Author Topic: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!  (Read 6017 times)

Offline Puncharado

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Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« on: December 21, 2009, 09:06:01 pm »
Hi all, as some of you will already know, I’ve recently joined up in to get some enthusiasm for my G40, which has been quite badly neglected of late. Firstly I’d like to say what a fantastic resource the site is, and I feel welcomed into the family!

Please persevere with the wordy bit, photos are at the end!

So my story is this…….

After owning a few water cooled VW’s (Mk2 Golf Driver, MK2 Scirocco GT, Mk2 Golf 16v, Mk1 Golf cab) I’d decided I wanted a Corrado G60. I’d been keeping an eye out in all the local rags for a couple of weeks when I spotted an ad for a dealer about an hour from me. What caught my eye was a Polo G40 being advertised for just £1800 (this was in July 2000). I rang the place, no mistake, a Tornado red G40 for 1800 notes - I had to go and see it!

When I got there I wasn’t initially impressed - it was various shades of pink, the interior was filthy with fag ash (but not damaged) and under the bonnet looked like an explosion at the oil refinery! But I was there now, so it would be rude not to take it for a test drive. Then I was impressed! Despite appearances it drove and went really well (my mate Rich practically threw the paperwork he was looking at over his head when I nailed it!), only issue was a balljoint needed doing, if memory serves. It was a 2 owner car, had the last owners purchase receipt and several garage bills for good money, so a deal was done for £1700 and I got him to cover the charger in the 3 month warranty - happy days!

Well, I was even happier when I went to pick it up. Having spoken to the previous owner who said the car was great with no major issues, I got to the place and was greeted by a different car! It had been valeted (ashtray still full though!), washed, polished and buffed, and the engine bay had now been hit by a degreaser bomb! Driving home I was a happy man!

The car was totally standard, the only downside was that the outside of the drivers door and the rear quarter was a totally different colour - must have been keyed as there was no sign of filler.
I can’t find any pics of the outside of the car, but I have found this one of the engine bay with just a cheapy filter on, and you can just see my JE Design Bad Boy eyebrow. Other than that it was std. Sorry about the quality, photo of a photo (no scanner).

For the next three years, the car wanted for nothing, all building up to a Jabbasport R1 charger service, a pretty comprehensive strip down, glass out paint job and a rebuild with plenty of upgrades. At least 90% of the parts used during this time were brand new, genuine VAG items, from clips and trims, to a new clutch and green glass, and much, much more in between. I have a folder stuffed full of receipts (thanks to my very bestest mate Rich, who then worked in the parts department of my local VW dealership!). Photos of it after the rebuild are below, but I still haven’t find many and again one is a photo of a photo.

Now for the bad part. In September 2003 the MOT was up, and for the last year the handbrake had been getting worse and worse. This was due to me putting rear discs on, but using the Polo compensator instead of proper cables running to the handbrake handle. My mum had just bought an MGF, which meant that there was a 5 year old low mileage Punto there for me to use while I sorted the handbrake.
A year later, the handbrake was still not done, but I had been keeping the car clean and taking it around the estate every so often. Now this is where it went wrong. “I know” I thought, “while it’s sitting here I’ll get a stage 1 head done and perhaps clean the engine a bit more”. So off came pretty much the entire front end, charger, alternator, rad, CAC, boost pipes etc, plus the cambelt covers and belt (all of which went into the boot). I didn’t quite finish the job though, and nearly 5 years later, and after buying a house in between (no garage - massive mistake!), nothing had changed and the car was less than a shadow of it’s former self. So a couple of months ago I managed to get part shares in a rented garage, moved the car there, and only really went to look at it for the first time today.
Generally, the bodywork isn’t really too bad (before it moved indoors my Dad had cleaned and polished most of it as he was fed up with a pink shite heap on the drive - thanks Dad ), there are rust spots here and there, but it still seems to have wheel arches, sills and a boot floor, although I think it’s probably minus a battery tray, this was ropey from day one. I haven’t looked underneath yet, the state of the charger is enough of a shock for today!

As you can still see, it has had a lot of work done to it (all by yours truly, except the body mods and paint, and glass removal/refitting), and I’m a complete plonker for letting it get to this state. But split milk and all that, I just have to sort it out again, and finish of those jobs I never got round too doing in the first place!

I wasn’t originally going to post photos of it as it is, but if you can all look past the obvious, I'm interested in any comments on how the car was and will be again. But please, nothing negative about my stupidity, only I can know how sick I felt when I looked under the bonnet for the first time in 5 years. Let this be a lesson to you, take it from me, don’t neglect your once prized G40.

Next time I’ll put up my immediate and future plans, plus report any progress I’ve made, hopefully it’ll make better reading!!

« Last Edit: December 21, 2009, 09:07:38 pm by Puncharado »

Offline NeilG40

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2009, 10:01:25 pm »
Hope your chargers ok, mine car had gone pink too so I decided to have a practice machine polishing the bonnet:-

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=143377&highlight=polo+g40

Offline Yoof

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2009, 10:08:21 pm »
At least you know how it can look Steve  8) I love old pics of G40s when they were younger!

Neil- that's some impressive buffing!

Offline NeilG40

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2009, 10:15:11 pm »
Neil- that's some impressive buffing!

Amazing what you can achieve when a machines doing the work.

