DieselMonte

As said before a mk2 monte will have 17s. 205/40 is standard size but if you keep those I'd highly recommend putting 215/40 or 205/45 tyres on, extra sidewall makes a massive difference. They're still pretty harsh though. You can go as small as a 15 inch wheel, the 1.2 htp ones and lower spec tsi ones can go with 14 inch wheels due to the smaller brakes. Be worth dropping down a size for the sake of comfort. I run 16 inch wheels in mine over winter with 195/50 tyres, noticeably softens the ride. On those tyres they have basically the same size as the 17 inch wheels so the speedometer reading is not effected.

Mk4 golfs which use a similar beam are starting to suffer from the beams snapping now too. As these cars are getting older it makes sense the same issues will be cropping up on these. Fwiw you could definitely find a complete beam cheaper off someone breaking one privately. Use the money saved to put new bushes in it and give it some Rust treatment and paint. I wouldn't bother welding that and just replace. You should be able to use one from upto a 2014 fabia and any of the sister cars.

E10 will noticeably drop fuel economy over e5 or e0. For the sake of testing it may be worth dumping some fuel system cleaner down it and running on some "premium" petrol with less ethanol.

I'm sure you've seen the gob****e who wrote off his yellow vrs into a lamp post just after having a load of work done to it. Killed it. I've noticed a load of people breaking cars with any sort of spec because it's worth more than selling it whole. I realise I'm the pot calling the kettle black since I'm stripping my vrs at the minute but that's because that cars rotten and I'm repurposing the drive train into my sdi.

A life of being washed with pure tfr and a brush, because that's what 99% of people think taking care of their car is. Skodas in general have harder wearing paint than (generally speaking) most other brands. Seen a 2018 isuzu today with now matte metallic red paint from brush washing. Same can be said for literally every mazda I've seen even newer ones.

There'll be absolutely no problem running a bigger battery in your car. From what I found with mine is that it needs every amp it can get on cold starts.

My work uses (among others) 2 new kamiqs as courtesy cars, ones an ambition the others a style (I think) so has bigger rims. Far prefer the ambition with its smaller wheels and massive sidewall, soaks up the bumps like a champ. They're basically a fabia on stilts but they absolutely nailed the ride on them.

Spent some time on the justy this evening but still made some progress. Cleaned the bay down, which It desperately needed. Blew out all the crevices (which made a mess) Then primed some dodgy areas with rubbed through paint And used a spray can of cayenne metallic to spray it in. If you don't look too hard it looks all the same colour and it should prevent any rust from forming. Be hidden behind wiring and piping soon enough so just needed to be presentable. As much as I want to do some huge strip down and respray of the bay, and make everything look better than new. I'd end up chasing my tail and it'd sit for another 5 years. Have the engine loom in place now too. Small steps

Don't worry it's off the pit now and hopefully won't need to go back on for a long long time. I ran some petrol in and around the tank, shook the life of it and drained it out. Turned a shade yellow but compared to before, I don't think I'll have any trouble for another while yet. Also note the fuel pump/filter dragging still. New filter is slightly different to the old one so it's gonna take a bit of fettling to put in. Done enough on it this evening to be happy.

Fuel tanks back in and plumbed up All I'm waiting on now is a gasket for the carb. So close and yet so far Wouldn't mind but I did order gaskets and waited a month for them, only for them to arrive ripped. From a different seller mind as the seller I bought the first kit from is out of stock.

Vrs engine loom out and ready to go in after some cleaning. Struggling a bit with this connector for an ac pipe but I think I've a solution figured out to do next day

15" will fit over standard brakes.

Also took the turbo off the vrs to check why it was passing oil. No play in it and everything seems OK. Guessing the return line was the issue. Will get a new return pipe and gasket. Atleast I should have plenty of parts to sell afterwards which should cover some of the cost. Although I'm still not much into this. Still cheaper (so far) than buying a nice vrs let alone importing one so I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

The sdi is now completely stripped of its wiring looms, engine bay and body loom. Need to remove brake lines next, Imagine I'll have to buy some new lines but AFAIK they'll be available from the dealers. Left the wiring in the doors in as I don't think I'll need to change them. If I need to I will but both cars have crank rear windows and such so should be the same. Stuff removed from its taking up more space than the car itself now.

