boost monkey

Mulling through my thoughts on the Plum, I have broken most things down into their constituent parts: Engine & Drivetrain Will stay with the 1.8 16v for now. Need to find one from a Corrado (or find out the clutch setup differences from the Mk2 Golf – anyone?). No intention of changing the gearbox so that can stay as it is. New gearchange cables perhaps? Not sure if they’re readily available. Potential gearbox turret overhaul. Both clutch cylinders thought to be serviceable. Clutch itself thought to be good, but easy enough to check as it’s all dismantled. Exhaust system is Powerflow Stainless Steel from downpipe back. Potential replacement of manifold and downpipe with 4-2-1 stainless manifold. Thoughts of engine swaps draw a blank – 20vt too sheepish. 2.0 16v swap may involve wiring and injection system change. All others too expensive. Suspension Currently on OEM Boge Gas VR6 shocks and 16v springs all around. Epic ride height. Handles well and absorbs bumps though which is to be expected from a new standard set up. Has currently covered about 10 miles in the last 3 years, so hoping they are all still in good usable condition. Struts built with all new VAG hardware excluding springs in 2008/9. Steering Standard PAS setup. PAS lines not connected, which may have led to the death of the rack internally due to my own laziness (and lack of chassis rail bracket to hold PAS tank). Will have to check the rack is ok – overhauled externally in 2008/9 but no info about dirt /ice ingress into internals. Known to still be working with front end jacked up and R&P mech hasn’t seized. Brakes Currently no brakes on front wheels, rears have new discs on due to them holding the bearings. Hoping to use standard G60 setup on front with all new parts. Perhaps ally / mk4 calipers on the rear if funds allow. Also looking at braided brake hoses. Hard lines 50% replaced with Cupro-Nickel lines so will need to be finished. New Brake Bias Reg at the rear already. Potential replacement of brake M/C – servos normally bulletproof. Chassis Front end setup (subframe, wishbones, ARB) all in good condition after copious use of waxoyl back in 2008/9. Nothing needs replacing. Rear axle believed to be from mk2 golf (lack of strengthening plates) needs some work as adjustable NS bracket needs positioning – use new chassis dimensions scan to align axle properly if not already done. Axle may need to be removed to finish hard brake line replacement. All rear hardware (stub axles, bearings, etc) replaced in 2008/9. Wheels will remain 15” Sebrings for now. All 4 tyres are dubious or destroyed so will get replaced. Bodywork Tailgate showing some rust under edge of window rubber. Found replacement nearby in DBP for £50. Not sure of condition. OSR/NSR window also needs replacing. Both front wings deteriorated on arch and the bottom edge where they wrap under chassis. Potential fix to wings due to lack of early body parts (esp DBP) on the cards. Doors and bumpers are fine. Serious corrosion on NSF chassis rail below battery tray. Replacement VAG tray £50 – not viable. Area to be ground back and rewelded using MIG and steel plating. Also some floorpan work to be done due to poor repair in the past / rusty welding. Potential DBP full external respray will remain a pipe dream. Retumbling of locks to enable single key use for all 3 doors would be a bonus. Electrics Full rewire of electric windows and central locking circuits. Fusebox imitating red spaghetti with the occasional fuse and relay lurking. All instruments working well as far as memory serves. Dash guage replacement due to faulty temp gauge – thanks to CazzaVR for that. New CL & EW control module thanks to ProdigalSon. Electric Mirrors a bit “grumbly” but work. Sunroof still works faultlessly (for now). Brand new uprated headlight loom added to list. Ignition switch swap also necessary. New engine loom also necessary due to many brittle/broken wires fixed with bullets and spade connectors. Interior This section of minor importance. All black trim swapped in by (a) previous owner. Seats are dark with blue/green fleck. Possible replacement of black seats with purple fleck to match paintwork(!). JVC headunit and 6x9s in the parcel shelf more than adequate for sound. Carpets slightly damaged but possibly usable. All sound proofing currently stripped (from floor), research for best value replacement. Just some notes I formed into some kind of order really. All comments, criticism and advice welcome as always. Jon aka turborangutan.

