Bete Noir

What handbrake cable have you ordered? I found this to be the biggest minefield of the rear disc conversion.

Thank you

Nice. Where did you order the repair kits for the front electric windows from? I have a set of front doors from a Magic which I want to rob the electric window mechanism from for my Caddy.

As far as I know, the VR6 rear brakes are no different to those fitted to mk2 or mk3 Golf GTi, SEAT Ibiza mk2 GTi or mk3 Cupra, or 6N/6N2 Polos with rear discs fitted.

Welcome to the forum. Did you buy your pick-up from a guy called Stephen K (I won't put the full name on here)?

The handbrake cables you want are ATE 24.3727-2508.2. These have an outer length of 1470mm and and inner length of 1782mm. It took me a while (and some help) to identify these, but they are now fitted on my Caddy and working well.

@Jamiecurrall if you PM me with your email address I will send you the edited / organised version of TeflonTom's Felicia 1.8T build thread, which has all the details of the parts he used, including driveshafts, which have now been transplanted into my Caddy.

@Amy6Y Many thanks. I will keep developing my Caddy, and updating this thread, but I cannot promise the updates will get any more regular.

I forgot to mention in all the excitement that the saga of my gearbox transplant had a happy ending. Whilst the percentage change in gearing appears quite small, it has given me exactly what I was after. The Caddy will now potter along at normal motorway speeds without sounding like it is being thrashed within an inch of its life, and if I need a bit of extra speed for over-taking or whatever, it is there. Much as I would not have chosen to do the job three times before I got it right, I would willingly have embarked on doing it three times if I had known that it would result in the improvement I am now seeing.

Fair enough mate. Being on the receiving end of unsolicited advice can be an infuriating experience, no matter how well-intentioned it is, as you have now seen for yourself. If you would rather stay away than take that on board that is up to you. No hard feelings, and best of luck with the continued development of your Felicia.

@nu99et18 I have no doubt you mean well, but if you spent just a little bit more time reading what I have actually written, and make a slight adjustment to your writing style, you might come across as a bit less patronising. I too have a 'full' list of VW gearbox codes and ratios, which I did not post on here because it is not relevant to my Caddy build. It can be found here VW Technic (click on the transmission diagram to download the spreadsheet). It includes the calculator that I used to generate the roadspeed in gears table I included in my post. This is also how I know there are "around thirty" different specifications of 02A gearbox, as I mentioned. Your table in comparison looks like it may not be as full as you suggest. Rather than saying "You would probably have been better upgrading to an 02J gearbox", if you had instead said "Did you consider upgrading to an 02J gearbox?", I would have simply replied that I did, and I decided against it. I know a few people have swapped the shifter / selector over from the 02J to the 02A and that is something I may consider. As for your suggestion that it "would be best to look through the list and pick one that would suit you best", if you had read my post you would see that I consciously decided against taking that route. You clearly know a bit about this stuff, but please consider that I have been around modified VAG cars for a while too. Just because I choose not to post a particular piece of information on here, do not assume that means I do not know it, and I need you to tell me. Alternatively, you could always carry on as you are and change your username to Captain Obvious 😄

