|
|
|
I've been learning lots about cars since starting this build and seem to be asking lots of questions too. For ease of reference I decided to make this handy thread.
Things I've seen I like, and might one day buy for the car. Hat HolderPorcelain Engine Art New idea for the engine bay and detailing, but in black and gold to compliment the rest. Since the car is off at the end of the month to have more work done and hopefully get the major stuff finished I thought I'd make an introductory project post. The car in question is a 1985 VW Polo, the basic model not the C, this car didn't even come with a glovebox or floor centre console. 1043 engine, no servo on the brakes, manual choke. Good fun though, and though not my first choice he's certainly grown on me and I wouldn't have anything else (except perhaps a Riley RME in black over burgundy with a V12...) The family bought this car about 12 years ago, I've owned it for the past ten. Long term project, stalled frequently by my erratic income, however, I'm on the up-and-up at the moment so I'm taking advantage of it to have a go at passing my test (ran out of cash in Feb to get through it ) and the last few jobs done. Almost as we bought it about 12 years ago, having removed the wooden bumpstrip that was screwed onto the body. Dad had smoothed the rear arches and I'd painted the wheels gold, at this point it was being used fairly regularly as a learner car and would later be in this guise as a family car. Dad taught me a few of the basics to bodywork prep and paint, this is some of the work we did on the car shortly after getting it to tackle faded paint and rust spots caused by the aforementioned trim. The other side was much tidier. Dad did some excellent smoothing work on the rear arches to get rid of the ugly bit of plastic trim. About a year or two ago Wilhelm (that's the car's name) was kidnapped and taken to deepest darkest Lincolnshire where my mechanic friend and I did a lot of work. My friend does the mechanical mojo whereas my gift is in the cosmetic side of things. Work was done on the battery tray, inner rear wheel arch (non-structural) and passenger footwell (part of this repair was my first attempt at welding!). The rest of the body is really sound, typical Volkswagen build quality. Recently the car has been on my parents' driveway since I have nowhere to store a car at my house. The sun proved that the paint and fabric I used was a bad choice, fading both quite badly and even turning some of the fabric to dust. This is not a problem! Car is off to Lincolnshire again at the end of the month for a little bit of mechanical stuff and a respray. I'll retrim the interior when I have enough cash for the black leather and red suede I want, or a suitable fabric. Changes made so far: roof ariel from Ford Escort, tailgate debadged, spotlight grille added, interior retrimmed including new headlining made and fitted from scratch, centre console fitted, chrome badge fitted to grille. Plans for the future include: smoothed bumpers (part way through the front one, waiting for a non-rainy day to finish it off) chrome wing mirrors to replace the 'teddy bear ears' on the doors chrome hubs (when I can make them stay put) and rings on repainted red steel wheels Properly debadged tailgate. whitewall/whiteline tyres (ideally wide whites) new/refurbished kidney choppers on the headlamps (the current ones are a bit rusty :/) Possible wooden parcel shelf and hidden sound system black gloss paint with metallic red roof, metallic red inserts on boot, doors and bonnet with black gloss engraving style work over the top instead of flames. It'll look great, trust me... something like these: It's a shame I missed out on that black-with-red-piping entire Polo GT40 interior a couple of years ago, would've saved me a lot of work.
