Rainbird's LCR

Ash-Kennard

why are you reading this?
Jul 31, 2008
286
0
portsmouth
FirstAttemptCAD_zpsnzv3hc6a.png


Excuse the appalling CAD work - having never really used it before this is all a bit new to me so things are a bit rough, thrown together and no doubt technically awful but enough to give an idea of whether my thinking is along the right lines!

Looking good to me Luke, some dimensions would be nice if you want to make it though,


Nice parking. Looks like that well oiled machine should be there :p
 
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rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Looking good to me Luke, some dimensions would be nice if you want to make it though,

Nice parking. Looks like that well oiled machine should be there :p

It's about the only one running as intended :p

I have all the dimensions for the shifter. In fact, when I get a bit of time I'll throw together a mockup to prove the concept (though realistically it's pretty damn close to the VWMS offering so no massive need) and then either getting in the workshop (Plan A), or if for any reason that's not possible passing drawings on to a local firm to get a quote and potentially have it machined.

Up at RR in Derby later in the week - I seem to recall you being based elsewhere but if for some reason you are there, come say hi!
 
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rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Found this in the bin:

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Oh my...

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Randomly stumbled upon a local Gumtree ad for a chap selling a pair of brand new front LCR discs that had been sat in his garage a while. Should clean up nicely, and at £25 the pair rather than £100+ each I'm pretty happy with that!

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Picked up a set of rears plus pads all round to complete the set while GSF had 42% last weekend:

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Studs arrived for adapter plate:

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Will check it out properly over the weekend - I've driven for 9 hours straight today so it's time for food and a film :)
 

rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Got the car up on ramps and finally stuck the rARB on that I've been meaning to get around to for the best part of 18 months now. Cool.

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Had a quick check of everything while I had easy access.*These are going to be fun to remove when the new exhaust goes on...

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rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Unfortunately due to the heatshield I wasn't able to get the fitting bolt in with the bracket any further outboard. I'll be back in the area soon(ish) to fit the exhaust so will move things around a little more at that point - in reality it only needs to shift left around 2.5" or so, so shouldn't make a huge difference given the car is only used as a daily at present :)
 

rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Slow couple of weeks due to work, exams, a stag do and etc.

Got a short amount of summer leave on the cards so hopefully make a little bit of progress over that. Have sent CAD files off to the laser/water cutting guys for a quote and that's come back at a good price, so fingers crossed the turbo adapter and new DP flange will be ready to rock in a week or so.

Here are a couple of photos to prove the car still exists:

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rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Slightly delayed update due to weddings, BBQs and riding bikes, but spent a few days last week working on my friend Matt's Golf. Excuse things hopping about a bit, but it's been a mental few days since this was all done and I seem to be missing a few photos. There were periods of nasty rain which stopped play, so in the end this lot was around 1.5 days work spread over almost 3 days, but given the messages I've had from Matt since he left it's been more than worth it.

After buying the car a few months ago, he was rear ended fairly badly and the car was written off due to the cost of repair. After some discussion, he received a decent payout and bought the car back for an absolute steal. Pair of second hand bumpers and a tailgate and the car sailed through an MOT and was back on the road again.

With things being back in a decent state, it was time to throw on some handling upgrades - these had all been planned to get done a little further down the line, but this seemed as good a time as any to get them done and the spare change from the insurance company covered the cost nicely, resulting in an essentially "free" setup. There's room for improvement with a couple of components down the line, notably coilovers for track use, but the kit we've fitted all gives good value for money to allow for a tidy setup with decidedly reasonable cost.

Once things have been brought up to a similar level power wise we can think about getting the car on track and get a better set of coils to suit. We've also got a set of newly refurbished LCR Brembos to go on the car, though need to track down some new pins, order some lines and find a free afternoon to get them sorted.

Anyway:

Mid morning - Autoglass called in to sort out a cracked windscreen on one Golf and it was time to get started on Matt's as well.

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He'd turned up with a few parts to fit and a couple of days to spare and I'd promised to help him fit it all plus show him how everything went together and how to operate a spanner or two.

