John A's Altea FR170

john a

Active Member
Feb 27, 2017
21
0
Howdy

Fairly newish, lurked for a while and work is busy, so posts tend not to happen regularly.

I recently bought an Altea PD170 FR while I was deciding what to do with my R-Tech'd Hybrid Octavia vRS. I kind of intended to keep the Altea for a couple of months, while the Octavia was stripped or sold and then put the money into a PCP deposit. The Altea has been that good over the 3 or 4 months I've owned it, I can't think of a good reason to change it.

There are a few jobs to do, most of all a good detail, but there will be a few interior/electronic upgrades done, a bit of cosmetic enhancement and some mechanical tweaks.

I bought a set of wind deflectors almost as soon as I bought the car. There are plans afoot, which include the coilovers off the Octavia and some R32 front brakes. I've already fitted the biffer H&R ARB to the back, I've got another for the front if I can endure the agony of fitting it, and I'm going to have it mapped.

Here's a boring photo of said car.

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john a

Active Member
Feb 27, 2017
21
0
Morning morning

A few little bits done so far, the front 28mm H&R ARB has gone to a new owner, as the 24mm item on the back is plenty.

The good news is that, at the end of July with 104k miles on the clock, it sailed through the MOT

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Only for the bloody airbag light to come on the following day. It's the right hand side igniter, so either the connector needs chopping out or I need to check the sensor.

I'd also plugged VCDS in for the first time since owning it and turned on the indicators as running lights. Not entirely sold, so these may get turned off.

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I wanted a black grille, picked up a wrapped one which is adequate, and I'll paint or dip the grille I took off at some point.

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And Spain for holidays meant I could pop into a Spanish dealer and pick up some number plate holders, yet to be fitted.

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I'd kept the Speedline Marmora wheels fitted to the Octavia but the ride height was bringing me out in hives.....

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I'd kept the Spax RSX coilovers from the Octavia, these went straight on and I am in a much happier place

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And the obligatory car park shot....

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I've fitted an RNS315DAB, knowing the steering wheel controls wouldn't work. I'm in two minds about buying a facelift steering wheel, but I've also bought a set of PFL full height MFD clocks, so if I change the steering wheel these may not work with the steering wheel controls (also, I'm not entirely sure facelift clocks fit).

Not really much else to do. I had a pain fitting new headlight bulbs and broke the inner of the lamp unit on one of the indicators, rendering it completely useless. After a lot of messing around with second hand stuff, I found a mint unit 100 miles away, which was still 100 quid cheaper than buying a new one from Euros or Seat. On fitting it, I discovered that it is much easier to remove the bumper and both headlights to replace bulbs, rather than fiddling around with everything in place.

I want it mapped, I want some more light coming out of the front and I have a set of R32 brakes to fit to it. More to follow.
 

john a

Active Member
Feb 27, 2017
21
0
I need to take some pics and update this thread, I've done a few jobs recently that I'd like to keep track off.

I have a cambelt kit and water pump ready to go on, that were to be fitted last week, but my mechanic's lift was knackered, so that's been postponed.
Carbon hydrodipped mirrors have been fitted, I've coded in foglights as DRL (using the American DRL setting so they come on with the handbrake off) and I've pulled out the RNS315 and replaced it with an RNS510DAB, as I had in the Octavia. It became apparent pretty quickly that it was draining the battery and after it drained it flat twice, I thought I ought to change the CANBUS gateway. Went in through the bulkhead as I did with the Octavia and imagine my surprise to discover it wasn't there. Luckily it was behind the glovebox and not above the clutch pedal.

TT 3.2 V6 brakes are on - these look to be identical to later Golf R calipers. Rather than fit the 340mm discs I went for 345s for no other reason than they were in stock at GSF. I need to pull the clips off the pads so I can fit the bigger 'R' caliper springs, but they're fine for now. I've hammerited them yellow (terrible job but better than the crusty mess they were). The next job is to fit my 7p6 Bluetooth module under the seat, but I'm trying to track down a wiring loom that allows me to connect the bluetooth mic into the back of the headunit, although having taken the glovebox out this morning, I have removed the press out panel that I assume would have been for a light and it fits the MDI connector perfectly, so I am more inclined to use the loom I have and wire the mix straight into the box under the seat.

I will take some pics, but not until it's clean.
 
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