rickdonald

Hi mate use this website, it gives alot of information about the SMD LEDs, it says the 0603s are 0.6mm tall I think, the ones I used were about mm tall. ---------- Post added at 07:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:54 PM ---------- I couldnt find the starter kit online either, it was by accident I found it, when I went into the store they had one on the shelf by all the rest of the circuitboard parts. Give your nearest store a bell and see if they have one. Hope this helps

Ok a quick how to for the illuminated dials that i made Shopping list/required SMD LEDs (have a look at phenoptix.com) I got the 1206 ones, as they were the biggest and easiest to handle, maybe the smaller ones would help the panel fit more snugly when re-assembling, but may be a bit fiddly to solder A "my first" PCB kit from Maplins Soldering iron & solder Insulation tape Ruler (optional) First I took the front panel off my heater dials to cut one of the circuit board blanks in the kit to size, if I remember right it was 185mm by 65mm with 3 holes cut along the center-line at 46.25mm 92.5mm and 138.75mm, sorry for the patronising dimensions, annoying habit of being an engineer! Next I worked out that the green and blue LEDs run on about 3.4v and the reds 2v so made up circuits in groups of 4 green or blue LEDs and 6 red LEDs (or 5 red with one blue) this meant that in the groups there was 12v of LEDs in total so each LED group could be connected in parallel across the original 12v light circuit. I found that running it like this meant the LEDs where a bit bright for long dark drives, and if i could do it again would either use more LEDs per group or add in resistors. Next you plan on where you want your LEDs in order to light up the dials, I did it as shown below, using 7 groups. [ATTACH=CONFIG]49528[/ATTACH] Then using the marker pen supplied in the PCB kit, mark on your board where you want the tracks to run, I did mine so the bottom of the board was +ve and the top –ve, and each of the track ran from the +ve to the negative, through one of the LED groups. Can kind of see this below, excuse my lack of using a ruler when making the circuit tracks, when I was doing this, i was a bit rushed and wanted to see how it looked. So I just drew on the tracks free-hand [ATTACH=CONFIG]49529[/ATTACH] Once you have drawn your current tracks over the PCB board using the permenant marker, just follow the instrcutions supplied in the kit. Submerge the circuit board in the echant and then leave for about half an hour till all the excess copper coating has gone. When you remove it you should be left with just the permenant maker on the board, and the copper coating underneath, just wash off the marker pen and you are left with your current tracks. Remember to leave breaks in the tracks of about 1-2mm for each of the LEDs. Tried to do a quick diagram of the process: [ATTACH=CONFIG]49526[/ATTACH] Next just solder on all the LEDs, I found a fine tip on the soldering iron, and a pair of needle nose pliers were fine. Even though the SMD LEDs are tiny, remember to solder them the right way, the symbol on the bottom should be like the one in diagram 5, showing the +ve (anode) and –ve(cathode) ends. I also used a Multimeter just to double check the continuities in the circuits, making sure that there was continuity where there should have been , and not where there shouldn’t! Once its all soldered up its pretty much ready. Again because I was in a rush I just drilled a couple of small holes through the common +ve and –ve tracks and soldered wires to hook it up to the original light power supply. One note is that mine didn't fit 100%, the panel went back on top, but wouldn't clip back as far as it used to (without the circuit board behind it). Im sure with abit of fettling and trimming it would of been fine though. Im hoping to have another go along with making it abit dimmer in the near future, and ill be sure to take a few more pics on anything else i did. Hope that helps anyway, sorry if its a bit vague but if anyone has any questions or if i have missed something out, just let us know.

I haven't got a how to as such but will put up any pics I can find tomorrow night, and a step by step, although its not actually in the car at the min, I tried to dim it down abit the other day by adding resistors, but accidentally crossed wires and blew all the red LEDs....oh that was a happy moment! But will have a scout round the shed tomorrow and write something up.it's not too difficult tbh, and in the grand scheme of things doesn't cost much, maybe £40 or 50 for everything if I remember right.