Once the Caddy was back at home, I launched into trying to work out what I had done wrong in refitting the clutch and gearbox. The clutch pedal felt as if it did nothing through much of its travel, then (with the engine running) caused a horrible metal on metal grinding noise when pushed all the way down. I have never known it happen before, but I came to suspect that the release bearing had become displaced whilst I was struggling to manhandle the gearbox into place. There was nothing for it but to take it all out again. Having barely had time to put my tools away from the last time I had done the job, it did not take long to get the gearbox back out, but when I did so I found that the release bearing was exactly where it was supposed to be. This was a setback, as I did not have another theory at that time. Closer inspection determined that the grinding noise I had heard was the actuator arm impacting the clutch pressure plate, but I could not work out how that could happen. I had two release bearings (which looked the same) and two actuator arms (which looked different, but functionally the same) so, in the absence of any other ideas, I swapped both and reassembled it again. I had noticed signs that the clutch slave cylinder may have a miniscule leak, so although I had no reason to suspect that it had contributed to the current issue, I replaced it and pressure-bled the system. Again I tested the clutch, and again it was doing exactly the same as previously. After having had the gearbox out and back in twice in the space of a couple of weeks, at this point I was considering taking the Caddy on the back of a truck to JKM (again) and just asking them to sort it out, but I do not like to give-up like that. I spent several days pondering, and several hours with various rulers, tape measures etc., trying to figure out what could be different about the gearbox and clutch I had fitted compared to the parts I had removed. I spent ages researching all sorts of weird and wonderful thoughts, like maybe some 02A gearboxes have different sized bellhousings, or maybe the mounting pivot for the actuator arm is adjustable or…, I could go on. All of this research, pondering, and measuring led me to the firm conclusion that no-one in the world as documented on the internet had ever experienced (and solved) the issue I was now facing. Hard to believe. I had by this point resolved to remove the gearbox again, and my suspicions were now focussed on the flywheel. As I mentioned previously, the flywheel I fitted looked very much the same as the one I removed, but if they were different, and specifically if the distance between the crankshaft mounting face and the pressure plate mounting face was different between the two flywheels, that may explain what I was seeing. Taking the starter motor off and checking the clearance between the pressure plate and the bellhousing there seemed to disprove my theory, but having removed the starter motor I was part way through taking the gearbox out again, so that is what I did. This time it took little more than an hour before the gearbox was once more sitting on the driveway, and on inspecting the clutch on the flywheel it finally dawned on me what the problem was (although not yet the cause). The clutch fingers were almost flat, rather than protruding from the pressure plate. I took the clutch off again, and checked the part number on the flywheel, which showed it to be identical to the one which I had removed. Not what I had expected. At this point, admittedly rather late in the long process, I finally adopted a methodical approach. I put the removed flywheel on the work bench, and bolted the associated clutch to it. The clutch fingers protruded as they should. Next I bolted a VR6 clutch to the same flywheel. Exactly as I was seeing in the Caddy, the clutch fingers were squeezed in as the pressure plate was tightened. The difference is more distinct when illustrated with an actuator arm and release bearing resting on the clutch fingers. With removed clutch: With VR6 clutch: I tried swapping friction plates between the two pressure plates, but clearly they were not designed to work together. Only now did I check the removed flywheel and clutch part numbers online, to find they were both TDi parts, meaning that the flywheel I had fitted was also a TDi part rather than the ABF part I had thought it was. When I had removed the (now known to be) TDi friction plate I had compared its thickness against the new VR6 friction plate, and had noticed it was ~2mm thinner. I had put that down to wear on otherwise identical components, but now I could see that was not the case. This also told me that the TDi clutch I had removed must be practically brand new, so I refitted it to the Caddy. Two hours later, it was all back together, and finally working. There are a couple of obvious learning points from this protracted process, the first of which I really should have ingrained many years ago, given how long I have been playing around with modified cars. 1. Check part numbers on everything. Look-up applications to understand exactly what you have got. 2. The VAG 1.9TDi single mass flywheel fits the 1.8T engine, and can be used with the 02A (and 02J, presumably) gearbox, but not with the popular VR6 clutch.

The inner rear wheel arches and strut top mountings had been looking sorry for themselves, and probably would not have gone through another MOT. The rear crossmember was also not great, so it was booked-in to have both done at the same time. Nick at S&P Autos is getting used to my Caddy now, as he has previously done all of the previous body work documented on this thread. I have known Nick for a very long time, and for all of that time he has owned a gorgeous Morris Minor van. I got to know him because I owned a couple of Minor pick-ups many years ago. [In case any Minor aficionados are reading this, I know that ‘Minor’ LCVs were never officially known as Minors, but more people know what you are talking about if you refer to them as such J]. Nick did a fantastic job as ever, although I forgot to request a captive nut in the crossmember so I can use the spare wheel bracket again. A job for next time.

