Madmans Red Lupo

[madmanncfc]

OK this is my first ever built thread and probably wont be updated loads because i take a lot of time to research and carry out ideas.

I bought the car as a replacement for my polo after an accident in the ice bent its chassis it cost £1200 had 115k on the clock and wasnt in the best of states. The windows squeked the selector panel for the heaters wouldnt let me select the air flow, the indicator was smahed, one side of the car was pink and it had a dent in the wing. In all honestty i probably paid slightly over the odds for it but it was the cheapest i could find and i thought i could fix it up.

It was found on an a classifieds site and was 50 miles away in Ipswich so my grandad and i went to see it together. With my old car i remember getting in and it felt right from the start but when i sat in the Lupo i didnt get that feeling but i hoped that it would grow on me. We agreed the price i gave the previous owner a deposit and we agreed that i would pick it up in 2 days time.

I waited at home researching and found this foum and i sat learning about what was broke and how i could fix it and before i knew it wensday had come and i was on the train from Norwich going to collect the car. When i got off the train i went outside and found the previous owners mum with a worried look on her face and my heart sank.

I asked what was wrong and she told me the key was stuck in the lock and her husband was trying to get it out. 10 minutes later we got back to the house and i was told that it had a broken lock and wouldnt unlock from the drivers side. We went inside and agreed that they would send me a cheque when i had told them how much the repair cost.

I then drove home and got to work sorting the paint. After 4 hours all the pink was gone and the dent in the wing had been pushed out to a level i could live with. After cleaning the car and polishing it up i went to see the girlfriend who loved the car and i have to confess it was starting to have an effect on me.

I drove her sister and her to a local guide meet then went for a drive to get used to the car and picked them up a bit later. All was going well and i was pretty pleased with the car and then it decided to break again.

The battery light started flashing then the car cut out as i was pulling in to my drive. It started again but i was wary about the drive to work the next day. Sure enough the car cut out again half way to work and the aa were called. The battery got charged and it was taken to the garage for a lock and alternator.

Once that was done i started on the other issues. The dash was strpped out and a new heat selector unit was sourced from ebay i greased the windows to stop them squeking put in my new headunit and all was well.

Now at this point i was completely ready for the story to end and the car to be kept standard but once a modder always a modder and i was soon researching parts.

The first step was removing the steel wheels and putting my old alloys on so i gave them a clean and whacked them on ending up with the car looking like this:

I was pleased with how that looked but didnt rate the 4x4 stance and wobbly cornering so started to look at lowering options. I considered coilovers but they arent really for me so i went for a nice 6060 shock and spring from supersport once that was fitted i ended up with this:

Even had a little ground clearence to get into my drive:

I was really pleased at this point so started to do some little exterior touches starting with aero wipers:

And then tinting the rear lights a bit:

Then while i was reasonably happy with the exterior i started on the inside the first job to add some rear speakers im not into 6x9s so i got myself a stealth shelf and put in some little speakers i had left over from my old car:

And then the missus who does arty stuff at uni helped me redo the headlining and pillars in some nicer fabric:

And thats how the car stands today.

As far as future plans go i intend to spray the engine cover candy white clean up the bay and get some new seats.

Opinions and criticisms are welcome its the first car ive gone this far with this and im learning all the time

Thanks for reading

Chris

Edited April 21, 2010 by madmanncfc

[BenLAST]

Sounds like you're on the right road! I'm impressed. Sits very well for springs and shocks. Keep the updates coming, i'll keep my eye on this.

[madmanncfc]

Thanks in an ideal world i think it could do with a touch more on the back but im going to look into how i could do that

[BenLAST]

Spring chop and dampers to suit.

[madmanncfc]

Very small update for today

Managed to replace the indicator that was cracked and then not replaced by the previous owner

Chris

:-)

[madmanncfc]

Another update

Washed the car today and noticed that the drums were rusty behing my alloys so as i had the day off work and couldnt be bothered to do much i would sort them out a bit

Wire burshed the loose rust off:

Then applied some nice black hammerite:

Waited for it to dry and refitted the wheel:

Then fixed the garage door at last and put the car in its rightful place:

Happy Days

Chris

[One life. Live it!]

I think you've done well with your mods within the time frame! Well done! What's next on the agenda?

