So after seeing this offender sat on her discs for the past three months I have finally tracked down her owner and made the purchase

 

1.4cl petrol - 1999 - 70,000 miles - camber

4 coilovers, nice rims, upgraded rear lights, couple of rusty arches, no MOT.

 

• The strut mounts (metal washer type part that goes inside the engine bay) have been lent to her previous owner's friend and I can't find replacements anywhere online.
• Engine had a misfire but I was blessed with an easy fix by changing a corroded spark plug - note that the lead needs changing too; just need to get to the scrap yard.
• Likely to need at least one repair panel for the NS rear arch; although I'd prefer to get some 1mm steel welded to the original body and hammer/roll the arches out myself if possible. 
• Bonnet has lacquer peel. Can probably pick up a clean bonnet for less than the price of restoring this one.
• Paint looks good for rattle can job, not seen much overspray, needs matching and finishing off.

 

MOT booked for Friday morning (32hrs from now)

• suspension and rims on
• tape up the sharp rust
• secure the battery
• attach rear number plate

 

The lad who I bought it off loves polos but only has a provisional; planning to take him out in it on Friday and get him to write down the reams of info about the car which he has told me but I've failed to remember.

 

engine bay looks good to me, how to I get a cold high flow filter in here though 

Your brave - looks like it needs some serious love.

So, went down to the MOT center and came back with 2 advisories; and 13 failures 

 

Not sure I agree with them all, but I'm not a tester.

 

Update on work carried out pre-MOT in next post.

 

Failures

1. Windscreen has a sticker or other obstruction encroaching by more than 10mm within zone 'A' offside Front [8.3.1b]
2. Stop lamp not working Nearside Rear [1.2.1b]
3. Battery insecure [1.9.1]
4. Windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively [8.2.2]
5. Seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded Offside Rear [5.2.6]
6. Seat belt anchorage prescribed area is severely distorted Offside Front [5.2.6]
7. Seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded Nearside Front [5.2.6]
8. Brake pipe excessively corroded Nearside Rear [3.6.B.2c]
9. Brake pipe excessively corroded Offside Rear [3.6.B.2c]
10. Brake pipe excessively corroded Offside (front to rear) [3.6.B.2c]
11. Shock absorber insecure Nearside Rear [2.7.2b]
12. Rear wheel bearing has excessive play Nearside Rear [2.6.2]
13. Rear wheel bearing has excessive play Offside Rear [2.6.2]

Advisories

1. Front number plate cracked
2. Offside rear tyre has cuts in sidewall

Spent the afternoon on the computer and come up with the following info

 

Repair corroded brake pipes [3.6.B.2c]

Easy but time consuming job; a lot easier if the vehicle is up on a hydraulic lift but still doable on axle stands.

Have not look at the offenders pipes but fingers crossed they'll just need sections replacing. If so it can be done in a few hours for £50. Else it'll be removing the old pipes and bending new ones to match; same price, 2+ days work (for me on my own).

 

£30.00 DIY brake pipe kit from ebay

£7.00 pipe bender from ebay

5min youtube video - how to repair corroded brake pipes

4min youtube video - how to bleed brake lines

 

Repair seat belt anchorages [5.2.6]

Welding is beyond my capability at the moment so I'll go have a chat with the garage who welded my broken trailer back together last year.

They're friendly and competent and I'm sure they'll do me a good price when they see the offender.

Not sure if it's worth repairing the arches at the same time; will see what the garage man says.

 

Replace rear wheel bearings [2.6.2]

Basically the camber has destroyed both rear bearings, so camber is coming off for now which means sitting her on steels until her arches are flared.

Not sure about how to go about getting the camber back later without ruining the new bearings. Most camber uses an adjustable control arm, but the 6n has a fixed axle.

Next step is to remove the wheels, hubs, bearings and have a look what's going on so's to know which parts to order.

 

£13.50 rear wheel bearing kit

£56.38 rear wheel bearing kit

£26.64 rear wheel hub

 

The rest

All simple small jobs.

• Windscreen sticker will have to be removed, I'm guessing it's just the HRZN one.

• Stop lamp is just a new bulb for the brake light (hopefully as I wired in some GT rear lights yesterday).

• Insecure battery needs a strap putting across the top; my wedged blocks of plastic obviously weren't sufficient.
• Windscreen wiper needs replacing. Starting to wonder if it's even worth going back to the same center for their half price retest. /sarc.
• Shock absorber has a cross threaded screw that needs sorting out. Not seen it yet, will have a look when the wheels come off.

So, in conclusion a disappointing result but certainly not the end of the world.

The lad who I bought her from wants to help working on her on Tuesday, so I'm going to get a plan together for then! 

Passing MOT retest 15 May latest!

 

Also thinking about organizing a small Polo meet on a Sunday afternoon near JN25 of the M1. Any interest?

Some low res unedited pictures from yesterday-

Are you going to get those rear arches sorted? I love the fact the we just pull a VW out of a hedge or something and they still go!  That's a low mileage car you got there!  Love it!

Yes but they're not a priority

1. wheel bearings
2. brake lines
3. welding
4. MOT
5. arches

Great motor for her age. The amount of pre 2001 polos golfs and passats you see on the road is certainly a testament to her build quality!

Busy busy busy so I'll just stick this video of her rear wheel bearing replacement here.

 

 

*This limitations on this forum are very frustrating.

1. Link to my website in bio?
2. Post signature?
3. 2mb max upload size? On a forum for showing off cars????
4. Notifications temperamental.
5. Unable to edit post #1 on thread; or delete thread.
6. Unable to embed videos.

 

Work on the brake lines is coming along; near side all fitted with offside ready to go on after the weekend. Then to bleed the whole system to fill with new fluid.

Loose RNS suspension has been tracked down to a threaded nut; that's a trip to the yard to go through Pete's box of nuts and bolts. 

Brake light and wiper blade in possession, simple fit.

Then the welding...

 

Sorry no pictures, changing brake lines makes one's hands far too dirty to use a camera.

 

Peace.

Can't wait to see the Offender on the road!

Passed MOT finally yesterday! Lot of notes to type up when the weather gets bad.