When the 1.8T engine and 02A gearbox had been in the Felicia, prior to my ownership, the final drive had been changed to one with 3.94:1 ratio. This gave the Felicia, and more lately the Caddy, excellent initial acceleration, but made cruising along the motorway a bit tiresome. This is perfect for buzzing around annoying people, and obviously there is a place for that, but my intention with the Caddy is to use it when my son and I go to motorsport events or car shows, and for this we wanted a slightly more comfortable cruising speed. 02A gearboxes are available in around thirty different specifications that I know of, so there was never any doubt I could identify something more suitable, although finding one for sale in the ideal specification could have been more problematic. So, rather than trawling through all of the specs to find the perfect gearbox, then potentially waiting ages for that type to come up for sale, I chose a more pragmatic approach. When I found an 02A gearbox for sale, I checked the code (assuming I could persuade the seller to find it and tell me) against the specs to see if it looked like a suitable candidate. The gearbox in the Caddy was a CDA, but with a 3.94 FD fitted in place of the standard 3.68 FD, and I found a standard CDA for sale. The comparison between the two, and speeds in gears at 4000rpm (with 195/50R15 tyres) is shown below. It is not a massive difference, but I decided it looked promising so I bought the standard CDA. As I had not fitted the 1.8T myself, and knowing how little space there is around the engine, I had my doubts about how easy it would be to extract the gearbox, but as it turned-out it is not too bad at all. A couple of hours after I had erected my trusty gantry, the gearbox was sitting on the floor. I already mentioned that the sump has clearly taken a few impacts, and when I came to remove the gearbox rear mounting it became apparent that had also taken a hit. This mounting is attached via three bolts onto the transmission casing, and the impact had cracked the casing so that one of the threaded holes was split. The damage had not caused any loss of gearbox oil, but clearly I will have to do something about it if I decide to use this gearbox again in the future. I had noticed before I embarked on the gearbox swap that the offside outer CV gaiter had almost completely disintegrated, and this obviously represented a good opportunity to replace all four gaiters whilst the driveshafts were off. Again I had the issue of deciding what parts I needed. I ordered Golf inner boots (VAG 191498201,Febi 03328) and Lupo / Ibiza outer boots (VAG 171 498 203, Febi 03595) and these proved to be correct. As at least one CV joint had been exposed to the elements, and because it seemed prudent to take the chance while they were off, I took both driveshafts to JKM for them to check the joints and replace the boots. They came back with a clean bill of health, and looking much better. Before fitting the replacement gearbox, I swapped the flywheel for a single mass part I had bought from eBay on the understanding it was a G60 part. The flywheel I took off looked identical, but I swapped them anyway. The clutch I took off looked pretty good, but as it was all apart I put a new VR6 clutch in. Manhandling the replacement gearbox into place, even with it hanging from the hoist, was challenging as expected, but everything else went back together relatively easily. Or so it seemed, but when it came to testing it, the clutch pedal was very soft, and the clutch would not disengage. This would have been frustrating at the best of times, but as the Caddy was due back at the body shop it was even more galling. I tried and failed to diagnose and fix the fault, but resorted instead to taking it to the body shop on the end of a tow rope.

One of my early posts on this thread includes a link to TeflonTom's Felicia 1.8T transplant thread. Have a read of that and you will find answers to most of your questions about this conversion. Alternatively Tom's thread is not hard to find via the forum search function.

I am pretty sure they are mk3 Golf hubs, although 6N Polo or mk2 Ibiza parts will also do the job

I am showing my age here, but your post title attracted my attention because it reminded me of First Time by The Boys, which is a classic punk song, and therefore 40 years old . Welcome to the forum.

When I fitted the coilovers, my original intention was to check the rest of the suspension and replace as necessary, but it became one of those jobs done with time pressure to get it back together, so I did the minimum knowing I would have further items to attend to later. Recently the front end had started making some unusual and slightly worrying creaking / clunking noises when changing direction, which I took to be indicative of the front top mounts being shot. At this point I faced one of the challenges of modified cars, especially those which you have not built yourself. That challenge was not knowing what parts I needed, especially since in TeflonTom's Felicia 1.8T build thread he mentioned needing to find some top mounts to work with the Focus coilovers, but he did not mention what solution he came to. One solution would have been to dismantle the Caddy suspension, then attempt to identify the parts I removed. My approach was a bit less intelligent. As well as the Caddy, I own mk2 SEAT Ibizas and a mk1 Octavia RS, so I bought top mounts for both of them as well as Caddy parts, on the basis that I would hopefully find something to fit the Caddy, and the other parts would get used eventually anyway. Along with new CV joint gaiters, suspension bushes and wishbones (for later use) I gathered an impressive box of bits (rather than a box of impressive bits, sadly) waiting to be fitted. As it turned-out, the standard Caddy parts were what I fitted. Seen side-by-side, it is evident that the replacement (Febi Bilstein) parts are a slightly different profile to the ones taken off, so the strut top will sit a little (<10mm) lower with the replacements fitted. This will increase the ride height correspondingly, but as the sump is showing signs of having had a few bashes, this is no bad thing. I can always adjust it out with the coilovers if it looks too much. With the old parts removed, the top mount bushes themselves did not look too bad, but the bearings were a different story. I do not know how much work these bearings really do, but these were seized solid so they were only really acting as thick washers. Whether or not they were the source of the untoward noises, clearly they needed replacing.

