Polo GTi rescue / engine swap

[6n2stan]

I wonder if you've put the 3rd clutch in? My thinking been you've removed the 2nd clutch and found bits of the first clutch? I would have come to the same conclusion looking at those counter weights or whatever they are...

The wet passenger footwell is likely to be an incorrectly fitted pollen filter/trim cover in front of it missing, or as you say, full of leaves behind the rain tray. It'd be worth checking for damp in there, your ECU is in there too!!

The boot handle will be corrosion so it'll need removing, respraying etc

The original mats are no longer stocked but there are plenty of other after market options out there.

I think I may have a spare back shelf, postage would be a killer though, its twice as heavy as the one in my mk5 Golf

Not sure how to revive the door cards, I'd like to do that too

[937carrera]

I wonder if you've put the 3rd clutch in? My thinking been you've removed the 2nd clutch and found bits of the first clutch? I would have come to the same conclusion looking at those counter weights or whatever they are...

That's the only conclusion I can come to too. It's a little confusing as the pile of invoices that came with the car suggest that the previous owners all maintained a good history of the car, so the absence of an invoice for a replacement clutch seems strange. It makes sense though given the lack of wear and absence of any other sources for the metal strip.

I managed to get my second key remote synchronised to the car today. It looks like the previous owner replaced just one of the two batteries which was why it wasn't working. I put another fresh one in and made sure I had 6 volts before reassembling.

As a word of caution to others, please do note which way round the batteries go. I didn't and spent too much time researching how to synchronise the key and getting wet in the rain trying the various key pressing combinations before I considered that the batteries were in upside down. The instructions in the user manual worked for me.

[937carrera]

Today was spent reassembling the interior, putting the airbox & engine cover in place, adjusting the gearbox linkage (not right yet) andgiving the car a thorough clean.

Interestingly, I found a small label on the passenger floor, which looked like the mini job list when the car was taken in sometime. Handwritten in pencil it said;

Polo GTI
Clutch
Box
MOT

That seems to confirm that the clutch has been changed before, and the box has also been done which is good news.

It's looking ever more likely that a bit of the original clutch was left behind

[937carrera]

So, I put some new tyres on the car and taxed it and tomorrow she ventures out onto the road for the first time with me.

She's no concours entrant, but is very original and I'm pleased at how well she cleaned up. Let's hope she drives well too

Stan, I used the usual foaming upholstery cleaner on the red trim in the doors. While they are not perfect, it certainly improved them.

[6n2stan]

Stan, I used the usual foaming upholstery cleaner on the red trim in the doors. While they are not perfect, it certainly improved them.

All very nice mate!

I'll give the upholstery foam a go sometime, cheers

[937carrera]

Today, I have been mostly sorting the gear linkage out

Essentially, lack of experience as to what does what was the problem.

When I connected the gear linkage stabiliser (the alloy bar) to the gearbox I didn't consider the other end because i thought it was already located.

What I needed to do was slacken the bolt off and then retighten, this time pushing the gear lever end vertically. Once I did that I readjusted the fore/aft adjuster to the centre position and discovered that the bolt was fouling on the left/right connector to the box. I disconnected the fore / aft adjuster again and this time positioned the rubber part to the left hand side of the selector, with the bolt from the other side. I set the adjuster in the position I noted when dismantling and tried all the gears again. Everything was perfect. So it's actually not such a difficult job to correctly adjust the gearbox linkage and you certainly don't need special tool 3192 to do the job.

Here's a couple of photos of how the finished job looks