Project Dr.Fraud's Private Scrapyard

[Sigmund Fraud]

A big part of my commute is along twisty B-roads that are really prone to flooding, and the Polo's ageing, mismatched tyres didn't inspire much confidence during the recent wet weather.

In a rare moment of prudence, I decided to put safety first and invest in a set of new tyres. So I went onto Blackcircles, added a set of Falkens with A-rated wet grip to my basket and moved to checkout...

HOW FUCKING MUCH ?  I mean, I was prepared to splash out, but I am not made of money !

Thankfully, eBay came to the rescue once again. A much more reasonable £160 bought me a nearly-new set of the same Falkens on VW wheels...

...plus a replacement parcel shelf...

...plus a set of genuine VW accessory rubber mats.

It will, however, not surprise you to hear that there was a catch to this amazing bargain.

The catch was that the above bundle of parts also came with a complimentary* car :

As Lady Bracknell would have said : To buy one Polo 9N, Dr Fraud, may be regarded as a misfortune. To buy two, looks like carelessness.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

A big part of my commute is along twisty B-roads that are really prone to flooding, and the Polo's ageing, mismatched tyres didn't inspire much confidence during the recent wet weather.

In a rare moment of prudence, I decided to put safety first and invest in a set of new tyres. So I went onto Blackcircles, added a set of Falkens with A-rated wet grip to my basket and moved to checkout...

HOW FUCKING MUCH ?  I mean, I was prepared to splash out, but I am not made of money !

Thankfully, eBay came to the rescue once again. A much more reasonable £160 bought me a nearly-new set of the same Falkens on VW wheels...

...plus a replacement parcel shelf...

...plus a set of genuine VW accessory rubber mats.

It will, however, not surprise you to hear that there was a catch to this amazing bargain.

The catch was that the above bundle of parts also came with a complimentary* car :

As Lady Bracknell would have said : To buy one Polo 9N, Dr Fraud, may be regarded as a misfortune. To buy two, looks like carelessness.

Bangernomics, innit!

[Sigmund Fraud]

The complimentary* Polo had failed its MoT due to rusty sills, and had been condemned as uneconomical to repair. 

I went to collect it with a clear plan in mind. It would be driven back to Fraud Garages, stripped of any valuable parts and then sent to Richard Noon's yard to be cubed.

But it proved to be in a much nicer shape than I expected, and drove far better than a three-cylinder 9N with 100k on the odometer has any right to.

It seemed a real pity to scrap it without at least confirming that the rust was terminal. So after removing the parts that I wanted for my daily Polo, I grabbed a screwdriver and started prodding around. Here's what I found :

Plenty of work required, and I'm really not sure that saving this old thing is really worth the time and effort. 

But I've gotten this far, so next time I'm at the workshop I'll cut the rust out and see what I'm left with. I've also ordered a replacement sill panel, just in case I decide to proceed with the repairs.

What was that ? Did someone say "mission creep" ? Or am I hearing things again ?

[Somerset Suffolk]

"Do it.... DO IT..... Do it... Do it...." 

Rusty Polo's !

This was my sons mates (Dangerous Dave)  partners car - a  2004 90 PDI, so a proper pocket rocket and he loved it, so worth the effort and I offered to do it for a fraction of the garage quote, if he gave me a hand with the brakes - had to drop the tank to sort rusty brake pipes as well - looked OK when finished - Dangerous Dave works at Hinkley "B" so earns mega bucks and sold it to buy a Yaris GR - though the Polo lives on.

If you have the time and inclination, let the mission creep take over.

[Sigmund Fraud]

32 minutes ago, Somerset Suffolk said:

"Do it.... DO IT..... Do it... Do it...."

This is the kind of sensible* advice I expect from fellow Autoshitters !

I didn't take detailed pictures, but mine is in a much better shape than the silver one you've posted. The rot is pretty much confined to the sill covers ; the floorpan has been spared and the inner sills only need the rearmost 3 inches or so repaired.

The time or inclination for a neat job is definitely not there, but I must concur that a scruffy-but-solid patching up seems achievable.

