Lupo Restoration
Discussion
I have been on the hunt for another Lupo Gti for around a year. I first had one when I was 19 and ran it for 6-7 years before moving into a R56 Mini JCW, hence the username.
Obligatory photo of the Mini here (had almost every option going including the Recaro buckets) This was great fun and hearing the exhaust crackle on overrun was addictive. It was crashed into when parked up overnight and had most of the driver’s side rear quarter replaced at a claim against my own insurance. A poor repair by the insurers choice of garage and I wanted it gone.
With my first house purchased, a longer commute and a baby on the cards I got shot of the mini and jumped into a blue motion polo (something that I would not care too much about and cost peanuts to run) This is still the daily.
When the world turned on its head last March, I decided that I wanted another Lupo as a second car. A bit of a project, something fun for the weekends, relatively cheap to run and tinker with. Ideally, I wanted one in either Raven blue or Anthracite Grey with less than 100,000 miles on and as standard as possible. These colours are rare and don’t come up for sale very often. I believe there were only 33 anthracite grey Lupo Gti’s that were sold in the UK.
I missed out on a very nice blue example during lockdown – this one - https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-spottedykywt/v... , I was pretty gutted about that. I had thought about it for too long and by the time I phoned up it was gone.
Fast forward to December and a rare anthracite grey appeared up for sale on the lupo forums. Son selling on behalf of his dad who had passed away, he was the 2nd owner 70,000 miles. A socially distanced test drive took place and a deal was done. I had to wait nearly 4 months for the son to sort out the retention of a private plate but I was in no rush.
The car arrived last weekend, she is in by no means perfect condition.
-Thermostat showing cold
- Sticky indicator relays
- Kerbed wheels and spidering centre caps
- 2 parking dents (arch and bonnet)
- 2 small corrosion bubbles on front arch 1 on door sill
- Spoiler is peeling and brake light stopped working ( now an obsolete part)
However mechanically seems well, has just been serviced and passed its MOT prior to sale and has lots of history.
I have slowly been accumulating some parts whilst waiting to pick the car up.
The plan is to undertake a mini restoration and bring it back to life. Upgrading a few bits as we go, suspension/brakes etc It seems to have had a bit of a rough life in North London.
I will keep updating as I sort out the little jobs, and hopefully a detail will be on the cards in a couple of months.
These cars are very much marmite, it seems you either love them or you don’t.
A text from a friend read ‘has lockdown turned you gay’ after proudly sending him a picture of my purchase.
Thanks for reading
Josh
Obligatory photo of the Mini here (had almost every option going including the Recaro buckets) This was great fun and hearing the exhaust crackle on overrun was addictive. It was crashed into when parked up overnight and had most of the driver’s side rear quarter replaced at a claim against my own insurance. A poor repair by the insurers choice of garage and I wanted it gone.
With my first house purchased, a longer commute and a baby on the cards I got shot of the mini and jumped into a blue motion polo (something that I would not care too much about and cost peanuts to run) This is still the daily.
When the world turned on its head last March, I decided that I wanted another Lupo as a second car. A bit of a project, something fun for the weekends, relatively cheap to run and tinker with. Ideally, I wanted one in either Raven blue or Anthracite Grey with less than 100,000 miles on and as standard as possible. These colours are rare and don’t come up for sale very often. I believe there were only 33 anthracite grey Lupo Gti’s that were sold in the UK.
I missed out on a very nice blue example during lockdown – this one - https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-spottedykywt/v... , I was pretty gutted about that. I had thought about it for too long and by the time I phoned up it was gone.
Fast forward to December and a rare anthracite grey appeared up for sale on the lupo forums. Son selling on behalf of his dad who had passed away, he was the 2nd owner 70,000 miles. A socially distanced test drive took place and a deal was done. I had to wait nearly 4 months for the son to sort out the retention of a private plate but I was in no rush.
The car arrived last weekend, she is in by no means perfect condition.
-Thermostat showing cold
- Sticky indicator relays
- Kerbed wheels and spidering centre caps
- 2 parking dents (arch and bonnet)
- 2 small corrosion bubbles on front arch 1 on door sill
- Spoiler is peeling and brake light stopped working ( now an obsolete part)
However mechanically seems well, has just been serviced and passed its MOT prior to sale and has lots of history.
I have slowly been accumulating some parts whilst waiting to pick the car up.
The plan is to undertake a mini restoration and bring it back to life. Upgrading a few bits as we go, suspension/brakes etc It seems to have had a bit of a rough life in North London.
I will keep updating as I sort out the little jobs, and hopefully a detail will be on the cards in a couple of months.
These cars are very much marmite, it seems you either love them or you don’t.
A text from a friend read ‘has lockdown turned you gay’ after proudly sending him a picture of my purchase.
Thanks for reading
Josh
Edited by Jcwjosh on Thursday 15th July 20:02
normalbloke said:
I like them, look forward to following progress. The comments ought to be like water off a ducks back. I’ve had everything from a Smart car to a Unimog on the drive.
Yes i agree it is all subjective...Just realised that the Mini is seen as a bit of a hairdressers car aswell.
