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Sept 8, 2012 20:13:34 GMT
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It's been a while since I last updated this, so excuse the skim-over. Winter was rough, the car was stored on the lawn at my inlaws' house and it rained hard for months which made it a bit tough to use. Slippy diff means two troughs dug out of the garden each time.  While the weather's been rubbish I've been eyeing up a few loose ends which want rectifying before summer comes around and I start using it all the time. First step was finding a set of immaculate front seats, same as mine. I managed to make the fabric go bobbly on the base of my driver's seat, so swapped it for the new one and sold it with the new passenger seat. The fabric is great, but the bolsters aren't as good as my old one (which I rebuilt using bits of a passenger seat), so that's another job for later in the year. Anyone got a spare Scirocco seat going spare?  While I was budgeting for new bits, some old ones decided they'd had enough of life:  It's the driver's side door handle flipper, and it's only been on there a year. You can tell by how little paint has chipped off. So I decided, having had a run of bad luck with non-OE bits, to buy a genuine door handle. Four times the price of a pattern part, and it doesn't come with seals or trim. Hopefully it'll last! New door cards for the interior refresh, these are still in storage!  Car's looking weathered, but...  …now back to normal. Garaged. And a good size garage too!  Same week as this turned up:  An hour and a half in the garage, and the interior was stripped out so I could examine the floorpan under the carpets. It'd be a bit more complicated on a new car!   It won't be staying stripped though, I'm getting new carpet and renewing the sound deadening material while I'm at it. New door cards up front, and new membranes, will be going in while it's bare. But with a few jobs to undertake, I did get to drive it like this. Good fun, and not as noisy as I was expecting.  The floorpan seems to be solid on first inspection but my driver's side sound deadening didn't hold up to much vacuuming. Sucked a load of dust out of the passenger side footwell but ended up with half the driver's side insulation in my Dyson. Whoops! My new carpets have come out looking a bit more cheerful than they were before:  The old ones have seen better days, though.  They were a bit grim when I bought them, a few fag burns and tears, and while I've had them they've spent a few years living next to building sites which has taken its toll. However, they're not awful, so I've put them up out of the way in case I ever need them again. Hopefully picking it up in the next few days, freshly serviced with new rear beam bushes and that wideband lambda gauge fitted. Good times! |
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awesome polo dude love the colour!
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Thanks! Yeah the colour was a big selling point for me, looks great polished. Finish is awesome too:  That's a rubbishy Facebook quality photo, too. |
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May 27, 2013 18:56:04 GMT
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So, it's home! New stuff: - a Stack wideband lambda gauge, which is a bit lovely. I've got it in the centre console where the voltmeter used to be, not sure where to re-house the voltmeter though. - PPP nylon rear beam bushes, which my mechanic warned might be quite firm. But having spent a bit of time driving around today they don't seem bad at all, and the car feels a little tighter than it did before which is good. I've not really thrashed it yet, the tank had old fuel inside which I want to use up. - fresh service parts, the usual - treated tank straps - stainless ones on the way, possibly All the gauges are plumbed in now - the oil temperature gauge has been disconnected for about three years - and the wiring has been thoroughly tidied up. My old Duostyling air fuel gauge has been taken out. I've also had new alarm switches for the door shuts as the old ones had given up the ghost, and a couple of bits of surface rust treated - thankfully it seems the fuel tank is fine. Good news! The weather has been appalling today so I've not bothered cleaning it yet. I have made some in-roads into rebuilding it though.  Step one is getting the interior re-fitted, as fun as it's been driving it around in this state.  Something new:  Door cards aren't in great nick to be honest, they never have been. So they were the first things to disappear:   As you can see, the membranes underneath are in a fairly awful condition. If you've been around long enough, you'll have heard me whinge about the state of my alarm installation. It was the first thing I had done to the car which I regretted on the grounds that it was so poorly done. I wound up with a footwell full of water the winter afterwards, took the door cards off and discovered they'd hacked the membranes apart only to do an apologetic job of putting them back together - a few strips of electrical tape. They'd dropped into the window mechanism, revealing holes drilled in the door which hadn't been painted to protect them, and some interesting plier-based butchery to get the solenoids in. I repaired them 12 years ago, the duck tape had lasted well but I'm out to do it properly this time so I binned the lot. The passenger side is probably alright to save, if I Tiger Seal it onto the door and patch up the tears. I've also used a bit of Kurust on the crusty bits, then painted them in satin black Hammerite.  New carpets - they'll need fluffing up after being cleaned. Easily done. Note the state of the driver's side membrane, I think that's beyond saving.  Old plates were starting to separate after a year, so I've got some new pre-2001 plates for it.  |
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May 27, 2013 19:16:44 GMT
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Love this car mate, always loved this shape polo
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May 29, 2013 21:43:34 GMT