|
|
Last Edit: Jan 10, 2013 18:09:41 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
valman
Part of things
Posts: 603
|
|
|
oooh i like that. what do you use to make the seats?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
oooh I like that. what do you use to make the seats? It makes me happy that someone else likes my somewhat bizarre taste ^_^ I'm hoping to be on the road with this no later than September this year, all depends on income (wouldn't life be easier if we could just imagine up the stuff we want for our cars instead of having to pay for them with cash?). Stripped down the original fabric covers and sewed new fabric over the top. I used some pinstriped wool and a red/purple rose pattern brocade, both of which I was assured were colourfast and sunfade proof... but they're not, obviously. When I retrim again I'm going to see about getting proper automotive fabric to do the job if I can't afford the black leather and suede I want to use and it ends up cheaper.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
that looks pretty cool very differnt but luckily in a good way eh
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
that looks pretty cool very differnt but luckily in a good way eh Heh... some people are horrified when I describe the plans, but then go "oooh, now I see" when I show them pics so I must be onto something good. This is the guy the parts I'll hopefully get from yourself will be going on and that dent on the tailgate (to the top left corner of the number plate recess) is why I want to replace it, the dent has been repaired at least 3 times and every time just keeps reappearing and I've finally had enough of it. There's more stuff I want of course, like another pair of Mk1 Polo chrome hubs and a way to keep them on the wheels reliably... but I'll sort out the important stuff first, since they're just fancy bits.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 12, 2010 19:49:50 GMT
|
You should have looked for a parade iirc front bumper They are painted and smooth allready... Although i might have some different ones soon they are smooth but are an aftermarket 80's bodykit haha...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 12, 2010 20:03:50 GMT
|
You should have looked for a parade iirc front bumper They are painted and smooth allready... Although I might have some different ones soon they are smooth but are an aftermarket 80's bodykit haha... Aren't they much deeper though? I'm wanting to keep the same slim profile and the only properly smooth Polo bumpers I've seen are on Mk2F (facelift Mk2) models. Of course, I do have this habit of doing things the hard way!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 14, 2010 20:22:01 GMT
|
Remember these? I got lost trying to find the motor factors today (really should've printed a map, I'm such a numpty) and ended up at Fine Fabrics in Hillsborough. Had a talk to the staff and got some advice on fabrics and came away with something interesting. I shall be redoing the seats in black corduroy down the centres and this interesting wine/oxblood vinyl for what is pinstripe in the above picture. Will pipe some of the seams with black corduroy too. This will cost £34ish: 2 metres of black Corduroy @ £2.99 per metre = £5.98 4 metres of wine/oxblood vinyl @ £5.99 per metre = £23.96 4 metres of piping cord (more than I need, really) approx. £4.00 Black thread £0 (already got some) It'll take me a few days to strip and recover everything, but I'm off to the car on Friday so I'll be pulling the back seat out to have a trial run. I *might* remove the front seats too. Ideally I want the seats retrimmed before the car goes up to the garage on the 25th of June and while it's an of a job it is at least a relatively quick one, if I don't mind perpetually skinning my knuckles during the strip and rebuild. Progress pictures as and when, just thought an update would be welcome.
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2010 0:58:22 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
Jun 19, 2010 20:35:22 GMT
|
Started work on my interior today, namely the seats. As you are all aware the seats suffered from UV damage due to me choosing the wrong fabric for the job so today I went and got the rest of the materials I'm using for the retrim. I bought: 2.5 metres of gold/black jacquard upholstery fabric, knocked down to £3.99 per metre from £17.99 because it was a roll end. 1.5 metres soft black vinyl at £5.99 per metre 10 metres of piping cord at 22p per metre. I already had 2 metres of Corduroy at 2.99 per metre Total cost - about £27 Today I started with this and promptly set about stripping the rear seat base since I knew that was easy and would give me an idea of what state the fabric and seat was in. All was sound so I moved on to the driver's seat. I'd forgotten the seats for the VW Polo were made by Recaro. On the back of the front seat there are several of these nasty looking spikes to bend back. They're part of what keeps the tension on the fabric. The other part of the tension are a number of metal rods that attach to the fabric, hooked into rods on the frame and foam of the seats. They're a bit of an to remove. This spike in the driver's seat base was a difficult one to release, don't know why. Then I discovered I also need to pop these plastic plugs out... ..and this tensioning wire that runs around the bottom of the seat cover. Eventually, after removing the side plastics, unscrewing the seat adjuster and the folding latch locater I managed to strip all the fabric off. The stretched release cable on this seat was fixed by tying a knot in the cable. I spent a while thinking about the new design for the seats. Last time I'd gone with something simple and easy but this time, because of the fabrics and the fact that I actually have some ability with a sewing machine, I thought I'd do something interesting. Time to get my beast of a sewing machine out, a nice shed find Singer from the 1950s. Nice to work with when it behaves... ... which it didn't. So by the time it got to 9pm I'd cut out all the fabric pieces for the front seats and only sewn the top of the base of the driver's seat. However, this week will see me working daily to get this interior in order. I've got until next Thursday to get the seats retrimmed so that they can go back in the car and while the sewing is fairly quick, refitting the fabric to the bodies is a bit of a jolly pain in the backside. This fabric shouldn't fade as it's all upholstery grade this time around and I'll be piping the main seams. I'll also be knocking up new flat doorcards in the same fabrics and *possibly* recovering my dashboard. When I was in the fabric shop I also spotted a very nice imitation white calfskin leather vinyl that I'm tempted to do the headlining in, but that means removing all the glass... and spending more cash. More updates tomorrow, maybe.
