JoeyEunos

Totally understand the point, but IIRC the 1.0 models and also the Mk1 Arosa's don't come with an undertray? Surely your statement would apply to those too given the aux belt is exposed in exactly the same way/place as the SDI, and yet there isn't one fitted, ergo begging the question how do they get away without it? FWIW (And without meaning to be contrary about this) I've run my SDI sans undertray for over 10,000 miles now without issues. The one fitted was in tatters, and also removing it means a topside oil and filter job is a 10 minute reach under and twist off the fiter task, rather than a half hour's crawling around undoing undertray ballache. I suppose I really consider it a 'nice to have' item rather than a 'must have'. For the lazy/nnchalant owners amongst us, no tray=win IMO.

First things first, sorry to hear you're having troubles with Dorris Your build thread made for a great read and gave me some much needed inspiration when bringing my SDI up to scratch. I've now covered just over 10k in mine bringing her up to 131k and despite a disconcertingly sloppy gearchange all seems well (I'm sure the gearbox drain and refill with VW's G50 oil has helped TBH) If it were me in this situation my concerns in no particular order would be... 1. The clutch istelf (You've mentioned this so you've got that one covered) 2. Pedal box. From what I've read/heard, often rather than just failing without warning they tend to go through a period of the pedal getting lower and gears becoming progressively harder to select as the clutch engages less and less with time. 3. Cureveball suggestion, at one point I had the exact symptoms you describe only with a spongy pedal feel too with my Mazda and it turned out to be a clutch master and slave cylinder issue, I replaced both at the same time so couldn't tell you which was the culprit. Worth mentioning that in that instance the fluid level hadn't dropped significantly but the gulps of air being taken into the system were enough to sent things West. Either way, fingers crossed this will be an easy fix without to much grief.

Depends on the criteria that one uses to decide which is best FWIW I admit that the TDI is probably better in most peoples eyes and clearly more desirable. Certainly when these cars were new it's the one I'd have opted for too but at 15+ years old things change slightly. With my base spec SDI I'm never going to have to worry about replacing a turbo or fixing broken central locking and electric windows etc and frankly although these things aren't that taxing to deal with I take a view that lifes too short. At the heart of it I view the Lupo as a rather dull German box used to provide a simple function, getting me from A to B as cheaply as is possible and the less intervention that's required to allow it to continue doing that task the beter IMO. The SDI is simplicity itself and for me that's what 'best' looks like P.S Apologies again to @Dblock for the massive thread de-railment.

^Apropros of what? I didn't realise this was a TDI VS SDI topic...

Having rust converted/cavity waxed and sealed my rear beam a couple of months back this topic's close to my heart at the moment too... I took adavantage of the fact the beam was being dropped and chucked in some low millage shocks and replaced bushes/bump stops whilst I was in there, satisfying job

They probably were, none the less I looked at some absolute shockers before buying mine The worst one I viewed plates welded over the sills that had rusted through again, literally could have pushed my finger through at various points. I'm fairly certain the sill based tin worm is born of incorrect jacking, paint is damaged, metal is exposed and the rest is history...

Fitting inside ones 'rear passengers' is part of the fun/challenge innit M9 I usually find that with a bit of pushing/squeezing it's possible to get in them, where there's a will there's a way and all that Joking aside, I'm with @mk2 on this one. There's bugger all room for two people in the back of a Lupo, three seems, well, a bit daft TBH.

RUST Check sills/inner sills/seatbelt mounting points/arches/roof/rear beam etc! Maybe it's because of my geographical location, none the less all of the Lupo's I've looked at have been corroded to a certain extent.

^Very true, I find them to be a good bunch. Top advice right there

PAS pump? Mine's fairly vocal at the best of times...

Wouldn't argue with that, although as mentioned for a weekend 'fun' car I'd be looking elsewhere.

I'd imagine you don't have to remove the old fabric and you probably could just spray contact adhesive and stick new material over it like it's some kind of interiior sticker book, but like everything in life you get out what your prepared to put in. Cutting corners (No pun intended) will probably translate to poor final results

At the risk of @Rich coming round to my house and punching me in the face (Sorry mate!) TT's are pants As Clarkson and co pointed out they're basically an exercise in coupling sporty looking bodywork to a Golf/Beatle type chassis. To quote directly I think they said " If you put a cow in a tracksuit does it then make it a sports cow?" If possible try a proper RWD sports car with double wishbone set up and 50/50 weight distribution Look to early MX5's or Eunos's, MR2's are fun too, or if budget will stretch an S2000. HTH.

Yup, it's er, 'unique' alright It looks like you drove over a disco and some of it is still stuck underneath your car.