Anyone got any? Preferably square on to the rear panel and as high res as possible please :D

There's a new one on ebay for £80? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I had exactly the same problem as you, and I have brand new relay that you need. I bought it for my golf, but turned out to be ignition switch. To test - if it's the switch, wiggling the key in the ignition will fix it or they will come on and go off again like a bad connection issue. It's not 100% the relay. It's way more likely to be the switch, but try that ^^^ and let us know what you think. The relay is £13(!) from the stealers. I have the part number if you want to order one (current item as fitted to all models of VAG vehicles) or you could have mine for £5+post which is still brand new in bag, never been touched with the invoice still attached! :lol: Edit: if you have trouble starting the car, then it could be the relay as it's in charge of turning off all high-amp circuits to allow the starter motor to work the best. The circuits affected are the ones you mentioned (wipers, blower, demister) plus also the headlights - the dashboard lights will remain on though.

I know there's normally a vote on which pictures make it into the calendar, but what about a calendar of the WIPs? I feel rather left out.

:oops: I actually feel quite bad about my lack of effort over the past week, considering I was harping on about how it was only a few days design process :?

Yes just one would be fine as I can "mirror" it in cad :D Cheers banan0rator, that is most generous of you. I'll pm you my address :D

ok!

Not sure. I asked Google for 80s german mullet and I got that beauty.

This is Hans

Wow, completely missed this update! Sorry about that. Cheers Dave. I've been remodelling the hub based on the IGES data. This is because the IGES data is basically a set of curved surfaces meshed together and as such I can't do things like snap to hole centres. Also there's some broken geometry around the holes themselves so it's hard to tell where the centres are. This is where i've got to so far, spending some spare time over the last few days: It's a basic representation of the hub - the key things are the hole locations and other features with respect to each other. With the original data ghosted over the top. Still needs ABS sensor pickup and also track rod end arm! And with the full original data overlaid. The fundamental shapes are the same. I just need to check hole diameters and distances between them to make sure the geometry is correct. Once this model is finished, it will be much easier to offset the two major damper holes and play about with scrub radius location and all the other stuff. Pics attached for the FishWire :salute:

isn't there a screw thread that you have to wind along the engine bar so that it sits horizontal once it is all connected up? Think of it as a see-saw with a fatty boom boom on one end and a skinny stickman on the other. You want the pivot point closer to the fatty end (which ever end is pulling downwards in your case) hth, Jon.

looks nice. I'm feeling the DBP love.

Great work and colour :D what's the whitey bit in the pic, primer? wasn't sure if it was a replacement part or not.

I swapped the dead OSF window reg this weekend which took longer than expected. I also did the gearbox mount to try and reduce the judder i get sometimes from pulling off. AFAIK it's not the clutch thought I did get an MOT advisory for a CV joint so i guess it could be that. I can slim the Plum shafts on to check it I guess. The box mount took about 6 hours. God knows why. The bolts just didn't line up properly. It was quite horrendous. So I didn't get to my vacuum lines or my new stalk (deffo looks like I can swap the MFA 'end' onto it even though it's from a base model) but they were less priority than the other two. Also, secured a new job at a great company on a lot more money which starts in 3 weeks so very happy about that :D means more money into the plum fund!

The names you make up for stuff that you don't like make me :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

*facepalm*:brickwall:

I'm glad you have undertray plans - I was thinking of cadding something up also. Purely conceptual (in my head) at this point! Hope all goes well with the house resto. What paint code will you be using? :lol:

shifting to 4th at ~90mph reminds me of my mk2 16v :D

looks belgian from the front plate. Not a big fan of the aftermarket colour and Porsche(?) wheels thing.

do they wash your car in cake? I'm not sure that will do the paintwork much good. Why don't you move back into civilisation? :D

The late spec bonnet only has a positive bulge to allow for more soundproofing to drown out the awful chain jangle of the VR6. :lol: ;)

Favourite Mk2 next to Renner 2 (VR powered 4wd etc etc)

can't a local tuning company help you, at least for the discs? I know EIP or APR are over in Oz.

register on http://www.vagcat.com now, thanks me later :D