DGJ's Leon Cupra TDI - Staggered Rims, AP Coilovers, 312mm Brakes, Milltek Turbo-Back

[KarlB1]

I'd love a hybrid turbo, and I may have an excuse to get one fairly soon if the vanes and bearing are in as bad condition as I suspect haha, may also have to get new camshaft and buckets etc, so may upgrade to one with a higher profile, it's just getting the money together that's an issue since i'm paying off debt from my last car...Stupid old, rusty piece of JapCrap, im glad it got written off...

£135 is a lot just for the backbox :O, like i said, i paid about £100 with the stainless pipe and the tip supplied.

Haha, I'm glad everyone likes the sound Nice and grumbly when you boot it then the sound of a pigeon getting molested when you change gear!

 

[turboboy]

I decatted my dp myself, just took it off and smashed it out. My rear back box delete was 70quid in stainless with 6x4 oval so in total my mufflerectomy cost 70quid. Don't to this and egr delete though, makes the car sound like a jet on tickover and its annoying

 

[dgjdrummer]

I'd love a hybrid turbo, and I may have an excuse to get one fairly soon if the vanes and bearing are in as bad condition as I suspect haha, may also have to get new camshaft and buckets etc, so may upgrade to one with a higher profile, it's just getting the money together that's an issue since i'm paying off debt from my last car...Stupid old, rusty piece of JapCrap, im glad it got written off...

£135 is a lot just for the backbox :O, like i said, i paid about £100 with the stainless pipe and the tip supplied.

Haha, I'm glad everyone likes the sound Nice and grumbly when you boot it then the sound of a pigeon getting molested when you change gear!

Ouch mate, hope it doesn't cost too much! Yeah that's why I'm hoping to find somewhere that does it a bit cheaper as £85 seems alot just for a cut and weld job! It's that pigeon sound I'm after

I decatted my dp myself, just took it off and smashed it out. My rear back box delete was 70quid in stainless with 6x4 oval so in total my mufflerectomy cost 70quid. Don't to this and egr delete though, makes the car sound like a jet on tickover and its annoying

Did it make a difference just knocking out the internals? Would have thought it would create a swirl chamber just after the turbo

That's more like I thought it would cost all in, even if it was £50 for the work plus the tailpipe I buy myself that's still £35 less than I've been quoted so far!

Time for an update I think....

I finally managed to get my brakes separated from the hub and all the bits apart, ordered some non-acidic rust remover dip and set about getting the carriers stripped!

All the brake bits

Carriers and some bolts, rust remover...

The condition of the carriers BEFORE rust remover...

This is how they looked going in to the solution, it's a crystal compound that you mix at a ratio of around 20:1 for light problems or 10:1 for heavier corrosion (guess which ratio I went with...)

About 10 minutes later you can actually see them fizzing

1 hour later

3 hours later

The following morning (about 17 hours) - the solution turns black the more rust is stripped.

This is how they looked coming back out of the solution - already a noticeable difference and I haven't begun scrubbing them yet.

And a few photos once they were cleaned up a bit...

There was still a fair amount of rust but I didn't even know those logos were there until I got to this stage!

I put them back in to the solution as some of the rust was really heavily built up, I've given them another scrub today and chipped some of the old rust away with a screwdriver but there is still a build up in some of the corners I can;t get to yet so they're back in there until tomorrow to try and loosen the rust as much as possible! Looking about 50x better than when I first dipped them though, once they're rust free they'll be getting degreased and painted ready to go on with the larger discs!

I also picked up a few bits from Halfrauds for a fuse 38 relocation and ordered the parts I need from my local VW dealership for the driver's door de-lock.

Slowly but surely...

 

[dgjdrummer]

Update part 2:

So my carriers are now completely cleaned up awaiting some paint ready to go on with the 312mm discs! This is how they looked after 4 days of soaking and a few combined hours of scrubbing

And today while the wind had died down enough for me to get outside, I relocated fuse 38 in preparation for door de-locking. All I need to do now is get the cap painted and test the fuse relocation is ok for a few days and then I'll get it fitted

 

[MarkWales]

Fairplay that rust treatment is amazing - going to look into getting some and giving it a go at £12 a Kilo on eBay cant go wrong with your results.

 

[dgjdrummer]

It really is, and those were seriously corroded before I started so I'm well impressed. Just be sure to scrub and soak if it's bad build up and use fresh solution once the water turns black. I made 3 lots of solution (5 litres of water) and still have about a third of a tub left.

