To repair all that has been revealed is going to be a major job! What has made it worse is that someone in the past has bodged some of the area with bodyfiller I dug tons of the stuff out at the bottom where the rear beam attachment fits as well as at the top by the filler aperture. I fear that I do not have the skills that some of you lads out there have when it comes to this sort of repair. Indeed, as the full extent of the rot revealed itself, I began to think that the repairs needed were beyond my pay grade. However, it is not going to fix itself, so I'd better get going!

You can do it boss  keep up the good work..

Thank you 1vw2many for your kind words of encouragement. I have been looking at other build threads to see how to tackle the job but I am not as skilled as some of the lads whose posts I have read. However, having owned the car and used it as my daily driver for the past 9 years I do not intend to give up on it yet. It's not going to be the two or three week job that I envisaged, though. I have ordered a litre of Vactan rust converting paint and I am acquiring a panel beater's sandbag, as the panels are all a funny shape. What did dishearten me was that the more I poked the more bodyfiller fell out. and what looked to be a fairly straightforward job has turned into a bit of a nightmare. I shall get stuck in this weekend.......

It's not everyday you get a decent project for nothing looks a decent enough easy project,all the best with it pal!

Thank you Rayzor for you comment. In fact the freebie white polo is currently being used as my personal transport. It's the red Polo that I have owned for the last 9 years that is falling apart at the seams.

Anyway, since my last post on 20th October I have managed to get to grips with the horrid hole in the offside rear wheelarch. On the way round the end of the sill was found to be rotten. Someone (before i had the car) had welded a patch onto it and all the sill underneath had rotted away leaving the patch unsupported. So I had to make a panel to repair the lower front of the wheelarch and the last 6 inches or so of sill as well as a panel to go into the end of the wheelarch and a panel to go on the inside of the rear quarter panel. The recently acquired panel beater's sandbag has been a real godsend!  My nephew kindly lent me his MIG welder as he said it would be easier than using arc. having never used a MIG welder before i struggled! Eventually I got to grips with it but i cant pretend that the welding is neat and tidy, but all the panels are well stuck on and a coat of seam sealer makes good welders of us all.

I have still got to sort out the lower rear panel. Fortunately I have bought a complete panel from VW Heritage (£33 with the postage and packing, which will save an awful lot of work, so that will be the next task. So more blogs to come.

Any way here are some pictures. Sorry for the quality: they were taken with my Kodak DC20 which was the first commercially available digital camera back in 1996. Picture resolution 783X493 pixels! But the files are small for uploading.

Good man and great panel skill boss. Bet you well happy with your work give yourself a big pat on the back..

Thank you Ivw2many for your kind remarks. You didn't see the panels (or the welding) in the flesh.I can't pretend to be a panel beater but it is amazing what sheer desperation can drive one to achieve. At least it all could be made to fit. i have seen one or two blogs on here showing some lads are capable of some truly stunning work. I'm afraid that mine is nowhere near that standard.  It has been a steep learning curve though as I have never done anything like this before. U tube has been especially useful. Amongst many other things, that's where I found out that right-angled circlip pliers make a good tucking plier.

However, if the car remains tidy and usable, then that's all I want. After all I have owned it for the last 9 years and it has never let me down yet in over 200K miles.

I notice that my last post was on 6th November. Since then, I have continued to stitch the red Polo back together.  I have tried to do a couple of hours each day although a bout of bronchitis mucked the schedule up a bit. Further, as the night draw in, the garage becomes a bit of a black hole to work in, so by about 4.30pm I can't see what I am doing.

 

However:-

Having sorted the front of the rear wheelarch out, I turned my attention to the back. The offside rear corned turned out to have rotted badly. In fact the rear towing eye and and the little square bracket that is supposed to be an axle stand support were only attached one side, The rest of the support panel wasn't there anymore. So, I have made a new section of wheelarch, both inner and outer, and strengthened the rear floor support panel as best as I can. I have also (today) fitted and welded in the new rear lower valence. Hopefully, that is the last of the welding (I hate welding!) and it will be now just a question of doing the requred tidying up and painting.

 

Weather willing, I hope to put the tank back in tomorrow.

This time of year its cold and hard keeping on top of restoration .. I gave up on my beetle two months ago for been cold etc. Good work though boss..

Thank you Ivw2many for your yet further encouragement. I am spurred on by the fact that, nice though the white Polo is, it's not "my Polo" if you know what I mean, and I miss the red one and am desperate to get it  back in harness.

Yes I agree that the cold weather makes things harder, especially as the years pile up but, too be fair, the weather has not been bad the last month or so. Its just the last day or so. I've found the secret is wrap up warm, do short stints and drink plenty of warm tea!

Oh, yes! And don't be in the garage after dark.

Lest anyone thinks that I have been slacking during the last fortnight, well, I have a bit.