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2010 1:02:12 GMT by Deleted
|
|
Mike D
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,197
Club RR Member Number: 57
|
|
Jun 19, 2010 20:49:46 GMT
|
Awesome interior work there!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 20, 2010 14:26:54 GMT
|
Awesome interior work there! Thank you, it's about to get even better. Having a break after spending about 2 and a half hours putting the driver's seat base together. To retain as much of the original form as possible, I sewed the original seat base cover to the new cover after I'd done the piping and such so that I can make use of the tensioning wires. Once again, this is a job for my trusty old Singer which is behaving now that the needle is in the correct way around and happily sewing through 6 layers of fabric and a layer of foam with only minimal complaint. After some fighting and many uses of Father Jack's favourite words I finally managed to get the cover on. The original vinyl skirt for the seat wasn't reused because it was knackered, so I learned why the wire ran around the bottom: to tension the skirt, ruin your hands and wrists and force you to use pliers. The top of the seat was looking great except for the piping, which was all wavey. My other half pointed out that it looked like there was too much piping cord and I should try pulling it taught. This worked rather well and made me feel quite stupid for not having thought of it. Those long bits of piping cord will be trimmed and bound by hand to finish off properly. I still can't get the camera to pick up this fabric properly either, it really isn't that bright, it has a sort of gold shimmer to it rather than a glare like that. Another update later. I'm having a break to help my ruined hands and wrists recover before I wrangle the seat back. Plan is to get the driver's seat finished and the passenger seat stripped today.
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2010 1:04:30 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
Jun 20, 2010 19:28:44 GMT
|
Further to my post from earlier, the driver's seat is now almost finished. However, my arms now feel like they've been through a mincer from all the stripping and rebuilding I've done to the seat and my fingers hate me. Didn't like how flat the seat base looked, so I stripped it down (again) and sewed in along the tensioning wires and put it back together again. Much better. I'd also redone the back of the front seat, being sure to sew along the tensioning wires as I had on the base so it all matched. They're a bit of a pain to fit since there's one of these on the front... ... and the same on the back, about a third of the way down. Once you've done that, pulled the cover down and got it all nicely in place, you then have to fettle getting the fabric under the head restraint trims since you can't get them out in one piece without a special tool. Annoyingly, when I was pulling the cover on carefully there was a ripping noise and then the vinyl did as vinyl does and kept ripping whatever I tried to do and gave me this. Not to be outdone, I decided I'd cut the hole too big for the seat release on the other side >.< Both of these minor bits of damage will get sewn up and some decorative embroidery or trim put over the top to hide it and matched on the passenger seat so it looks deliberate and not bodged. Finally the seat is all back together in one piece. A bit of gathering and oddness in the top bit but really I don't mind it. I've got to tidy up the ends of the piping cords and cover the head restraint with some of the embroidered fabric and corduroy with a piped edge to match to finish this seat. Tomorrow I'll be working on the passenger seat or, if I can't face doing that, the rear seat base which is nice and easy. Really getting my teeth into the interior now, got lots of things to do to make it comfortable and plush and totally over the top, just a shame I can't get a chandelier in there... I think I'm joking about that last bit
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2010 1:05:59 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
Jun 23, 2010 16:28:56 GMT
|
Not a massive update since the hot weather, while lovely to look at, is making fighting with fabric hard work. So... here's a bit of info on how I construct patterns, in this case, the rear seat. The rear seats are a doddle to strip, so off comes the old cover and out comes the marker pen to strike out a few lines for what I want to do to make the back seat match the front. You'll note the paper template I used for the front seat as my reference for the shapes I'm after. Lay the stripped down pieces on paper. Any paper will do really, I'm using cheap and nasty printer paper. Since I'll be making the back seat look more like a single bench than the previous double-seat design, I want to make sure things line up. I've marked where the tensioning wire is here. Cut out the pattern shape, fold in half (since this piece is symmetrical) and check it matches. Then mark out the shape you want and cut. When you fold it out, you should have something like this. Worth noting at this point that a seam allowance is included on the outside of the pattern but not on that point and curve. Keep a mental note or physical note of this as you draught the pattern. After some fettling we have a pattern. Laid out next to the original cover for reference. You'll note I only appear to have one half of the pattern here... ... cutting out the fabric. I've ensured that the pattern pieces are laid out in order on the fabric. I'm paying attention to the direction of the pattern and fabric deliberately since I want this to look a certain way... ... and this is why we only need half a pattern. Duplicated or reversed pieces need only one pattern piece which you cut out of fabric then use the fabric piece (which has all the relevant seam allowances included) as a pattern for its mirror. This method saves a lot of time. The fancy insert cut out and ready for sewing! You'll note how neatly the pattern lines up with the relevant parts of the seat, repeating and centred properly. This sort of detail is rarely noticed when the seat is finished, but ALWAYS noticed if you get it wrong, so it's worth fiddling with layout before committing to cutting. I then went on to do the same with the corduroy... I'll update again as I put the interior together, but for now I'm just going to wilt in my chair for a bit.
