th3_f15t

A couple of nice pictures from today, which are also for the advert for the car: Feel free to message me if you're interested in buying.

The car is now for sale, I've sold off all the Stage 3/hybrid turbo parts and completed the major service work ready and looking to sort a few more issues before it goes. I've got an advert for it up on the classifieds already but will be going up on more public boards (eBay etc.) in the coming weeks. Sort of sad times, but I've just grown away from the performance world and entered into the world of Transporters, so moving on from this car to the next adventure.

Sorry for the huge delay in responding, needless to say things have been slow to the point of going backwards with the car lately. I'm overdue some major servicing now but money has been a real issue and prevented anything from happening. That, and now owning several other cars... My bad!

You know how it is, get a load of parts and make a plan, 2 months later realise those plans won't happen as quickly as you planned... Thanks to real life. Since changing jobs earlier this year my time commitments have massively changed so still getting used to them, as well as financially. So, before we begin, I had great plans to get the downpipe sorted, everything fitted and all re-mapped by now. Instead, I've managed very little except by an Audi A6 Avant as a daily driver. But this weekend I decided enough was enough, time to get her back on the road at the very least. The plan here was to drop out the passenger side driveshaft and replace it with a whole new one, including CV joints as my usual supplier of such parts only charge £41 for the whole unit. The old one came out pretty easy after removing the main hub nut and the 3 16mm lower ball joint nuts: Scarily this part takes as little as 60 minutes to get to here. New vs. old: Initially, I was very happy with the replacement part, it's actually 1.6mm thicker (the driveshaft, that is) than the stick part and everything is really well made. However, what isn't obvious from the last photo is the bolt pattern on the inner CV joint of the new unit didn't match up, nor does the style. So I removed the outer CV joint from the new one and put it onto my old driveshaft after cleaning it up. Was also working on my fiance's Polo Coupe S today, doing a mega thorough cooling system flush so got distracted by that job quite a lot. But she's all back together ready for a test drive either later tonight or one evening in the week (on private roads as still not got an MOT). Hopefully after sorting this CV joint out (which was an MOT pickup) and some better fuel plus additives I'll be back on the road fully. Watch this space.

Got me a Trackslag 3.5" downpipe with a silencer: The only problem with it at the moment, if you haven't spotted it, is it's a de-cat system so I'm getting a sports cat welded in so I can safely use it on the road legally. Also got a turbo discharge kit: Need to get a 175 bar fuel pressure return valve now then that's everything needed to get the engine sorted. Going to go to TSR Performance for my mapping as they're just over an hour from me so my most local tuner. Plus I've seen their work so know I'm in safe, tried-and-tested hands. May even give the car a wash this weekend...

You know, this and that... My post before last should give you some ideas...

So... After failing the MOT on emissions earlier this year I've neglected her completely. Until now... Things are happening.

Been chasing an electrical system fault for a while now, been driving me crazy. First symptoms were multiple ABS, stability and traction control, brake sensor and airbag warning lights flashing on the display as well as the display needles dropping to 0 while running for a second or two at random intervals. When the car is in this state, most of the modules refuse to communicate with my diagnostic kit correctly, when I do get to clear off codes there's no fixed time or pattern of events that transpire before it starts all over again. Started by checking all my ABS, DDC and Haldex connections, while doing it I decided to scrub the front wheels up: More recently I've been getting persistent airbag faults complaining of low voltage to the system and more errors talking of limited functionality due to communication issues. Decided to take the battery out and recondition it as it's still the original unit, now 6 years old and survived several cold winters, this year's being particularly difficult. It drew full charge from the charger for a lot longer than I was expecting but refitting it later today to see if anything resolves itself. Now eyeing up a Bosch S5 battery to go in. Also, people may of noticed I recently put the car up for sale but it's no longer available as I managed to get my hands on this kit: TTE420 turbocharger, next manifold gaskets, N75 valve, studs and tools for fitting the injectors correctly. Combined with my RS3 LPFP and injectors, HPA Motorsport inlet manifold and a planned exhaust swap should make for a good specification list. Will have to wait till I've firstly finished off the mk2 Golf GTI restoration (which is close now) and next a home move due to work and lifestyle changes. Further plans include getting the mk6 Golf seat wiring looms for my wingback so I can connect them up to the original cars heating wiring so I can get that feature working again as I'm growing bored of having what feels like a half-assed job of an interior upgrade. I did also finally unlock the rear middle seat belt and got two new seat winders for the fronts as I broke the driver's side while removing it to check the part number. Still not ruling out the possibility of parting with the front seats to make way for Cobras, so if anyone does want the front alone, no P/X, drop me a message with a cash offer and see where we go from there. It's a loose sale as I'm far from unhappy with the seats, they're still amazingly comfortable and look good as new but a set of Cobra Misano wouldn't be sniffed at.

