UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hey guys,

This is my polo, its a 1.4 8v Nreg. The photos were taken just now, and its a bit dark lol.

On the 1st day of having it the gearbox housing cracked, so i had to put in a new one from a scrappy. They said the gearbox came out of the same car as mine was. But i have found that it goes thru the gears alot quicker and the 5th gear is really bad. To stay at 70mph i have to be at 4100revs, and it used to do that at 3000revs. I am thinking bigger wheels should solve the problem, but which size ? I dont have much of a clue about wheels.

I'm a bit skint at the moment, but i should be getting a new job soon, and i'll be able to start doing it up a bit.

The plans at the moment are new lights, new grill, de-badged/black badge, tinted windows and larger wheels. After that i'll be concentrating on making is faster, so probably an induction kit, exhaust system and a few other bits.

I am doing a mechanics course at college, so i should be able to do everything myself with help.

I do have a couple of questions tho:

1- Where can i get a fully slated grill?
2- The Wheels at the moment are 13", how big shall i go to hopefully sort the gear problem, but also to make it look better. I also want to lower it a bit, but not sure how much.
3- Where can i get a black badge for the rear?


Thanks in advance

Jack

Edit - forgot pics, gimiie a min lol

1. Look for a bonrath grille (its fully slatted) on the awesomegti website or similar
2. if u were you id go for 15's or 16's and you can lower anything from 40mm to crazy stuff like 100mm if u so wish, just make sure u get the right offset etc, there are plenty of guys and gals who know their wheels on this site who will be more than willing to help
3. i painted my back badge black with black caliper paint and it looks funky as and cost me nothing coz i had the paint already to do my back drums, but im sure you'd find a black dub badge on ebay somewhere

oh and welcome to the forum!!

thnx for the reply black.

I was thinking 16" but i am not sure. I found a black badge and ordered it, the grill is gonna have to wait a little while for money. If someone who knows about wheels could reply i would be very grateful.

Thanks

Jack

lol over 100 views and only 1 reply :S

I thought this forum was fill of helpful active people ? lol

Jackdcruz wrote:lol over 100 views and only 1 reply :S

I thought this forum was fill of helpful active people ? lol

- err it is but you asked a lot of questions in one post plus MKIV is a general topic area

Jackdcruz wrote:On the 1st day of having it the gearbox housing cracked, so i had to put in a new one from a scrappy. They said the gearbox came out of the same car as mine was. But i have found that it goes thru the gears alot quicker and the 5th gear is really bad. To stay at 70mph i have to be at 4100revs, and it used to do that at 3000revs. I am thinking bigger wheels should solve the problem, but which size ? I dont have much of a clue about wheels.

Bigger wheels not the solution - bigger wheels need smaller height tyres to keep rolling radius right

Need to check a few things out and one of them is your speedo

ie get a mate to follow you and note the speed he is doing when you are doing

30 mph
40 mph
50 mph
60 mph
70 mph

Comunicate by holding up the number of fingers when you are settled at a speed 3 fingers = 30 etc

When you've found this out you will be able to detemine if

a. your gearbox ratios have changed

or

b. your speedo drive is wrong

Jackdcruz wrote:After that i'll be concentrating on making is faster, so probably an induction kit, exhaust system and a few other bits.

neither are likely to do anything other than make a noise and make the car go slower

Jackdcruz wrote:I do have a couple of questions tho:

1- Where can i get a fully slated grill?

Ebay normally

Jackdcruz wrote:2- The Wheels at the moment are 13", how big shall i go to hopefully sort the gear problem, but also to make it look better. I also want to lower it a bit, but not sure how much.

See previous comments re wheel size but 15 inch is as big as I'd go with the correct tyre size = 195/45 15 BTW

Jackdcruz wrote:3- Where can i get a black badge for the rear?

VW or Vag parts if they are still going on this forum

yeah alternatively, bit more accurate, get a tomtom or something that will give u an accurate reeding of your speed, when your going at a steady speed compare the satnavs readout to yoru speedo.
I've found ebay amazing for most of my car parts, my debadged slatted grille i had on my red polo cost me about £15 delivered from ebay, also try ebay.de which has loads more stuff for polos and german cars, i imported my rear led lights for £60, my angel eyes for £90 and few other bits and bobs.

I'm running 15" wheels lowered 60mm, which obviously is my personal favourite combination, i guess it depends on the look your going for man. e.g. the euro look you'll want to slam your car maybe 90mm with smaller deep dish alloys like 13 or 14". I'm lowered 60 and i still get caught out by speed bumps, so all i can say is be careful if you go lower.

lol and good luck with getting it faster

Jackdcruz wrote: After that i'll be concentrating on making is faster

I don't want to sound rude/condescending, but unless you're planning something spectacular, i.e. engine transplant or some serious alterations to your current engine, it's really not worth it.

