StueyBs '95 VR6: Thread resurrection circa 2011...

[vwdeviant 0]

Nice one stuey... two things though...

 

Samcos and a blue cap for the bottle (or mk4 u-grade)

[zak 0]

nice work, your merc wheels were pretty clean from what i remember. What refurb have you done on them?

[Jim Bowen 1]

good mods :D i've just got a magnex too, i take it thats the famous rear bracket?

 

interested in those engine/gearbox mounts, am sure mine need doing, are they hard to fit?

[StueyB 0]

Nice one stuey... two things though...

 

Samcos and a blue cap for the bottle (or mk4 u-grade)

Cheers mate, Samco's are literally next on the list, just cba to wait on them, delivery times seem crazy. So am waiting for a black set to come up on here and hopefully get in quick. Mk4 washer bottle upgrade is required for sure, and would help as my current cap needs a mallet to undo the thing.

 

nice work, your merc wheels were pretty clean from what i remember. What refurb have you done on them?

Thanks Zak, big fan of your rado. Merc wheels were deceptively untidy, they were clean enough but i'm a massive perfectionist as i'm sure mates will justify and fancied trying something different. Will get remaining pics / update sorted very shortly so all will be revealed. Taken a while to get used to them tho since rocking the hub caps for so long.

 

good mods :D i've just got a magnex too, i take it thats the famous rear bracket?

 

interested in those engine/gearbox mounts, am sure mine need doing, are they hard to fit?

Tis indeed the famous bracket, i think even though it came with the exhaust package its actually one of the repro items of this forum. Very well made, and sealed the deal of buying this exhaust as i was included.

 

Some of the mounts are more difficult to fit that others, but overall nothing too demanding, fiddly more than anything else. I'm lucky in that my bro is a SAAB technician so he seems to take my part fitting requests in his stride. I make sure i'm there passing tools, learning and doing what i can myself.

[deanjames 0]

niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee stuey

[StueyB 0]

Been ages since i've updated this so thought about time i caught up:

 

Needed to source some winter wheels as i'd decided it was time for the merc wheels to go.

 

Take one set of BBS VZ's from the latest breaker:

 

 

Shod in some new rubber courtesy of camskill.co.uk and their ridiculous tyre prices :D

 

 

Add one set of geniune VAG carbon fibre look BBS centres:

 

 

and we should soon be achieving something a little like this:

 

 

 

Turned out to be a great choice, car not only drives much better on these (unsuprisingly) but most think they look better than the previous set.

 

Couple of late night snowy pics of the car in its new home (moved out a while back) and one of my bro's Mk3 VR.

 

 

 

 

Xmas Highs included some Samco Black Hose loving and xmas lows included heater matrix death on the samco hose test run. Spent two days over Xmas/NYE period ripping out the dash out, replacing heater matrix and refitting dash. Have to say a big thanks as always to my bro for cracking this out with me and Josh aka mariojoshi for realigning and engaging my box. :norty:

 

Heater matrix death:

 

 

Other than that it looked quite tidy:

 

[StueyB 0]

So post xmas, i'd noticed a rather wet passenger footwell which is always a rado night mare, potential to be heater matrix ( :lol:), perished door seal, sunroof leak, foilage seal etc....? This happened a couple of times during the seriously rainy period we had back in November so unlike most other issues i have i dealt with this straight away. Suspected the foilage seal as this is the classic cause of damp feet so got the bits ordered from VAG as per the rado wiki, cheap as chips for once.

 

 

Cheaky mid-fit shot (last shot on the merc rims):

 

 

Was dreading this job due to being fiddly but after taking one apart the previous week (breaker no.3) i was well practiced. Old seal and surrounding area was mysteriously dry but plough'd on with the job any way as on removal of the foliage cover I could see why these fail. The old seal was as hard as nails and wouldn't have stood up against the elements much longer. Managed to re-secure some of the windscreen trim after uncovering the slight bodge job the windscreen fitter had down. All in all a job well done even tho it turned out i hadn't solved the wet foot well problem.

 

Turned out to be a perished passenger door seal, water was running down the door and body near the hinge, the internal metal section of the seal had started to rust away becoming flakey and loosing form. After removing this and surrounding trim it was clear this was the cause of the leak as the back of well was bone dry where as the base was soaked. Stole a replacement door seal from breaker no.3 and after some swearing at the door sill trim it all went back together and no more wet footwell! :D

 

December rolled round and so to the bodyshop booking, perfect timing really based on the weather that was round the corner. I fear the snow and subsequent salt would have completely K.O.'d the shell. Thankfully Martin @ MH Auto's in Bletchley worked what i can only describe as miracles with the rear arches using panels we'd cut off breaker no.2 and did an extremely tidy job with the fronts. Now have four new arches freshly rolled with both sides paint matched in. Will get some detailed pics up once we have a nice day, car's clean and i have a decent camera/photographer. But here's a few attempts i took whilst snapping newly fitted colour coded delocked passat handles (had them c/c'd when the car was in).

