VW Lupo GTI - Project Track Car
Discussion
Hello to all you nice PH people,
I have been lurking around the forum for more than 5 years now like some perv, and I thought that the time had finally come for me to post my project thread =)
Anyways, after the separation from my wife in February, I lost my job in April this year I had to sell my E61 530d xDrive, a fully loaded car that even had the soft close doors as I could not afford to run it anymore. I looked through the classifieds (I am from Luxembourg and we don't really have a worthy used cars market here) and luckily I came upon what would later be my little gem:
A 2002 VW Lupo GTI, 6 speed box, optional BBSs, no aircon or other luxuries.
Coming from a Bimmer that had heated rear seats and infra-red windows all around, it was PERFECT!! It's actually my first Volkswagen, I was the black sheep of the family
(Dad: Golf V TDI, Golf VII TDI. Mom: Tiguan, Passat. Sister: Polo, Polo and Polo. Me: FN2 Civic Type R, Maserati 3200GT, MR2 AW11, Ford Escort Mk3 '86, Starlet Glanza Turbo, E36 323i, E34 540i Touring, E86 Z4 3.0si Coupé, Swift Sport, the E61 etc etc etc)
Bought it in May with under 178000km on the clock, and it's been sitting at 185099 for a while now as it's not getting used during winter (I have a new job with a company car, sweet).
Plan was to just drive it but with the arrival of said company car, modifications soon started.
The Loop was standard apart from the exhaust back box, which had been replaced by a handrolled stainless steel one from Skytune in Belgium - I have added a carbon airbox, stripped the rear, gave it a set of stickers, put in a race seat and generally just cared for it. I have a set of coilovers waiting to go on,but will wait for my roll cage to arrive from Wiechers.
Here's some pics:
Next to my sister's Polo Diesel:
Next to my mates 340bhp 'Preza:
Pics of the carbon airbox, I've since removed the plastic pipe that came standard and rerouted the hose down to the intake. After its MOT in March, I'll rerout it through one of the front fog lights and equip it with a heat shield.
Some random pics of the car with the stickers on, the race seat etc:
Pics of my new radio and the stripped out back:
Progress is quite slow as I can only work on the car every other Sunday, but I had a big problem in that somehow, the rubber hose connected to the battery had come off and the fluid was leaking into the car instead of out of the little nipple on the underside (I am mechanically retarded, sorry). Had half a litre of disgusting water hiding even under the battery tray, so all had to come out. After I cleaned, there was no rust, so quite chuffed about that:
Last week I cleaned the inside and behind the lights, and had a friend who does it professionally detail it:
In the time I've had it it hasn't gone really wrong, just some parts that need replacing on cars with a higher mileage:
Back right wheel bearing
Front right brake caliper seized up and had to be replaced
Other than that, I just gave it a good service and it has been purring ever since.
Plans for 2014:
- Put the coilovers on
- Put the roll cage in
- Track it! (going to Spa, Chènevières, Chambley, Nürdburgring this year)
And as soon as I find out how to put up videos, I have a clip of the exhaust sound which is just loooovely.
CHeers for all the criticisms and comments guys =)
PS excuse my English, as mentioned before, I am from Luxembourg =)
Marvin
I have been lurking around the forum for more than 5 years now like some perv, and I thought that the time had finally come for me to post my project thread =)
Anyways, after the separation from my wife in February, I lost my job in April this year I had to sell my E61 530d xDrive, a fully loaded car that even had the soft close doors as I could not afford to run it anymore. I looked through the classifieds (I am from Luxembourg and we don't really have a worthy used cars market here) and luckily I came upon what would later be my little gem:
A 2002 VW Lupo GTI, 6 speed box, optional BBSs, no aircon or other luxuries.
Coming from a Bimmer that had heated rear seats and infra-red windows all around, it was PERFECT!! It's actually my first Volkswagen, I was the black sheep of the family
(Dad: Golf V TDI, Golf VII TDI. Mom: Tiguan, Passat. Sister: Polo, Polo and Polo. Me: FN2 Civic Type R, Maserati 3200GT, MR2 AW11, Ford Escort Mk3 '86, Starlet Glanza Turbo, E36 323i, E34 540i Touring, E86 Z4 3.0si Coupé, Swift Sport, the E61 etc etc etc)Bought it in May with under 178000km on the clock, and it's been sitting at 185099 for a while now as it's not getting used during winter (I have a new job with a company car, sweet).