Hi everyone, been here for ages now but have been a bit shy. Thought it was about time I set up one of these threads. Got my first one about 4 years ago now, a 1.8 valver, and loved it, writing this now im realising how much i miss it! Even with my VR, I miss the handling, the stiffer steering and the way it used to cock its rear wheel up when you had to (carefully) bump it off the kerb. Hopefully some new decent coilovers and an Eibach anti-roll bar on the VR should sort that out. [ATTACH=CONFIG]49501[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]49502[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]49503[/ATTACH] Anyway after about 2 years of driving the 16v I realised my insurance had gone down enough to justify putting it right back up again by buying a VR. [ATTACH=CONFIG]49507[/ATTACH] Came with a Miltek exhaust and FK suspension shocks and springs. Have done a little work to it since, Top coolant hose blew, so replaced that.....radiator started to leak, so changed that [ATTACH=CONFIG]49506[/ATTACH] .......expansion tank sprang a leak, so replaced that.....aux water pump stopped working, managed to fix that..........aux water pump hose started to leak.....ignored it! :dance: Tinted the rear lights red, detailed the front lights, and fitted an uprated loom. Had a few old door handles lying about so had a little play with wiring up some leds in the door handles to come on when the car is unlocked. [ATTACH=CONFIG]49511[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]49510[/ATTACH] Also had a go at modernising the illuminated switches. [ATTACH=CONFIG]49512[/ATTACH] They need perfecting though, need sunglasses at the moment so gets a bit distracting on long drives in the dark Recently managed to get some 17" Speedlines. Which I'm made up with, just think i could do with some coilovers though to sort out the ride height! [ATTACH=CONFIG]49504[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]49505[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]49508[/ATTACH] Next plans are to have a good go at changing the ABS pump unit as the current on seems to be abit tempremental! Also going to change the front discs, the RH front ABS speed sensor and need to change an outer C.V boot on the left too. Should be fun! Maybe while I'm at it I will repaint the callipers black :scratch: still not convinced by them! Anyway just thought id show and tell, hope you all like. Any questions or comments just give me a shout Cheers Rick

Put me down for a set (4 rollers) please mate

Aright pal, have you tried Greenlight? Im 23 and mine had some basic mods, think they go through a section of LV+ and its one of those modified policy. Mine was about £750 i think last month. You can get a quote over the net, but have to wait a day or two and log back on before it will show you a price, or just try ringing.

I'm in the middle of trying to sort my heated seats at the moment, and it looks like someone has put Toyota heated seat pads in! instead of the VW ones. [ATTACH=CONFIG]48996[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]48997[/ATTACH] Does anyone know much about the heated seat circuit? I need to know which kind of temperature sensors/thermistors are used in the standard heated seats? It looks like in the Toyota pads, the thermistor is in series with the heater track, and therefore the standard VW looms sensor circuit isn't used. I have also just discovered one of the thermistors in the Toyota pads isn't working, so i could do to know what type of thermistors the rado uses, then I can see if I can get some more and wire them up properly. Just wondered if anyone had their seats apart at the moment and could check? If i can get a reference number then i can try and hunt some down. Cheers Rick P.S. I realise this is a massive long shot, but any help would be really appreciated

Update, I've been playing around with the car for a few days now trying to get to the bottom of this. I took the pump apart and gave it a good clean and its now working. So I now have the pump whenever the ignition is on, and if the after run is triggered (i.e. >100 degrees). Which I think is how it should work on the later VR? However if the fans and pump run on after I switch the ignition off, then it means that the yellow sender is reading the coolant temp is >100 degrees, therefore you would expect for stage 1 fan be on pretty much constantly when the engine is still running? but its not, it will come on for like 10 seconds, then go off, then after another 30 seconds it will come back on again, and off...... as if the temperature cools really quick, so the fans go off, then it heats up again, fans come on, then cools again. But the temp gauge and the VAG COM readout both say the temp is just over 100 when this is happening. Does anyone else know if this sounds about right and I am just being soft? Initially I thought it might be the temp switch in the rad, but I have replaced that and it’s still the same, even checked the old one to check it opened stage 1 at 90 odd degrees by putting it in near boiling water, and it seems fine! As I said before if I bridge the connections on the plugs then the fans work exactly as they should on all 3 stages. I think my last thing I can think to do is to replace both yellow and blue thermostat temperature sensors, as I think they are both reading too hot, does this sound logical to anyone else? Or can anyone offer any more advice? Sorry for the long winded explanation, just wanted to try and get everything in. Cheers

Cheers for that, I will try taking the back off the motor tonight and see how it looks inside. I think I’m leaning towards it being the rad sender that’s causing the temperature to rise to 110 before the fans come on. As the fans do run on sometimes when I park, but only if the coolant is still 100-110, usually I have had a good run before I pull up and the coolant temp is around 90, and they stay off. So that makes me think the yellow sender seems ok? Also because I can get the fans, and coolant pump (when it feels like working) to switch on when I bridge the two relevant terminals in the yellow sender plug. Am I right in thinking points to the yellow sender working ok? I also tried plugging it into VAG-COM the other night and the temperature shown on there from the ECU seems to match the gauge, so I'm guessing I cant really blame that either Thanks

