IH786's LCR BBT K04 - Full spec list on page 1!! / Colour change - Finished?

[IH786]

Soo - what next?

Car made it through the winter with no real issues. I generally take it very easy during that particular time of year, especially when running 300+ bhp thru the front wheels!

Bought a Liquid Gauge - no pics of it unfortunately.

Doesn't have a great look (90's PC graphics spring to mind) but find it a really useful tool, can scan for fault codes, reset my TB and look and EGT's, MAF airflow etc

I have to qualify this by saying it was freezing cold (maybe 2degs) and its only an indication but I managed to get a reading of 342bhp on the gauge one night......

No pic again so you will have to take my word for it!!

Decided I needed to find a way to handle the powah! So bought a second hand box fitted with a Quaife LSD

No pics of the box, it looks no different from my normal box so what was the point of taking a pic

I decided to check the condition of the clutch and flywheel at the same time. The Helix paddle plate felt fine at the time - but on inspection it was cutting a small groove in the DMF and itself.....

So decided to remove it and fit a good condition DMF along with my old Sach uprated clutch plate.

Feedback on the Quaife? Hard to say as it was fitted in the winter time and I do take it easy and also had another issue......

One of the front coilovers (KW V3's) started to leak

So at the start of 2014 it was running a Quaife LSD with V3's on the rear and standard LCR shock on the front while I sent the front V3's off to Germany to be rebuilt...

 

[IH786]

So moving on, after what seemed an eternity KW came back to say they could not rebuild my coilovers as they are too old and no longer have the parts to repair them..

Took them back to the UK and asked for a second opinion and they came back with the same response.

So £500 later:



And fitted back to the car, along with some new discs:











And now we are up to March 2014

Fitting the Liquid Gauge made it painfully clear that the EGT's were wayyy too high. Constantly getting close to 900 crusing at 80 on the mway, and on full throttle... to scary to say...

 

[IH786]

So decision time, what to do?

Well it just so happens a couple of k04 manis were about to be released.

Which one did I go for? That will be revealed later

But I decided it was stupid driving the car with a standard mani and stupidly high EGT's.

Especially since it came apparant to me I made a big mistake when I had my head built. I opted for non-inconel exhaust valves. Not really recommended when my EGT's are close to 1000 degrees!

So about 4 months ago I got myself a "new" German whip:





T reg MK4 AGU 1.8T with 240k on the clock. 18 inch speedlines, poybushed with KW coilovers, rear ARB, R32 ARB and heated Recaros.

And best of all? It's LPG converted, so farr more economical than the LCR.

Cost? £375

I do a lot of miles driving for work so it paid for itself in a few weeks of driving

 

[IH786]

Fast forward to last week. My poor LCR has been gathering dust as its been SORNED since April:





Discs rusty as hell, they only had done a few hundred miles!

Needed to be put on life support and battery was flat as a pancake:



Took it for a quick spin around the block to get the engine up to temp before I dropped the oil and got to work.

Before:



2 and a bit hours later:



Novel way of keeping the bottom end - cling film - does the job!

Head and turbo off:





So what mani did I end up with? Here goes...........

 

[IH786]

A Pro 4 - still keeping faith in Relentless products after 2 cracked V2's (must be mad) - but feedback so far has been very positive.

Also got me some of these:





Supertech Inconel exhaust valves.

Head had been sent off to be sorted. Turbo will be sent off the week to JNL racing to be port matched with the Pro 4.

After that I will slowly put the car back together. Not a massive amount more to do.

Broken it down as follows:

Refit head and turbo
Spray rocker cover and charge pipe black (don't like the grey)
Fit a cold air feed and heat shield
Fit brake cooling ducts
Bleed the brakes
Give the car a thorough clean and polish

What else can I do to this car? It has literally everything a LCR could have, I really don't need anything more.

To be fair I would be happy if it just runs right, fast and reliable (wishful thinking)

The Golf is serving me well, currently doing 600 miles a week for work so it staying with me and getting closer to the the quarter million mile mark

Phew - after 2 pages of updates we are now up to date!

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

[JDUB 20V]

Quite a roller coaster ride mate, keep the updates flowing with the mani - i too was in the same position as u with the mani but watching from a far to see which one proves best.. Also JP is good at his **** and has been really helpfull along my journey too.

 

[Ronin225]

Seems like an age ago sending you that mani
Nice to see you've still got it and plan on keeping it too

 

[joshy514]

Can't believe I've never seen this before. Wish I had the spare cash to do all of this! I've just ordered some mesh to do the big mouth, and I want it to look like yours (sorry), did you bring the mesh forward by hacking away at the bumper? If you know what I mean as the standard grill sits a way back.... Also, how have you bonded the mesh? You've had your ups and downs but it will be one hell of a car once you get her running right! Love the seats too, wanted some for ages! Had r32 konigs in my fr but sold them before they went in the LCR. Got some jap recaros waiting for the LCR instead now. Good luck with the new mani, looking forward to more updates.

