VW Lupo S 1.4 16v Daily Driver

[F2 Stu]

Middle of last year it became apparent that I was going to be in need of a new daily driver, with the Alhambra to be gotten rid of end of the year and the Cordoba being taken off the road. after a bit of searching I found this VW Lupo going cheap on eBay and swiftly bought it.

Only did I realise when it turned up on the back of a car transport did I realise the reason why it was going so cheap, and the decription of the bodywork being described as 'good' was a bit optimistic....

But hey ho, it was here and the work commenced!

First job was the engine, sold with it needing repair with oil pressure issues, leaking waterpump and chucking out white smoke out exhaust, to cut a very long and mundane story short a replacement engine had to be sourced despite trying to revive it with new parts

The steel wheels had to go and looking at wheels I thought it be cool to have something retro and picked up a set of Porsche ATS Cookie Cutters in 7J x15 flavor for an absolute steal

Sourced some 15mm thick adaptors .....

Comedy shot of wheels with the 944 sized tyres & standard suspension

The wheels where in pretty ropey condition with all of them with kerb damage on the outer rim, I filled and buit up areas of damage with weld and had the lip machined flat by a local machine shop

Pretty much convinced myself to 'not' go down the polished route as its me we're talking here, so after an hour or so in the shot blaster at work they were ready for painting by the powdercoaters next door.

Colour chosen, 185/45/15 rubber and to be a bit different over the Porsche centre caps I spotted those little beauties when ordering the wheel bolts from machine7.com.

More to follow shortly..........

 

[Brummy]

looks good Stu.. especially on the Cookies

 

[gezmeister]

Nice, love the comedy shot. Looks like its ready for the dakar rally

 

[Damoegan]

Nice daily, Stu

Thats the same lathe I have at work

 

[F2 Stu]

Nice daily, Stu

Thats the same lathe I have at work

The chuck wasn't big enough to hold the wheel, so clamped in an old drive flange, bolted the Porsche adaptor to that and then the wheel. The wheel was 'singing' like a good'un!

 

[F2 Stu]

Next up was to give the suspension & brakes a once over, on inspection the rear shocks were weeping so it was good enough reason to order a set of TA Technix Coilovers from Germany and new wishbones & balljoints. The 239mm brakes were changed in favour of considerably more effective 280mm discs using hubs from a mk4 Polo 16v and calipers & carriers from an Audi A4, with braided hoses & Super Blue fluid.

Turning my attention to the rear suspension, because of the offset of the wheels + spacers being like ET7 the tops of the tyres were going to protrude the car, to get around this problem I hashed up my own home made camber shims, giving me in the region of 4 degrees

The the old exhaust was looking in dire shape and was fortunate to stumble across a Jetex sports exhaust in mild steel on Club Lupo, especially as the guy lived 20mins drive away

With the back box being in the usual place and the tailpipe being in the centre means a convoluted route for the pipe, which sure as hell does nothing for the flow of it!

If you thought the tailpipe arrangment was odd, the pipe diameter from the centre box to back being 70mm!

To finish off the exhaust a raceland Manifold was sourced from germany, originally meant for the Polo it needed a bit of adaption to fit to get it to line up with the rest of the exhaust and the lambda being in a different place

Meanwhile, a replacement engine was found and whilst it was out the car I changed the cambelt & tensioners, waterpump, thermostat, Hydrualic lifters, Spark plugs, Oil & filter

Old engine coming out along with the gearbox, with the tight confines of the engine bay it was easier to remove the whole front end and lift the car above it, putting the engine back in on me own wasn't as straight forward!

 

[D.K]

Nice use of the forklift Stu

 

[ather`s]

so this is why you have been quiet stu lol. like it alot and can see its turning into a tasty little motor. and because YOU are doing it im sure there is going to be some more one off fabrications. brilliant!!

 

[F2 Stu]

Fork trucks are handy pieces of kit and got bigger ones to play with at my new workplace ;-)

I wouldn't say tasty, far from it infact! the exterior is properly tatty and suffering from tin worm, part from tarting up the exterior that'll be it for this car.

 

[F2 Stu]

Engine back in and a quick clean up, shiney manifold discoloring nicely

My favourite tweek of the car, H4 6000K Bi Zenon HID's. Lights up the road a treat

probably not low enough for some but speed bumps aplenty in this neck of the hood

 

[joe ibizzaa]

sweet little project fair play .

 

[CraigW]

Looks a good little project so far. I really fancy one of these or an Arosa as a project.

I think it suits those wheels very well. . H4 Bi-xenon hids definetely light up the road well . Does the manifold make any sort of difference apart from the look under the bonnet??

Any more plans for it??

 

[suj]

lowerrrrrrrr stu lol
love it mate, been following it on FB

 

[F2 Stu]

Just the body work, it's had lots of bodged repairs and dreaded tinworm, no idea what difference the manifold makes as I never drove the standard one.

You've not seen the roads and humps round here mr Joshi, have allready grounded it out a few times!

 

[ibizacupra]

nice work stu

We have Lupo + Arosa in the houshold also now.. 1.8t and 1.4tdi, Arosa sits in the weeds, muchos (too) low

 

[F2 Stu]

Cheers Bill! It handles allright despite the massive wheel offset and budget suspension They're good little cars and quite roomy inside considering it's me driving it!

 

[Fl@pper]

always found the steering a little odd in em myself but you get used to it i'm told

looking sweet with the glowing rims - nice one

 

[crezz]

i love the wheel colour choice, but is it wise for the man that cleans nothing?

 

[F2 Stu]

Not wise at all, in 500 miles the fronts are caked in brake dust allready

 

[CraigW]

Stu do you think that one of those raceland/********* manifolds for a polo will fit a mk2 ibiza with alittle bit of modification? As long it was one for an 8v Polo?