Author Topic: OSR's "Silver Bullet"  (Read 25073 times)

Offline OSR

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OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« on: 03 August 2016, 12:12 »
Hi All,

I used to post many moons ago under a different forum name (Silver_Turbo or something like that IIRC) and have more recently re-joined under my current username of OSR, partly to draw a line in the sand and party because I couldn't remember my old login details!

Anyhow, I've been mainly lurking for several months popping on and having a read every now and then but thought I'd put up a project thread as the Golf is not my daily driver and I can finally get on top of all the stuff I've been meaning to do for years but either never had the change or always had to make sure the car's not in bits for more than a Saturday afternoon!

I've had my 1.8T since 2008 and have never spared a penny to keep it maintained and functional. Oil change every year regardless of miles, cambelt services every 3 years regardless of mileage etc. With the mechanical stuff I'd rather spend the money ahead of time and know it's been done so I may seem a bit over zealous at times!

In short my car is a 1.8T AUM running Revo Stage 2 all running fault code free and happy  :smiley:

As I said the car is no longer a daily driver, and I now finally have a garage, so I'm hoping once all the post-move s**t is shifted out of there I can store the car over the winter months, especially as I now live in Scotland where the winters tend to be fairly harsh at the best of times!

One thing I've always drooled over in car magazines and at car shows is the ridiculously clean, gleaming show car look and I'm hoping to start on a journey to deep clean the car and get rid of the last 8 years of hidden grime. In addition to this I have a few maintenance jobs stacked up, mainly;

New clutch/flywheel
New oil catch can and pipework
Timing belt/water pump change
Oil & Filter change

With regards to the cleaning mission, I have dipped my toe in the water and spent 2 hours clay bar-ing and polishing the bonnet last weekend. First time using a clay bar and I'm impressed with the results and just how "rough" the surface was before versus the glassy smooth surface after. I'm probably looking at a good few weeks to get all of the metal panels sorted, then I'll be looking to have both front and rear bumpers resprayed, with potentially a JOM R32 front to replace the standard bumper but the jury's still out  :whistle:

I'll leave it there for now but hopefully get some pictures up over the next week or so and try to keep up to date with my progress.

Thanks for reading!


Offline OSR

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #1 on: 08 August 2016, 13:56 »
Progress update from this weekend - continued clay bar-ing the metal panels on the car, currently have the bonnet and both front wings done. I may well get sniffed at but I've always been a fan of the Autoglym products as they're well priced and give me results I'm perfectly happy with. I use the following;

Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner
Clay bar using rapid detailer
Super Resin Polish
Extra Gloss Protection

I also disconnected the short section of inlet pipe for the SAI system to see if it throws a CEL before I go the whole hog and remove the system and fit the blanking plate/resistor.

Still need to get some photos uploaded!

Offline OSR

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #2 on: 11 October 2016, 12:03 »
Bit of an update and (finally) a couple of photos of my clay bar efforts to date. In addition to the bonnet and wings I've also completed the roof and boot - the roof took me about 3.5hrs in the end but think it was worth it  :wink:

Drove the car on a 400 mile round trip to my mates and back and now she's washed and back in the garage ready for winter. The CEL light didn't come on at all in about 200miles of driving but then as soon as I fired her up to come home the light came on again. No biggie, I'll just keep clearing the code as and when with my code scanner which I keep in the glovebox. Having said that I drove all the way home with the CEL on just to see and didn't notice any discernible difference in performance.





In addition to the above, the evap system is now removed and I have a pack of 5 330ohm10w resistors to solder in. Still on the list is the timing belt and oil change in the short term, plus clay bar of the doors and sills.
« Last Edit: 11 October 2016, 12:08 by OSR »

Offline lemski

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #3 on: 11 October 2016, 13:09 »
Thats gotta be the best beading I've seen on a mk4

Offline OSR

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #4 on: 11 October 2016, 14:14 »
Hehe - thanks mate!  :smiley: The boot wasn't quite as impressive in that photo but I was pretty astounded at the roof, and that was after a 200 mile motorway jaunt!

Also whilst doing the roof I took off the gutter trims and treated them to a full clean out/clean up - it's like the day it left Germany!

« Last Edit: 11 October 2016, 14:16 by OSR »

Offline lemski

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #5 on: 11 October 2016, 14:25 »
Prob wasnt that good when it left the factory.  :grin:

Offline OSR

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #6 on: 07 November 2016, 20:38 »
Quite a bit of activity over the last couple of weeks. Decided it was time to get the car up on axel stands in the garage and get after some things that are long overdue - including a good clean of everything!

Tackling the clutch first so got the starter motor off, dog bone mount, various bits and bobs from the top etc. Mainly need to get myself some spline bits so I can remove the drive shafts and I'm almost down to the bell housing bolts.

Whilst I've been under the car I've also decided to remove the subframe and wishbones with a view to getting them powdercoated. Might as well do a proper job as I'm under there right?

Question of the day - I see psi tuning sell various suspension kits and some come with the OEM stretch bolts but does anyone know where to get replacement subframe bolts from? Is it a dealership only thing or would eurocarparts and the like stock them?

Offline lemski

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #7 on: 08 November 2016, 13:36 »
Id say dealer only.
Things like that usually are.

I got some clarke splines from machine mart which i use more than the snap on ones because of how there designed

Offline OSR

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #8 on: 15 November 2016, 14:39 »
I ended up getting a set of Halfords Professional spline bits, worked a treat and all came out with no issues - I did have to loosen the large end of the gator though to get proper engagement of the spline. As you say this is likely due to the chunky shoulder design on the Halfords bits.

Subframe removed along with wishbones and arb attached and has now been disassembled. Picture of how it came out below;



Had to grind one of the lower all joint bolt heads off as the captive nut came loose where the spot weld broke off, still one out of six ain't bad...

Also then managed to snap one of the wishbone to subframe bolts (the one that sits vertically and has a nut on the upper side of the subframe). I can only assume this was due to reuse of the TTY ("stretch") bolts which appears to have been done many years ago when I had my Powerflex bushes fitted, they did copper grease them up though :-/

Been on the hunt for replacements as I'd like to do the full lot whilst I've got it all apart. Had a little bit of success on eBay finding them and also the vagspares website but I'd rather go somewhere, get etka up and order all in one place. Rang the local dealers up here and they said they can't order them but to try TPS which is just down the road from them so that's the next port of call.

Plan for the subframe is to wire brush back using a drill attachment and spray with Hammerite smooth black. There is a powder coating place but I'd like to do as much as I can, plus £120 for power coating versus £13 for a spray can is worth a go in my opinion.

For the wishbones I'm planning on ordering the suspension refresh kit stage 3+ from PSI and a set of Polybush subframe mount bushes to match. Whiteline ARB and it's all good to go back on!
« Last Edit: 15 November 2016, 21:00 by OSR »

Offline lemski

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Re: OSR's "Silver Bullet"
« Reply #9 on: 16 November 2016, 09:22 »
All go then. Just noticed the intercooler sticking out the bumper.
Thought this was standard