Ah do you mean the plug or the socket? I think mine is the socket on the actual motor that's gone. So it will mean taking it apart I think and seeing if I can rewire it. Cheers

Ha that would be abit embarrassing wouldn't it, I thought it would be like the other plugs and only go on one way but I will check just incase, yer bridging the wires and the fans work fine, so looking like the switch. Will try replacing it. How hard is it to replace the pump connection? Tempted to try that, really don't want to have to buy a whole pump if it's just the connection. Cheers pal

Yer, had a good long look through there last night, been having another play, I've noticed if I bend the top of the connection over on the aux pump it works, doesn't sound too health, sounds like there is a bad connection inside. And I tried the test on my fan again and both stages seem to work fine, so I think it might be the rad switch that's causing it to only switch on at 110

Hi All, know this is a bit of a common one, but I have tried searching for the last few days and poking around under the bonnet, and all its doing is getting me more worried! My coolant temperature started getting quite high while sat in traffic a few weeks ago, and from the sounds of it, my fans only come on at stage 1 when the temperature on the gauge reads 110. Then it just sits around there till i start moving again and it will sink back down to 90. I have tried checking the fans, by bridging the relevant pins to make sure I get stages 1, 2 and 3, and that seems to work fine. But on checking that I have now noticed my aux coolant pump is a bit temperamental and appears to only really work when it feels like it, i.e. sometimes it comes on, but mostly it just doesn’t bother. I have recently changed the rad, the rad thermo switch and the header tank, so I don’t know whether it could be something to do with the rad thermostatic switch? I was considering changing it back the on in my old rad. When I turn the ignition off sometimes the fan will run on when needed, but I’m not sure auxiliary pump does. When I try bridging the terminals of the 'yellow lead' to check the pump and fan run on, the fan runs, but I don’t think the pump does. Not expecting an answer but if anyone has any advice or suggestions would be great. Going to have a go at checking all the connections tonight, I had a look at the fan control module yesterday to see if anything was loose, but it was fine. Cheers Rick ---------- Post added at 05:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:47 PM ---------- just had a look at the feed for the aux pump, and it's showing 12v when the ignition is on, so I'm guessing I have a bad pump. Anyone any ideas why it's hitting 110 before the stage 1 fan turns on? Or if it could be related to the six pump? I can't see how it is, just wishful thinking I guess.

How much was your car lowered though? I'm just wary that its because of how low the car is rather than the offset or width. Even if I use narrower tires, i think it would still rub on the arch liners, or maybe on the arch lip when I'm cornering.

would the change of 10mm from 215 to 205 really make that much difference?

Sorry yes they are 215/40/17. I know that's what I cant work out, from hearing other peoples set ups they have 8" wheels with a 40 offset and don't have any problems. I think as you say the issue is how low it is, but there isn't much I can do because its just an FK suspension kit, (not coil-overs) so I cant really higher it, apart form this little increase I'm going to get from the new spring caps, hopefully hopefully hopefully...it will be enough. They have only rubbed on the front, and its always just on the edge of the arch liner (guessing when I go over a bump with the wheels straight) or on the arch lip (when i'm going round corners and the car rolls slightly) don't think it will rub at the rear because its a bit higher, but looks like it would be well within the arch anyway. I think if its still not happening with the new spring caps I may have to have a go at getting the arches rolled, and try to trim the arch liners to sit higher in the wing.

Some more pictures from fitting them the other day. really like the way they look, just annoying how its so close to not rubbing, but still does! [ATTACH=CONFIG]47495[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]47494[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]47493[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]47492[/ATTACH]

Ha getting ever closer mate, feel if I don't make the effort now though i will be kicking myself later! Yer they are fine with the suspension, just the front calliper carriers, needed at least 5mm spacers, but the wheels where still really close to the carriers. So i thought it a safer bet to change to 8mm

Dukest, sorry it's my bad explanation, when I refer to the hub spigot I mean the centralising spigot that is on the original hub, these are 13mm long, I have now just got 8mm spacers with a centre bore of 57.1 which sit over these against the hub/disc face. So I'm left with 5mm of the hub spigot to centre the wheels when mounting, an the wheel face sits directly onto the 8mm spacer. The wheels are et 48 and with the 8mm spacers the offset now is 40mm. Is that explained any better? At the moment I have just got some 195/50/15s on it. Yer I think it is abit on the low side, not complainig though. "vr6 gar" I am a little reluctant to get the arches rolled because as soon as the arch liner goes back in I will have the same problem. I think I'm going to have to see if these spring plates help matters any. And maybe have a go at rolling the arch lip a little. Anyone any experience of it, as far as I'm aware the biggest concern is just crackin the paint? Either that or drive very conservatively till I can replace the fronts for 205 tires and hope that solves it, think it would still be very close though! Cheers guys

