Polo G40 - when black became grey

[4wheeledstool]

Bought my first G40 in the summer of 2006. It had Max Power wheels,a snap off steering wheel and all the plastic trims had been removed. It had a few rusty bits and a broken pedal box but it was massive fun to drive and pretty quick too!

My brother had owned this car a couple of years previously but instead of selling it to me he sold it to one of his customers. When it came up for sale again I had to have it regardless of condition.

Within 6 months I had replaced the front wings, replaced all the missing trim, changed the brakes to Golf Mk2 16v front and rear discs and sourced some 14" BBS RAs as the 13" G40 RAs wouldn't fit over the front brakes. It was then treated to a glass out respray as the paint wasn't up to much.

 

 

 

 

My daily ride was an F reg Escort van at the time - can't find a pic of it at the moment!

[4wheeledstool]

My brother was into a bit of quarter mile action - I quite fancied a go at it! After my first taste of Santa Pod based fun, the engine came out for fettling - unsurprisingly I wanted it to be faster! A little speed can be addictive.......

 

The block was rebuilt with forged pistons, lumpy camshaft, ported head, bigger inlet manifold, ceramic coated four branch, ported charger with smaller pulley and toothed belt, bigger injectors, bigger intercooler, uprated clutch and rebuilt gearbox with LSD. I'd clearly got it bad! (Whatever IT was?)

 

 

The "entertaining" handling was improved with a fabricated subframe with extra rose jointed wishbones.

 

 

 

Had a full stainless exhaust system built on the car, and that marked the end of modifications.

[Rocket88]

Nice work.................

[4wheeledstool]

All was good for a few years, then one fine day in May 2012 the shite hit the fan.

Some daft woman pulled out of a side road without looking then promptly stopped across my side of the road. There was no way I could stop in time so I started to steer round her then....she moved off again. I was proper fooked now, and slammed into her offside rear wheel. Ouch!

 

 

 

The damage doesn't look too bad until you see the gap between the door and roof!

 

[cort16]

Impressive stuff. I like the subframe work it seems like quite an exotic thing to do. Did it noticably help the way it drove?

[derskine]

Impressive stuff. I like the subframe work it seems like quite an exotic thing to do. Did it noticably help the way it drove?

It improves them massively apparently, I really must get one for mine.

[4wheeledstool]

Impressive stuff. I like the subframe work it seems like quite an exotic thing to do. Did it noticably help the way it drove?

Best handling modification for 86/86C polos - stops the wheel moving forwards and backwards in the arch due to the bendy ARB linking the strut to the front of the chassis rail. Also ties the ends of both chassis rails together - they're very flimsy on these cars. The only downside is having to lose the ARB as the front of the subframe uses the ARB pickup points. Stiffer springs required!

[Twiggy]

A very impressive bit of kit...

[4wheeledstool]

Whilst in considerable pain I started searching for a replacement shell to stick all my pologoodies in. In a short time I spotted an ideal candidate on the clubG40 forum. Complete G40 but with nothing at all under the bonnet and only 20 miles away. Went for a look and it was on my driveway within a week of the crash.

 

 

 

Daft woman's insurance company hadn't got in touch yet - it turns out that they never would either! Litigation was the only way!

[4wheeledstool]

I knew from when I went to look at the car that the battery tray needed a small repair and the offside sill needed replacing. When in a less ruined state a few weeks later I started stripping it down to see what else was required. On removing the arch trims the front wings were scrapped straight away and new genuine ones ordered. The nearside rear arch needed attention -

 

 

There was a hole in the bottom of the offside inner wing which was sorted straight away -

 

 

All seam sealer, wax and crap scraped off the rest of the inner wings to try and find any more car pox -

 

 

[Hertz]

Another one!? What times did you get out of it at Santa Pod out of interest? Not been for over 10 years, my best time was 15 seconds dead out of my R21 Turbo Quadra. I never managed to get it into the 14's which I remember a Dodge Charger owner at the time reassuring me that anything in the 14's was a "proper quick car". 