I had never been keen on having the cone air filter sitting in the midst of all the heat under the bonnet, and it had always been my intention to improve on this arrangement. The obvious thing to do is to relocate the screenwash reservoir, thus freeing space in the NSF corner of the engine compartment. This gets the filter further away from the hot engine, and gives the potential for a cold air feed through the front panel. The standard screenwash reservoir is specifically shaped for the location it usually occupies, and does not lend itself to being anywhere else. Instead I used a smaller (1.2l) "universal" washer bottle which is a more regular shape, and has roughly the same cross-section as the car's battery, meaning that the bottle can be located alongside the battery pretty easily. With the screenwash reservoir out of the way, I initially tried fitting a mk4 Golf / mk3 Ibiza airbox, but it was obvious that was not going to work, so I fitted the longer air filter pipe which had been on the Caddy when I bought it, which conveniently locates the air filter right behind the front panel, and adjacent to the inner wing. I still plan to replace the air filter with a better quality one, and to add ducting to encourage more cool air through the handy circular hole in the front panel, but what I have now at least gives some chance of feeding the engine with cool air, where there was no chance previously. Before: After:

Five minutes spent on a rudimentary search will tell you they have been obsolete for years. If you are hoping someone has some stashed I suggest you ask the question in the relevant place on the forum.

Welcome to the Skoderati my friend

Having tinted sunstrips on my cars has become a habit since I first had one put on my Evo VIII almost 15 years ago. It was not my plan to have one in the Caddy, for aesthetic reasons, because a sunstrip can look a bit ‘scene’, whereas I am aiming for a more classic look. I relented for practical reasons i.e. I have got so used to having a dark strip at the top of my windscreen that it felt wrong (and sunny) without one. I took the Caddy to South Coast Tints in Southampton, who have always done a fantastic job, and I am similarly pleased with the outcome this time.

Ever since the engine transplant, there has been a slight oil leak from around the area of the oil filter housing. I had never seen the oil level drop noticeably, but there were always a few spots on the ground wherever the Caddy had been parked. JKM had noticed it, and had replaced the washer on the oil pressure switch, which improved things but proved not to be a complete cure. It was very difficult to see where the oil was coming from, not helped by the lack of space around the engine, but it appeared that the leak was from the oil seal at the top of the sandwich plate between the filter and housing. I had bought the sandwich plate used, as I mentioned in a previous post, and it was not a great quality part. The oil seal in particular was fairly unsubstantial, as can be seen in the picture. This sandwich plate went in the aluminium bin at the local dump, and I replaced it with a new part, which had a single more substantial oil seal rather than the two O-rings which had hardened and flattened with age. When I swapped the oil pressure sender and switch over I applied a couple of drops of thread sealer as an extra precaution. With the new sandwich plate fitted, the oil leak was further reduced, but maddeningly still not to zero. The part that now came under suspicion was the oil seal between the oil filter housing and the heat exchanger. I bought a replacement and swapped it over, but when I re-fitted the sandwich plate the oil O-ring was not located properly. I only found this out when it was all back together and I started the engine, which resulted in a large pool of oil growing on the driveway. Not one of my better moments! The O-ring was damaged where I had tightened the sandwich plate with the O-ring incorrectly located. There was some swearing when I realised what I had done. I could not find a replacement O-ring without buying yet another sandwich plate, so this time I decided to buy a high quality sandwich plate for which replacement O-rings are available separately. Mocal have always had a very good reputation for oil coolers and related parts, and after a bit of searching I found a Mocal sandwich plate from Merlin Motorsport The O-ring on this one is a substantial part, and spares are available separately. I do not plan to use lower quality sandwich plates on any of my cars in the future. With everything back together, complete with the Mocal sandwich plate, things were definitely improved again, but still I was seeing a couple of spots of oil where the Caddy had been parked, and they still seemed to be emanating from the area of the oil filter housing. On a hunch, and because I could not think of a more plausible explanation, I removed the standard oil pressure switch again. The sealing washer had been replaced previously, as mentioned above, but when I took it off I could see that this washer, an aluminium part, did not look in great shape. I re-fitted the switch with a replacement copper washer and, finally, no more oil leak.

@andsoutham Many thanks for organising. My son brought the Caddy down, and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. Shame I couldn’t make it myself, but maybe next time.

Many thanks, this certainly qualifies as the requested earlier slot