Plan was to just drive it but with the arrival of said company car, modifications soon started.
The Loop was standard apart from the exhaust back box, which had been replaced by a handrolled stainless steel one from Skytune in Belgium - I have added a carbon airbox, stripped the rear, gave it a set of stickers, put in a race seat and generally just cared for it. I have a set of coilovers waiting to go on,but will wait for my roll cage to arrive from Wiechers.
Here's some pics:
Next to my sister's Polo Diesel:
Next to my mates 340bhp 'Preza:
Pics of the carbon airbox, I've since removed the plastic pipe that came standard and rerouted the hose down to the intake. After its MOT in March, I'll rerout it through one of the front fog lights and equip it with a heat shield.
Some random pics of the car with the stickers on, the race seat etc:
Pics of my new radio and the stripped out back:
Progress is quite slow as I can only work on the car every other Sunday, but I had a big problem in that somehow, the rubber hose connected to the battery had come off and the fluid was leaking into the car instead of out of the little nipple on the underside (I am mechanically retarded, sorry). Had half a litre of disgusting water hiding even under the battery tray, so all had to come out. After I cleaned, there was no rust, so quite chuffed about that:
Last week I cleaned the inside and behind the lights, and had a friend who does it professionally detail it:
In the time I've had it it hasn't gone really wrong, just some parts that need replacing on cars with a higher mileage:
Back right wheel bearing
Front right brake caliper seized up and had to be replaced
Other than that, I just gave it a good service and it has been purring ever since.
Plans for 2014:
- Put the coilovers on
- Put the roll cage in
- Track it! (going to Spa, Chènevières, Chambley, Nürdburgring this year)
And as soon as I find out how to put up videos, I have a clip of the exhaust sound which is just loooovely.
CHeers for all the criticisms and comments guys =)
PS excuse my English, as mentioned before, I am from Luxembourg =)
Marvin
Edited by MarvGTI on Thursday 2nd January 16:35
DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.
It is possible. Although it is also possible to ring a few more HP out of the 1.6. I've been building a 1.6 16v from my brother's mk2 polo which with ported/polished head, piper cams, the same BMC intake, a remap , 4branch manifold and decat should be a genuine 130hp+
While the GTi is a good basis for a track car (lighter aluminium pedals, wider track, tight 6-speed box) the problem is that if you have a bump, it can get really expensive to repair!
A front end nudge could result in new aluminium wings, aluminium bonnet and new Xenon's - you can't get the bonnets anymore, but you could fit a standard steel one instead if needed. Wings used to be about £500 each from VW.
So be careful!
@dom9: You wouldn't regret it, I had a few nippy small cars (also worked for Fiat/Abarth and drove an Abarth 500 esseesse as a company car) and I can't recommend the Lupo enough. It's amazing!
@PT82: have seen the 20v conversion done many times on clublupo, but I think it would be too noseheavy - it lift off oversteers already quite nicely and controllably now that the rear is stripped
will have the engine rebuilt in a couple years once I've saved a few euros
@mak2503: they are quite a rare sight, have only ever seen a Tornado Red in the wild other than mine. People here seem to like them a lot, always get thumbs up!
@aka_kerrly: I've yet to receive flak for stripping such a rare car but I get where you're coming from although it has a Cup Car in its genes would you mind if I shot you a pn if I have a question? The Polo GTI uses only a slightly different version of the AVY engine found in my car right? Also, the remap got you which power figures if you don't mind me asking? I can only find one company of repute around here that takes it from 125ps/152Nm to 136ps/168Nm.
@aspirated: why aren't you named forcibly_induced? the idea is interesting as it wouldn't totally take away from the NA feel of the car unlike a turbo but would add weight at the wrong end...
