Ben vs Mk3. Round 2.

[HaydEn]

Any news ben?

[Ben J]

Haven't done much to the car lately, am drained of money from buying bags

Have put a fair few hours into trying to figure out the wiring for a power window conversion and am getting there slowly, its turning out to be a lot more complicated then I originally thought.

Have also pulled more of the old car apart, pulled dash etc and all front suspension etc ready for a full refresh before being put into the new car.


Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

[vdubin]

Am drained of money from buying bags

Tell me about it ! Going to share Any Details of the set up your running yet.

Its Good to see your keeping busy on it too.

[Jace]

...power window conversion...

Really? Enjoy replacing window motors do you? Much better off with manuals dude!

Although the key-in-doorlock MK3 trick is pretty awesome!

[Ben J]

Believe it or not but my manual windows are stuffed and piss me off so much, makes the car feel old and bomby, its one thing I can't stand. In the year I had my old car I only had one regulator let go and it was easily fixed with a cable tie. I used the windows heaps too. This car il only have 2
of them to worry about anyway so I'm sure itll be fine

I'll share that the bags are coming from canada, and should be shipped out towards the end of december

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

[jono0309]

Sounds like great progress. keep it up man, looking forward to some pics!

[Mk3 AAA]

Hey mate I still have that tail-light sitting around too, happy to keep it aside for whenever you want it.

[Ben J]

Not a great deal been done lately, took the car to lakeside raceway for the happy laps vww event a couple weeks back and it was a blast! Most fun I've had in ages. The extreme body roll and such from the stock suspension added to the fun if anything, apparently I literally got on 3 wheels!

I would love to do a lot more time on the track and so I'm sure that might change some of the plans I originally had for this car, with more of a sporty based project instead of a low and slow cruiser. The engine really just doesnt cut it on the track, getting absolutely slaughtered by all the newer cars (albeit they were all gtis and r's ) and only barely able to pass a mk3 tdi which I doubt was being pushed anywhere nearly as hard as I was pushing this thing, it really did get a good thrashing Anyway have been motivated to get stuck into the vr6 build, and have compiled an extensive list of parts and where to get them etc, and have ordered some tools like triple square bits etc.

Also changed over to the oem smoked vr6 tail lights and deleted the rear wiper, with a colour coded plug.



Engine is coming apart slowly


Noticed this before I pulled the engine out of the old car, this part was crushed badly somehow in the crash so it will need to be replaced. Getting the crank pulley bolt out was an absolute bitch, had to put a bit of wood in the block to stop the crank moving and put my entire weight on a pole about 1.75m long to get the thing to budge. Bent a decent quality socket wrench in the process. Rattle gun wouldnt do anything to it.

[dark]

bags might suck on the track? Although I really dont know cause I have never even ridden in a car with them. Like the vr6 tails and wiper delete, very clean. Look forward to watching your engine build as well.

[Ben J]

Yeah im not sure how theyll be, but I figure theyll be much better then coilovers wound right down which is how id have them. the bags should be very practical (:

In other news, the bags are now on there way over finally

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

[dylan8]

Yeah im not sure how theyll be, but I figure theyll be much better then coilovers wound right down which is how id have them. the bags should be very practical (:

In other news, the bags are now on there way over finally

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

When i rode in Doms passat I was amazed at the 'sporty' feel even at lower psi. could feel it was firm from the shocks, but then soft at the same time... dunno how it would go on the track but id imagine if you had all 4 corners on individual valves (not sharing both front struts on the same line) it would be ok.

What bags you end up getting???

[Ben J]

Yeah I've read they handle pretty good as long as its a 4 way not front and back, which make body roll even worse. And realistically I doubt I'll really get on the track much anyway, going to be moving to brisbane and starting uni full time next year so not going to have the money

I'll reveal further details when they get here, nothing overly special though. Still, should let me lay out after a couple notches etc

Got to leave work half an hour early at 4:30 yesterday so thought I'd give the car a little service while there was light, so new oil, oil filter and spark plugs. Is running very nicely now

Today, with all the christmas shopping done and the girlfriend working all day, I wandered into the garage and the BFI stage one mounts from my old vr6 caught my eye. A tip for all of you with 1.8s (and probably 2.0s too)... Stage one mounts are an AWFUL idea. Not only did it take me most of the day and made me incredibly frustrated (where as they were a 30 minute straight forward job on the vr6...) due to the transmission mount not wanting to come out until I dropped the subframe, which then ofcourse did not want to line back up and then stripped the bolts for it, but the car now vibrates like nothing else. Its insane. In the vr6 I noticed very little added vibrations, but in the little 1.8 the whole car viloently shakes at idle, and continues to rattle badly right up to about 4k rpm. Granted gear shifts are much nicer now, but at an extreme cost. Ohwell. Actually makes me giggle a bit its that bad, you can hear the engine through the entire car now, its almost louder in the car then my vr6 with its noisy exhaust was, and this has a standard exhaust!

A random photo to keep random people happy

[dark]

Ha, was just thinking about doing this to my vr6, half an hour you say? Was wondering about vibrations too.

[Tim]

Even the stealth mounts vibrate a fair bit on the 1.8s! Stage 1s would be pretty bonkers
Luckily the VR6 is much smoother.

[Ben J]

Maybe half an hour is an exaggeration, but from memory it wasnt a hard job on the vr6, and the vibrations with the stage one werent as bad as I was expecting. Just undo the front mount, jack up engine, swap, bolt it down, repeat for the back ones. On the cl the transmission mount just wouldnt fit becuase the exhaust would catch before I could get enough clearance to get it out. Tried to undo the downpipe from the exhaust manifold with no luck, rounded one of the bolts and gave up on that idea

The almost unbearable ride I might just live with for now as I cant be bothered changing them again, just more motivastyion to get the vr6 swapped in I guess!