Well, while trying to work out which ABS sensor has failed, I broke the securing tab on the rear left! Seeing as this is a common thing to have to a lot of people, here's a useful little video on how to repair them: Will be getting a new ABS connector and re-wiring it in, saves cutting wires up and having to solder things, which given that this is a major safety system, no bodge repairs here!

Thanks man. It's only because of changing jobs and moving home that I considered selling but it doesn't need to go so I'm not rushing or taking low offers. If she goes then so be it but already saving up for the TTE420. Just need to find a good tuner near Salisbury now.

In typical fashion, when you advertise your car for sale when you're not 100% sure you want to actually sell her, she throws a tantrum: https://youtu.be/TErGKS2ODB0 Car is in utter meltdown, but still runs and drives OK, despite having no DCC, stability control or any safety systems, but the ABS does still function so was a little confused as to what was happening. When I plugged in my diagnostic tool, I couldn't event access the modules to read fault codes on occasions and when I did get into things like the ECU it was reporting a failure to communicate with everything! Also ran a CAN gateway quick scan and almost every system reported issues... After a bit of research it seems that an ABS sensor is failing and causing the car to go mental, so I'll be disconnecting each one in turn to see if I get a consistent set of warning lights rather than the crazy illumination effects I currently get. Such an odd symptom but good old VW Vortex to the rescue once again.

Thanks man. If, however, I can source a cheap TTE420 then the game may change.

Been a quite winter for Viki to be honest, nothing happened. Got some nice pictures of her all frozen the other day and realised I've not yet shown the new wheels off: Sadly, due to changing careers and lifestyle choices, I will very, very likely be selling her now as I can't justify the cost of running her anymore. Seeing how things go and what interest I get for the car but progress is so slow and costly that I'm loosing the drive to carry on.

So my bodge job failed, and I finally found a seller on eBay that sold an OE part to replace it. Off with the old: The new: Should now be able to see at night as my lights won't be pointed all the way down (as the car thought it was super low) and also don't get error messages on the dash anymore which is nice. Noticed that my foot well lights aren't right, there's always a fault code present about short to positive and I noticed the other night they occasionally go bright for a few seconds then dim again. Investigations needed.

Been quite a while since I posted, mainly because nothing has happened. Only thing to report is I got told about a broken level sensor on my MOT and the other day I started getting error messages on the heads up display, so whipped the wheel off and sure enough it wasn't happy being completely up instead of down. Quick modification with the drill and some cable ties later: Hoping to get a new exhaust over the coming month or two, opting for a Scorpion exhaust system to completely replace my Milltek Sport system, getting another non-resonated one but the Scorpion have the active valve system on it so hopefully it'll quieten it down as I'm bored of the noise of the Milltek all the time now. Probably getting old...

Due to moving into my first home and job changes, I've had no time on the 6R lately. As such, she sat around at home for nearly two months collecting dust, even let the MOT expire. Also needed to do an oil service and get a cam belt and water pump change sorted too as she's approaching the 50,000 mile mark. Keeping the service intervals for things shorter than the book as I run a significant power increase so the demands on parts are greater and likely wearing quicker than guidelines. So got her over to the workshop and jacked up for an oil service: While working away under the car, I noticed the tyres were worn completely on the inner edges: And this is why you should always do the alignment straight away when lowering your cars people! In fairness, the fronts are at 2mm tread anyway so due a change but I had to phone and cancel the MOT I had booked for that morning as there was no point taking it to fail. I'll get 4 new tyres fitted to the OZ and them fitted as well as tracking and alignment at the same time (lesson learned!). But there's not 4.5 litres of Millers Nanodrive 5w-40 oil and a Mayle oil filter in there keeping things going. I'll get around to a cam belt change and an MOT hopefully within the next few weeks.

Considering VW pulled from all but their electric based racing programmes, wouldn't surprise me if this really is the next generation of Golf GTI in a mk7 shell.

Sorry for the huge delay in responding to this, been moving house! I upgraded from the stock spring that comes with the DV to the blue one I think, can't remember 100% but on the Forge website they say the yellow one for 75% power increases which is above what I run (stage 2+) but I'll need to check exactly for you.