@MattyB_: I've contacted several breakers yards in Germany and am scouring ebay for a written-off GTI that's not 800km away from me to grab a spare set of everything lol I imagine it must be even harder in the UK given the small number of RHD GTIs made!
@Defcon5: You are right
@Boobonman: here's the link for the youtube sound vid I made I can't figure out how to get them to show on here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzWhXAda7uo
I hope it works and also if posting the vid is against forum rules I'M SORRY
@Kolbenkopp: do you speak German by any chance? and yes, suspension and chassis stiffness are next on the list - as mentioned above I have coilovers lying around set to be fitted once my roll cage arrives in a couple months also looking at strut braces...
Thanks for reading.
Marvin
@PT82: have seen the 20v conversion done many times on clublupo, but I think it would be too noseheavy - it lift off oversteers already quite nicely and controllably now that the rear is stripped
will have the engine rebuilt in a couple years once I've saved a few euros@mak2503: they are quite a rare sight, have only ever seen a Tornado Red in the wild other than mine. People here seem to like them a lot, always get thumbs up!
@aka_kerrly: I've yet to receive flak for stripping such a rare car but I get where you're coming from
although it has a Cup Car in its genes would you mind if I shot you a pn if I have a question? The Polo GTI uses only a slightly different version of the AVY engine found in my car right? Also, the remap got you which power figures if you don't mind me asking? I can only find one company of repute around here that takes it from 125ps/152Nm to 136ps/168Nm.@aspirated: why aren't you named forcibly_induced?
the idea is interesting as it wouldn't totally take away from the NA feel of the car unlike a turbo but would add weight at the wrong end...@MattyB_: I've contacted several breakers yards in Germany and am scouring ebay for a written-off GTI that's not 800km away from me to grab a spare set of everything lol I imagine it must be even harder in the UK given the small number of RHD GTIs made!
@Defcon5: You are right
@Boobonman: here's the link for the youtube sound vid I made
I can't figure out how to get them to show on here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzWhXAda7uo
I hope it works and also if posting the vid is against forum rules I'M SORRY
@Kolbenkopp: do you speak German by any chance?
and yes, suspension and chassis stiffness are next on the list - as mentioned above I have coilovers lying around set to be fitted once my roll cage arrives in a couple months also looking at strut braces...Thanks for reading.
Marvin
MarvGTI said:
@Kolbenkopp: do you speak German by any chance? and yes, suspension and chassis stiffness are next on the list - as mentioned above I have coilovers lying around set to be fitted once my roll cage arrives in a couple months also looking at strut braces...
German: ja, I do and yes, suspension and chassis stiffness are next on the list - as mentioned above I have coilovers lying around set to be fitted once my roll cage arrives in a couple months also looking at strut braces.... Where are you getting the cage from? Didn't go that far on mine, basically pampered but mostly left stock. Hrm, all this talk made me go to mobile.de again...@Kolbenkopp: Hehe habs mir gedacht als ich deinen Username gesehen hab !
Cage is from Wiechers in Germany, it's a half-cage with a cross in the rear. Here's the specifications:
S355J2 (1.0577) ST52-3
Main loop steel thickness: 45mm x 2,5mm
Cross bars and bracings steel thickness: 40mm x 2mm
Marvin
!Cage is from Wiechers in Germany, it's a half-cage with a cross in the rear. Here's the specifications:
S355J2 (1.0577) ST52-3
Main loop steel thickness: 45mm x 2,5mm
Cross bars and bracings steel thickness: 40mm x 2mm
Marvin
MarvGTI said:
@Kolbenkopp: Bei Kempten steht ein Cup Rennwagen fuer unter 10k EUR ich fahr ihn mit dir anschauen wenn du willst
I've just seen that ad, stop right now, please! Wenn Madame Kolbenkopp davon etwas mitbekommt gibts dicken Ärger ich fahr ihn mit dir anschauen wenn du willst . On the other hand, there are two sub 5k EUR ones that look half decent, and not so far away. Hmhmhm, really thought they would have more "scene tax" on them by now. If only I could talk Madame K. out of her Smart...I work at smart and my company car is a month-old 451 mhd they are great cars, perfect daily drivers. Can't wait for the new one this year!
