Nino - "I love my heated Recaros"

[jv]

[Nino]

Thanks Jv, and loving the topic name 

Right then, I think its about time I got a build section up a few people have told me I should have one so thought why not.

Well I purchased my Mk4 1.8t in April 2012.
It cost me £1900 and had 118k with no service history, Natually I was slightly alarmed but after test driving it I was happy that the turbo was fine, I did notice abit of a bang in the back which ended up stinging me later on, More about that later

So got a deal done with the garage to pay a tinybit extra and had the water pump and timing belt replaced.

So this is exactly how she looked the day I picked her up










First thing I noticed when I got her home was she had the engine management light on and if pushed over 5k RPM when stopping at the lights she idled horrible and the temp would never sit at 90.

Scanned her up and I had about 6-9 error codes mainly MAF, boost leak, temp error, running lean, running rich etc I was close to taking her back but thought Id have a go at these as my focus was long gone and I just loved this golf.

So below is what did.

• Full Service, inc oil, oil filter, air filter, cabin filter, spark plugs (All OEM parts).
• Booked her in to VW and had all the coils replaced under recall.
• Replaced the thermostat (OEM part).
• Replaced the Temp sensor and "C" Clip (OEM parts).
• Removed the Throttle body and cleaned it, then re-alligned in vagcom. (and replaced gasket)
• Removed the MAF and cleaned it useing eletronic contact cleaner.

After clearing the codes all was fixed and the temp now went to 90, no more idle issues but 1 week later the dreaded 17705 code came back  but on a brighter side that was the only code.

After weeks of researching, trying different things I found that my SAI pump was leaking so removed it and popped out all the rivets and replaced them with bolts and locking screws and sealent. This stopped my car sounding like a tractor but still had that bloody code...

So over the period of a few months of saving I got all this all in red







I rang Ramair and spoke to Ryan I think his name was, anyway I told him I wanted an induction kit but was worried about heat soak he advised me to let him make me one that he himself made for his personal mk4 and had no issues with heatsoak he said he was running big power too and will be good for upto 380bhp.

So ending up getting the below along with my newsouth boost gauge 



Trust me when I say it is MASSIVE!

Here is some pics of them fitted.




Some eagle eyes will also notice my Forge 007p I got for a great deal.



After All this that code left me alone for about 2 months then came back 

Fitted my boost gauge



Then got some bora vents for a decent price and made my own loom...






Next mod was wheels, I hated the 18" R32 lookalikes that were on my car so picked these up for £150 one had a crack but got it welded and fixed for £40, 5x100 ET35 7J LM Reps




Thats all for the time being, need to dig out pictures........ To be continued 

[Nino]

So here was the wheels fitted after I wrapped them in 225/45/17's I just realised that the wheels were done way before the silicone pipes were fitted 





I forgot to mention, before I fitted the silicones pipes but after the wheels something bad happened....




The engine mount snapped due to the garage not changing the bolts when they changed my timing belt and to make it worse the bolts snapped in the block, Lucky for me I was not stupid, It happened as I was going over a speed bump at like 4mph and as soon as it snapped I pulled straight over and Got my car recoved.

Where I was stupid was being with the AA, they sent a 3rd party to recover me and they then took my car over 40 miles away from me and called me the next day to advise me of the damage and quote me £987 to fix the damage!!!
After telling them I cannot afford that they advised that they can drop my car off anywhere I want if i do not want them doing to work but it will cost me £150 because I will have to foot the 1st recovery cost and drop off costs after alot of arguing with the AA and the garage I ended up buckling and paid in the end £716 to have the engine mount replaced, bolts drilled out and new bolts etc.

So a few months later after paying my misses back  I am sure you will all agree she needs to sit ALOT lower so I saved for some JOM coilovers and got them fitted... and had lazer tracking.






And in the frosty morning 



Added alittle something different not all will like.



then it snowed ALOT...




To be continued............... 

[Nino]

Next up, was my Strut bar which I fitted myself see my guide here...
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=255331.0
Also replaced the top mounts when the car was lowered too.



Next step was my Gen anni rear and pressed plates.





Then I altered my badge
Got one from ebay but as you can see after 2 weeks the person I got it from didnt prep it correctly...