Last week was a bit of a write off as I had to go shopping on Wednesday and get my trailer ready for Thursday, when I went to get hay for my horses. Last weekend, I had visitors, so it has only been this week that i have managed to get on with the red Polo. However, I have achieved quite a bit, considering. All the tidying up and filling has been done, and I would have been happy to have got the primer on today. As it happened, today was quite nice, but cold, but with the assistance of a fan heater to keep the chill off the garage, I not only managed to get the primer on, but the colour coats as well! Still go to put the tank back in and couple up the handbrake, but I thought I would leave that till the weekend to let the paint harden. I am aiming to get the Polo back on the road next week as the white Polo has now done over two thousand miles in my hands, needs a good clean inside and out (it is a dirty grey at present) and a nearside wheel bearing. Other than that, it has gone well.

Photos: Please note that my indispensable assistant appears in one of them. As everyone knows, you need someone to chase the jack wheels, bark at the power tools, try to catch the welding sparks and lick your face when you are lying under the car!

For some reason, the pictures are in reverse order. The top three are the last ones!

 

I am hoping that the next report will be that the car is finished and back on the road.

I managed to get a good weekend's worth of work done to the red Polo and, as promised in my last blog, I am pleased to say that the little car is now completed and is back on the road. had a bit of fun with refitting the petrol tank. After I had repaired the end of the sill,  there was not quite enough room for the filler to pass between in and the rear suspension mount. I got over that problem by squashing the filler neck a bit more with a couple of pieces of wood and a couple of G clamps.

 

The offside wheelarch trim has been off a couple of times and is now looking a bit worse for wear, but I have managed to glue the tags onto the back (again) so it is on - sort of! I know these are like rocking horse poo to get hold of, but if someone has one kicking around, I would be definitely interested.

 

I also painted the rear wheels (at long last). I have been meaning to do this for the past twelve months or more and it has made quite a difference to the look of the car.

 

I can now have the white Polo off the road for a new front wheel bearing to be fitted and a jolly good clean. I have been using it as my personal transport for the last 8 weeks, while the red Polo has been off the road and I'm afraid that I have dogged it a bit. After that, I think that I shall put it up for sale, but not until Christmas is out of the way. I need to reduce the car population!

 

The last job remaining is to tidy up the garage. It looks as if a suicide bomber has been in there so I'd better get started.............

 

Thanks to all of you who have read this little blog, commented and given me encouragement.

Well a merry christmas , job done and time to enjoy good man..

Thank you 1vw2many. Just moving it today reminds me that this particular car is like putting on you favourite jacket. You wouldn't believe that two cars that are so similar can feel so different! Can't wait to drive it tomorrow!

And Merry Christmas to you too.

Happy days 

Awesome thread! Really nice read.. Provided my cousin some inspiration who has a mars red mk2 to get some things done on his too!

 

 

Edited 6 December, 20169 yr by Swanza

nice read that very well done some top work done :) 

 

Thank you gentlemen for your kind remarks. I'm glad if I have inspired someone else to get on with their own Polo.

 

Drove the red Polo to work yesterday and it went like a dream. Took it over to see my horses today and it ran like bag of spanners! Something had got into the fuel feed line. Mind you I picked up petrol for it yesterday and noticed that the garage was having a delivery, so perhaps their tank was low and I picked up a bit of sh*t. Managed to limp to a friend who has a compressor and blew the line out with that. Seems to have done the trick, so fingers crossed!

May be the filling station, but might be rust from tank filler neck. How clean is the inline fuel filter?

Thank you dvderlm for your suggestions. I made sure that the tank was clean when I had it out to do the welding. Painted it too. The filter was new less than 5K miles ago when the car was last given a major service and looks to be OK. You can certainly blow through it.  The car played me up on the way to work this morning, but a quick blow through with a foot pump packed in case of such an emergency did the trick (twice as it happened - the second time I was fetching the boss back from delivering a van back to a customer).  So, after work I went to the petrol station that the boss and his son use and filled the tank. I have been over to see my granddaughter and her family  and then driven the 30 miles or so back to Bala. Most of the journey is along the A5 at between 30 and 60 mph and, since filling up the car hasn't missed a beat. Going to Porthmadog tomorrow morning, another 30 mile trip over fairly fast roads that I know well, so, once again, fingers crossed, but it looks very much as if it was dirty fuel. I'm still keeping the footpump in the boot though.

Does it cut like running out of fuel gradually losing power or suddenly?

 

Just wondering if Hall sender not fuel line is the issue. Time spent doing voodoo with the fuel line lets Hall sender cool.

No Hall sensor on the red Polo. It's too early. Point and Plugs! The white polo has the electronic ignition though.

 

Took the red Polo to Porthmadog and back today, Played up once on the way back but hasn't done so since. When I got back I had to go to see my ponies (26 mile round trip) and no problems, so whatever it was is gradually sorting itself out. Will change the fuel filter on Monday and fill the tank again to see what that does, but it looks increasingly like sh*tty petrol.

As mentioned previously in this blog, now that Christmas is out of the way I have put the White Polo on ebay. The item number is 152388431619 if anyone is interested.

 

Happy new Year to you all!