UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

i own a 1989 red 1.3 squareback!

I bought it for £300 off an old guy who had owned it since new!
The Interior is in mint condition and the exterior is awesome too!

however everytime it rains it leaks and i have had one leak fibreglassed but the other one needs doing! the engine is mechanically fien however its so dirty and looks horrible, can i clean it and how? im not a mechanic, im only 17 but would love to own a decent polo!

I love the car and its my second mk2! they are the perfect first car....

The point i am trying to get to is....Is it worth spending time making it nice and adding some subtle changed eg rims or is it worth making the engine perect first??

Ideally id love to get a new paintjob on it.... my budget is about £600 but is it worth that at all should i just buy another car??

arrgh so many questions??

Dayve

might be worth putting this in the wanted section! perhaps with a little more detail. i.e. what engine size you would prefer, what model etc

welcome to the forum mate

if u love the car then it is probably worth keeping it a gradually tidying it up! get all the little niggly jobs sorted like the leak etc and then u can think about modding it!

as for the engine, i think the easiest way to clean it is to get it steam cleaned i think! most vw dealers will be able to do this i think for about £15!

i'd keep the car and make a tidy job of it mate

cheers! thats the positivity i was looking for! is the steam cleaning effective? and do you know anything about paint job??

2 mk2's before your 18

i personally think a cars mechanical wellbeing should allways come first as at the end of the day it's basically a tool. but that's down to your own opinion really.

as for the worthwhile modding a mk2 or buy a better car, again it's up to you really, my situation depended on the fact that i couldn't afford a better car (insurance wise) so instead i went to work making my mk2 tidy, but then it's been a year of happy ownership and now i'm looking at moving up the food chain.

end of the day you won't get back the money you spend on modding a mk2 so unless your doing it just for you then i would save my money for petrol/insurance/service costs and possibly your next car

i just posted my last message and realised it sounded very negitive.

so just to clarify the mk2 is a fantastic car, very worthwhile making tidy but just not really worth doing re-sprays etc unless you're doing something a bit special

but by all means tidy any rust, scratches, get some cool wheels on there and clean up the engine bay

yea!! too right my first mk2 had this absolutely incredible canvas pullback sunroof!! it was like a convertible!! but some lady drove into the back of me and then the roof rusted like a b***h haha! anyways...

thats my dilemma! i cant decide what to do! i really love mk2's and nothing is better for insurance and petrol etc!

I want to lower it! and get some nice wheels! is there a way to make it all nice and shiny and original without a repsray??

il make sure its mechanically sorted then il hit my body!!! cheers mate

T Cut usually does the trick, and a bloody good polish brings up the VW paint!!

as for lowering and rims.... i say go for it!!

there are quite a few olops on here to look at and gather ideas from!!

P.S... welcome to the site... iv had 2 MK2's too!

Yea i spent a good afternoon t-cutting haha and won't be doing that again in any hurry! It didn't really work too well and i now have little white dryed up specs of t-cut on the plastic trim etc haha! Yea i am gonna get the engine steam cleaned, and i also want to spend a bit on the engine so that im not putting money into a car that will die next year.

Does anyone know what i should do to the engine to make it live for longer, i have no idea about engines. I don't want it to go any quicker but just look clean and tidy and work like a new car!!

Cheers guys your all a great help! sorry for being a newb haha

Dayve

Hello Dayve, I picked up a mk2 the other week, I have changed a few bits and cleaned it up slightly.

If you've got a little time then you could always tart up the engine bay by cleaning it. I found that the best way to do this was to dry clean it, as in the use of soft tissue on the top stuff and a soft terry cloth for the engraind stuff. WD40 did come in handy too, I found this to be far quicker than a sponge and water and less damaging than a toothbrush.

I haven't yet finished the engine bay but I have cleaned the slam panel, scuttle tray and the offside arch (usually dirtier). I plan to clean the other arch, the bulk head and the support arms and (where the engine mounts sit) and the face of the alternator in the same way.

Once the stuff is of you must remember to keep it clean and well waxed to prevent rust.

There's no point in cleaning the bay if there is a filthy, rusty cover up top greeting all passer's by.

A clean filter housing will clean the bay up nicely, wax the lid to keep it clean, shiney and rust free.

A clean rocker cover and cambelt cover should clean the engine bay nicely, finally clean the water bottles, clean water bottles make the engine look cleaner and only really take 5 seconds to do. It's all about diverting attention to the top of the engine bay which is what you look at the most walking past. (unfortunately I need to replace my cam-belt cover as it is the most notcable thing on my car, it's rusty)

Merr Polish is awesome stuff, highly recommended along with Meguirs Gold Class Wax and TurtleWax Colour Restoration.

hiya cheers for that!!! il get started!! il post up a picture to show you all!

Then and now kinda thing!