1991 polo gt squareback

indis are a temp measure till gsf deliver my clear ones, the colour looks great when the sun is shining, its a shame the car has so many parking dents really, still i think it has scrubbed up well for a £350 motor, and its a bit more subtle than my other polo!

loved the pic looked like you side swiped a news agents haha love these little bread vans if money was no object a tt engine or a vr6 lowrider alloys air bags etc looking good though

been very busy with this lately, got some new steel wheels to replace the old ones with, gave them a quick refurb



continuing with the OEM+ theme I decided it was time for the old mk2 alloy cam cover to come out of hiding!
it wasnt in the best of condition so ive decided to paint it and just detail the top parts.

here it is pre sanding



decided i didnt want breather problems so made they little beasty up on the lathe



fitted the breather and sprayed the cover with some black enamel to prime it ready for painting



got the rocker cover home and gave it a coat of basecoat and laquer, then added some black detailing to the top recesses





completed the cam cover at the weekend, so wacked it on the car, looks a bit out of place at the moment as the rest of the engine is far from tidy. still its better than the rusty curse word that was on there before



finally got me a votex grille which i had been after for ages! woop, also sourced some gt rear arch spats, specifically for the squareback model and some rare headlight protectors. cars pretty much finished now, bar a few bodywork repairs that will need doing in the near future

It is a rare votex grille (dealer option I think) Sadly I sold it and wish I hadn't! Same story for the car!! Sold nearly 4 years ago, but oddly enough I have just bought the car back and plan to re-restore it back to factory spec.
Got some side trims on the way along with a new fuel tank and a replacement gearbox as the diff has failed on the gt box. The interior is still in good shape. The exterior however is looking a bit frilly around the rear arches

Shame it doesn't look nearly half as good currently. Every good part I fitted to it first time round has gone! That includes a full stainless exhaust and 4 branch, lower strut brace, uprated headlight loom, chipped ecu, the whole arch kit, the wheels and trim rings. The only two tweaks that have remained are the half tinted rear lights and the mk5 polo gearknob and surround (a mod I wish I had never done, as it involved chopping the gearstick down to the point where I canbarely reach it!)
On a plus side it is a blank canvas! The replacement box and fuel tank arrived yesterday, so the two most important jobs needed to get the car useable are ready to start. Will try and get some fresh pics up over the weekend

Did a bit more on the pods today



trial fit to make sure it'll go in



drivers side one nearly done, looking pretty good, can't help feeling I should have nade it completely flush though



I've also fitted my new stereo loom which I made to replace the butchered oe one. Also sorted the dodgy idle by cleaning the throttle body out. Judging by the gunk, I don't think it had been cleaned since the last time I did it 4 years ago! For my troubles I got some carb cleaner in my eye (that stings I can tell you!)
On the outside I have given the car a quick mop to try and get the shine back





looks reasonable from those pics, however.......

Arches are showing their age, I have rubbed them down and slapped some underseal on them for the time being as it is too cold to paint

So.... I haven't updated for a few weeks! All has not gone to plan!!
First up was the clutch change that never happened. The car had been making some grinding noises and upon inspection I concluded that the diff bearing had failed, so saw no point in changing the clutch to refit a pooped gearbox.
Being on a budget, refurbing the box was not an option, so I sourced the cheapest polo box I could find (£80 delivered!) and waited for it to arrive. It turned up, so the following weekend with help from my workmate we set about removing the old gearbox and clutch. This went well and by lunchtime we were ready to fit the new clutch and box.



After a quick bite to eat we soon realised that the new box (a 4 speed) had a completely different mount to the 5 speed, so for the next week, the car was left with no box and up on ramps.



whilst up on ramps I thought it would be a good time to check the underseal, repair if needed and repaint the sills with stonechip paint. Passenger side is in pretty good shape, but the drivers side will need a patch repair on the rear of the sill.



So another week went by and I managed to source a 4 speed gearbox mount, so game on I thought! Decided to have a crack at fitting the new clutch and box on my own. Got the new clutch out of the box and offered it up to the car and to my surprise it didn't appear to fit. So I dug the old clutch out of the bin and compared the two. The new one was smaller and it turned out that I had been sent the wrong one.
This wasn't helping to get my car back on the road though and with my mx5 leaking from its waterpump I really needed to get the polo functional! Being a bit of a hoarder of parts, I had kept a 2nd hand, but barely used clutch from an ibiza 1.4 the wife owned and lucky for me it uses the same clutch as the polo!
The clutch went on a treat, but I then wasted a good couple of hours trying to dead lift the gearbox into place and line it up at the same time (the joys of having no engine crane or gearbox lift). Thankfully my workmate dropped by and helped me out again.
So by sunday morning the polo was back in one piece! Time for a drive! All good, but then 2nd gear started to sound like a straight cut rally gearbox! Lucky I didn't drive very far so no damage was done. Checked the oil level for the box to find it had been drained! (should have checked it first! you live and learn). Topped the oil up with just over 2 litres of oil and tried the car again and I am pleased to say it is working well!
Finally got around to finishing my tweeter pods too! Ditched the plan to paint them and instead wrapped them in some black vinyl which matches the polo dash pretty well.