Still cant get them to fit! Had them on again this weekend with 8mm spacers, but they are still rubbing on the front, if I go into a corner a bit quick, or over a speed bump. I even took the arch liners out, but its still just catching on the arch lip, and I don’t really want to run without the liners permanently. My last bit of hope is my car is going in to get the bump stops changed and also some new spring caps fitted, to the later ones, which are about 10 or 15mm taller than the ones currently on it, (need to change them as the diameter isn’t large enough and they keep slipping through the spring). So hopefully it should raise my car just a bit, and hopefully stop them from rubbing. After this I’m all out of ideas, really don’t want to be cutting into the wing, and I cant really afford to put some 205s on them. Anyone any ideas? Also still a bit reluctant because I think I’m going to wish id of stayed with the standard 15s too, mainly because of handling and also maybe that they look a little on the large side for the car, but I’m not sure if that’s just because I’m use to 15s? once again any opinions? Will try and get the later pictures up when I get home. Cheers

Yer they are standard (for now). Have spoken to a few places at work and i think im going to head across to Venom and see if they will sell me a set of 8mm ones and if they will give me a discount and take the 5mm ones off my hand, dont want to push them out any further than 10mm, and closer to standard offset the better, so I think 8mm might be a good compromise, plus I dont have to fuss sending the bolts back. Also was a bit concerned with the lack of clearence inside the arch when going towards lock, was close while the car was parked and the last thing I want is any rubbing. Thanks for the comments though mate, been a real help with this! cant belive how much of an ar*e its been so far! just want to get them on because they have been sat in my shed the last 3 weeks!

Right need a little more advice please anyone, I got some spacers delivered direct from FK yesterday, after ordering 2 pairs of 10mm spacers, but I fell into the trap of them meaning the whole track is spaced by 10mm, so I have 5mm spacers instead. Anyway I tried fitting them and they just clear the brake carriers, like 1mm in it, if that. So now I'm not sure what to do, whether to try and send the spacers back all the way to Germany and get some 10mm ones, or to just stick with 5mm for now and have to buy shorter bolts because the ones I have were for 10mm spacers. Any suggestions and opinions would be really appreciated Cheers Rick

Ha, I wish that was an option, but at the moment I haven't really got the money. I was thinking of putting some 205's on it when they need renewing but I still think it will rub. I'm thinking now of trying some 10mm or maybe 8mm spacers if I can return the 20mm ones. But am I right in thinking because of the size/depth of the hub spigots (about 14mm deep on rear, and 13mm on front) it means that I cant use hub-centric ones because the centre bore on the spacer wont slide all the way over the hub spigot? So I'll have to get non-hub-centric ones? does that sound about right? No don't think they have been rolled, was contemplating having to take the front arch liners out, but they won't even clear the arch lip as try are so think reducing the spacers is probably my best option

Right, after fitting the wheels last weekend I decided to get some spacers, however when looking for hubcentric ones that would fit over the 12mm spigot on the rear hubs I (foolishly) decided to go for 20mm thick ones.....FRONT AND BACK! (friends joke) to try and keep the track difference the same. But now after trying to fit them tonight I realised I have gone a bit overboard, the fronts are rubbing quite badly pretty much all the time, and im not sure whats the best thing to do. My thoughts so far are: 1) Try and swap the spacers for a 10mm set for front and 15mm set on the rear (if they will go over the spigot on the rear hub) then hope the 10mm difference on the front will be enough 2) Try and get a refund for the spacers, and get a 5mm set for the front and 5mm set for the rear. neither of which will be hub-centric, rear should be fine because of the deep hub spigot, but the fronts I'm not sure 3) Do the sensible thing and give up, try and get my money back on the spacers and sell the wheels, and just replace the tires on my 15" speedlines which was the whole starting point! :scratch: Can anyone offer some opinions? General pictures: [ATTACH=CONFIG]47123[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]47121[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]47126[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]47122[/ATTACH] Front wheel and the gap to arch: [ATTACH=CONFIG]47124[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]47127[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]47119[/ATTACH] Rear wheel and gap to arch: [ATTACH=CONFIG]47125[/ATTACH] (Excuse the poor pictures, I'm about as good at being a photographer as I am choosing the size of spacers!) Cheers Rick

Hi mate, Just did this the other day, Use an Allen key to remove the drain plug in the bottom, then a 36mm socket to remove the bottom plastic housing, shouldn't be too tight, but if it is watch out, heard a few stories about them cracking if you try to hard. Hope this helps Rich