[4wheeledstool]

Another one!? What times did you get out of it at Santa Pod out of interest? Not been for over 10 years, my best time was 15 seconds dead out of my R21 Turbo Quadra. I never managed to get it into the 14's which I remember a Dodge Charger owner at the time reassuring me that anything in the 14's was a "proper quick car".

 

Not been up the strip for a couple of years now but best when standard was 15.8

Best when messed with was 14.3 on road tyres - should just about get into 13s with slicks but fear of gearbox burstage has put me off using them!

[Partridge]

Sad about the black one, but fair play to you not beating around the bush!

 

Were you able to retain any parts?

[4wheeledstool]

Only bodywork/shell ruined - everything else was retained or re-used fortunately.

[4wheeledstool]

Chassis legs were stitched and braced - tearing the black one at The Pod taught me a lesson about the weak bodies of these cars - I don't think that drag strip launches were part of the design brief!

 

 

 

Inner wings and sills were POR15'd and stone chipped once the repairs and reinforcements were done.

 

 

[4wheeledstool]

Preparation for paint happened next, the guy paints Bentleys at the factory but paints shite at the weekends.

 

 

 

 

[4wheeledstool]

Bodywork and glass reassembled so it could be returned for polishing.

 

 

 

 

Paint and polish only took a couple of weeks as the main prep guy did his bit on weekdays. Top blokes!

[4wheeledstool]

As the daft woman's insurance company still hadn't been in touch with me yet (it was now over 3 months since the crash) I had to get an independent assessor to value the black car. Sound bloke, acknowledged that I knew more about these cars than he did and agreed with the realistic figure I suggested. I could now get stuck into it to harvest all the goodies contained therein.

 

 

 

 

All suspension, electrical and engine/drivetrain stuff would be going into the grey car. All stuff not needed from this car and the grey one were sold on or kept as spares. Parts sold covered the purchase price of the grey car twice over!

 

Weighed in the shell, wings, bonnet and tailgate for 40 queen heads and she was gone - just over 20 years since registration.

[4wheeledstool]

Suspension, fuel tank and pumps were removed from the grey car and replaced with those from the black one. Engine, gearbox, wiring loom and all under bonnet gubbins were then shoved up it and plumbed in.

 

 

[4wheeledstool]

Forgot to drill the holes for the electric windows/central locking - Arsebiscuits! Managed to remove the doors, drill holes in the a pillars and doors then re fit them with the wiring threaded through all on my jack jones without scratching anything. Proper contortionist!

 

 

Continued fitting stuff -

 

 

 

[4wheeledstool]

Front end completed -

 

 

Same with the rear -

 

 

[4wheeledstool]

Just needed to put the interior in now. Used the one that came with the grey car but used the wiring looms and alarm from the black one.

 

 

 

[4wheeledstool]

Finally got a settlement off daft womans insurance company - a few days before they were due in court - and. 9 months after the crash! Pictured here on the way to its MOT on the day I got my cheque -

 

[4wheeledstool]

Only needed the headlights adjusting for the MOT - happy with that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to abuse again!

[4wheeledstool]

Its first proper outing was to Santa Pod - but like a complete gonad I forgot my driving licence!

 

 

Lots of old Fords to see there so the trip wasn't a total waste.

[4wheeledstool]

Snapped what appears to be a young man rubbing his baby carrot whilst looking at my engine at Tatton Park in August.

 

 

I showed him the picture and he assured me it was his phone!

[Felly Magic]

Well done, shame you had to piss about with the legal shenanigans, its also nice to see that this hasn't been given the pineapple treatment, and still looks fairly stock. 

[4wheeledstool]

Been on the throne all day with a touch of Parpington Bumsplash - found some more pics to post.

 

 

 

 

Would much rather be sat in there than my current location.

[4wheeledstool]

Found some pics of the black one in an old phone - not the best quality, dating from 2009 - 2010. Thought these were long gone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[4wheeledstool]

Got this MOT'd today - a measly 1025 miles done since the last one.

 

It was easily the tiniest car there!

 

 

Hung around for a car based chat while it was being done.

 

 

 

 

I plan on getting a bit more use out of it this year!