j0hn's Hybrid Mk2. MOAR BRAKE!

[Zuhayb]

Never read your post properly, was glazed looking into your Octy Wax will protect the paintwork, it's the black coloured cars which is a pee take to wash n wax :(

Ahem me... 

[j0hn]

I have never owned a black car - the wife had a black Mégane but I never looked after it then.

Your car will get sorted. I made mistakes with this - I decided I was going straight for coils as I knew the Pro Kit wouldn't drop enough, so I bought Bilstein B14s. They were way too hard for me and I ended up spending again on the H&Rs. A fortunate series of events meant I did alright out of them but I've been there too. Likewise the TD wheels, not my first choice and I've ended up forking out again for the wheels I wanted all along but it's all part of the learning process.

Mind you the biggest thing I noticed when I pulled one of the Zeniths off yesterday was how unbelievably heavy they are in comparison to the Pro Race.

[Wardy]

Will be 3-4kg difference wheel only. That's a lot of extra unsprung weight overall.

[j0hn]

I think it's about 2.5kg per corner. Going from a Zenith to a lightweight wheel is noticeable but strangely, going the other way doesn't seem too bad.

There will be a fair bit of weight saving on the summer wheels when they'll have more use for that sort of thing.

[j0hn]

My first view of the car on my way back to it in the Vic Centre car park earlier and I thought, "I like that".

Untitled by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

[giannis amaliada]

I like that too

[j0hn]

Well what's new?!

I have finally been caught out by my OCD. I needed a set of extended locking wheel bolts with a radius seat so I could use the Zeniths in conjunction with spacers. I also wanted to use the OE wheel bolt caps in conjunction with said wheel bolts and, after much shopping around, I found some Evo5 35mm radiused locking wheel nut bolts with a 17mm hex head (harder than it sounds, most of the Evo5 dealers only sold them with a 19mm hex). I thought that Skoda had moved from ABC type to bolts made by Evo5 and therefore the later wheel bolt caps I had would fit over these locking bolts (they're too big for the ABC type). Having eventually got my hands on these bolts after nearly a fortnight in transit, I fitted them only to discover the bolt caps won't fit over the bolts. Bloody frustrating. I've got an OE set of Evo5s (27mm) for when I remove the spacers and I'll try the caps over those but this discovery has annoyed me.

In other news, I took a trip to UD and set up camp on the Brisky stand. I sadly didn't manage to get a decent shot of any of the Brisky cars (lack of talent) and only got one of my own car I'm prepared to post in public!

_DSC2337 by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

My Fiscon kit is giving me grief again and I am getting a rattle from the braking system that I need to investigate. In other news TF51 VRS is returning a steady 27mpg average across the last 2,000+ miles, which is nice, with the last tank returning 28mpg over 367 miles. From a car that would only ever really give 24-25 at best at Stage 2+, I can only put this down to having LOTS of torque and a map written by the genius at R-Tech. Of course if I plant it, I can get 19, but who's counting?

[j0hn]

I almost forgot.

I put my Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2s into work with TWS (the third set so far!) and picked them up on Friday.

The gunmetal finish looked loads nicer than the gunmetal that comes out of the factory.

Team Dynamics PR1.2 by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

Team Dynamics PR1.2 by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

Team Dynamics PR1.2 by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

Team Dynamics PR1.2 by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

Team Dynamics PR1.2 by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

I think they looked bloody lovely and would have looked great on the car. Less than 24 hours later, they had a new owner.

I have another plan currently in progress and am awaiting delivery otherwise I'd have kept them (it might have been cheaper too!). I just hope the plan doesn't backfire and I end up going out to buy another set of gunmetal TDPR1.2s!

[SNH]

Tease

[j0hn]

Erm....yep

[j0hn]

After buying Si's Zeniths, spending another couple of hundred quid on a posh refurb, 30 quid on a set of centre caps and 3x 100 miles round trips to get them done, I came within a mouse click of putting them for sale on here 2 days ago.

I have a new set of summer wheels on order (when will they come...?!) but I spied a set of Ultraleggeras for sale on Tuesday evebing and I damn near pulled the trigger.

