Author Topic: Mk3 Estate 1.9 TDi, suspension improvements.  (Read 941 times)

Offline tomstickland

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Mk3 Estate 1.9 TDi, suspension improvements.
« on: 15 April 2009, 12:38 »
I recently bought a slightly battered MK3 1.9 TDi as a spare car whilst I take my old BMW E30 off the road so I can rebuild the engine.

I'm already quite fond of the Mk3. It seems quite capable even though it's got god awful tyres on it and wobbly suspension.

I've got some new tyres on order to fix the lack of grip.

I can't help myself though and feel that a bit of work on the suspension would make this into a much better car. I've had a quick look round and found some cheapish -30mm springs. I don't like using lowering springs with std dampers though, so wonder if there are any budget kits that are worth the effort.

I'm not trying to turn this into a sleeper estate track car. Just looking to see what I could on the reasonably cheap to make it a lot better than std.

Oh, I'm also interested into whether I can adjust the boost and fuelling easily.


Turbo charged beast:
« Last Edit: 15 April 2009, 12:41 by tomstickland »

Offline Rmachines

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Re: Mk3 Estate 1.9 TDi, suspension improvements.
« Reply #1 on: 15 April 2009, 14:53 »
venom motor sport do a kit i think,  about £200.

The boost can be changed, depending on which engine it is,  but it doesnt make much diffrence, infact you can pull the ECU Pressure feed hose off and it will boost hard up to just over 2bar,  i did this by accident and it never caused my engine any harm but i woudlnt raise it much over that on a stock intercooler etc..   the fueling is electronic, only the timing is mechanicly adjustable.  If you play with the boost, ffs use a boot gauge  :grin: You wont be the first person on here whos blown a diesel through overboosting  :smiley:

I would hook up a bleed valve and let it boost to 1.5bar gives it a little extra boost up a hill.  anything over than then dont blame me if your pistons come out to say hi.
10 golfs and counting! 

Engine cranes = the ultimate tool to test the tensile strength of Everything you didn't disconnect!


Offline tomstickland

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Re: Mk3 Estate 1.9 TDi, suspension improvements.
« Reply #2 on: 15 April 2009, 17:19 »
So probably best leaving it alone for now then.

A friend of mine found a spring + damper kit on ebay.de for 120EUR.
« Last Edit: 15 April 2009, 17:33 by tomstickland »

Offline *tell*

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Re: Mk3 Estate 1.9 TDi, suspension improvements.
« Reply #3 on: 15 April 2009, 20:36 »
i lowered mine 40mm all round.
it handles alot better  :shocked:
i have a tuning box on mine makes a little difference.