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Started with the rear end, so to speak. Spring compressors on, springs out, dampers off with no snags. Only tricky bit was getting the top mounts off due to a lack of drop spanners at home - soon sorted that with a bit of thinking and some questionable tool usage.*

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I don't think I've ever seen Brownie do any work on his own car before, usually opting to hand it over to a garage to get work done. Part of the reason he picked up the Mk4 was so he had a car he could learn to work on himself (a little like I'd done with the LCR) so I figured I'd get photographic proof in case it never happened again. Fortunately he proved that he's keen to get involved a little more on this one and did a damn good job of things after figuring out what everything is/does. rARB fitted along with rear coilover springs and struts.

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A touch later, Craig arrived in his A3 to complete the 1.8t Trifecta. He's been having some boost leak issues so we had a quick look and gave everything a healthy squirt of fairy liquid to try and track them down, but couldn't find the culprit. Think I'll knock up a smoke/pressure tester at some point soon as I'd like to give my car a check over too really.

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He lent a hand with Matt's car, which helped speed things along a touch as I could work on one side whilst Craig talked Matt through the other. Front hubs and struts off and a few other bits removed/loosened up. Had a few issues with tools for top mount bolts as so many people do (again, lack of drop spanners) so did things properly and took a grinder to a socket to make a pair of flats. Nice and easy.

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At this point it was getting a little late, so we called it a night and had pizza and beers. Didn't end too well for Matt and come around 0300 he became a draft excluder.

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Next morning, I headed out early to get started on the remaining front end stuff as we'd not made so much progress as I'd have liked the previous day.*

First up was to disconnect the steering rack so I could drop it with the subframe. The plan was to throw in an LCR quick rack along with the hubs etc to tighten things up a little. Unfortunately this didn't quite work out, but more on that in a bit.

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With that sorted, I disconnected the remaining few bits up front and dropped the subframe.

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With some trim out the way, I got underneath to pull out what Brownie had described as as a "weird noise for 30 seconds after a cold start" - aka leaky SAI pump. Not hard to see the issue here! N249 also bypassed; Engine bay looks a lot cleaner as a result, though I don't seem to have a photo to show this.

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By the time Matt surfaced feeling vaguely human after the night before, it was almost time for lunch so we hopped in the car and popped to town to grab some munch. Some douche in a Focus had tried to claim several of the limited parking spaces on the high street so we boxed them in while we went for food

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Back home, Matt had picked up an LCR steering rack to fit whilst the subframe was out and we were working in the area. Unfortunately, the seller had been an utter mong and only included half the bloody thing. We had a good look at the old/new racks to see if there was any way to move the required parts across, but it just wasn't going to happen. Annoying, but not the end of the world. Frustratingly one of the track rod ends on the old rack had been damaged duing removal so needed replacing and the new ones he'd bought for the LCR rack didn't fit (larger thread) so that was one part for the GSF list. Bit of a pain, but we'll hunt down another LCR rack down the line and get it on there - no rush to drop the subframe again any time too soon though.

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When rebushing wishbones, most people remove old bushes using a press or proper tools and if they don't have those available will resort to drilling out the rubber and sawing out the race. I used the latter technique on my own wishbones last year, but this time around I took a different approach. Hub puller around the wishbone material, core pushed out with relative ease. That said, I have no vice so had to employ a couple of family members to stand on the wishbone to stop it moving! Front end is now all polybushed excluding the small dogbone bush and every nut and bolt replaced as you'd expect.

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Subframe with old rack assembled with new fARB (a 23mm H&R offering, which should provide a nice balanced feel with the 25mm rear)

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A little later, with a distinct lack of photos, front coilovers and Silver Project top mounts were on the car too along with the LCR hubs (with new bearings, centres and ABS sensors). That said, it was raining a lot and that led to a handful of breaks sheltering inside, so by the time we were done it was pretty dark. We called it a night at this point.

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More food and drinks followed and I was pleasantly surprised to be beaten to the car by Matt the following morning who was fitting the set of aero wipers I'd got him for a bargain price on eBay.

Bonus shot of my forged engine STILL sat on a stand in the garage waiting to go into my LCR - slow progress still, though adapter plate is being water cut at present and DP flanges have been lasered - once I get my hands on those I can get the rest sorted (DP, intake etc) and hopefully things will move on a little more.

