Author Topic: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread  (Read 51288 times)

Offline Andy

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Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« on: February 25, 2012, 09:19:35 pm »
My Polo history started in 1999 when I'd learnt to drive in this, back when 6Ns were a bit too new to be rusty with knackered gearboxes…



…but it wasn’t my car, and once I’d passed my test at 18 sharing a car with your Mum is NOT cool. I’d been looking for a Mk2 breadvan, but the local ones were all 1 litre; expensive; knackered; or all three. Whilst on holiday on the Isle of Wight the old man spotted a Mk3 1.3CL in the classifieds bit of the local paper – part-ex to clear at a Shitroen dealer.

Looked like this once I’d added a set of 13”x6” BBS RAs and fitted a Mk2 Golf CL front splitter:



It stayed that way for a while, ‘til I got bored of the 55 lame horses and threw a Polo GT (3F) injection system on it in the mistaken belief that it’d turn it into a fast car. It didn’t. With my first year at uni to deal with I had some serious liver-bashing to do, so didn’t worry about the Polo too much ‘til I got a summer job.

With a bit of cash in my pocket from the job, it was time for a G40 conversion:



Yoof (when he really was a Yoof) giving me a helping hand:



It stayed that way for a while, ‘til I put a chip and pulley on it at a rolling road day and melted a piston on the way home. Eventually it got a 1341cc rebuild done at PSD. I bought lots of goodies along the way, and played with nitrous on a 3F lump whilst the PY was being rebuilt. Once the PY was done, we whacked a 100bhp shot of gas on the 3F as a last hurrah and melted the rings to the pistons - then drove it home.

The destruction continued – the PY lump killed numerous gearboxes, including diffs...



....and 5th gear sets...



...so in my final year at uni I bought a Mk2 Coupe S that was cheaper than a replacement G40 'box. Got fed up with the lack of power quickly, so flogged it and bought a G40 ‘box. The sills were fibreglass anyway!



Drove it to Belgium for VW Mania 2005:



Video of it chasing a Boxster S (38m:42s) abroad here - unfortunately the camera car only had an AFH in it so couldn't keep up:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8227698405759365404

Experimented with 'alternative' fuels:



And generally all was good. I then got my first job after graduating in summer 2005, and started adding more and more tuning goodies to the G40'd motor. This meant lots of grunt, but peak power at high rpm. The lader used to get frequent rebuilds, and it was during one of these that this happened:




A slut lader was built with a scroll that consisted mainly of JB weld, but it made shit boost and I decided to look elsewhere for power. So at the end of 2006 in the back garden I started a K03 turbo conversion.



At the time it'd become a popular conversion in Germany, but no-one else had used a K03 in the UK. Rumour suggested that Jabbasport had tried it some years previous, and had declared it a crock of shit. However, John Marchant was putting one on his long-term Mk1 G40 turbo project and Steve Pitt of Pitstop Developments was interested in developing a G40 turbo kit using his ‘tin-can’ G40, mine and John’s cars. Spurred on by the turbo'ing success of Mark Hunter several years previous and others giving it a go, I bought a cheapo K03 and got stuck in.



By now everyone knows you have to fit a 6psi boost switch and Newman 'turbo' cam to get a K03 running nicely - but back then that was new ground. I got the car driving with a PY camshaft and it was crap, so switched to a 3F item used by the Germans as a poor man's turbo cam. It too was crap.

However, t'internet suggested that ze Germans were using Schrick 268° cams intended for the Polo GT to good effect with the K03. After a chat with Steve Pitt, he’d found the same with the 3F cam – so by the time I drove the car down for mapping he’d had a couple of Newman cams made up. One went in John’s car, the other in mine.

With it mapped and running 15psi of boost it was time to hit the strip again:



Had a go at Shakespeare County as well as the Pod:



The best I managed was a 14.0s at 99mph. With Duncan (another Pod regular with a G60’d G40) also hitting 14.0s I decided to up my game – more boost was required, which seemed like a good excuse to bolt on an Emerald ECU as I didn’t have Digifant mapping gear at the time:



Miraculously, it started first time:



That takes it up to the beginning of 2008, where other things started to get in the way of pissing around with Polos. It stayed on the road over the next few years (just!) and got used whenever I could – had an outing to the Pod where I managed a 13.6s 1/4 mile in 2010, only a couple of years late! (Pic shows it at the Pod in 2011, but it's got tyre smoke in it so looks cooler...)



Two changes of job and two house moves later it was time to prepare to give it some loving! New gaff came with a decent garage – this pic was after gallons of weedkiller and some serious mowing of weeds:



This is what 17 tonnes of gravel looks like:



BTW – gravel is shite for driveways, but it is cheap and tidied things up nicely to keep the missus happy:



So time to get inside the garage, and turn this:



…into this:



Got distracted by the 2011 CP RR day:



And by the 2011 CP trackday:




Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2012, 09:33:32 pm »
So with the car approaching its 20th birthday, and duties as wedding car looming, it was time for a refresh. It's hopefully going to get painted throughout March, so I've been getting stuck in stripping it down ready.

Crusty battery tray:



Pulling the temporary unwrapped (it's been in there 4 years!) wiring loom out:



Cooling packs removed:



Looms, ECU and other odds n sods removed:



Pulling the interior out:



Unbolting dash:



Motor out:



Another shot of the crusty battery tray:



Engine on a stand ready for a tidy-up and check over:



Also been doing some R&D for PPP. An ever-growing ARB collection:


Offline cheys03

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2012, 10:33:44 pm »
Superb thread!

