EmDee's Mk2 Polo Coupe

[EmDee]

Right so after owning three SEATs in a row, I decided that I could no longer afford to run my beautiful black LCR and decided to put it up for sale before I lost too much money on it and put too many miles on the clock. Before I'd even posted the for sale thread, I found an Autotrader ad for a 1990 1.3 Polo "Parade" Coupe. She was totally standard, 1 owner from new with 27k miles and was up for £800! I couldn't help myself and found myself shaking hands with the husband of her first owner (lovely old lady who actually cried when I drove her off) within hours.

Her husband said that the car has only ever been to the shops apart from once when they took her to France where she never skipped a beat.

Anyway, my current plans are to keep the exterior completely stock. She's in such great nick and I want to keep the dealership badge and sticker, although I'm not sure if the delership plates will last as they're a bit tired after 20 years. The Parade pinstriping is staying too, it's a bit tatty but all original.

My only modification so far is an 80's AA badge and I have some decent speakers in my basement which I'll be sticking in a stealth shelf if I can find one. I will be investing in a new exhaust, some G40 brakes, sensible suspension and possibly some G60 steels. Going from the LCR was a bit of a shock, but I've never smiled so much behind the wheel. Miss the power steering and the 4 pot Brembos though

Bored yet? Time for some pics:

 

[EmDee]

Obligatory picture whoring of the new G60 steelies:

sticky new tyres (theres soo much room up that arch lol)

My new £2 knob! actually for the record it looks more black than grey in real life, not sure why it came out like that (insert £2 black knob joke here)

My Grandad's old AA badge after a coat of laquer:

and my £10 Mountney wheel - still not sure if this is going on as i like the standard one and this was a bit of an impulse buy

Check out that old skool typewriter! I forgot I had that!

Can't wait for some proper suspension components and the 4 branch and exhaust.

I keep promising myself I'll keep it as standard as possible but I'm really struggling! I apologise to the purists now!

 

[EmDee]

Next up was the suspension and an exhaust. The original 20 year old muffler was looking a bit on the tired side.

I chose to use Jackson Tuning in Redhill, this place is run by Phil Jackson and is the best place to take any mk1-3 polo by miles. I was VERY impressed, what Phil doesn't know about Polos isn't worth knowing.

so, I parted with a fair amount of cash and had him apply:

-60mm H&R cup kit
Stainless exhaust
4 branch manifold (bit of an impulse buy lol)
powerflex front TCA bushes
powerflex rear axle bushes
ARB blocks
top mounts
new front arms, upper and lower

Here is a shot of some of the bits, although at this stage the rears and rear axle bush were already on and the topmounts were missing from the picture.

4branch:

The struts recieved a 20 minute makeover with some black paint:

and here is the finished zorst:

 

[EmDee]

The auto-reverse tape player and the blown paper 6x4s were driving me mad, so I dug out my old Alpine head unit. Installed it along with my Pheonix gold amp and some Kicker 6x9s. I bought a parcel shelf off eBay and cut the holes for the 6x9s, covered the top with some black felty cloth stuff and made a stealth shelf. It was all going really well until I tried closing the boot... Turns out the shelf was out of a mk3 I think so there was no indent for the huge wiper motor. Hey ho, a quick stint with the jigsaw and some precision dremeling and she fits like a glove lol. Not quite as perfect as I'd hoped, but it does the job and looks stock if you dont open the boot. I'm hunting for a retro head unit, a Becker Mexico would be nice but I dont think the pennies will stretch that far! Took some pics in the dark after I'd finished:

Put on my new indicator lenses which showed up yesterday, they're just the stock orange ones (I like it like that) but as you can see from the pic the ones on the car werent up to the job! Forgot to take a pic of the new ones.

 

[EmDee]

Today I spent money on the worst thing to spend money on - a tax disc. At least with petrol you get to burn it! Hey ho, to make me feel better about it I acquired a new holder for it (it's the little things)...

note the minty seat fabric ;-)

I also removed the door panel to push out a little dent I had in the passenger door (sorry no pics but they would have been boring anyway) and I finally received the centre cap for the mountney and also the boss-cover thingy off Egay

While I was digging around in the basement for some paint, I came across something I will be sticking in the boot

Yes, I have entirely gawn all chav!