I recently changed over the spring inside my Forge diverter valve to see if it eliminated the flutter noise when I let off the throttle while on boost. While it didn't really solve that issue, it did have some other positive effects. Firstly, the car pulls so much better now from low RPM and seems to have a much better torque curve. Second boost is in economy, at first I thought it was a one off but I'm now able to hit 40mpg or higher when sat on the motorway at 65mph. More work needs to be done to see what exactly is behind this but I'm mega pleased as it's so much nicer to drive the car and it was simple a 10 minute job to do. No more being lazy for me! Going to do a cambelt change and oil service very soon as I'm just about to hit 50,000 miles and 5 years old, so doing it now as not taking the risks with a tuned engine. Got a 50% discount code with GSF over the weekend so bought a new cambelt kit, water pump, oil and oil filter and planning on getting the new guy who moved into the workshop to help me out. All I'll say about him is he runs in the VWDRC in a 800bhp car. He knows his stuff and is proper cool, so likely will be using his knowledge and skills over the coming months and years for my own plans. Speaking of which, ages ago I mentioned I bought a HPA Motorsport inlet manifold but never actually took a picture of it. And an update isn't any good if it's just text, so here it is (nearly 6 months later after being dug out of a pile or parts): Enjoy!

Trial fit of the new wheels: Fit like a dream, clear the brakes up front and don't sit wider than my TD's on 10mm spacers so all is good. Unfortunately, the bolts that were provided are too short for the ET35 offset so I'll be ordering up some longer bolts then off to the tyre shop to have the tyres from my TD's swapped over. Also got round to fitting the DAB aerial for my Kenwood stereo: I did have a GPS antenna too but because I bought a VW fitment one, it doesn't fit the Kenwood so need to buy another one. Also plan on wiring up the hands free microphone next time, as well as a dash camera too, will likely pull the A-pillar trim and part of the roof lining out to do a proper permanent job of running cables. Progress will be slow now as I'm focusing efforts on my mk2 Golf Driver and another little project I've recently picked up, more on that soon...

Spec are 18x8J with an offset of ET35. Gone for a lower offset so I don't have to run spacers to clear my brakes, plus it should help fill the arches better too, especially when I wide track and go for larger arches. Sadly they're not fitted just yet but should be around Christmas time. On that subject, I'm struggling with finding ways to extend the rear arches, most arch extension pictures I've seen are on 3 door cars. I want to extend the rear arches 30mm or more but want to (ideally) avoid the bolt-on look (as it doesn't suit my style plans). Anyone got any ideas what I could use to achieve this?

Got myself some new wheels, just because...

Fair enough. I had considered KW DCC coilovers at some point as a future upgrade as I want to retain as much of the OE features as possible as I do use the DCC quite a lot in my R. I've heard mixed reviews about KW coilovers but suspension is always going to be a personal thing.

To be fair, I wanted stiffer springs and wasn't worried about the lowering as it's a road going car so keeping a near-stock ride hieght is ideal for me. What KW did you end up fitting and what did you think of them?

Took this, then realised the srping was on the wrong way round. Rather than re-take the picture when it was re-built again I just decided to share my mistakes instead... Don't ask, I don't know why either. The trick I learned to fit it all up is to firstly bolt the strut tower loosely in at the top mount, then while the hub is totally free align the driveshat stub into position, then using a jack and patience just slowly bring everything together so the hub slots into the bearing housing at the same time as the bottom of the strut is aligning and slotting into the hub carrier. Using a jack from below and a soft mallet and block of wood to gently tap the strut in, it all just pops together nicely then you can use the jack to get the damper bottom to fully seat into the hub carrier. It's a bit of a pig of a job and would of been easier with coilovers which are shorter than OE dampers but you live and learn! Tried taking the driver's strut apart and for some reason the factory had used a generous amount of thread lock on the threaded part of the damper so getting the nut off was a mission. In the end I just went at it with the impact wrench until it came off: Also, when it came to the rears... 46,000 mile and it's already snapped at the base where it mounts! Very glad I decided to do this job at this time to say the least. So finally, after an entire weekend, the finished results: They supposed to be 20mm lower than stock springs but I'm a little convinced that the OE ones are so crap they were lower than they should of been anyway as there was no real difference in ride height initially but I'm going to put a few miles on them before maing a call. I will say the feel to the car has seriously changed, while ride comfort is only slightly harsher the cornering stability is much improved. I've bedded them in reasonably well with a 300 mile trip already but want to give them a little longer with the load of the car on them to let them settle in and then I'll get the tracking sorted.