Good stuff.  I got the wing fixed on the swift the other week about a year after someone caught it in a car park and drove off.   The guy who did it has done a great job...   Dent pulled, wing and bumper skimmed and three pack painted (pearlescent metallic).  The only way you can tell is some dust in the door jamb that'll wash out...   It's amazing what someone who has the skills can do!

 

And the best bit was the cost was about a quarter of another quote I got.

Edited 8 November, 20223 yr by skomaz

Happily I this didn't need paint, PDR guy did a fantastic job and much cheaper than I'd thought too.

70 euro to have it sorted, and it was a fair dent, looked worse in person.

Now you honestly could not tell there was ever any dent.

Not a good few days. Had this in for NCT Saturday (today). Been busting myself the last few weeks getting this ready for test. Bought new undertrays, fixed a sticky rear caliper

Took my rarb and brace off, as they would have made me get an engineers cert if I kept them on.

2 more pilot sports. And then on Thursday...

It broke. I wasn't the one driving it.

Pulled codes and it's got a lot of them

And it keeps blowing the fuse for the injectors.

Did eventually get back to the farm so it's safe atleast.

Over 40k miles of abuse so probably shouldn't be too upset. 

Did worry it was the wiring to my spots or something else that had shorted but so far as I can tell my wirings fine. 

Think it's electrical more than the injectors themselves being bad. 

Don't doubt it's something I've caused though.

I think I was asking for this busting myself to get this and the justy ready for nct. 

Logbooks come through for the vrs finally so gonna try get it sorted so I can use it for the week until the justy gets nct'd.

 

It's back after having the electrics fixed, mechanic got the car going and then the drivers window (apparantly) Went ape****. So bought a brand new loom for the door too. Then the (original mind) battery finally gave up after being sat for so long, so it got a new battery. Finally got a full service when it was away, as it was due soon anyway.

Got it back midday yesterday and racked up 350 miles on it since. Nice to be back in it.

Put the rarb back on it and put my winters on after that photo was taken. 

Going to put it back on the shortlist for nct and get it in ASAP.

Probably be another months wait though.

Nice little pair going on there! Top choice of air freshener in the Justy too, I've got a forest of them hanging in the back of the Skoda.

There was an ocean mist one hanging in it when I got it. Couldn't find one of those but new car scents close enough.

Pic of the winter wheels.

Also fitted the new undertray, this time with an aluminium strip instead of wood. Fit pretty well for a spurious part.

Not much for me to do this time of year.

So, for no reason at all. I got in my car this morning and drove to Dunmore head, the westernmost point of Ireland and back, in one day.

I say nonstop, but once I got close I kept hopping out to see the sights.

Intended on going down to Kerry for the weekend this summer. Obviously that did not happen. Really wanted to do the ring of kerry too, that didn't happen either but I came across something just as memorable. Thank you Waze.

Conor Pass:

This Pass goes right up and over the hills from Tralee to Dingle.

Absolutely amazing road and I could not have picked a better time to go up it.

Hard to show just how high this road goes. 

At the peak. 

Further on, Dunmore head. The westernmost point of Ireland.

Picked a good time of year to do this trip. These roads must become hectic during summer. Did have to cross a very small, very bumpy ford.

Really like the Spyders, more than the standard wheels if I'm honest. The tyres are as crap as ever but, they did really well navigating a lot of standing water on a certain stretch of motorway.

 

Had a bit of a panic moment coming back through Dingle. All of a sudden I heard a very loud, rattly noise coming from the front left. Thought it was a bad balljoint or track rod end. But fortunately, or maybe unfortunately it turned out the noise was the new undertray that I put on about a week ago, had broken in several places.

It pulled out a metal clip on the subframe that the undertray screws into, causing this noise. I didn't figure this out until I got home. 

In spite of this, I managed to crack 60mpg, driving more or less normally.

Did make a quick pitstop to put some fuel in. Judging from the Range and MPG readouts. I could have done this on one tank.

 

So not much done to this, but I'm updating other projects so why not update all of them.

Not long after the last Post another short cropped up for the boost solenoid. Then the egr **** itself. So that fixed, another map on to map the egr off. Not entirely loving this new map, lot more midrange but robbed me of most of the top end that I had previous. Has a soft cut on it same as standard now too. I presume it's for smoke control for test. 

I've not noticed any smoke driving it hard however.

Got some genuine arb bushes and swapped the poly ones out. Needed greasing far too often. 

Bit of trouble going back in as one of the bolts we're bent somehow. Borrowed one off another fabia for now.

Not stopped driving it though even though its not been cheap to fix the wiring, and the cost of another map. Set the other fabia and the justy back for a while.

Bust 2 droplinks again so replaced those for Meyle.

Went to change the dogbone and realised the powerflex one broke too

Changed it for the filled one and seems far better already. 

And another undertray, finally

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. 

