 318i (now sold to a mate), an e46 323ci (sat on the roadside) and I've also currently got a Mk1 Golf Cabriolet (stuck in a container). Pretty hands on with cars. Well this week I spotted that Liz was selling her 16v, Forest, and I'd been keeping my eye out for a cheaper to run daily. It was more than I'd been budgeting for a daily, but it was worth spending a bit extra to get a car that came from within a club that I know, and from an owner who I know looks after her cars. So I messaged Liz, we agreed on £800 and today I got a 6.27am train Portsmouth bound to go and collect her.

I had a lot of fun on the drive back. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the AFH pulls, it feels quicker than my 323ci although that does suffer from a lazy auto box with long gear ratios, short rations and a manual box makes the 16v feel quite rapid in comparison. I imagine it probably helps that it weighs a good 5-600kg less than the e46.

Didn't manage to get any real pictures, nabbed a couple when stopped at services.

Coilovers are arriving tomorrow, hopefully fitting them on the weekend, and I've bought a set of 6n2 rears. Got a sub and amp to go in, may upgrade the speakers. Other than that there's not really anything that needs doing! A very tidy, well looked after car.

Looks tidy. Your plans sound sweet too. :)

Enjoy the car, loved my valver!

First saw it when Liz brought it to the Social last year (I was in my mk2 Golf) and it's a very clean car. Just had new clutch, dizzy, timing all set up etc. Engine bay is pretty clean as is most of the car. A few little rust scabs that should be fairly easy to sort. It loves to go, pulls a treat. I had a pretty fun 230 mile drive back from Portsmouth!

I'd been missing my old 6n a little bit lately, even though it was a pretty rusty 5 door 8v, so I'm glad I've managed to find a tidy valver. I'll probably keep this when the Mk2 is done and have it as a daily so that the mk2 doesn't get dinged up after all the bodywork and a respray.

Lovely car I had a t plate Valver and yours would have been one of the last ones made in a rare colour for a Valver. Not sure about rims though, need to see it decked to see how they look.

The wheels will be coming off when the coilovers go on. They're a bit too big to get it as low as I want. For now it'll be going on my E30 BBS that at the moment are just holding the Golf up.

What coilovers you got for it matt? Does look quite tidy, I reckon its hard to find a good looked after 6n.

My eyes have been open a while for a standard pistachio green one to use as a daily when I hand the 6r back to the dealers.

YES!

I think correct in thinking this is Dragon Green? Not looked it up properly yet, but I believe it is.

I've ordered FK AK's again John, as I had them on the first 6n and also on the mk2 Golf and I've found them to be good quality price. They were only £138 on Amazon when I ordered them.

The air filter is due a replacement. I've got either a K&N cone I can bolt on to the standard intake or I might get a Pipercross panel filter. Anyone know if a cone will help or hinder? As obviously that's free....

Edited 5 February, 201610 yr by mbusby993

I drove this (albeit briefly) after it came off the rollers into the car park on Saturday as Liz was chatting to the Aldon guys IIRC

Very nice 6n, good base to make a tidy modded one

I reckon the cone filters are crap in all honesty looking at the tests that have been done on various youtube channels, also look a bit crap lol I would go panel filter if anything. Cones apparently give heatsoak too but then again I was told that from an unreliable source haha

It's a good car mate, gear linkage is a little bit loose compared to how I remember my 6n but that actually just means it snaps through gear changes quicker. Hell, maybe a valver is meant to be like that! More speed, yo.

They do heat soak, that's the problem I had when same cone was in the e46. I'll probably spend £££ on a pipercross panel filter and keep the engine as OEM as possible. Bay is tidy and she's a good runner. The name has stuck too, think it's appropriate for the car.

Was your old 6N a rod change ? as this one has the cable change and they do feel different :)

I'm not sure to be honest, never went near the linkage cos it worked perfect but that could be it. Once I'm used to it I'll prefer it. Almost shifts as quickly as my mk2 did with the short shifter fitted.

Looking forward to my drive home tonight when the roads are dead, first time on B roads haha. That's where you find out what a car is made of.