[madmanncfc]

Thanks mate its nice to get positive feedback on the car seing as when i passed by test i had no idea how to do anything

Next job is some better alloys with some dish or banded steels

Also going to be attempting to service it tommorrow which could prove tricky for me as i havent serviced a car before

[madmanncfc]

Update at last

Managed to source a Votex accessory grill from pro3mark which was recieved promptly

Its not sprayed yet but i wanted to fit it anyway to get an idea of how it would look so here it is:

I like it personally

[Lupo-Gaz]

nice mods so far i dont think the grill needs sprayed, looks spot on as it is

[madmanncfc]

WOW!

It really has been a long time since i updated this. The cars been through a fair few changes though and ill try and update the thread now.

Exterior:

Summer wheels: VW Starlites with genuine vw nut covers

Winter wheels: Borbet 13s

Lowered on FK streetsport coilovers

FK Highsport shorter rear springs

Custom painted front badge red inner black outer

Sport fog lights and lower valance

Custom painted rear badge

Deleted rub strips

Polo 9n3 Aero rear wiper conversion

Lupo GTI front aero wiper conversion

Genuine VW rear mud flaps

Genuine and rare votex accessory front grill

Pressed German style UK legal number plates with GB edge

Black tinted headlights and indicators

Tinted side repeaters

16v badge on front

Interior:

Pop-Out rear windows with trimmed gti pillar trims

GTI lower door cards

Audi TT Black leather front seats and matching rears

Polo 6n2 glove box and lower dash conversion

Polo 6n2 centre console

Polo 6n2 GTI handbrake cover

Black leather gear gator with red stitching

Gloss black vents and surrounds

Later style stereo surround with hazard switch

Lupo GTI Black rear view mirror

Intermittent programmable wiper relay

Comfort indicators retrofit VW kit

Passat W8 dome light with ambient LED's and individual map lights frosted lens

Polo GTI seatbelts with red edging strip in front standard in back

Lupo GTI clock surround modified for Lupo 1.4 clocks with custom cover

Chrome headlight switch with front fogs

Custom trimmed parcel shelf

Lupo gti black headliner and grabhandles

In Car Entertainment:

VW MFD sat nav head unit with colour screen

2010 maps disk

CD changer in boot

PS2 in boot

Upgraded speakers to alpine components

Parrot hands-free kit with Bluetooth streaming

Kroad Speed camera detection unit

Engine:

Standard AWH engine

NGK plugs

BMC CDA Carbon cold air feed

Painted manifold cover

Polo 6n2GTI modified engine cover

Anyway enough talk time to prove it:

Exterior:

Interior:

ICE:

Engine:

Unofrtunatly recetntly this happened:

Bloody tractors :-(

Done :-)

If youve read this far thanks for reading and please feel free to comment/ask questions

I know its not exactly amazing but im proud of it for far

Edited November 15, 2011 by madmanncfc

[fatttty]

Love the starlites and the MFD. Some really nice touches, keep it up

[madmanncfc]

Thanks mate that means a huge amount having seen the standard of your GTi

[Lupo-Joe]

I'm likin your GTi touches

Joe

[madmanncfc]

Thanks mate the gti bits just make it that bit nicer

[Dj Xaler]

Very nice interior car!!!

[madmanncfc]

Thanks mate

Here are a couple more pictures from a recent meet:

Got a few more bits in the pipeline

:-)

[madmanncfc]

Had to pop to the shops to get Mrs Madman some food earlier so took a quick iPhone snap in the car park:

Then when i was driving home we got some snow which started to settle on my little car:

Where there's a Lupo there's fun

[Rich]

I'm liking the cheeky Polo parts.

May explain why I spotted you on CP t'other day.

[madmanncfc]

Cheers dude

Yeah the same build threads on there too because i used to have a polo 6n before this one.

[Rich]

Was the 6n rusty?

Ever done the Polo show ?

[madmanncfc]

Course it was all 6ns are arent they. Did they ever unban you over there?

Havent been to any shows yet but ,may do when im happy with the car :-)

[Rich]

All 6n's are rusty, I harassed loads of people for it at the Polo show this year. Especially the rusty pistachio one. I harassed everyone.

They never unbanned me, I'm now undercover.

[madmanncfc]

I just dont think CP understand to concept of friendly banter :-) its more fun over here.

[Rich]

I loved terrorising over there.

Now all you have to do is mention me and it gets deleted most of the time.