Actually the Pheonix Gold amp I hooked up to my 6x9s in my last update blew them up in about 5 minutes! So I've decided to plug it into the shat old JBL 12 and blow that up instead. Luckily the 6x9s have been replaced by Kicker under warranty so I'll have those in and running directly off the head unit sometime next week.

I always said I wouldn't do a big stereo again. I kind of grew out of it. But since my new zorst is proper fruity on the motorway I thought I should get something to drown it out. It's been very cheap (mostly crap I had lying around) and it won't add too much weight so screw it!

Since the car has been dropped 60/40, the standard 13's have been residing in the arches, but since there seemed to be a fair amount of room in the back ones I thought I'd go all hotrod and chuck the 15s in there to see if they rub.

No rubbage at all yet! I'll need to get the front arches rolled before i do the other two though.

And for those of you with eagle eyes, yes the directional tyres are deliberately on backwards, I was just seeing who is paying attention.

More updates coming soon.

 

[cupra.al]

that looks really cool i like that alot my mate use to have a polo the same as that same colour aswell,it got left standing for three years without being touched we fitted a new battery and it started straight away,the brake in it were useless though,then it got nicked but the idiots nicked it while the car didnt have no rear brake cylinders so they didnt get far lol poor thing got killed though.

 

[DPJ]

Good buy!

 

[Cupra Kid]

Damn if i'd seen that it'd have been mine!!!

Nice car though, I've had one and i can honestly say it was the best and my most favourite car out of all 6! If i found a decent one like that the GTi would be out on its arse in a heart beat!

I would try not to modify it in a way that can't be reversed, decent MK1's are fetching silly money now and MK2's especially in the coupé are starting to appreciate quite quickly if they in good condition such as yours.

 

[gezmeister]

First pics looked retro cool but a little bit ghey at the same time. Amazing what some suspension, an exhaust and some oem steelies can do. I like it. Now get that g40 lump in there

 

[GlanzaV]

You'll probably only have been test-fitting... but your directional tread is poiting the wrong way!

Looks great, my mate had an old polo coupe, by the end it was stripped out and being used for grass tests though! I always thought it was a great wee car! In retrospect his was probably in really good nick, not really to be used for motorsport!


Love the G60's, though everytime I see a set I want to shout "Get them banded!"

 

[barney501]

Quality love this little motor! Four branch ftw!

 

[EmDee]

Cheers for the compliments guys, I'm really enjoying her.

You'll probably only have been test-fitting... but your directional tread is poiting the wrong way!

Love the G60's, though everytime I see a set I want to shout "Get them banded!"

There's always one!

Yeah I did say in the last post there there that the directional tread was intentional to see if you were paying attention. Since you didnt read that bit I would have to say you werent!

The G60s are a bit big for the ol girl and if I banded them she would need major arch work. As Cupra Kid says I dont really want to do any irreversible modifying, but having said that I will be rolling the arches pretty soon anyway as I don't do stretched tyres

I want to keep it looking as factory as possible with the exception of being on the floor (oh yeah and the giant exhaust), not sure about too much dish/poke/camber I quite like the g60s as they are.

 

[jonjay]

Blimey good write up

I am really pleased you love the car mate. When will i be let lose on it

 

[h7 cya]

Looks a minter...all the best with it!

 

[EmDee]

Blimey good write up

I am really pleased you love the car mate. When will i be let lose on it

Wont be long now mate, waiting for the arches to get rolled and I'll chuck the G60s on before I sort the paint.

I'm in two minds about removing the pinstriping. I don't want to because it's original, but it is quite tatty and if I do get rid of it I can always get someone to paint it on properly. Maybe have them write something else instead of Parade?


Thanks H7, you're bang on the money she is a minter.

Right now she's just a minty Polo but in a year or so she'll be a Trebor Extra Strong Polo - at least if I follow Gezmeister's advice

 

[gezmeister]

Hell yeah

 

[Art0ir]

Screw keeping it original, stick a big old lump in it!

 

[EmDee]

Weber carb on order along with new steering rack (one that doesnt rattle).

Arches to be rolled next week, stereo getting sorted tomorrow.

That is all.

 

[Cupra Kid]

Webber carb is about the best mod you can do on an 80's carbed VW engine. The difference is unbelievable.

 

[cupra.al]

Webber carb is about the best mod you can do on an 80's carbed VW engine. The difference is unbelievable.

and it does away with all or most of the silly vacuum pipes that create endless running problems.