Still can't work out why I talked myself out of it. They were cheap, didn't need any work and the tyres on them (although one pair were 225/35/18) would have been absolutely fine to wear out on a track.

The trip to Sunderland to collect them put me off along with them having had a DIY refurb by the look of it. The fact that I had to think about it was enough to tell me they weren't for me and by the time I'd come to that conclusion they'd gone.

Probably the right thing!!

I think I'm going to look for a cheap cheap set of wheels with tyres I can finish off on a track day.

[Guest]

Are the new Summer wheels going to be a surprise? or have I missed something on the previous pages?

[j0hn]

Yeah they're a surprise at the moment. I have got a potatochop of them but I'm keeping that close to my chest at the minute...

[j0hn]

My plan this afternoon was to bring the ride height down a bit. Glad I started with the rears as the adjusters don't spin freely and turn the entire spring mount. There's no way to hold the mount while turning the adjuster so I think they'll have to come out and the height adjusted before being refitted. Bit annoying but there you go. Might be wise to modify it with a grove that the C spanner can use to hold the adjuster still.

Never mind eh?!

[SNH]

You only got the one spanner dude? Normally come with 2 so you can hold one and turn the other. I have Spare set if you need one

[j0hn]

No I've got two spanners - they're not designed to be held while you turn the adjuster. Definitely a design flaw but it won't be too hard to cut a groove into the mount.

[j0hn]

Summer wheels have still not been delivered......grrrrrr

 

I *had* to get my winters off in time for my booked track day on Tuesday (1/4) at Blyton. I'd already picked up a pair of Falken 452s (or possibly 912s) and a pair of T1-Rs that were getting towards the end of their life and just needed some wheels to fit to them. I found a set of old RS4 reps and went to Stourbridge (60 miles) on the promise of them being 5x112. Offered one up to the car only to discover they were 5x100 - fortunately I'd not left for home so the only thing I lost out on was my time and the petrol money (I would have asked for a contribution towards the latter, but I was going to start getting p*ssed off and thought better of it).

 

Yesterday I managed to pick up a set of genuine A4 S-line 5 spokes - the sort of RS6 alikes fitted with tyres, excuse the terrible Instagram picture

 

 

They are 18x7.5J and ET54 - I really didn't think they'd fit over the caliper, but they did. Just.

 

 

It's tight, but they don't catch. Barrie has warned me that there may be potential for the caliper to expand when it heats up, so I will have to be careful about that. If push comes to shove on Tuesday, I'll stick the 8mm spacers on the front for the duration.

 

The tyres are cheap cheap budgets, but they have at least 6mm on them all round, so they have enough to get to Blyton and take me round without wearing past the legal limit and I don't have to transport them up in the back of the car. I gave them a little bit of stick earlier on and they actually have a surprising amount of grip.......in the dry.

I guess, provided the tyres don't end up completely destroyed after Tuesday. I'll keep them on for the next week or so until the new wheels arrive rather than put the Zeniths and winters back on. If I thought Zeniths were heavy (especially in comparison to TDs or something else around 9kg), these really surprised me with the weight. I reckon the combined tyre and wheel must be about 15kg and that's REALLY noticeable over ironworks and potholes/rough road. Can't wait to go lightweight again.

 

Nothing else to report, the next big things will be (more) wheels (I think that's 6 or 7 sets since I bought the car) and a clutch.

 

I haven't got any other news about it really, I

[j0hn]

Lost the love a bit recently, don't know whether I was caught up in uni work, work work or just preoccupied. Haven't cleaned the car in some time and it needs some attention. Bent the sill with the silly widow maker jack so that needs repairing along with a mysterious scrape on the underside of the rear bumper (too low probably ) and while I'm at it I might as well have the guitar-amp ding over the wheel arch repaired as well. Turbo needs looking at, clutch needs replacing and I think the driveshafts might have suffered with the power. With these important things in mind, I did this.

Untitled by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

Finally a set of Neuspeeds RSe07s, first spotted on Rob of E's FL MK2 and the first set of wheels I ever saw that made me go "Phwoaarrrr, I WANT those".