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Checked over the previous night's work now that I could see it properly, all looking good to go. SP adjustable top mounts set to their most central position (stock) but fitted to give adjustability down the line when the car gets the odd run out on track.

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Got the balljoints all connected up so that the hub were held nicely in place, then got the brakes on so we could give the hub nuts a good nip up.

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Droplinks bolted up, all coming together nicely.

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Steering rack reconnected, and all the fluid that I'd ditched whilst taking out the old rack replaced. Annoyingly had I known in advance I could have left the original rack in place from the start and not had to put in new fluid, but certainly no harm in putting fresh in there and bleeding it all through.

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Got the track rod ends connected to the hubs and set up the alignment as best I could on a completely non-level surface with no tools etc. Surprisingly when Matt took the car to have it all done properly the following day caster and camber were almost bang on the figures we were after with just a little adjustment to toe as we expected (we'd guessed a small amount of toe out where we'd left it, and there was less than half a degree when checked so pretty happy given we didn't do any more than eyeball it)

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Car back on wheels, suspension not yet settled down, of course, though it seems our guesswork was pretty close for front/rear ride height (~5mm lower at the rear at present) and side to side matches perfectly.

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After a drive round the block to make sure there were no nasty knocks bangs or rattles, we went for a bit of a drive up on to Dartmoor. Had an ice cream over at Cadover Bridge, which was nice.

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Back to mine to load up all his poo again after a few days of working on the car, drinking and dodging the all-too-frequent rain showers.

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One very happy Brownie!

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He's since driven back from Plymouth to Hampshire and the car's feeling good from all reports. Obviously a fair old change from the old, worn, stock setup but we've set it all to be fairly forgiving to start. There's scope to firm things up further down the line, and room for coilover upgrades down the line but for now it's all about getting to know the car a little before pushing things on a bit more.
 

rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
In slightly more LCR related news:

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Hopefully pick these up over the next few days and get the turbo bolted to the head not too long after to sort*out the inlet, charge pipe, downpipe and oil lines.
 

rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Driving the other night with a car full of people, when I came across a fairly meaty stick in the road. Joked about being a little low in the rear to get over the thing, then proceeded to scrape on it. Karma's a bitch, I think to myself. Turns out the stick had flicked up and caught on a peice of trim under the car, popping one of the retaining points out resulting in some flapping about and scraping on the floor.

Offending piece:
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How it should look:
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How it did look:
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How it looks now:
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While I was down there, I would have liked to have finally raised the back end up a touch - I've been planning to ever since I fitted the coilovers last year but just never got aroudn to it. Unfortunately I was pushed for time so it'll have to wait longer again, but I had a quick look at where I want things sat and after doing some rough maths, plus knowing where I set Matt's Golf last week, I think I'll be winding these up so that the adjustable seat is flush with the fixed section:
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In other news, collected these last night. Some angled holes to drill, a few to tap and some countersinking and we'll be good to go:
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rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Cheers Paul, appreciate it.

If you don't have one already, get a thread started for your Cupra. It'd be nice to get a bit more discussion going in these threads (Y)
 

Ash-Kennard

why are you reading this?
Jul 31, 2008
286
0
portsmouth
Those water cut parts are looking really good! Aluminium?

Maybe you should send me a mail with some criteria next time and I'll knock out the CAD for you if you are intending some more complicated designs in future?

The Mk4 is interesting, shame about the rack not being complete. Also, I put the 5th bolt on the silver project top mounts 180 degrees from the orientation pictured. Any particular reason you decided this orientation?

Your parking photos are better than mine! I should try harder! And I will, just for you xxx

Keep up the progress, GET THAT ENGINE IN!
 

rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Hey man, cheers for the comment.

Water cut mild steel adapter, laser cut stainless flange for the DP. My first attempt at anything CAD and turned out close enough to be usable but may well take you up on the offer next time :p

Shae about the rack indeed, but easy enough to do at some point in the future - certainly won't kill the feel of the car too much any time soon given that it'll be used as a daily on the most part, but when it starts getting used on track down the line we'll look at changing it out for a quick rack (2.7 vs 3.4 turns)
The reason I went for this orientation on the top mounts is that it gives the most adjustment back/inboard to the top of the struts, which should give maximum caster/camber possible (given that they're at roughly 45 degrees). That said, for the time being the struts are at the central point so it currently makes no difference.

