The story so far

[bootie3367]

The story so far. Was after this Polo after it was seen as not being used about a year ago, was told it was being kept for the ladies son. Out of the blue I geta phone call and she asked me if I was still interested. I said 'Yes, but why now? MOT failure, nothing serious, just a broken front spring, leaking front shock and very poor discs and pads, with an advisement on the rear silencer, asked her how much.... £100. Took the plunge. Went and collected from the garage it had been stored at for two months(!), no start, got a jump, ran OK, sticky rear drums, (to be expected) so proceeded to drive the 6 miles back home, all seemed fine, except the battery was completely gubbed so no coasting or running out of gear as the engine just died and no place to stop if it did, country roads all the way back, no layby or anything. Anyway, after 3 miles, the temp started creeping up and up despite it being v cold and dark o'clock, remember this is mid December in NE Scotland, Temp kept going up, traffic behind, no place to stop, only 3 miles to go so just kept on, death rattle coming from up front clouds of steam/smoke from behind, highlighted by Range Rover following very close at approx 30 mph. Gets her home and onto the drive and stops. Jumps out half expecting the engine compartment to burst into flames. It was bloody hot by then. Left her to cool down a bit then lifted the bonnet to have a look, lot's of pinging cooling down noises but not much to see at that time, still dark O'clock, so rolled into garage and left her till morning.
Went in next morning bright and early, had a better look and found about 2" water in the drivers side, thought 'bugger it' and went back indoors as it had started snowing and I was leaving the next day to go offshore for my 2 week stint.
I left instructions with my son to take the seats and carpets out and bail her out ( nah, that never happened)
Came back after my two weeks and had a good look, changed the battery for a good one, and that's when I discovered where the water was getting in. Old battery was a 75AHC job for a diesel and much to big for the tray. Had been jammed in and took a good 15 minutes wrestling to get it out. Battery tray was non existent! Spent the next day cutting out the rot and making up a plate in galvy steel to cover it. Primed the whole area and riveted in the new plate, then 2 layers of GRP then sound proofing sheets all cut to fit, dropped the new battery in and connected up. Filled up with coolant, took approx 3 litres, started her up, fired first time and ran, then spat the coolant out via the thermostat housing, gasket had failed, hence the reason for the hot drive home, couldn't have been foreseen, did all the usual checks before setting off, blah, blah.

In the meantime, while I was on the rig, did a bit of asking on here and other forums and managed to secure a second hand engine (cheers that man)
Already had a host of other compatible parts from a previous Mk 1 project that was a tin worm too far!!!!!
Thought rather than take the risk and replace thermostat housing gasket and find out the head was warped or worse, just change the engine and at the same time, check out the engine bay, clean up, sort out heated up insulation on the wiring, make sure everything is hunky dory for the replacement to go back in.

We are now into the second half of Jan and trying to get my son (the car is for him) to lend a hand turned into a bit of an epic. He is a window cleaner, self employed and working hard, so not really into helping when it's a good day. I prayed for high winds or rain so he would come up and help and learn a bit about the car he's getting.

After my two weeks at home, we had, changed out both shocks and springs, de-scaled and painted the struts, backing plates and track arms, fitted new discs, de-scaled and painted the callipers, cleaned the engine bay, under body waxed the vulnerable parts, stripped what was needed from the old engine, fitted to the replacement (I keep wanting to say new, but it's not) and sorted out the wiring with good quality self amalgamating tape and spiral protection.
Also checked underneath from back to front, found a few places where the factory under seal had been damaged and made it good with stone guard, checked the brake shoes, cleaned everything off, de-scaled and painted the drums, still well within tolerance, checked the operation of the handbrake (OK).
Once all was sorted in the engine bay, re-fitted the struts then proceeded to drop the engine in. At the moment it is 1-1/2" above the mounts suspended (safely) on the chain hoist....... we ran out of time. At 7pm on the Tuesday evening, I called a halt as I was bu**ered if I was going to spend my last evening at home under a car, better things to do and all that. So there it sits, waiting until I get back.
I did say to the boy, if he wanted he could blow the dust off and have a look at peeling the headlining back (The roof had been walked on by some students a few years back and the roof had sprung so when driving with the window open it would sound like Rolf Harris' wobble board) He could also try and get the drive shafts lined up and drop it the last bit onto the mounts...... We shall see.
Anyway, I took photo's when I could get my (now broken)digi camera to work and they are available for all to see here
http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a173/ ... 03%20Polo/

It's a good solid car underneath, with only one bit of sill welding on the nearside at the rear. There's a few other things that are being done as well to help it last as long as possible. Cut and shaped some plastic from an old radiator shroud to fit in the front of the rear arch to protect the tank filler neck, photo's to follow when completed, finish off protecting the wiring and make sure the under seal is all intact underneath. Some nice simple alloys to go on, they came from a Clio 16v and fit very nice, PCD is correct as well as the offset, so should have no problems with scrubbage.
I'm waiting for a replacement alternator and drivers window post, but the old items are in place so can be used if needed. The alternator case has cracked and I think this has contributed to the noisy bearing, it will fail before long, but hopefully the replacement will arrive before I get home. 2 days should see us ready for the MOT, then it's up to the lad to get Insurance and Tax etc.etc.

Bit of a rambling Post, some might find it interesting though.

Jon

Edit to add, now finally passed MOT. Various problems surfaced during the testing phases, rad leaked, alternator needed new regulator, air blower needs new resistor, brakes need bedding in and ECU needs to 'learn' the new engine. Oh and trying to get the lad to be there for the work that needed doing was probably the biggest hurdle of all. All that is left to do is get the tracking checked and bed the brakes in, get it insured and taxed and moving again. Driving up to the garage for the MOT was nice, engine pulls nicely and sounds sweet and as I said she passed with no advisements, even passed the emissions test despite smelling very rich. Will maybe need to change out the ECU temp sensor, we will have to see.
Spent a day with a bottle of T cut removing all the old (blue coloured) polish, think I will teach the lad how to clay bar to get the best look, that's after finishing of one or two body repairs. The only bit of welding I spotted is on the passenger sill just half way along, so attacked that with a grinder to smooth it out before filling and flatting, then there are jsut a few scabs to tidy up as well as popping out the dents in the front of the roof.
More pictures added to the album, incluidng the dmage to the thermostat housing and the corresponding marks on the block.

Jon