Took long enough to get them, they're definitely lighter still than the TD PR wheels as well and feel about half the weight of those A4 wheels, which actually didn't clear those calipers at all well. As Barrie rightly pointed out, when they get hot they expand and, when that happens, they'll catch the wheel. And they did. 8mm spacers gave them plenty of space but I REALLY didn't like running them on the front. So there you go. Got a few quid to spend to get it back to how I want it both mechanically and cosmetically but still don't feel like getting rid.

Apologies to anybody who might have sent a PM and didn't get a reply, I don't think I logged on for a long while.

[Wardy]

Great wheel choice 

[SNH]

Suit it so well

[rob_e]

looks spot on john. 

[Guest]

Looking good John. I also have the mysterious scrape on the rear bumper but it happened at standard height. 

[j0hn]

Still got LOADS and LOADS to do but having trouble getting parts/tech time as the clutch is still nowhere to be seen and if the car goes in for work, it all needs to be done at the same time. Once it's mechanically sorted then I'll have the rear bumper repainted and get the sills both sides sorted (the dent on one and the stone chips that are turning rusty on the other). I cleaned the car for the first time since....er...March(?) and much to my dismay, when rinsing the wheels, the paint came off the calipers. Grrr. I don't think they'd been lacquered or finished properly so that's possibly another job to do (i.e. get a replacement set done properly, but I'm running out of patience with those).

Other than that, I've just been driving it or leaving it in the hands of Mrs A after the bottom end on her Golf went bang (#4 straight through the block and sump - apparently a common problem on a BXE). Economy in her hands is somewhere in the region of 35mpg which isn't too bad for 320 bhp I didn't think.

The list is currently at:

Clutch

Turbo

Investigate knocking of some description

Service/brake fluid/etc

Polar FIS+ (so Columbus will let the Maxidot cycle when Nav and/or audio menus are in use and will display climate)

New parcel shelf (strings broke)

Vertical boot net

Bloody good clean

Sort out calipers (or go bigger.....)

Rear brake upgrade

Rear OPS retrofit.

I might as well mention now that I am aiming for a bit more power, keeping with a hybrid to avoid the extra pipework (but may relocate the DV to hopefully cure a high pitch whistle) and without forging just yet so the goal will probably be no more than 340 - 360 bhp ish with a limit on the torque (as it's currently 500 Nm or 370 lb ft as it is). I'm then left asking myself the question, while the gearbox is apart for the clutch to be done, should I have a diff fitted. I suppose I'm now at the stage that, all sorted with a clutch that won't slip when driven VERY hard (as it's otherwise OK) and the paint/dints taken care of, the car in its current state of modification is probably worth somewhere around £6500 - £7000 at the VERY most (if not less, let's be realistic) and I've kind of stopped counting what it's cost(ing). It's approaching its 3rd anniversary with me and I'm still not bored - yet. It's comfortable for a car that rides on coilovers at that height, it's heart stoppingly fast when you want it to be and is more than happy doing the wife's daily commute in traffic. I have all my toys (auto lights/wipers/mirrors), a proper Columbus with DAB, Maxidot and xenons, 2 zone climate and whatever else I thought I needed at the time. It's about to tick over 90k (32k miles in my hands in a little under 3 years), which means I've also spent somewhere approaching 8 grand in petrol in the last three years (f*cking hell....) but is on the button in terms of feel, stop and go. I'm left thinking what else I could get my hands on that I can chuck half a band's worth of kit in the back, take the in laws out in and then drive around a track if the whim takes me. You know what, I'd like a C350 CDI Sport Merc but I just don't think I'm old enough yet.

[Paulbrown]

Wow just read the whole tread and this I why I would like to do with mine!

Maybe not as extreme as I don't have the penny's :(

How much was the cam cover and intake as I love the look if that!!

[j0hn]

Cheers Paul.

The engine cover is from a TT-S, from memory they work out to around £60 from TPS with the fixings and then you either have to be handy with the paint or pay to have the Audi badge removed and smoothed over.

The intake is £360 IIRC, but if you're interested I night part with it as I want to try something else.