My Mk2 Ibiza Restoration and VR6 Conversion (More parts prepped...)

Hi everyone!

I thought it was about time i started my own build thread as ive finally began restoring and converting my pride and joy over the next few months!
Well i might aswel start at the begining and show you how it came to me and what ive done so far...













This is how i bought the car with the set of mk3 cupra rims and what it looked like with them on, couldnt run them straight away though as the tyres were bold and couldnt afford new ones so i thought id save them till now lol.

After a trip down to my Dads mates scrapyard i gathered a few goodies to sort my car out visually for next to nothing and was considering converting the 1.4 engine for a 2.0 16v ABF i came across down there but decided against it as it was high milage and why build what you can buy lol

This is what i claimed anyway...







1.4s seats, centre console and door pockets (wanted to keep plain black door cards etc)



A set of standard 15" rims with good tyres to run before i put the cupra rims on plus they were better than the clio rims that came on the car and i could use the seat caps off the steelies the car should have came with so they didnt look too bad!

I also got a gti steering wheel, 1.4s clocks with rev counter, laguna splitter and a few spares here and there just incase...all this for 40 quid was a bargain so i was happy lol

After giving everything a good clean this is how it looked after fitting it all...











At this point was still had the clio rims on as they still had good tyres and the 5 spokes needed refurbing...also back to blacked the bumpers and gave it a good clean as you do!







Quickly installed this speaker sub and amp setup aswel and changed all the standard dash, door and rear speakers! This consisted of - Sony Xplod 4-3-2 channel amp powering a 1200 watt 12" Vibe Blackair sub and the Infinity Reference 6x9's. In the dash i had 4" Vibe Slicks, Door speakers were 6.5" Slicks and in the rear were just sum aftermarket 6x4's!

After refurbing the wheels i bought some spacers off Brummy which needed milling down to fit my cupra rims but fitted the 5 spokes perfect so i fitted them along with some pressed plates to freshen it up abit...









Tried something abit different with the caps...

Wasnt happy with the way i set out the amp and sub etc so i decided to change it so i could still use the boot space and as i attached both the sub and amp to the back of the seat and left the wiring a bit longer i could still fold the rear seats down which was a bonus...





Then things started going wrong as always lol seemed like everyone had it in for my car...someone decided to scrape up the side of my nearside quarter panel, then the nearside door and front wing cracking the indicator lense, someone robbed the front badge braking the grille brackets all while it was parked up so before something else happened i decided to take her off the road and luckily my tax was up so saved me forking out for that for abit!



Here is a pic of the damage to the rear quarter panel

After another trip to the scrapyard i came across a pre-facelift 2.0 8v GTI and managed to gain a few more parts for free this time which was a big help and inspired me to restore and convert it even more!

This is what i found...











Just getting quotes at the moment for all this to be painted but im going to see how much it will cost for the whole car with the new panels and parts on etc!

Last week i visited the scrapyard again and with all the recent threads in the mk2 Ibiza section about vr6 conversions this put the icing on the cake...



This was 1 of 3 there at the moment and seemed the most together and was just what i needed as the other 1 had air con and the intake pipe etc was missing and wiring was all over the place, so hopefully should be collecting it in the next couple of weeks along with the front and rear subframes, brakes, crash panels and a few more parts off the silver GTI...as soon as ive cleared some space lol

Managed to get these Patec coilovers off the vr6 with air con though...

And at present time this is how my car stands...



Stripped front end down ready to modify crash panel for the vr6 rad and send it to the powder coaters but as i may get the GTI one im leaving it for now but its ready for engine to come out whenever and most of the interior is stripped ready to sort the rear quarter panels etc but not going to start anything too major at the moment as i still need the car mobile and until i collect the subframes and engine etc there isnt much point!

Ill keep you updated though as i go on, hope everything goes to plan lol
Thanks for looking whats been going on so far!
Feedback, help, questions all welcome...
Thanks again, Dan!

Thanks for your reply...i mainly got the coilovers for the springs but was going to try fitting them 1st just to see! How come they are no good though are they that different to the ibiza? All i could see is that on the vr6 its actually mounted onto the rear subframe about an inch and a half to 2 inches above where it mounts on the ibiza subframe (or visa versa cant rememba without looking lol) However i havent had chance to take a standard strut off mine to compare the top mounts yet. Are the front struts of any use to me then?

Cheers for all the support everyone, things are abit slow at the moment due to xmas but ive been getting as much overtime in as poss to raise funds lol should be visiting the scrapyard weekend after xmas to gather some more parts then that should really start the ball rolling! Not alot i can do till i get the main ingredients driving me crazy not being able to get stuck in!!!!!

Cheers guys, still havn't touched it since i started this thread though due to lack of space, shite weather and havn't been able to get down the scrapyard either because my Dads car decided to drop all its oil on friday fingers crossed everything i need is still there!

Im getting pissed off with it not being able to get stuck in hopefully if everything goes to plan i should be able to get down the scrappy next weekend then its all systems go!

Small updates: Should be getting my black and grey half leather mk3 cupra seats this weekend and have been enquiring about sideskirts, black carpets, red belts etc with a few people on here. Also ringing a few places this week to ask about polybush kits, coilies and so on!

I've got a perfect picture in my head of how i want it just need to make it happen now!!!!! Keep looking for updates

Thanks again, Dan!