Must say i do like the look of the new smart cars a lot and a unimog would be most ideal for my fishing trips !
Love these - good luck with the restoration.
I'm sure you're already well aware of this thread - but if not, it's full of brilliant inspiration. Not sure I've seen a better Lupo anywhere...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I'm sure you're already well aware of this thread - but if not, it's full of brilliant inspiration. Not sure I've seen a better Lupo anywhere...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
MDifficult said:
Love these - good luck with the restoration.
I'm sure you're already well aware of this thread - but if not, it's full of brilliant inspiration. Not sure I've seen a better Lupo anywhere...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Yes i agree that is quite possibly the best Lupo i have seen too. Some fantastic and sympathetic modifications, im not sure my pockets are as deep as Claytons but who knows in a few years time i may be in a position to go 'all out' on a club sport spec.I'm sure you're already well aware of this thread - but if not, it's full of brilliant inspiration. Not sure I've seen a better Lupo anywhere...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
My aim at the moment is to get it to a good standard in stock form and then that gives me something to build on. The hardest part i think is extracting more power, i would be happy with around 150bhp which is another 25bhp or so above standard but its costly by the sounds of it.
Great cars, might be a bit of a stretch saying I think they are the spiritual successor to the Mk1 Gold GTI but.. well I've said it!
I'll always remember the slightly 'Chernobyl / X Files' advert of the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdqkw5EPsHE
I'll always remember the slightly 'Chernobyl / X Files' advert of the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdqkw5EPsHE
Spinakerr said:
Great cars, might be a bit of a stretch saying I think they are the spiritual successor to the Mk1 Gold GTI but.. well I've said it!
I'll always remember the slightly 'Chernobyl / X Files' advert of the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdqkw5EPsHE
Not that i have ever driven a mk1, i think they definately could be. My mechanic is currently restoring one so maybe one day he will let me have a go and give it a comparison.I'll always remember the slightly 'Chernobyl / X Files' advert of the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdqkw5EPsHE
The advert is very spooky, never seen that before. I have a 10 month old son who is currently trying to get around in a similar fashion, thinks he can walk through things.
Jcwjosh said:
MDifficult said:
Love these - good luck with the restoration.
I'm sure you're already well aware of this thread - but if not, it's full of brilliant inspiration. Not sure I've seen a better Lupo anywhere...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Yes i agree that is quite possibly the best Lupo i have seen too. Some fantastic and sympathetic modifications, im not sure my pockets are as deep as Claytons but who knows in a few years time i may be in a position to go 'all out' on a club sport spec.I'm sure you're already well aware of this thread - but if not, it's full of brilliant inspiration. Not sure I've seen a better Lupo anywhere...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
My aim at the moment is to get it to a good standard in stock form and then that gives me something to build on. The hardest part i think is extracting more power, i would be happy with around 150bhp which is another 25bhp or so above standard but its costly by the sounds of it.
Jcwjosh said:
Like the Mini too. The R53 and R56 have been the best looking Minis I think, especially compared with the rather most recent one which I think looks quite fussy. I had an early Cooper S (2002 IIRC) an it was a great little car, but the clutch was on the way out on mine. MPG was quite poor too. Supercharger noise was pretty cool. I do remember the interior creaking quite a lot though.
I'm intrigued by what happens to Lupo GTI when they hit 100'001 miles. Do they explode in a hideous fireball?
Whilst the UK used car marketplace is very biased towards that 100k mark, don't believe the car will fall apart if if goes beyond that, but sadly it will loose a chunk of its value. I plan to get rid of my wife's Citroen before it hits 100k...However being a Citroen it will probably be on gearbox rebuild number three by then
bakerstreet said:
Quite like the Lupo GTI. So tiny compared to modern stuff. They can't be far off smart car dimensions, but at least that makes the Lupo easy to work on in a single garage and on the driveway.
Like the Mini too. The R53 and R56 have been the best looking Minis I think, especially compared with the rather most recent one which I think looks quite fussy. I had an early Cooper S (2002 IIRC) an it was a great little car, but the clutch was on the way out on mine. MPG was quite poor too. Supercharger noise was pretty cool. I do remember the interior creaking quite a lot though.
I'm intrigued by what happens to Lupo GTI when they hit 100'001 miles. Do they explode in a hideous fireball?
Whilst the UK used car marketplace is very biased towards that 100k mark, don't believe the car will fall apart if if goes beyond that, but sadly it will loose a chunk of its value. I plan to get rid of my wife's Citroen before it hits 100k...However being a Citroen it will probably be on gearbox rebuild number three by then
They are quite tiny, I would like to see one next to an R53 for comparison. Like the Mini too. The R53 and R56 have been the best looking Minis I think, especially compared with the rather most recent one which I think looks quite fussy. I had an early Cooper S (2002 IIRC) an it was a great little car, but the clutch was on the way out on mine. MPG was quite poor too. Supercharger noise was pretty cool. I do remember the interior creaking quite a lot though.
I'm intrigued by what happens to Lupo GTI when they hit 100'001 miles. Do they explode in a hideous fireball?