Offline Puncharado

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2009, 10:15:52 pm »
Trouble is Pete, knowing exactly how it did look makes knowing how it now looks that bit more upsetting. I just hope my charger is OK.

That is a shiny bonnet Neil. Mine will be going back to the bodyshop for touching up, they can buff it for me!

Offline cheddarcheese

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2009, 11:21:29 pm »
If you removed your charger and kept in the car? protecting it from the cold and damp you could be lucky and saved it!

think about the G smiles ;D it will help you get her back on the road!
 


Offline Puncharado

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2009, 11:37:25 pm »
Cheers Cheddar! ;D
Check out the topic I started earlier in Superchargers, about me wanting to strip mine and check it. There were lots of other bits in the boot too (everything in the last picture in fact), and there's no question it was damp in there, perhaps not too much but I'm sure of it. As I've said elsewhere, I have to know, the charger will be in bits before Christmas!
Haven't stopped thinking about the G smiles since I joined! Thanks for the encouragement!

Offline dub-disaster

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2010, 11:34:41 pm »
What seats you got in there I love them!? Did you have the rear retrimmed to match

Offline Puncharado

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2010, 12:47:12 pm »
Front seats are Golf Mk2 Recaros, they were the best thing about mine so I kept them. They did fit straight in the G, but they didn't go back as far as the standard seats, so as I'm 6'2 I had to drill the subframes and weld in new seat mounting bushes to allow the seat to go further back - only an inch, but made a noticable difference. Rear seat is standard, but with Polo saloon rear headrests fitted (I asked the trimmer to try to fit the whole saloon seat foam to the seat back, but he wasn't happy with the fit). All trimmed in black leather, which could now do with some cleaning and conditioning.

Offline Turbodaily

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2010, 08:12:36 pm »
Looked like a little stunner before! It still dont look to bad now to be honest, ive seen worse! lol, im sure it will be looking as good again soon.

Loving the seats, they look pretty well done and suit the car 8)

Offline Puncharado

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Re: Puncharado's Polo - then, now but not yet the future!
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2010, 03:36:35 pm »
Cheers! I love my seats too! They are quite a bit bigger than the original seats, they really fill the cabin.

I haven't managed to do anything to the car so far. I'm sub-renting space in a shared garage, and as the car was only in storage for the last 6 months there's currently no room around it to work. As I now want to do some work on the car I want the space I'm paying for, but the guys that I'm sharing with have been very busy with work and haven't shifted all their stuff yet. Latest promise is we'll be doing it tomorrow, so I may have made a start by next weekend  :)

I have started to strip the charger, more than anything just for piece of mind, and it's a bit mucky but otherwise OK. I’ll need to get a rebuild kit at some point, but no immediate hurry to get it done.

I've decided that I'm pretty much going to do everything I originally intended but, plus a couple of more things I've picked up on recently through the forum. Plans include: -

Remove some more bits from the engine bay for cleaning and add it to the pile of other bits that need cleaning! Wash and polish it all so I can see where the paint will need attention. Then I can get it off the ground and have a good look underneath to check for corrosion - at some point I’ll underseal it again. While underneath the car I’ll pull off the probably rotten standard exhaust, and basically check everything over, fuel and brake lines, etc.

Fit all the stuff I’ve had since 2002 ish. These include brand new VAG supplied front foglights, central locking kit, electric window kit, both front door seals and all front window seals, maybe a few other small items too I think! I also have a JE Design front eyebrow/grill spoiler and some sort of Seat front bumper spoiler which both came off for when the car was painted but never went back on. Plus I have all the stereo equipment which has been in the loft at my parents house since I bought back then! The electric seat adjustment and Audi gauges need to be wired in as well.

And also fit the stuff I’ve bought recently - brand new VAG G40 radiator and cam belt (actually had these a couple of years), Porsche scripted door handles (always wanted a pair of these), GT inlet manifold (cheers Rae), throttle body to convert to 51mm (from Lance), G60 injectors (should be in the post), toothed belt kit and Schrick camshaft (LeonL should have posted these today!), and a set of 6x14” VW Le Castellet alloys which I intend to polish, and should make the car feel a little more agile. The 7x15” BBS Rzs will therefore be for sale in a little while.

And then there’s the stuff I haven’t bought yet - PPP stage 2 sub frame, and full exhaust system (just waiting for the group buy for the manifold to pick up speed before I get these), good quality adjustable cam pulley, some G Laderseite ARB blocks, an oil cooler and probably other bits and bobs such as boost gauge. I also want to change the rear calipers for later ones and sort the handbrake out, and I’m considering what to do about upgrading the front brakes.

I don’t know what I’ll do with the suspension yet. It is currently on Spax dampers and Eibach springs, but I doubt the damping adjustment on the Spax will be still working! I’ll have to investigate before making any decision. I’m also probably going to take the motor to the local engine builders for a health check and freshen up (mileage isn‘t too bad, 97k). The bottom end will stay standard, but I’m tempted to have some work done on the head, stage 1 or something, just to go with the cam, but nothing crazy for now! And then I’ll be wanting a custom re-map to set everything up correctly, although I’m sure I’ll have to change the chip first anyway to get it all running safely in the first place. The Jabbasport chip currently fitted is for the R1 charger, induction kit and 65mm pulley and an otherwise standard engine.

So there is quite a bit to do, hopefully when I next post here I’ll have actually done some work on it!

Some more pics of how it was.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2010, 03:49:18 pm by Puncharado »