[Sigmund Fraud]

Complimentary Polo SITREP : after several hours of cutting, chiselling and grinding all the rust has been removed.

Next step will be to fabricate patches for the inner sill ends and weld them in, then it will be time to begin work on the outer sills. Stay tuned !

[Sigmund Fraud]

Oh, almost forgot... My old A40 came up in another thread, and fellow A40 owner @Matty wanted to know more !

Here it is, in all its shabby glory :

It was bought new from Premier Motors of Aston, but that's pretty much all that is known about its early history. The car never made it onto the DVLA electronic records, so it must have been taken off the road before the early 1980s. By the 2020s it had ended up in a barn somewhere in the West Country, as the odd one out in an MG hoarder's collection.

At that point, the poor A40 was in a terrible state. Thankfully, it became a true labour of love for its previous (to me) owner, who rescued it from the barn and spent far more time and money on it than anyone else would have. Once he had managed to complete the car's first journey in probably 50 years he declared his work was done, and listed it on eBay for someone else to take the mantle. That someone else is me.

I have so far focused my efforts on making it safe and reliable, and I would now be quite happy to jump in it and drive anywhere (well, anywhere that a cruising speed of 50-55MPH would allow). The next step would be to tidy up the bodywork ; I love the shabby appearance, but all that primer really needs covering if I am going to use the car on anything but sunny, dry days.

[Matty]

5 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

Oh, almost forgot... My old A40 came up in another thread, and fellow A40 owner @Matty wanted to know more !

Here it is, in all its shabby glory :

It was bought new from Premier Motors of Aston, but that's pretty much all that is known about its early history. The car never made it onto the DVLA electronic records, so it must have been taken off the road before the early 1980s. By the 2020s it had ended up in a barn somewhere in the West Country, as the odd one out in an MG hoarder's collection.

At that point, the poor A40 was in a terrible state. Thankfully, it became a true labour of love for its previous (to me) owner, who rescued it from the barn and spent far more time and money on it than anyone else would have. Once he had managed to complete the car's first journey in probably 50 years he declared his work was done, and listed it on eBay for someone else to take the mantle. That someone else is me.

I have so far focused my efforts on making it safe and reliable, and I would now be quite happy to jump in it and drive anywhere (well, anywhere that a cruising speed of 50-55MPH would allow). The next step would be to tidy up the bodywork ; I love the shabby appearance, but all that primer really needs covering if I am going to use the car on anything but sunny, dry days.

Thats marvellous.  I really wanted a mk1 but mk2s are so much easier to modify by dint of already having a fully hydraulic braking system. Prettier car than the mk2 in my opinion. Mine is cosmetically challenged as well but for my money mechanically sound is what counts. Plus a car of that age should wear its years. Love it.

I might have a very fit 1098 with a worked on cylinder head that was in mine pre engine swap that could be available. Went very well in mine.

[Somerset Suffolk]

8 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

Complimentary Polo SITREP : after several hours of cutting, chiselling and grinding all the rust has been removed.

Next step will be to fabricate patches for the inner sill ends and weld them in, then it will be time to begin work on the outer sills. Stay tuned !

Most excellent and I'm getting flash backs ....  this was genuinely  found in the sills of Dangerous Dave's Polo 

[Somerset Suffolk]

7 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

West Country,

their a funny lot down there im them there parts ....

[DSdriver]

10 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

Complimentary Polo SITREP : after several hours of cutting, chiselling and grinding all the rust has been removed.

Next step will be to fabricate patches for the inner sill ends and weld them in, then it will be time to begin work on the outer sills. Stay tuned !

Yep, that goes 3 inches on my ruler. 😆

[Sigmund Fraud]

7 hours ago, DSdriver said:

Yep, that goes 3 inches on my ruler. 😆

Well, last time my tame MoT tester suggested "a small patch" was needed I ended up replacing half the sill. So it could have been worse 😁

[High Jetter]

48 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

Yep, that goes 3 inches on my ruler. 😆

Is that like 3 wheels on my wagon? 🎶

[Sigmund Fraud]

One done, two to go. Not the neatest job, but definitely better than what was there before !