Long Overdue Update

My girlfriend saw the car in the flesh for the first time this weekend.....
She doesnt like the name 'The Yellow Submarine' and wants me to rename it 'Bumblebee' .... Nahhh!

This weekend I will hopefully be fitting the De-cat, doing a turbo clean, inlet manifold clean, intercooler clean and egr delete.

That is.....if I can get the golf sorted first as I need to replace the wing on it.

I just realised that the bits I swapped out of my golf and straight into the Leon when I got it have no pics!
So here they are:

TT Pedals



I also have a little friend living in my car.... I have a strong dislike of these buggers so I was not best please to find a freeloading stowaway of the eight legged kind.


My old and VERY worn wheel - Reason I fitted the S3 one and keep it despite hating the audi badge.



Pics of a few other things to go on soon, just forgot where I saved them.
Nearly bought a new and slightly larger intercooler today, however it requires adapting some of the pipework, so I didnt bother.

Ordering a few parts from VW tomorrow to get a few things fitted and serviced.

Drove up to Liverpool last weekend and this weekend, its a dream to drive, so comfy inside and the cruise makes it a lazier drive.
Got 62mpg (according to the MFD) on the way back last night, so I am looking at roughly 700 miles to this one tank of fuel!

Much nicer than the golf to drive up there, actually makes me look forward to the 1300 mile round trip back home to inverness in a few weeks, which got very boring in the Golf. - Anyone need a lift up there for £10? I need some company to stop me going crazy this time.

Got the EGR delete fitted the other day, made a huge difference to the way the car drives.
I knew I had a small boost leak at the EGR Valve as the inlet pipe would not sit correctly due to a worn couplling, however when I attached the boost hose to the delete pipe, the turbo spools up so much quicker without any lag!

Photos to follow when on photobucket....

Before:


Notice how the inlet pipe isnt sat correctly, this is due to a worn coupling, and was creating a large boost leak.
There is oil all down the back of the engine from this, so will have to degrease that too next week.

The Gunk in my inlet manifold (will be cleaning this next weekend)


Shiney pipe!


Delete done:


Decat, manifold clean and few more bits to be done next sat.

I achieved so much on the car today, am really chuffed with myself!
I went wild....

1- I cleaned the turbo with innotec cleaner,
2- I fitted my De Cat,
3- I replaced a few intake/boost hoses with ones in better condition,
4- I Fitted a new gearstick,
5- I changed the fuel filter,
6- I cleaned out my inlet manifold,
7- I cleaned the engine bay,
8- I replaced my accessory drive belt,

I also fitted lowering springs to a MK2 MR2 which was stupidly harder than it should have been due to everthing disintegrating when trying to re-assemble.

Pics of things to follow....

Thanks, I was very busy yesterday.
The decat was an ebay special, I had to wait ages for one to come up so snatched the chance while I could. Just keep searching.

The steering wheels off of most VAGs around the same era are interchangable, although it appears audi airbags have to be used with the audi wheel. VW and Seat are a deffo for bags having the same fitment, not sure about skoda as never had the airbag off.

My exhaust system before:


I think something is missing....


Side by side.


The beast is fitted

Yes thats true!
MPG is already suffering this weekend, as after doing the work, the car sends out a fault code for the G40- camshaft position sensor, and is retarding the igniton. This is reducing power greatly and drinking fuel.
When I clear the code, its fast and economical again, until It flags back up.

Am hoping that I just knocked the wiring as the fault shows 'no signal', so when I locate and access the sensor I can fix it.

Its around £100 for the part from VW and requires removal (and renewal to prevent stretching) of the cambelt.

Cleared the fault last night and have covered 95 miles today with out it flagging back up.

Carried out a spring clean of the engine bay after the EGR delete..... Running much better now and its VERY rapid! Shows me that spending my entire sat on the car was WELL worth it!

Further pics from sat when I cleaned the Turbo with the Innotech turbo clean set, and I gave the inlet manifold a good de-gunk.

Exhaust section of turbo with clean card in place.... which idiot decided that cardboard was a good gasket material for liquids??? Leaked like a sieve!


The inside of my turbo!


I ran out of degreaser whilst working on the car..... so had to come up with an alternative, petrol worked until I ran out (car is a derv).
So, butane gas and a lighter it was to burn the crap out....worked well until My friend set fire to himself and the can!


Current state of inlet manifold inlet

(See pics of when I did EGR delete for how bad it was before)

gezmeister said:

You were a busy bee then

Where did you get the decat from, and how much?

Like the S3 steering wheel, are most of the Vag range interchangeable?

Click to expand...

There is a decat available HERE now, but its a bit pricey!!

Well after carrying out the EGR delete, I decided to reduce the risk of boos leaks and boost lag.

Set to work on this:


Ended up removing all this:


Im sure that VAG put it there for a reason, however the turbo now spools up so much quicker and the torque range is greater, meaning I can change gear earlier and has made it more economical!

Now my bay looks like this:

I am going to find a better way to tidy it all up, however I needed to drive the car so just shoved it back in place.

Just purchased my car a little present....(OR 4)

Updates when they are fitted.

Didnt really notice a change in the sound other then the turbo has a louder whistle, which could be down to many things that I did on that long sat!
It wont make it sound like a tractor though.

Well I picked up my new wheels....
LOVE them, they have recently been refurbed and have fairly decent tyres on them.
Sadly the fuel economy has taken another hit, but WELL worth it for the look of the wheels, also it handles a little better as they are wider and stick out more.
The gape between the wheel and the arches are smaller now giving the car a better look without me lowering it. (I still stand by my Vow NOT to lower this one)






Spot the golf in those pics..... which is up for sale on piston heads atm.

Camshaft Sensor Replaced ....new problem arisen!

The camshaft position fault (G40 Sensor) would not go away and was making driving a nightmare! So I bought myself a new sensor (For a ford Galaxy, which happens to be a VAG car and is therefore the same part and part number).
It took all of 10 mins to replace the sensor and it has certainly made the engine happier!

However, I now have a new boost leak from somewhere, and as a result, am struggling to get in the area of 40mpg when drivng. It seems the car has less torque as it does not increase speed as well as it used to when comming to a slight incline or pulling away from having slowed down.

Bye Bye Golf...and Bye Bye clutch/Flywheel

So I finally sold the Golf! Its an end of an Era. Been sitting there undriven since Dec, depreciating.

Sad to see it go, but glad I now have some money!

Hoever, today I was out in the Leon, and the clutch started slipping in 6th. I knew the DMF was noisey, however hoped the clutch would hold up.
She is booked in for a remap on the 26th, which now means that I have to find a replacement clutch and flywheel including fitting within a week.

Still deciding if I should replace the DMF with anothr one, or just go for a solid flywheel conversion.

Also, I took quite a few photos today, to be posted up soon.

Any advice on what to do would be highly appreciated thank you!