So set about doing the job correctly and while I was at it I thought Id do the orginal one I pulled off the car for GTI_James













Not bad for spray cans imho, I used Plastic primer, wet & dry sand paper, gloss black spray paint and reflex silver spray paint and some clear laccer.



My Neighbour saw what I saw doing over 2 days, YES i left the coats dry for 24 hours lol and asked me to do his for my T4





Then I decided to bypass my N249






Now about that "Sting" I brefly spoke about in my first post.
It was MOT time....

She failed on the following

• Rear beam bushes shot.
• Wishbones shot.
• Wishbone bushes shot.
• Trackrod ends shot.
• CV joints on drive shafts gone.
• Rear brakes seezed.

£688 later and a fresh MOT 

Next up was a visit to my mates garage while I went on holiday I asked him to spray my R32 rep bumper and redo my bonnet, he done me a great deal for £250 and had my car for a week, I came back to this......... 

The day I dropped her off.







Then he sends me pics while on holiday...







Then I get these....







Then the day I got her back (Had a twist done to my bumper) got Free window tints too







To be continued...... 

[Nino]

Next up was my grill, I didnt want to buy a gloss black one as imo they were over priced so set about having a go myself






As you can see I decided to do the VW badge in reflex silver too, something different from the chrome look.

Upon putting it back on my car I noticed two flys at it on my bonnet!!! 




Next job was to tint my headlights Thanks to GTI_James for sending me the film.







Then I changed all my bulbs to OSRAM's Honestly I really didn't notice a huge difference lol




Then It was time to change all the wood trim, Gear knob and install my custom made GTI mats





Then I did a TSI cable tidy mod, see my guide here..
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=256438.0





To be continued............ 

[Gary#turbo]

Looking good 

[Nino]

Thanks gary, more will be added as i find my pics lol

[Nino]

Next up was the big mod for me 

I purchased an Inlet manifold & rocker cover from ebay..
when they arrived I had them machine cleaned.




I wanted them chrome plated, this would stop the need to metal polish them all the time.
However I could only find one company local and I wasnt happy with the finish so only paid them half of what we agreed.
Stilll looked better than the oily cover that was currently fitted.











While I was at it, I thought I'd also change the injector seals, injector seats, the rocker cover gasget, and inlet manifold gasget, the final part of the PCV system, TB gasget.



Time to start stripping...






And old parts next to new parts..




New gasgets in



And here comes the rocket cover.





Then I hit a big problem..... The guy on Ebay lied to me, the inlet was not from an AUM  my old inlet and two exits, the new one only had 1....



So off to halfords for some supply's ... I had to improvise 






On with the inlet 





A good clean afterwards..






A few months or so later I then put a new coolent bottle on, see my guide below...
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=258721.0

While I was at it, I also change the coolent cap from a pourche 911 and put an Audi R8 oil cap on too
Oh i also painted my thorrtle body matt black.
 





That night I did a night shoot with some friends








To be continued......... 

[Nino]

Next up was time to change the wheels....... 

Ordered these brand new from rimstyle 8.5j fronts running 215/40's and Rear 9.5j running 225/40's (however im not a fan of the strech so when the rears need replacing i'll be fitting 235's

Also found out that I needed spacers for the fronts to clear the struts even thou I was told they would be a direct fit 







Time to seal them before fitting




Annnnnnd fitted





Please excuse the doggy look on my cuz 

it rained that night so some pics of the sealent doing its work




3 days later came out to find this..............................



Luckly it was only tanning cream.


Next up was New seats
As you can see from the picture below I leather treated them first.












Next job was to turn my standard 288mm brakes to 312mm 
So got my setup from ebay for £30 delivered!!!!!! 





I wanted to replace the entire setup on my car along with the brake fluid purely because I had no idea when or even if it had ever been done 

Also funds were low so i decided to refub everything myself 
Many, many weeks later.........





And fitted




And the last mod I have done are these




And thats it for the time being, apart from adding team heko deflectors.
Below is a few pics of how my car currently stands up until the point were kids stole my dust caps again... and my aerial 

I am currently working on a sharkfin upgrade to which I will post when done and complete with colour coding guide and fitting guide










To be continued............