My alterego is Tahrey, you may call me what you will. Right now in Birmingham but may oscillate between Northampton and NW Wales too (unfortunately missed inters before - was paintballing, and working 'hard' on degree anyhow
). "Proud" owner of a Navy blue (well.. mostly) MkIII CL micro-hearse 
, with the classic 1 litre, 45 horse, 4 speed combo up front. Glad about the reliability of the setup (single injector replacing carb and away from combustion = near bombproof), the comfort, and it's sheer load lugging capacity for such a small car (100.2% of my student possesions using roofrack too (inc bike!), or alternately 500kg of catalogues) but not so much the raw performance, considering sometimes it's full throttle to keep up with traffic. Or the motorway noise past 65mph with that low-ratio top. Handling is... OK. When no more then 2-up...!(Hi, dan&doug, and all the other 1043/4 massive
)However, for reasons such as "insurance" and "negative bank balance", it'll have to do for now, save some hairbrained ideas involving tophat air filters, de-catted back pipes, and the addition of an Ebay'ed G60. The most practical upgrade right now would be a 5-speed box. Thoughts of alloys and lowered springs are a far off dream, especially as the exhaust's ground clearance is dodgy at the best of times, but one day... one day I may be able to afford some metallic spray for the steels, and some towing spring-stiffener props
For the moment, it's enough to just view all the pics on here of sweet modded polos and the stories to go with.Actual mods so far are some of those little wide-angle mirror things (they count!), a roofrack that brings the top speed down by a good 15mph, and more seriously a set of modest Microline front fogs, bought after a hair raising joyride through some unexpected welsh "mist", and a nice Sony 4x40w head unit (second hand, cheap at 3x the price!) mated to some recycled stereo speakers. Both of which installations, I'm sorry to say, I botched up a little, so I may dare to ask for a bit of help sorting out in the near future! (The fogs have been routed to the wrong control wire, and so only light up with the dipped headlights - and so are totally useless except for looking smart. The stereo isn't *so* bad considering the all-in cost was £50 including socket adaptors, wiring, plywood and glue, but the fronts are still original and so either need capping intelligently, or replacement with something cheap but decent. And I have high ideas of transferring the 12v sub from my budget home cinema to the car! Oh yeah.. and the blasted tape adaptor won't work). A minor style plan for this year is to put on some clear indicators
I may also have to ask for a bit of assistance with gearbox stuff.. would a 5-speed be worth it? Would it offer an actual higher 5th gear (and slightly lower, tighter 1-4), or just squash the ratios together? (saw someone else on here claiming their 1998 1-litre polo was pulling 4400rpm, at 80, in 5th.. which is approx what I do in 4th, and that HURTS
)... and in the meantime what could be done about the 4's slowly degrading synchro (balking 2nd and 1st from time to time without some now-well-practiced double declutch), and linkage which slips in summer? And does anyone, anywhere in the world have the official ratios for the Polo gearboxes written anywhere?Can the seat tilt release be fettled at all?
And, damn it all, is there any definitive answer to the exhaust gasket problem? It looks common on here, and I'm only just starting to experience it.. and it's a right pain. Had it sorted once for the MOT, sorted again a couple days later, and now a few weeks on it's slowly starting to blow again. Fair enough it's been razzed of late because of work timetabling trouble, but at £25 a time it's a bit of a pain!
In return, I offer you.... um... love! And a few pics to show what an essentially unmodded mkiii looks like - I know there's precious few left! And a helpful mind to offer assistance to other noobs with questions i actually know how to answer.
A long introduction, my apologies, but I tend to get a bit gabby like this in text. Get me on the phone, you'll soon see how quickly it all dries up!
Bye now... bed is calling.
(PS one more for the SPi/single carb crew - whats your metered top speed so far under any conditions? A separate queue for 1.0 and 1.3 please
To start the ball rolling - 106mph on a biiiig straight hill whilst a little bit time-crazed. Forgive me gatso for i have sinned..)
To be honest, I've got no idea (that'll gimme something to do this weekend, after I get the straight through exhaust fitted). Might be an idea to empty all the dead weight out of the car first (boot full of junk)... Yes, I'll try to find a big hill as well.
(and you may as well change up at 5600 for all the go thats left past there - keeping it out of the red means the engine wont explode..)
160k, hm, this one should be good for another 90-odd then.. did you thrash it much?