They are/were galvanised as were most VAG cars of that era eg Mk4 Golf's etc (Corroded front wings anyone?) That in itself doesn't necesarilly mean threy'll never rust, simply that they're better protected. FWIW I looked at four other SDI Lupos before I settled on mine, all of which showed varying levels of rust, including the one I bought. Two of the cars I looked at had sills that were so far gone it would have been easy to push a screwdriver through at various places Like you say, road salt is the killer. Anyhow, appologies to @Dblock for the thread derailment, to the right person with welding skills or even a will to break this could represent an interesting proposition, GLWS chap.

Without meaning to sound disrepectful, IME AutoTrader price projections are for the most part absolute fantasy and frankly the above estimate kind of proves that. IMO If the OP even managed to get two thirds of that amount he'd have done very well indeed.

When you say 'age related marks' do you mean rust? Trying to work out the value of a car is tricky, particularly when looking at pics... I've been to look at lots of cars that look good in photos that in reality have real issues. I'd say it's defo a sub 1k car at this stage, at the end of the day it's worth whatever someone is prepared to pay for it. Have you ever sold a car to them before? They go round with a proverbial fine tooth comb subtracting £50 for even the smallest scratches and/or blemishes.

Yes, if you want to use the correct oil (And why wouldn't you?) then you should. VW's own G50 gear oil works well (No surprises there!), having drained my box and re-filled with it I can attest that after 5k miles all is well.

They look alot like these... Joking aside, I like them. They look like the lovechild of Rota RB vs Team Dynamics Pro Race, can't help with the ID though.

Gawd knows I had a real downer on it TBH and assumed it would be snake oil for sure, I was simply amazed at how well it worked. It was the stuff in the tin FWIW...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WYNNS-HYDRAULIC-VALVE-LIFTER-CONCENTRATE-325MM-VALVE-TRAIN-NOISE-76844/331971209346?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D39828%26meid%3Df19e24fe133e4c289a6d712d77c1092b%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D321039185453 The bumf... "Releases sticking valve stems and hydraulic valve lifter components. Quietens valve train noise. Dissolves dirt, gum and varnish deposits in the oil channels. Contains EP agents for extra protection."

Glad the picture helped you

Thanks for the help chaps @mk2 and @lupo 1.7sdi I'm not really sure why I didn't include you in my list of site SDI gurus in the OP, you guys escaped my mind so muchas gracias for chiming in on this one! There are so many of us running and maintaining SDI's on here I recon it might be about time someone created an SDI-centric sub section of the forum for us all to lurk and post in but that's a topic for another thread @mk2 I'm glad to hear that you opt for the more comprehensive kit, seems like it will provide peace of mind for the sake of an extra £20/£30, also, great news about your proposed 'how to' on SDI timing belt replacement, now that would be awesome. @lupo 1.7sdi As usual, a really comprehensive post, cheers, althought frustratingly the PDF links you've posted don't work for me... Do I need to copy and paste them into the address bar of another browser? FWIW I'll be doing the coolant/water pump whilst there, it seems counter intuitive not to I hadn't counted on checking the injection with vagcom or a vcds, as it stands my diagnostic equipment is limited to a cheap Chinese OBDII scanner so thanks for the heads up on that. I'll get on Ebay and have alook at rectifying that

The time is looming to change the timing belt/water pump etc, I'm feeling brave so I'm going to have a a crack at it myself this time round Having looked about in the usual places (GSF,EuroCarParts,CarParts4Less etc) I've bee struck with an anomaly... The kits I can find come with an 'Including deflection pulley, or 'Not including deflection pulley' option, those including the pulley costing and extra £30 or so. My question is really simple, I'm hoping @Rich, @Skezza, @Hazy or one of the other site SDI guru's can help me with this, it's probably a reflection of pure ignorance on my part but I've never heard mention of a 'Deflection pulley' Are they simply referring to the idler pulley that sits at the top/front of the block? Also, and probably the most important question, would you consider it to be good practice or necessary to opt for the more expensive kit and replace this mysterious 'deflection pulley' too whilst I'm in there? As always, thanks in advance to anyone who can chime in with advice/suggestions or musings on the subject.

To the OP, I used to run a Mk4 Golf 1.4 16V that suffered from this really badly, at one stage the clanking from the top end was so bad it would cause pedestrians to turn around and look as I went past Despite many oil changes with proper spec oil I couldn't stop it. In the end a combination of putting in Wynn's Hydraulic lifter fluid and running for 500 miles or so, then dropping the oil and filling with Castrol Magnatec C3 5w30 (Renowned for helping with noisy tappets) proved to be the solution and resolved the problem permanently. I was skeptical about the Wynn's treatment at first and used as a 'last chance saloon' measure really, I was truly shocked at how well it worked! Literally 40 miles after dropping it in, silence... I firmly believe the Castrol Magnatec had a hand in it too and I ran that oil for the ramaining time I had the car (2 years) without the issue returning.

^Top man, many thanks