 

[joshy514]

One more, how is the plate mounted?

 

[IH786]

Can't believe I've never seen this before. Wish I had the spare cash to do all of this! I've just ordered some mesh to do the big mouth, and I want it to look like yours (sorry), did you bring the mesh forward by hacking away at the bumper? If you know what I mean as the standard grill sits a way back.... Also, how have you bonded the mesh? You've had your ups and downs but it will be one hell of a car once you get her running right! Love the seats too, wanted some for ages! Had r32 konigs in my fr but sold them before they went in the LCR. Got some jap recaros waiting for the LCR instead now. Good luck with the new mani, looking forward to more updates.

Thanks! I try not to think about how much cash I have spent. Although I did break these cars so kept a few of the nice parts for myself (225 wheel, teardrop mirrors and Recaros) so that helped a little

I used a dremel to cut the bumper so it was all level. Didn't do a great job as I am a little cack handed, but you can't tell unless you look real close up

I tried a whole load of different glues but none of them worked. Instead I drilled tiny holes around the edge of the bumper and then ran some thick metal wire in the hole and around the grille (think green mesh fence type) and twirl it up at the back.

Probably doesn't make any sense, will try and get a pic of it later.

Again not the most elegant solution, but it does the job!

One more, how is the plate mounted?

Plate is mounted by using some strong double sided tape

 

[IH786]

Seems like an age ago sending you that mani
Nice to see you've still got it and plan on keeping it too

Yeah it really was a long time ago. I don't think I can give up now having spent so much time and money on it.

Really miss it too, the Golf I am driving at the moment is embarrassingly slow (despite essentially having the same engine!)

Small update:
Heard back from Andrew @ ALD (very active on Audi-Sport forum) about my head.

Turns out the valve guides need replacing and a skim is required. So not just a simple (and cheap) valve swap required..

Anyway, I actually feel good. At least now I can be confident the head is 100% perfect when its back on the car.

Will try and separate the turbo later so it can be ready to be sent to JNL

 

[joshy514]

I just justify it by calling it my hobby! No that makes perfect sense, I do it literally everyday at work on the helicopters to lock nuts etc. I'll see what stuff I can borrow at work, might wire lock it in a few places though I case it fails. Ahh cool, I really don't know where to put my plate, thought about a stick on one but I'm unsure.

 

[Jamie_g]

nice thread mate

 

[JDUB 20V]

More updates needed

 

[IH786]

Update time!

Turbo was split up so hotside could be sent out to JP @ JNL Racing for porting:







Here it is after the porting to match with the Pro 4 (which I also gave him), JP recommended I run a gasket, which also had to be ported too:



Also got my head back from Andrew @ ALD:



Thing were looking good, didn't last long though........





Ahh crap!!

I have had a funny vibration in my car for ages. Turns out ALL the bolts for the engine side mount were loose (not including the broken one), including the body to chassis leg mount...

 

[IH786]

Luckily for me, the bolt came out quite easily, just tapped it out with a sharp chisel and wound out with some molegrips:





So moving on, head back on:





Turbo reassambled:



Manifold ready to go on:



Two shorter studs fitted on the top row:



Charge pipe shield needed a bit of trimming:



Manifold fitted, access to a few nuts was difficult, needed to trim my spanner down but got there in the end, no harder than the v2, much easier tbh.

Did have one issue with the charge pipe shield bolt touching the manifold, ground it down loads but ended up having to cut it:



Hardly any clearance, just as close here too:



Manifold fitted:



And then turbo mounted:

 

[IH786]

Not much done since, fitted the timing belt, very easy to do with the engine out:

Here are the parts I bought, IMO the best kit you can get for the price:



Continental Timing Belt: £22 (ebay)
Genuine Water Pump: £32 (TPS)
Genuine Roller Bearing: £32 (ebay)
INA Hydraulic Tensioner: £46 (mister-auto)

Total cost: £132 - far cheaper than dealers but still excellent quality items.

 

[IH786]

Few more updates to bring me up to date to this weekend.....

Firstly I fitted my baffled sump, got it cheap off Ed38 - believe its a BDM sump and supposedly based on the old Seat touring car design:



Also fitted a new pickup pipe, didn't really need to change it but it was lying around so thought, why not?!