Prking photos are where it's at, clearly. Perhaps we need an SCN paring photo competition - most interesting parking spot wins a Mars bar...!

Engine needs to go in - I've had some interesting news at work today which might free up a little time, so the sooner I can sort out DP/charge/inlet the sooner this block/turbo can be dropped in :)

Very envious of your new engine and turbo - mine's not quite built to the same level but I'm hoping it should provide a similar level of fun once it's all run in and tuned up to suit (Y)
 

rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
So where did I get to?

Received my adapter plates and DP flanges back from the water jet/laser cutters respectively. Flanges are really nicely done, though adapters haven't been cut all that well so will need a bit of tidying up but nothing too mental.

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All lines up fairly well given how crudely I drew them up - easy enough to make a small tweak if I ever need another but more than adequate by the time I've port matched things. All bolts up pretty nicely - Lower brackets sitting in place with m6 bolts as studs, but will be tapped to correct M8 size shortly... Given I plucked the external dimensions out of thin air, the adapter is almost perfect to the thou - might actually have to take a smidge off the top to allow room for thermal expansion in fairness.

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Turbo just sat there loosely, as the plate isn't currently tapped out (and still needs countersinking)

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Will need to knock up a turbo support bracket as the stock k04-023 one obviously doesn't fit. Shall pick up some 2/3mm steel and get something thrown together soon.

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DP very crudely stuck together as a completely rough ballpark. Without cutting things line up with the flywheel end of the block, which I'm fairly sure wil be too far out. Shall get under the car and take some reference measurements so I can get things centralised properly.

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Believe this is only a breather which normally runs to the valve cover - can anyone confirm? Should be fine to blank it off if so, and run crank case and valve cover breathers further toward the filter end of the TIP.

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Popped over to visit the grandparents this morning, ventured into the cave to find a suitable ~6.8mm drill to clean up the adapter ready to tap out to M8. Annoyingly I only had a 6.5 or 7mm bit, which wasn't going to cut it. A bit of hunting later, I'd found a 17/64" (which works out to be just shy of 6.75mm, which will do nicely)

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Also found this beauty (awful photo, my bad!). 1924 Black & Decker drill, putting out arm-breaking torque (or so I'm reliably told from experience...)

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Tapped out the plate. Will need to do the top row of (not yet drilled) angled studs too, but need to get them drilled first. Couldn't get them done via water due to the change in plane - will get those done when I sort out the countersinking.

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Clocked the turbo slightly, now sitting where it should for inlet angles etc. That's pretty much where it lies at present. Hopefully get a little more done tomorrow eve if I can find the time.

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rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
It's a K04-064 so nothing enormous, though they do look fairly large due to the integrated manifold and the large integrated inlet (which has the red cap on in the photo above). I'm not chasing big power really; I'd initially just been looking for around 300bhp without too much strain on the turbo, though the turbo has been getting fairly consistent 350+ on other builds (with Ben Parsons hitting almost 400 on a standard turbo this week).

How's yours running now? Have you finalised all the mapping you were doing at all?

Few more bits and bobs have arrived over the past 48 hours but nothing major. Will get some photos and another update sorted over the next couple of days.
 

rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Well I'm going to keep posting even if you lot aren't :p

Ok so last update I'd been sorting the adapter plate and whilst it wasn't finished, it was in a fit state to hold the turbo in place on the head to start working out oil and coolant lines, pipework etc.

Turbo held in postition, DP very roughly mocked up but will need finalising once things are in the car so I can make sure it all lines up. There's a short flexi section to fit in there, either before or after the lower 45 degree bend. I'll work that out in the car though, for now it can stay where it is to ensure nothing else gets in the way.

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Picked up an N75 and some suitable hose sections for it, but had to DIY the fittings. No biggy, a few quid and all that's sorted.

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At this point, I Was getting a little bored of having more parts sat on the shelf than actually installed, so fitted the new thermostat and housing, oil filter housing, cooler, plus a few other minor bits while I was at it. Frees up a little space.