 

[dgjdrummer]

Update III

Thursday afternoon I spent most of my time popping out to the garage every 20 mins to paint my blanking cap for the de-lock, on my makeshift set up of an old light fitting on top of some cardboard on top of a couple of empty tubs! (Graham hasn othing on my spray booth!)

Pretty pleased with the result but haven;t been able to check the colour math or get it fitted yet as I'd hoped as it's drizzling constantly at the mo

On a slightly brighter note, I managed to finish the brake carrier refurb and got them painted up

Just need to get them swapped over and the 312mm disks on followed by a lick of paint on my current callipers which I'll be leaving on the car to do!

I also picked up some new drop links for when I get my big loop arb on in the next couple of weeks, figured I might as well replace them while the arb is off. Can't wait to get these bits done now!

 

[dgjdrummer]

Finally finished de-locking my door on Saturday between rain showers! It's a small detail but it makes the difference

This is before the de-lock

And after...

Just makes the car look a little neater, the colour match is slightly off, the new paint being a touch darker than the car itself, but unless you focus on it it's hardly noticeable to the eye.

Just need enough good weather to get on with my brakes and fit my new ARB now!

EDIT:

I almost forgot, I joined the 80k club at the weekend

 

[puchos]

Looking good mate, quick question where do you usually get your car serviced, mines due for its 90k

 

[dgjdrummer]

Cheers mate, things are coming together bit by bit! Just wish I had the money to do all the things I wanted to do before UD!

It was serviced when I bought it and I got mine done last year by a guy I know who does it for cheap if I supply him the parts. If it's just an interim service (oil & filters) then it's pretty straightforward anyway, but obviously doing it yourself means no garage stamp for servicing.

 

[goldie74]

Like the de-lock mate have been thinking of doing the same,Your car looks great on the coilovers i like the stance,has got me thinking about fitting some wheel spacers.

 

[dgjdrummer]

Like the de-lock mate have been thinking of doing the same,Your car looks great on the coilovers i like the stance,has got me thinking about fitting some wheel spacers.

Cheers mate, it's only a subtle thing and a shame the paint I got is a little darker than my 9 year old paint job but looks good

Yeah I would space them out at the back at least, just makes the whole stance look a little more aggressive. Especially with your car looking pretty mean anyway!

 

[dgjdrummer]

Also been tinkering with the engine cover, will report more when it's done and I've decided if I like it or not! Waiting to get my ARB put on so I can get lower and get the brakes on when I get chance, got a few things to be done in the next 3 weeks!

 

[1986brandon1]

Just had a read through this, really like the car mate. Loving the wheels and stance, and all the other work you've put in.

Have you looked into doing the exhaust yourself? Take it off, cut the back box off and sleeve a piece of pipe on and clamp it in place? Seems a much cheaper solution?

Or get a full custom one made up from stainless? Do it once and properly that way?

 

[dgjdrummer]

Cheers mate

To be honest no I hadn't thought of that, wouldn't I still need to weld a trim on though?

With regards to a full system, I've thought about it but the exhaust isn't the most restrictive thing and mine is in ok condition so don't really want to spend £500ish on a full system that isn't going to make much difference compared to just loosing the back box for a quarter of the price.

 

[dgjdrummer]

Had a hectic couple of days, was going to have a couple of scratches looked at yesterday but instead my car decided not to start. Not even a clicking relay or anything! Eventually traced it to the 'fixed' starter motor cable from the loom, got the car started and had to just bring it home and dump it on the drive, strip everything out and remove the offending piece of snapped spade connector from the terminal

While the car was stuck on the drive I decided it would be a good time to whip off the EGR for a clean out. What a ba5tard that turned out to be!

This is the inlet side before cleaning...

...and after cleaning...

And the outlet side before cleaning (huge amount of crud!)...

And after cleaning...

Looks much better, but unfortunately mu inlet manifold has the same depth of crud inside it as the outlet side of the EGR valve and ideally I need to get that off and clean it as well. I just don't have the pathience/double jointedness to do this from above the car and no stands or anything to do it from underneath!

So this morning I've had to snag a lift off my dad's girlfriend to run me to a scrappy and get the original connector required so that the job could be done properly. Managed to find the right part (at scrapyard discount price ) and got myself home to fit the new cable, used a crimp connector and a couple of layers of electrical tape and the car started first time and started repeatedly several times before I risked moving it. Touch wood this is now sorted

I did notice however that there was an opening in the bell housing and I could actually see some form of cog I've been advised this is the flywheel and they remove a bung from here to check the timing when doing the belt change, does that seem right?