 

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.

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.

 

Edited 16 March, 20233 yr by DieselMonte

Plenty done this weekend

Drivers side splash guard has been changed.

And 2 new Meyle Balljoints put on.

Only the drivers needed replacing but they're cheap and easy to do so did both. Done in 40 minutes.

The drivers side one was BAD and it was only on 6 months. Was mentioned by the nct tester when it was tested last month, and it had just started knocking then.

Should not have passed like that imo.

The passengers side was absolutely fine.

 

And FINALLY, I've got my hands on a Garrett GTC1549VZ, a CR170 turbo.

Looks to have been recently rebuilt, the core looks very fresh.

Might still be worth dropping it off at someone who knows what they're looking at, just to be sure its been rebuilt right. 

Had been looking at a hybridised XMan version but the person selling that wouldn't post it, unfortunate.

 

And I took it to Dubshed too,

If youre up before 11 you can get into the show and shine outside. I was put out in the nosebleeds.

Only found out they have a car wash on site once I was up there, I'll know for next year.

Bit funny trying to explain to people that its not a vrs but a 1.6 diesel and that no, I didn't put that bodykit on it's standard. Was a great day anyway.

 

May have found someone there who can map in this new turbo when it goes on. So on top of juggling the vrsdi, the justy and even just maintaining this, I'm going to try have that turbo on before June. 

And there's work to be done before that, Even though it was serviced in December it'll be due another service in about a month. Timing belts due so that'll be done then also. And I'll definitely be needing another 2 tyres before June.

Much to do, no money to do it. What's new.

 

 

More Work done.

Rear brakes were getting very low, so ordered new pads. Ordered front and rear pads from Mtec, I think it was £50 for both. I ordered them at 11am and they were delivered the next morning. Extremely impressed.

Front discs were ordered and were meant to be here last Monday, tracking last updated on the 16th so almost certainly lost. 

 

Left is the new Mtec ones, right is the ones that were on it.

Swapped discs too which was a bit of an ordeal, but they needed changing. Lucky I never returned the discs that were meant to go on it when the axle was done.

All fitted. So far so good. Noticeably more bite in the rear now. Have noticed a bit of squealing about town, whether that's down to them needing to bed in, or them being a bit more aggressive of a pad I'm not sure. If it doesn't get any worse I can live with it.

Also noticed the drivers rear wheel bearing is a bit rough, so starting to go. No play in it, yet. Worth noting I used the wheel bearings that were on the vrs axle so all things considered I did well to get 20k+ miles out of it. Other side is fine. Its a fairly straightforward job to do and the bearing itself is pretty cheap so I'll do it myself at some point.

Had a bit of an oh **** moment when I saw this sticking out of one of my pilot sports.

Very luckily it came out and is not losing air.

Ordered and received the timing belt kit too. Gates kit.

Checked the belt and from what I can see it's "alright". I could, probably will stretch it to next service. Which at the rate of driving I'm doing will only be another few months.

Lastly I've ordered all gaskets needed to swap that turbo. Genuine of course. Will be in sometime next week hopefully.

Finally messaged powerflex to try warranty the dogbone bush. Extremely impressed with how quick they were to respond and send another out. Its a revised part so hopefully won't break again.

In now and feels great.

New pads on the front. Bit of life left in them but since I had the Mtec pads I threw them on. Feel great and so far no noise.

Discs were lost in transit so I've got my money back from them.

Ended up swapping the rear pads from the Mtecs to some Ferodo pads as they got very squealy. Guessing I got some dud rear pads. Alls fine now so far.

New discs already rusted as it's been teaming rain.

 

 

New wheel bearing on.

Took me 40 minutes. Didn't need a gear puller it just came off. Only thing I had to buy was a 30mm 12 sided socket for a whopping €6.50.

Fronts are a different beast and I wouldn't want to tackle one of them without the proper too. Thankfully it's not needing one yet.

Service this evening

New air filter

New oil and filters

No glitter in the oil or filter. Oil was very watery though.

New fuel filter too

Primed the system with vcds, lot easier than bleeding it the normal way, doubt that'd work on this anyway.

What came out of the fuel filter.

Might cut the old one open just to see how bad it was.

Probably gonna service it more frequently now on since it's racking up the miles.

Also got the darkside feed line aswell as all gaskets (genuine) to put the turbo on. Everything got now to fit the turbo, waiting for someone to get back to me if they can map it.

New undertray got too. Was bought for another car but that ended up using one of my damaged trays, so now I've a new genuine tray to go on whenever.

Also making another gearbox mount as the one on it is going.

Going away in a few weeks all going well, same as last year. Since I won't have the power I want, I want to do everything to minimise power loss.

My biggest problem last year in the summer heat, was heat soak. I've since put a front mount on, but I figured I could do more in the form of an intercooler sprayer.

