The Return of King Henry

[scotty2 0]

It started off as a cheap car for my son to get him more interested in driving. His friend had a Lupo Sport that failed it's MOT on emissions despite having a new cat fitted. We offered what the scrap man had and I told my son I'd get it sorted for him...

Turns out the engine was burning oil and clapped out. Suspect previous owner had let it run very low on oil. Not going to be a quick fix and I don't have much spare time. Anyhoo, I bought a second hand engine and lined someone up to carry out the exchange. In the meantime a local girl was selling her Lupo 1.0E with a bit of test on it for £200. It was called Henry. In the end Henry needed a heater resistor, EGR valve, window winders, a service, and was put on the road. He even passed another MOT after having a new exhaust. This meant that the other Lupo was neglected as we had one on the road.

Eventually, a friend put me in touch with a VW trained mechanic that would swap the engine for us in the Lupo Sport. The work started in October with the old engine coming out. This is where it all goes wrong... While the engine was out I took the opportunity to replace the power steering pipes that were badly corroded and had been picked up on the last MOT. I also cleaned the engine bay and treated the subframe to stop rusting.

The brake discs were shot - so were the callipers, pads,  and the brake hoses.. and the shock absorbers..and springs...Oh, and while the engine was out it made sense to do the water pump, belts, tensioner, and clutch. 

I was in so far now I decided to continue to revive the car. My son and his friends decided that as Henry was soon to be retired (and moved on to a new owner I'm pleased to say) and the new improved Lupo re-born, they decided to call the car "King Henry" as it was to be a bigger and better version of the original.

Earlier this month King Henry passed an MOT and is on the road. Although it is for my son, I enjoy driving it and it reminds me of a Mini Cooper!

Unfortunately, due to some bug going round, his test has been postponed so looks like I'll get to play with it a while longer...

I attach a pic of King Henry, and the original Henry. KH is going in for a respray next week and a black roof to reflect the Henry vacuum cleaner! I will also attach the list of parts fitted and there is a competition to see what you think the total comes to for a "cheap" car !!

Project Lupo	VW Lupo 1.4 S
No	Item
1	Purchase
2	Set of power steering pipes
3	Engine
4	Brake Hoses
5	Plugs
6	Drive belt
7	Wheels
8	Powder coating and tyres
9	Wheel Bearings (front)
10	Nut Covers
11	Parcel shelf
12	Suspension Kit springs shocks
13	CV joint
14	Brake kit - All parts F+R
15	Clutch
16	Door lock kit
17	MOT
18	Water pump, belt and tensioner kit
19	Callipers (new)
20	Door Straps
21	Labour
22	Respray

To be fair I have found parts prices not too bad, and a lot of availability. Funny how there are certain items on the model that are pretty crap on all small VWs. I'm thinking window winders, door locks, door check straps, bonnet release handle and EGR valves.

 

I'll update after the respray.

Scotty2.

 

[The Penguin 5]

After buying a 1.0 litre for my son, I progressively fell for them too, his 2nd one was a 1.4 litre an electric sunroof, then I bought a few spares cars to repair inc another 1 litre that had a front end smash, an Arosa Sport and a 2nd 1.4, the sport had the clutch pedal issue but the Lupo just needed tlc and suited my son when he came back from a year in OZ. In the meantime I bought another 2 Arosa's, a very smelly and smoky sdi and a tdi that needed a gearbox rebuild. Onwards and upwards I bought a Lupo TDI sport with a sunroof, which my wife confiscated. Down to just one now, my Arosa tdi, which as a local car is rust free but now has a quite high mileage, as its been mapped I'll be keeping it until I blow the engine. As cheap motoring there is nothing to match the diesel models 

[Authopsy 0]

Ar first I also felt a little scarce about the car, but when I sat in and had a first drive around the city, I was amazed. Small, but very nice to drive and practial, and also spacious even for it's size.