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I received the grand sum of feck all lines with the turbo, as the guy I bought it off was a complete douche. However, the only one that was included is conveniently the coolant return which should plug pretty much straight in to the 1.8t system.

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After a fair amount of hunting around online, looking at/comparing other VAG lines (the stock lines don't tend to fit) I found that an oil feed line from a 1.8t Passat looked about right. Found one cheap, tried it out and with a very slight tweak to account for the adapter plate thickness, it's bang on. Note that the bolt you can see here in the top of the CHRA is temporary while I wait for a thread adapter to take the fitting on the end of the feed flexi into the turbo. It's on order, but will take a few days to arrive.

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The oil return (turbo to sump) from the k04-023 doesn't fit the k04-064 due to the different mounting location. For the same reason, the TFSI line is also out of the question, so a custom unit needs to be knocked up. I've got a line with suitable flanges en route and a good length of flexi to join the two ends together. There won't be any real pressure through it, so I'm confident that this will do the job just fine but if for any reason it does leak it should be a nice easy one to rectify down the line.

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With the above sorted, only the coolant feed remains. I didn't get anything suitable with the turbo, so the options were to do much the same as before and find a stock VAG item to suit, or make another line up. In passing, I called in to a local hydraulic hose supplier where I found the lads inside working on a rather tidy Mk5 Golf. After chatting and lending a hand for a while, I asked for a ballpark quote for a line and they offered me a substantial discount and a great price, so I left with a new braided coolant feed line. Should do the job nicely. Converts the block fitting to suit the 90 degree connector, braided line to a banjo fitting on the CHRA.

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Picked up a silicone elbow to take the TIP into the turbo inlet. I've decided to go for some rather substantial tubing so was fairly limited in choice here and budget limited options even further so I've ended up with this one from CM. Not ideal, but I'll keep an eye on it and if there are any issues I can revisit down the line. It'll be shielded a little from the heat so hopefully shouldn't perish too quickly.

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Lots of post arrived this morning. Kittens in charge of quality control approve, though they looked a little concerned at talks of a "decat" situation...

Heatshield material for the bulkhead

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V band and clamp for the DP to decat. The bulk of the exhaust uses slip fittings, which I may band/weld down the line, but for now I'll just be using these as a compact and convenient way to be able to swap in/out a cat section as required.

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Nice load of tubing. Pictured are a nice section of stainless to produce a decat, some alu line for the charge pipe and more for the TIP.

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Will need to trim both ends and figure out the final placement of the bends and filter etc, but this will do for now to let me work out supporting mounts, any take offs (DV line etc) and MAF boss which I'm planning to integrate into the metal tubing, removing the need for a seperate plastic fitting.

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Also made up a small blanking plate for the turbo inlet. As standard, the TFSI units have a short vent line from the valve cover into the turbo. Given the placement of the valve cover ventilation port on the 1.8t I don't think I'll be using this so a simple plate will do for now. It could do with a bit of trimming/shaping, but realistically this is going to be hidden away behind all sorts (block, turbo, lines, heatshield etc) so I'll probably forget to revisit it in all honesty!

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So that's where things sit as of this evening. Slow progress as always, but it's starting to come together a little more at long last!

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rainbird

Active Member
Sep 3, 2012
244
5
Went out for a meal with my other half last night. We took her car and on arrival home, I noticed that my clocks were all lit up, even though the car was all shut and locked (and had been for hours)

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A quick bit of reading suggested that it could be a fuse issue, but more likely a dodgy solder connection on the PCB inside the clocks. No fuses were blown though removing fuse 15 turned off the lights, but obviously that wasn't a good solution. I pulled the clocks and the blue connector on the back is lightly damaged (retaining nubbin has been previously snapped off, though seems to hold fine without it). Removing the blue plug turned the lights off, so I pulled it and left it like that overnight.

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This morning, I pulled the clocks out of the car to hunt for broken solder on the PCB. Easy enough to take apart by hand.

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No signs of broken solder visible, so I cleaned out the dust and stuck them back together.

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*

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Weirdly, once in the car again the issue seems to have vanished. Probably just a loose connection I guess, but shall keep an eye on it and if it returns I'll look to stick another set of clock in there.
 
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