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Thanks  A couple of small updates. Phone camera pics this time, sorry. New steering wheel - from a Corrado VR6. I've got two of these, and the other one was on the car for a couple of years, but I took it off when the leather went really manky. This one turned up on a Mk3 Golf in a scrap yard, I paid almost nothing for it. A fraction of what I paid at Inters 2003 for the other one. Just lucky, I guess.  The leather is quite dull but it's still smooth. As it owes me nothing I thought I'd try something out. Found some Lord Sheraton leather balsam in Sainsbury's for a couple of quid, did a bit of Googling and it seems a few people have tried it.  To my surprise, it came out looking alright.  The light was fading but you can see from this that the gloss has come back. It's not polish, so the leather isn't slippery, but it's soft and clean now. If it lasts, great. If not, I'll put the plastic Polo one back on.  In the garage, I've managed to get the passenger side door membrane back in place. Scroll back up to see the before pics.  Sadly the driver's side one really is going to be a replacement job, rather than a patch-up. The bits I've glued back into place on the passenger side are still attached to the door on the driver's side. Whoever fitted the alarm thought it would be a good idea to cut the membrane. I guess it saved them a few minutes, which is all they cared about. Nice to know. Otherwise, the rear backrest is in, I've bolted the strips down along the bottom of the doors which hold the carpet in place and the seatbelts are bolted in again. More tomorrow, hopefully. |
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May 30, 2013 21:39:21 GMT
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Pictures speak a thousand words, so there are two here:   A collection of Polo, Golf, Scirocco and Corrado parts. Today's work: - repaired the tears in the passenger side door membrane, gave it a wipe-over with anti-bacterial/anti-mould wipes just to be on the safe side - re-fitted the passenger side door card - removed the sagging a-pillar seals and fitted them the right way around (oops) using proper refit tape - swapped the Polo steering wheel for my refurbished Corrado VR6 wheel - cleaned the gear gaiter, slipped it back over the freshly painted gearstick and popped the Mk2 Golf gearknob back on top - put the boot side carpets back in, easy job - re-fitted the passenger seat Tomorrow I'm planning to spend the evening repairing the driver's side door membrane, then I'll put the door card and seat back in on that side and it's ready to roll! Well, roll out of the garage and have a wash. |
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May 30, 2013 23:55:19 GMT
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Love these little pocket rockets
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Just got in from the garage. A quick job turned into a bit of a project. I bought some damp proofing sheet from B&Q earlier, and predictably I've spent this evening sorting out the driver's side door membrane. Having decided to make a repair piece, I got cocky and started again. Stripped off the old membrane, pieced it together over a the new sheet of plastic and drew around it.  Ended up with this:  Half way through fitting it. It's not the prettiest repair job but it's much better than what was there before. I carefully peeled the three dimensional bits off the old membrane and they're glued back on then sealed up with duck tape to be safe.  Driver's seat is back in, too. Just need to screw the door card back into place and I'll wheel it out for a clean tomorrow. |
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Last stage of the process today! The tedious bit:  Washed, dried, clay barred, waxed and the laborious job of making the bumpers and body kit black rather than silver. I do a big clean like this about once a year, it lays the foundations for not being so thorough during the summer. This year's was hardcore though, as it spent the winter parked on grass. The finished item:  The interior:  Then I cleared the garage of all the curse word I've been storing in Kettering and at my parents' house, sorting my spares into boxes and putting everything on shelves. The Polo's now tucked up, I'm going for beers. :-)  |
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So, today I've been reacquainting myself with the G40 by taking it out for a run to blow the cobwebs out a bit. Finally! The weather was too good not to. Like most good G40 days, it all started with a tank of V-Power. And a coffee.  I've had a hectic week (more about that later) so the G40 hadn't done much since I got home last Sunday. This meant it was still clean, and with Bristol Volksfest about half an hour away it felt like a good opportunity to pop out and make the most of the elbow grease I'd put in. Chucked it in the Show n Shine, ended up among a group of early Polos, which was cool:  Sneaked out while the results were being given out, to beat the rush, and went to have a look at the roads which weave under and over the Severn crossings, then hit the M48/M4 and dropped down to Ogmore Beach near Bridgend to go for a walk.  Then darted back down the old roads into Cardiff, arriving at the inlaws' house in time for a Sunday roast. The car's feeling great, which means it's due for some trips to St Albans (office) through the summer as it really hasn't done enough miles over the last few months. I also need to pick a track day to take it on, as that was really good fun last year, and I'm planning to do the hill climb at the Retro Rides Gathering in August.  Happy. |
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jamieb
Part of things
Posts: 17
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Jun 16, 2013 18:59:26 GMT
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seen this at the show ! looks fantastic ! did you win anything ?
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Jun 16, 2013 23:56:16 GMT
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Nah, not even one slip left on the car haha! Nobody's favourite, except mine But glad you liked it  |
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Managed to charge my camera battery, so...    ...new pics. I've booked onto a track day at Rockingham in August. Should be fun! |
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So on Friday, someone forgot to press the brakes before ploughing into my car at some traffic lights in Northampton.  I was at Billing for the Polo Show, it kinda ruined the weekend. Thankfully the damage isn't as bad as it could be - need a new tailgate, bumper and offside rear light plus the rear panel will need to be beaten into shape. Gutted though. |
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that really sucks atleast its not too bad
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