I've also been to have the scratches looked at, had this and another one similar on my rear bumper:

And this down the rear quarter...

I asked a guy at a local valeting place and he managed to polish out the one on the rear quarter panel almost completely He said he couldn't do the same to the bumper though as it was plastic (was using a rotary/DA?) - excuse my mug in the reflection

Looks much better though and I'm hoping some SRP or a visit to see the owner of the place I went to today might help me get rid of the other 2 bad scuffs...anyone have any advice?

That's all for now, got some wrap today to get a couple of bits done and my engine cover and battery cover have dried nicely so will get those on soon too as always all comments welcome!

 

[RaviR50]

I think i need to get my egr out too, did you keep with the standard clips that hold on the hosing?? im scared of breaking them haha. Also what did you use to clean it with?? cheers bud

 

[joshy514]

That hole in the bell housing is a bung, mine was in last week but then not in when we took the gearbox out today :S - You think taking an EGR valve out is hard?? Do a gearbox haha! Worse thing I've done on her and it's going to be worse putting it back in The clips don't break unless you just pull the thing that looks like it should be pulled, I've taken 5 off today, as the turbo has also come off and the way I do it is to get a small flat head screwy round the back, and try to pull just one side of the clip off.... does that make sense? just pulling them will break it.

 

[dgjdrummer]

I think i need to get my egr out too, did you keep with the standard clips that hold on the hosing?? im scared of breaking them haha. Also what did you use to clean it with?? cheers bud

It's worth doing the intake too but I haven't been able to get mine out to do it due to lack of time/skill/confidence Yeah kept the standard clips on there, they do wear after a while though so I'm replacing them soon (see below).

That hole in the bell housing is a bung, mine was in last week but then not in when we took the gearbox out today :S

Thank god, worried something major was exposed to the elements then!

Right, just when things seemed to be progressing...my car hasn't felt as torque-ey of late, not much of a kick when I put my foot down and the landscape not blurring past the windows like usual. I thought possibly a boost leak and from above could see the lower intercooler hose had loosened slightly from the plastic pipe between the lower and upper hoses. Luckily a neighbour of mine has a pit dug out in his garage and I managed to get in there to have a look underneath the car, this is what I found...

Quite a loose hose covered in oil and road grime, I couldn't just push the hose back in as the C-clip was still quite tight so I removed the hose completely, cleaned up the hose and plastic pipe as best as I could and proceeded to re-fit the hose, C-clip and added a few cable ties just to make sure the hose doesn't pop off completely!

I took the car out for a test drive and all seemed much better, more of the usual punch I was used to but decided to check the hose again to make sure it was ok. It had come away though not as much as before, so I've pressed the hose back in and tightened the cable ties as much as I can without breaking them. Seems ok for now but I've ordered a new lower hose and replacement C-clips for both ends and also for the upper boost hose just to be safe. Hopefully this will sort it out!

I've recently been spraying and wrapping a couple of under-bonnet parts to try and smarten things up ready for UD, I had some platinum paint left over from doing my door lock and decided to spray the engine cover and battery cover to match the body.

Before:

Spayed and wrapped engine cover:

Both covers fitted:

I still need to give under the bonnet a good clean and there's a couple more bits I would like to spray before UD, I know I could probably go the whole hog and get new black bolts for everything but as this is my daily I'm not going that crazy with it as they won't stay that clean/new looking for long.

Car is booked for Tuesday to have the big loop arb fitted (finally) so I can get those real lows I've been after without any knocking my new lower boost pipe should be here then too so will get that put on while the arb is being done. Have ordered some wheel bolt covers as my bolt heads have started to corrode, also hoping to get some mats ordered, sand back the damage on my wheels and re-laquer them and give the interior a good steam clean to bring it up to spec. Need to get my bigger brake discs and carriers on and paint my calipers, got a couple more bits to wrap as well and then should be good to go for Ultimate Dubs!

Comments appreciated as always guys!

 

[RaviR50]

AWESOME!!! I'll be seeing you at UD then mate i tried to spray my battery box too but it turned out shite, like it had dripped but the engine cover turned out perfect. Did you sand down or use something to clean the box?? and when you wrapped that middle bit in the engine cover did it stick ok?? i wanted to mine for ages but thought it wouldnt stick :/