 

Old grey handle:

 

 

New delocked passat c/c'd effort (notice freshly reformed rear arch):

 

 

Couple of late night shots following the first time i washed it after paint:

 

 

 

 

All in all i couldn't be happier with the bodywork, level of workmanship on the rear arches is seriously impressive, i've spent a fair amount of time eyeing them up trying to spot weld points, panel differences etc and i struggle everytime. Been over it all with a magnet and its all metal too so no nasty filler to worry about in the future. Only problem now is that the fresh paint shows up the old paint, a bit like tattoo's this paint malarky i reckon. Once you have one you'll only end up wanting more so could be going back for some further body mods and blow over front-top and backend - skunk styles.

 

Father christmas came in the form of a black samco kit, been well over due, cheaper than a full set of replacements and this set came up cheap as chips and without the 6 week wait from Samco themselves.

 

 

Fitment wise all was going so well until the test run in which as mentioned one of the heater matrix outlets gave way, i guess we disturbed it on removal and fitting. Better to go then tho a min from home than on the motorway on the way to work. So the inevitable dash out and replace heater matrix happened between Xmas and NYE, not planned by any means but heyhoe was on the cards due to mileage. Dash is now back in solid as a rock (dash bolts were loose as arseholes so no wonder it rattled) and has improved audio and headunit fitment no end. Once it was all done tho, the Samco's in situe were worth the effort, smarten up the bay a treat and don't have to worry about old hoses blowing out when giving it beans.

 

Jan bought a barrage of snow based abuse and not a lot of love really. Couldn't believe i was actually driving the thing through half of it seeing as it had only just been painted but this is my daily so it had to be done. Still rolling on the merc wheels i knew i was pushing it, i kept putting off replacing the worn BBS pair of tyres and swapping them over. Finally i got a pair of trusty Falkens sent to my bro's work along with two of the BBS. Changed, balanced and piled waiting in the garage ready one saturday morning i headed over to my parents to swap them over only to loose it on the ice rink that was parents road and play pinball with the passenger side curb. A mint set of merc wheels lined up to be sold were reduced to a mint pair and shabby pair due to two large curb scores on. Couldn't believe my luck! :x

 

February seemed to be hear before i'd even blinked and consequently I was well over due for a service, so over the last few weeks i've been collecting the bits required. Bulk bought some oil filters vagparts.com as i seem to be buying these far two often singularly and went halfs on 25l of GM Geniune Semi-Synth oil with my bro for a bargainess staff discounted price. I then set about picking up a specific set of HT Leads i'd seen on rado forum members car who came over to collect some bits.

 

 

 

Specially imported from the good-ol-US-of-A, blue gangsta spec. Tried ordering a set from C&R Enterprises in Nottingham who are the UK importer but such is my luck they are waiting for their shipment which could have been up two a 6 weeks wait. So i decided to go straight to the source - rapidparts.com popped up via google and after exchanging a few emails, Peter @ RP sorted me out, add in some highly recommended NGK Iridium spark plugs and the VR will soon be singing the sweetest tune again.

 

And finally the 'new rollers'...here's a clue:

 

 

 

Any guesses for what they are?

[zak 0]

nice update, are the new wheels azev a's?

[jamin 0]

Good work Stu, look forward to seeing the new rims. Might have to use ur recent work as motivation for mine now, just can't be arsed in this weather, haven't got the time or money either.

 

Make sure u get some pics up!!

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

very nice them rims suit the car well 8)

[StueyB 0]

nice update, are the new wheels azev a's?

Tis a good guess but unfortunately incorrect. :lol:

 

Good work Stu, look forward to seeing the new rims. Might have to use ur recent work as motivation for mine now, just can't be arsed in this weather, haven't got the time or money either.

 

Make sure u get some pics up!!

 

Thanks Ben, understand the time, money, motivation thing but sometimes its a case of getting stuck in and feeling better about it afterwards.

I know your c/c'd passat handles were inspiration for me to do this mod for sure.

 

Once i'd tracked down another pair of wheels to complete the set i'll certainly be putting some pics up. High hopes for these being 'THE' wheels.

