Just
about done
Late February into March 2004
Cleaned, painted, and installed the air cleaner assembly. Also, the car sounded like it was running on only 3 cylinders so I bought all new tune-up parts (plugs, wires, cap, rotor) and installed them. Bear in mind there are no polos in the US, and the parts store had a fun time matching up the parts I brought in. I just used golf wires and plugs- but the cap came from an old air cooled VW, and the rotor cross referenced with a fiat! Everything was Bosch, though, and what a difference this made in how the engine ran. Sounded near perfect and fired up immediately. I was happy with that. Two of the old wires had bad ends, and replacing everything made a huge difference. Here's a pic under the hood after the tune-up and air cleaner install:
Looking more like a real car, hm?!
A few weeks ago I went to install the downpipe, but noticed it had a pinhole in it and wouldn't do. I ordered a new downpipe and clamp from EuroCarParts.com and they arrived within a week. Got the downpipe installed and had to custom fabricate the exhaust piping between the downpipe and mid-muffler. One of my pipe connections isn't as good as I'd like, and there is a slight exhaust leak under the car, but at least the majority of the exhaust is coming out the back of the car, and the noise is muffled too. I am going to get the polo down to a shop and work on it up on a lift to fix the exhaust, as well as diagnose the brake system.
The brake pedal when depressed feels normal, but after a few seconds pressure is lost and the pedal travels to the floor until it is pumped again. Then pressure returns, and the cycle repeats. I think that there is a stuck caliper piston on the right front wheel, as when jacked up the right wheel has significant resistance to turning freely. We'll see.
I also got around to buffing the exterior paint of the polo, and the oxidization just disappeared, and the finish looks brand new again! I'll post a nice exterior picture up here soon. For now, that is all. I've had fun driving it around the parking lot- it's got quite a bit of zip and feels real tight. Definitely different from other VW's I've driven here in the states.
I'll post more news when I get the brakes and exhaust fixed, and then its off to get the car registered and inspected so I can drive it on the roads- if everything goes well. It's 3/17/04 as of this writing, and I hope to have the polo road-worthy by the end of the month!
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