MK1 G40

I've have my Mk1 over a year and not one bit of trouble has it given me. I have been to Dubshed, Limerick, Fermoy and Titanic Dubs all in the last year and done more miles in it then the car had done in the previous 10.
I wanted to leave the car as original as possible except for the wheels, and given the engine had only 40K miles and was serviced regularly, I was happy to leave it like that.
The trip home from Belfast to Cavan from Titanic Dubs changed my mind though about pottering up and down the road. No more was I going to be leaving an hour before everyone else or having to slip-stream other car to get up hills. I'd say I haven't 40 of the 47 horses it left the factory with still alive. If only I had a 5th gear and a few extra horses, nothing mad like a ABF or VR6

So " Project More power for PocY " has commenced..

And while I'm at it I decided a lick of paint was needed as the roof was starting so show tell-tell signs. Hope to have the car ready for Dubshed

before the butchering began






Replacement engine

1992 1272cc engine from a POLO g40



G-lader



so first job was to get the old stove out ( and its for sale if anyone is looking for a 1.1 with 40K on it )





Found the tin worm hiding either side behind the front valance / wing but nothing major for 30 years. It will be sorted before its repainted.

Trial fit of g40 lump











Engine was then given a lick of paint





It is too good to be true… always the way..

When I bought PocY, I was amazed how clean and solid it was an praised the previous owners as the rest of their cars were immaculate too. It had been maintained very well and the service history had shown this. I knew the fuel filler neck had been replaced as the paint job around the filler cap was not 100 %. The stone chips on the bonnet were touched up as best any DIYer could.

I went over the car before I bought it checking the tell tale areas for the thin worm.. and found none bar the bit in the front valance, around the rear window nozzle and a bit of crustyness in the spare wheel well.

Even when I came home several people, more knowledgeable than I on all things Mark I, went over it and agreed that is was solid. The doors were solid, the front wings, front panel, arches, rear hatch.

You probably know where this is going, but the reason I'm drawing it out is so that would be buyers of classics add an extra step to their checklist.

Obviously this car had rust issues in the past with the inner wings. Rather that replace the inner wings, the shop tasked with fixing it decided to employ fibreglass and Michealangelo.

Going back to the owners with the pics below they were genuinely shocked as they had been assured that replacement parts had been used and even offered to recompense me. They had this work done over 10 years ago.

If I had not decided to paint the car this would not have surfaced for another 10 years. Who ever took a this with fibreglass filled both wings completely and was so meticulous and so proud of this work that they even sculpted the panel lines between wings, valance and front panel. The fibreglass was so solid you could not tell it from metal

Only when the front panel was loosed, these fell to the floor




WTH….. turned them over



100% fibreglass

Wings were then taken off as fears grew













The result is that the car is now getting new inner wings, outer wings and a front panel.

Nice project mate, always like a g40 engine in a mk1, i feel for u with the wings, nothing worse than opening a can of worms on ur car, ur engine looks sweet now uve painted it

Keep the updates coming

chipster2407 said

Nice project mate, always like a g40 engine in a mk1, i feel for u with the wings, nothing worse than opening a can of worms on ur car, ur engine looks sweet now uve painted it

Keep the updates coming

Thanks

Ouch, that's some work there but should be straight forward enough

Haha thought mine would be a bit different but it's the third one i've seen on here. Looks good bud

Mk1 g40 that is  

haha i thought mine was going to be one of a select few, everyones having a bash!

When the g40 transplant is done you will have a very nice car to drive. Keep up the work im sure it will be great to follow.

rust, rust and rust been there done that.
Know your feeling but thats a pretty forward job to do.

keeping my eye on this thread.
Thomas

Nice project dude. Best of luck with it.

Smudger

Nice little car mate, front inner wings should be an easy fix. Yep the G40 conversion is nearly as common as the 20V T now

Melteddrummer said

Nice little car mate, front inner wings should be an easy fix. Yep the G40 conversion is nearly as common as the 20V T now

more expensive though  

and a foooooking bum acke! hope its worth it in the end!!

haha it is, they're great fun. the gold one i'm breaking was rapid, between 180-200bhp

i built a polo 6n2 g40 a few years back, that was about 170bhp and was a great little car too.

Morning,  cool project.

How much are you asking for the engine with carb and air filter? Basically all the bits attached to the engine (minus the exhaust manifold and gearbox).

And would you be prepared to ship it over to the UK?

Engine looks great painted up  

Matt

rich2302 said

Morning,  cool project.

How much are you asking for the engine with carb and air filter? Basically all the bits attached to the engine (minus the exhaust manifold and gearbox).

And would you be prepared to ship it over to the UK?

Let me check shipping costs to UK and I'll get back to you. Can you give me a post code to get an exact price for shipping

Update…

So got all the bits I needed from various sources. New Inner wings, outer wings and front panel now in place. Engine bay was then stripped of 30 years worth of wax and then a fresh coat of GAMBIA red








Engine now in place

Bay looks excellent

Bay looks like new, good job  

Matt