 

very nice them rims suit the car well 8)

Cheers dude, was never a fan of these previous but once i saw them in the flesh i did a complete 180 on them.

Hoping to have a mess with the coilovers shortly and get the car sitting better as i'm no 100% happy with it at the mo.

[StueyB 0]

Having a struck a couple of deals to sell on varying head units i own I decided I could buy myself a new one.

Ordered it last week and it turned up the following day. Not bad for free delivery:

 

Alpine XDA-311 - iphone integration here we come.

 

 

Finally got myself a 4 channel amp in the form of a prototype Genesis amp, collecting 2nite all being well:

 

 

These mean i can finally install my audioscape pods and genesis components.

My audio experience should soon be greatly enhanced.

 

More pics to follow...

[StueyB 0]

Despite spending a fair few pennies on some nice audio bits that didn't seem to stop things breaking this month.

 

Had an incident with a stray brick / rock in the road recently and managed to do this:

 

 

 

Literally written off a perfectly good set of BBS VZ's unless i can find a replacement (which is proving difficult).

Not a happy chappy.

 

However having seen this pop up on the forum recently and wanting a set for ages, i made the purchase for when i have the front and rear ends smoothed and resprayed.

 

 

Spotted this in Aldi when i was helping buy cheap air tools - made me chuckle.

 

 

And my brother recently purchased one of these, should be interesting.

 

 

Thats all folks. :lol:

[jamin 0]

Dood, that poor rim :cry:

 

I am keeping a look out!

[StueyB 0]

Dood, that poor rim :cry:

 

I am keeping a look out!

Cheers Ben,

 

Apparently they are BBS VZ 023 to be precise, few variations.

[StueyB 0]

On a bit of a roll at the mo so thought why stop now, lets get some more bits in.

 

Something borrowed, something blue.

 

Stolen mariojoshi's smoked headlamp protectors, rather snazzy and so simple to fit/remove. Gunna buy myself some clear ones to protect my mint lenses from motorway abuse, really surpised i've not cracked one yet since replacing an original a while back.

 

Due to a rather special 24v all singing all dance rado being broken at the mo, i decided to nick one of his trick mods and with the car being aqua blue it was perfect. Out with the s2000 aerial and in with the rather appropriate new scirocco shark style fin. Less dodgy looking than the beamer jobbies.

 

 

Will get pics of actually item when its fitted, will have to remove headling shortly anyway to fix my sunroof wiring so thought why not change this at the same time.

 

Latest stuff i've fitted:

 

Audioscape Pods & Genesis Comps - really loving these, bedding in nicely too.

 

 

 

Alpine XDA-301 - seriously awesome bit of kit with its iPhone integration & charging, never a flat battery again.

 

 

Also gave the car a well over due clean this weekend, hadn't been done since before Tunisia, dusty as a mofo.

My fav mod so far:

 

 

And finally got some nice arch work shorts too (really a testament Martin @ MH Autos in Bletchley):

 

 

 

 

 

Currently rolling around on my bro's OZ's, think they suit the car well considering its a temp fix due to the BBS incident:

 

 

Oooooo and the replacements:

 

 

How the car looks as of May '10:

 

 

A stark difference from this:

 

[A5 VRX 0]

That looks great, arches look awesome too. Are they OZ Exclusives, had them on my first mk2 but with centre caps, loved those wheels!

 

AJ

[StueyB 0]

That looks great, arches look awesome too. Are they OZ Exclusives, had them on my first mk2 but with centre caps, loved those wheels!

 

AJ

Thanks AJ.

Am chuffed with the arches, have seen a fair few sets of rolled / flattened and none have been done to this standard. I think the key with these is he's actually old skool panel beaten them flat and shaped as he went.

 

Wheels are indeed OZ Exclusives, bought them off here on a whim, my bro took one look at them and said i'll have them. Quick refurb down @ BJV and bingo.

Unfortunately can't fit the standard centre caps because the lug for the cap has been machined off. Thinking i can probably get some Compomotive style push in caps to finish them off. Really old skool cool wheel tho.

[G60MAT 0]

Liking this a lot, nice work! ;)

[StueyB 0]

Plan to bring this thread back from the dead in the coming weeks...

 

...only a mere 4 years to catch up on. :lol::lol::lol:

[jamin 0]

Plan to bring this thread back from the dead in the coming weeks...

 

...only a mere 4 years to catch up on. :lol::lol::lol:

 

So where is it then dood? I'm back too!!!

[Bally 0]

😎👍