I had an eventful afternoon, went down to my unit where I'm keeping the Mk1 Cabrio so I could do the coilovers. That passed relatively easily, except for the nut holding the top mounts on as the my swan neck wasn't quite small enough to fit in the gap, which was irritating and I had to pikey the top mount a little bit to get it off. When it came to getting the car out of the container though it went a bit wrong, didn't realise that it would fail to get down the ramps out of the container and I got myself stuck. Couldn't do anything on my own so I had to call my mate and he came up and we struggled and brainstormed and eventually got it out. The cabby then of course got stuck on the way back in!

Unfortunately I damaged a tyre, presumably when I was kicking breeze blocks underneath the wheels to try and get some traction and get the car out. I have never seen this happen to a tyre before! (Pics to follow...)

Before...

After... (Picture quality is not great, it got dark.)

You may have noticed the change of wheels from those photos. I took the BBS RZ (E30 wheels) from my mk2 Golf and sprayed them white. A colour scheme I have shamefully stolen from R10tz0r as he showed with his 8v just how fantastic dark green (Is it dragon green) works with white wheels. It's a lazy diy rattlecan job and up close it's a bit shonky but it looks good from a distance.

Now, here's the deal with the tyre. I must have damaged it by kicking breeze blocks under it, and split it or something. When we finally got the Polo out of the container we noticed the tyre had lost most of it's air. Thinking I may have damaged the valve or something and hoping I could just get it full up until I could sort something. But when trying to fill it with air nothing was happening. Stuck my hand in behind the tyre and quickly found out what the problem was... Prepare yourselves, I've never seen this...

Had a good laugh at how it looked from this angle on a space saver...

But overall, I am now very happy with how she looks!

Looks great slammed on those wheels :)

6n2 GTI splitter on the shopping list?

I'm happy with how they came out. Spraying them up cost me less than £15. Bargain! Getting Toyo Proxes in 175/50/15 all round tomorrow, as the tyre incident has put me right off the remaining 3 budget tyres. It's on 195/45 now so hopefully 175/50 will mean I can get away with not having to raise the car up at the moment. As it stands right now the mudflaps scrape on literally everything. They're on the floor when stationary, don't think they'll lost long.

Could be! Only if I get a bargain though, not wanting to spend much. I bought the coilovers brand new cos the car is tidy and I decided not to skimp, they were only £18 on Amazon (about £30 cheaper than fleabay) for FK AK's though, which I used on my last Polo and on the mk2.

Didn't have the tyres I wanted, so I'm hanging around til they get a couple of 175/50 Hankook's in this morning and then will get the other two tomorrow. While I'm waiting I thought I'd come up to tesco and park in the far corner and adjust the fronts, bring them up a little. When I got the passenger tyre off I was greeted with this.

So that's both front tyres have split in the tread lines. Both suspiciously Jinyu's. :/

But I did get a photo of the car in the daylight, much happier with how it looks now.

That tyre damage isn't from a breeze block, thats a manufacturing defect :( Lucky it happened as you were getting it out of your container and not at 70 MPH on a motorway !!

Yeah, that's what I though. My mate is an mot tester and does tyre call outs for a living and says he's never seen that. It's split at the cords.

And yeah, didn't realise the passenger was split as well and done about 20 miles on it. That one is still holding air though. Glad it happened that soon rather than I was driving around on it and it went. Could have been deadly. They were new tyres in July, Golf went off the road in October.

I would have a word with your local trading standards office, that make needs removing from the market before someone gets killed !!

I don't have any proof of purchase etc, got them from a dodgy garage that gave me a hand written receipt and only take cash.

Ah !! Lesson learnt then :(

Unfortunately yeah, won't be buying budget again and will be sticking to more reputable garages. It's okay as since then I've made a friend in Hiq so that's not an issue lol. Much easier when you know someone in the trade.

He reckons (as does another guy) that it looks like something's been gouging it, but it's clearing the inside of the arches etc. So I don't really know... Gonna have to keep a close eye on the new ones.

Getting the car plugged in on Thursday, hoping that performing basic settings will sort out my idle problem. Seems to have gotten worse since I've lowered the car? Should that make any difference? I believe he throttle body is at fault, it started off idling at about 1600 sometimes when you stoppe at a junction. Bringing the clutch up would make the idle go down. Then after lowering it started to hunt between 16-1800 sometimes. Now whenever the clutch is in it seems to idle about 1900-2000rpm, with hunting most of the time.

Any ideas as to why it might be worse now the car is low?