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2010 1:08:38 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
Jun 24, 2010 23:30:18 GMT
|
Today, in preparation for the car going away to be sorted out on Saturday, I did a bit of minor work. My new hubcabs arrived this afternoon (yay!) which are Mk3/4 Polo items and I wanted to try them out as a replacement to the current Mk2 Golf items I've been running. The Mk1 Polo hubcaps (which will be up for grabs in the For Sale section) were proving difficult to fit and weren't exactly what I wanted. The back of these hubs have square holes with metal clips that slot perfectly over the existing wheel nuts. So I tried one on the front and it fitted PERFECTLY So perfectly, in fact, that I just had to do all four corners! I was amazed at how well these fit. The depth of the cap is such that it's a perfect flush fit with the standard Mk2 steel , something I was told wouldn't work in the past but obviously does. The hub is held really firm too, it's definitely not going anywhere and looks incredibly tidy. When I refurb the wheels these new hubcaps will get repainted too. Then, I put the unfinished front bumper back on. Now he looks something like this. Of course we're not finished yet and he looks *really* ratty. That driver's door is shot on the inside so I'll be replacing it with the white one inside the car (just have to swap over the window winder mechanism) which is in much better condition. I didn't get the interior finished, partly due to a seized screw and partly due to it being too hot to work without being knackered so that will have to be done over time. Might not look like much, but those hubcaps are a MASSIVE mojo boost for me, they're exactly what I was after and when the wheels are repainted they're going to look really sweet.
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2010 1:10:10 GMT by Deleted
|
|
valman
Part of things
Posts: 603
|
|
|
looks good, amazing interior work! are you going to band the standard steels?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'd not considered banding the steels... it may happen in the future. For now I'm modifying in such a way that the items can be replaced with stock stuff so my insurance stays low-low-low, mostly repainting and giving new shape to existing panels and trim (like the interior). It limits me a bit, but it's also offering some really awesome challenges like the wheels and the bumpers that I might otherwise not have done.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 25, 2010 12:49:39 GMT
|
The seats are cool. I wish I could do trimming,
|
|
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
|
|
|
|
Jun 25, 2010 13:05:50 GMT
|
I'd like to say trimming is easy... and in some ways it is. But it's easy in the same way welding or fixing big American barges is easy: only if you know how. Looking forward to redoing the door cards though, those *will* be easy since they'll be nice and flat.
|
|
|
|
VWPowered
Europe
No-Rice - Est 2002
Posts: 1,450
|
|
Jun 25, 2010 13:26:29 GMT
|
mk1 Golf Spoiler ftw ;D
|
|
81 Bedford CF 2.3D Cavalier Coachman Stratus 86 Volkswagen Polo Mk2 1.6 8v 87 Austin Montego 1.6HL 'Daily' 91 Rover Montego 2.0TD Countryman Estate 93 Rover Montego 2.0LXi Estate
|
|
|
|
Jun 27, 2010 22:55:40 GMT
|
Update time! So... the car is now even further away from me than previously, but oddly this is less of a hindrance. Went to my parents with the trailer hooked up to a borrowed Landrover Freelander (the only car to ever make me feel seasick!) and off we went. A few anti-glamour shots of Wilhelm posing in front of some stables. One thousand and forty three cubic centimetres of RAW POWAH! Some superficial rust The very tidy passenger rear arch. The sill is much the same, a few tiny bubbles but nothing serious. I'm so happy this side needs nothing doing to it. The driver's side is a bit more scabby with the rear arch and sill needing some attention and filling. Note that rust has caused the original beautiful filling work to come out and be RUINED... so I'll have to redo that. That driver's door is going to go away too and be replaced with the spare one I've got. This door is so rusty you can actually push your finger through the rust around the bottom hinge. This is the only panel on the car so far that I've had to replace, the original door was in much the same condition. All the other panels are original to the car. So after he'd been prodded and poked, driven around the farmyard a few times to see how he's running and what needs attention the verdict is that all is well and work won't take long. So, in a fortnight I'll get the train up there again and we'll set to on sorting out: Engine tuning is out Three tyres aren't road legal All four brakes need attention Carburettor seems to be a bit off Timing is... well it's wrong Slipping alternator belt Rusty bubbles (my job) So we put him to bed for the time being. I'll be working on interior fiddlies while I'm not up at the workspace/shop. Oh, and having another go at passing my test and saving up for the insurance deposit... so the wallet crash diet begins!
|
|
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2010 1:14:28 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|