Open Heart Surgery on the Polo

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog just been so busy!

Anyway last Saturday was the big day for the engine coming out. After spending an hour rebuilding the front of the Passat, Mark had installed new headlights and it was a bigger job than it looked. Then we got the engine hoist delivered and moved on to the Polo.

It took us about an hour and a half to disconect all the pipeing and linkages to the engine but once this was done and the manifold was dropped out the bottom of the car, the engine lifted out with ease. Now thats in storage ready to be stripped cleaned painted and polished ready to go back in once the cars been repainted.

Now we can start cutting sanding and smoothing the engine bay. So were on the final push on the prep work we recon its going to be mid January that the polo can have the weilding done.

On the plus side Dav at PureKLAS is taking the Polo’s allys away to be stripped and polished cant wait to see them finished!

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Nothing to see here

Well it’s true almost. We are having a couple of weeks off the Polo mainly due to other commitments and the weather. But that hasn’t stopped work completely I’m still on the hunt for parts. Targets at the moment are window rubbers, we need a complete set of window rubbers for the MK1 Polo because ours had perished

We’ve both been on the hunt for parts for our daily drives as well. I’ve managed to pick up a set of front and rear MK5 Golf R32 brakes with carriers, calipers, disks and pads at a great price! Mark’s having a back box shipped from Austria for the Passat as no one else seems to have made one or have one in stock. We’ve also both been buying Audi R8 engine caps.

The next big thing for the Polo is the engine coming out on the 12th that will let us smooth the engine bay and get the car ready to have all the welding done.

More Sanding

Just a quick update after returning from Rayvern Hydraulics, we spent a couple more hours sanding the Polo. We are getting there slowly the roof is half done so we should finish that when we get back next week. After that the rest shouldn’t be to much, the biggest job left to do will be getting the engine out and smoothing the engine bay. We’ve managed to source an engine hoist so we just need a few good weekends and the car will be getting ready to go off for the welding.

Starting to see the light!

Well the metal!

We’ve spent another six hours stripping and sanding the MK1 Polo and it’s starting to show progress. We have decided to take the outer shell back to the metal so that it can have a proper job done on the respray and we can makes sure that there is no underlying rust issues. So far we’ve been over the moon with a car that’s thirty two years old, its got minimal rust and rot issues and what we have found were either replacing the panel completely or the area can be patched.  All this work now will hopefully means less prep work required by the body shop who will do the respray down to a minimum cost.

We recon two more days like saturday and we will be ready for the car to go in for the welding. We need to hire an engine hoist to take the 1.1 power plant out to give us access to the engine bay and allow us to smooth it.

While the cars away we’ll then be able to work on the engine cleaning painting and polishing and also spec out the interior retrim.

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It’s Alive! the MK1 Polo runs!

The little 1.1 engine in the Polo works after putting in some fresh fuel and pumping it through it started second time! All we had to was clean the dizzy to get it to fire and it ran really sweetly no splutters no power surges or dips just smooth.

So now we need to sort out an engine hoist to lift it out so that we can clean paint and polish the little power plant. We can get into the engine bay as well then to begin cutting and smoothing.

Due to the weather we couldn’t start the sanding this week although we do have the generator now ready. So while Mark helped our next door neighbour tune his 1303 Beetle i broke down our split rim wheels ready to be paint stripped and to go off to the polishers. I’ve also got to contact Image Wheels about the possibility of having some new barrels made for a couple of the wheels.

The weather looks good for this weekend so paint stripping and sanding will begin in earnest!

Polo Presents

Every day feels a bit like Christmas at the moment with parcels turning up for the MK1 Polo nearly every morning.

 This weeks deliveries include a pair of Audi 50 rear lights, a new rear valance to replace our rotten one and or wheels!

I’ve also been on the look out for door handles as we’d like a nice chrome or polished set for the Polo. But I’m drawing a blank at the moment due to the fact VW in their wisdom thought it would be better to develop a smaller set of door handles for the MK1 Polo rather than use the door handles they used on the MK1 Golf.

MK1 Polo body and prep work

Well we have had Head First (formally BASE21) out to look over the Polo for us and the work we require. We wanted on advice on what condition they wanted the Polo in so that it can have the welding work done and then a full respray.

They’ve advised us to strip the car using nitromors to strip the car back down to the metal rather than spend time sanding it back. This makes sense as we want to keep costs to a minimum and any prep work we can save Head First having to do will save us money. We will supply the car to them as a rolling shell no engine as were smoothing the small engine bay and all the doors wings etc off.

Head First also identified that we need to replace the rear valance as its going rotten so I’m on the case with that looking at guys like hoffmann-speedster.com who can supply body parts for the MK1 Polo.

I’ve also spoken to a local trimming company about our interior. They can retrim our entire interior in vinyl for £650 or do a half leather half vinyl interior for us for £900, this gives some costs to go on.

First day working on the MK1 Polo

Well we spent our first day working on the MK1 Polo stripping it down. So we can see what we have to work with, and to be honist were really happy. Apart from the damage and rust to the off side rear quarter and sill which we have replacements for the rest of the car is solid.

It’s also aloud us to make a list of parts we require for the rebuild. These are mainly window trims and rubbers, but we do need a front bumper.

One other thing that’s come to our notice was we do need to retrim the interior it’s not in as good condition as we remembered and looks a bit tired. We’ll have to decide later if we want to do a straight retrim or buy something a bit different.

We’ll also be on the look out for a new steering wheel maybe something with a bit of chrome and wood.

1977 MK1 Polo

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1977 MK1 Polo has landed

Finally we’ve got our 1977 mk1 Polo! I wasn’t able to be there to pick it up. But Mark with the help of a mate with a car transporter picked up the Polo Saturday morning. It’s now sitting in our lock up waiting to be stripped. The stripping starts next week photos to come!

We have a home for the Polo

Well one of our worries is solved. Were to store the Polo and work on it. We picked up the keys to our lockup today, it just needs a sweep out and were going to paint the floor with rubberised paint. No hidden treasures unfortunatly but at least the Polo is dry and safe.