More filler. Finally got some proper use out of those snow tyres. Only took a year. Didn't stay covered in slush for any longer than it needed to be. Changed the wheels back since. Was feeling very dead lately so cleaned the maf, which helped a lot but it still felt off so ordered and fitted another n75 which seems to have it back to where it should be. Swapped out the battery too for the one on the vrs as the new battery that was in it didn't like holding a charge overnight. Been fine since. Also blew another chunk out of the right front splash guard so ordered another one, new genuine ofcourse. I still have the passengers side one yo fit so I'll fit that at the same time. Pretty sure the rear ones are cracked on the bottom just in front of the wheels, may order them at some point too.

Been pretty cold of late so I've not been able to do much. But the weather is warming up slightly so I can work on my stuff without freezing. Both cars are basically stripped inside now. The sdi a little more so than the vrs Then set about getting the pd lump out of the vrs. Was done an hour or so at a time until this evening Engines officially out, was a lot more stuff on this engine than the sdi, air con, extra wires etc. Sat next to each other From here it'll be swapping bits in the engine bays over and ofcourse the wiring behind the dash. If I want to make the air con work (and I do) ill have to rip everything out of the vrs it seems. Looks like the vrs had a new blower motor put on at some point and an air con condensor too. Both genuine VW bits to boot. If I could have the engine in by the end of the month it would be brilliant. It won't happen, but I can hope

Prefacelift front is different to a face-lift. Iirc the bonnet, lights and bumper are different. Probably wings too. They did do a face-lift s2000 so kits for them should be out there.

Finally got my test goes to December And minutes later Second undertray went with a bang 9 days it lasted me. Think I'll just make my own next time.

Big job this evening, getting the tank out. First I pulled the sender to check if it could still work Had to remove the backseat which was just 2 bolts. Pic was taken after everything was out. It's rusty as anything and was stuck in place, a little bit of wiggling saw it moving free. Plugged it back in and confirmed it does work perfectly. Then the tank. Was not a fun job but would have been much harder if this was a 4wd one Had to unbolt the trailing arms to let it down, thankfully every bolt came out very easily. A look at the fuel left in the tank, feral. Drained all out and this is what was left It just seems to be surface rust and sediment. Confident this will clean up easily.

Engines out Started disassembling the vrs and noticed oil seeping around the exhaust, and from the looks of it it's recent. So maybe that rebuilt turbos gone bust already, fun

There was a fabia gt on marketplace not too long ago. Would love to have the whole gt kit that includes the little fender flares. Like a body coloured monte

Hopefully. Still debating whether or not to do the full vrs kit if the time comes. See the likes of techies car and it looks amazing. But I think the prefacelift front might suit this car better, especially all polished up. Set it at a decent height on the right wheels and such. Keep to a more sleeper ish aesthetic. Seen on a thread here where someone darkened out some frame inside the lights so I'm considering splitting a set to do that, maybe paint the chrome grille surround a gunmetal colour. Keep it looking standard but with a few touches to set it apart. Lord knows I have plenty of parts so I can do either option or both.

Chipping away bit by bit. Pulled the front end off. Removed the downpipe Then set about freeing the subframe from the car And finally the engine It's sitting on a pallet now It's completely free from the car but the coilovers are getting caught up and that's not letting me pull it all out. Will pull them off next day and see what I've left to do

Another nct, another fail Last time it was on the lights being too high, this time it was for the spotlamps not having a fuse. That's it. Free retest and it doesn't need to be booked so I'll wire in a fuse tomorrow and next time I'm near a centre I'll throw it in. Otherwise perfect, everything well within limits. Shocked it passed with the downpipe although I did put some effort into making it harder to spot. Posted it before I think but I got a panel that goes under most newer vws that acts as an extra undertray, sort of. Had it a while but only just got around to trimming it up to make it fit. Made a cardboard template of what Shape I needed to trim it to And voila. Still has a vw part number on it. If you don't look too hard it almost looks standard. Did make it a bit neater after that pic was taken. Was worried about it struggling to pass with all the mods, but it seems I've done well. Not a word was said about any of the mods except for needing to put a fuse onto the spots. It was said to me that one of the balljoints is just starting to wear (and I only replaced them tail end of last summer) but not bad enough to mention on the report. Will order a new pair next time I'm ordering parts.

Heads been fried trying to get things in order for all my current projects. Been busting my chops to get the Monte good for nct tomorrow on top of everything. Not wanting to stall on any car any longer, so even if I'm only making a little bit of progress on each car it's better than nothing