Whilst the UK used car marketplace is very biased towards that 100k mark, don't believe the car will fall apart if if goes beyond that, but sadly it will loose a chunk of its value. I plan to get rid of my wife's Citroen before it hits 100k...However being a Citroen it will probably be on gearbox rebuild number three by then
I remember being in an R53 S quite often when they were new and the supercharge wine was very nice.. The sat nav at that time was also a luxury that wasnt found in many hatchbacks back then.
I believe the Lupo's dont suffer too badly once hitting 100,000 miles the only issues i have read are to do with oil consumption, piston rings and valve stem seals. Like you say the value can take a hit and i guess more maintenance to be carried out.
The R56 did grow on me, the lupo is obviously something that likes to be revved out and the mini was more of an instant lump of torque turbo rush. Over time as other hatchbacks have gotten bigger and bigger i think the R56 began to look smaller. I had a clutch go in the Mini and it was an expensive job.
With the sun out this weekend and the roast in the oven a friend persuaded me to get the wheels off and have a look at what will need refreshing/updating going forward. New discs and suspension arms on the cards aswell as shocks and springs i think, tempted to go for the g60 brake upgrade if i am doing it soon.
He somehow talked me into fitting the wheel spacers and SE (cambridge edition) rear lights i had picked up before i got the car.. Bit backwards as these are the finishing touches in my eyes once everything else was done. But gave me a chance to give the arches a proper clean dont think this had ever been done in its life.
Wheels sit further out in the arches now, just need to be refurbished. Wont look right in my eyes until its lowered a little.
I dont have the resources available to do the underside on my own so i have been shopping around for quotes and i have been given some rather large ones for an underbody restoration.. Going to see if i can do a few of the jobs myself first and then go from there.
He somehow talked me into fitting the wheel spacers and SE (cambridge edition) rear lights i had picked up before i got the car.. Bit backwards as these are the finishing touches in my eyes once everything else was done. But gave me a chance to give the arches a proper clean dont think this had ever been done in its life.
Wheels sit further out in the arches now, just need to be refurbished. Wont look right in my eyes until its lowered a little.
I dont have the resources available to do the underside on my own so i have been shopping around for quotes and i have been given some rather large ones for an underbody restoration.. Going to see if i can do a few of the jobs myself first and then go from there.
Small update here had a few niggly bits and some paint done recently. Had a good look underneath with my mechanic and it appears that i dont need to do anything with the underside which he said was in good condition
Whiteline rear ARB fitted which does stiffen up the chassis a bit but it is screaming out for coilovers and i dont have the funds just yet to do this as i want to refresh all the front end bushes at the same time.
Blocked washer jet fixed and new bosch wipers, forgot how good these are !
New thermostat sorted the temp issue.
Rear wiper delete. As above spoiler and brake light sprayed and fixed along with front and rear bumpers, scabby arches sorted.
Really i need to build a small pot of money to sort the other little bits annoying me as with any project, all in good time.
To do list for my own reference -
Wheel refurb and tyres
Coilovers and bushes
Discs and pads
New head unit ( standard power button is chewed to pieces)
New indicator stalk ( right indicator temperamental)
Door check straps
Car needs a good detail and coating
Wish list
KAM manifold and exhaust system
BMC or sprogley intake
Rear seat delete and rear brace
Whiteline rear ARB fitted which does stiffen up the chassis a bit but it is screaming out for coilovers and i dont have the funds just yet to do this as i want to refresh all the front end bushes at the same time.
Blocked washer jet fixed and new bosch wipers, forgot how good these are !
New thermostat sorted the temp issue.
Rear wiper delete. As above spoiler and brake light sprayed and fixed along with front and rear bumpers, scabby arches sorted.
Really i need to build a small pot of money to sort the other little bits annoying me as with any project, all in good time.
To do list for my own reference -
Wheel refurb and tyres
Coilovers and bushes
Discs and pads
New head unit ( standard power button is chewed to pieces)
New indicator stalk ( right indicator temperamental)
Door check straps
Car needs a good detail and coating
Wish list
KAM manifold and exhaust system
BMC or sprogley intake
Rear seat delete and rear brace
Edited by Jcwjosh on Thursday 15th July 20:05
Steven.b said:
Not long got a lupo gti myself
Absolutely loving so far
You on Instagram so I can keep up abit easier with the progress of this?
Also means I can ask for help too if needed lol
Hi Steven,Absolutely loving so far
You on Instagram so I can keep up abit easier with the progress of this?
Also means I can ask for help too if needed lol
Have only just seen this im not on instagram but always nice to hear from other owners.. Im unable to email you through here but if you can to me PM your number and we can have a chat plan a meet even, i find the lupo forum a little clicky not my bag..
Plans are changing slowly with the gti. I am now planning to daily drive it for a while. My commute is no longer i only have a short nursery drop and pick each day so im now getting the lupo road ready for the winter along with a few bits and bobs.
Seems a shame to just have it sitting there. Everytime i take it out it makes me smile.
Edited by Jcwjosh on Tuesday 12th October 12:31
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