My Polo Project

tonyyeb · 29 Mar 2007 at 19:00

Hi all

Following in the footsteps of the now legendary and excellent 'My Golf Project' thread by L1J, I have moved on from my 'Best way to learn bit of motor mechanics' thread to now being the proud owner of this 1987 MKII VW Polo 1050 (1043cc)! Bought from ebay for £165 it was a daily runner up until the end of Feb (when the tax ran out). It has no MOT but has got a £101 8 week old exhaust (got the receipt from Kwik Fit!).

It isn't a restoration or upgrade project like L1J's, more a learning experience (especially as I don't even have 1% of the skills or knowledge as L1J!). I want to basically get to grips with motor mechanics starting at a basic level. Now off I go to find the source of the first issue, an oil leak! Wish me luck!

tonyyeb · 29 Mar 2007 at 19:01

More pics:

Phil W · 29 Mar 2007 at 19:01

Looks an ideal fixxer upper, good luck and look forward to seeing progress

Andybtsn · 29 Mar 2007 at 19:13

Nice to see you working on a Polo, good luck with it.

NickXX · 29 Mar 2007 at 19:14

Comedy stickers

tonyyeb · 29 Mar 2007 at 19:27

Cheers guys. I forgot to say - I don't have as big a budget as L1J either, plus i'll have a load of tools to buy I expect. Haynes manual arrives tomorrow - that should help speed things along.

tonyyeb · 29 Mar 2007 at 19:27

NickXX said:
Comedy stickers

Its more like Tipex!

K.C. Leblanc · 29 Mar 2007 at 20:09

I used to have a Polo like that, my one was metalic beige with a brown dashboard.

Hope you have fun with it. Is it a van with rear seats??

Lopéz · 29 Mar 2007 at 20:12

That looks pretty solid. It might just be the reflection, but have the rear windows been painted blue? I can't see through them!

commited · 29 Mar 2007 at 20:16

Looks like a carvan in the pics!

Love the tippex on the back!

milgo · 29 Mar 2007 at 20:34

Love these little squareback breadvans. Mk2 is the best as well

A steal at that price.

Deffinatly a better idea than a mini or similar that you were looking at. Polos are really nice to learn on and are generally quite solid. So you arn't going to have a headache with the body work.

When i had my polo most of the tools i needed were in a £60 halfords socket set. Along the way obviously you will pick up more bits. But i dont think you will have to spend much more than £120 on tools to do pretty much anything on that car.

Even if you start by doing a service with new plugs, leads etc you will really start to understand the engine much better.

Enjoy

tonyyeb · 29 Mar 2007 at 21:02

There are no back windows - as has already been said, it s a car-van

@milgo: I got a socket set for xmas so that should do me. Hopefully being a German car it is all in Metric and not imperial. I think ill start with trying to look at the problems it has whilst going through the process of a service - it needs oil i know that for a fact so might as well do the rest while im at it.

L1J · 29 Mar 2007 at 21:16

Good for you, best way to learn

If your stuck on anything give me a shout.

Looks solid enough and if its anything like the golf, simple to work on.

I'm glad you've got yourself a Haynes! You're about to find out it's full of lies

Remember Lefty loosy, Righty tighty

[huzeeee] · 29 Mar 2007 at 21:33

Slammmed+brown paint+banded black steelies=YES.
Good for you though, your getting stuck in and learning about stuff, you will have excellent fun playing around getting things right and making them better. I often go to the garage for a bit of a relax. Now its summer you can work on it outside without being cold which is a bonus and you can work late because of later nights. I would follow the haynes religeousley till you get the hang of things and if you post any hard jobs or problems im sure one of us will be able to give you some advice.
Well in chap

tonyyeb · 29 Mar 2007 at 22:02

L1J said:
Good for you, best way to learn

If your stuck on anything give me a shout.

Looks solid enough and if its anything like the golf, simple to work on.

I'm glad you've got yourself a Haynes! You're about to find out it's full of lies

Remember Lefty loosy, Righty tighty

Lol great stuff. Thanks for the offer of help. You on MSN? Haynes manual will have to do to start with!

tonyyeb · 29 Mar 2007 at 22:04

[huzeeee] said:
Slammmed..... Well in chap

Cheers Huzeeee. I hope to have some updates around the weekend. Unlike L1J I dont work shifts so its just evenings and weekends, plus thats when the Mrs does not want me to do DIY jobs, walk the dog, wash the pots etc!!! Lol!

L1J · 29 Mar 2007 at 22:18

tonyyeb said:
Lol great stuff. Thanks for the offer of help. You on MSN? Haynes manual will have to do to start with!

[email protected]

Tip: Spray every nut and bolt you can see with WD40 now and repeat for the next few days. It will help by the time you come to undo everything.

[huzeeee] · 29 Mar 2007 at 23:25

L1J said:
[email protected]

Tip: Spray every nut and bolt you can see with WD40 now and repeat for the next few days. It will help by the time you come to undo everything.

gutted now im going to email you pictures of naked men

tonyyeb · 30 Mar 2007 at 07:51

L1J said:
[email protected]

Tip: Spray every nut and bolt you can see with WD40 now and repeat for the next few days. It will help by the time you come to undo everything.

Thanks! Keep the tips coming!

milgo · 30 Mar 2007 at 14:54

I always find forums are much better as well for tackling a job you are very unsure of. Haynes is fine for fairly basic stuff, but with no experience it can be a bit vague or inaccurate. The main thing with cars is confidence really.
If you get stuck try www.clubpolo.co.uk and look on the forum there. Usually pretty busy.

Other good first jobs would be something like the clutch and throttle cables. Bleeding the brakes and maybe renewing them.

Oh and yes everything will be in metric