So then I had a load of niggly jobs to do. First of all was change over the aluminium bracket on the front of the engine that holds the aux pulley, alternator, a/c pump and steering pump. The bolt threads for the aux pulley were ruined, very easy to do as they are soft and i have removed that pulley 100's of times!

Also swapped over the steering rack as mine felt a bit 'heavy'. Luckily for me I had a spare from a car I broke recently, looks like it may have been refurbished at some point too so again thought, why not?!



Also painted the short power steering pipe as it was a bit rusty. Will also do the long pipe that runs along the gearbox, and the engine coolant pipe as again it looks a bit rubbish.

All preventative maintenance, sold a few of these pipes to people whose hoses rusted through and started to leak. These cars are getting old now and if I don't keep on top of these things now they will come back to bite you one day for sure!

AND FINALLY THE ENGINE IS BACK IN



Not that excited really, still got loads to do and not really in any rush to get it finished.

This is turning into a really slow build, was only meant to swap the mani and look at it now

 

[IH786]

Last updated this thread in September 2014 - thought I should finally keep you all posted on the latest developments!

Well - its 18 months later I am happy to report its finished (well actually it was sorted since last summer) and running almost perfect

Thought it would be best to do this as a timeline so here goes.

Winter 2014

With the engine back in and winter here I made the decision to slow down on the rebuild as I wasn't in any rush to get it back on the road when the weather is so rubbish.

So I finished off a couple of thing on the engine and then concentrated on some non-mechanical bits for a change.

One of the last things on the engine was the PCV bypass. I was venting to atmos using 19mm pipes but had removed and fitted them to my Golf as its PCV system was ruined.

On the advice of JP @ JNL is have continued to vent to atmos but switched to 25mm hoses.

Now 6mm more doesn't sound like much but these hoses are huge! Like an elephants trunk. I have used some alloy pipe on 1 bend as it was easier and looks better too

Doesn't look too bad at all:

I also had to sort out the downpipe. Why? Well when fitted it was far too close to the bulkhead/floor and I was paranoid about it hitting the body and vibrating. Also the lambda wiring was hitting the bulkhead too so I wanted that blanked off and relocated. So I had a new lambda boss weldec on and cut the flange on and had it rewelded. Ended up having to do this about 5 times as could never get it right..

Moving on from that I decided to spray my rocker cover as it was looking a bit tatty. I spent ages prepping and masking it. Used the proper gloss black VHT paint, even cooked it in the oven.

It came out great:

But not long after it was fitted to the car the colour went dull and it seemed to chip off far too easily

Then I decided to make a custom heatshield as the air filter and MAF were just flopping around. Opted to make it around the Honda S2000 filter as they are cheap and seem to flow nicely.

Since my battery is in the boot I have a lot more space to play with. This allows me to run a larger heatshield, and I wanted it to be similar to the R Tech one - getting it as close as possible to the bonnet / slam panel with a cold air feed from the front so the air remains as cool as possible.

So how did I do it? Well started off with a rough idea in my head and a box of cornflakes!

After a lot of cutting, sticking and swearing I ended up with my template:

Which the outline was then transferred onto an aluminium (2mm from memory) sheet. I cut it with some tin snips and bent it into shape over my kitchen worktop.

And here it is:

Finished it off with some weatherstrip and then trial fitted it. As you can see it is designed to fit in with the standard front slam panel air feed:

Once I was happy with the fit I drilled the hole for the MAF and wrapped it in carbon effect wrap on the outside and matt black on the inside. Mainly to hide all the imperfections and to make it look good:

Overall I am very happy with how it turned out

 

[IH786]

Spring 2015

So now I moved onto lighting. I wanted to upgrade both the interior and exterior lights to LCD/HIDs.

I was bored over xmas and bought these from ebay - all from China so very very cheap:

Now it turns out that some of these don't fit. Namely the full beam headlight ones (too big) and the brake light ones fitted but didn't work.

All the rest fitted well and are still working. They are a big improvement over the standard bulbs. I did take some pics but they seem to be missing and I cant be bothered to take anymore.....

I did take some pics of this though:

Split the lenses to fit projector HIDs with angel eyes

Never thought I would be brave enough to do it and was convinced I would break them! Was a little hairy. Had to put them in the oven for much longer than I thought. The noise they make when being split is terrible.....

Putting them all back together is simple, and the wiring is simple so even a monkey like me can do it. Then tiger seal the lenses back on, a few cable ties and molegrips for the areas where the backing was bent too much:

Headlights were fitted back to the car and after a few issues with my cheapo Chinese HID ballasts (bought them years ago) they worked fine.

At the same time I refitted my front crash bar. It was removed previously when relocating the oil cooler. I didn't feel comfortable driving without it so I had to get creative with an angle grinder:

Heading into the summertime things were looking good.......