Offline Etches

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2012, 10:48:52 pm »
Cracking andy! I've been looking forward to seeing a progression thread of your sleeper for ages. An awesome motor!

Offline Alex

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2012, 01:39:23 pm »
I've got a fair few of the older pics from this on the old PC upstairs. Another of the originals - great to see it's still going strong(er than ever)! 8)

Offline Jezza-7

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2012, 08:17:34 pm »
Good read this is. When i got more battery i will watch the entire video you put on.

2 things though, your garage does not look like that anymore lol! And the other im sure that wiring still looks the same  ;)

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2012, 07:43:05 pm »
Made quite a lot of progress today, so it's not far off being thrown on a trailer and taken for welding and paint now!

I've got loads of rusty fittings and brackets to clean up - going to give this technique a go: http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Miscellaneous/Rust_Removal.htm. Some of the fellow car bodgers at work have been using it successfully, so I'll post up once I get setup and will report on results.

Had a helper - Yoof tearing the dash out:


Done, wiring tied back out the way for access to weld up the battery tray:


Rest of the front end removed, along with lots of odds n sods like oil cooler; exhaust; cables etc:


Also threw on a pair of old steelies on the front so that the Compos don't end up metallic mint! Still need a couple of old wheels to chuck on the rear, will have to see what I can beg/steal/borrow as all my spares have ended up on other people's cars.

Removed rear bumper and lights, no major horrors uncovered:


Spent ages stripping down the tailgate, including removing all the harnessing and washer hose from it. De-pinned the vehicle harness end of the rear wiper motor harness to facilitate threading it all through the tiny holes in the tailgate. A few crusty bits, but on the whole not too bad for 20 years old:





Tore all the badges, numberplate etc. off the tailgate leaving it naked. There's a really significant difference between the exposed paint that's faded and the stuff that's been protected by trim etc. but this photo doesn't really show it too well.


Took all the door cards off and removed the back seats for cleaning. Removing the driver's side rear door card enables you to see the pipe of doom. Remarkably mine's pretty solid!



Offline MartinB

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2012, 09:25:27 pm »
One of my favourite breadvans. Top work!

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2012, 02:04:01 pm »
Minor update, just the carpet to get out and the door mirrors to remove and it's ready to go to the bodyshop.

Took the rubbing strips off both sides, managed to get the fixings off pretty much complete so at least they're re-usable.





Removed the wheel arch liners (no pics as my hands were minging), but thanks to several ripped CV boots; oil leaks and my pikey inner arch oil breather vent the fixings were all mint and came out really easily.

With them out the way I removed the aerial. I think this will be staying - often thought I'd get it smoothed and fit a beesting, but I think the comedy telescopic item adds to the sleeper effect.



Pulled off the remaining bits that I'm removing under bonnet - am leaving the brakes and steering rack fitted so we can get the car up my drive and onto the trailer easily. Fuel lines are plugged up and tied out the way, servo has a cork in it and spent ages removing all the random little clips lying around.



Bonnet catch off:



VIN plate removed:



There's a few more bits of car AIDs I found under the bonnet. They passed the screwdriver stabbing test, so hopefully it'll be reet.




Offline ereeiz

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2012, 12:58:06 am »
Why not hire a skip and electrolysis the car too :D That'll sort the rust spots!

Loving "the pipe of doom" I burst out laughing and got some odd looks off the other guy at work.

Looking good, I should do something about sorting mine really, got a mate coming to do some work on it this week so I may *finally* get that subframe on. I'm still a few years away from getting to the rebuild stage you're at. If only I had a garage!

Keep up the good work!

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2012, 08:33:03 pm »
Pulled the remaining bits of interior out, shoved it up the drive and winched it onto the trailer. It's now with the bodyshop - thanks to Yoof for trailering and driver duties!


Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #11 on: March 23, 2012, 10:34:33 pm »
So, the I love paint session begins!



Bit of a hole near the strut. Fortunately patchable rather than needing anything too drastic.


Seam sealer stripped back for stitch welding the chassis legs.





Rot behind the servo was a bit worse than anticipated:


Battery tray rot looks pretty bad, but it's saveable. Luckily with the dash and carpet etc. out it's not too bad a job to do.


Bit of grot around the rear window surround, also saveable without too much work.



Filling and smoothing has started...



« Last Edit: March 23, 2012, 10:40:26 pm by Andy »

Offline Alex

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2012, 01:19:45 am »
I recognise that workshop!

Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #13 on: April 01, 2012, 09:41:48 am »
Nothing too exciting to see, but all of the rusty bits have been identified with no nasty surprises. Most of them have now been treated, and will be welded up next week. All the little dings down each side have been filled and smoothed. Should be welded up and ready for primer next time I see it. If all goes to plan I'll have it back in 2 weeks.

Rear window crust now treated, and almost ready for welding:




Few shots of other treated rusty bits:




Offline Andy

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Re: Turbo Squareback - History & Rebuild Thread
« Reply #14 on: April 12, 2012, 08:38:38 pm »
Should be welded up and ready for primer next time I see it. If all goes to plan I'll have it back in 2 weeks.
Famous last words! Supposed I tempted fate by collecting the trailer last weekend...

Not really any further forward, except I need to source a new tailgate as this one's too far gone apparently. No pics as they'd locked up when I turned up to view progress as arranged.  :(

Might be needing to insure that Coupe S to ensure I've got a Polo wedding car for June!