I have a 2-year old son who loves the smart because it's red and the Lupo because it's 'daddy's race car'
What I'm getting at is... a smart and a Lupo make a perfect household vehicle combination.
Liebe Frau Kolbenkopp...
they are great cars, perfect daily drivers. Can't wait for the new one this year!I have a 2-year old son who loves the smart because it's red and the Lupo because it's 'daddy's race car'
What I'm getting at is... a smart and a Lupo make a perfect household vehicle combination.
Liebe Frau Kolbenkopp...
Had a lupo GTI for 2 years.
Amazing little cars, I've been in Ariel atoms/ Nissan GTR's ect round the ring but still found the Lupo to have a huge smile factor.
Few things to consider after my experience
I went for Weitec coilovers, If I had my time again I would go KW.
Whiteline Rear Anti roll bar is meant to be a good mod.
G60 brakes - these are a must
Mine was running 156 BHP, with a full race-decat system
HEAR THIS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-eiW5rxjjs
Here is the build thread if you are interested, but I have so much love for Lupo GTI's I will end up with another.
http://www.vagcars.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?218...
Amazing little cars, I've been in Ariel atoms/ Nissan GTR's ect round the ring but still found the Lupo to have a huge smile factor.
Few things to consider after my experience
I went for Weitec coilovers, If I had my time again I would go KW.
Whiteline Rear Anti roll bar is meant to be a good mod.
G60 brakes - these are a must
Mine was running 156 BHP, with a full race-decat system
HEAR THIS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-eiW5rxjjs
Here is the build thread if you are interested, but I have so much love for Lupo GTI's I will end up with another.
http://www.vagcars.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?218...
@Deadgrau5:
I have TA Technix cheap ebay coilovers to go on, they will have to do for a couple of years until I can get enough money together to get some KW V1s...
Have been loking at the Whiteline ARB but I can't find anyone who'll ship it to Luxembourg for less than an arm and a leg, but it's on my list...
I've read that the G60 brake swap is essentially just bolt on bolt off, but you do have to change the caliper carrier too I think and I don't trust myself enough to be fiddling with brakes... Will run the current brakes to their death and then upgrade!!
And yours sounds so insane haha gives me something to work towards
I'll check out build thread!
@Welshname:
6 speed close ratio gearbox helps, the early 2001 ones had a 5 speed so I imagine that was the same box used in the Polo GTI.
Is the spare wheel well aluminium as well ? I though it was only the doors, front wings and bonnet? Good to know!!
Cheers,
Marvin
I have TA Technix cheap ebay coilovers to go on, they will have to do for a couple of years until I can get enough money together to get some KW V1s...
Have been loking at the Whiteline ARB but I can't find anyone who'll ship it to Luxembourg for less than an arm and a leg, but it's on my list...
I've read that the G60 brake swap is essentially just bolt on bolt off, but you do have to change the caliper carrier too I think and I don't trust myself enough to be fiddling with brakes... Will run the current brakes to their death and then upgrade!!
And yours sounds so insane haha gives me something to work towards
I'll check out build thread!
@Welshname:
6 speed close ratio gearbox helps, the early 2001 ones had a 5 speed so I imagine that was the same box used in the Polo GTI.
Is the spare wheel well aluminium as well ? I though it was only the doors, front wings and bonnet? Good to know!!
Cheers,
Marvin
No one in Germany send one to you?
What you need for the G60 upgrade is:
G60 Carriers
G60 4X100 280MM Disks
THATS IT
You are essentially just moving the calipers further out towards the outside creating more surface area thats it.
But like I said dont be disheartened if something flys past you, as I can guarantee you will have a bigger smile on your face, I miss mine and bought a Polo G40 to try and replace the fizz factor the Lupo's have.
What you need for the G60 upgrade is:
G60 Carriers
G60 4X100 280MM Disks
THATS IT
You are essentially just moving the calipers further out towards the outside creating more surface area thats it.
But like I said dont be disheartened if something flys past you, as I can guarantee you will have a bigger smile on your face, I miss mine and bought a Polo G40 to try and replace the fizz factor the Lupo's have.
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