I could buy a kit ofcourse, but that costs money and there's no way really to mount it stealthily. 

So then I thought about plumbing into the washer bottle, but I couldn't figure out a good way of splitting the feed on the fly to the intercooler.

So, I had a look and noticed the mk1 has the bottle on the passengers side. Whereas the mk2 has it on the drivers side.

After a bit of looking. I noticed the top bolt is in the same spot, and there's a hole near the power steering reservoir on the mk2 where the bottle also mounts to. Good enough.

Hoped to just remove the splash panel and snake it up through there, which proved optimistic. Had to loosen the bumper off and pop the headlight out to get the best access.

And with a bit of fettling, it fits. Looks standard, if a bit odd. It's a pretty tight fit, but the splash panel and fog do go back in properly. This is only a 2l bottle, I seriously doubt a 5l fits.

Even used the nozzles from a mk1, fit pretty well, tied on top of the bumper spraying down.

Wired it with a relay, fused of course. Then used one of those fuse taps inside on the fuse for the wipers (switched ignition), and put a push switch through that to turn it on and off. It's taped into place for now near the radio, until I can find a good spot for it.

Works well for a parts bin bodge job. Think I'll add some isopropyl alcohol to it, which is meant to cool things even more.

I'll need to add some sort of return valve to the washer hosing as it drips down if the bottles too full. But happy thus far.

 

 

 

Just back from my big trip. Just over 1000 miles done in 5 days. Gonna start with stuff that I did before going away.

So I wanted to hook up a cb that was lying about for this trip. Wired up temporarily with a fuse tap and mounted into the cubby beside the headlight switch.

Used a mag mount and strapped it to the roof.

Then set about giving the car a full detail before setting off.

So wheels off, checked all the brakes suspension etc. Washed and detarred the arches, painted the brakes again. Washed, decontaminated, polished and sealed the alloys.

Photos are a bit out of order here but anyhow, original grille was flaking so sprayed a spare one and swapped it out. Came out fantastic for a rattle can job.

Grilles out, cleaned the spots, polished the intercooler.

Also took the fogs out as the tints were flakey, got some tint spray paint and tried it.

Did not end well

These fogs are pretty beat and cracked, recently got new ones for another monte for £35 a side, so will buy some new ones and tint them again, eventually.

Very fine machine polish, then a few coats of glaze, then waxed. 

Lucky I have the justy on the road so can actually have this sitting for more than a few hours now. Can see the painted fogs now, looks alright from a few feet but not happy with it. As I say they needed changed anyway.

So, Invading England:

Around the penines again. Roads rough as ever. Intercooler and sprayer helped massively with heat soak. It ran a LOT better this year.

The K brace and the caster increase bushes helped a lot, as did the new brakes, they were needed. 

Did an awful lot of brisk driving, got caught in standstill traffic in Penrith and the car starting ticking really bad. Figure it was running very hot. Thankfully as soon as I got out of gridlock the ticking went away and hasn't come back.

Some beautiful views.

Did hartside pass quite a few times, busy spot. Saw an RS3 on its roof near the end just before Alston.

Thing behaved very well for what it is.

On the last big drive last night I sent it a bit hard and did some damage.

Hit a very rough cattle grid at a brisk pace and made ****e of the backbox, bottomed out hard. 

Thankfully it just slipped off the hangar but it was only when it was sparking off the road that I noticed.

Oops.

Then pulled into a lay by with a big ass hole and destroyed the splitter and broke the tab on the drivers foglamp. Minor damage and not a big deal to me since the fogs were rough and the splitter was needing paint anyway.

Pics of the damage.

Intercoolers bust through the splitter, not sitting right on the bar either but it's not bust.

Happily the new genuine undertray seems to have held up, impressed.

See the exhaust has flattened at the bottom, again, cosmetic and not a big deal. Pretty impressed it stuck so much abuse especially with my apparent skill issue.

Made it back to the ferry safe

And home from there

Just over 1000 miles on the trip meter. Definitely wants a good going over now. And it turns out I have a spare foglight to throw in for now too.

Gonna respray the lip soon, it needed doing anyway so not a big deal.

145k on it now and somehow still going.

I'll upload any more pics I get of mine here

 

If the ferry was any cheaper I'd be over every weekend.

Great photos, and a grand write-up there. Looks like a grand trip!

27 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Great photos, and a grand write-up there. Looks like a grand trip!

Still not been up your way to meet you. Did you do skodafest? Must do it next year if it's on.

 

More photos from the weekend 

Good meet (impreza is a complete stranger, very cool car though)

Noticed a guy next to a red celica taking photos as we went down, must try hunt down them photos.

Halfways hiding regs, don't care about mine but don't know if anyone else does so.

Fitted the spare lamp. Cars beaten and smokes even more when it's cold now. Definitely deserves a some downtime for repairs. If it gets it though, I doubt it.