Mk2 polo loon £250 project to learn on

Back in June I faced up to the fiscal realities of have two children and the only one in the family working and sold the 4th mx-5 ive owned and loved.

Time for something a lot cheaper and something I can work on myself rather than paying other people to do stuff - so maybe no supercharger for now!

In recent times I had found myself reading Retro cars magazine and not really being interested in modern stuff.
I have always liked the shape of a polo saloon for some reason - so that what I got and for £250 I have a lot of car restoring / learning to do.

Well its quite a few months since i posted in the newbie lounge and I have to say progress is very slow to date.

There was a lot more body work to get right then I first thought (why do I ever assume any job on a car is going to be a quick one!) and my inexperience coupled with the car being stored 165 miles away means I cant just pop out when I have a minute.

This was the car from the ebay add:






The car had previously been rattle canned black and the guy I got it from had rubbed it down somewhat as he was taking it baby blue inside and out - not something id have done.
Anyway as you could se most of the trim was not on the car but it wasnt in too bad a condition for what it was.
It also already had a H&R cup lowering kit fitted with a 60mm drop all round so probably was as low as id want to go and with one of the better handling kits for one of these cars with a decent ride by all accounts.

Once we got the car back to my relatives place we could see I had my work cut out.




So many visits up north were used to work on the body - getting it straight and ready for paint.
Im going back to the original colour. I sort of like it and while nothing else grabbed my attention I wantd the car to be clean and tidy with some slight cosmetic mods but nothing too much.

However, first was a lot of body work and rubbing down.



Apparently the original exhaust hangers wouldnt do for the previous owner - no, only some top end speaker cable would do.

I have spent all the in between time sourcing parts and a new engine (1.4 16v AFH) plus some nicer seats etc - ill update about those and bring the thread up to date .

Maybe ill make a meet before the end of the summer .

Good work and great to see some "getting stuck in" photos. Keep posting them.

nice one.......... we love a hava go hero round there

polo loon = baby jetta =NICE

and going for a 1.4 16v its gonna be a screeemer


look forward to reading more

Oh cheers guys, really appreciate the positive comments.

In between the trips up north to Barnsley to work on the car I have been trying to get missing trim bits and also I bought these wheels.




Revolution RFX 13 x 7

however, I dont want them white - so ive started to spray them - first black and then they are going gunmetal anthracite but with the polished rim and dish bit.





Gunmetal yet to be applied, but thats the way its going.

Now the metal was startign to get straight it was time to get some primer on the rubbed down car and then sand it all back off




No thats not a hole full of primer - ive just skimmed the repair. I am a bit of an amateur at all this though.





I cant believe how many days ive spent wet sanding this car.

So the progress was to getting the first coat of colour on the car - and as its not smooth and without lacquer it seems to be a lot more gold than I thought it would be.

Im hoping it turns a bit lighter - a silver gold colour when its done.






Now the original seats while in good condition for the age etc, were not where i wanted to take the car - mainly as no matter the position I had them in I couldnt sit in them in a position without bending my neck and having half my head pressed to the headliner.

Time for some Corrado half buckets !!!!




To be fiar they got a bit dusty when we put them in, they are actually pretty mint and were only £40 and very comfortable. - I know they are not leather or maybe not the most desirable seat around but I really love them and they transform sitting in the polo.

So to go with the seats I got hold of some rare loon black carpets and the very dark grey front and rear door cards which will all go with the seats very nicely. I still need to think about the rear bench seat colour.

So a little more colour later and I offered up some of the arch kit. I managed to get some sill covers which were missing - it wasnt easy.


Sill covers still not on and the arches only on to have a look.

Also I bought another set of wheels - these are 14's and really a far too modern wheels for the mk2. I got them as it was going to be a while before the others were ready or I had any tyres for them. These are practically unmarked and had new tyres all round that would fit my slightly lowered car. So these were to get the car a bit smarter and off those 4 different sized and make tyres, it was on on 2 different wheel types.

Ive had a lot of bad comments about these wheels which im surprised at - maybe they are just not VW scene?
I thought they were smart and while only temporary for this car were not terrible.

Sorry for so many updates - just getting to now and also im feeling very excited about hitting meets and shows this year.


This is the engine ive bought in its previous home.



Ive also got some cbr600 carbs and a facet pump - so once all in should see 125bhp - modest i imagine for these forums but up from 55bhp when the current 1.3 was new. The car will also have about the same power to weight as a lotus elise so ill be upping the bakes slightly when I can afford it.

My mate has a rolling road and is a excellent tuner, so we will eventually be going the megajolt route (or megasquirt if i can find a cheap one - future plans) so shoudl see good torque and instant throttle response while sounding rather nice.

As the weather has tuned, we switched to the mechanical bits instead of painting.

So we replace the rear beam with one from a polo mk3 GT so it has the rear ARB and also we serviced all the rear brakes.
Car is pretty solid underneath.

Then we did the front brakes and replaced the front suspension arms as they were worn.

Also finally got some proper exhaust hangers as the speaker wire was just too ghetto for me.



I say "we" as David my relative has been working on it with me. Mainly as a favour - but I also think he wants his garage back to keep his bay camper in.



Thanks for looking.

No appologies needed, thank you for sharing.
That is really taking shape, how long have you spend so far?

cheers, been taking my time but id guess at probably 12 full days on the body - we are not just filling holes i guess.
We have had the dolly and hammer sets out and are working the metal back but there are a lot more dents than i first thought.

Probably overkill as its being painted in a garage.