The best way is to build up your no claims and your bank balance a bit, and then buy something quicker. Also with a fairly low powered car hopefully you learn how to drive smoothly, and make the best of what power you have.

thnx for the replys

I'll get a mate to do that with me soon, but i think the speedo is right, we'll have to see. If its the gearbox ratios, how hard are they to change?

I didnt relise that an induction kit etc would do nothing to the cars speed. Mabye i wont bother with that then

thanks again

Jack

dragon_green wrote:

Jackdcruz wrote: After that i'll be concentrating on making is faster

I don't want to sound rude/condescending, but unless you're planning something spectacular, i.e. engine transplant or some serious alterations to your current engine, it's really not worth it.

Full exhaust system from manifold to back box, expensive good induction kit and a superchip... gonna see the difference even if it isnt much, plus it will sound mint

[SAM] wrote:Full exhaust system from manifold to back box

~£300-£500, +5bhp?

[SAM] wrote: expensive good induction kit

~£100, +2bhp?

[SAM] wrote: superchip

~£120 - £300, +10bhp?

Total spend £520 - £900 (lets call it £700), total gain 17bhp or so taking the 1.4 to 77 bhp.

Oh, plus the extra insurance costs for declaring the mods.

Or you could wait for a year, sell the polo (lets call it £1000 for the sake of the debate) and put in the extra £700. With £1900 you could buy a 1.6 (75bhp), valver (100bhp), a mk2 Ibiza or mk3 Golf 8 or 16v (both 115 or 150 bhp), Corrado 16v (~130bhp).

All (except the 1.6 polo) of which not only have more power but have the suspension and brakes to match.

To me it seems like an easy choice.


Edited to add: 500 posts! woop!

dragon_green wrote:

[SAM] wrote:Full exhaust system from manifold to back box

~£300-£500, +5bhp?

If you are lucky - 1.4 engines have the smallest ports I have ever seen

dragon_green wrote:

[SAM] wrote: expensive good induction kit

~£100, +2bhp?

It needs to be an expensive one too to gain any benefit - manufactures go to a lot of trouble to get fresh cool air to an engine and most induction kits do the exact opposite and as a result lose power

dragon_green wrote:

[SAM] wrote: superchip

~£120 - £300, +10bhp?

Sound so easy to say but bottom line is

- it's not avaliable as a direct replacement

- several different ECU versions means several different versions required

- Chipping tends to improve driveability rather than big bhp gains (the 1.4L has a nice fat torque profile so doesn't much driveability improvement apart from getting rid of the flat spot engineered in for noise regs)

I totally agree with dragon green - much easier to concentrate on mods for looks rather than performance and hopefully keep the insurance costs down and save up for a bigger better and faster car - you are never gonna make a hot hatch out of a 1.4 8V Polo so enjoy what it does have to offer and don't try to make it something that it never will be!

dragon_green wrote:Edited to add: 500 posts! woop!

Well done

Jackdcruz wrote:thnx for the replys

I'll get a mate to do that with me soon, but i think the speedo is right, we'll have to see. If its the gearbox ratios, how hard are they to change?

If they are wrong then the easiest way is to replace the box with one with the right ratios

Although I reckon if you've got short ratios in the car it's probably quite lively perfomance wise (certainly make up for a lack of bhp at the traffic lights )

bstardchild wrote:Well done

Ta muchly.

Jackdcruz:

It's easier just to replace the gearbox. A gearbox rebuild is just as difficult as an engine rebuild.

I can't think which gearbox would be ratio'd to do 4100rpm at 70mph; that sounds higher than even a valver box which revs at about 3500-3600 at 70mph in fifth, IIRC.

Well after talking to a cpl of people, they think my gearbox has most likely come from a diesel engine. Yes is it very fast off the mark, and the 0-60 is nice, but its drinking so much petrol being at 4000+rpm most of the time. If i was to change the wheel size, and then not change the tyres to make the rolling diameter the same, is it possible?

thnx for the replys so far

Well, if you want to get the rpm down from 4000 rpm at a given speed to around 3000 rpm (which would improve your fuel economy), you need to increase the circumference by 25%.

http://www.alloywheels.com/tyrecalc.asp

Use this to compare circumferences and see what size you need to run.

If it has come from a diesel, the gear ratios will be wrong, yes, but also the ratio span will be wrong as the gearbox is designed for the diesel torque curve. TBH i'd find a petrol gearbox and put that on, replace the clutch while you're there. Then you can tidy up the casing of the diesel box and make some money back.